Birthday Tea Party

Ever since Snowzilla 2013, I have been obsessed with Downton Abbey. I watched all three seasons over one week, and I decided then that I wanted to have a tea party for my birthday.   I looked long and hard for the right invitation:

 

And, I had a lovely time with six wonderful ladies!

British food: Crumpets,Scones, Tea Sandwiches

We had Prince of Wales and Baroness Gray Tea

All ready for my guests!

 

Birthday Dinner

Kevin spoiled me on Sunday when he made me a delicious birthday dinner!  We had lobster tails, coconut shrimp, risotto, and garlic cheese biscuits! For dessert, we had creme brulee! I normally would not be able to order any of this except for the lobster, risotto and creme brulee because of gluten, but Kevin made it all gluten free!  It was delicious!

Our Christmas tree on a diet

 

Last year, we picked out a very w-i-d-e tree.  It was beautifully full and just the right height, standing around 6'.  One issue with it: getting it in and out of the house.  It was so fat that we had major clean up both before and after it was in the house because it was so difficult to get through the door. 

This year, we decided to go for a much thinner tree. We spent a long time looking for one that was both thinner but nicely full.  We were so excited when we found one!  Problem is, we were so focused on how full yet thin it was, we missed how T-A-L-L it was.  Once we cut it and brought it to the register, we realized it was just shy of 9'!!

Thankfully, the wonderful staff at Prairie Pines helped us tie the tree to the roof of my car.  I kept thinking of the Allstate commercial of mayhem and the Christmas tree as we drove home.  Thankfully, everything was fine!

So, here is the very tall, yet well-proportioned tree!  It's funny because last year we had to move the tree further into the middle of the living room because it was so wide.  This year, we had to move it further away from the window because it was so tall, it needed extra height!

 

Side by side comparison:

 

 

Progressive Dinner 2012

Kevin and I hosted the entree course once again for our young adult small group. 

On the menu:
Pork roast stuffed with pureed apples and cranberries
Twice Baked Potatoes

We had a total of 15 people this year! It's fun to see how much our grouip is growing!

Benton was dressed in his holiday tie!

Filing Cabinet

Kevin and I have been wanting a metal filing cabinet for a few months now.  We used to have a plastic Rubbermaid type, but it only had one drawer that could really be used for files.  My parents recently gave us an old one that had been left in the house they recently purchased.  I knew immediately I wanted to make it cuter.

This is the filing cabinet prior to being painted.  It was in good condition, but it screamed boring.

My inspiration for the entire office:

Once I decided on yellow versus teal for the cabinet color, this was my inspiration:

source

This is the in progress picture.  Benton was convinced the cabinet needed a faux-Benton fur finish:

The finished product!

Benton's Vet Day

Benton went to the vet today.  He's super healthy! Here's a great picture of our baby being super patient while waiting for Dr. Albertson!

New York, New York

Yesterday, two colleagues and I booked our trip to New York City for a week in September! It's the national annual conference for the Council for Opportunity in Education.  Our hotel is in Times Square, and there will be some free evenings for us to go to a Broadway show, go shopping, and see the city! I've been to NYC one time before (church trip called UN/DC), so I've seen the major sites (Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Broadway Show, 5th Ave.,), but I'm so excited to go back!