hi! long time no see, huh? sorry about that, the brutal and extended winter brought the accompanying "Blahs" in full force. work was slow, life was slow, and i found myself sans motivation to do...well, much of anything, lol.
i've continued to go to the gym (and can run at least a full mile, with hills, without stopping), but it's been kind of haphazard. and it doesn't help that it's "that" time of year again.
oh, yes.
Cake Season is upon us.
there is an abnormal concentration of family birthdays this time of year. i start things off on 2/21, followed by my older niece on 2/25. Mom is 3/10, E's niece is 3/12, my older sister is 3/15, E's mom is 3/18, and E herself is 3/22. throw Fat Tuesday into the mix (anywhere from mid-February to early March), and it's pretty much a cake-and-doughnut-and-heavy-food bonanza. delicious, but slightly stupefying.
we still have the cat, who has earned the name Houdini for her ability to disappear and reappear at will. she manages to slip out the door unnoticed, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE WATCHING, and shows up on the back deck shortly afterwards. she spent a full 4 hours out there last month before we realized she wasn't sleeping under a bed somewhere. sweet, weird, kitty.
Little V turns 2 next month, and i'm working on a set of play food. her favorite foods are pizza and strawberries, which are really fun to make! she's also getting eggs, pancakes, bacon, and chocolate sandwich cookies.
(pizza-in-progress)
i turned 35 a few weeks ago, and you know what? i like it! i feel...more free somehow. like i unlocked a new level in Life.
E might start 8-hour shifts instead of 12-hour shifts. we're REALLY hoping she stays on midnights. as much as it sucks not to sleep next to her every night, we'd get to spend more time together each day actually hanging out. we sure manage to cram a lot of fun into the time we do get together, though - last Thursday, we went downtown for Nick Lidstrom Night at the Joe - they were retiring his jersey number before the game, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to eat and make it to the arena by 5:30. we ate at Detroit's most famous Irish pub, The Old Shillelagh. E had never been, so it was way fun to enjoy that first with her (i'd been once, on a St Patrick's Day, when my older sister decided it would be great fun to take her two underage sisters to a bar and not slip them any beer). i ate the biggest burger of my life, and the waitress was very impressed! we walked down the block to Astoria Bakery in Greektown, to continue our pastry-smuggling tradition. E got an enormous piece of chocolate torte, and i got a chocolate mouse, which turned out to be a 3-inch-tall chocolate cake ball with a cream cheese frosting head (HEAVEN). after managing to cram our treats into our coat pockets (i still don't know how that torte survived), we took the People Mover, and joined the mob waiting for the arena doors to open.
do you see that?? BLUE F*CKING SKIES. and the river was clear of ice!! slowly, slowly, we are heading toward spring.
we had great seats, in the corner behind the home net. this is what it looked like, pre-ceremony, with the huge number 5 in red carpet:
the Stanley Cup is down there, along with the Conn-Smythe and Norris trophies. up in the right-hand corner of the picture, you can see the other retired numbers. the ceremony was really sweet (and much better than the game, which we lost, 3-2), and they gave Lidstrom a brand new Dodge truck and an African safari. (the Vietnam vet next to us: ""20 years, and he gets all that? i put in 30 years at my job and didn't get squat!")
well, it's time to shower and get ready to take Mom out for her birthday dinner. no idea where we're going...as of last night, she was still undecided. hope your Sunday is sunny and peaceful!
