This past Thursday marked Janelle's 22nd birthday. She got some gifts, but so did I- miss Angeline came to visit! Anddddd with that came a more tangible gift for me; a copy of the new Train CD! I've liked the past few hits from the album and wanted to see what else they had on the new CD. So, I decided to start this post by sharing one of my favorite songs on the album with you- it's called Parachute. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2botW18oJo
Okay, on with some fun stories from Janelle's birthday extravaganza. We started the weekend on Thursday with a home cooked meal from yours truly. Now when I asked Janelle what she wanted she said the 'potato things' that I make. Every time she comes for dinner she wonders if I am making them, so I'm beginning to think I should write my recipe down and start makin' some money because they are apparently that good. After telling her we needed something to go with them, she came up with turkey burgers (the recipe I borrowed from Darci :-p) and some asparagus. The meal was p.r.e.t.t.y. good if I do say so myself. To cap it off I tried my hand at making some apple crisp. It was good- but needs a little work. I need to find a good recipe for starters; I googled easy apple crisp and the result was okay, but there's gotta better. We also did gifts. Ang got her a 'grown up' gift for her apartment...a big ol' mirror that she can take with her wherever life takes her next. I decided to buy her first Vera Bradley accessory- a new wallet. She always talks about one of my bag's pattern so I got it for her knowing she liked it and that it wasn't too overwhelming for a first timer :-p Let's see if she catches the bug like I did...
Friday I had a full load of work on my plate, so I didn't get done until late afternoon (same time Janelle's office hours ended.) After decompressing for a few, we headed to happy hour to catch up with Ang. We ran into a few people we knew, but for the most part we just sat and chatted for a few hours. We waited around to see what was for dinner (as we always do) and once we saw ziti we knew we were going to have to make a decision about where we were going to go. Luckily, Janelle's family likes to give gift certificates out like they're going out of style so she always has one for practically every restaurant. Long story short, Janelle treated us to dinner at Applebee's Friday night :-) Yay for Friday!...brace yourself, Saturday's festivities were the most exciting...
About 2 weeks ago I came up with an idea for Janelle's birthday. When we realized we would not be going out of town as we had originally planned, I wanted to find something different for us to do. So, as I was thinking of ideas I remembered passing a horseback riding place on my way back from apple picking a few weeks before. Janelle loves horses and used to ride. So, I looked into it and found the contact information. After confirming with Ang that it was a good idea and that she would be game, I made a reservation. I was really excited because we were going to surprise her with it. All went as planned and she was SOOO happy. It was a blast.
Now, I must say I have been on a horse one other time in my life and it was in Tennessee when I was on vacation with my family probably 8ish years ago. I tried masking my fear to the best of my ability, but when all was said and done they knew I was pretty nervous. It doesn't help that the first horse we saw was a huge work horse that was the size of my house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2botW18oJo
Okay, on with some fun stories from Janelle's birthday extravaganza. We started the weekend on Thursday with a home cooked meal from yours truly. Now when I asked Janelle what she wanted she said the 'potato things' that I make. Every time she comes for dinner she wonders if I am making them, so I'm beginning to think I should write my recipe down and start makin' some money because they are apparently that good. After telling her we needed something to go with them, she came up with turkey burgers (the recipe I borrowed from Darci :-p) and some asparagus. The meal was p.r.e.t.t.y. good if I do say so myself. To cap it off I tried my hand at making some apple crisp. It was good- but needs a little work. I need to find a good recipe for starters; I googled easy apple crisp and the result was okay, but there's gotta better. We also did gifts. Ang got her a 'grown up' gift for her apartment...a big ol' mirror that she can take with her wherever life takes her next. I decided to buy her first Vera Bradley accessory- a new wallet. She always talks about one of my bag's pattern so I got it for her knowing she liked it and that it wasn't too overwhelming for a first timer :-p Let's see if she catches the bug like I did...
Friday I had a full load of work on my plate, so I didn't get done until late afternoon (same time Janelle's office hours ended.) After decompressing for a few, we headed to happy hour to catch up with Ang. We ran into a few people we knew, but for the most part we just sat and chatted for a few hours. We waited around to see what was for dinner (as we always do) and once we saw ziti we knew we were going to have to make a decision about where we were going to go. Luckily, Janelle's family likes to give gift certificates out like they're going out of style so she always has one for practically every restaurant. Long story short, Janelle treated us to dinner at Applebee's Friday night :-) Yay for Friday!...brace yourself, Saturday's festivities were the most exciting...
