Nia’s Happy 50th 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.

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.

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).

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.

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!

They were amazing and even managed to get Jimmy and Sam up on stage to “help out”.

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.

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!

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!!