Happy birthday!!

Saturday was Spouse's birthday!  And Walter's birthday!

This year I planned a very social weekend away for Spouse's birthday but kept all the details a secret.  I told him to simply pack casual clothes and don't try to figure everything out.

So Sat morning we drove to the DC area where we used to live and arrived just in time for lunch at the Taco House with our friends Jeff, Shaun, Brandon and David.  Spouse was happily surprised to see them, and of course equally happy to eat at our longtime favorite Mexican restaurant.  I'd emailed in advance to be sure the owners (who are also friends) Juan & Gloria would be there, so we had a nice reunion with them too.  Unfortunately I took no photos.

Next we drove over to have a short visit with our good friends Bugsy & Roger.  It had been about a year since we'd seen them at our house so we enjoyed a nice, relaxing visit at their home.  Again I took no photos.

Then we drove several miles south to the area where I grew up, but that has changed quite a bit.  Spouse knows that our friend Carl lives there so he guessed we were either going to Carl's house or meeting him somewhere for dinner.  But instead, we arrived at a hotel and checked in.  After a few minutes of relaxing and changing our clothes, we went to a hip bar/restaurant nearby.  Waiting for us to arrive was Carl, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Kim, Justine & Liz, Harriet & Bob, Ana & Jose, Javier, and Emily & Brandon!  This time I managed to take a few photos but they're pretty bad.  

L-R: Kelly, Javier, Harriet, Bob, Jose, Ana, Hugh, Kerry

L-R:  Carl, Kim

L-R: Kerry, Justine, Liz, me

The birthday boy

I didn't give people time to look at the camera or smile, I just snapped away.  As you can see from the table, alcohol was involved which likely contributed to the (non-)quality of the photos, but at least its better than no photos.

About 3 hours later everyone left except Kerry & Hugh and Carl, so the servers moved us to a smaller table where we ordered a couple desserts to share and continued visiting.  We had a lovely, lovely birthday dinner, as well as a fun day overall.  We got back to the hotel and crashed.

The next morning we showered, checked out, and headed back north to Spouse's sister's house.  Waiting for us there was his sister, her husband, her 2 sons, and Spouse's brother and his wife.  'The family' had a yummy brunch and visited for a couple hours before heading home to DE.

Spouse complimented me on the terrific birthday weekend and said it was probably his favorite ever.

Sharing Spouse's birthday, although completely overlooked this year, is Walter who turned 5 years old.  We adopted him in Sept but were told he was born on July 20, the same day as Spouse.  That is why Walter's middle name is the same as Spouse's first name.

Weekend fun

This past weekend our good friends Kerry & Hugh came for a visit.  They arrived late Fri night so we only talked for a while before we were all ready for bed.

Sat morning we had bagels and coffee for breakfast and talked and caught up on the goings on in each others' lives.  I guess we hadn't seen them since Christmas.  Eventually we got ourselves cleaned up and went to the theatre to see "Ready Player One".  While its a movie about virtual reality video game players in the future, I really liked it.  The story was compelling enough to keep me interested despite me not being a 'gamer' at all.

After the movie we were all hungry (not having eaten lunch) but it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner.  So we went to Grottos Pizza and ordered a pizza to share, as a 'snack' to tied us over until dinner.  Next we stopped at Beach Time Distilling tasting room and sampled some flavored rums, gins, and such.  

We hung out at home some more and talked and laughed until we were ready for dinner.  We decided to go to Arenas for soups and sandwiches.  We watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sun morning we had coffee at home, then went to Bethany Blues for their awesome Sun Brunch Buffet.  We had talked about this before so Kerry & Hugh were eager to experience it.  On the way home we stopped in to tour a historic home my team has for sale.  Kerry & Hugh love old homes and this one is really interesting.  Shortly after returning home they packed their things and headed back to VA.  It was a fun visit!

Birthday brunch buffet

Yesterday was our good friend Steven's 50th birthday.  His partner Thad planned a surprise birthday brunch at a local restaurant.  Steven was told that he was meeting Spouse & me and his old friends Jon & Carol Ann for brunch, but in reality there were more than 20 other friends and family members there.

Thad created 'loot bags' for all the guests to take home, seen on the table in the photo below. 

Loot bags on the table

They contained snacks and candies that are favorites of Steven, like Rolos, Twizzlers, Swedish Fish, Slim Jims, and more.

