Fabulous at 50

My mom's youngest sister, Racheal (better known as Aunt Shell), who celebrated her 50th birthday March 25th threw a brunch the following weekend at Ristorante Toscana Wood Fired Grill in Cherry Hill for family and friends. Enjoying a few hours with family while savoring wonderful food was absolutely perfect for a festive birthday!
Several weeks before, my mom had an idea to compile an album with photos from when they (including their six brothers and sisters) were kids until the present day as part of her present. We instantly started rummaging through family photo albums and a case of old photos from my grandparents' house. After choosing a couple dozen photos, we scanned them and I started editing and correcting the colors (remember, some of the images were old).
When this step was complete, we uploaded them to Walgreens.com and put the photo pages together for a 50th birthday book, which my mom thought my aunt would absolutely love. And, she did! The album was passed around during the brunch while my aunt narrated and the siblings reminisced.
Here are just a couple of the old-school photos - it was so nice to go back in time, identify everyone and relive parts of their lives through my mother's stories.

My grandfather and Aunt Racheal on her First Birthday

My Mom and Aunt Racheal 

My two aunts and mom with their grandfather

Pictures of the whole clan...the first is just of the eight siblings and my grandparents.

My parents' wedding - circa 1973 

My aunt also ordered a fabulous cake from Haddonfield's Pretty Sweet Bakery. The two-tiered cake, which was NOT covered in fondant, but buttercream icing (can you even tell?), was a layer of carrot cake and a layer of chocolate. The icing was just right - not too sweet - and the cake was extremely moist, which is the reason why I would recommend Pretty Sweet Bakery for any celebration.

Yum!

Happy 50th Birthday Aunt Shell!