Birthday Party Fun and the Fruits of my Labors

I'm a little behind on my posting. I've been at girls' camp for the last week (which post is forthcoming) and just got back yesterday, so now I will try to catch up on what's been going on.

I will take any excuse to throw a party. And I figured that turning 30 was a more than adequate excuse. So, we decided to have some birthday party fun on my birthday weekend. I figured a theme party would be fun and, as a nod to my early days, I settled on an 80's party. We got some decorations in great 80's colors (teal, magenta, and gray), we had some good 80's food (Doritos, Capri Sun, Pop Rocks, Chicken Nuggets), and we had 80's music playing in the background. A birthday party is not complete without party games, so we had an 80's trivia game, a name that 80's TV show theme music game, pin the glove on Michael (may his soul rest in peace), and a thriller dance contest. The prizes were classic 80's movies. We had a great time and loved to see everyone dressed up in their 80's best. Here are a few pictures:


Mr. Frisby and I, ready to get down!


Girls just wanna have fun!


Pin the glove on Michael


Dancing along to the Thriller video

In other news, I'm starting to enjoy the fruits of my gardening labors. As you can see from this picture, my garden is growing (for a comparison, see this post):



My cucumber plants are getting big and I've noticed a few flowers on them. Tomatoes are coming and even starting to get ripe. My one surviving pepper plant is growing.



And my pea plants are growing peas! When I left for camp, I had two sugar snap peas getting ripe on the vine. When I came home, I saw there was one more. I picked the two peas that were ripe and Mr. Frisby and I partook last night. They were divine!


Hooray for home-grown veggies!

Mr. Frisby Bakes

On Wednesday night, I came home from Young Women's to this beautiful sight in the kitchen:



What would prompt Mr. Frisby to don an apron (and not just any apron, but an apron of such caliber) and spend hours (and I mean HOURS) in the kitchen? My birthday, that's what. A little background: Three years ago, before Mr. Frisby and I were even engaged (though not long before), my birthday was drawing near. My favorite dessert ever is Strawberry Baumkuchen Torte and I typically request that bit of heaven from my mom for my birthday dessert. My parents were going to be out of town and I thought I would have no one to make it for me for my birthday. Enter Mr. Frisby, who was not actually Mr. Frisby then, but just Jared. So, as Jared was still trying to woo me and convince me that he was marriage material (ok, fine, I was already convinced - but it makes for a better story!), he talked my mom into teaching him how to make the torte (which is actually a very complicated dessert and literally takes hours to make) so he could make it for me for my birthday in my mom's absence. The teaching session was planned and I came home one evening to find Jared in my mom's kitchen mixing, stirring, baking, and frosting away under Leah's careful tutelage. Instructions were given and followed and the teaching session was a success. A few weeks later, Jared made the torte again, all by himself, for my birthday. He did a great job and tastiness ensued. The following year, Jared and I were newly married and my parents had just left for their mission. Mr. Frisby came through again in my mom's absence and made me the torte for my birthday. So, as my birthday approached this year and my parents were still on their mission, Mr. Frisby once again stepped up to the plate for the third year in a row. He planned to make the torte the night before so it could chill overnight and we could enjoy it on my birthday. So, when I came home on Wednesday night and saw him working away, I decided I better document the love (he thought he would be okay without the apron to finish up the decorating, but the chocolate on his shirt when he finished said otherwise).





With a little practice under his belt, I think this was Mr. Frisby's best torte yet.



Thank you, Mr. Frisby! Birthday tastiness = Love!