A magenta and black zebra print birthday hat was waiting for Steven, and I was glad he wore the hat for almost the entire party.

Steven with his daughters at his side

Since the brunch buffet included a variety of desserts, there was no obligatory birthday cake.  Instead Thad selected a piece of cake from the buffet and added the 5 and 0 candles to it.  We all sang "Happy birthday".

After we'd all stuffed ourselves from the amazing brunch buffet, Steven posed for some photos with his friends and family.  Below on the left is his longtime friend John, and Spouse and Joe P on the right.  I referred to them as the Four Paisanos!

Four Paisanos

Below are Steven with 2 of his sisters and 1 sister's husband as well as Thad and his sister Robin.

Brothers and Sisters

Steven & Thad with their daughters.

The food was amazing (much better than I expected from a buffet) and everyone had a great time.

Happy 50th birthday to my good friend!!

Weekend highlights

We had a leisurely Sat morning. I made a cake in the shape of a Christmas tree, then decorated it to look like a Christmas tree, to take to our friends George & Steve's tree trimming party.
I used a chocolate cake mix and added orange extract, orange zest, and triple sec. The icing was a cream cheese base to which I added orange extract and orange zest. Spouse really loves the combination of chocolate and orange. Oddly, I couldn't find my rectangular cake transporter. I checked every closet and cabinet, to no avail. So Spouse & I went to a nearby kitchen store to buy another, but decided to pass on the $30. one they had. Next we went to Walmart, thinking we'd find a less expensive one there, but found only round ones! So I bought a $1.50 aluminum foil turkey roasting pan and turned it upside down over the take to transport it. Hopefully we'll find the rectangular cake transporter one day. I think we probably left it at someone's house.

We had a lovely time at the tree trimming party, chatting with friends, snacking, and admiring the 2 trees. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store. Later that evening we met up with Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs, and Jack and his friend John at the Frogg Pond for their customer appreciation party. (This is the place where we've played team trivia games and tournaments.) We enjoyed a free buffet dinner, talked, and listened to a couple play music and sing. There were door prizes given out throughout the night but we didn't stay to the end. We had a good time.

Sun morning Spouse & I had a few friends over for brunch. (Spouse chose the brunch over a party for my birthday.) We had french toast, a french toast casserole, egg casseroles, bacon, sausage, a fruit salad, coffee and juice. It was really nice and our friends stayed for 3 hours. When they left we cleaned up and Spouse took a nap while I stumbled upon a marathon of a show called "It Only Hurts When I Laugh". I don't know why, but I get positively giddy watching video clips of people hurting themselves! Seriously, I watched 3 hours of this show and was literally laughing out loud.

Then Thad called and invited us to meet them at the Long Neck Diner for dinner. I had a yummy cheesesteak with fries. Afterward we went to their house and helped them decorate their tree. When we returned home we watched "Ice Blues" and then went to bed. We did a lot this weekend but didn't feel like we were on a schedule.

Weekend highlights

Fri evening Spouse & I met 'the usual suspects' for Fri Night Dinner, then headed to VA.

Sat morning Spouse's sister and kids came over to his mom's house (where we stay) and we hung out for awhile. The group had lunch at a diner, then Spouse & I left to meet up with our realtor. She showed us another condo foreclosure which we liked and made an offer on. But again we are 1 of 4 offers on the place, so we'll see how it goes. We'd really like to pick up an inexpensive condo to rent out. We know that when the economy and real estate market improve, these units will appreciate a lot. Afterward we just drove around in our former town, taking note of the changes, and enjoying the gorgeous weather. It was sunny and in the 70s so we had the convertible top down. We also stopped at one of our favorite bakeries to pick up dessert for Sun evening. We returned to Spouse's mom's house, rested up a little, then his mom went with us to his sister's house where we hung out, ate pizza, and watched TV. We wound up watching a 1974 episode of "Columbo", streamed from Netflix. What a hoot!!!

