My Coral and Jade Birthday

First, I am so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and well wishes for me on my birthday this year.  My phone was "blowing up" all over the place with facebook notifications, text messages, tweets, etc.  If nothing else, social media, you know how to make a girl feel special!

I really did feel special this weekend.  I got to find some "me" time and spend the morning with some lovely ladies from my church doing Holy Yoga.  It was great exercise, worship, and socialization, all things that I get way too little of regularly!

That's me on the green mat!

Afterwards, I go to go home, enjoy a long hot shower while the girls naps overlapped (thanks little ladies!) and then B took me out to celebrate.  In the last couple of years, it's been harder and harder for us to stay out, never mind get out, and usually we are home by 9:00pm.  Lame!  We were determined not to fall victim again this year!

We started off by going to Henninger's in Fells Point.  It's a few blocks away from the hub-bub of Fells, but on this night it was a bit more subdued since there was a playoff football game going on that pulled people away from fancy dinners.  We were the only people in the restaurant section and we enjoyed our meal at a leisurely pace.  The food was great and the atmosphere was true to Baltimore in its quirkiness, mixing up elephants with UFOs in their decor.

In an effort to prolong our excursion, we went to a different location for dessert.  Truly, in Baltimore, this is the only place to go for dessert on your birthday, Vaccaro's in Little Italy.  I ordered the Franciscan from the specials menu and was awarded with a dinner sized plate of Hazelnut Cake, coffee gelatto, and a glob of whipped cream that could stand alone as dessert.  I maybe had 4-5 bites, was totally stuffed, and took the rest home.  My apologies to my friends on the "Whole30" diet who were forced to see this picture and be reminded of what you're missing.  

Enough cake to feed the whole city!

Then we started to falter.  What do we do now?  We considered our options and settled on checking out Patrick's Irish Whiskey and Cappuchino bar just a few blocks from our house.  We've driven past this establishment for 7 years now without ever going in and figured it was about time.  I am so glad we did!  I had had sufficient caffeine and alcohol already (one drink limits for both!), so I had water while B enjoyed a pint off the tap.  

Smile for the camera kids!

The bartender introduced himself as Tommy and was friendly and inviting, despite our meager imbibing.  We were the youngest people by at least 20 years, which on my 35th birthday, felt pretty good to be considered a young'un.  The best part was the live Irish fold singer who knew my two favorite songs, Fields of Athenry and Whiskey in the Jar (apparently based on the Dread Pirate Roberts, marrying another favorite topic of mine).  It was a great ending to my celebration!  

Gah!

Ok, I thought it was bad when my December looked like this.  But now my days are even worse!

Today, fexample, (taking a deep breath...):
drop T off at daycare this morning
came home to take the dog out one more time
made the spinach artichoke dip for one of three Christmas parties tomorrow that I will bake at 5:00 am tomorrow morning
ran into work to get an experiment started by 9:00 am because it has specific timed steps throughout the day (at 10, 11, 12, 1, 3, 4, and again at 9 and 10pm)
pick up T after work
come home
get ready for B's holiday party (fancy event, I'll be posting my first "What I Wore" post, complete with my DIY bead and ribbon necklace and sweater to cardigan refashion)
go back to work after the party (yep you read that right)
come home and collapse.  Phew!

Oh, by the way, I'm 24 weeks pregnant, still getting sick, trying to resubmit a paper, write my thesis and defend my thesis next month. 

Ok, that's enough of my pity party.  Thanks for letting me get that out!

On a positive note, we are nearly finished getting the Christmas cards mailed out, the above mentioned spinach artichoke dip looks amazing (had to stop myself from eating it raw), and I get to go to a fancy dinner party tonight.  Woohoo!

Because I need to add some cuteness to my otherwise self-indulgent vent storm, here is T singing happy birthday on the way home yesterday!

Why my husband is awesome!

I know I've said it before, but I couldn't nearly say it enough.  My husband is one of the greatest people on Earth and I am a very lucky girl!  I might have to dedicate a page of my blog to just how great his awesomeness is!

Here's a preview of his latest endeavor:

So, our previous attempts at getting a quality picture for our Christmas card were a complete failure.  Either my eyes were closed, T's eyes were closed, someone wasn't looking at the camera, etc.  Here are some of those outtakes:

So, we planned for our friend Colleen to come take our family picture on Saturday afternoon.  I stressed and stressed over outfits, because unlike the last attempts, these were more posed and less action.  On the morning of the photo shoot, I found the perfect maternity dress that would coordinate with T's dress.  B just had to wear a navy sweater which made him happy because I had strict instructions not to buy him something that he would only wear once.  I showered late that day, so that I would be in the best "shape" for pictures, and got T dressed after her nap so her dress wouldn't be wrinkled.  It was perfect.  While we were waiting for Colleen to arrive, we were all hanging out in the kitchen.  The usual question came along, "What do you want to have for dinner?", to which I replied a couple of options, both of which I would need to start ASAP.  Both were met with not enough enthusiasm for to actually get to work, so whatever we had, it was going to be a quick and easy meal.

After a few minutes, B turns to me and asks, "So, what if I planned a surprise date for us tonight and we're actually going to Dogwood with reservations for 6:00?  Colleen is babysitting."

Seriously?!  Yes, yes YES!!!  This was great for many reasons:
1. We hadn't celebrated our anniversary from October yet
2. I wasn't thinking about it all day and getting anxious about leaving T (I hate missing bedtime)
3. I was already dressed up and ready to go out!  Woohoo!

What a fantastic evening!  We got our family pictures, B and I had a lovely three-course dinner at Dogwood (check out their mission!) and then afterward we took a stroll to see the Miracle on 34th St. Lights in Hamden.  Legend has it that one year, the residents of a block on 34th street entered into a lottery pool and won.  Trying to decide what to do with their winnings, each house invested into an assortment of Christmas lights that each resident would put up each year.  The whole street looks like something of a Hollywood set!  It is even rumored that anyone who moves into the neighborhood has to sign an agreement that they will continue the tradition (that was begun in 1947) and decorate their house each year too.  Whether all of this is true, I can't say, but it certainly adds to the magical spirit of Christmas!  Click here to find out more.

This was my favorite house on the street, complete with a family of robots and the bar scene music from Return of the Jedi playing.  So nerdy, I love it!