18 July 2011

happy birthday, (original) beautiful.

 it seems to be raining birthdays around here! we celebrated my mom's life this week with dinner, presents, and a trip to see transformers 3 (yeah, weird movie choice...)
my brother and sister-in-law sent my mom a birthday package with a recipe book from a bakery in san francisco called miette. this place is heaven on earth, if your idea of heaven involves glass cases brimming with miniature pastel-colored cakes almost too beautiful to eat.
mine does.
inspired by the cookbook, mary and i decided to bake a cake. after attempting to replicate a miette cake, we were so discouraged and terrified that i ended up googling "easy chocolate cake." hey, at least we put in some decorative effort with the raspberries on top.
i don't know how much they liked it, but i thought it was pretty great. i mean, i did eat it for breakfast the next day, or whatever.

13 July 2011

happy birthday, beautiful.


 my family had the profound privilege of celebrating twenty-two (delightful) years of mary's life last week! she was whisked away in the early morning for a surprise day at six flags with her boyfriend, then came home to her favorite pesto pizza and a party in our courtyard.


brother jay and i filled the yard with tea candles, twinkle lights, and paper hearts. mary has a thing for pink, if you can't tell.


 louisa's bakery peanut butter cupcakes + limonatas + birthday gifts = good times.


we ate my dad's homemade popcorn as we watched home movies (starring mary) projected onto the side of the house.


a pretty enchanted evening, if i may say so.

07 July 2011

independence day(s).

the WHOLE family (minus baby james, sadly) ventured up to lexington, kentucky, to celebrate the fourth of july with our dear sarah and jeremiah this week! we got to see that growing baby bump, visit one of our favorite families (the sizemores!), and eat lots of free yogurt. not a bad week.


i have been officially addicted to ale 8 (kentucky's signature soda) since my first visit to lexington. jay doesn't hate it either!

we watched fireworks from sarah and jer's new land with a bunch of friends. when the sun set, hundreds of fireflies began glowing in the wheat field. so gorgeous.


besides owning wheat fields, sarah and jer also own four (and counting) yogurt shops called orange leaf. so naturally we took a yogurt tour of lexington and visited every location in town. not a flavor was spared.


we drove through bluegrass country to eat at this fun restaurant, windy corner market, with all the families.


all good things must end, as they say, so we had a family brunch at a local restaurant called doodle before heading back to our homes around the country. i suppose it's really a good thing when you're sad to leave your family!