80's cartoon style

For my birthday this year, I planned a small shindig with some friends. I asked them to come decked out in their finest 80's cartoon or tv gear, ordered a cake, and secured a table at my favorite local mexican place. It was all set to be low-key and just the way I like it. In hindsight, I probably should have planned something a little more out of the ordinary, because as they say, you only turn 30 once! If I had been prepared far in advance, I think I could have done some pretty rad things. There's no sense in lamenting what "coulda, shoulda, woulda" though, and instead, I'm greatful to my friends who all joined me for such a fun night. Now if I can just carry the Punky Power throughout the rest of my year. :-)

What's a birthday without Amaretto cake?

And a table of my favorite people!

Or fun 80's candy?

Just don't forget to bring the Punky Power,

Or forget to make a wish,

Because before you know it, 30 will be old news.

Hot Ladies in Hotlanta

As part of my birthday celebration this year, I spent a long weekend with some of my High School pals (who were also all turning 30) in the city of Atlanta. Coming from pretty different locations (Chicago, Germany, Detroit, etc); we wanted a place that was a direct flight for all of us. Hotlanta it was! Most of the six of us arrived early in the evening on Thursday, and sneaky Liz surprised us with a cake in our hotel!

Our hotel by the way, was lovely. It was pretty booked up because of the Georgia Marathon on Saturday, so we couldn't get adjoining rooms, but the ones we got sure were perfect! The Ellis even offered a complimentary "wine down" every evening from 5:30-6:30, which we definitely took advantage of.

Plans for the weekend consisted of loads of girl time. Of course we checked out the Georgia Aquarium, the Coca-Cola museum, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, but mostly we wanted to wander around the streets, eat good food, share a lot of laughs and spend some quality time together before we all turned into old cougars. Thankfully, we were able to accomplish all that. We even squeezed in reservations at the Woodfire Grill, run by none other than Kevin red-beard from Top Chef season 4! I strong-armed the other ladies into ordering the five course tasting menu, and I'm here to tell you, it was nothing short of amazing. I even broke my foie gras, offal, and pork belly cherries.

At the Coke Museum

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Cheers to our 30's @ Woodfire Grill

It seems like the weekend was over in a flash because of all the fun we were having, but I'm forever grateful that I got to spend one last good weekend with the ladies before the inevitable "baby" phase of our lives. A special appreciation goes out to Katie for the earplugs and beauty mask, and to Erin for the cute goodie bags full of German candy. You ladies really know how to make a weekend fit for queens!

30 @ 30

As I turned the big 3-0 today, I found myself doing some rather grown-up thinking. Thinking about how I'd much rather be a kid again! But unfortunately, I can't go back in time. All I can do is continue to celebrate another year of being fabulously "29." To make that a little easier to bear next year, I planned a list of 30 things I'd like to accomplish to keep the spark of youth in my life.

1. Go on a picnic
2. Take a walk in the spring rain/jump in puddles
3. Grow raspberries
4. Bake mini cupcakes
5. Run a race
6. Host an HP7 premier party
7. Play with chalk
8. Learn the rules of ice hockey
9. Go rollerblading through the park
10. Plant cutable flowers in the yard
11. Hang a hallway photo display
12. Make homemade marshmallows and hot cocoa
13. Jump in a leaf pile
14. Have a backyard garden party
15. Take a fall color hike
16. Poach an egg
17. Do yoga 30 times
18. Plan a seasonal date per quarter
19. Have a water balloon/squirt gun fight
20. Master PhotoShop elements
21. Stop and smell the lavender
22. Spend a sunny afternoon with camera and without plan
23. Blow bubbles
24. Finish a crossword puzzle - solo
25. Visit the zoo or aquarium
26. Watch planes or trains go by
27. Take a bicycle trip to get ice cream on a hot evening
28. Save for the trip of a lifetime - Italy
29. Brave a crowded waterpark
30. Photo document this list

Not too shabby! Here's to hoping I'm not too old to actually get all this done in a year. :-)

Boeuf en France

I could write pages and pages about how much I love my supper club. Tonight though, since I'm running low on time before I head off to Atlanta for the long weekend, I'll just post about the main dish I made for Supper club en France at our house.

Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon!

There's no point in my trying to list the three pages of Julia's very detailed instructions, but let's just go ahead and say that this is not a weeknight friendly meal. Thankfully, I spent most of Monday night cooking, so all I had to do tonight was just warm up the stew. I would say all combined, this dish took about 5 hours to create. So plan accordingly! But don't worry. I promise you it was worth EVERY bit of that time.

Ooh la la

For a more comprehensive look at our lovely mental trip to France, head over and check out Stephanie's review.

Snippets of Life

Just a few snippets of life around here. First, the kitties are dying to get outside. They don't seem to even care that the deck was still covered in snow. Otherwise they seem to be doing nothing but sleeping, and soaking up the occasional beam of sun.

I made rolls. From scratch. They were delicious. The Mister thought they were the perfect combination of muffin/roll/biscuit. Given that I was going only for roll texture, I was admittedly, a bit disappointed. However, these rolls were fantastic for breakfast spread with butter and honey. I might make them again just for that fact.

We fondued. Did you? I accidentally bought shrimps with the shell on. Oops! Thankfully they were already split from vein removal, so they were still easy to fondue in spicy garlic oil and eat. I also had a craving for cheese, so we cheese fondued as well. Both were delicious. I particularly like dipping cut up apples in cheese fondue.

Finally, I've been working on a few quick projects around here. Birgit inspired me some time ago to decoupage. Since I had a bottle of mod podge lying around, I redid some coasters that the Mister gave me Christmas. They look so lovely in the living room now (I also have developed a secret obsession with these poppies). In addition, I created a necklace/bracelet home. It makes me nuts that I don't wear my costume jewelry because I can't see it hidden away in the closet. Hopefully this new set-up corrects the problem and inspires me to wear my bling.

Oh Happy Day!

Just popping in this morning to say what a lovely day it is. I love when a Monday starts off well! It makes the week go by so much more quickly. The sun will be shining all day today and the weather gods are predicting over 50 degrees. Can you believe it? Spring may indeed have sprung. In other happy news, I reached a personal retirement savings goal this morning. While it may be lame for some, as I approach my 30th birthday this month, I'm thinking more and more about not having to work for the man my entire life. It makes me smile to think I might be well on my way. Happy Monday morning everyone.

March Madness

These recent hints of spring are giving me a serious case of March Madness. I've been cleaning this house like a crazy person (it's amazing just how much dust accumulates over one winter season) and I'm currently obsessed with some very random things:
1) Livestrong app for my iphone2) Finding a bar method class
3) Rereading Harry Potter 74) Consuming the ultimate stone bowl bi bim bop5) Butterscotch chipsWhat about this winter-spring transition is making you itch??