Celebrating Special Occasions

 I love celebrating special occasions.

Often I'm 'too busy' with day to day stuff that just has to be done right now to take the time to make these occasions extra special.

 Well, last week I made the time. It was my dear friend Nicole's birthday and it deserved to be celebrated with style.

The first thing to decide was the menu. Nicole loves homemade soups and salads so I started there. Potato soup is always welcome on a chilly winter day so out came the carrots, celery and onion, along with garlic, potatoes, chicken stock and seasonings. Lots of chopping , a bit of sauteing, a long simmer, then a quick whiz with the immersion blender and . . . voila! Delicious homemade potato soup!

My plans for a homemade dessert were scrapped when I started to run late, but I found the perfect substitute at the grocery store.

Out came the prettiest table cloth I could find, my china got a quick rinse to get the dust off and the kettle was put on to boil for some fragrant green tea.

A bit more chopping to add veggies to my baby greens, a good oil and balsamic vinegar and I was pretty much ready to go.

We had the loveliest time.

It was such a pleasure to slow down and make a delicious lunch for the two of us. I could have just put the soup pan on the table and grabbed a couple of everyday bowls from the cupboard and we still would have had a lovely time.

Adding in the pretty little details just kicked it up a notch and allowed me to express how much our friendship means to me . . . .

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Teddy Bear's Picnic.

I love parties with a theme, and my sister-in-law Andrea can implement a theme with the best of them.

When her son Jonathan's birthday rolled around, she was prepared . . .

How many of you remember the song Teddy Bear's Picnic? I know I do, my mom used to sing it to us all the time.

Never heard of it?? Anne Murray can sing it for you. . .

I love all the little details Andrea used to enhance the theme.

To start with, as per the song, we had to go in disguise. This was mine . . .

 Others had the opportunity to go incognito as well. . .

Then there was the food . . .

 

And the babies . . !

I must say this was the best Teddy Bear's Picnic I've ever been to! :D

Wishing you could have been there too? Well now you can . . . just click on the link below and enjoy the entire party.

Henry's Birthday

Henry celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago and has we have done often over the years, we celebrated with our friends Lorne and Nicole.

Nicole's birthday is just a few weeks later than Henry's and they are the same age. . .

So how do four middle aged friends paint the town red?

They hit Chapters when they discover the wait for a table at The Keg is over an hour.

Good thing Chapters was right next door . . .

Guess who left with a new book? hint . . . it wasn't Nicole . . .

A little over an hour later we were ushered to our table.

Henry didn't think I smiled wide enough . . .

Middle age has a few challenges. Reading the fine print in a menu is one of them . . .

It was no challenge to decide what to order . . . I love prime rib!

Can you believe I ate everything on this plate?!!

And then found room to share a creme brulee with Nicole???

Of course neither of us even considered this dessert.

We left that to the men!

It was such a lovely treat to dress up like a normal person and enjoy an evening out with friends.

 Of course, Nicole ended up with my foot in her lap by the end of the evening as I couldn't leave it down any longer, but . . . isn't that what friends are for?

Birthday Presents

If you lived at my house and had a birthday, there are a few things that you can expect. . .

I would make you a birthday dinner with a menu of your choice.

I would bake you a birthday cake but, if you were one of my kids you would ask for a DQ ice cream cake instead.

You would get a card with money inside. . .

Unless I found a gift as cool as this one. . .

I mean, really. . .

Could anything be better than a Snuggie???

Certainly not money!

Of course, if you were one of my kids, you might also find that your birthday dinner doesn't necessarily show up on your birthday. . .

Jesse and Holly are both still waiting.

Three months for Jess and two for Holly.

I've done worse. . .

Technical difficulties . . .

I had planned to post about the lovely meal we had tonight for Crystal's birthday.

Tamara, Byron , Rebecca and Evan came as well, so we made it quite an occasion!

However, once again, techonology failed me.

My computer got all glitchy on me and i had to shut it down.

So here is a quick post to tell you to tune in tommorow  for a post with pictures galore . . .

1st Garden Bouquet Of The Season

I had promised to post pictures of the back garden but I've been so busy finishing up the school year and getting my bus cleaned there just hasn't been time.
Instead I offer you this. . .
My sister-in-law Leona celebrated her birthday this week and was able to drop by for coffee.
As birthdays and presents just seem to go together, I gifted her with the first bouquet to come out of the garden this season. . .

Happy Birthday Leona! May the Lord bless you with many more!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It was mom's birthday on Saturday and since she was working, we had a lovely birthday dinner for her on Sunday.

And lest you think I have any Martha pretensions. . . !!!

I spent a good part of Saturday in the garden after running errands in the morning and taking Jada and Diesel on an hour long walk.

We finished up around 7:30 and I figured after having a quick supper I'd jump up, clean the house, put together a lasagna and whip up a cheese cake.

At about 11:30 I woke up in my chair.

I decided to go straight to bed and do a quick tidy in the morning and make the lasagna and cheesecake in between church.

As we walked into church we were enveloped by a cloud of cologne.

I spent the morning service coughing. And coughing. And coughing.

By the time we got out I was exhausted.

I decided to make lunch before I got started.

When I woke up in my chair it was almost time for church.

I stayed home.

I had lunch.

By the time I woke up in my chair I had an hour before church was done.

Martha would have been horrified by the state of my house.

I was horrified by the state of my house!

I managed to tidy the living room but the lasagnas took quite a while to put together and my kitchen looked like a bomb went off.

Ding, Dong!

Mom was there!

Ack! It's pretty hard to feel special when the home you are having dinner at looks like a pig sty!

The only solution I had was to tell mom not to look in the kitchen.

It did not occur to me that she though there was something extra special going on in there.

Gulp!

The only thing that saved me that night was the fact that Morgan had just picked up two Mr. Bean DVDs which kept mom laughing hysterically for hours.

And I do mean hours!

I used a new lasagna recipe and the top layer of noodles curled up and refused to bake (as Lisa pointed out there wasn't enough sauce)

I cleaned the kitchen while everyone else laughed at Mr. Bean.

Someone ate the hard boiled eggs I was going to use in my spinach salad.

I no longer had time to make cheeses cake. . .

In the end everything turned out fine.

I took the top layer of noodles off the lasagna and added extra cheese, boiled more eggs, and for dessert I thawed some of the peach slices I froze this summer, thickened the juice with cornstarch and made peach crisp with ice cream.

It was all delicious.

We ate at eight o'clock. . .

Martha Stewart I am not.

Sigh.

I sure hope I can do better next year. . .

It's going to be the big _0 (If I put in the actual number she would KILL me!)

Lisa ,Tamara and I bought her the beautiful flowers you see at the top of the post.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Made the Lord grant you many more. . .