Homemade Gifts Keep on Giving

Usually when I post about sewing, I post about my own projects. But today's a little different; this is one of Munchkinhead's amazing creations.

Munchkinhead is queen of pattern-less wonders, so I was extra surprised when my birthday box contained a blouse sewn by her from a retro pattern. Mommy helped, but Munchkinhead's careful attention to detail was evident in many places where I could tell Mommy or I would have been like "forget that step; that's too much work!" It's a sheer cream chiffon with butterflies, hummingbirds and flowers.

Seam binding on the hole for the head to go through.

The side seams are French-seamed so the delicate fabric won't unravel. The collar and arm-hole seams are completely covered by seam binding in a perfectly matching color. The collar ties lie flat and straight with no pulls or tucks, their exact evenness giving me my best possible chance at tying a half-way decent bow. And all the stitching lines, even the hem, are straight and even. Mommy used to have me practice sewing straight lines by running lined paper through a threadless sewing machine; I wasn't any good at it then and I'm only slightly better now. Munchkinhead's lines look like someone's called "ten-hut!" and they're ready to march.

It's one of my favorite blouses now.  I wear it almost every week, and every time I do, I get a new compliment from someone.  "Thank you, my sister made it for me."  And then I call or text Munchkinhead to tell her, especially when that compliment is from someone famous.

Me in my fabulous Munchkinhead blouse.

Angelfood Cake with Rose Glaze

Growing up in Wisconsin, it was customary for schoolchildren to bring treats to class on their birthdays. I always assumed this was true for everyone, after all, it happened on all the tv shows on Nick at Night, too. After living on the coasts, however, I've learned that in fact this was one of those holdovers from a more innocent age that middle America was able to keep while big-city coastal folks gave into fear mongering about razor blades and allergies. I get the sense even middle America has sadly gone that way now, too. But not me. I still take treats for my birthday. Granted it's to work rather than school, and as my coworkers are adults who are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves whether my food will purposely or inadvertently kill them.

This year for my birthday, I decided to try one of my old favorites from growing up, with a new twist of my own. Mommy used to make me the most wonderful confetti angel-food cakes. Spongy and spring-like, I remember how the mix from the box would foam as she put the beaters into the bowl. This came right before my favorite part, licking the beaters.

My top criteria for any recipe is not needing to run to the store. Luckily, I seemed to have all the ingredients I needed. The recipe called for egg whites not by egg, but by cup. After I separated enough egg whites, I saw why. 8 eggs. Eight!

Egg yolks ready for the fridge. There were a lot of custards in my future

I usually do all my mixing by hand with my sturdy nsima stick from Ba Joyce's grandfather, but it was clear I was not going to successfully beat egg whites with a thick slap of wood. I tried using my egg whisk, but that was also insufficient. So, I pulled out my pretty pink handmixer from Mommy and went to town on those egg whites.---But not too much to town because that would cause them to collapse.---I think I did ok; the cake came out fluffy. I didn't have a tube pan, so I used my bundt pan. Getting the cake out was a little difficult, but not too bad. So by this point, so far so good. I have a warm and fairly whole fluffy angel food cake. Then I got a little too creative.

Foamed egg whites

I decided to try not just a rose glaze, but also a rose butter cream frosting. I found basic recipes for glaze and butter cream frosting and added rose water and red food coloring to both. The butter cream frosting would not cream. I don't know if it was the store-brand butter or adding the rose water to early or something else, but it would not cream. The butter stayed globbed up, globs of butter rolled in sugar, which is still yummy.---My specialty is tasty mush disasters.---I sliced the cake in half horizontally and spread a layer of the sweet gobby goo, putting the top of the cake back on to create a gigantic sugary sandwich. "Angel food cake with rose butter filling." It's all about the presentation, right, verbal included?

And then I kept going. The rose glaze turned out like it ought to have. Win! Except I did something a tad foolish. I put the cake on my cake carrying platter and drizzled the cake with the glaze. Sounds perfectly fine and dandy, except this was the night before I was taking the cake to work. The glaze had .all. .night. to soak into the cake, and boy did it ever. The next morning, when I opened my cake carrier to set up a little come-and-get-it-station in our break room, whole sections of the cake were bright pink and the bottom of the cake was rimmed in pink syrup. Mmmmm.

