Birthday Weekend

I have such great friends.

As my mom reminded me earlier last week, sometimes the things we plan don't turn out, but then the things that happen instead are better than anything we could have thought up.  I wanted to have a big group of my friends get together to go out to dinner, or dessert, this weekend for my birthday.  I feel weird thinking up plans for my own birthday, but people aren't mind readers, you know?  Long story short, my original plans didn't happen, but what did happen was even better. 

Kasey and Meredith and I completely dominated Madhuban on Friday night.  We had mango lassis (yogurt drink with mango), two kinds of naan (flatbread cooked in a clay oven), papadam (crisp lentil wafers), coconut rice that looked nothing like coconut (it was every color of the rainbow) but tasted exactly like coconut, navratan korma (vegetables in a creamy sauce with cheese, nuts, herbs and spices), lamb curry (boneless lamb cooked in a blend of onions, tomatoes, and spices), and white rice (which hopefully doesn't need explanation).  It was a feast!  Exactly what I was looking forward to, and I got to celebrate it with two of my best friends.  We shut them down at 10pm.

But we weren't done yet (discussing life that is... we probably didn't need any more food, but...), so we headed over to Applebee's because they stay open until 12am.  And whaddaya know, they have some pretty good looking desserts! heh heh.  Meredith and I shared the chocolate chip cookie sundae and Kasey tried out a dessert shooter. Amazing stuff there.  Perfect way to top everything off.  Eventually we closed the doors at midnight and headed out to Kasey's car... where we proceeded to continue discussing everything from college to boys to mysteriously missing gum until 2am.  I am still feeling the effects of staying up that late, proving that I am indeed getting old.  Or just more sensible when it comes to bedtimes. I take the latter stance.

So I think that whole shebang would rival any other birthday I've had, but I had to keep the party going yesterday morning when Lori and I headed up the mountain for some snowshoeing.  And yes, it's still my favorite winter sport.  Here are a few (more) reasons why:

Perfect illustration of one of my favorite poems.

The sun peeks through.

And the snow rolls in!

Saturday afternoon I got back home from snowshoeing just in time to take a quick shower, get dressed, return my gear to REI, and meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, her parents and brother, and a bunch of other friends!  Brian and Monica and Meredith helped us celebrate birthdays - it was Lisa's birthday on the 28th, her dad's birthday yesterday, and her mom and I share the same birthday on Monday, February 1.  They were all in town from Nevada for a friend's wedding, and my niece Katie was excited to show everyone her new dress, which she had worn as flower girl.  And I just realized the picture I took of her doesn't even show it! 

Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to watching Chuck (every Monday!) and hanging out with Meredith.  We both love that show.  She thinks he's cute, but I will be withholding my opinion on that matter forevermore, since he bears a striking resemblance to my cousin.  And that would just be wrong.

Happy weekend everyone!