Robert's "Surrey"-First Birthday

(Can I take a moment and bask in my cleverness in coming up with the title of this post? Oh, me. Sometimes I tickle even myself. Whee!)

Poor Robert. This year his birthday fell right during my first set of midterms and, as such, I was a bad wife and didn't plan anything spectacular or extravagant to mark his special day. As always, though, Robert was much more gracious than I would have been had our roles been reversed and was happy to spend the day together, just hanging out in Monterey. I must admit that I had a sneaking suspicion that he'd go for the Monterey plan because there is something there that calls to Robert that I had previously denied him - surrey bicycle rides down Cannery Row. Robert had tried to get me to do it on my 30th birthday but I poo-pooed that idea really quickly; looking like a tourist dork huffing and puffing down the street in a fringed carriage bike  is NOT something that appeals to me! But Robert really, really, really, really, really wanted to do it so when the opportunity presented itself he was quick to snap it up. So, I sucked it up, hopped on the bike's bench and started pedaling. Robert absolutely loved it, as we knew he would. There was lots of smiling, lots of giggling and even some waving to people sitting on their porches as we rode past. (Later there was a lot more huffing, puffing, sweating and straining but let's not focus on that aspect of the journey...) And I must admit that, as self conscious as I thought I'd be (and actually was for the first 2 minutes of our ride), I wound up enjoying myself very much. I liked seeing Robert have so much fun and it really is a nice way to take in the views up and down the coastline. That's one thing I love about Robert - his enthusiasm for things helps me get over myself and enjoy those things I normally wouldn't do.

I honestly had "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" in my head during most of the ride.

At the halfway mark we treated ourselves to an ice cream break. 

Even Monterey knew it was Robert's birthday - the record store and used bookstore were right next door to one another and a half block from where we parked.

We celebrated Robert's birthday with others by seeing Eddie "I've Got Burnt Dick on My Hand" Griffin at the Improv on November 12th. I didn't get any photos of that outing so here's one of us with the Blackards and Christopher Titus, whom we saw at the Improv a few weeks earlier to celebrate Wade's birthday.

Titus liked my shirt and said it reminded him to write his Darth Vader bit. So, when you hear it, you'll know who to thank!

Grandma's Afghan

Today would have been Grandma Vera's 83rd birthday and I had a cute sort of post planned to mark the day. About a week ago I came across an old card that she'd sent me while I was still in college - she'd sent me $20 along with instructions to "buy [myself] a hamburger" and not to spend it on something school-related. I've always loved that card and so I thought I'd set it aside and post it today to show what a cool grandma she was. Of course, I'm a total loser and can't seem to find where I set it and so can't post it. :o/  I suck. I WILL find the card, rest assured, but until I do, I thought I'd post this instead:

It's a picture of the afghan I received from my aunt Lill for my wedding. According to her, Grandma was going to sell it at the Senior Center but when a woman tried to low-ball her for it, she set it aside with the intention of giving it to me for my wedding. Grandma wasn't around to give it to Robert and me on our wedding day so Auntie Lill did it for her. I was (and am) tickled pink to have such a special gift given to me and since I don't think many of you have seen it, it seemed fitting to share it with you today.

Happy birthday, Grandma! You're missed every day. 

Celebrating her 73rd birthday back in '01.

Happy Birthday, Ma!

Amy's 30th Birthday

I referenced Amy's 30th birthday back in the Linguini post and since I'm procrastinating heavily (I have a 5-page paper on uses of lab animals in research due on Thursday) and I've already organized my iPod, I figured I'd go ahead and put up a slideshow of the event. Amy's boyfriend, Jeff, organized a surprise party at Johnny Foley's in the city back in April and it was a mesh of both program and non-program friends. Of course, as usually happens at such gatherings, each groups sort of stuck to its own but I'm antisocial so that was A-OK with me. :o) The bar was really fun; I'd done something similar for my bachelorette party but this was much more expansive and animated. And I got two of my songs played ("Take on Me" and "I Saw Her Standing There") early so it only cost me $2/song. As the night rolled on, the songs were costing much, much more - in fact, someone payed $40+ just to stop one of the guys from playing "Party in the USA." Ridiculous!!! Poor drunk people. They are really stupid.

