Happy Birthday Tina

Tuesday was Tina's birthday. I took her out to dinner last night to celebrate but first I took her to our own private Disneyland - the fabric store. We went to Patches, which is a little fabric store that specializes in quilting fabrics and is run by a really nice woman named Jennie. Patches used to be quite close to us but Jennie moved the store to a new location that Tina had never visited. I went there to check it out and get her a gift certificate on Monday. I didn't tell Tina where I was taking her but she sort of guessed when we drove up. The only problem was NO PARKING! I hate that! There was a total of 4 (count 'em 4) parking spaces and they were all taken. In fact someone had parked across the back of three of the other cars - I guess they got frustrated with the lack of parking too. Anyway, we ended up parking across the aisle in the camera shop parking and slinking back to the fabric store. You would think we would get tired of looking at bolts and bolts of fabric but it never seems to get old! I think Tina had fun. We love Joanns because you can get decent fabric at good prices (when they have sales) but there is nothing quite like the quality of the fabric at Patches. Fun day! And we topped off the healthy salads we had at dinner with a flourless chocolate cake!

Great Friends

I am so lucky to have the most thoughtful friends. My birthday was last Saturday and I had the most fun-filled weekend ever! I went out to lunch with my husband and 2 kids. Rob was his usual low key self....his quote of the day was "Happy Birthday, Rob's home." It was his first weekend at college. Then my friend Brenda took me to the movies and to dinner (Greek food - delish). Then on Sunday, Tina picked Mary Ann and me up to take us to a surprise lunch at Border Grill in Santa Monica. It was the best! I was with two of my most favorite people in the world and then we went shopping! Only I have gained some weight since I could fit in a size 2 so it was not as successful as it might have been :( Oh well, I like food, what can I say? If I drank nothing but water (not watermelon lemonade, which is what I had at lunch) and ate nothing but lettuce, I might be able to stay skinny, but I don't think it is in the cards. Not after the dessert we had at Border Grill. It was a white meringue filled with cinnamon chocolate mousse and topped with dark chocolate curls. I took the rest home, needless to say. Which is maybe why I am no longer a size 2.....

this month the etsybloggers picked birthdays as the topic for the blog carnival. so here goes - i was born august 22 and no, i won't tell you the year. let's just say it was (said in a booming announcer voice) "at the dawn of time...when dinosaurs walked the earth", and you will be close enough. and tina was born february 9 and she (hard to believe) is as old as i am. for tina's birthday this year, i told her i would like to take her to a movie and maybe to eat. she doesn't get away very often because her daughter is mentally handicapped and requires round the clock care. and tina is a great mom. i know sometimes it must be all she can do not to throw up her hands and walk away. she is the most compassionate, patient person i know. anyway, so i made my offer and she agreed and we arranged for her husband to be home to watch molly and then when it came close to the day, tina decided that she would much rather go to downtown los angeles and shop for fabric! which of course, i was horrified at the mere idea! :) we had a great time and it wasn't even my birthday. on my birthday tina and mary ann give me gifts but the only way my sons remember is if their father buys them a card and makes them sign it! but that is okay by me, i am glad to be alive for another year. my family has gone to disneyland every year to celebrate my son's birthdays (together) and that is always fun. we stay at the grand californian for two nights and three days and go to the parks and swim and just goof off. a good time is had by all.