Birthday cake! Angel food cake with rose butter filling and a rose glaze (the night before all the glaze soaked in).

Actually, it was quite delicious, just best in small portions. All the better for work, more to go around!

M-I-C. K-E-Y. M-O-U-S-

I’m sorry, you’re going to have to buy that last vowel.  That’s the standard impression of Disneyland anyway.  “How much did the mouse fleece you for?” was one of my friends’ first question when he learned we’d been there for the day.  Whatever the reputation, we still had fun.

Munchkinhead, Alfred and I were there for Munchkinhead’s 26th birthday.  Well, sort of .  I mean, we were at Disneyland for her birthday, but the being in Anaheim that facilitated going to Disneyland was the State Bar of California’s IP Institute.  If I just had to be in Anaheim the day after Munchkinhead’s birthday, we might as well go to Disneyland on her birthday, right?  Right.  So we took that train ride and went for a mouse-fleecing.

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Munchkinhead had gotten special birthday ears and we were each given a pin to show that we were celebrating her birthday.  We got all dolled up in our Disney paraphernalia, including Alfred in her “Hans Shot First” t-shirt and headed out for some Schultzsters adventure!

Our Super 8 was only a few blocks from the theme parks, so we walked over.  First stop, those funny pass things for Space Mountain, which Munchkinhead and Alfred both wanted to go on.  But before we went on any rides, we had a very special breakfast (2nd breakfast as Super 8 had breakfast included and we like to have about 2 of every meal.)  Breakfast with Minnie and friends!

We all got our pictures taken with a bunch of Disney characters.  Captain Hook tried to steal Alfred, who went rather willingly with a big smile on her face.  I was super excited to see that Minnie and I had on matching pantoloons.  And Munchkinhead got lots of autographs, which are still in my work notebook in my purse.  The Fairly Godmother was quite surprised that Munchkinhead’s Fairy Godmother doesn’t have a magic wand.

We had lots of great adventures throughout the day.  Almost everyone got to go on their favorite rides, except poor Munchkinhead.  And on her birthday!  It’s a Small World was closed.  Alfred took us on the Star Wars adventure ride, which my tummy wasn’t too happy about, even with medicine.  We hit my favorite, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride pretty early.  We also went on the Peter Pan ride and somehow I survived the Teacups.  We took turns riding solo on the 2-people rides.

Alfred and I made light sabers.  Hers was a Darth Vader replica for her husband.  Mine was me picking out the things I thought were pretty.  My lightsaber’s purple!  Like Samuel L. Jackson’s.  Oooh.  They guy helping us asked if we knew why is was purple.  Alfred started going on this long shpiel about Mace Windu and the dude’s like “cuz Samuel L. Jackson said he wanted it that way.”  Alfred was quite miffed, “I was answering in cannon.”  Shrug.  I like purple and Samuel L. Jackson, that was good enough for my light saber.

We went to the Tiki room, and Abraham Lincoln’s speech and watched a bit of Jedi training, and all sorts of fun stuff!  We also blew through the New Orleans section where Munchkinhead tried to knock over some lamp poles.  That’s pretty much on par with Captain Hook trying to steal Alfred.

All day long, everyone kept saying “Happy Birthday” to Munkchinhead.  Even the characters in the parade!  Tromboneforhire helped us out throughout the day, providing tips and tricks via Twitter and text.  He helped us get a great spot for the parade and navigate the park.  It was a very long and fun day.

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Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yesterday, we celebrated Mommy’s birthday.  It’s been all the buzz around these parts, “Mommy’s sixty!”  “Mommy’s turning sixty?!”  “Can you believe Mommy’s sixty?!”  But it didn’t really hit me until we were sitting at her birthday dinner and I saw the front of the card Munchkinhead made her.  “Happy 60th Birthday Mother.”

