Oh, 16.

I'm still tired. My back hurts. My ears are still slightly ringing. Gosh, I'm old.

But, oh, what a night.

It isn't every day that you throw your daughter a Sweet 16 party. 11 months have passed since the idea came about and now the day is here and gone. What a whirlwind.

I never thought I'd be asked to throw a Sweet 16 for Emma. She isn't fond of being the center of attention. Imagine my surprise when on a random January day, the idea was proposed and within 2 hours, the theme, guest list and proposed 16 Candles were all worked out.

Let me stop here and say: I'm not a party planner by any means. I have crippling social anxiety and procrastinate far too much for this kind of stuff. However, when the girl who never asks for everything, who works so hard and does so well at everything she touches asks for something special, I'm going to do what I can to make sure it happens.

Emma's favorite movie since she was little has been Tangled. If you haven't seen it, it's based on the story of Rapunzel. It really is cute, the first 57 times you watch it. Em would watch it at least twice a day...usually while wearing her Rapunzel princess dress while holding her Rapunzel tower toy. The aformentioned dress became a staple in her wardrobe that had to be washed almost daily because of how dirty she would get it.  Tangled stayed a favorite in her life all while growing up and holds such a dear place in her heart. With all of that being said; I would have been shocked if Tangled wasn't her theme on her very special day.

Months of planning went into this party. It reminded me of planning a wedding...first dances! speeches! With no real point of reference; I had no idea what a huge deal this thing really was! 

And just like that.. it's over. 

I wished I would have enjoyed it more. The stress of being responsible for such a big event was really preventing me from just relaxing. What if something went wrong? That's on me. What if people aren't having fun? Also on me. So with each passing moment I felt an unbelievable amount of pressure to make sure things went perfectly.  And, by all accounts, they did.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the people in my corner. The usual suspects who always help to try to lighten my load in times when I've reached my limit. Bear and Pair for taking setting up the venue off my plate and for offering suggestions and for emergency dessert shopping.  "LosSantiagos Salon" for beautifying my girls and for keeping me (relatively) sane. "Room 21" for listening to my incessant party talk for the past 11 months. To Joey for being the best birthday surprise ever. To Sass for hot-gluing and setting things up with me.  Greggy for willingly being the wallet funding the party and for a beautiful speech. To my family, gosh it was so nice to be together again, wasn't it? 

The food was great.  The DJ was fun.  The amount of times I was in the photobooth was comical. I didn't have to worry about anything because our cousin Pammy took care of it all. It was truly a night to remember. You could physically feel the amount of love and support in the room, and that is what it's all about now, isn't it. 

To those of you who TRULY love and support my family... especially the newly turned 16 year old...I thank you. There were so many more of you who we wanted to be a part of this day, but space wouldn't allow for it.  Please know that we would have if we could have. 

To the above mentioned 16 year old...I love you to the moon and back and too much madly.  As I noted in my speech, you are so loved and so special.  You wrote and delivered your speeches with eloquence and grace. I'm proud of you for being authentically yourself. 

I didn't get to take any pictures! I was too busy being stressed, but from the pictures I've seen,  it looks like everyone had a great time.  I'm so thankful for that. So, so thankful. 

I love you,  Em.