happy birthday, sweet sixteen

mah babay!  she's not a baby anymore...as of 2:40 this morning, the teen is officially 16.  woohoo!

because i got in trouble for those OG photos i posted last week (yeah, and i just linked to 'em again. she's gonna kill me), i'm skipping the potentially mortifying sappy post in favor of a recap of her fabulous birthday weekend extravaganza.  i'd spent the entire week prior (and more, actually) shopping and prepping for the big shindig, and if i do say so myself, it seems to have paid off.

we were taking her and three of her best friends to stay at a super cool hotel on hollywood & vine - the redbury.  and so in lieu of a goody bag (and, since they aren't 6), i hit up a bazillion different places to put together a cute little train case chock-full of goodies they could use that evening and beyond.

and then i decided it would be super fun for us all to wear matching tees.  yes, i am insane.

even the bean got one.  the hub - well, i knew he wouldn't wear it, so i saved myself the trouble.

i paired it with some matching flip-flops (thank you, old navy) and some fun beads and put it all into a little bag to have inside the limousine that was picking them up from school.

of course, the teen's contained a couple of extras.

the next day, the bean and i headed out to the school just before quittin' time to meet up with the limo and give the girls some cash for grub from in-n-out.  i managed to find the driver on a sidestreet, doing a little last-minute cleaning before he pulled up to the school, and put the bags inside.  and then it was fun watching their reactions (and fellow students', too) as they laid eyes on that "long car," as the bean put it.

after stopping at the other girls' homes to pick up their overnight bags, we were off to drybar on sunset in west hollywood.  we were getting blowouts so we could be all pretty for a nice dinner out, and the hub left us to go and check into the hotel.

the bean and i got there before the limo did, and so got a head start on our treatments.  well, i did.  despite the hub's and my best efforts, she was not having it - "no, i don't want to have my hair washed.  no, i don't WANT my hair all pretty and twirly."  so she sat on my lap as i enjoyed a head massage during my shampoo.

i was seated right in front of the tv, which was playing an oldie but goodie - "clueless."

in case you wanted to zone out to your own playlist, there was a handy-dandy iPod dock at every seat.

it took a selection from this tray to get the bean to sit down on a tall stack o'towels in one of the chairs next to me:

she was less than excited, and all i could think was "oh, just you wait. in ten years you'll be begging for this shit."

by then, my 'do was done.  and then the girls finally sauntered in.

the teen made a beeline for her sister, who was still grumpy about having her hair did.

i took a quick "before" shot and then the girls were led back to have their shampoos done.  the bean cheered up with her girls around her, and made herself comfy.

luckily, the staff was enchanted by her.  most of the other patrons seemed to be as well, but i did notice a few eyerollers when they saw her.  how dare she invade their space? geez, bitches.  she wasn't being disruptive in any way, and i kept a close eye on her.

and then she had to go potty.  yeah, she'll kill me for this one day.

as the others got worked on, we hung out and wandered around the salon.  i snapped photos left and right.  come on, you expected nothing less.

the glasses they served drinks in scared the crap out of me.  they were angled at the bottom and always seemed like they were going to tip over.

at last, the girls were done.  good thing, because the limo was already back to pick us up and we were running behind.

we had fun on the way back.  the bean couldn't stop talking about how she liked riding in "the long car."  and the hub texted me to say that he'd shared an elevator with julia stiles.  and some rapper dude was having a birthday party in the hotel, but he didn't know which one.

the teen, who found her curltastic locks a little much for her liking, tried to fix it as we drove down sunset.

the redbury!

the hub had decided to upgrade the girls to a suite for the night.  pretty schwanky - they had two bedrooms, a dining room, living room, kitchenette.  i tried not to think of that thing as a stripper pole.  oy vey.

our room, just one floor down, was pretty similar aside from the private bedrooms.  we really loved it, and thought the decor was just so cool in there.  we only had about 20 minutes to change before it was time for dinner.

this is where we went:

afterwards, we dropped off the hub and the bean and went over to hollywood & highland for this:

as we waited for the valet to bring the car around, the girls spied some dude that got them all googly.  i had zero idea as to who he was, but the teen whispered "that's rob's manager.  you know, from rob and big on mtv?"  rock-ell was captivated and sprouted a pair in time to blurt out "hi, can we take a picture with you?" and he was only too happy to comply as he looked them all up and down.  ew, dude, you're old enough to be their father.

whatever.  they were all twitterpated and excited, and i thought it was cute.

as for the museum, we'd checked the website for their hours just the week before, and it said they were open until midnight.  clearly, this was not the case.  i pulled it up on my phone as we stood there, and wouldn't you know it - they'd changed hours as of may 2nd.  bastards.  so we settled for checking out nearby graumann's theater and the walk of fame.

spiderman and iron man (who really needed a shower.  maybe two, from what the girls said) stopped to pose for a picture.  ol' spidey made it a point to say "we're happy to take tips, too, by the way."  i bet you are.

at the cheesetastic hollywood wax museum, the girls hopped into a photo booth as brother wan (who'd driven us there) and i watched the monitor up above.

i managed to get a quick shot with my girl on my phone as we walked back to the car.

we'd loaded them up with a ton of snacks and sodas upstairs, and they chattered excitedly as we bid them good night and let 'em loose to party in their very own suite.  we were thrilled to have pulled off a great evening for them, and hoped they'd have tons of fun while we slept peacefully one floor below them.

i love my girl so much.  she's grown into such a beautiful young woman, one i'm super duper proud of, and i just know she's headed for a bright, happy future.  sweet sixteen!  holy crap.  i can't believe it.  seems like only yesterday...

well, you know.  i'm really trying not to get sappy here.

happy birthday to my awesome, fabulous, gorgeous teen!  thank you for being you.  and thank you for letting me be a part of your world.  it's a fun place to be, and it just keeps on getting better.