13 January 2016 –
It's my birthday!!! Happy birthday to me!!!!
ETA: I just realized after finishing this post last night that I completely forgot to add the part about Mark making me an absolutely egg-cellent (get it? LOL!) veggie & cheese omelet for me. I didn't even hear him get up and start cooking! Along with a delicious latte….what a nice way to start a birthday morning!
Thank you!!!
I also should add that since it was mid-week we opted not to go out to dinner for my birthday (traffic can be such a nightmare around these parts) so I cooked a fabulous salmon dinner AND AFTERWARDS MY FAMILY WASHED UP ALL THE DISHES!!!!! (It's the one thing I asked for this year – washing ALL the dishes after dinner). Hooray!!!! We ended the evening by gobbling up the Malakoff Torte I'd made the previous day. It's a completely evil torte- cream, butter, ground almonds, SUGAR..layered with ladyfinger cookies (similar to how you'd make a tiramisu). It's sheer evil. And yet so yummy (although I know that my Mama disagrees with me!) that I can eat the entire torte. It's a very good thing that I made a very small one this year. Because they're THAT evil (to my expanding waistline!!!). :-)
Every year in China I buy a beautiful array of live orchids for myself….and then attempt to keep them alive for a few weeks. These are this year's birthday orchid display (and as of February 3rd they're still alive):
I love the flowers I can buy at the local flower market…these are my birthday flowers:
Hand-painted blue and white pots I bought in Beijing. I was going to buy just one pot but I couldn't decide between the Chinese landscape scenery pot and the pot with the dragon design…My solution? Since it was my birthday I went ahead and bought both.
For my birthday I tortured my family by dragging them on a trip to Beijing (on a COLD day). I wanted to see something different this trip…so we're going to the Lama Temple.
Ava chasing a poor pigeon:
Ava sure keeps telling us that she's "not cold". Ha! Liar!!!
And for lunch…we're in search of an Indian restaurant…in this gigantic mall. Check out this very unique tree decoration!
Oh yes. Indian food. Oh so yummy!!!! Absolutely perfect on a cold day.
Hooray for a fun birthday! Thank you Mark, Annika, and Ava for a great day!
ETA: I can't believe I forgot to post a photo of the fish stool I bought while we were in Beijing. It's SOLID wood and it has no hardware on it (no screws or bolts) that hold it together: