Saturday, July 12, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!!

And you thought we were done with the birthdays. Not quite yet! My birthday falls just a week after Alex's. He was actually due on my birthday, but I didn't want to share, so he had to come a week early.

I like spreading my birthday celebrations out over multiple days. This year everything encompassed 3 days. The day before my birthday we went out to lunch and saw the movie Wall-e. It was a really good movie. I recommend it to all.

On my actual birthday we went to the farmers' market in the morning. I set up with one of the farmers to get a weekly basket of produce. What I really wanted was part in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where you buy into a share of a farm and get weekly produce, but noone around here does that. So I had to set up my own. So now every week I'll be getting a big basket of farm fresh produce. Yum.

From there we went to the free kids movie at the movie theater. Movies will end up being the theme of this week. It's too hot out to do anything else. We saw the Veggie Tales movie. Ella and I had already seen it, but it was still fun anyways.

When we got home I decided that it was time to open my only birthday present, the one from my parents.

See how excited I am? And they got me the coolest gift, money!! But not just any money, money to buy this:

The DeLonghi 5 qt mixer!! No more hand mixing all my cakes and frostings. No more pretending I know how to knead bread. I am so excited. I got right on the internet and ordered it. There will be a baking frenzy when this pretty baby comes in the mail! Thanks mom and dad!! Oh, and my mom also gave me a framed picture of the sunset over Balboa beach. I love that place.

I actually spent the afternoon working a bit. Such a fun thing to do on my birthday, but it needed done. Then I decided to try and branch out my culinary skills. I made chicken tika masala for dinner. It turned out okay, but nowhere near as good as restaurant food. But since there are no Indian restaurants around here, homemade will have to do.

Then came the true celebration of the day. We had some friends come over, and instead of me baking my own cake, we had a fondue party!! I love fondue.

Ooey, gooey chocolatey goodness. Yum. I could eat a whole pot myself.

And look at all the fabulous treats we had to go with it!! The cherries were a last minute addition and turned out to be super fabulous.

I told Anton I didn't want a cake, but he surprised me with one anyway.

With all 18 of my candles on there. Okay, so there may have been more. But I've come to the age where you don't claim it any more. I'm old. That's all you need know.

Anton also decided to surprise me with trick candles. I blew and blew and they just wouldn't go out. I even spit on some and they still relit. Of course it didn't help that Andre kept relighting them too.

But a nice glass of water solved the candle problem and then we were all able to eat cake and ice cream in addition to the fondue. We were stuffed. But everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Ella loves chocolate.

Andre does too. The rest of us managed to contain our chocolate joys and eat with a bit of decorum. :)

After all that excitement you would think I couldn't handle any more. But the next day the celebrating continued. First, the gift Anton got me finally arrived in the mail.

He had taken all of my 2007 blog posts and published them in a book for me!! It took him a lot of time and it looks so good. I ended up being over 200 pages long. I love it.

Better reading than any novel.

And then to finish off the birthday celebrating, we got a babysitter last night and Anton and I went out on the town! We hadn't had a babysitter in soooooo long. It was great. We went to dinner at Chili's and then saw the movie Get Smart. It. was. so. funny! I haven't laughed so hard in ages. Everyone must go see that movie. Must. You won't regret it.

And that brings us to the end of my birthday celebrations. It was a good one. If it wasn't for the age I turned, I would even have said it was a great one. Happy Birthday to me!!

10 comments:

Andrea said...

I love that book!! Anton did a great job!! What a great suprise!! I wish I could have come to your chocolatey birthday!!!
Happy Birthday!!!!!

Des said...

Happy Birthday!! That sounds like a lot of fun. Too bad for us readers that you didn't want to bake your own cake...because I love to see what you create! That book idea is sooo awesome!! What a great idea. You guys are so good about going out and seeking adventures. We try to do the same, but with Orange gone I know better then to try too many crazy things (remember my mall post) But I do try a little just so I can stay adventurous(sp?) You are so good at keeping your blog updated and exciting...good for you. Love the good read.

Harmony said...

Happy Birthday! That blog book is the BEST idea--how do I send this to Blake without him figuring out I'm leading him along? Hmmm....

I'm with Des--I wanted to see what kind of fabulous cake you made for you own birthday. Maybe once shaped like a big 18!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Sarah said...

Happy birthday!! I love the three day celebration! It's a great occasion! Why limit it to just one day? Next year, shoot for a whole week!

Lucy said...

Happy Birthday - Great Job, Anton, Perfect Gift!! Great Idea!

The Galan Family said...

Happy Birthday Amanda! Okay, you must have turned the big 3-0! Maybe not. If so, congrats and welcome to the club. We are not old, 30 is the new 20! Love the fondue idea. My mouth waters whenever I read your blog.

Hadlock Hideaway said...

Happy Birthday You! I was so excited to hear about your presents. I just recently heard about the blog into a book thing... What a great idea, I love it. Some day, I am not far behind on the ? age too. Is it as bad as some people make it out to be?

Amy said...

Ha ha! I know how old you are - because I turn that age on Friday. Happy Birthday! Do you remember that summer we had our birthday party together?

What a fabulous birthday present. You have a very smart and thoughtful husband. So you need to post for us all how Anton had the book made from all your posts. I am interested in doing that so that all of our fun adventures and hard work are kept forever.

Matros said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! From the comments I'm thinking you might be at the magical age of celebrating another decade. If so, let me just tell ya, it's just a number. That's what Stuart always says to me anyway, because I don't like it either. I'm glad you had a lot of fun celebrating. Especially the chocolate fondue part, yummy!

Cassie said...

What a fun birthday!! I have to ask how Anton had it made into a book (I'm not the most computer-savvy ).