Category Archives: Birthday

All 60 Things…

I’m consolidating all my 60 things in my 60th year in one post so I can access them easier.

 

Right now me and my sisters are in on our way to Victoria, B.C. for the weekend fulfilling #5 on my 60 things list. I also decided to check the completed items off instead of crossing them out…

1. Finally make it to the top of the Space Needle. Completed on Wednesday January 26th!

2. Dinner with the Mennonite Girls and their husbands. Met for dinner at the Chuckanut Manor on March 13th!

3. East Coast Trip. Things are shaping up for a trip to Washington D.C.  (Any suggestions about what to see and where to eat would be highly appreciated) We were there from May 10th-18th. We saw more than our brains could take in!

4. Apply for my enhanced license so my trips to Canada will be easier. Completed in January!

5. Birthday getaway with my 3 sisters. Plans are afoot. Victoria B.C., April 1-3, 2011

6. Try one new restaurant every month of this year. Looks like this one is really going to be easy especially with trips planned.  Eastlake Bar and Grill~ Lake Union. The Hitching Post~ Monroe. Racha Thai ~Seattle.  Bishops Alehouse ~ Juanita. Chuckanut Manor-Bow. Barolo ~ Seattle. The Cabbage Patch ~ Snohomish. Pescatores ~ Victoria, B.C.

7. Send my parents a bouquet of flowers on my 60th birthday thanking them for loving me all these years. Sent on March 14th and my parents were thrilled.

8. Visiting a a new garden. Hillwood Garden in Washington D.C., Bishop’s Garden in Washington D.C. and Botanical Gardens in D.C.

9. Plant something new in my yard. I planted some Sweet Peas and 2 Top Hat blueberry bushes.

10. Have my flagpole installed. Installed on my birthday March 14th.

11. Lose 10 pounds. Oh Nellie! I should have said gain 10 pounds!

12. Enjoy a book by an author I haven’t read before.

13. Explore 6 cities/towns in Washington. Lake Union~  Monroe~  Snohomish~ Olympia ~ Lynden ~

14. Try 2 new recipes every month.

15. Go on a easy day hike.

16. Walk more.

17. Go to a new Tea Room. White Heather Tea Room in Victoria, B.C. (Oak Bay)

18. Purge 60 books off my bookshelves.

19. Begin going through old boxes in the garage loft.

20. Go on an adventure with my daughter Katie. I’ve had many adventures. One fun one is going with her to register for her wedding!

21. Re-arrange some things that have been the same for 13 years in this old house. Moved antique hutch around and changed some wall hangings.

22. Buy a Welsh Sideboard. I’ve wanted one for years. Instead of a Welsh cabinet we found an Indonesian cabinet that fits our space perfectly.

23. Make and serve our Russian favorite recipes for family gatherings. Golubtsi

24. Find a couple new blogs to add to my favorites.

25. Clean out my closet.

26. Take some time to journal.

27. Invite someone new over for a meal.

28. Invite old friends over for a meal. Had our dear friends over on April 8th for dinner.

29. Meet Dear downtown for lunch.

30. Do some volunteer work. Fulfilled on March 28th although I’d like to do more. United We Serve

31. Try baking a pie including the crust.

32. Bake cinnamon rolls from scratch.

33. Write some letters and mail them.

34. Surprise someone. Sent cookbooks to Dear’s Aunts and to a dear lady who encouraged me in college.

35. Get a manicure and pedicure.

36. Have more than one hour long massage.

37. Use my sewing machine.

38. Be brave enough to get a new generation phone.

39. Call Dear’s Aunts on their birthdays. Called Aunt Audrey on April 14th ~

40. Try something new with my camera.

Now here are the final 20 of my list of 60 things to do in my 60th year!

41. Take a ride in a limousine with people she loves. Completed on my birthday March 14th with our sons, DIL, and Dear.

42. Treat people for her birthday. Bought drinks for all our season ticket neighbors at the opening game which was the day after my 60th birthday.

43. Find a purse that will accommodate my stuff plus my camera with a long enough strap to fit over my shoulder. Completed, I’ll share it soon.

44. Meet bloggy friends in person that she has never met in person before. Met the lovely Pondside in Victoria B.C. and she treated my sisters and I to a fine tour of her town.