The numbers looked big and scary.  60?  I feel like I remember when my grandparents turned 60.  Maybe I do, maybe I don’t really, but it’s a number I associate with a certain image that Mommy doesn’t fit at all.  The math may say 60, but the fun factor is still stuck at 32, or at least somewhere in the 30s.

Just the other day, Mommy and I were in the pool pretending our floaty rafts were bumper cars and crashing into each other.  Old people tell me all the time, “when I was younger, I used to wear shoes like you; when you’re older you’ll be stuck in ugly shoes like mine.”  But Mommy’s shoes are still as fun as mine, so she can’t be old.

We had a fun evening out on for her birthday.  First, we all went to Cafe Centraal for birthday dinner.  Minus the less-than-stellar surprise live music, it was quite fun.  Munchkinhead was the designated driver and drove Daddy’s car.  Daddy called dibs on the front seat even though it was Mommy’s birthday and Mommy let him take it.  She, RonnyLew and I squeezed into the back.  And I do mean squeezed.  Munchkinhead dropped everyone off near the door and I took over the wheel for parking just in case parallel parking was required.  After dinner, we took Daddy home and went to Leon’s for frozen custard.  Yum!

I’m guessing Mommy finished the evening in her sewing room. That may sound like an old-people thing to do, but she’s been spending evenings in her sewing room since I was a little girl, so it’s not.

Happy Birthday Mommy!  This one’s for you.

The Big, Round 6 - 0

In case you haven’t had enough birthday posts this week, here’s one more.

 

My daddy is 60!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Believe it or not, his eyes still look the same.  That’s about it.  He has much more hair now, a reconstructed nose, and he doesn’t smile with his mouth open.

I get to see Daddy nearly every day because we work in the same place.  It’s very fun, in spite of all Mommy’s worries it would be quite the opposite.  Daddy’s always very busy this time of year because he does taxes for work, but I’m sure he’ll take a little bit of time out of his day to celebrate his best present ever – Mommy.

 

Daddy’s not getting a big long speechy post because I’ve already done that and he doesn’t really like being on the blog. 
Instead, here’s more about Daddy:

 1 2 3 4 

5

6 7(warning, PG-13) 8 9

Happy Birthday Uncle Johnnie!

Today is my Godfather’s birthday.  He doesn’t sound like the Godfather, but he would sound funny to some of you.  Somehow, he’s gotten the heaviest Southside accent.  Much more so than any of his siblings.  It baffles my mother.  In fact, he’s pretty much the epitome of the Southside guy and that’s one of the reasons I love him.  He’s awesome.

When I think of my Godfather, three things come to mind: Beer, Bowling and Sheepshead. 

He’s quite good at all three.  Sadly, I don’t think I got any of those genes.  He and my Godmother may be coming camping with us next month.  Guess he’ll be taking all my nickels in the sheepshead competition!  Uncle Johnnie’s got a great sense of humor, so at least I’ll be smiling and laughing while losing those nickels.

For his birthday this year, we’re giving him a little surprise.  It’s quite small, but I think he’ll like it.  I suspect though, he’s already got the best present ever; his oldest son is visiting home from the Navy over his birthday.  That’s a fabulous present, and no one deserves it more.

Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me,
I’m oft-en in a tree-ee,
I’m no-ot a monkey,
But my sister wants to be.

They grow up so fast, don’t they ;)

A Moment for a Birthday

Does everyone have those relatives they wish they’d gotten to know better?  I suspect that’s a yes, but maybe there are some people out there who are lucky enough to be able to say “no.”

Today was my Uncle Tom’s birthday.  I don’t know how old he would have been, but I know he would have been having a great time.  He was always in a good mood, at least always in a good mood whenever I saw him.  That could have something to do with the fact that I always saw him at fun family gatherings, holidays, birthday parties, swimming parties at Grandma and Grandpa’s. 

As a child, I think I was afraid of him.  He seemed like a huge giant to me and his big bushy beard and tattoos made him look like he’d walked right out of one of my fairy tale books.  But he was super nice beneath all the fuzz and his hearty laugh would fill the room.

