Bad Influence

I've never crashed a party before I met Cindy.  You may remember the time Dave and I crashed a wedding because Cindy wanted more friends there.  Well, on Saturday I was sharing with her that I had no plans for Sunday because Dave and his friends were making a pilgrimage to their temple, the Harpoon Brewery in Vermont.

Cindy: I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow if you want to come crash it.

Me: A wedding is one thing, I'm not going to crash a baby shower.

Cindy: It's Dawn's (her coworker who I know).  She won't mind.

Me: I wonder if I have a gift...

Cindy: It's from noon to three.  Let me know if you want to come.

So I went home, noticed that I did in fact have an appropriate baby shower gift in my stock of "gifts I buy because they are cheap and I might need them in case I have to crash a major life event or forget someone's birthday" and also remembered that I had some extra yarn left over from a recently completely baby gift (that I actually was invited to the shower for) and a pattern to make up a quick baby hat.  Game on.

I texted Cindy to find out what time I needed to meet her.  Then she asked me if I had any extra baked goodies stockpiled in the freezer because she and Dawn were remembering some of my yummy treats and she knew Dawn would appreciate something.  Except I didn't have anything made.  I asked Cindy if it was potluck, because if so I would definitely bring something.  She said it was potluck, but I didn't need to make anything because I was her guest and she had it covered. Like that would stop me, I set about to find a yummy treat to make for the party.

Which I did.

And I crocheted a newborn hat.

And I wrapped it with the gift (a book and toy).

Crap, I need a card.

So Sunday morning when I arrived at Cindy's to go to the shower, she laughed at me because while I had an appropriate card and gift (wrapped in appropriate paper) and I made a baby hat and dessert even though I'd just been "invited" the day before (unbeknownst to Dawn), she on the other hand went to wrap her gift and found out she did not have appropriate wrapping paper.  Or a card.  She ended up having to use part plain Christmas wrapping, a gift bag with realistic fish on it and a "Thinking of You" card.  And she lost the recipe for the side dish she made, so she went purely on memory and was hoping it didn't suck (it didn't).  It was comical.

The shower was lovely and Dawn was happy to see me there (and not at all offended that I came without an invitation).  And she loved the dessert I made, which was probably the most important reason she wasn't offended. 

So now I've crashed a wedding and a baby shower of two of Cindy's coworkers.  Her other coworkers better consider what life events they have coming up because I'll probably be there too.

Crazy Stuff I See

Last week I was walking to the train station after work.  Since it's spring and occasionally the weather wants to pretend it's nice outside, there have been a lot more people walking along Mass Ave in Cambridge lately.  Particularly people with dogs, which typically puts a smile on my face. 

Last summer I enjoyed walking past a shoe store that frequently left the door open so the "Watch Corgi" could see the people going up and down the street.  He would sometimes bring his tennis ball to the door and once he lost it, helplessly watching it roll away from him.  So of course I had to collect it and roll it back to him.

But last week I had to do a double take.  In the distance I saw a guy walking what I thought were two medium sized white dogs.  I could quite tell the breed so I kept looking as I got closer.

They weren't dogs.

They were lambs.

On leashes.

Walking toward Harvard Square.

I apologize because by the time I realized what was happening, I was ill-prepared to take a good photo from the front and ended up with a shot of the sidewalk.  But I was able to procure the following:

Enhance:

Enhance:

I know the picture quality from my phone sucks, but I promise you, they were lambs.

When I shared this with Dave and asked, "Who walks lambs down Mass Ave?," his response was, "Well, you have to exercise them.  And it's illegal to let your livestock wander on Boston Common now."

And now I've spent the last few days wondering and coming up with more questions.  Does the guy have a house or apartment?  Why lambs?  Does he use them for wool?  What other livestock might he have?  How do you train a lamb to walk on a leash?  Why doesn't he live on a farm?  It' all very confusing, but I must say, there is never a lack of interesting things on my walks through the city.

Birthday Celebration Weekend

Cindy's birthday was on Monday.  It was a milestone.  I won't tell you which one, but I will tell you that she and I are no longer the same decade-something.  You may remember last year we celebrated Cindy's birthday with an emergency party since her original plans were thwarted.  And it was awesome.  One would think that since we had ample time to plan and prepare, it would have been easy to be just as awesome as last year's celebration.

One would be wrong.

