Annual birthday celebration

Sharon, Julia & I have our birthdays within 2 weeks of each other. When we figured this out, we instituted yearly birthday outings without husbands or kids. This was after we had a disastrous year of having 3 individual birthday celebrations. There was too much cake and just... well, it got really bad by the time we got to Julia's birthday. Just felt like watching the same movie over and over and over again. Like when I was a kid and looked forward to watching The Wizard of Oz. You only got to see it on television once a year and it was an event. If you missed it, you'd have to wait until the next year. Then came VHS & Betamax and all of a sudden watching the WoO wasn't as exciting. I got a copy from my Aunty Pris one year and I haven't watched it since. So having 3 birthday parties with the same circle of friends all within the same 2 week period... You see how bad had gotten.

We went to the Harbour Public House (yeah, with the extra "u" because the people who founded it were from England) along with all the adults on the island. At least it felt that way. We showed up relatively early, at 5:45 PM, and still the place was packed. I think the senior citizens who show up to meals at 3 PM for the blue plate special have a good idea. Plenty of parking and you don't have to wait for a seat. I suppose that is just around the corner for the 3 of us. I had my first pint of mangoweizen. You know the Hawaii in me can't pass up a mango anything. Same goes for coconut. Or lychee. But it just tasted like beer to me. 

We are such old moms. Even though the kids were safe at home, of course our conversation turned to living with teen aged boys and tween girls. I'm the only one with a kindergartener anymore. Those girls are so close to the finish line. Damn. I guess you can take the moms away from the kids but still, our worlds revolve around them. I wonder if I'll have anything to talk with these broads about when their young ones end up graduating. Who am I kidding, of course I will. They're my girls!

So anyway, we decided to try to find some karaoke someplace. It's my birthday celebration and despite neither of these two chicks being filipinas, I was going to make them come with me. They had promised to be a good audience while I sang. Neither of them wanted to sing with me. It's okay. So long as they'll go with me, I'm good.  

We tried the Mexican Cantina first. When we entered the establishment, we doubled the number of women in the packed bar. No karaoke. They were watching some game on tv. I don't know what kind. There was green field underneath men running around with numbers on their backs. Who knows? Anyhow, we turned around and left. Even though we're old broads, we remember those bar survival skills we learned in our twenties. 

I knew another bar had karaoke on Thursday nights but this was Friday. I knew our chances were slim. We drove by and saw a similar television situation in there:  astroturf, men with numbers, etc. We wandered down to see our friends at BIBBQ. The closed sign was up but maybe it would be a better time than having another drink while people interested in watching men run around on a field made noise to interrupt our conversation. 

I was still jonesing to karaoke with my friends. But it was looking like there was to be no karaoke. I was trying to convince Greg from the BBQ to give me a little Louis Armstrong -- he obliged with just a couple of bars. I suggested, I Get Ideas, one of my fave Satchmo songs. I sang a little of it and while Greg didn't know it, I sparked the interest of a 6 year old girl whose family was just leaving the restaurant. She tugged my sleeve and asked if I knew the words to Jingle Bell Rock?

Do I know the words to Jingle Bell Rock? I'm kind of awesome when it comes to Christmas Song lyrics. I may obsess on them a little. For the past few years, I've made it a point to choose a Christmas song that the family will concentrate on singing for the season. In the past we've done Joy to the World and O Holy Night. How do you think I've managed to learn Adeste Fideles or Ave Maria? That's right, hard work, determination, and a fanatical devotion to the pope... actually, no, but a kind of razor sharp focus on expanding my carol file capacity. 

So this little girl and I belted out Jingle Bell Rock at the top of our lungs! She and her 9 year old sister sang a Halloween song. The 9 year old sang an original composition which was surprisingly great. Seriously great. (damn, I should have gotten her name. She'll be famous someday.) Then the little one said she was going to sing Gaga. Joy! She didn't know the name of the song but the second she started with, "rama-ooh-lala..." I jumped right in. She was astonished that I knew the lyrics since all she knew was the rama/lala parts. These girls were just darling. The older girl invited us to see her school's art show where she would be performing. Too cool. 

