Happy Bithday to Me!

Saturday (March 14th) was the official beginning of my birthday weekend!

I love celebrations! I'm Irish and we Irish can turn any occasion into a celebration (think "wakes") but seriously we will celebrate anything - so a birthday such as mine (so close to St. Paddy's Day) has double party potential! It's never been about getting presents and such - I just love getting together with family and friends for festive food, great conversations, the occasional playing of games and lots of laughs. Nothing beats it!

Sarah, Fredrik & Mattias came down from Canada for the weekend. In fact, Mattias helped make crepes for my birthday breakfast. He is such a bundle of joy (and energy!) and continually delights. But this morning I was far more taken by watching the amazing young woman and mother my daughter has become. I'm proud and astounded by the loving patience she demonstrates with little Mattias. Without hesitation she got right down on the floor with him so that he could be "mommy's helper" and because of this year and half of love and devotion, he in turn has become an intelligent, thoughtful, loving 18-month old boy who adores his parents. I'd like to think she learned some of that from me but since I've yet to see her ever get frustrated with him (despite the 18 months of sleep deprivation!) I really rather doubt it! :)

Saturday afternoon and evening was spent celebrating St. Paddy's Day with the traditional corned beef & cabbage dinner accompanied by not one, not two but actually three jello salads (lovely to see that someone has been reading my posts and was desperate to show me that jello is achievable). The menu was rounded out with Marne's fabulous (and traditional now!) Irish Soda Bread and Michael's Guinness Chocolate Cake. Gerry provided bartending services with his famous (and perfectly poured!) "Black & Tans":

Naturally a St. Paddy's celebration wouldn't be complete without those souls brave enough to try the annual "Irish Car Bomb" drink. It involves dropping a shot glass filled with 1/2 Irish Whiskey and 1/2 Irish Creme into a 1/2 pint of Guinness (that's the easy part!) and then drinking it down....quickly (this ain't no sipping drink!). The tricky part is keeping the shot glass from knocking your front teeth out! This year we had 4 participants:

First Michael showed them how it was done. Then it was Mark's turn to belly up to the bar. Next came Gerry clearly attempting to save his teeth. Finally it was Chris's turn (no doubt his first) and he showed them that it could be done in only a matter of a few seconds!



I have my own version of this tradition - it involves a 1/2 pt. of Irish Creme with a shot glass filled with 1/2 Irish Whiskey and 1/2 Guinness. I drink the Irish Creme and just look at the shot glass - much tastier!

The day was completed with birthday phone calls from Jenny and my sister Margo and the weekend topped off with a delicious brunch in Seattle followed by some serious "couch time" (aka snoozing) in the afternoon - a completely enjoyable weekend. I'll never understand why all people don't love birthdays as much as I do!

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