When I was young, he would let me sit near him at the Sheepshead table and kibitz to me about what everyone was doing and how to play the game.  When I was older, we would toast with our glasses of Jack Daniels.  One of my strongest memories of Uncle Tom is from my going away party before I went to Zambia.  We had a very well-stocked bar that night and my book from bartending.  Among the bottles in that well-stocked bar was a tall bottle of Galliano.  “What are we supposed to do with this?”  “Make Harvey Wallbangers!”  Uncle Tom was thrilled; it’d been ages since he’d had a Harvey Wallbanger and it reminded him of when he was in the Navy.

I think about that a lot these days.  Several of my younger cousins are in the Navy now.  I wish Uncle Tom were still around so they could all share stories together, connect.

For me, I feel like we lost him just as I was getting old enough to actually know him as a person instead of just my aunt’s husband or my cousins’ dad.  Now he’s watching down on them and his granddaughters, and I bet sometimes, he’s out there on the lawn, too, laughing as the girls roll down the hill.

Happy Birthday Tromboneforhire

Thanks to the internet, we have this new phenomenon of having friends we’ve never met in person.  That’s what some people would have us believe.  But really, people have had friends they never met in person for ages.  They used to be called pen pals.  There are even plenty of stories of pen pals having known each other only through written words and pictures deciding to get married, such is the bond people can form without meeting in person.

Today, I’d like to celebrate one of my special never-met-in-person friends.  Today is Marques’s birthday.

Marques was one of my first friends on Twitter back in the day.  Goodness, we’ve been livening each other’s days now for 6 or 7 years.  I think I started following him because of the trombone part of his Twitter handle and because he was a Zune MVP.  I play trombone.  I had a Zune.  Nobody else knew what a Zune was.  Nobody even knew what an mp3 player was.  I’d have to describe it as a Window’s ipod.  Not only did Marques know what it was, he could help me troubleshoot it and learn new things about it.

Zune is long gone now, but our friendship is not.  We always have plenty to talk about.  Our conversations are often silly and light-hearted, but they’re important, too.  When I was going through some really difficult points, Marques was always there.  When I’d worn out all my in-person-friend’s ears, his eyes were ready.  Real friends aren’t the ones that party with you when you happen to be in the same place; real friends are the ones that are there for you in their best capacity when you need them most.  I’m very lucky to have such a good friend.

There’s a lot of us who are lucky.  There’s a group of us that’s formed around Marques on Twitter.  He sort of brought us all together, people who followed him for different aspects of his life.  It’s like a little virtual lunch table.  We can tell from his Tweet’s that Marques’s family is vey lucky to have him, too.  And his hoards of in-person friends.  And Hamachi.

So here’s a toast to a great man, a man with the most encompassing music taste, a man who builds networks and builds people up, a man with a big heart and an even bigger amount of hugs.  Happy Birthday, Marques!

Happy Birthday Short Fabulous!!

It’s my friend Short Fabulous’s birthday today.  It’s also World Intellectual Property Day, which is rather appropriate for Short Fabulous since she deals with intellectual property a lot in her cyberlaw practice.

“I thought you’d be bigger.”  Those were my first words upon meeting Short Fabulous in person for the first time.  We were standing near the baggage claim in the Seattle airport about spend the week together sharing a hotel room for the INTA Annual Meeting four years ago.  “Vertically or horizontally?” With a quip like that, I should have known we’d be friends.

There’s this idea that gets tossed around a lot in discussions about applying for jobs.  It’s the idea of the “on paper” version verses the “real life” version.  On paper, Short Fabulous and I should not be friends.  Sure, we both do IP law, but beyond that, we appear to be as different as you can get. 

We’re from very culturally different parts of the country; we’re on opposite sides of the political spectrum; she loves comfy clothes, flat shoes and as little primping as possible; the list goes on and on, we even come up on different sides of IP law issues.  In fact, our opinions on most matters are so far apart we keep a list of things about which we agree.  I think that list has like 5 items on it now.