After they left, my big girls and I found a booth and started chatting. My friends officially cut me off from drinking. They thought I had too much with 2 beers. Seriously. With the wonders of my smartphone and YouTube, I was able to get in some pseudo-karaoke. I sang Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know (the non-radio version) and for contrast, Adele's Someone Like You. Truth is that Alanis' attitude about the break-up "did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity?" seems much more empowering than Adele's whiny "Don't forget me, I beg..." However, Adele's song is way easier to sing. That middle bit of Alanis's song is tongue-twisty. At that point my friends were fading fast and we headed home before the clock struck 10 PM. Damn, we're getting old. 

An aside, one of the karaoke versions of You Oughta Know on YouTube has the most fabulous mondegreen in it:  "It's not fair / to deny me / the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me..." 

Cross-eyed bears make me smile. 

MJ tribute

Thanks for sharing this Jen.

Telemarketers

I only wish that I had thought of this first. This guy is brilliant and deserves a medal.

New Day

I think this guy should release his album in Hawaii. I think he'd make a huge splash.

The wart hog from Namibia

I just wanted to put this clip in here because when we saw it on tv last summer, my kids were entranced. We don't have cable/satellite. When we visited my brother, we were introduced to a whole world of new programs on television. The kids still talk about this show in particular. Princess will even detail how to prepare bugs (in the next segment of the show) as a crunchy treat. Around 4 minutes into the vid, you'll see the best part.

Applause

Television has woefully been missing a good clapping themesong. Ever since Friends has left primetime, there haven't been any good clapping opening songs. Clapping along with a song is just friggin' fun. Tell me it's not. I admit that I struggled to get that timing just right. Those four fast claps only come once during the song. Miss them and you'll have to wait a whole week before you can try it again. Yeah, this was in the dark ages. The time before Tivo.



Imagine how my heart warmed to hear the promos for the new series Life on Mars. A new clapping song!!! But much more complicated than just 4 staccato claps. So I played the show off the website. I was so excited for a new clapping song. The opening scene didn't disappoint. There it was : When it all falls down... *clap, clap, clap*. Engaging syncopated rhythm. But then, there it went. I don't think it is the theme song for the series.

Oh, how sad for me. I guess I'll just have to wait for Friends reruns.

Turning Point

Ringtones

Catchy tune

You know I don't have terribly great taste in music. I like music, but I think I'm not too discerning according to some people.

But I like this one. It's about time we had some good anti-war tunes that we're not borrowing from the generation before us.

The ghost of someone's tradgedy

The title of this post is from my favorite Indigo Girls song: Watershed.

"Twisted guardrails on the highway, broken glass on the cement. The ghost of someone's tragedy, how recklessly my time has been spent"

Two weekends ago, there was crazy weather here on the island. There was sunshine, snow, hail, sleet and freezing rain all within the span of 2 hours on Sunday afternoon. We drove in that insane weather to do some shopping and on our return to the island, was caught up in a police blockade on the highway. Traffic was diverted to side streets and the highway wasn't opened up again until around 3pm. It wasn't until the next day that I found out why.

My daughter brought home a note from the principal of her elementary school. The father of 3 children at her school was killed in a car accident on the way home. His 8 year old son was in the car with him but didn't sustain serious physical injuries.

For the past week, I've been obsessing about this accident. He was young, only 42 years old. It is a mystery how he lost control of the car. By the time we were returning home, that area on the road seemed clear of snow and ice, but maybe not.

We don't personally know the family. I'm positive I would recognize them on sight as we all had children attending the same school. My kids are exactly 1 year older than 2 of their kids so we didn't run in the same circles. We have 1 degree of separation from that family as quite a few of our friends are also friends with them.

When something like this happens, it somehow feels wrong that the world keeps spinning. Somehow, there should be a pause button. There is this guilt that I can still laugh, breathe, or kiss my kids. Things I rejoice in, just seems unfair that family doesn't have them anymore. So in that way, the world did pause in honor of that tragedy.

And then there is the desire to somehow care take for that family. That's how a family gets deluged with casseroles and macaroni salads after a loved one is lost. But you know, after coming out of the fog of losing a loved one, I don't remember who brought the doughnuts or the macaroni salad. I remember that they came. That they sat with me and bore the grief with me. That they reminded me that I could still breathe.

I don't know what I can do to help that family. My friends and I have reached out through a mutual friend. She said she'll let us know what the family will need and will put us on the schedule for cooking meals if that is what the family wants.

So I'll look up an easy to freeze casserole recipe and await my turn, hug my husband especially tight, and try to replace my guilt with gratitude.

New smiles

Yesterday, That got his braces off. He said that his teeth felt slimy because he hasn't felt smooth teeth in over a year. It is strange to see his mouth without the braces on and we're going to be dealing with a retainer for the rest of his treatment. Oh man, I already know I'm going to be spending hundreds replacing retainers for the duration. I'm hoping it will be okay for him to just eat with the retainer in place. I'm dreading him losing it. Maybe I can send him to school with puddings and soups while he's in retainers. That might be a little obsessive.

So yesterday we went to have some corn on the cob. The only place I could think of was KFC to get some of that. I know, their corn tastes like sucking on a dishrag, but the prospects for fresh corn on the cob in April are pretty slim. So I packed up the kids and we drove to the next town for the nearest KFC. We started ordering and when we got to the sides, the counter girl said, "We're out of corn on the cob."

Seriously.

So we left and went to the nearest grocery store. I was not going to be dissuaded from this quest. I found 4 fresh ears of corn, flown in from Mexico, for a whopping $6. Yeah, that's pretty steep. But how often do you get to celebrate getting your braces off? Then we also bought long carrots, apples, gummy bears, taffy, and beef jerky. For those who aren't aware, these are all forbidden foods for braces wearers. Pizza and corn chips are also on the list but if I had gotten rid of those, the child would have whithered up and died.

We went back to KFC to get some chicken because one cannot make a dinner out of jerky, gummy bears and corn. And while we were there, I shot this little vid.

Hanging on by a thread

This is the coolest thing. Flapping in the wind is Princess's first loose tooth. Her smile is forever changed.

She got $2.00 in dimes. She said that she chose 17 coins to ask for because she was thinking of a big number. But when she thought about it longer, 20 is bigger than 17 so that's what she asked for. And she decided that dimes were more fair than quarters because otherwise, some kids might not get any money for their teeth. Dimes weigh less than quarters.

She made a small quilt for the Tooth Fairy out of a piece of scrap fabric. She also asked the Tooth Fairy to take the quilt instead of the tooth because she wants to collect all her baby teeth. I was surprised. The Tooth Fairy took the quilt and left the money. Pretty sweet deal.

Lip gloss application -- proper technique

This is Lil'T prettying herself up with some lip gloss. I figured you uncles & aunts out there would get a kick out of it. I have a couple of friends who only have boys in their families. This is what you're missing out on.

Hillary Clinton Ad Featuring Jack Nicholson

Embrace me, my sweet embraceable me....

It has been a long time since I've worked almost exclusively with women. Scratch that. I'm around women all the time. I think maybe I should say that it has been a long time since I've been in a professional capacity with female coworkers through the holiday and New Year's seasons. There is a difference.

See, we all feel obliged to make treats and share with our coworkers. This prompted people to bring in boxes of cookies and chocolates. There was even lumpia and fruitcake (probably not brought in by the same person -- unless there's a Filipina who used to live in the British isles who works there now). Anyway, right after the holidays, there were tons of chocolates and cookies that were brought in for the sake of keeping temptation out of the homes of these ladies. We've swung through the binging phase of the season directly into the self flagellation stage. It is time for the New Year's resolution.

I'm not really sure how long this phase will last, and unfortunately, I won't be working there for much longer, so my scientific observations will have to cease in 2 more shifts. But I think I can see the resolve of some people's New Year's resolutions by celery.

I propose that celery is the measure of willpower.

One of my favorite channels on YouTube (vlogbrothers) defines Peeps as a nonfood item. I kind of think that celery is a nonfood item. At least celery is a non-snackfood item.

Let me put it this way, last time I was at the nurses' station, I saw 2 women eating celery. They were putting it in their mouths, chewing and swallowing the stuff. I am thinking that it was probably meant to be a snack. But have you ever, in your entire lifetime, ever said, "Man, I'm hungry. I could go for some celery right now." Exactly my point. There is no human that thinks that way. I think there are probably some rabbits and guinea pigs who think like that, but no humans. Not if they're being honest with themselves. Celery doesn't taste good. It isn't offensive, but it doesn't taste good. And celery, I think, is a kind of oral self flagellation. It is punishment, every bite you take. It is loud, crunchy, and can stick in your teeth. There is nothing warm, inviting, smooth and comforting about eating celery.

Right now I'm telling everybody there that I'm embracing my fat. Yes, I am fat. I'm not fluffy. I'm not big boned. I AM FAT. And I'm not in love with my fat. I'd love to be rid of it. But I suppose that isn't my goal. On my goal sheet, it says that I will exercise daily. On my goal sheet, it says that I will eat smaller and more frequent meals. On my goal sheet, it says that I will give up processed foods. On my goal sheet, it says I will eliminate corn syrup (no easy task) from our diet. It doesn't say anything really about me losing weight. But if I live up to my goals, I figure something's got to give, right? And no where on my goal sheet does it say anything about eating nonfood items and trying to call them snacks. If I had to eat nonfood items, I'd probably opt to eat lotion from Bath & Bodyworks. Their stuff just smells yummy. Doesn't taste good though.

I predict the celery will make way for chocolate soon enough. When the celery disappears, it will mark the failure yet again of another year's New Year's resolution -- the breaking of the willpower. If you must have a universal endpoint, I think it is Valentines day -- chocolate will again be plentiful. That's the day I will set free my battle cry: Let the binging recommence!

You will pick up a forkful of cheesecake and answer, "So say we all!"

Mommy, wow! I'm a big kid now!

I tell this story a lot because it was one of those great, "I'm a grown up now," moments for me. A few months before we got married, I made my then fiancé sit down with me to write some goals. Here are the important facts when I recall this event to all the people who will sit still enough to hear it.

1. I wrote out long term plans to 11 years because there was only room for 11 years on the piece of paper.

2. My fiancé was so uncomfortable with making such a plan or selecting goals for our life together that the entire time, he insisted on playing the guitar. He said, "They're only arpeggios -- I can do that robotically." But he's *never* picked up the guitar since. I swear!

3. We met most of our goals on time. First child while I was 27. First house with the first kid. Degrees finished and jobs taken. The 2 things on my list that I didn't accomplish were getting my masters degree while pregnant with the second child seeing as I would have so much free time; and learning to speak Spanish using home study materials. Again, I was supposed to have done that while I was pregnant because I just would have so much free time. Remember, I wrote the goals when I was 24 and had never been pregnant.

4. This is the most important part of the story. About 1 week after we did this... or rather, I threatened & cajoled and he endured, he got a letter from his dad. This was one of those letters that a dad writes to his soon-to-be-married son. It was full of advice and reflection. But what made me so pleased was that one of the gems my father-in-law told his son was that we should sit down and make some long term goals. It was gorgeous validation for me. GORGEOUS!

My husband still has that disdain for long term goals. I cannot brag and say that I sit down every year and make goals, because truthfully, we've gone the last 2 years without the help of our 11 year plan. So I decided that 2008 would be the one. This would be the year that I would get those goals out on paper and make things happen.

I did manage to get him to sit down with me early on the 1st. It was good. Unfortunately, I happened to be next to my computer at the time and I saw that one of my favorite YouTube channels had posted their last blog of 2007. They always say that the first step is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem. I'm addicted to YouTube. So I watched the 3 minute post while my husband's sat and waited. I almost lost him right there.

After that misstep, I was worried that it was all over. Shockingly, he didn't leave. So I got out a few sheets of paper and titled them with the following headers.

1. Entertainment Goals (vacations, camping trips, pursuit of hobbies)
2. Personal Goals (this is stuff most people put on their New Year's Resolutions sheet)
3. Professional Goals
4. Household Goals (home remodeling, repair, organization)
5. Financial Goals (savings for college, retirement, ways to increase revenue)
6. Charitable Giving Goals (including time, talent & treasure)
7. Family Goals (goals for the kids, enrichment classes)
8. Long Term Goals

You might think that Entertainment Goals are a silly thing to put first. You must understand that it was my spoonful of sugar -- you know, like in Mary Poppins? He needed that spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. It would be nice to put the big vacations on the board so we don't have another year where we get disappointed that we didn't bring the kids to various places. I figure, if you don't plan for those things, you'll never get around to doing them. So this year we are planning to visit my new nephew in Northern California. Then we'll go visit his folks and sister in Southern California with all the great theme parks too. And during the summer, we'll take a big camping trip with some friends. Lastly, we will winter in Hawaii or maybe Northern California again. That decision is yet to be made.

Also on the entertainment page, we've penciled in game nights, date nights, birthday celebrations & supper club nights. I just think it is important to cultivate all the relationships we've got.

On the personal goals page, I decided to make a commitment to my writing. I do like writing. I think I'm funny and entertaining. I find my writing refreshing, clever and insightful. And I think you probably do too. So I'm committed to write a blog entry at least once a week. I've also committed to write some kind of narrative -- essay, short story, novella, book, outline, character summary -- on the days I am not blogging.

A couple of months ago my son was bugging me to use the computer. I told him he had to wait because I was working on a short story. He told me, "Why? You never finish anything you write. If it were me, I would have finished that story and moved on by now." My initial reaction was to scold him for being disrespectful. But then I realized that I resembled that remark. I can't tell you how many stories I've started and just never finished. But no more. This is my goal. I shall write daily. This will be the year that I finish a story.

So now, after you've read this post, you're supposed to reflect on it and then give me advice. Post a comment. Suggest something for one of the goal sheets. You may even suggest a character for a story I may write. It may just get there and when it happens, you can say you were the one who suggested it. Seriously, I'd give you your props.

Maybe for your own goal sheet, you should write something about commenting on Tess's blog every now and then. What do you think about that?

Liar, liar, pants on fire

Let me just say that this was a long grift. If you don't know what I mean, to grift is to con somebody. Sometimes this can be a short term lie or sometimes it can be a long term lie. Some lies you have to set up, prepare a mark (a.k.a. victim) with a couple of believable lies -- commiserate with them, make them feel like you're a victim of the same circumstances. A grifter is a con artist. I never knew I had skills like these. But I do. I have the gift of grift.

About 5 weeks before my husband's 40th birthday, I told Hubby that the church auction was coming up. The real auction was taking place a week before my husband's birthday, but I figured that he had heard some buzz about an auction coming up and that was enough to validate my story. When there are church events, our director of religious education, Sister Anna, will often pluck me out of the parking lot or even church, and ask me to help out. I told my husband (who rarely attends mass with me)that after mass, Sr. Anna had asked me if I would help out with the auction. I told him the auction was scheduled for his birthday so I wanted to clear it with him before I got back to her. He, being the good soul that he is, assured me that it was fine. I could help out if I wanted.

The following Thursday, I complained again to my husband. When I picked up the kids from CCD, Sister Anna saw me again and asked if I would be able to prepare some food for the auction. See, it is a money making endeavor, so to cut costs, they were asking parishioners to bring food. I said, "Can you believe that they're asking people to bring food? I mean, they're charging $75 per ticket in the first place." So he told me that it was a fund raiser. That I can't blame them for trying to raise money. He really defended the actions of Sr. Anna, even though she was being absolutely ridiculous.

Some time during the following week, I asked my mother (in front of Hubby) what she would like to prepare for the auction. We came up with lumpia and pancit. It is traditional to have noodles on your birthday for long life. And everybody loves my mom's lumpia. My husband likes having potatoes in lumpia (I know, it is totally unacceptable according to Mom) so as a birthday treat, I told him that I'd reserve some that didn't have shrimp in it (he doesn't eat bugs -- his words, not mine) and put potatoes in that batch.

About 2 weeeks before the auction I started telling my husband that people weren't buying auction tickets as well as they had hoped. "At $75 a peice, how can you blame them? I might be helping out but there is no way that I'm going to pay for tickets."

Here's the scary part. My whole plan may have fallen apart because my son's soccer team won their division championship. If they progressed through regionals, then the state championship game would be on my husband's birthday -- the day of the party. It is a very strange feeling -- the definition of conflicted -- because I wanted my son's team to succeed. Of course I did. But on the other hand, part of me wanted them to fail because my plan for the party was going so well. I had even thought to mention to another parent from our church whose kid plays with That not to talk about missing the church auction which happened on the day of the regionals. She was awesome and didn't say a word about it.

Sadly for my son, his team didn't win the regionals. Yay for me, but I didn't cheer. He took it in stride and actually had nothing but good things about playing soccer in the snow. "Mom, it was so cool because when you kicked the ball, it would grow into this huge snow ball, and when you kicked it again, snow would explode everywhere. COOL!"

We were still on for our party. Here was the clincher. I had come up with an excuse for me to be making mass quantities of food. I had come up with an excuse for my mother to come with me. But the whole deal was to get my husband to drive to our friends Steve & Sharon's house for the actual party. My mother was the weakest link of the whole thing.

Having already told my husband that tickets weren't selling well and that they were massively expensive, I had laid the groundwork. Now in for the kill. I waited until the Thursday before the party. That is the day the kids have CCD. My mom picked them up from church that day. So she had opportunity to do this act.

"Honey," I conspiratorially told my husband, "don't get upset but for your birthday, my mom bought the three of us tickets to the auction."

"She what?"

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. She didn't ask me but she thought it would be good because there will be entertainment and lots of food. She thought it would be fun for us to do."

"Oh man, I get to spend my fortieth birthday at a church auction. Are you kidding me?"

"I'm so sorry."

"Why don't you guys just go, you and your mom?"

"She bought 3 tickets."

"Well, who is going to watch the kids?"

"I talked to Sharon, and she said that she's having a holiday party for the kids from their church. She said 3 more kids wouldn't be a problem and there will be lots of fun things for them to do."

Defeated, my husband resigned himself to feign gratitude and excitement when my mother told him about the auction tickets.

I practiced with my mother over and over again. She said that maybe she should add that I'd take him out to dinner another day too. She also was trying to come up with what kind of entertainment would be at the auction. She was suggesting menus and coming up with the guest list of who would be at our table.

My mother doesn't lie. It doesn't come easy to her. In fact, I think it may cause her physical pain. But we went over it again and again, and finally she streamlined it down to, "For your birthday, I bought us tickets to the auction."

When it came time for her performance, it turned into this. Nervously, while my husband was in the other room, my mother said, "Oh, for your birthday, I bought us auction tickets. Is that alright? Maybe Tess can take you out for dinner another time. Is it okay?" I may have pushed her too far. It was really hard for her.

And delivering the best performance of his lifetime, my sweet husband walked back into the room where my mom was sitting and said, "You mean the church auction? That will be great. Thanks." He actually seemed to be happy. Later he asked me for his Oscar. It was maybe an Emmy. Not an Oscar.

The morning of his party, my husband woke up with a bad cough. I thought I was sunk. But instead, I quietly pressured him into going to the auction by saying, "Honey, I'll go to the church and Mom should stay home and watch the kids while you rest, and then when it is time for the auction, she can go to Sharon's and drop the kids off so you can sleep."

"But what about the tickets? Your mom paid so much money for them."

"Don't worry about that. It is your health, okay?"

"No, I'll go. It'll make your mom feel bad if I don't."

Everybody was in place, the cars were parked in the driveway, but that was explained away by the party Sharon was throwing. The guests and I were crouched behind sofas and the kitchen island waiting for Hubby to make an appearance. I was keeping a lookout. Sharon answered the door and chatted for what seemed to be at least 10 minutes in the entryway. My husband wouldn't come into the house! She finally coaxed him in with promises of bacon wrapped Ritz crackers as appetizers for the party. I saw him enter the living room and I turned to the rest of the guests, counted three, and popped up to yell, "Surprise!"

That was immediately followed by, "Where did he go?"

Turns out that my husband got to the living room and realized that he had forgotten the diaper bag. He was just about to the front door when he heard us yell, "Surprise!...Where did he go?" Bummer. But Sharon says that she could tell he was surprised because he stopped in his tracks. He came back into the living room and we all had suddenly appeared.

It was a great success. Our friend Marisa, stage name Samira, made an appearance belly dancing. That was great fun. My husband admitted to me later that he didn't know where he should look. Marisa is smoking hot and here she was dressed in a belly dancing outfit.He didn't want to look like a jerk and stare especially with me standing right there next to him, but he took it in great stride and Marisa got a few of us to try belly dancing too.

I had mistakenly ordered a carrot cake which has walnuts in it. I had forgotten to check. My husband has a sensitivity to walnuts so that was a big boo boo. But luckily, I had arranged for our friend Julia to make a Chocolate Torte Royale -- a dessert that my mother-in-law made for hubby for all of his childhood birthdays. You also should know that when I brought out the carrot cake and realized it had walnuts, the first words out of my husband's mouth were, "Well, you better make me a Chocolate Torte Royale."

It was a great party. We have awesome friends. I hope I did his 40th birthday justice.