McGriddles

This morning, Jared went to McDonald's to get me a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit for breakfast for my birthday. Unfortunately, the McDonald's man screwed up and Jared came home with Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddles instead without knowing it. I had never tried a McGriddle before this morning. Firstly, because I never go to McDonald's for breakfast and, secondly, because when I do go to McDonald's for breakfast, I get the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit because it's the tastiest. I had never given much thought to a McGriddle until there was one sitting in front of me. And then my thoughts went something like this: "That bacon, egg, and cheese is sandwiched between pancakes. That doesn't sound very good. Who puts bacon, egg, and cheese with pancakes? Biscuits are much better." But, there was the McGriddle, so I gave it a try. Again, I do not know much about McGriddles, but upon biting into it, I found out another little tidbit about them. There are pockets of syrup within the little pancakes. As if putting bacon, eggs, and cheese with pancakes isn't bad enough, now you're going to add syrup? Now that I have given some thought to McGriddles, here's what I've come up with. They're gross. Bacon, eggs and cheese do not belong between two syrup-infused pancakes. We each took a bite of our McGriddle and, after experiencing the disgustingness, promptly took the bacon, eggs, and cheese out and ate it by itself. I couldn't even eat the pancakes by themselves because I don't like syrup. I grew up thinking that peanut butter and jelly on pancakes was perfectly normal because that's how my family eats them. So, I rather think that the McGriddle should go. I want my bacon, eggs, and cheese between biscuits where they belong. And whoever came up with the idea of the McGriddle should be fired. And the kid who screwed up my birthday breakfast should be shot!

Address Labels

My mom gets TONS of address labels in the mail (I'm house-sitting - I'm allowed to go through her mail). You know, the free ones sent by charities to try to get you to donate money. When I got the mail today, naturally there was another thick envelope for my mom full of address labels. I opened them up and threw them in the growing stack of address labels that have been building up while my parents are gone. I don't usually pay that much attention since it's such a frequent occurrence, but as I threw them in the stack, I noticed that these address labels were from the March of Dimes. I thought to myself, "I thought they just got some from the March of Dimes." So, I checked through the stack and, sure enough, near the top was another set of labels from the March of Dimes. So, I looked through the stack a little more and realized that my mom gets a set of address labels from the March of Dimes every month. Not a big deal, you say? I counted the address labels on the most recent set. 74 labels. The March of Dimes thinks my mom is going to mail 74 letters a month? Now, I'm not trying to singe out the March of Dimes - it just happened to be the charity that I noticed. This scenario is repeated with several other charities as well. I'm also not trying to diminish the convenience of address labels - they're awesome. I use my mom's frequently and just cross out her name (yep - you remember my Christmas card). But, 74 labels per month? That's 888 per year. Who sends that much mail? Now add to that the labels she and my dad get from other charities and my parents receive several thousand address labels in the span of about a year. Maybe that money could be used more wisely. It would be comforting to know that as much of your donation as possible is actually being used for the cause to which you are contributing instead of for their marketing and solicitation materials. Just a thought. Call me crazy.

3 Things

1. I heart Target and here's one of the reasons why:



Found this bad boy while strolling through the Target wonderland yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the tag and it was on clearance for $13.74. It was the only one on the rack and just happened to be my size. I had no choice but to buy it. Of course, with the warm weather upon us it may be awhile before I can wear it, but it was a steal not to be passed up.

2. Our little birdie friends have hatched their young 'uns! We don't have any pictures because we're not quick enough on the draw, but we love to watch the little birdies coming and going with food for their little babies. They feed them several times a day and we've counted five little heads that pop up and chirp incessantly as long as there is food around. In fact, that's how we know that mom or pop have arrived with the vittles - all of a sudden we hear the baby chirping begin. And when the food is gone, the little babies nestle back down into the nest. They're so cute!

