birthday boy

We celebrated Peter's birthday this weekend.

On Friday, we went out with my parents to our favorite Mexican restaurant.


Peter spent Saturday snowboarding. He used to go a lot in college, but has not been able to go as often since then. He had been looking forward to it for weeks and had a great time. We spent Saturday night at dinner with his family.

Sunday morning, we celebrated at out house. I made one his favorite breakfasts. It was a fun, relaxing way to start our morning.

On the menu:
Breakfast casserole
Biscuits with orange honey butter
Fresh fruit

A great weekend spent celebrating Peter. Probably his last work-free weekend until the end of tax season.

I love him so very, very much.

baking therapy

I usually bake a sweet treat every weekend. And while I know this is not exactly the healthiest habit, it makes me happy. Sometimes I convince myself that Peter is the one wanting the cookies or cake or brownies. That I am baking them for him. But no, most of the time it is me. Not to say that I pig out immediately after. I dont. And not to say Peter does not appreciate the fruits of my labor. He does (and he usually takes them to work) But it is more the act of finding a recipe, measuring, creating, making a mess, and filling my house with delicious smell that forces me to make these goodies. Its relaxing and just what I need before another busy week begins. I am sure many of you share my sentiments.

Sometimes its new recipes. Other times its the tried and true ones.

Here is what I made this weekend. A favorite in our house.



molasses cookies
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. salt
12 T softened butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. molasses
- Mix dry ingredients
- Beat butter with sugars (brown and white)
- Add yolk and vanilla, combine
- Add molasses, combine
- Add flour mixture
- Scoop dough, roll into ball and coat in sugar
- Bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes *do not overbake!



And please tell me I am not the only one whose countertop looks like this during the process.

dancing queen

I spent the afternoon helping my baby sister get ready for her winter formal.


She looked so cute! (I am well aware I look frumpy, ok.)



Of course, there were some crisis moments.
Hair not perfect (side note - my sister has amazing hair. It always looks super cute. When I was in high school I had 2 styles, down and straight or in a ponytail. Who am I kidding, thats all I do now too. Anyway, she is super creative with her hair)
Dress issues (mom fixed that)
Running late (umm...no surprise here)

But it all came together in the end. And I must say, she was beautiful. I loved her glamorous look!

It is fun to watch my sister experience her senior year. But when I saw the order form for her cap and gown, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Way. too. fast.

sundays

Rainy Sundays...


Require freshly baked cookies



Its simply a must.

saturdays

Are my favorite. I love nothing more than to spend my Saturdays at home. In fact, except for the monthly date night or occasional night out with my girlfriends, I consider it poor planning on my part if I have to venture into the "big city" on Saturdays. I try to run all my errands and grocery shopping during the week, so I can be home on the weekends. I have come to terms with the fact that I am a home body. And I am 100% ok with that.

I especially loved today. It was cold and foggy outside and I spent my afternoon holed up with my husband and my dog. Lounging. Clean house. Fresh laundry smell. Baked bread. Made soup. Yummy candles. Cuddle. Watch movie.

amish oat bread. pg 108 shafter mb cookbook. or here.
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chicken tortilla soup



scully girl


And we may or may not have spent too much time watching Lockup.
Which may or may not be one of the best shows on tv.

christmas vacation

Though not as long as I would like, we did enjoy a short vacation after Christmas. Thankfully, my job gives me a paid week off of work and Peter was able to ask for a few days off. We spent most of the time in San Diego with the Frantz family.

First night - dinner at Sammy's Pizza


Here is Sammy, at his pizza place


Sea World

When we arrived at Sea World, the power was out in the entire park. Which basically meant we walked around for about 45 minutes asking every employee we saw if the power was still out. Its like, if you ask as many employees as possible, it will be fixed faster. You all know what I am talking about. We all do it.
Anyway, a fun highlight of the day was stumbling upon the flamingos as they were being walked to their pond.



Here are some more fun animals...





And this?

Well this was just wrong. And annoying. And slightly disturbing.
If you cant tell, this is Tin Man's backside. This man apparently either won him or paid an exorbitant amount for this stuffed figurine. He was obviously very proud of it, as he proceeded to wear it on his shoulders all over the park. This picture was snapped at the 4D show. We also saw the Tin Man bobbing his way over to Shamu. And thus, blocking someones view at the Shamu show. And since when did Tin Man have such a defined butt? Gross.


Coronado
Tuesday was sunny and warm, so we rode the ferry over to Coronado Island and rented cruiser bikes. I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting San Diego. I had been to the island before, but it was fun to see it on bikes. You can rent bikes at the ferry landing and the trail takes you all around the island. My favorite part was riding through the residential streets and looking at all the adorable houses.
Sadly, I dont have many pictures, as my new camera had a sad meeting with the sidewalk. Thankfully, Amazon is sending us a new one!




We also had a yummy dinner in Old Town, complete with LaBamba playing mariachi bands.

Thanks Sam and Sue for the fun getaway!