About 2 weeks ago I came up with an idea for Janelle's birthday. When we realized we would not be going out of town as we had originally planned, I wanted to find something different for us to do. So, as I was thinking of ideas I remembered passing a horseback riding place on my way back from apple picking a few weeks before. Janelle loves horses and used to ride. So, I looked into it and found the contact information. After confirming with Ang that it was a good idea and that she would be game, I made a reservation. I was really excited because we were going to surprise her with it. All went as planned and she was SOOO happy. It was a blast.
Now, I must say I have been on a horse one other time in my life and it was in Tennessee when I was on vacation with my family probably 8ish years ago. I tried masking my fear to the best of my ability, but when all was said and done they knew I was pretty nervous. It doesn't help that the first horse we saw was a huge work horse that was the size of my house.
After learning that when you get on the horse you are what's called 'mounted,' I was informed that my horse needed to be in the back of the group because Spirit (I can think of a few other names that are more appropriate for this horse) did not like when other horses were behind her and had a tendency to try to bite at them. So, if you can picture it- me on top of the horse, the horse whipping around to bite the one behind her...you can imagine the new found terror I had now that I was 'mounted' on this friendly horse. Thankfully, Spirit behaved..for the most part. I say that because my horse was the only horse, besides the horses the leaders were on, that liked to gallop to catch up to the group. Again, the first time that happened you can imagine the words and gestures coming from me. They say you're in charge of the horse...that is an absolute lie. I had no control whatsoever over Spirit. But we made out just fine and I can say that I enjoyed the experience.
For dinner we decided to go to Brix. It was the first time any of us had been there so we were pretty excited. There was a wait (go figure) so we slipped over to The Blue Frog to enjoy a glass of wine while we waited. I sampled a few and found one I really liked and clung to it for the night. Wine is something else. It makes you feel funny. I can't describe it, but after one glass my cheeks were rosy. When our table was ready we sat down to enjoy a GREAT meal. Other than the wait, the food was amazing. We ordered veggie fries (fried zucchini, asparagus, and sweet potatoes) for an appetizer, Janelle got pizza, and Ang and I both got pasta dishes. Mine was an Absolut white creamy sauce based dish and it was great. I didn't get to eat much of it because I filled up on everything else, but I will definitely go again. Be advised if you plan to eat there have the night free because it took quite a while for us to get our food. Other than that, two thumbs up.
It was a busy 3 days..especially after a busy work week, so I really needed to recuperate today. I ran some errands, but mostly cleaned my apartment and did laundry. I have a busy week ahead of me, so I needed to get the chores out of the way.
I'll leave you with one last thing that I learned at the ranch...the horses that look like spotted cows are called painted horses....to me there is no difference, but apparently because they are two different animals it's a big deal :-p
Have a good week!
For dinner we decided to go to Brix. It was the first time any of us had been there so we were pretty excited. There was a wait (go figure) so we slipped over to The Blue Frog to enjoy a glass of wine while we waited. I sampled a few and found one I really liked and clung to it for the night. Wine is something else. It makes you feel funny. I can't describe it, but after one glass my cheeks were rosy. When our table was ready we sat down to enjoy a GREAT meal. Other than the wait, the food was amazing. We ordered veggie fries (fried zucchini, asparagus, and sweet potatoes) for an appetizer, Janelle got pizza, and Ang and I both got pasta dishes. Mine was an Absolut white creamy sauce based dish and it was great. I didn't get to eat much of it because I filled up on everything else, but I will definitely go again. Be advised if you plan to eat there have the night free because it took quite a while for us to get our food. Other than that, two thumbs up.
It was a busy 3 days..especially after a busy work week, so I really needed to recuperate today. I ran some errands, but mostly cleaned my apartment and did laundry. I have a busy week ahead of me, so I needed to get the chores out of the way.
I'll leave you with one last thing that I learned at the ranch...the horses that look like spotted cows are called painted horses....to me there is no difference, but apparently because they are two different animals it's a big deal :-p
Have a good week!
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