45. Reorganize cabinets and purge some Chotskies.

46. Make those every so many year appointments you dread but need to do. Yearly-check, The Squeeze – check, 2 more to go.

47. Write a Psalm to God.

48. Find a dress for our daughter’s wedding.

50. Learn to put the flagpole up and take it down. It’s not as hard as I thought and I’ve done it several times already.

51. Back up the files on my computer.

52. Create some photo books.

53. Mail a box of goodies to Katie’s Andrew while he is deployed.

54. Order a DVR. Got one March 24th!

55. Get a new modem that might actually make her internet work well. Got one and things have improved but we need more improvement! Finally got some good service and much improvement the week of May 23rd!

56. Send flowers to some unsuspecting person.

57. Detail my car.

58. Write poetic tribute of my history as seen on Debora’s blog.

59. Take a canoe ride on Lake Washington this summer with Dear. Him rowing, me taking photos.

60. Do a blog tribute to some of my favorite blog posts on other people’s blogs.

Coming up with 60 things was not an easy task. Maybe there will be some modifications along the way. It was a good exercise and I’ve already enjoyed the benefits of completing many of the 60.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Final 20 & My New Cabinet!

In which she cheats and puts things on the final 20 list that happened before they appeared on the list and she knows will happen in the near future!

#22 was… Buy a Welsh Sideboard. I’ve wanted one for years. This isn’t a Welsh Sideboard but it fulfills it’s purpose and fits in my space well. It’s an Indonesian solid wood piece and we are pleased with it’s function.

Now here are the final 20 of my list of 60 things to do in my 60th year!

41. Take a ride in a limousine with people she loves. Completed on my birthday March 14th with our sons, DIL, and Dear.

42. Treat people for her birthday. Bought drinks for all our season ticket neighbors at the opening game which was the day after my 60th birthday.

43. Find a purse that will accommodate my stuff plus my camera with a long enough strap to fit over my shoulder.

44. Meet bloggy friends in person that she has never met in person before.

45. Reorganize cabinets and purge some Chotskies.

46. Make those every so many year appointments you dread but need to do.

47. Write a Psalm to God.

48. Find a dress for our daughter’s wedding.

50. Learn to put the flagpole up and take it down.

51. Back up the files on my computer.

52. Create some photo books.

53. Mail a box of goodies to Katie’s Andrew while he is deployed.

54. Order a DVR

55. Get a new modem that might actually make her internet work well.

56. Send flowers to some unsuspecting person.

57. Detail my car.

58. Write poetic tribute of my history as seen on Debora’s blog.

59. Take a canoe ride on Lake Washington this summer with Dear. Him rowing, me taking photos.

60. Do a blog tribute to some of my favorite blog posts on other people’s blogs.

Coming up with 60 things was not an easy task. Maybe there will be some modifications along the way. It was a good exercise and I’ve already enjoyed the benefits of completing many of the 60.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

 

Birthday Week Favorites!

What a week it’s been and there are so many favorites we’ll see if I can keep it to 5. Click on the pretty tulips to join in the fun with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.
This week was my birthday week and I turned 60 on Monday March 14th. I was surprised, honored, and loved to overflowing and I’ll never forget the wonderful events of this past 7 days!
1. My husband and kids surprised me with a visit from our son Dan to help celebrate my birthday. We hadn’t seen Dan since Christmas and I had no idea he worked out some extra time off to be able to travel across the mountains to join in the fun. I was SHOCKED in a good way when he walked into the kitchen at Josh and Laura’s house on Sunday morning!
2. Dinner with the Mennonite Girls and their husbands at Chuckanut Manor in Bow, Washington. This was the first time all our husbands met and what a great time we all had!
3. A surprise limousine ride to dinner with Josh, Laura, Dan and Dear on my birthday!
4. The third surprise was our dinner menus personalized for my special day.
5. All the wonderful cards, gifts, phone calls, e-cards, and tributes on blogs that I read including my 3 year old niece singing Happy Birthday to me all the way through by herself over the phone. Some cards made me cry but this card just made me laugh! Thanks Leonard and Mandy and Hope.
All of you who ever have used your pedometers should be laughing right now!
6. Yes, I’m going over but this was also opening season week for Major League Soccer with the Seattle Sounders and L.A. Galaxy and we had our first game the day after my birthday and the day after my flagpole was installed and my flags were waving proudly!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who made this week so special for me. I am so grateful for new friends, old friends, family, bloggy friends I have never met in person. Thank you for your kindness and encouragement to me. God bless you all richly!
Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Sixty Years from the Day…

… I was born I was given some royal treatment!

