Happy birthday, Lennon!

We had a great birthday party for Lennon this past Sunday. Friends and family came over to help us celebrate her 2nd birthday. I decided on a Dr. Seuss theme because those are some of her favorite books right now. It was the most homemade I've been making all the decorations, food, desserts, etc...I had some help here and there, but barely anything was store bought. Go me! I had a lot of fun getting ready for this and Lennon had a great day.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Lennon had a fantastic day on Saturday. It still blows my mind that she is one already. The link to the right will take you to her party pictures. We had an ice cream bar and had had family and close friends over to help celebrate her day.

Happy birthday, Pumpkin.

I cannot believe my Lennon is going to be a year old on Saturday! Happy birthday, Lennon. We love you so much!

Happy birthday to me!

It's my birthday today!

NKOTB

When I was in 3rd grade, I remember walking around the track during recess listening to New Kids on the Block on my Walkman. I would belt out Please don’t go Girl and Hangin’ Tough among others. I adored them. I adored Joey. I had one shirt and one giant pin. Nothing more. I was never allowed to go to one of their concerts though, Too young I suppose.

Well, I can check KNOTB concert off the list!

On Friday night, Kris and headed up to Broomfield to see them in concert. I was looking forward to it, but was not expecting much. I was excited, but not thrilled. Oh man, was I wrong.

It.was.awesome!

I thought it was hilarious that their first time around, most of us, were between the ages of 8-15. Now, we are all in our 20’s and 30’s. I was pretty happy that I would not be hearing screeching girls the entire show. When I went to see N’Sync a while back, I was deaf for a week from the blood curdling screams of 12 year old girls. Completely mistaken. I am still half deaf, but it’s because of the sheer volume of the screaming/cheering. The boys could not even be heard over the screaming when everyone was full on! It was hilarious. Then they started to sing. Holy crap did it take me back. They were really great live! We had seats on the floor and during the show they came over to the middle of the floor and sang about 3 songs from a rotating platform. We were maybe 10 feet from them! They are a lot shorter than I thought they would be, but that’s beside the point.

I also thought it was hilarious that I had no clue how popular Donnie was. Back in the day, I was completely smitten with Joey, which makes sense. I was young and so was he. He was the youngest by far. Little did I know that the older girls were all about Donnie. When he started to sing for the first time, the cheers were just as loud as they were for Joe! The tone was obviously a lot different this time too. Being a lot older, the guys were quite pervy at times. Donnie totally took the cake. I am pretty sure no one minded though.

The seats were filled with about 95% girls and 5% guys. Those poor fellas. Couldn’t even compete with what was happening around them. Donnie even made a comment about how he felt sorry for them, he really did. But seeing as they were soooo nice to take their lady to the show, they were owed a little bit of love when they got home.

Kris and I had a great time. The seats were filled. The energy was awesome. It was a fantastic show!

The rest of the weekend was spent in Breckenridge for Kris’s birthday. We went shopping, hung out and had a delicious dinner. (Note: If you have never tried Three Olives Grape Vodka and sprite I suggest you do so IMMEDIATELY. It tasted like grape soda!)

I wish every weekend could be like this.

Weekend recap

Kenny and I brought my mom to see Great Big Sea on Thursday night=Awesome

Went to Denver to go out with Alanna, Brie and Lacey for my birthday (a month late)=Awesome

Got to hang out with Karl (Kenny's brother) who was in town for the weekend=Awesome

Little Danielle (Jeff and Jamie's spawn) turned two and had a fun little birthday party=Awesome

It was the first weekend that felt like fall=Awesome

The carpet guy came over, ripped carpet out, sectioned off the entire area with plastic and put really loud fans in there to dry everything out and the fans had to constantly be running all weekend and the house is disorganized because of everything we had to move out of the way and he wrote a quote totaling $5300 freaking dollars=NOT Awesome

Food critic debut, sort of

Last night, my mom took Kenny and I out for my birthday dinner. I chose the Plate. If you're Colorado folk, I highly recommend it. It was fabulous. We ordered calamari for an appetizer. To reveal how classy I am, I will let you know that I have only ever consumed it breaded or fried. Never have I had it "au natural" in sauce. At first I was a bit afraid of the little rubber bands in marinara sauce, but decided to jump in head first-they were fantastic! For my main course, I ordered the kobe hanger with scallops. The server asked how I wanted my kobe cooked and I said medium-well. After she left I asked Kenny if I should have asked for it medium. He then reminded me of the time I ordered a buffalo steak medium and when I cut into it, it bled on my plate and all over my mashed potatoes. I was trying really hard to not complain about my food, and I know a lot of meat is better cooked medium or even medium rare. Instead, I just sat there and didn't say a word. Kenny looked over at me and said, "Are you crying?" I was totally tearing up as I was chewing on the way-too-undercooked (in my opinion) steak. It was grossing me out so bad that tears were filling my eyes. I cannot eat a meal involving meat with Kenny bringing that up. Anyways, I kept the Kobe medium-well, which really was overcooked a bit. Never satisfied. The scallops were perfect. For dessert, I ordered the brown sugar butter pecan cheesecake and OH MY GOD. I love all of those things separate, so together? Amazing! My mojito was the only mediocre thing I got there. It tasted like seltzer lime and nothing else. I have only been craving one for like 3 months. Way to wreck that one! Ever since they put that Bacardi commercial on tv. You know, the one with the dancing and the ch, ch, ch sound? Ring any bells? No? Fine.

My mom ordered the filet and Kenny had mussels, Italian sausage, and sea bass. Mmmmmm's were heard all around.

OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod

It's my birthday today!!!!! I don't know why I have always adored this particular day-more than Christmas, Easter, and EVEN St. Patrick's Day! It's not like anything mind blowing ever happens. Well, I guess making it another year is pretty impressive. Happy birthday to me!

A birthday present

Kenny gave me the blanket I wanted for my birthday and I LOVE it. I told him he will have to get one of his own because I am not willing to share it with him. However, the girls don't really seem to listen when I tell them the same thing.

UPDATE: Clementine chewed a fucking hole in my blanket 4 days after I got it.

A biodegradable birthday

Biodegradable Plates, Bowls & Cups

I am having a few people over for a birthday BBQ next Saturday. I was concerned about the utensils and everything that I needed to buy. You know, since I am all earthy now. My problems were solved when I found this site!

These plates are made from 100% sugar cane fiber (bagasse), a byproduct of the sugar refining process. (Supplies of this material are virtually unlimited worldwide. The use of bagasse products eliminates the dependence of traditional wood fiber-based materials in disposable tableware. Since bagasse is traditionally burned for disposal, the diversion of the fiber into the making of tableware prevents harmful air pollution.)

The potato-starch cutlery is sturdy, attractive, reusable, and suitable for hot foods up to 220° F. Because it's made from renewable resources (potato starch and vegetable oil), and because it's compostable, this makes a great replacement for standard plastic cutlery.These pieces will biodegrade within 180 days in a commercial composting facility.

To top it off, everything was reasonably priced-hooray! More money for birthday presents!

Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Frosting

(I will be gone tomorrow through Sunday, so this is getting posted a bit early. Deal with it.)

I made this cake for Kenny's birthday dinner this Wednesday past. I can't believe he is turning 30 on Sunday! I will have known him for 9 years come April 27th. I met him on his 21st birthday right before his drunken debauchery (which I did not attend because I was 17). Cradle robber.