Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Yay Momma! Happy Birthday...

   Yesturday was my Mom's 70th birthday party! We surprised her with a bit of an impromptu gathering at Applebee's in Littleton, CO
Originally, her friend Beverly Wise had invited her out for her birthday and Mom had invited me to come along. Now, little did she know that Thomas, Stephen, Carrie and Dianne would all be there as well! Surprise!

I was actually really lucky, because after posting on Facebook that I was going out to dinner with Mom that evening, my brother Thomas called me to ask if I was going to Mom's party. I asked him which party that was, and he told me their plan. Good thing too, because I lucked out and was able to get a 1/4 sheet cake from our favorite bakery (Indulge Bakery) for Mom's party. You might think you don't like cake... I think its just because you've never tried theirs before... trust me, its amazing. They also did our wedding cake. Best cake ever. Hands down.

 Clockwise from the top left: Beverly, Thomas, Dianne, Carrie, Stephen and Momma Edith.







            It took Mom a little while to get to the restaurant, because she found out at the last minute that she had another patient to help across town and ended up getting there about an hour and a half later than planned. We were all having fun, though and were all about two or three drinks in before she got there. It was so much fun, catching up and telling hilarious stories about mystery gas and the adventures of youth. By the time Mom got there, we had finished our appetizer smorgesbord and were ready for dinner and the guest of honor.
             Once dinner was done, we were ready for cake and candles. At first, Mom was fighting us on how many candles to put on the cake. We finally settled on 7. One for every decade she'd been around. She tried to tell us that if we put all 70 on the cake that it would burn down the restaurant. It would have been pretty until then, though. LOL













A Beautiful occasion for a Beautiful Lady!
Happy 70th Birthday Mom... and here's to many, many more to come!


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Pancakes, Snowstorms and IKEA... Oh my!

Hello again!

C'est Moi...

   I'm writing this as I cook pancakes and watch the snow accumulate on my porch here in Boulder. Its beautiful, but I'm not looking forward to going to work in it. Been out already today for an 8am meeting, and the snow has only gotten worse since then.

   I guess I should say that I'm actually making crepes. When I was a kid, I'm still fuzzy on why we did this, but crepes were "thin pancakes" and regular pancakes involved grated potatoe. We'll chalk it up to a "quirky German" thing. :D

   Two things I have to stress when making crepes, as they were an issue today: 1. make the batter a little runny so that its easier to coat the bottom of the pan, and 2. Use MILK! Fellow lactose intolerants will agree that Almond milk, while better on the tummy when eaten with cereal or drank, doesn't cook well. Plan accordingly.

Here's a really good recipe and a tutorial, btw: Basic Crepe Recipe, Easy Tutorial

   Snow always makes me want to do two things: Wax poetic and rearrange my house... and sometimes to bake cookies, but we won't go there today. The rearranging thing usually takes the form of "trying to get organized." Its quite the uphill battle for me, as I tend toward the pile in the corner system. Not very effective when trying to find things.

The other problem I run into is that I like things to be pretty in their functionality. Enter... IKEA! I'll admit it, I have a little bit of an addiction. Its a good thing that its in Centennial, or there would be a greater addiction at hand.

Here are some pics of my new shelves and some pretty frames. Now I just need to put pictures in them!

 Shelf one, from IKEA, and surprisingly heavy but easy to assemble.
















Shelf two from Bed bath and beyond... also very easy! This one is designed by Martha Stewart... I'm thinking she went to IKEA before designing it, though...

 

And pretty pretty frames! Sean helped me arrange them on the wall to look artistically off kilter. I think it works very well with the chest of drawers and salt rock. Chic and pleasant... Good stuff!