Two

 Disclaimer: This post (it's gonna be a big one) is strictly about food and our questionably unhealthy relationship with our dog. You have been warned. 

Two years ago this little

 peanut was born way out in the country a few hours away from Madison, WI. Still undecided whether or not we should even get a dog we drove out to the little podunk town she lived in to see what this pup was all about. The second I held her I knew she was coming home with us that day. Gertrude Leia Plater (explanation of her name should be saved for another day) has since been the joy in our lives and a constant source of happiness in our family. 

This weekend we celebrated Gertie's second birthday with a trip to the park to feed the ducks and baked a yummy (for people & pooches) almond strawberry cake. Here's our little party. 

  I am in love with Hermann park. I could go here everyday. It is huge! The zoo is attached to it and there is a long reflection pond, a duck pond, people practicing cosplay sword fights, a choo choo train, Japanese garden, ampitheater, the natural science museum is across the street...you get the point it's got a lot to offer. Not to mention all of these gorgeous trees.

 Gertie loves the ducks. She doesn't quite know what to do with them. As they would get closer trying to get our bread she would get super excited and lunge at them scaring the ducks away...We didn't end up feeding ducks for too long. Instead we just checked them out from a safe distance...unlike this chap here.

 Now on to the yummy things...don't worry I included a link to the recipe (with a much prettier presentation/photographs) HERE. This cake was so easy! It is pretty healthy too definitely something you could make as a guiltless dessert to share with your significant canine other. (I like it better taste wise without the "frosting")

 We cut a slice for Gertie and before I could get a cute picture of her with her cake she snatched it and tried to make a run for it. She doesn't get fed scraps so when the opportunity for "people food" arises she takes the money and runs.

 In a split second her slice was half...

...I mean all gone.

 You're a good dog, Gertie. You are the by far the best snuggler in the universe. You make a lovely 7am alarm clock...everyday with out fail. You always include your sister even though she's a cat. You have brought your daddy and me closer together as a couple and we thank you for that. Happy Birthday we love you lots!
-Mom and Dad.

Birthday Recap

My birthday was a good day yesterday. As simple as it was, I think it was my favorite birthday in a long time. I started the day waking up at 5 so I could finish my mountain of reading for my rhetoric of religion class. Treated myself to driving to school instead of sweating in 90 degree heat (before 9:00!) on my bike. After class I headed home, had some lunch, and headed off to work. After work was over it felt more like a birthday. I cam home to some lovely flowers from my sweetheart!

I was feeling creative and hyper so I made a headband out of my bouquet and posed Lana del Rey style. The flowers were just going to wilt and die anyways so why not make a sweet crown out of them?

See? Just need longer hair and serious eyeliner and you won't know who is who.

After I played with my roses, I opened my present from my sister in law jojo (Jonessa). She got me an amazing cookbook that I can't wait to try! It is super natural every day. Jojo says all the recipes she has tried are amazing so I can't wait to get cookin! My pinterest recipes will have to be put on hold for a bit :) Speaking of which I made my birthday cake from a pinterest recipe. I made triple lemon blueberry cake with lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream frosting. LEMON. It was super tasty and fresh. perfect cake for summer. Gotta give props to joey for letting me make a cake that definitely wouldn't be his first pick. I baked it the night before my birthday since I was going to be so busy yesterday. I was baking a cake a midnight, and anyone who knows me knows my brain stops functioning properly after a certain hour. Well I was making the cake just fine. Took a pic.

I thought it was funny how thick the batter was, but I had made cakes with thick batters and didn't think much of it. So I popped in in the oven and felt so proud of myself for making a tasty cake. Then I noticed 4 oval shaped brown things sitting in a cardboard carton. sweating...(it's really hot here) Yeah. forgot the eggs. Soo after the cake had been in the oven for 10 minutes I frantically snatched it out, slopped the semi cooked mess back into the bowl and folded in the eggs that I whipped together like I was folding chocolate chips into cookie dough. I was sure that this cake was screwed, but lo and behold it turned out great still! I wrapped it up and saved it for my birthday so I could frost it.

