something delicious, P.E.

But what can you do? Medicine's not a science.

Abby's formula for the perfect evening:

• got out of work a few minutes early tonight and went to the drugstore to browse birthday cards for a good fifteen minutes, minimum, without Joe breathing down my neck asking me if I had to take that long to select the perfect card (answer:  yes, I do...and I found one that played the chicken dance song). 
• Then I went home, played with the dogs for a while and
• took a long, hot shower; with the drain plugged and bath salts. 
• Several minutes of primping followed and we were on our way to meet our friends at a new restaurant downtown to celebrate a 30th birthday. 
• A couple of glasses of really good Cotes du Rhone, an orgasmic medium-rare grilled beef tenderloin with lobster Bearnaise, and chocolate mousse birthday cake with a side of champagne, followed by the belly-laugh worthy animated comedy of the now 30-year-old guest of honor
• I love my friends.
• Get home and find out The Office is on late tonight so I will get to see it after all.  It's a rerun, but so what?  I missed most of this one the first time around (prison Mike).
• Now, 30 Rock is on and I have one dog curled up on my feet and the other one leaning heavily against my side.  Oh, this is the one where Tracy sees the "blue dude".  The very episode that made me fall in love with the show.

It's going to be 25 below (BELOW!!) zero tonight.  I will be slumbering beneath a perfectly heavy down comforter next to my hot-stuff husband in a wine-induced coma in just about 10 minutes.  I might wake up with cotton mouth and a small headache tomorrow morning, but it will have been worth it for my perfect evening.

pictures of cake

It's embarassing how many pictures of cake I have, and these are just the ones that have been taken after later 2005.  I'm sure there are more in the archives from the old camera.  For the past two months, I have been making an effort to eat like a responsible adult, rather than a pimply teenager.  So far so good, except yesterday while I was home from work sick I had the urge to make a three layer chocolate cake...and I did.  I had a piece and sent the rest of it to work with Joe this morning.  I'm not sure what motivated me to make cake.  Oh yeah, I love it.  And apparently I also love to take pictures of it.

Armour Wedding:  October 2006

Ache Wedding:  October 2006

Backsheider Wedding:  August 2006

Christmas 2006, and yes, we had to use a 5 for the last "s".

Catherine's Birthday:  August 2006

Halloween 2006

Thommen Wedding:  December 2005*

*I did not take this photograph.

mmmm....beer.....

As far as annual summer festivals go, my all-time favorite was held in our fair city this weekend.  I believe this was our fourth year of attendance at the Vermont Brewers Festival, where several "microbreweries" from around Vermont and New England set up shop in small white tents within the safe confines of an orange perimeter snow fence at waterfront park to display their latest and greatest craft brew offerings.  Hoards of college folk, hippies, yuppies, dinks, stoners, and dog lovers descend upon the waterfront park to sample the goods.  We all had at least two things in common for the four-hour tasting session, a too-tight Tyvek wristband and a love for beer that you can't see through. 

This festival has a number of things going for it.  The first, is obviously the beer.  Highest on my list this year were Martha's Exchange Another Ale and Saranac Pumpkin Ale.  I do not claim to be a microbrew expert, but those two were the ones my taste buds told me were the yummiest.  I don't like beers that are black, so on a microbrew-enthusiast scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a Bud drinker and 10 being "likes to chew on charred hops", I'm probably a 4.  I like interesting things, but they usually are fruity (except blueberry-yuck!) or are described as "smooth" or "mild".  There was only one sample that I had to make my husband drink, and I don't remember the company, but it was organic and the name of the beer was nut brown ale.  Way too nutty, way too brown.

The other things I love about brewfest are the location, the ware-peddlers, and THE PEOPLE WATCHING!  There is nothing more photo-worthy than an orange and red setting sun over blue mountains over a golden lake.  We thought it would be romantic to sit at the water's edge to watch the sun set, but just like last year, it smelled like dead fish and there were bugs.  The peddlers of stuff were out in force, as they are at most festivals.  You could buy anything from a patchouli-scented bar of soap to a raunchy t-shirt that says "kiss me, I'm Irish" with a down-pointing arrow made of shamrocks to a bag of cat nip labeled "dime bag".  I just ended up going home with some free dog food samples and a 20% off next purchase coupon.  I don't feel the need to play-by-play the people watching, you've all been to festivals, you all know that you're likely to see at least one too-short, too-tight terry cloth hooker tube dress and quite possibly someone with feathered-bangs eighties hair.