Sun morning we hung out with Spouse's mom for a while, then his sister came over for a little while. She took Spouse's mom to church and we packed our stuff and headed over to Mike & Clark's house for brunch. Bugs & Roger came too. Mike & Clark started an addition and renovation project a few weeks before we did, and this was our 1st chance to see their new dining room, kitchen, and family room, which are absolutely gorgeous. We had a lovely brunch and got caught up on the goings-on in each others' lives. They are great friends and we really value keeping our friendship going despite us having moved away. From Mike & Clark's we drove back to DE and directly to Steven & Thad's. Again it was a beautiful day so we had the convertible top down. Spouse had invited us over to Steven & Thad's house for Sun dinner (insert me rolling my eyes). They were gracious and accepted our invitation to have dinner at their house. We had delicious grilled London Broil, salad, and grilled vegetables. We brought dessert. We had a nice, relaxing evening with our friends. It was a great way to wind down the weekend.

We got home about 9:30, unpacked, and watched TV until bedtime.

Today we've had intermittent showers and clouds, but after the spectacular weather we had this weekend, I don't really mind.

Crush du Jour: Will Forte

New Year's weekend highlights

We had a terrific New Year's weekend! Although we hadn't planned a lot of activities in advance, our 3-day weekend was full of fun stuff!

For New Year's Eve we went to a potluck dinner at Chris & Jason's house. Many of our friends were there, including Steven & Thad, the Bobs, Rusty, Joe, and Art. I had simmered a crockpot full of meatballs all day long and took them to the party. We had a ham, potato salad, spinach balls, chicken balls, chips and dips, hot wings, my saucy meatballs, and everything was delicious. I had a mimosa and a glass of Prosecco at the party. Then around 10:00 the group went to a local watering hole where we hung out until the final countdown to the new year. We raised our clear plastic champagne glasses and at midnight we toasted and wished each other a happy new year. Earlier in the day I got a text message from my old friend David, indicating he was on his way into town so we arranged to meet up at the watering hole. The last time we'd seen each other was at my grandparents' funeral in Jan 1990, 20 years ago! I introduced him to Spouse and we had fun chatting and reminiscing.

On New Year's day most of the guys from the potluck reconvened for brunch at The Buttery, a beautiful restaurant in an old Victorian house. The food and mimosas were good, the homemade baked goods were great, but the company was the best. We ate, drank, and laughed for 2 1/2 hours. A great start to the new year in my opinion. Spouse & I stopped at a few stores to do some comparison shopping, then walked over to Jared & Merle's house. They'd invited us to come over for a little new year's nosh (we didn't tell them we'd just finished brunch an hour earlier) and we had a great time. Jared made a homemade cheese cake and homemade eggnog with spiced rum, both of which were out of this world. We visited with them in their parlor and I sat in the chair closest to the fireplace which added that extra umph to a warm and cozy afternoon. Jared sent us home with 2 huge slices of cheese cake, too!

Once home, Spouse took a nap and I watched some TV until it was time for our regular Fri Night Dinner with 'the usual suspects'. 12 of us ate at Miltonian Pizzeria and Wing House, and Spouse & I shared our favorite: Bodacious buffalo chicken pizza. (Its hard to believe we could possibly eat again after all we'd eaten earlier that day.) Afterward, several of the guys came back to our house for a little while before we all headed out to the MANDance, a monthly dance party at a local watering hole. Since Spouse doesn't really like going to bars, it was a real surprise to me that he agreed to go out 2 nights in a row! I only had 1 cocktail because the MANDance quickly got very crowded and hot. Simply getting to the bar was an ordeal, so we just danced and had a great time. We saw lots of friends there, including our old friend Kevin who moved to FL several years ago, then moved to MD last year, then moved back home to DC a few months ago. What a nice surprise to catch up with him again!

Sat Spouse & I had breakfast out, then did a little more comparison shopping. (He was looking for 1/2 sheet cake size pans and we are looking for a small chest freezer.) Once home again Spouse took a nap and I watched TV and played around on Facebook. We had dinner at Irish Eyes Pub with Steven & Thad. I had a tasty sandwich of turkey, cole slaw, and thousand island dressing on pumpernickel bread, with fries. Spouse had cajun chicken pasta. The 4 of us returned to our house and watched "Bruno". Like everyone else, we found it to be funny in parts but not as good as "Borat". Afterward we split the 2 huge pieces of Jared's cheese cake between the 4 of us.