Joey and I went to dinner at the old fashioned which is THE restaurant to go to if you want traditional wisconsin food. it was delicious. I have always wanted to eat here since we moved, but it has always been so busy that we just end up going somewhere else. Last night though the wait wasn't too bad and we got our sconnie eats on.

Joey got the no.30 which was high cholesterol in a bun. grass fed beef burger, all natural bacon, local cheddar cheese, and a fried egg (which I'm sure was also cage free/natural feed/no corn standard stuff). it would have had fried onions too but we know how joey feels about onions.

burgers make joey happy

rar!! get in muh face!

the inside of the restaurant is cool too. it's filled with old vintage wisconsin stuff...and lots of loud people who think yelling is proper restaurant vernacular.

I had the macaroni and cheese which was bubbly and oozy creaminess, with little puddles of melted butter when it was placed in front of me...by the end of our dinner it was solid...yeah there's no fat in here.

what is a traditional wisconsin meal though with out cheese curds and ranch? this restaurant has the best curds in madison. hands down...now where is my lipitor and sweat pants?

we had a lovely dinner and I love this picture. despite joey's deformed hand haha.

after dinner we went back home and just hung out together. which might sound boring, but it was perfect to me. I just wanted to relax with my family and watch a movie on netflix while stuffing my face with cake. This is the inside of my cake after I sliced it in half. soo tasty.

before I sliced my (mini) cake I dressed it with pink sprinkles, 23 candles, and made joey and the cat sing happy birthday to me...gertie was hiding under the couch. she gets a little moody when the attention isn't all on her.

kitty wasn't too sure about the candles so she was squirmy

It was a perfect birthday! I loved just being with my joey and keeping it simple. It is funny the older you get the less hyped up you want to be about your birthday. Last night while I was falling asleep I was thinking of things I wanted to do in this next year:
1. graduate college
2. get a job/internship at an art gallery or auction house
3. fit into a pair of jeans that I had in high school.
4. get back into yoga
5. be more spontaneous
6. be more organized
7. be a better homemaker (cleaning, decorating, wifey things)
8. be a better wife to joey
9. read more books (good books. ie the classics)
10. learn a language (german or french)
11. become a better writer
12.apply to graduate school???

Birthday week

Woo! best time of the year baby! Birthday week officially commenced this weekend. Here's what happened...

                                                     I went to school. Took a final.

Found a food cart with green smoothies!

Joey got a new laptop for school. He is SO excited about it.

I got a card in the mail with some mula! Thanks dad! Also thanks Nana for the card and mula from when I was in town a couple weeks ago!

Made chocolate almond croissants for a baptism...that I forgot what time it actually started. Thought it was at 12, sent Joey to drop them off...yeah baptism was at 10 am. FAIL. Sister Missionaries sure got a lovely treat though!

We are training Gertie to be able to go on walks with us with out a leash. She did pretty well, but gets distracted sometimes and likes to wander a little bit. We just lure her back with a tennis ball.

We went to the movies at my favorite theater. Sundance cinemas. They are seriously the best! So glad we will have one in Houston too!

We saw Moonrise Kingdom. Best movie ever at the moment. This is the film of summer 2012. Go see it.

Kitty/Ethel likes to hang out in our cupboards.  She also has an undying love and friendship for computer cases. She has been pretty serious with my case since I got my laptop. Now there is a new guy on the block since Joey got his laptop. She is letting my case down easy not totally quitting it cold turkey, but she doesn't leave big black's sight for much. I thought she would appreciate me merging her two loves into one spot. I think it is safe to agree that she does.

I have an addiction to sweets. I also have an addiction to pancakes. I was seriously craving some almond flour pancakes yesterday, and these little minis did the trick. I should have waited to eat pancakes for later, because I want to try a pinterest "funfetti" pancake recipe on my bday...is that too many pancakes in a week? Prolly. Oh well. Happy Birthday week to me!