a crazy birthday and a little guy...

We celebrated Adele's 21st birthday on the 21st!  (Her real birthday is the 16th.)  Becca was nice enough to have all of us over to her porch.  Since Dan left for his internship there aren't any other guys home yet, so it was just the ladies.   We had dinner and then got together to visit at Becca's.  Not only was she nice enough to have us over, she made pretty hanging paper decorations.  You know, the ones you can always find on pinterest.  She always makes things look great, she's a pretty awesome hostess.  The night was a fun one, with Adele indulging in her 21st and enjoying every moment. That is, if you couldn't tell by the picture...  ;)

 

Yesterday, I babysat for a fairly new family of mine.  I've only babysat for them one other time, but I already really like the family.  I babysit for a group of grandkids when the family's adult children come home, so it's whole gang of kids, chaos, and outdoor sports.  The grandparents (the ones who actually hire me) have the most impressive collection of Leica cameras.  The grandmother had a strong interest in photography and still does, so those pictured^^ are not just collectibles, they were her cameras at one time before digital.  Her interest in photography, specifically lifestyle photography, is still very evident in their house.  She has a beautiful photo wall that has all sorts of film photos from when their children were young.  Their den is littered with albums and photo books of various years and events from birthdays to vacations, etc.  And lastly, photos are everywhere!  I mean it.  She even tapes them to kitchen cabinets.  It's kind of a funny thing because they have this nice house, with well-made furniture, fancy décor, everything in it's place and well taken care of, and then there are these little tacked up photos in random places.  I love it and to me, it is a testament to her strong sense of family in the way that she preserves and displays memories.

 

Also, how adorable is their youngest?? :)

Birthday Extras

After dinner on the 16th, Spenser and I went to the Front Street Brewery for a celebratory drink.  Since it was the middle of the week, we basically had the place to ourselves aside from one other group table.  Our waiter reminded me of a young Ray Romano. haha!  He was very amiable and lighthearted.  When I handed him my ID he kept staring and staring until finally he said, "Happy birthday?"  After I laughed and thanked him, he told me I could have a free half pint for my birthday. yay!  Spenser had their Raging River and I had the Old Davenport Gold and for the free half pint we tried the Bucktown Stout.

A few days later Becca came to visit.  Originally I was going to have a group of friends come (including Becca), but schedules didn't work out so I called it off.  Becca surprised me by calling and saying that she was coming anyway regardless of any cancellations.  She said she had made plans to come and she was not going back on 'em.  Go Becca, the girl takes action! :)

 

She came and stayed overnight.  She, Adele and I went out to dinner and stayed up talking that night before grabbing breakfast the next morning.  We went to our very favorite Ihop.  And are you ready for this?  It was Becca's first time eating at Ihop.  Adele and I were appalled and happy all at once, since we love Ihop (probably a little too much).

 

Then we went shopping...uh oh.  Though we were actually supposed to be shopping for Becca's niece, I thought it was the perfect occasion to buy a Lion King shirt.  Call it a birthday present for myself? ;)

Lastly, my parents came to town to take me out to dinner.  Not only were they coming to celebrate my birthday, but we were also scouting out a place to go for my graduation.  In lieu of having a party, we are just going to go for a family/friend dinner somewhere after the graduation ceremony.  And I think we know where that somewhere is now. Yay!

 

Thank you to everyone who came, visited, and celebrated with me.

Here we go, 21!

Celebrating my birthday

We celebrated my birthday a few days ago, on the 16th.  Spenser and I spent the day walking, eating, and eating some more.  Oh yeah, and lots of smiling, there was that too. ;)  We started out at Lagomarcino's, an old-fashioned, locally owned confectionary and soda fountain.  Such a cool place, a step back in time with amazing sweet treats.

That was my sundae!! Eeeee!  I ordered the Quad City Special.  It was my birthday, go big or go home.  Can you tell what it's supposed to look like?