3. I hate American Airlines. This is not really anything new, just recently reconfirmed. In my last post, I mentioned that my return trip from San Antonio was hell. Here's how it went down: I had scheduled a return flight that would arrive back in the bay area by 2:30pm so I would have plenty of time to make it to work. I usually get to work around 4:20 to set up equipment for the strength and conditioning session which starts at 4:45. So, I'm sitting at the gate in San Antonio when the gate agent comes on the loudspeaker to say that our plane left Dallas late and would, therefore, arrive in San Antonio late. This meant we would not actually leave San Antonio until about 40 minutes after we were supposed to and if we had connections in Dallas we should talk to the gate agent. Naturally, a huge line forms to talk to the agent, but I was quick and was close to the front. So, I get to the front of the line and walk up to the agent as the person before me finishes up. Well, right as I get up to the counter, some fool strolls right up to the side of the counter and starts asking the agent about his connection. I looked at him (I was already mad about the flight and my best side is not usually manifest when I'm angry) and I said - in not a very nice tone, "hey, you know what? We're all in line (pointing to the very long line behind me) for the same questions." He looked at me and walked away. So, the agent looks up my reservation and kindly tells me that I will probably not make my connection, but they will keep my seat on the connecting flight just in case, as well as hold one for me on the following flight which would get me into the bay area at 4:15. Grrrrr! So, we finally board our flight and take off from San Antonio an hour after we were supposed to. I tell the flight attendant that I have a tight connection and she looks at me and says, "well, most people on this flight do." And that is all the help American gave me. So, while in flight, I look up the terminals in Dallas and figure out which gate I'm arriving at and which gate my next flight is at. Naturally, they're not in the same terminal. We did make up some time in the air and arrived in Dallas about 15 minutes before my next flight was supposed to leave. Of course, it took us 15 minutes to taxi to our gate. As soon as I was off the plane I made a beeline for the interterminal train and zipped over to the other terminal, ran to my gate only to see my plane just pulling away. Out of luck. So, I look up the gate for the next flight and it happens to be back in the same terminal that I arrived at. So, I head back over there, get myself a new boarding pass and wait for boarding. In the meantime and I had told Mr. Frisby that he would need to pick me up right when the plane landed (I had checked no bags) and take me directly to work so I could make it in time. Imagine my frustration when we board the plane and then sit there for an extra half hour while they fix some mechanical problem. All the while I'm trying to calculate the odds of landing with enough time for me to make it to work. If you remember from the beginning, the flight was scheduled to land at 4:15. If we took off half an hour late and the flight time is the same, then I land at 4:45 - exactly when I should be starting my session at work. So, as we get into the air the pilot comes on and says that we'll be able to make up some time because we weren't having the normal headwinds that we usually do out of Dallas (which was hilarious because just that morning, my sister Sharon had made the comment that when planes are late, the weather miraculously seems to improve, allowing them to make up time in the air). We did indeed make up some time and arrived in San Jose at 4:20. In Dallas I had requested an aisle seat as close to the front as possible. I was two rows back from First Class. The people around me probably thought I was rude, but as soon as the seatbelt sign was off, I jumped up, grabbed my carry-on from the overhead, zipped past the row in front of me and waited as the First Class passengers leisurely got up from their ginormous seats and gathered their belongings. I got off the plane fast and called Mr. Frisby as I ran through the terminal. He was waiting at the curb when I walked out of baggage claim and he drove me to work. I arrived at 4:40. I only had five minutes to get everything set up, but I was there on time at least, no thanks to American Airlines. As I have yet to enjoy a problem-free flight on American, I have decided that I'm done with them and they shall get no more business from me. If only all airlines could be like Virgin America. Mr. Frisby and I will be flying with them to Seattle in August and we look forward to being on the cool plane once again.

San Antonio

Sharon, Gaylene, Tracy and me in San Antonio

I just got back from a weekend in San Antonio with three of my sisters. It was my first time in Texas (unless you count layovers in airports) and I was a little nervous. I had a bad experience with a Texan stranger who seemed to have a problem with Californians when I was in college. The people seemed to be very nice, but I made sure to wear my NorCal shirt so as not to hide my true colors. I got over my initial reservations with the possibility of California hating and got down to the business of being on vacation with lots to see and do. First up was the Alamo. That was the main thing I wanted to do and it ended up being my favorite. I had read a book about the history of the Alamo before the trip so I would know why it was a significant place when I visited. I loved it!


