Birthday Cake: A Tale in Four Parts

Since I'm about 18 days late in posting my birthday pictures, I decided I'll post them with Emma's birthday pictures as well, since we just went out to celebrate her first birthday this past weekend.

But I guess I'll start with the story of my birthday, which is also known around here as "A Tale of Three Chocolate Cakes".

Cake One: Deliciously rich Wegman's chocolate cake. If you've ever watched the movie Matilda and remeber the scene with the chubby boy at the assembly who has to eat that incredibly dense super dark chocolate cake ... well, then you know what Wegman's chocolate cake is like. So wonderful and cruel at the same time. haha

This one was from my bosses to celebrate the day before my birthday, since I took my actual birthday off. (Best decision ever).

Despite the incredible richness, we managed to eat a sizable chunk after lunch. Sort of looks like more than just 4 women work at my company, doesn't it? Hee hee. Oops. We were craving chocolate that day, I guess.

For my actual birthday, Chris's dad, stepmom, and aunt came out to Syracuse to take me out to dinner. We ate a delicious meal at Gordon Birsch, (yum!) and then the waitress brought me out this: another chocolate cake!

This one had a chocolate mousse between the layers, so it was slightly lighter than the Wegman's cake, and luckily it was just one piece.

But then, after the restaurant, we went home and this happened:

 

Yep. Aunt Lynn brought me another chocolate cake! Apparently I give off a vibe that I'm a chocoholic or something. Haha Not that I'm complaining.

 

Even after a piece of chocolate cake the day before and two pieces that evening, Chris and I still managed a smile for the camera before passing out on the couch.

 

The family getting ready to enjoy cake #3, which had a lighter "milk chocolate" type frosting and lots of extra frosting flowers on it.

So after all that, I was relieved to find that for Emma's birthday party, it was vanilla cake with raspberry filling. haha

Well, not that relieved. Chris and I were still reeling from the three other cakes, so we shared a piece and didn't even finish that. But it sure was cute!

Emma, on the other hand, had no problem finishing her individual cupcake, pictured to the left of the Minnie Mouse cake.

We all knew she was going to put on a show, so the cameras were out and all eyes were on the birthday girl.

She did not disappoint.

Unlike her brother, this beautiful blue-eyed girl loves food and didn't mind getting messy.

She even perfected the art of licking her fingers. Waste not, want not, Emma girl.

But don't worry, Jackson still had a good time, even if cake eating wasn't his forte.

I think speed is more of his thing. He wore out Daddy and Uncle Chris having them push him around on this balance-training bike. So cute.

Oh, and if you're wondering how I celebrated finally being passed all the cake eating for a little while, check this out:

Not exactly the healthy meal I was intending to eat, but damn it was good.

A Much Belated Post

I've been meaning to post for a while now. It's not that I haven't had anything new to post about. Quite the opposite in fact. My birthday was a couple weeks ago and I think I am now officially at an age where I will be flattered when I get ID'd at bars and restaurants, rather than annoyed that I look like a kid.

Birthday pictures -- including pictures from my new birthday present camera -- coming soon. Also, if I go a few days or weeks without posting again, you can sometimes see what I'm up to by checking my Instagram account. Instagram used to be just for smartphones, (that's how I post pictures), but now you can see the pictures from your computer too. And the reason why this may be of particular interest is because very soon I will be away from my computer for 10 days.

Far away.

3 flights and 14 hours away.

Yeah, we're going to Hawaii!!!! So we booked this trip a couple weeks ago and have been uber busy planning and booking rooms and stocking up on bathing suits ever since. Hence the huge delay in posting.

But I'm happy to report we have just about everything settled with weeks to spare.

So the story of why we're going to Hawaii: Chris's friend Courtney had planned to go to Hawaii for two weeks with her boyfriend Brad. Last month, Chris was feeling the February chills and mentioned to Courtney how he missed the old spring breaks their group of friends used to go on in college. That's when Courtney told us about her Hawaii trip and invited us to come.

We booked the flights the next day.

Kinda crazy but also super exciting. And we still had 6 weeks to prepare, so it wasn't like we had to immediately hop on a plane. Anyway, we're going to Maui and Hawaii, the Big Island and we're sooooooo excited.

Here's a few of the adventures we have planned:

• Hike an active volcano (hopefully see lava flowing!)
• Swim with manta rays at night in the Pacific Ocean
• Drive the twisty, turny road to Hana
• Swim in waterfalls many times
• ATV tour around the rim of a huge gulch where wild horses roam
• Attend the Old Laihaina Luau

Obviously there will be many many many pictures to come of all of our Hawaiian adventures. As I sort of mentioned earlier, Chris bought me a really awesome new camera for my birthday, so hopefully I'll have it mastered by then. But if you want pictures BEFORE we get back, check my Instagram account.

Hopefully it actually works for people who don't have smartphones. If not, sit tight and pictures will come soon after the trip! And I promise, birthday pics soon as well! :-)