early morning Nia's Birthday

Sorry, I’ve been a bit MIA lately. It’s been a bit hectic around here so far this month and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Gotta love the holidays!

Last weekend my good friend Nia celebrated her 50th birthday. She celebrated this amazing milestone as only Nia could…with a lot of fun and with great style!

Her party was truly a celebration her life, her family, her friends and her talents! To know Nia is to love her as she’s so much more than any words could ever describe.

The day started as seen above. It was the morning of the lunar eclipse so Nia, Sam, Jimmy and I woke up early to head to the beach to try to get a glimpse of the moon.

There’s always a lot of laughter when we’re all together and this day started the same way. We were a bit late to see the eclipse due to a marine layer sitting low on the water blocking our view. If we had just headed out a bit earlier, we had heard the sighting was spectacular!

Still, luckily, the sunrise was gorgeous and we hiked to the top of a dune where I took this photo of the beach and the dawning of the day.

sunrise at the beach

A gorgeous and perfect day to begin my friends 5th decade of life.

Next on the agenda….the group paddle out.

In true Nia&Sam fashion, the waves, water, fresh air and beach had to be part of this day…beginning with a group go out in Malibu.

paddle out number 1

Nia & Sam heading out for a paddle

How you could not be in a fantastic mood starting the day this way? Warm sun, soft sand, crisp water and lots of friends.

After the “go-out”, we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by Nia’s husband Sam (with some help from her good friend Nori).

Birthday Breakfast at Nia's

Next phase of the day included decorating a rather simple (and somewhat drab) clubhouse to transform it into a magnificent party palace.

Nia has incredibly artistic decorating skills and together with her friends Nori and Ema had planned for all the necessities to bring this place to life.

birthday decorations for Nia's party

The decorating necessities included covering the walls with fabric, hanging dozens of Chinese lanterns, creating a stage for performances, placing tables, chairs, heaters and pillows throughout the space to create maximum comfort and room for all the guests. Oh and I can’t forget the magic of hanging strands and strands of twinkle lights creating a truly festive atmosphere.

It was a lot of work, but truly an incredible part of “being there” for all the fun.

AND, the results were magical!

Once we finished it was time to clean up – oh and dressing up it was time to PARTY!

Nia has just so many talented friends that I knew the party was going to be filled with some incredible performances.

First up for entertainment was the hula dancers! WOW!

hula dancers performing at Nia's partyThey were amazing and even managed to get Jimmy and Sam up on stage to “help out”.

Jimi at Nia's party

Sorry the video is sideways – I’m not sure how to rotate it off of my phone.

You did know Nia’s an amazing hula dancer too, right?….well, of course you do because you’ve seen “North Shore”. Here’s part of her performance:

Next up, Nia’s son Christopher Hewitt.

I love Chris, he is so artistic and so feeling. His guitar playing and vocals brought everyone to a hush. You just can’t help being drawn into his songs – his passion will do that to you.

Chris Hewitt

Want to hear some of Chris’s music? Click Here to link to the music on his facebook page. He has links there to his music videos, new songs and more. You’ll love it, I promise!

I loved that my hubby got to be a part of the show and play a bit of drums with Christopher:

Can you hear the crowd in the background of the video? It was like that all night – all of us just having so much fun!

The rest of the evening was filled with Nia singing along with her band – a band made up of a bunch of her friends. We were told they’d never practiced together, which just goes to show how very talented they all are! They sounded incredible. Such talent in this room!!

One of the night’s highlights was watching Nia’s husband Sam sing a duet with and for her. Now, I’ve known Sam for over 18 years and my husband has known him for over 30 and neither one of us has ever seen or heard Sam sing. You wouldn’t know he wasn’t practiced though because I think he pulled it off fabulously!!

Can I share a secret? The party was fabulous, the people amazing, the food delicious, but one of the highlights of the evening for me was getting my photo taken with Nia’s friends Ema and Shen’s sons Bodhi and Kai – stars in the hit tv show “American Horror Story”. I LOVE that show!

my pic with Bodhi and Kai from American Horror Story

So, as you see, I’ve been MIA here because I’ve been off busy having tons of fun – as I hope all of you have been too.

Happy Friday everyone! Hope all your holiday plans are going smoothly!!

 

Lita

12 Comments on Nia’s Happy 50th Birthday

  1. Happy 50th Nia, I have the picture of you and my wife Lonae and me from Darlene’s wedding in 1985 sitting on my desk.Don’t knoe if Jeni or Jim have told you that we moved to Reno 10 years ago and built a storage facility.

    Uncle Bob

  2. Aha, I see that some people had so much fun over there!!! Nia’s so talented that this party was for sure a real event. Would have enjoyed being there lol!
    Nia turned 50, so hard to believe when you look at her.

    Swimming on a 10th of December sounds unbelievable to me… I don’t think we’ll ever be able to swim in December in my cold part of France!

    Thanks Lita for all this great story.

  3. Amazing videos and photos that make you feel like you were there! So happy that Nia’s birthday was phenomenally special as it was very well deserved. Many continued blessings Nia!

  4. WOW! just watched the video of Sam singing! LOL! And wasn’t that Matt in one of the surf pictures zipping up Jimmy???
    So glad you brought in your 50th Nia with good friends, food and fun! Cheers! And happy Hollidays to everyone! :)

  5. That looked like a great party. Been a fan of Nias for more years than either one of us can count w/o a calculator. Nia, I’m happy for you on your 50th Birthday. It looked like the party of all partys. Family & friends having a good time=priceless. I’ve only seen you on the screen, you look great & from the pictures it was a fantastic & fun day. Happy belated 50th Birthday Nia.

  6. This was the BEST PARTY EVER! The dancing, music, Nia singing again, food, taco truck, decorations, friends, family even the weather cooperated! Thumbs up!

    • It was a fabulous party…can you believe the weather turned the next day?!?! Must be “Nia” luck!! Happy Holidays to you!!

Comments are closed.