Belated Birthday Post

Ah, the 31st birthday. The birthday that firmly entrenches me in my thirties. Whee. It was definitely not as raucous as my 30th but it was still fun.  Some of my new school friends asked to join in the festivities so now I have photographic proof that I have met new people! And, as always, I thank all of you for making the trek to Sunnyvale to help me celebrate my special day. It honestly wouldn't be the same without you. :o)

We started out the evening with dinner at Frankie, Johnnie and Luigi, Too! in Mountain View.

Clockwise from the upper-left we have: Carissa, Kristine, Wade, Mel, Robert, Me and Lauren (She's the other Lauren M in the program so now people have taken to calling her Maynard and me McCauley. Or McGiggles. Whatevs.)

Me & Kristine

Carissa, Wade & Robert

We then headed over to Rooster T. Feathers in Sunnyvale for a comedy show. As it turned out, January 8th is also Rooster's birthday so all the people celebrating a birthday that night were invited up on the stage. Apparently, only I was so lucky as to have been a birthday person in the audience - those other two peeps work at the club.

I got to blow out the candles on Rooster's piece of cake. But then everyone got a free piece of cake so that was nice!

Here we have Wade, Mel, Carissa, Jeff (Amy's boyfriend), Amy, me, Robert and Kristine. Lauren had to leave early and Amy arrived after work so that's why there's a bit of a lineup change...

A Dog's Birthday

Yes, I am one of those sad ladies that makes their pet a birthday cake. Did you really expect anything else of me? I didn't get him a hat or a sweater or throw him a party so I do have some boundaries. But everybody deserves a special birthday treat, be they 2- or 4-legged! So, I hopped on the 'net last night to find a few dog-friendly cake recipes and settled on this one (though I substituted apple for carrot). It was a snap to whip up!

Here's the batter:



And the finished product:


I iced it with a little plain yogurt:



Garfunkel thought it was delicious! He licked and sniffed it tentatively for the first few seconds but then decided it was a good treat and devoured it whole:



He liked it so much we caved and gave him seconds...

Don't worry - he got to work off all that cake with a nice long birthday walk in the drizzle. Garfunkel's been a little stir crazy with all the rain so Robert was a good man and braved the elements to give the Funk an extra-special birthday. :o)

You Say It's Funk's Birthday...

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, GARFUNKEL!!!

You are an awesome dog. Hugs and belly rubs galore today!!!!

My New One Year "Anniversary"

Biji is THIRTY!!!

Poor Biji. The man is a war veteran, upstanding citizen, conscientious son and outstanding friend. And his friends are douches. And when I say "friends," I mean me and Robert. Yesterday was Biji's 30th birthday and we didn't call him! Now, in our defense Robert got home very late and we didn't finish dinner until 10:45. We were going to call him then but he was asleep. But that is no excuse!!! I should've called him without Robert since I knew he would be terribly late! But no!!!! So, to try and make amends, here is a Biji-centric post. (It's sort of in chronological order... ish.)

Hope you had a passable birthday, Bij.*

Celebrating Biji's 29th birthday @ Chevy's

Celebrating my 29th birthday @ Banchero's

Riding an ATV in Mexico

In England (for work)

At an Iraqi fruit stand, 2nd tour

Demonstrating how to wear his gear (Jan. '07)

Relaxing in his most awesome chair (Seriously. This chair is sooo comfortable!)

Visiting Fremont, 2006

Lookin' FINE @ Elephant Bar

With his godson, Jonathan

With his good friend, Chris

Iraq, 1st tour

In one of Saddam's palaces

Head freshly shaved, ready to deploy the 1st time

With the Stovalls @ Chili's, 2003

Our 1st visit to Puyallup

Relaxing at the Pleasure Palace

Checking out his huuuuuuuuuge feet in Hawaii

1998

* I know it wasn't "good" because it was a Monday, your boss was back and you were sick. So passable is as good as it was gonna get.