a happy birthday for me

Steve did such a good job with the difficult task of making my Halloween birthday feel extra special!

1) Steve had class from 9am -1pm so he made me breakfast bright and early before he left. He made pumpkin pancakes w/maple syrup, hot chocolate and fresh pineapple & mango.


2) When Steve got back from class he had me meet him outside on the sidewalk and he picked me up. Then he gave me some ridiculous story about how we had to stop by the Beckstead's to borrow their digital SLR. When I knocked on the door there were a bunch of friends waiting for me to have a quick surprise birthday lunch, cake and presents!



I was so fracking excited to get that fat black cat kitchen timer from Sur La Table.

3) For dinner we had a reservation at Chez Panisse Cafe and I'm happy to say it was just as good as we'd hoped and expected. It was the best meal I've had in recent memory. We could only get a 5:30 reservation which turned out to be perfect because the sun was setting as we enjoyed our delicious meal. If you've been you know the Cafe is upstairs and almost feels like a fancy treehouse and with the sunset it was just perfect. My brother-in-law has an Alice Waters quote up on a chalkboard in his first restaurant and it perfectly embodies our meal at Chez Panisse: "When you have the best & tastiest ingredients, you can cook very simply & the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is."






4) As if the day hadn't been perfect already, we got home just in time to see our good friends and downstairs neighbors Brigham (on the left) and Dan (on the right) heading out with their friend for a Halloween party.



5) How rad is Facebook that you get a million happy birthdays from everyone you know. Love it.

Steve, family, friends...you are the absolute best. Woot woot! 35! xoxo