Happy 3rd Birthday, Briley!!!

August 1, 2010

Happy third birthday to my "best" niece, Briley Renee!

This picture was taken right after she "opened" her Princess Jeep, and you can just see the joy on her face and her free spirit shining through. She has become such a talker and is so smart and funny. :)

Boogie, it was such an honor to be there on the day of your birth and each birthday since, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for your fourth year. But you're growing up too fast! (Soon enough she really will be driving... ;)

Here are some pictures from the past four years:

August 1, 2007 Briley Renee is born!

Briley and Aunt Byrdie (August 2, 2007)

Briley at Aunt Tay's birthday dinner (almost 2 months)
Her birthday is September 19, which ended up being the day Zach and I met in 2008 and got married in 2009.

Briley's first Thanksgiving

Briley's first Christmas

Briley's First Birthday Cake

We really thought she was going to throw her cake!!

Tasha and I on Briley's first birthday (August 1, 2008)

Briley's 2nd Birthday Cake

Aunt Boo helped Briley blow out her candles :)

Briley decided to sit in her Duplo box (August 1, 2009)

Briley in my veil on our wedding day (September 19, 2009)

sleeping pirate at Drake's baby shower (January 30, 2010)

Briley and her baby brother on Aunt Byrdie's birthday

Briley's 3rd Birthday Cake

our overly-wrapped present of "educational stuff," according to Tasha ;)

Briley opening her books, Chicken Run, and Little Chef set; she really loved her Hattie Hippo book because she wanted a hippo for her birthday!

pretty girl in her cute swimsuit

cruising chicks

playing with her friends

Briley jamming in the shirt I got her in Ireland
She wouldn't give me a hug until it was time for me to leave!

Black Forest Cake :)

July 31, 2010

Happy birthday to my brother Matt (and Harry Potter)!! They are ten years apart, but I won't tell you who is older... *lol*

Speaking of birthdays, Zach continued his birthday week today with a black forest cake Beverly made and presents. The cake was sooo good after a delicious dinner of Reubens. I joked that it looked like the burning of Atlanta, but Zach didn't like the cinder left on the cake. ;)

INCEPTION

[photo courtesy http://www.wordsfinest.com/2010/07/early-review-inception-second-take.html]

July 30, 2010

We went to see Inception and to Red Lobster (so Zach could get some lobster) for his late birthday celebration with the family. I had a million coconut shrimp. :)

WAS IT REALLY REAL?????????????????????????/

Southern Cooking

July 29, 2010

Erin brought me back these recipe postcards from Biloxi. They're so cute, and I'm excited about making Brunswick Stew some day (minus the lima beans *lol*)!

But these got me to thinking about my Aunt Grace and her chocolate pies. She always made her crust, and I think she also made the chocolate pudding, too, because I remember that sometimes it would be lumpy as if it hadn't been beat enough over the stove. No refrigerated crust and instant pudding for her! She always saved the scraps of pie crust dough for me, baking them on an extra pie tin. Does anybody do that anymore? I know I made homemade crust in junior high, if not before, because we had to do it in home ec.

where the corn lives... [Zach's Birthday Week Part 1]

July 24, 2010

Zach and I got up at 5 (FIVE!) and drove through AR and MO to get to Blo-No (Bloomington-Normal), Illinois, where the corn lives with Joe and Beth. :)

They took us out to Mackinaw Valley Vineyard where you could bring in your own food to enjoy with their wine. We had Italian food paired with Carly's Creation, a blush wine. It was delicious, and the vineyard was gorgeous! I just wish I had gotten more pix before it started to rain.

We enjoyed some live music and people-watching at a reception taking place at the vineyard until the rain drove us home where we enjoyed some cake cookies and playing Alhambra. Good times, good times.

July 25, 2010

Happy 26th birthday, Zach!
I hope you had a great day and that all your wishes come true. :)

I decided to get Zach something he really wanted-Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!!, an anthology/box set of rare and unreleased tracks. But I didn't want to give that, so I took each album title of The Pogues, translated it into a clue, and paired it with a complementing treat (mints for "OOO," a Caramello for "fiery ravine" because I always talk about swimming in caramel, etc.). Here are the results:

(Sorry for the pictures being all helter-skelter!)

