Surprise Party!

The 'excuse' for visiting my family in Philly was my C-I-L's surprise 40th birthday party.  Somehow he was absolutely clueless!!!

Matthew Baby Bunny Rabbit

Happy Birthday MBBR. I can't beleive you are 26!!

Editor's note to MBBR: Notice how I've avoided using THE picture :)

Jilted

Thursday night was supposed to be the big night! We were headed to LD's Kitchen, a local eatery that has won accolades for thier mac 'n' cheese. Garden and Gun, a Southern Living-esque publication named LD's Mac 'n' cheese one of the 100 southern foods to try before dying. And several other publications have given it amazing accolades. I was looking forward to sampling said mac 'n' cheese and if it was as good as the rumors had it, i was marrying it. Unfortunately I was jilted at the alter, no mac 'n' cheese except on wednesdays! :c(

The real reason for our excursion was martin's birthday -- yes, a wedding and a birthday. Fun times were had by all. Fried foods were consumed in excess, as was sweet tea. Homeade carrot cake with delightfully unhealthy cream cheese frosting was provided (thanks Kristen and Amber!) for those who don't do chocolate. Adult beverages preceded and followed at the local watering holes. Celebratory hats were worn (Thanks Jen!)-- and Kristen still has her Cock of the walk Red Feather!

Happy Birthday Tom

Friday night we celebrated Tom's birthday courtesy of Katherine, Lauchline, and Olivia! It was great to get to see Tom. I'm glad that he made it successfully through the first semester at TAMU. I know it isn't exactly easy. Check out his cake. The force was with us.

Bithday Pictures

Here are some pictures I promised from the Birthday and Supper Club combo!

Thanks-day aka Birth-giving

After a fun thanksgiving with the Youngs and the Weeks, I enjoyed the rest of the weekend.

On Friday I took the morning off to bond with the puppies. We had some quality snooze time together. Then, Erin called to wish me a happy birthday and to see about a birthday date. We got in touch with our inner 16 year old selves and headed to the new Vicksburg movie theatre for a mid-afternoon showing of Twighlight. Oh Edward, seriously you are hot. And, who wouldn't want a vampire for a boyfriend, except the whole blood sucking thing? Later that night Erin, Jeff, Christina, Al, Heather, and Kristin all joined me at the Sports bar for a couple of drinks! Many thanks guys it was really fun! A sign of aging - you go to the bar nice and early so you can have your fun time out, actually hear one anotehr, and then you can leave when it gets crowded and loud. Seriously, not exactly birthday celebration material - but exactly the way I like it.

Saturday I joined the Youngs on their annual treck to the Curry Christmas Tree farm in Start, LA. Check out the local fire department! We wandered around the farm looking a all sorts of trees. About the time they picked theirs out I decided that I should ge mine while I was there, too. After all, I had never been to a real Christmas Tree farm! The really cool thing was that you went and picked out your tree... then they came and 'fell your tree' for you - no need to bring your chainsaw. Eventually, when we made it back to Delhi we realized that my tree was NOT going to fit into the back of my car. I swear, somehow I got my big tree in there last year. I'm not sure what happened there. I wound up borrowing Stephen's truck for the weekend to drive my tree home. Amanda and I traded car for truck on Monday at work. The tree is awesome looking, although I haven't acutally decorated it yet. Certain puppies seem to be interested in sniffing it. Every so often I see a look in their eyes as they contemplate muching.

Finally, Sunday night was a meeting of the Vicksburg Supper club. Kristin put out a fine spread of cajun/creole food. It was totally yummy! We had red beans and rice, griallards, and bread pudding. There may have been hurricanes involved too. She topped of the night with cake and candles for me!!!! I'll post those pictures sooner or later! A fun time was had by all.