The Alamo

Isn't it cool? We had great weather while visiting the Alamo, but just as we left it started to rain. So, we headed indoors to the mall so we could grab some lunch hoping the storm would blow quickly through. It didn't and, after a couple of hours in the mall (where Sharon must have cleaned out half the Gymboree store), we gave up and decided to brave the rain. We next headed to the Mexican market for a little shopping. I didn't really buy anything except a baby gift because I had had my fill of Mexican markets on our honeymoon in Mexico. But, it was fun and we ended up eating a great dinner there at a Mexican restaurant (that was the third stop at a Mexican restaurant so far and it was definitely not the last). On a sad note, we witnessed the death of two little ducklings while walking to the market. A mom and her 7 ducklings were swimming near the dam of the river. The mom stopped at the edge and the ducklings were just swimming right along the edge and all of a sudden, they all went over! We ran over to see the other side of the dam and only 5 little ducklings came back up. So sad!


Tracy, Gaylene and Sharon at the Mexican market

The next day was Sunday, so we rented a car for the day and decided to do all of the things that we would need a car for. We first went to church, but after that it was off for more great adventures. We went to another Mexican restaurant for lunch. This one was famous for its puffy tacos and, since Sharon was obsessed with having puffy tacos, we had to go. It was very tasty, especially the homemade flour tortillas. Mmmmm! After puffy tacos, it was off to the botanical garden. Botanical gardens are not my favorites, but there were some interesting things to see and it was an excellent opportunity to practice my fledgling photography skills. Actually, I don't really have any skills yet. I guess it was just an excellent opportunity to practice using our big kid camera. Anyway, I did love seeing the little pineapple plants and, of course, there was some goofing off.


Look at the baby pineapple! It's so cute!


Sharon, nearly invisible. Can you see her? I know, it's difficult.

That night, we switched from the habitual Mexican food and opted for some tasty BBQ. Rudy's BBQ had been recommended to us by several people and it did not disappoint. Mmmmm. I had to bring home some Rudy's rub for our next grilling adventure. After getting back to the downtown area, we went on a wild goose chase for a gas station. We searched high and low but were unable to locate a gas station until we finally stopped to ask where we could find one. Who knew that in downtown San Antonio gas stations would be so few and far between. During our search for a gas station, we stopped at Mission Concepcion, one of five missions in the Missions National Park (the Alamo is also one of the five missions). We had planned to rent bikes the next day and bike the mission trail to see all of the missions. However, we changed our plans and decided to get up a little early and drive to see all of the missions before we had to return the car. So, that's what we did and I thought the missions were pretty cool (for evidence of my strong like for historic missions, see this post). It ended up being a smart move to see the missions with our car because, as we drove away from the first mission, we were attacked by a small pack of dingos (read: two stray dogs). If we had been on bikes, there's no telling what could've happened to us.


Mission Espada


The four of us at Mission Espada


Mission San Jose

After the missions, we returned the car and then walked around this neighborhood which had all these old, historic houses. That was pretty cool. Then it was back to the hotel for a little swim in the rooftop pool. Very relaxing and I only got a little bit sunburned. After that we headed out to enjoy the riverwalk and to do some shopping. Sharon saw a pair of cowboy boots that she decided she needed. We loved the look of the cowboy boots with shorts when she was trying them on, so of course we had to get some pictures.


Sharon, in love with her cowboy boots. Lookin' good!


The Riverwalk


A doorway

We finished our shopping and walked along the riverwalk, soaking up our last evening of vacation. Then we found a restaurant for dinner and it was, you guessed it, Mexican! The trip back home was hell for me, but I'll leave that for another post. San Antonio was great! We had lots to do and lots to eat, but really we just had fun hanging out with each other. Hooray for vacation and hooray for sisters!

Expecting

Well, it's Springtime and the birds and the bees have definitely been busy here at the Frisby home. We are pleased to announce that we have some little feathery friends on the way!

About a week ago, I noticed a pair of little birds building their nest in this hanging plant outside our kitchen window. Now the mama bird is always in the nest, so the eggs must be there.



I realize this is not the greatest picture, but if you look closely, you can just make out the silhouette of the mama bird's head. She's very protective of her little ones on the way, so getting really good pictures is not possible.

We don't know how many eggs there are or when they're due to hatch, but we're so excited for the proud mom and pop to be. And we love watching it all go down from the window!