Friends who blog
Blogging, Friendship

Birthday Bash and Friends Who Blog

Retirement Reflections

This past Sunday, Richard and I combined our birthdays (131) and celebrated with Island friends. The feature photo shows two special guests who dropped by – Liesbet and Mark from Roaming About! As Liesbet, Mark and I are currently busy preparing their famous handmade vegetarian pizza, I promise to write more about the Bash and our Meetup in my next post. Both events were laughter-filled and deeply meaningful to me.

Speaking of friends who blog, two bloggers included me on their websites this past week — Johanna from Lifestyle Fifty and Dee from Grammy’s Grid. You can check out those posts here and here. If you have time to comment, Jo, Dee and I would love to hear your thoughts. I look forward to seeing you there.

Friends

Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

99 thoughts on “Birthday Bash and Friends Who Blog”

    1. Hi, Fran – Great to hear from you. I’ve been waiting for your next post!
      Thank you for the birthday wishes. Richard’s actual birthday is tomorrow. My 60th is in October when we will not be home. This past weekend seemed to be a perfect time to celebrate both — and a great excuse to host a huge bbq for our island friends!

      Like

      Reply

    1. Hi, Natalie – Thanks so much for visiting Johanna’s and Dee’s post. I know that they will appreciate that.
      Liesbet mentioned that when she was chatting with you yesterday, you said that you should have flown down to meet us. I would absolutely have loved that. How much fun would that have been?!!

      Like

      Reply

      1. That would have been a blast, Donna. My brain was on Paris and didn’t think to plan a trip to BC soon after. I can dream about the vegetarian pizza and imagine the lively conversations you’ve had. Have a great week! #MLSTL

        Like

  5. Happy birthday! How great that you were able to see Liesbet and Mark. I’ve had their vegetarian pizza too and it’s yummy! Looking forward to reading more about your celebrations! Now I’m off to those other blogs… you’ve been busy!

    Like

    Reply

  6. Thank you for the birthday party invite, Donna. It was a very interesting, rewarding, and tasty time. Congratulations again with your combined birthdays. Mark and mine would add up to exactly 100 this year.

    I like that top photo of us. Please, send it to me. It’s such a pleasure to be here, connect and enjoy your hospitality. And, to have a little break from the road in a comfortable house. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi, Liesbet – Richard and I greatly enjoyed our time together with you and Mark. You both are perfect guests, as well as being very wise and inspiration friends. Enjoy the rest of your travels. Please keep us posted. Fingers crossed that you will be able to fit in another quick visit with us on your return trip.

      Like

      Reply

  7. Happy Birthday to you both! How cool that both of your birthdays are close enough to do that. Thom’s hogging the birthday thing this year because he turns 65 –yay for Medicare!!!–and he is using it as an excuse to celebrate all year. Of course, the good news is that when I turn 65 in a couple of years I will plan to do the same. And so much for to see Liesbet and Mark in your neck of the woods. Now use your influence to get them to come to the desert and meet up with the rest of us next month. ~Kathy

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi, Kathy – What date is Thom’s birthday? I’m glad that he has the ‘year-long birthday spirit’. We look forward to celebrating his birthday with both of you shortly.
      BTW – Unfortunately, I was not able to convince Liesbet and Mark to join us in the dessert … at least I haven’t been successful yet!!

      Like

      Reply

  13. This is totally FANTASTIC. First of all, I love the combined birthday party. WhooHoo -lots to celebrate. Second of all, how terrific to meet Liesbet and Mark! Like meeting celebrities, in my mind. I have so much fun ‘meeting’ people in the blogosphere, and connecting with them, that when I meet them in person (and it’s happened just a few times) it’s extraordinarily special.

    Like

    Reply

  16. Happy birthday gorgeous lady and also happy birthday to Richard. What a lovely way to celebrate together and also a bonus to be able to have Liesbet & Mark there as blogging community friends. I look forward to reading all about the festivities. Thank you Donna for always supporting #MLSTL and also me and my blogging adventure. You are a valued friend and hopefully one day we will meet IRL. xx

    Like

    Reply

  17. Happy birthday to you and Richard! I love that you combined your birthdays. Larry and I will be 116 next month. 🙂 I read Jo’s post previously and am headed over to Dee’s next. I’m always a little jealous when I read about other bloggers meeting IRL. My turn will come!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Happy 116th to you and Larry next month. I believe that our birthdays are actually close to each others (mine is October 15). Thank you for visiting my posts at Jo’s and Dee’s blogs. And if you are ever near Vancouver or Vancouver Island, I would love to meet you IRL!

      Like

      Reply

  20. Happy Birthday, Donna!! I didn’t realize your birthday was so close to Richard’s. I admire how much fun you two have together, and all the special times you make happen with friends…life’s true treasures. Again, Happy Birthday 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  21. Wow! we’re all waiting for the big party reveal now Donna – many many happies to both you and your lovely husband. I’m so glad you found the time to link up a post to #MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM xxx Happy birthday!!!

    Like

    Reply

      1. Tell me about it Donna! Time – I need more of it!
        Thanks for saying my posts and comments are always upbeat, that made me smile!! I love sharing happiness around, although I know only too well that life isn’t always upbeat as you know.

        Like

      3. Oh that’s so sweet of you to not only notice but to actually say so. You’ve made my day. Off for a walk now to contemplate life in this glorious spring morning sunshine. X

        Like

    1. Hi, Joanne – Thanks so much for stopping by. The fun and frivolity is definitely continuing. Liesbet and Mark left yesterday. Today (Richard’s actual birthday) is brunch-golf-dinner with friends. Tomorrow is hiking with friends and meeting up with Ann from The UnRetied. I ask again how we ever had time to work?!

      Like

      Reply

      1. I’m so glad you got my comment!! Lately it seemed that my comments on your blog were disappearing into the ether.
        Enjoy this birthday time. I like to think of it as our personal New Year’s.
        … and yes, I agree with you about the busy-ness!! I’m starting to understand why these years have often been referred to as *golden*. We have been lucky to have reached this stage when we have the health and resources to embrace life fully 💕

        Like

      2. Aaaagggghhhh!! Do you ever want to throw your computer against the wall?! Just when I think I have everything sorted out with my WordPress — I realize that I have been lead into a false sense of security. Thank you so much for letting me know about your commenting difficulties on my site, Joanne. Fran just wrote privately to say the same thing…as did Sue! I have now (sadly) gone back to the default theme…and have eliminated all but the required plugins. Fingers crossed!!

        Like

      3. Whew! Then it wasn’t just me. I’m having a recurring issue on several sites. So far I’ve rebooted my computer and erased all my history. Sometimes it works, but it hasn’t helped lately. I think the problem is with WP but they haven’t exactly been helpful in the past when I’ve brought up it to them.

        Like

      4. Hi, Joanne – I completely agree with you on all of the above. Whenever I have recurring issues with WordPress, I usually think that it’s just me. I immediately go to the folks at my WordPress MeetUp group. As awesome as they are, the problems never completely disappear. Although I pay to self-host, I don’t pay WordPress or Jetpack, so I don’t get direct support from either group. As you say, “not exactly helpful”! When I just rechecked the WP.org Forum regarding commenting issues, the advice was to disable plugins and switch to the default theme – which I just did. Your last comment came through perfectly. Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come! 🙂 Thank you for your patience. I greatly appreciate it!

        Like

  28. Happy birthday to you both! How fun to see Liesbet and Mark! I suspect their housesitting days are numbered now that they have Zesty! My hubby and I have birthdays two months apart, so we may do a combined b-day next Fall when we both turn 60!

    Like

    Reply

  29. Happy bithday to you both. My husband and I have the same exact birthday and are both born in the same city. I am a few hours older then him since I was born in the morning and him in the afternoon. lol

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi, Victoria- That’s so cool! You must’ve an expert in combined Birthday bashes. My husband and I were born 11 years and 26 days apart….in different provinces. I would have loved to have known him when he was in school!

      Like

      Reply

  30. I’m glad I came back to this post, Donna, as when I checked it out yesterday I didn’t have the photo of Liesbet and Mark showing. Now, today, it’s there. 😀So glad you guys got to meet.
    Wishing Richard and you a very happy birthday. I hope there’s plenty of cake, as well as pizza. 🥂

    Like

    Reply

  34. Happy belated birthday to the two of you! So interesting to learn the connecting thread of people around the globe. Although we haven’t met Liesbet and Mark, we feel certain we would enjoy them.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi, LuAnn – Thank you so much for reading and commenting. My 60th is not until October so your birthday wishes are still early! Janis, Kathy (SmartLiving365) and I will be having a mini blogger-friends meet up in Palm Desert this October. You are most welcome to join us if you are available. Janis will send you a proper invitation. Fingers crossed that you’ll be able to drop by.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Thank you – how kind! No, I only blog on WordPress but this has been a hectic year and blogging has had to take a backseat. I hope to get back to writing posts again this autumn. I really miss it!

        Like

  38. Sorry we missed your birthday bash. We are looking forward to connecting with Liesbet and Mark as they head south to Victoria. Sooooo, how are you feeling about the big six-oh?

    Jude

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi, Jude – Great question! I have always fully embraced every birthday and upcoming decade. I had been a bit more reticent about my upcoming 60’s, mostly because I have loved my 50’s so much. It’s funny, after the party ended, I was ready to fully embrace 60. My actual birthday is 19 days away. Now I say — bring it on!!
      Enjoy your time with Liesbet and Mark. Take lots of photos!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment