One Spectacular Birthday

When Leanna and I first came up with this crazy idea on the streets of New York City, it sounded silly. Sure, I could ask a bunch of my friends to wear tiaras on my birthday…but would they? Was this going to be the dumbest idea in the history of ideas? Was I going to regret my 1-11-11 birthday for the rest of my life? What kind of disaster had I set myself up for?

But once the idea was out there, I didn’t have time to change my mind. Christmas happened, and then FGB’s family Christmas, and then New Year’s, and then Greek Christmas, and then suddenly I was in Florida and it was my father’s birthday and we were eating lobsters at the table and they were begging me to open my birthday presents. The plane landed back in DC a little over 24-hours before the 1-11-11 deadline, and I was too worn out to care if the dynamite I’d lit blew up or not.

The fireworks started to sizzle the night of the 10th, as my birthday rolled around to Australia and India…and then it exploded.

At last count, before Facebook gave up, over 350 people had posted on my wall. There are 136 (and counting) photos in the Tiara Birthday Spectacular Album, and I’m still hunting them down all over the internet. (If you don’t see yours there, please email me!) I spent hours yesterday and today putting the album together. It is nothing short of amazing. There are people of all ages and sexes, in person, animated, or photoshopped. There are animals, both real and not real, from dogs and cats to lizards and bunnies (and those are all live). There are people I’ve known for years and people I’ve only met online. There are family members and there are complete strangers…but they all have one thing in common: I love them all. And every single one of them — to a person and animal — unique and spectacular.

I’ve also realized that 1.) it takes a real man to wear a tiara, 2.) my friends are incredibly inventive and original, Q.) they have some gorgeous tiaras and 82.) I don’t have a pink feather boa. Apparently, when one owns a tiara, one often owns a pink feather boa as well. Who knew?

I’m going to go ahead and chalk up this birthday as a win. I hope you all had half as much fun as I did yesterday. And thank you, all of you, so very very much, from the bottom of my Royal Heart. xox

(Click the princess to enter the Tiara Birthday Spectacular Album!)