 After ice cream, we took a walk through The Village.  It was Spenser's first time there. 
I had always promised to take him, since it is one of the "neater" (is neater even a word?) places in the area.

 ^^Valentino the Chihuahua

Spenser came late on the fifteenth, so that we could start celebrating my birthday right at midnight.  He always brings the fun!  I had classes the sixteenth, but he waited patiently and we made the most of the time in between classes.  We went to Lagomarcino's and had the most marvelous ice cream sundaes.  If ever you're looking for delicious confections/desserts, it is the place to go. So good.  Spenser ordered the Italian Sundae due to my recommendation (it was the first sundae I ever ate there and still my favorite!)  and I ordered the Quad City Special, which was a mountain of ice cream and cookies and everything else they could fit in.  The sundae was supposed to look like a riverboat, to live up to it's namesake of the Quad Cities which are directly on the Mississippi river.  They even put a paddlewheel on the back made of cookies.  Cute! 

 

After ice cream, we toured The Village.  We stopped in a bunch of small shops, tried on silly hats, and marveled at parasols (does anyone actually use them?)  In one of the shops, 3 Gypsies Designs, I was looking at jewelry when Spenser said, "Look down."  I almost tripped.  There, running silently around my feet was a tiny white dog.  I wouldn't have even noticed him.  He was a friendly Chihuahua whose name we found out was Valentino.  How great is that, a Chihuahua named Valentino?  I found it quite charming.  He received lots of pets and holds from us.

 

I had an evening class that night, but afterwards we kept the party going by having dinner at Ihop with our friends Katie and Adele.  Then, since it was my 21st we went to the Front Street Brewery to have a fancy beer.  Good birthday and a good day.  Thanks for celebrating with me, Spens.

twenty-one

it's my birthday!

I turn twenty one years old today.

 

 

 

p.s. I feel that there is definitely a connotation to turning 21, so I thought I might just state I was not day drinking, that's just my lamp post pose.  (The almost closed eyes probably didn't help any either. ;) haha.)

One Birthday, Two Birthday

Whoa! On Friday evening we celebrated both Spenser and Margaret's birthdays.  Margaret turns 20 and Spenser turns 21.  We had a small get together-the usual stuff: bags in the backyard, dessert, laughing, some gameboard playing (actually taboo doesn't come with a board, so just game playing).  We had cupcakes and pie, of course.  Becca (my always awesome helper) and I felt like it was too hard to get candles in a pie and decided to spare ourselves and have the two blow out a set of votive candles in a metal holder. Silly, but worth it when we saw how excited Margaret was.  "I get to blow these out?! Oh that's so cool!"

happy birthday to the both of you. we love you.

Becca's Birthday

These are some little snapshots from celebrating Becca's birthday.

I had told her that Adele and I wanted to take her out to dinner

so the three of us could celebrate,

but since we're all about surprises...

there was a crowd waiting at the restaraunt.

After dinner, we went to a park-

the guys threw a football around for a bit

and we made full use of the swings.

I "borrowed" Near's glasses,

Adele and I had a rope climbing contest,

and there were quite a few tic tac toe matches.

Eventually we ended up in another friend, Jeremy's, basement.

We passed the night playing ping pong,

a few rounds of cards,

and simply talking and laughing.

happy birthday becca!  

Birthday

Today is this girl's birthday!

Becca joins the 20 club along with the rest of us!

Lucky for me, I have known her for at least 15 of those 20 years.

I wish her a very happy birthday

and here's to the next 15 years of being friends!

Luau Take 2

I can't thank everyone enough for coming!

Happy Birthday, Adele!

Here's to you!

We love you!

Ho ' olaule ' a (Celebration!)

Did I mention the luau was a surprise?

Well we pulled it off!

I had casually invited Adele over just to sit and chat on the back deck with me for a while, so when she rounded the corner and was met with a full on party of people yelling surprise, it was priceless.

She told me later that she hadn't a clue, she never suspected anything.  I love that! I love when a truely good surprise is pulled off.  I couldn't have done it without all of our amazing friends.