Monday March 14th was my birthday and I had no idea what was up the sleeves of my kids. I knew we were going out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant downtown and we’d be leaving just before 6:00 in the evening.

When we stepped outside to get into what I thought was going to be Laura’s car I saw this!

 

The kids had ordered up a limousine to take us to our dinner in Seattle. “No Way”, I said!

 

I never dreamed they would come up with this special treat. Dear and I had never had a ride together in a limousine before last night.

 

 

 

The kids weren’t the only ones with surprises. The restaurant managed to surprise us all, too.

 

We had a private area behind some sheers with this pretty chandelier and then we were handed our Menus.

 

A personalized menu just for my birthday. How great is that!? There even was a cocktail with my name on it. The cocktail is on their regular menu. They didn’t make it up just for me but I pretended they did and indulged!

 

The Ellen…

They turned the lights down very low in the restaurant so my pictures are all dimmed, too.

 

This is our table behind the sheers.

 

This made our meal together very private compared to other areas of the restaurant.

 

Dan and I had the Ossobuco di Vitello with saffron risotto. It was so delicious.

 

This was Dear’s dessert a ricotta cheesecake.

 

My complimentary birthday bite. I’m thinking at 60 all desserts should be this size.

 

I was impressed with the bathroom mirrors.

 

Such a wonderful evening and we still had our limousine ride home. When we got home there was more. Josh and Laura gave me a gift certificate for a massage with a handmade card that is priceless. Dan paid for dinner and also gave me a card that made me want to cry. I received other cards with gifts of manicures and pedicures and a handmade card from my BFF from junior high and high school. Before dinner I got a special phone call from Texas and my sweet little 3 year old niece sang Happy Birthday to me all the way through by herself. Oh my…that was precious. My heart is full and I am grateful for all the wonderful birthday treats and wishes I have received. I’m savoring my moments.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

My Cup Was Filled…

…to overflowing yesterday!

I keep thanking God for his goodness to me expressed in so many ways yesterday through family and friends. Truly it was a day full of joy and gladness for me from start to finish and I still get to celebrate today!

 

Our day started out with an invitation for brunch at Josh and Laura’s. What I didn’t know was that Dan had taken an extra day off so he could drive over the Cascades to help celebrate my birthday. I was so overjoyed to see him when he walked in the room. I just had to keep saying his name. Thank you Josh, Laura and Dear for surprising me! Thanks Dan for driving the 6 hours one way to celebrate my birthday. The last time we had seen Dan was at Christmas. Tonight the 5 of us are going out to dinner downtown.

From brunch Dear and I headed North to meet up with 5 of the Mennonite girls and their guys for dinner at the Chuckanut Manor.

 

We had a room to ourselves overlooking the Chuckanut Bay.

 

What fun to meet all the husbands. Thank you Anneliese, Marg, Lovella, Judy and Kathy for driving across the line with your husbands to join Dear and me for a wonderful evening. I’ll never forget it…unless old age messes with my brain.

 

The food was delicious and the conversations were lively.

 

There were songs sung and candles silenced. And if that wasn’t enough I got showered with cards and gifts from Canada and Africa. I also got showered with Loonies and Toonies to send to Willow for a classroom assignment. You might be wondering about that loaf of bread. It’s the Mennonite Girls Can Cook traveling loaf that began it’s journey the day the Mennonite Girls all met for the first time at the Abbotsford airport. Yep! It’s harder than a rock but it is traveling on…

 

The rain subsided for our dinner time and we were afforded some beautiful views.

 

 

 

Seriously I was overwhelmed in a good way and I don’t take for granted the gift of family and friends that God has blessed me with!

Sixty is looking real good!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

So Thankful…

 

…for all our children but in January especially for our sons. Born 2 years apart they’ve been able to enjoy each other through the years.