But despite all our differences, she’s still one of my favorite friends out here.  She’s fabulous, and that’s all you need.  We both have this underlying silliness that sneaks out – ok, hers sneaks out, mine sort of rampages – and it’s super fun to have a cohort in that.  She’s always up for an adventure, whether it’s a boat ride, a new restaurant, a shopping trip or sharing a hotel room with a complete stranger.  When I get stumped on a legal issue or need to brainstorm out loud, she’s on my short-list of attorneys to call.  Plus, I know I can always rely on her when I just need to vent or cry or chat.

Cheers to a great friend!  And very happy birthday wishes!

A Rabbit for a Bunny

A guest post by Daddy Bunny

She is absolutely adorable, and she’s my new friend.  She has very long floppy ears, much longer than mine.  She has a round patch on her tummy, but you almost can’t see it because her fur is so thick.  And she has a scarf around her neck.  Her name is Ms. Rabbit.

My aunt from Belgium sent her to us in a box.  There was a note inside from my cousin, Mr. Moose.  He said they found her hopping around in the street.  She was cold and lost.  Poor Ms. Rabbit.  Mr. Moose took her home, but my aunt said they couldn’t keep her.  So, they sent her here to be my friend. 

My mom says she thinks my aunt made Ms. Rabbit, but that’s silly because rabbits are born, not made.

She is very nice, so far. Everyone’s nice when they’re new somewhere.  She brought me a scarf, too.  It’s yellow and green, like my clothes.  We’re about the same size, except for her really long ears, so we sit nicely together on the bed. 

I’ve been showing her around our home.  We snuck into the kitchen to get some jelly beans and we played hide and seek in my mom’s office.  There’s lots of places to hide in there because it’s not very neat.  I also showed Ms. Rabbit how much fun it is to jump on the big bed.  And we shared the magic carrot that Uncle Nathan gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  It’s magic because you can eat and eat and eat it and it never gets smaller or goes away.

I think I am going to have lots of fun with Ms. Rabbit around here.  She may even be able to teach me some Flemish!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my Daddy’s birthday.  He doesn’t like having his photographs on the internet, so I drew this picture of him.


Daddy’s very fun.  He taught me how to ride a bike.  Something I miss very much (only crazy bike fanatics ride in the Bay).  And he taught me how to make oatmeal and Cream of Wheat.  He used to make those for breakfast for us before school when we were little.  They’re still two of my favorite breakfast foods.

He also taught me how to walk away from a fight…. but that one wasn’t by example.

My favorite memories of Daddy come from two places: the breakfast table and family vacations.   Daddy didn’t just make sure we ate breakfast before going to school; he made sure we were fully entertained as well.  I don’t think he was actually trying to entertain us; he was just being Daddy.  Everything from songs to reading bits of the newspaper to explaining things from whatever book he’d been reading lately, usually something about physics or the Civil War.

Family vacations were awesome!  Daddy would start planning months in advance, ordering AAA books and visitor guides directly from cities and towns we would be visiting.  He’d read to us the descriptions of museums we might see and blurbs about the towns’ histories, building anticipation for everything we’d see.

Every detail of the trip would be planned out, what time we’d leave home, when we’d arrive at museum A, when we go to zoo B, when we’d check into a hotel, when we’d have dinner.  Every route would be mapped out in his mind, planned based on his studies of the AAA maps that would soon be piled in the glove compartment.  Daddy always seemed to love planning those trips as much as we enjoyed actually going on them.

When it was finally time for the big adventure, we’d pile in the car with our carefully packed suitcases, cooler of snacks and busy bags for the back seats.  We’d watch the scenery go by, play Cows in the Cemetery, Road Bingo, the Alphabet Game and all sorts of other silliness that Daddy so nicely put up with.  And we’d sing! 

We went so many interesting places.  Old battlefields – while walking on the grounds of the battle of Tippecanoe, Daddy said to rather young me, “you know, people died where you’re walking,” – children’s zoos – the one in Fort Wayne, Indiana is awesome, – parks, houses some distant relative lived in, a town with my name, and museum after museum after museum.  We learned so much on those vacations.  One of my favorites was the Ball Glass museum in Munsee, Indiana, simply because it’s so ridiculous.  It’s a room full of glass jars. 

