Whew. I'm a bit tired out as I was invited to three birthday get-togethers today (and only made two of them). But we had some fun and some great food!
I went to the grocery store to get some organic juice and flowers for the first birthday brunch/party and as soon as I walk in the place I see somebody I haven't seen for many months - Kevin C from Seattle! My jaw must've hit the floor. I blurted out "What are you doing here?!" and then quickly added, "I mean, It's great to see you!" I was so shocked. He looked good and we chatted for a bit while shopping. Even though I was late to brunch, it was worth it.
Everybody was pretty much already at brunch and chowing down when I arrived and Lena (the birthday girl) even went to extra pains to cook me something special since everything else seemed to have cheese in it (I have no tolerance for that darn lactose!) Lena got a bunch of presents from friends and after she opened them up we got ready to go snow tubing.
We went out to the east side of the Cities and tubed for a while this afternoon and had quite a lot of fun. Most people in our group had never tubed before. In case you aren't familiar with this activity, we here in Minnesota like to take over-inflated truck or tractor tire inner tubes and ride them down snowy hills at great velocity. We get quite a kick out of it.
Once we got back we had cake and ice cream and talked for a while. Then it was off to my sister's birthday gathering!
We met my family over at my sister's house and once my little niece woke up we went off to dinner - at Buca's! Yum yum garlic yum. We ordered 3 or 4 entrees (huge family-style portions) and we actually ate all the food. This has never happened in all the times I've eaten at Buca's. Usually there is enough left-overs for everybody to take some home! It was fun and super delicious, as always.