First Family

Happy Birthday, Michelle!

Mrs. O turns 45 today.

It’s the first lady-in-waiting’s birthday, and she’s spending it with her family—aboard a train bound for Washington, D.C. Not too romantic, maybe, but she already celebrated her big day, with a dinner at the capital’s Equinox restaurant. “We actually had a little birthday party last night,” Barack Obama said yesterday in an interview with CNN’s John King. “If you’re going to miss it, better miss it earlier than miss it late.” Michelle celebrated her birthday under unusual circumstances last year, as well, on the campaign trail in Las Vegas. “I took her out to dinner,” the president-elect said then. “At a fancy restaurant. Because she has just been so spectacular putting up with me on this presidential run. And I thought that I was being slick…And I said, you know, ‘Bring us a glass of champagne,’ because Michelle likes champagne...Everything went off without a hitch…Michelle loved it, she was feeling good. At the end of the dinner, I looked at the check and I did not realize you could pay that much for a glass of champagne, I mean wow! If I had known, I would have had a sip of this champagne. It’s Vegas, huh?”