I love meeting people and asking them where their from and watching the priceless expression on their face when I say, “Oh, I’ve been there on vacation!”  That’s thanks to Daddy.  He rocks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

AN AWESOME

DADDY!!!

More posts about how great Daddy is:

Daddy picking us up from daycare

General awesomeness about Daddy

Breakfast songs with Daddy

Packer Socks

They were supposed to be Alfred’s birthday present, but with a supply delay and my own busy schedule, they turned into Alfred’s one-month-after-birthday present.

I’d been wanting to make some cable-knit socks, and when I saw that green and gold Team Spirit yarn, I just knew I had to make something for Alfred.  I poured through pattern book after pattern book at knitting group.  I scoured the internet.  But I just couldn’t find a cable-knit sock pattern I liked.

Then I found this leg warmer pattern.  So I started knitting it, but Alfred’s not a leg warmer person.  I decided I’d try turning the leg warmer pattern into socks by referring to the pattern for my lace stockings.  It sort of worked, but the upper part was still very legwarmer-y and was far too large to be part of a sock.  So I started over.

I looked at the leg warmer pattern, and the stocking pattern, and the footed legwarmer I’d just made. I grabbed a pencil and some paper and started writing.  Two months later, Alfred had her new socks.

They aren’t perfect.  Alfred mentioned them to me on the phone one day, “one looks like it was made for Daddy and the other looks like it was made for Munchkinhead.”  (except she calls Munchkinhead by her real name.)  That’s my Alfred, never one to beat around the bush and always one too look a geschenkten gaul in the mouth.  “Hush, wash them and wear them and they’ll wind up the same size eventually.”

She confirmed that once she put them on, they both fit.

 

yarn: Red Heart Team Spirit in green/gold

Happy Birthday Mommy

They say it’s your birthday.  (*air jamming*)  Well happy birthday to ya. (more *air jamming*).

That’s right folks, celebrating another 32nd birthday, please welcome to the stage, Mommy!

 

She’s a little startled to be welcomed back since she hasn’t had a birthday wish on here since her 50th birthday.

I’m sure all my readers have pretty nice mommies.  Some may even have great mommies.  But nobody’s, nobody’s mommy’s as awesome as mine.  (Well, except Alfred’s and Munchkinhead’s.)

She’s kinda like that combination hookah-and coffee pot from the beginning of Aladdin; also makes julienned fries, will not break, will not… She sews, she floats, plays Wii guitar and Farmville.  Will not yell, will not…

You know, she has something else in common with Aladdin, too.  They both have a monkey.

But seriously folks, Mom_me is fabulous.  She taught me how to sew and how to be nice and how to vacuum and how to make red velvet cake.  She gave me her good-taste-in-shoes gene, maybe to make up for also giving me her ugly-toe gene.  And she taught me how to be there for those around me, for my friends and my family, even from far, far away. 

She answers the phone in the middle of the day when I call just to say “hi, I’m walking.”  She plays silly games with my sisters and me, going through long lists of people who weren’t in Wham! or donning bejeweled eye patches.  She sings along with us, whether it’s squealing the last “feed your hea-ead” of the family theme song or putting a hat on your head and spinning it around, that’s what I said.  And she takes good care of her grandchildren.  (Photo of Mommy holding her grandchildren used with permission courtesy of Jill Brown Photography: www.jillbrownphotography.com)

She takes me all sorts of great places, like church and Jo-Ann Fabrics, and shoe shopping.  Plus, Mommy’s my standard date for all my friends’ weddings.  This works out perfectly since they all adore her, too.  The photographers usually ask if we’re sisters.  Since we’re now perpetually 4 years apart in age, I guess that’s acceptable.

And like a good mommy, she’s always there.

 

Wisconsin

 

Tennessee

 

California

 

even Africa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST STUPENDOUS MOMMY EVER!!

Happy Birthday Browser

Last night Mozilla threw a huge birthday party for it’s special baby. The Firefox browser turned 5!

A nice perk of working for one of the open-techie-non-profits in San Francisco is invites to events like this. Only two of us from work were able to go, but boy did we have fun! It was a great party; a dance party in fact.

There were special drinks made up just for the occasion. They were called foxtails and had vodka, rum, Midori and white cranberry juice, and they were served on the rocks with a special plastic ice cube that flashed red and orange in the glass. I usually am not a fan of some of the ingredients, but those drinks were yummy!

The place was decorated with red and orange flashing lights. There were shrimp and veggie kabobs outside the venue and little round orange carpet circles that led you from the entrance gate, passed the kabob stand, into the large hall. Inside treats included crème brûlée in various flavors, even Frosted Flakes!, and Firefox temporary tattoos.

The music was mostly electronic beats, but played with familiar song lyrics on top of them. Interesting, and good enough to get most people out on the dance floor. At one point, I got to see Mr. Firefox himself (or one of the incarnations of the night) break dancing. He lost his foot!

There were four cakes, each sculpted like different Firefox logos, including the spherical fox wrapped around the globe one. Each cake was a different flavor. I missed out on the raspberry cream layered cake and had to wait patiently by as they divided out all of the double chocolate that I had no interest in eating. Then they cut into that giant sphere cake. Yellow layer cake with a not-too-sweet frosting. Delicious!

But one of my favorite parts of the whole night was getting my picture taken with Mr. Firefox himself!

[Unfortunately, this was during one of Mr. Firefox’s shorter incarnations of the evening, so I had to bend down a bit, but it’s still a cute picture!]

Both my coworker and I had a great time at Firefox’s birthday party. We talked, we ate yummy food, drank yummy drinks, danced and enjoyed the scene. Thanks Mozilla, for throwing such a nice party.

P.S. Yes that's the dress I got stuck in. I actually received quite a number of compliments on the dress at the party, which I thought was a little weird since it was a dance party.

Munchkinhead Joins Big People

I’ve hardly gotten used to the idea that I can drink, and now - oh how unbelievable - my pretty little munchkinhead is 21!  It seems just the other day she was playing dress up and making funny faces. Oh wait, that was just the other day.

 

Munchkinhead has discovered, during her time in Scotland, the glorious yummy-ness that is Amarula.  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Or should that be the marula fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree?  Anyway, Mommy is already stocking up on Amarula for Christmas.  We’ll really celebrate then.  (By the way, the glass on the Amarula website is far too small.)

I’m not sure what Munchkinhead is doing to celebrate her birthday, other than staying up all night to write a paper.  I’m celebrating next week by going to see the musical version of one of her favorite albums, American Idiot.  It’s the sort of thing I’d take her to, if she were in the same city, or on the same continent as me.  Maybe there will be something just as good when she comes to visit in the spring.

And now, a song:

Happy Birthday to You

You ah-are a zoo

You would be a monkey

If your tail had grew

Love you pretty little munchkinhead.  Happy 21st Birthday!!!

Celebrate

Quick! Go get a glass. Preferably a pretty one. Got one? Ok, now, add some wine or some other fancy drink and some ice cubes. Yes, you must have ice cubes. Now, ready, set, toast! It’s that time again. Happy Birthday Alfred!

[Alfred on a past birthday with her cousins. She’s the one being held hostage.]

Alfred’s had a wonderful year. At least from my perspective looking back. I hope she’d agree. I mean, just look at all the things she’s done since her last birthday!

• Got her masters degree in Museum and Field Studies
• Became a totem pole
• Moved to Iowa
• Fashioned a laptop bag entirely of snow
• Went to England to present a paper at a conference!
• Ate a lot of frozen custard
• Drove back and forth across most of the country several times
• Saw Metallica live
• Played with her sisters
• Joined a Museum Professionals group
• Answered a lot of bar trivia questions
• Listened to the water
• Turned quasi-hippie (yerbamate and yoga! thank goodness she left Boulder)
• Commented on an important (well, I’m gonna say it’s important) Paleontology blog
• Got engaged
• Kept her title of “the pretty one”

Here’s to another great year Alfred! Love, your big sister.

(P.S. you’re going to have to stop having birthdays soon or you’re going to pass me up. I had to stop this year so I won’t pass Mommy up. After all, she’s only 32, she couldn’t pass Grandpa up.)