Birthdays, Birthdays and more Birthdays

I've been a bad blogger lately, so I'm trying to catch up. It is only because I've been so darn busy though :-)

Sunday was my Matthew Baby Bunny Rabit's birthday. Matthew baby buny rabit is my baby brother, who isn't so baby anymore. He has officially hit the quarter century mark. One of these days I'm going to have to stop calling him baby bunny rabit. Actually, the story behind that one is that when he was little Matthew had a stuffed rabbit. He named it Matthew Baby Bunny Rabbit. Thinking of Matthew always makes me think of this story, so that is his pet name. Matthew also cracks me up because he has told me that he doesn't look down on his furry nieces with quiet as much love as they look up to him with. I beleive his words were 'i prefer pets that live in tanks'. Well Matt, the ladies send you a big kiss anyways. Can your imaginary gecko do that? More importantly, would you want the gecko to do that?

Last monday we celebrated my new friend Amber's birthday. As a fellow late NOvember birthday girl, she understands my pain. This year she threw herself a pary since last year she was stuck driving home from Thanksgiving on her birthday. I recently met Amber through our supper club - she hosted the most awesome Oktoberfest! Amber is an amazing cook, not only was the Oktoberfest good, but she made one heck of a posole and salad for her birthday party. The cakes, well, I won't say anything other than Oh Mah Gawd, Amaaaazing. They really were fabulous. Plus, we had a pinata. It was so fun!! The pinata was slightly overdesigned and we cracked a broom handle in half breaking it, but it was darn fun! Kudo to Amber on a fabulous party. I hope she enjoyed her birthday!

Wednesday was my mom's birthday. Unfortuantely she spent way to much of her birthday working way to much. Such are the pitfalls of working in retail. I think mom just took advantage of getting the day after her birthday off courtesty of Turkey Time. Mom has been doing some great work domestically lately too. In the last year and a half she has come to understand my love of the domestic art of cooking as she has started getting into her own culinary exploits! I'm quite proud of some of her endeavors. For thanksgiving she tried Butternut squash souffle. Who would have though?

Happy birthday to one and all. It certainly is a crazy time of year!

Note: The picture of Matthew is at the Lego store with a Lego R2D2 in October. Mom and dad are pictured at the renewal of their vows after their 30th anniversary.

Happy Birthday Virginia

It has been a while, so I'm trying to catch up! Last weekend I went to Delhi to celebrate Virginia's 2nd brithday. It was a small affiar, just family. Last year she enjoyed her cake, but it took her a while to get the whole playing with cake thing down. This year she was right on top of it!

It started out cute, but wound up with frosting everywhere. Virginia and I make a great pair - I prefer the cake and she prefers the frosting. Apparnetly she woke up and had magically turned over to being a trrible 2.

I got to spend the rest of the evening hanging out with Amanda and Amariah. Amariah is so sweet, and Amanda and Stephen are soooo happy. It makes me happy to see everyone so happy.

Double the Fun!

Today Daisy and I are celebrating our 2nd anniversary together. Two years, twice the fun! Of course, when I gave her a big hug this morning and told her happy anniversary she just looked at me as if to say, um, please let me sleep some more or give me a treat if I must be awake. Seriously, I can't beleive it has been two years. I remember going to get her quite well. She was so little and cute - what ever happened?!?!?

THEN

NOW

Today is also my Aunt Barbara's Birthday! She is my New Jersey mother, keeping me in line from the Garden State. As a fellow oldest child, only a generation prevoius, we have lots in common. She is an avid quilter, cook, and baker amongst other things. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see her in Indiana in November, and I'm looking forward to it! Happy Birthday Auntie Barbara. I hope you have a great day!

Jano Fabulous is Fantabulous

Just wanted to put out a quick happy birthday shout out to Jano Fabulous. Jano and I go back to my college days. She was an Non-Academic Usher supervisor at the Assembly Hall, and a darn good supervisor at that. Plus, she was a fun supervisor. We got to know her back then, and the friendship stuck. Last year when I was back at school I got to spend some time with Jane - it helped make returning to school worth while!

