Any birthday plans you ask? Yep, in my usual fashion I have pretty much an entire week blocked off for celebration. I like to spread the joy out over many days. Friday night I hooked up with my closest girlfriends from high school -- Gina and Paula. We met up in Mill Creek for some Greek food and gelato. Ugh, I'm still full from that night -- let's just say, if I still had a gall bladder, it would have burst after that evening. We had dinner at Cafe Neo, then gelato at some place called Cow Tipping or something like that. Don't remember the name, but I definitely remember the gelato, because it was crazy delicious. I had salted caramel. Check out the kick ass poster they got me for my bday -- I love it!!!
Also on deck for my pre-birthday weekend? Breakfast on Saturday with Brenda, and Sunday with Kym and her boyfriend Ben. On Saturday I met up with Brenda at one of our favorite Ballard spots -- Senor Moose Cafe. I've been there for breakfast a number of times and I always get the same thing, Sopes de Tinga. It is the best combination of two masa cakes topped with shredded chicken, a dollup of cream, and a wee bit o' fresh salsa, with a side of black beans covered in a yummy light cheese. Mmmmmm...... so freakin' good. And of course it was awesome to see Brenda and catch up!!
Sunday's brunch was at Bastille in Ballard. Kym and I had checked out Bastille for dinner a few months ago. It was awesome, so when she suggested it for brunch I was pumped. My favorite breakfast food indulgence is eggs benedict. I would say I'm somewhat of a benedict connoisseur -- if it is on the menu somewhere, I've probably tried it. My favorite benedict, up until Sunday, was at The Dish on Leary. Now, my favorite benedict is located at Bastille. It wasn't too heavy, which is exactly how a breakfast should be. It's never good to start your day in a food coma. If you like eggs benedict, definitely try out Bastille's, you won't be disappointed!
Saturday night some friends and I met up at Nic and Heather's for a little barbeque action. Regardless of the stankburger of a weather situation we've been experiencing here in the good ol' PNW, we managed to have a good time out of doors for at least a portion of the evening. It was a potluck style affair with most people bringing sausages as their main source of protein. As Mike Mabie put it, it was a total sausage fest!
There was chips, salsa, & guacamole as an appetizer, cous cous, avocado salad, and a green salad as side dishes, and red velvet cake as dessert (see photo above). The Foils were so generous to gift me a certificate to my favorite record store in Seattle. Sonic Boom.
I can't wait to purchase the new Death Cab for Cutie album that is about to "drop" at the end of the month. Woot woot!! Gift certif is as good as gone!! And something else that is as good as gone?!? The Malibu Rum that The Lauers purchased in celebration of my advancing age.
I'm a total girl drink drunk, which is why Malibu is my liquor of choice for cocktail consumption. Although lately I've been enjoying gin & tonics -- virtually no hangover associated with gin & tonics for me. Granted, I haven't done any double blind placebo controlled trials to prove my association, but I'm fairly certain of two things: 1. red red wine does not make me feel so fine -- side splitting headache all of the time, and 2. those sugar packed cocktails give me a wicked freakin' hangover. Ugh.....I can not drink like I used to!! Which is probably a good thing. After BBQing the weather turned to shite and we moved the party inside. We manage to have fun rain or shine so it was no biggy. Thanks again for hosting Nic & Heather!
Anywho -- pre-34th-birthday-weekend was a smash hit!! Thanks to everyone that was able to celebrate with me!! Big love to everyone!
In closing, I would like to share two quotes with you. As I have grown older, there are times when I look back on my life and think 'I should have done this, or I should have done that'......and I've come to realize that looking back on what I could have done differently is a big waste of fucking time. I am happy with 99% of the decisions I have made in my life because they have brought me to where I am today, which I'm actually pretty damn content with. So I'm going to try and not look back on any choices I've made with regret, and just work on having a fun, full, rich existence in the present and while planning for the future. I love this Mary Oliver quote:
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
The second quote is from a man I have known for probably 13 years now. He is wise and a generous man to pass this life lesson on to us -- he is the original Mr. Lauer:
"Never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart."
So true.