Day 1 Clue #1: your roses Russell Stover's sampler (Red Roses for Me)

Day 2 Clue #2: a sailor's life Shipyard IPA (Rum Sodomy & the Lash, which is what Winston Churchill called "naval tradition")

Day 3 Clue # 5: fiery ravine Cadbury Caramello, or "fear-y raven," which is what Zach called it to throw me off (Hell's Ditch) At this point, I was certain he knew, especially as he called "your roses" "red roses," so I mixed up all the clues.

Day 4 Clue # 3: lost mercy? Milk Duds (If I Should Fall From Grace With God)

Day 5 Clue # 7: OOO Altoids (Pogue Mahone)

"Pogue Mahone" is the Anglicisation of the Gaelic for "kiss my arse." The band shortened their name to just Pogues, which would be kisses, or "OOO." I put three kisses because they are only three members that have remained with the band since the start.

Day 6 Clue #6: expecting tea Abita Purple Haze (Waiting for Herb)

Day 7 Clue # 4: peace sign + heart Haribo Gold Bears (Peace and Love)

~*~the infamous magic box~*~

This is him unwrapping the second of three layers of wrapping paper on his Pogues box set.

Zach wrote down his guess on the second or so day of his birthday week. He knew it! I knew it! He knew I knew! I knew he knew!
(The night before I gave him the first clue--which he had no idea the magic box was going to make an appearance--he talked of ordering the box set. I then made a long face and discouraged him from buying it...)

We went to the cow farm for birthday cheese (cheddar with green onions)! I love cheese curds. :)

We first came across a goat...

Beth enjoyed Amelia, the baby cow who took to us like Zach to cheese...

Joe was not afraid to be spit upon by the llama.

After an afternoon of appetizers and Alhambra, we watched To Catch a Thief at the Normal Theatre. The prices were amazing ($1 each for popcorn and sodas and $2 for candy). The movie was sooo good, although, while watching Grace Kelly drove like a maniac, I kept thinking about how she died in a car wreck. :(

We found Strongbow cider at Maggie Miley's Irish Pub! Birthday cider pairs nicely with Cork fries, chicken wings, and onion rings...

I love this! It makes me miss Ireland so...

where the corn lives... [Zach's Birthday Week Part 2]

July 26, 2010

[photo courtesy http://itchyinjapan.blogspot.com/2009/08/ponyo-ponyo-ponyo.html]

Ponyo was so strange, but I definitely cannot say it was boring. ; )
I quite liked it A LOT.
Boy, that fish girl loved ham!!
I hope our "dream fish-daughter" is a little bit calmer...
(Geez, Tina Fey was a bad mother. And is that how they let kids in Japan behave? Ride off in a boat ran by fire by themselves at the age of five?! *lol*)

AND I found Anne Enright's The Gathering and my missing Chopin at the local bookstore!!

July 27, 2010

[photo courtesy http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g36455-d828257-r20956064-Destihl_Restaurant_Brew_Wrks-Normal_Illinois.html]

We would like to forget about DeKalb...
*lol*

Our last night in Blo-No, Joe and Beth took us to a local micro-brewery and restaurant called Destihl.
I had a stout that tasted like tobacco (definition: VERY smoky) and some delicious beer-battered cod with l-o-n-g chips, vinegar, lemon-infused tartar sauce, and a grilled lemon (?).
(P.S. I also got to try a cerise stout--cherry-flavored.)
I liked their blend of flavors along with the presentation, and the setting sun only thwarted us a bit. (We were sitting on the patio.) Nice place, I say!

Then we went to Friar Tuck's, this amazing liquor store. We found Strongbow there(!) = score (!)

We ended the night by watching Sorcerer's Stone, which Zach still has not finished. The next time will be our fourth try...

July 28, 2010

On our way back to The Natural State Wednesday, we stopped in STL at the Galleria so Zach could take his iPhone and laptop to the Apple Store. While there, we got THREE scoops of Ben & Jerry's for THREE dollars (Triple Caramel Chunk, Mint Chocolate Chunk, AND Bonnaroo Buzz-light coffee and malt ice creams with whiskey caramel swirls and English toffee pieces). So this week I've had tobacco-flavored beer and booze-flavored ice cream...

AND we got to go to a World Market for more Crunchies and Haribo. This WM was in the same shopping center as a Target. Uh, hello, heaven!

Lord, I am tired of driving.

Thanks to Joe Hawkins and Beth Fuechsl for making our time with them more than Normal!!! ;)

This photo is blurry because that is how I felt...

July 23, 2010

This stuff made me groggy and grouchy all day, and I still had a sinus headache. : /