Happy birthday Jano Fabulous. I hope it was Fantabulous!

A day late, a dime short

It is only a dime short becase haley is so little. Today is a belated happy birthday blog to Haley Bell. Haley is one of my work/home neighbors. She works two doors down from me. Haley and her husband Mat live a couple of streets over. It might be .25 miles as the crow flies, but as the dog walks it is about .75 miles. That is grat for us as my dogs need all the walking they can get. It is a litle more difficult for Haley as her puppy is a itty bitty thing. Wrigley (as in the cubs) is a cairne terrier, so that kind of walk is a little beyond her capabilities.

Haleyis a little bitty thing She is so petite and tiny that you would hate her if you didn't love her. She is cute as a button and the sweetest thing - so you really couldn't dislike her if you tried. Right now she is super cute since she is about 20 weeks pregnant. she has this adorable bump that just looks so cute. I know that she is going to be a great mom because she is so kind and caring around the office. That is one of my favorite things about Haley - she remember what you tell her, remembers special things coming up and she always asks you are doing. If I don't give her a hi in the morning when I come in she comes over to ask if everything is OK. Haley Bell - here is a happy birthday to you (and your twin brother) - it may be a dime short, but it is still meant like a ten dollar bill!

Note: The picutre is both Haley and Lulu (our other work/home neighbor) at a conference in D.C. a couple of years back.

you look like a monkey and sometimes you smell like one too

i would be speaking of my dog here. today is daisy dogg's birthday. we've been together for a year now! if you aren't aware of this, daisy dogg is my spoiled puppy. unfortunately, she knows that she has me wrapped around her little paw. she is the protector of our house an my second doorbell. daisy has tailgated with me at illini football and she is my walking companion du jour. she is good at keeping me on my toes. she loves to alk around with squeaker toys. nothing makes her happier than reminding us that she is in the room. she also enjoys running in circles, sniffing butts, and body slaming. if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, you oughta.

billy bob, dancing king on the tellureen

in the spirit of birthdays, i devote this post to my dad, bill. yesterday was his birthday ( i am behind on my blogging). he is starting to put on the years, as this was the big 5-5. obviously he is too young to have a daughter as old as me. my dad is a life long illinoisan. with the exception of a couple of years in college he has lived his entire life in the chicago suburbs. he actually grew up in oak park, just up the street from one of the frank lloyd wright homes.

i am very proud of my dad. for financial reasons he was unable to complete college. when i look at how far he has come in life and everything he has accomplished despite this setback, it amazes me. how far he has progressed in life has always been an example of what you can get if you are willing to work for it. now-a-days dad works for a bank in downtown chicago. i think it is chase manhattan, although i might be wrong. the way these banks are constantly buying one another out, i never really know who he works for. likewise, i never really know what he does. what i can tell you is that they ahve been filming the new batman movie accross the street from his offfice. as a result, he brought in a big blowup batman to put in their window. and people wonder how i turned out to be such a dork????

you ask, why is your dad a dancing king? he LOVES to dance. he is the best wedding date ever. he is out there dancing every dance that a middle aged man should be dancing (he avoids the hip hop for some reason). But, he is can get out there and swing with the divorcees or he can polka away the night with his daughters. In fact, in his slightly younger years i even remember seeing him go do the russian dance wehre you jump up in the air and do the splits.
despite being a hard worker, and a crazy dancer, my dad knows how to have fun. or, at least he knows how to be a smart-ass (once again, we wonder where i get that from?). one time we were eating dinner as a family. i must have been somewhere around 5th grade. my mom was lecturing one, or all, of us kids on table manners. as usual, someone had been playing with their food. about the same time that she finished her verbal whipping with the wet noodle dad decided to get some seconds. he took two slices of cucumbers. he then proceded to eat the middle, seeded parts and put the outsides over his eyes like a set of glasses. what a dork! how my mom didn't kill him that night, i'm not sure. :-)

on that note, i say happy belated birthday billy boy.