Psalm 133:1 (The Message)

A Pilgrim Song of David

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It’s like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron’s beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.

God has been good to us and to our children!

The sun is shining today so I’m going to see about getting out and about in it. I’ve already made a birthday delivery and gone to Zumba so we’ll see what else the day will hold. Hope you are enjoying your day!

Celebrating…

…continues here.

What a wonderful Saturday. We woke up to a nice dry spell. I met up with my walking buddies and we trekked our 5 miles getting caught up on our lives. At noon Josh and Laura joined us to celebrate Joshua’s birthday early.

 

We had brunch at The Barking Frog in Woodinville. Joshua’s 32nd birthday is on Wednesday.

 

I thought the parking signs for the restaurant were very clever.

Sunday at church I had to chuckle to see the Seahawk Football team colors lit up on the stage. Sad to say the game didn’t turn out the way Seattleites had hoped.

 

Even though we lost the game…the turkey chili and cornbread brought some comfort to the day…

 

Today is our son Dan’s birthday! Happy Birthday Dan! Hope to see you soon.

 

So thankful to God for our sons and how God has blessed them and kept them these 30 and 32 years!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

60 in 2011!

 

This won’t be the last time you hear about this but I’m turning 60 this year. 60! I saw this great idea when I was visiting Pink Purl, Tracy’s Blog in Norway. She had a list of 40 things she was going to do before her 40th birthday in 2 years. I really liked the idea but I don’t have 2 years until I’m 60 so I’m trying to come up with 60 things to do this year. If you have any suggestions leave me a comment. Some good ideas I’ve gotten so far are:

~ Take $60 in dollar bills and hand them out randomly.

~ Send your parents 60 cards thanking them for having you and the way they raised you.

~Take a cross country road trip with your daughter.

~Do a book signing in a local book store and invite some friends to join you!

~Each month drive 60 miles on a different route……

~ Do 60 posts about one memory for each of your years – granted you may need some help for the earlier years!!

I’ll be coming up with some of my own and then honing the list down to 60 things soon. Or maybe I should start on some and keep adding others till I get to 60. Time will tell.

This weather we’ve been having has given us some real nice sunrises. I took this one at the top of the post on New Year’s Eve morning.

Hope your week is going well. I’m getting back in the regular groove around here.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

A Quarter of a Century Celebrated…

Poof went the Powdered Sugar when the 25 candles were blown…

 

We’re moving backwards here today…

 

We started with tacos…

 

 

Katy K. brought Katie some roses and she brought me these tulips. It was a nice reminder that Spring is around the corner. Thank you Katy K.!

 

The morning of this party we had snow so I decided the theme for the table would be snowflakes. Here’s the snow covered spice cake I made with a new wonderful ingredient that I’ll tell you all about later along with the recipe. I’ll also show the snowscape later.

 

Earlier in the day I was at the grocery store picking up ingredients for the party. I rounded a corner and stopped in my tracks when there it was… a full display of Valentine Day goodies. Yikes!

 

After the food was eaten, the birthday song sung, and the cake eaten my sister and her husband arrived from the airport with goodies from my mom and dad in California. This next treat is one of my very favorite that my mom makes and I’m hoping to get the recipe soon. Rulyet is what it is called in Russian.

 

We are all done with our Birthday Celebrations of 2010. We won’t be getting a big break though because both of our sons have birthdays in January. I guess we just were bent on having winter babies.

Hope your last days of 2010 are going well. I’m hoping to have some time to reflect on the coming year and contemplate things I won’t want to accomplish in 2011!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Katie Strikes Again!

 

The Birthday Girl is a good bowler. She even has her own ball and shoes. The Fiance beat her in one game by 3 points.

 

 

It was a fun birthday celebration and everyone improved on their scores here and there and everyone managed a strike or two. Katie had several strikes. Andrew had several, too.

 

The bowling alley was really hopping with almost every lane filled.

 

Two hours of bowling fun at Tech City Bowl.

Today I’m enjoying an off day with nothing planned. You need those every once in a while. The tree is headed outside today!

Tomorrow Katie is having her bridesmaids over to celebrate her birthday with dinner and a movie.

Thursday is another off day! Whoohoo!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.