Sun we had brunch with our friends Koset & Jim. I had french toast with a side of scrapple. Mmmm, good! We met them at the car club dinner and awards banquet last Sept, and learned that they live 1 block from where Spouse & I 1st lived together in VA. They also have a house in Rehoboth Beach and spent the New Year's weekend there. We had a great time getting to know them better and the time just flew by. Later Spouse (finally) found is 1/2 sheet cake pans at a good price, and then picked up some groceries for our new healthy eating plan. He roasted yellow, zucchini, and acorn squash, eggplant, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. He also roasted 6 boneless chicken breasts and a steak. Now that the cooking has mostly been done, for dinner this week we'll just need to heat up the meat and vegetables and season (if necessary).

We capped off our long weekend by indulging in some soon-to-be forbidden flavors, as our diet begins on Mon. We met Steven & Thad at Purple Parrot where I had an absurdly large platter of nachos and beer. And as if that pig-out wasn't enough, we stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream on the way home! I was so full from dinner that I barely managed to eat my delicious combination of dark chocolate and peanut butter flavored ice cream. I felt as if I were going to explode.

Now, I will go ahead and say what I know you're all thinking: "It sounds like you ate the entire weekend!" I don't blame you; its basically true. We over-indulged the entire weekend because we felt like it was our last chance (for a while, at least) to enjoy these decadent foods and treats. See, Steven & Thad and Spouse & I all 4 started new eating plans today. Although using somewhat different methods, our shared goal is to reduce our portion sizes, reduce our consumption of processed foods, and increase our consumption of fresh, natural veggies and fruit. Along with increased exercise, we anticipate our healthy eating plans will result in weight loss and a better overall feeling about ourselves. So this past weekend - a holiday weekend - was our last chance to indulge our love for tasty, fatty, sweet, fried foods.

I'd say we took full advantage of that opportunity.

Crush du Jour: Ian Somerhalder

Weekend highlights

Karaoke - Freddie's was not a full as it normally is on a Fri night, so there were fewer karaoke singers. I got to sing 5 times during my 2 1/2 hours there! I had a good time visiting with my buddies Chris and Sean.

Parade - It was really cold for the Manassas Christmas Parade, but at least it wasn't windy. We had a lot of fun and I ate too many sweets.

Dinner - Spouse wasn't feeling well so he didn't go with me when I met up with Susan, her boyfriend Gerry, Clara, her husband Sivan and their son Kai. We had a really nice visit, chatting about politics, work, quality of life, and holidays. We ordered Greek food from a nearby restaurant and ate at Clara & Sivan's. Afterward they surprised me with a birthday cake and sung "Happy Birthday" to me. It was sweet.

Brunch - Spouse, his mom and I picked up my aunt Mary and we had brunch at Ireland's Four Provinces. I had selected brunch as my meal of choice for this year's birthday, and Mary recommended the venue, which we all enjoyed a lot.

Lights - On Fri I strung the wrap around porch with white lights. When I plugged them all in, I saw an 8' section of lights that were out! I replaced the bulbs at the beginning and end of the un-lit section, but it didn't help. So, I unhooked that string, unwound them from the railing, and re- strung another string in its place. That string also had an 8' section that didn't light! What was particularly distressing was that I'd just bought these lights last year. After spending 2 1/2 hours wrapping and wiring the whole thing up, I decided to just leave the lights as-is, with the hope that the non-working lights would magically start working just as mysteriously as they had stopped working. I began to feel jinxed after remembering last year's outdoor holiday decorating debacle.

Then on Sun when we returned from VA, I decided to string the Christmas tree with lights. I got the 1st 3 strings tested and put on. When I tested the 4th and final string, I found a big section of lights that didn't work, so I threw them in the trash. I'll buy another string of lights this week to finish lighting the Christmas tree. Its just kind of weird that we decorated our house and tree for years in our old home and never had any issues, but our 1st 2 Christmases in our new house have been accompanied by lighting issues.

DVDs - Last night Spouse & I watched the 2nd disc in the 3-disc DVD set of HBO's miniseries "John Adams". It was nominated for a bunch of awards, and we've been enjoying watching it. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in history, like Spouse. I'm enjoying it to, and I'm not particularly interested in history. Add it to your Netflix queue and be surprised how much you enjoy it.

***Update***

Video - I can't believe I forgot to mention the wonderful video that fellow blogger Gallus made for my birthday! He included all my favorite stuff, and really made my birthday special. Check it out here.

Crush du Jour: Steve Zahn