We knew it was time to leave when I asked the kind French gentleman at La Brasserie Unibroue booth if I could try the "BBQ Apron" beer.  He gave me a weird Canadian look and said, "umm, zat eez somesing you wear, madam."  First of all, do I really look like a madam?  Crap, I'm old.  Second, oops.  Apparently I had confused the list of things they were selling with the list of brewha samples.  Well, whatever, I was reluctantly served my Ephemere Apple and it was deliciously fruity, smooth, and mild.

it got better

My birthday was not a wasted day after all.  I had a really good meeting with the client whose project had just been denied.  Turns out, he didn't think it was my fault at all, but rather the fault of the evil doer P.J. Rohnston who, by the way, just had a nasty Letter to the Editor written about him and his evilness in the local paper by a group of residents.

I had a successful dinner party, complete with several complements on my cooking (please, I skewered some bits of steak and veggies.  However, I did prepare a tasty marinade for the steak bits, so yes, I guess I am awesome).  We all ate, drank, and were merry.  It was evident, though, that our little house is nearly at capacity with six adults, three large dogs, and one baby.

My friends and family are awesome.  My parents sent me a nice package with these and this.  I do believe I will have the most clever luggage on the baggage claim.  My suitcase will be thanking me for making it look so smart.  I received several e-mail birthday wishes and even some in the mail.  My grandma even called me last night to say "just thinking about you on your birthday, dear".  How sweet was that?  Oh, and my new biking shoes finally came in.  I did purchase them myself, but the fact that they arrived on my birthday made it extra special.

a series of very unfortunate events

A quiz:

Which of the following has happened to Abby on her 27th birthday:

a) Backed into Joe's car in the driveway this morning, possibly having been distracted playing with her new SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO RECEIVER!

b) Left her wallet at the grocery store

c) Had her project denied the prior evening

d) Birthday was forgotten by husband

e) All of the above

If you answered e) all of the above, you get an A+ forever.  The day can only get better, and it already has because an e-mail from a friend reminded me of a camping trip I have coming up shortly which instantly cheered me up.  Also, my coworker brought in a chocolate cake for me.

Last night was a full moon.  I guess that explains Evvy's abnormal desire to scratch at the door at 2AM this morning and frolick in the backyard for a few minutes.  I've decided that when my birthday and the full moon are in alignment, very bad things can happen (see above quiz). And when Jupiter aligns with Mars, peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars.

Tonight we will be entertaining Joe's cousin, her husband, and their adorable 11-month-old son for dinner.  So does that make them my cousins-in-law?  I'm not that good at the family naming thing, for example:  are my husband's sister's husbands my brothers-in-law?  Or are they just my sister-in-law's husband?  The other thing that makes me bad at being married is that I still don't know how to address my parents-in-law.  I feel that, coming out of my mouth, calling them mom and dad would sound really fake because I'm not that comfortable with it.  I'd like to call them by their first names, but on his side of the family, this may be construed as disrespect.  I grew up calling my aunts and uncles by their first names, their family makes the kids say "Aunt" or "Uncle" before the names.  I asked my mom what she does, and apparently she's gotten through 30 years of marriage addressing her in-laws as "excuse me" or "um" or just making eye contact before conversation so they know to whom she is speaking.  But this is getting off the subject.

I am excited to have guests over to our home tonight for dinner. So excited, in fact, that I am going to leave work a couple of hours early to get the house ready.  I'm going to do hibachi steak kabobs -- or meat sticks on the grill, and a few vegetables.  I think that saying "hibachi kabobs" sounds A LOT cooler though, and you kind of have to bow forward quickly when you say it.  Try it, it's fun.  hibachi kabobs.  Hopefully the rain will hold off so we can use my favorite outdoor dining set.

I'd rather be here right now.