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Birthday parties in my family have always been a big deal.

As a kid my birthday parties were <em>events</em>. More often than not, they were held at home. The dining room was covered in balloons and streamers, and the table was loaded with snacks, party favors and gifts. In the living room were party games, including one where kids would send a clothesline on the end of a fishing pole and line over a blue sheet covered in construction paper fish to catch a prize (the same game that I recently learned doubled as fishing game with naughty gag gifts as the catch once the kids went upstairs for naptime, but I digress).

At the center of these parties was always the cake. I've had my fair share of amazing cakes over the years - Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Sesame Street. Basically, all the '80s classics a little girl could ask for. But the cake I remember most was the cake at my fourth birthday party - the one that looked like a Barbie ball gown.

I celebrated my 27th birthday this week. Maybe it's because I'm regretful that I've officially entered into my late twenties, maybe it's because I still feel as young as ever (with a few minor, saggier exceptions), but when my mom and my Meme asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told them that I wanted a Barbie cake like the one I had for my fourth birthday.

To keep things extra-consistent, I requested that the cake be ordered from the bakery that made my last Barbie cake.

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<a href="http://www.annsbakery.com/">Ann's Bakery</a>, just north of I-244 at 7 N. Harvard Avenue, has been in business here in Tulsa since 1938. The business has lasted through four generations of the family of founder Ann Bay who, with her husband, operated the bakery out of the ground floor of her home.

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<a href="http://www.annsbakery.com/goodies.html">There's more available at Ann's than just Barbie dress cakes</a>, of course. There's a variety of pastry, cookies and breakfast goodies at the shop, and Ann's is also a top choice amongst Tulsa's discriminating brides for wedding cakes. There's <a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/2009/09/cupping/">Topeca coffee</a> there, too.

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Are you seeing how beautiful those fall leaf cookies are? Wow. The color is incredible. They're almost too pretty to eat, really.

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My son and I met my mom at Ann's yesterday to help her pick up the cake and to have breakfast together.

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My mom chose a cream horn, I had a cheese danish. My son preferred the chocolate donut topped with Halloween sprinkles.

But of course.

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True to his style, though, he saw my breakfast...

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Knew I was busy taking photos...

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And, well, I think we know what happened there.

But who could blame him when something like this is staring him in the face?

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This lovely lady is Shannon Harris, and she represents the third generation at Ann's. I met Shannon at the <a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/2010/10/oklahoma-blogging-week-tulsa-meetup/">Oklahoma Blogging Week Meetup</a> here in Tulsa Thursday night, and on Friday morning I met her mom, Sharon, and her daughter, Jordan.

My son is a sixth-generation Tulsan on both sides of my family, so it's rare that I meet someone else who has roots in Tulsa that are as deep as my family's. But I love it when I do.

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So, about that Barbie dress cake.

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Every time I look at this picture, the little girl in me jumps up and down and makes a sound that's a but like...

SQUEEEE!!!!!!

I mean, just look at the level of detail:

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Unbelievable.

And here's the best part: The cake looks exactly like the one I had at my fourth birthday party. I mean, to a T.

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And yes, I'm wearing a princess crown. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

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Thanks goes to everyone at Ann's Bakery for continuing to be part of a family tradition that I hold so dear, even when it means taking a special order for a 27-year-old woman's Barbie dress cake that was ordered to be made according to a photo from 1987, and on a weekend when you have more than 20 wedding cakes to make and deliver.

Really. From the bottom of my heart.

<strong>Ann's Bakery</strong>
Where: 7 N. Harvard Avenue
Call: (918) 834-2345
Web: <a href="http://www.annsbakery.com/">AnnsBakery.com</a>