Birthday Weekends - Group Recap

It is always fun to make plans for birthday weekends. Sometimes they have a wish or idea and other times they are open to suggestions. This year's birthday weekends were a mix of new adventures and favorite activities.

J - 14th bday (we celebrated 5 months after her birthday due to scheduling conflicts)

Pinterest is a new hobby for J. She came with a long list of Pinterest finds that she wanted to sew together. She is a wonderful creator and is not afraid to try new and challenging sewing projects. 

She made 2 Celtic Knot pillows. She took one home, and left one for my guest room.

Creating in the kitchen is a favorite birthday weekend activity. 

A new challenge we started was furniture refinishing/painting. My collection of furniture that needs refinished is quite large - for many reasons. I was happy to take on this project with J. 

She painted and distressed a shelf and chair, plus reupholstered the chair seat. 

We also enjoyed a dinner cruise on the local paddle boat that included a murder mystery. It was a fun adventure to have with J, but not my favorite adventure. I'm not sure what she really thought of it. 

We are currently working on making plans for this year's birthday weekend. We were originally trying to get into a glass blowing class, but they only had one seat left. I called J and let her know that I could get one ticket that she could have (I would just take photos of her doing it) and her reply was so sweet. She said no, she would rather do something else that we could do together. I have no idea what I am going to come up with, but we will definitely do it together. :)

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Art and food filled C's birthday weekend. 

Our homemade macaroni and cheese did not turn out so well. It was edible, but the leftovers got thrown out.

 Puff pancakes are becoming a birthday weekend tradition.

 C's brownies were much much better than the mac and cheese.

Our big adventure was to make our own pottery. 

The instructors did a great job teaching and explaining, but I am going to need a lot more practice at this. It is a very fine balance between relaxing and being strong enough to make the clay form how you want. We both got ALOT of help from the shop owners/professional potters to get a finished product.

While we were there a new customer/client/real artist was there taking a tour of the studio. In addition to classes like C and I took, artists can become members of the studio and come use the equipment and space for their own work and enjoyment. This new customer and her family ended up staying for the class. She was offering help and encouragement. As C and I were getting ready to leave, she offered to take our photo. Several months later (over 6) I was taking photos for an event at work and one of the participants looked so familiar. I was brave enough to mention this to her and we spent a long time trying to figure out how we "knew" each other. Eventually, I remembered, she took our photo at the pottery studio. 

Other adventures included a short stop at a park that was new to us. It is one that sits on top of a steep hill. There is a stair case/side walk up the hill that I could see from the main road. I had never taken the time to drive up the hill to check it out, so C reluctantly entertained my idea to stop.

I also convinced C to take a break from her M*A*S*H DVD marathon to go on a walk around my neighborhood. The only photo I got was this one:

C also helped me with a photo organizing project and we came across a photo of my on my 13th bday. Since C's birthday weekend was for her 13th bday, I thought it would be great to take matching photos. C acted like it was a dumb idea, but I know she secretly loved it.

(A side note about this pose....30 years later and I am still sitting at my desk at work with my hand on my hip. I really want to point out all of the cool trends I am sporting with my outfit and hair, but I don't want to take away from C's bday weekend story.)

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Little J's bday weekend was partially covered in this blog post....http://europeandoorways.blogspot.com/2017/07/trash-to-treasures.html

But in addition to his lamp creation, we also tried some new adventures outside the house.

My boss graciously offered to have us come help him with some manual labor at his farm. :)

 I'm just joking about the manual labor. He really offered to give Little J a lesson in using the backhoe, but it included fixing the flat tire first. 

 As you can see, Little J was super excited to run the backhoe and tattle on me, that I took him to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (I turn down offers to eat there with my co-workers.)

(This photo gives you a vague idea of how I enjoyed my time on the farm....sitting under the shade tree relaxing.)

Little J loves to eat out on the porch and play games at my house.

He has just started diving into my collection of Calvin & Hobbes, which excites me. But I am looking forward to the day that those crutches are no longer exciting to him. 

Little J loves his time in the kitchen just as much as his sisters. He really wanted to make macaroons, but I talked him into a simpler/quicker blond brownie recipe.