I didn't want to step on Keith's toes by planning a celebration without consulting him.  After all, he is her fiance.  So I was thrilled when he reached out to me for ideas in mid-February.  We thought of a couple of different options and I said I would explore them.  In January, Cindy and I scheduled an afternoon of manicures and pedicures for this past Saturday, so I knew we had to do something fun to follow in the evening.  I struggled with the idea of hosting a party but thought I could still pull it off even though I'd be with her in the late afternoon and would be crunching time to prepare.  We also considered a big dinner out with friends meeting us at a restaurant or just a bunch of people meeting us for drinks at a local bar.  After much struggling, we decided on just a couples dinner out.

In the meantime, Cindy had planned spa day and invited me to join her.  We decided to go on Monday (the actual birthday).  Mani/pedis on Saturday, and a facials/massages on Monday.  I could love this life.  A plan was coming together.  Now I just needed to add the awesomeness.

I started by making Cherry-Lemon Meringue Mini Pies for my new tradition of "Birthday Baking."  Yes, everyone gets cake on their birthday, but I don't do cakes.  So I pick the birthday boy or girl's favorite recipe (or flavors) of something other than cake and go to town. 

We'll ignore the fact that the picture only shows 11 mini pies and they appear to be stuck in the muffin pan.  For the full story, check out the recipe on the baking blog.  Appearances aside, Cindy was quite happy to receive a stone pan full of tasty lemony goodness at 8:15 am.

Yup, I decided to take them to her at work.  I wanted to kick off her birthday weekend with a bang, so on Saturday morning I arrived at her work and delivered the pies and this mildly obnoxious birthday centerpiece.  And her gift.

Because nothing says "Happy Birthday!  Let's drink!" like a 3 foot floating margarita.  Especially when delivered to your place of employment.  On a Saturday morning.  At 8:15 am.

Later in the afternoon I headed to Cindy's house and we drove to the salon, about a half hour away.  We go to Bella Sante every 6-8 months for some good girl time, and this visit was just as good.  It's a little swanky and far away, so we save it for special occasions.  We had a great time, chatting and generally enjoying ourselves.  Keith and I had decided to keep the dinner plans a secret, so when our nail technicians asked us where we were going afterward, I kept it vague and open.  Afterward, we got in the car and I "suggested" going to a particular restaurant.  My little white lie that is was based on a recommendation from a foodie friend was totally warranted. 

We got the the Beacon Grille and headed to the bar.  The restaurant was great.  It was much bigger than I expected and got pretty busy for the dinner rush while we waited.  I positioned myself facing the door, so I could see Dave and Keith come in and make sure Cindy would have her back to them.  The funny thing was, I kept seeing groups of people who were clearly celebrating birthdays come in.  Multiple groups carrying balloons and gifts kept coming in.  I noticed a balloon with Cindy's milestone come in and said, "oh look--It's somebody else's big birthday too."  Clearly, I'd chosen the right celebration restaurant.

Our bartender, Melissa, was a sweetheart and made great recommendations.  She offered us menus, asking if we'd be eating at the bar.  I casually said, "Oh, maybe in a little while."  She brought us our drinks and eventually we did order an appetizer (the cheese platter which was awesome.  Cindy loves cheese the way I love chocolate, so clearly it was a winner.)  While we were enjoying our cocktails and tasty morsels, Keith showed up behind Cindy and said, "Happy Birthday!"  She was completely surprised.

Dinner was fabulous. The menu wasn't very extensive, but very carefully crafted and everything thoughtfully paired.  True to form, Dave and Cindy--we like to joke that Dave is Cindy's boyfriend, and vice versa--were debating over the same two entrees so each ordered one and they shared.  This is pretty normal behavior.  Our waiter, Ruben, was incredibly attentive and had great recommendations.  He was even successful in recommending a cocktail to Keith that he enjoyed, which was surprising because Keith is generally picky.  They comp'ed Cindy's dessert (and presented it on a huge plate with "Happy Birthday" written in caramel sauce) and we were very pleased with the evening. 

On Monday morning, I picked Cindy up and headed to Essential Therapies Day Spa.  It was a dreary day, but any day is great for pampering.  We were welcomed by the official greeter, Callie.

Isn't she a sweetie?  She's about six months old, super sweet, well trained and has really soft ears.  She loves people so she had no problem when I couldn't keep my hands over her.  We spent some time in the hot tub, eating fruit and drinking mimosas before going off for facials and massages.  I can't even begin to describe the massage other than to say it was positively awesome.  We finished off our morning in the sauna despite the sauna being outside and that it had started to snow.  The snow had nothing to deter us from enjoying the cedar hot house.  We showered, changed and headed out to lunch (yes, that included more cocktails).

After a weekend of fun and much pampering (and some drinking), it was certainly hard to come back to work this week.  I suppose that's the price I pay for celebrating with friends.  I hope Cindy had as much fun as I did.  Now we just need an excuse to do it all again.