Last Saturday I entered a new decade.

Rather than fret about the first number of my age flipping from a 2 to a 3, I celebrated in style. Bring it on, 30!

It helped that my good friend Tamar turned 30 herself the day before me. In the ten years we’ve known each other, this is the first time we’ve done a joint birthday celebration and it was PERFECT.

We kicked off our party weekend last Friday with a spa day at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes. It’s $60 a day for non-guests to access the spa, and it was totally worth it. (Note: non-guests are only allowed Monday-Thursday, but they allowed us in anyway — just call ahead to check if you plan to go on a weekend.) We hung out by the pool, ordered two bottles of wine, and chatted all afternoon. After a long soak in the hot tub around sunset, we showered and dressed up for our fancy group dinner with more friends. I’m going to write a full post about this resort in a few days — it’s a special place — but for now here are some images of our blissful day.

Here’s Grace and Tamar toasting to our new decade. This is March 21st, Tamar’s actual birthday.

I snap a photo of Grace taking a ‘groupie’ (… we’re coining that term; it’s a ‘selfie’ with more people in it).

After dressing up, we hang out by the fire until dinner. We may or may not have had a little photo shoot…

Here’s a group shot from dinner with our friends! I love these ladies.

From L to R: Tamar, Tammie, Bethany, me, Summer, Grace.

The next night — my actual birthday, March 22nd — we gather at Bow & Truss in North Hollywood for a lovely dinner. Here’s my friend Allison (exactly one year ago we went zorbing in New Zealand!), Tamar, and my sister Bethany.

My little friend Adele — daughter of the fabulous Kelley! — colored this for me. I especially love it because I was hanging out with them the night Adele learned the word ‘octopus’.

Here’s my sister posing with our delicious food. That’s a dish of paella, mushroom and halibut tacos, asparagus, and my sweet cocktail.

Kelley surprised me with the perfect birthday treat — s’mores cupcakes with a graham cracker bottom and marshmallow cream in the middle.

How lucky am I to have such awesome friends?! My heart is so full.

On Sunday we celebrated day three of Erica & Tamar’s joint birthday weekend with a giant gathering at Golden Road, our favorite local brewery. It’s also where I held my birthday / going away party EXACLY one year ago. We all love this place because it’s casual and kid-friendly. Golden Road is great for parties because everyone can pay for themselves at the main bar so there’s no split check issues, plus they have no problem with groups bringing in outside cakes / cupcakes for celebrations. And they serve great food.

Tamar and I arrive early to set up the box of 30th birthday decorations her dad found at a flea market in New Hampshire and shipped to Los Angeles!

Two of many beers Golden Road has on tap (check out the full list here).

What follows is a collection of photos of my fabulous friends.

Amy & Mike and Kelley:

Adele & Kelley:

Me & Adele:

Laura, Yaz, Val:

Allison, Laura, Jenny:

Quinn, Jeremy, Grace:

Summer and Tammie:

This photo warms my heart! Jeremy, Eva, Beth, and Grace:

Co-birthday girl Tamar and Casey & Daniel:

Grace whipped up her signature Kahlua cake, featuring her homemade brew. It’s outstanding.

And then the ENTIRE place — maybe 200 people — sings us Happy Birthday!

I rush to put on my fish eye lens and capture the whole room singing. Whew, it goes on during the last line of Happy Birthday and I fire off a few quick shots before blowing out candles with Tamar.

Buddy & Tamar:

Beth, Summer, Matt:

Brenda & Joe:

Summer and Jeremy:

Summer baked some fabulous cupcakes — just like she did for my birthday gathering last year! — and passes them around. She’s the best.

Grace & Eva:

Tamar & Buddy:

Now I am officially older and wiser… and more aware than ever how lucky I am to have such a sweet, supportive, and FUN group of friends. I love each and every one of you!!

XOXO, Erica