Birthday Celebrations All Week Long!

I do kind of hate celebrating birthdays since turning forty but this year I decided to go with the flow and embrace all of the birthday celebrations that my family & friends threw for me. And a week full of celebrations it was! Some of the girls at the office turned my cubicle into the Grand Canal in Venice! With Rialto Bridge above me and a dashing gondolier standing ready to serenade me =) "Ah, Venice!"
A big group of us went out for lunch on Monday to celebrate all of the July birthdays (Ken, Chrystal and me) in our office. Since I love Italian food I picked Portofino's in Whittier. The food was good but the company was even better. I am really blessed to work with such a wonderful group of people! The food was good and the tiramisu was delicious.
On my actual birthday on Wednesday Megan and I slipped out from work a little early, met up with Grace and went shopping at Roadkill one of my favorite little stores in Fullerton. We had fun! Later we met up for dinner with Jon, Chris, Jason and Sara at Lirzarran's. Spanish tapas, paella and other delicacies were the fare of the evening. It just was a little taste to get us in the mood to experience the real thing this fall. Can wait!
We topped it all off with some delicious desserts... yeah, on my birthday week I decided not to count points or calories!
The celebration continued on Friday when I drove over to AZ for a fun evening with lots of food, wine & cheese at Donna & Greg's. They had invited some friends over and we had a great evening talking, laughing and eating together.

After taking Alyssa to her ballet class and doing a little shopping together on Saturday I was back on the road to see Timothy & the kids. Christine surprised me by making homemade ravioli (from a recipe we got at the farm in Tuscany) and a delicious made-from-scratch apple strudel. She did a great job! I'm so proud of her. They all are growing up so fast!

Sunday I made blueberry banana pancakes for breakfast and then we were off to church (It was 102 degrees at 10:45 a.m.). After church we took the kids to La Hacienda for lunch. Mmmm...such good food that brings back a lot of memories! Like always these times come to a close way too soon. Driving home was no fun. There was so much traffic it took almost twice as long to get home but it was all worth it!

Two Hearts
"...there could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement."

- "Persuasion" by Jane Austin, as quoted in the "The Lake House"

Summer showers and a bountiful garden

Today began sunny and quite warm but throughout the day things begin to change. Big puffy Texas style clouds began forming and the monsoon moisture began to move in from the east. By the evening you could hear thunder in the background and a beautiful double rainbow appeared. Summer also means that the garden is bursting with all kinds of good things to eat! I picked some delicious tomatoes, giant size zucchini, sweet peaches, and delicious avocados. It truly is a wonderful time of the year!
Job 5:10

Quote of the day...
"Sometimes I have the strangest feeling about you. Especially when you are near me as you are now. It feels as though I had a string tied here under my left rib where my heart is, tightly knotted to you in a similar fashion. And when you go to Ireland, with all that distance between us, I am afraid that this cord will be snapped, and I shall take to bleeding inwardly."

(Mr.Rochester to Jane)

Breaking up is painful and never easy.

The thrill of victory...

That is what Spain felt on Sunday as they won the FIFA World Cup for the first time. The game was so close and both Netherlands and Spain fought hard but I think in the end the team that won was the one with the most "corazon".

Corazon... I tried to explain it to my friend David. It's the selfless struggle and desire to give it all you got from the heart. What is "corazon"? It was what Forlan gave every time he walked out onto the pitch and fought to the very last second. Never giving up. I'm really looking forward to visiting this Fall! ¡Que viva España!

Speaking of traveling... Sunday night I did an airport run to LAX to drop Mom off. She will be spending some time with her family this summer. I shot this picture at LAX as I waited to exit the parking lot. Has anyone ever been to The Encounter? This is the strangest location for a restaurant.

And a notable moment on this Monday, July 12, 2010 was going from this...

to this...

and so the journey continues...

Busy Summer!

Summer has been flying by and I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to post here in a few weeks. So to catch up a little... A few weekends ago I volunteered with Soldiers' Angels at the annual Cook's Corner Chili Cookoff. All proceeds were donated to Soldiers' Angels, a non profit organization supporting our troops. Although I missed the photo op for the OC Register I made it into the Trabuco Canyon News (go to page 16). The next weekend I helped Laura paint the murals and backdrops for Adventure Week at Grace. The theme this year was Kingdom Quest. It was a fun day of drawing and painting but my knees were sore at the end of the day! I took a few days off work to have a long 4th of July Holiday weekend. First drove down and spent a few days in Imperial with the family and celebrated David's 12th birthday.

We had fun decorating, eating, watching soccer games, shopping and spending time together. Next I was off to Arizona where I spent a great weekend with the rest of my family. The weather wasn't too hot (under 100) and we made the most of it by spending hours in the pool. For lunch on Sunday Greg grilled some wonderful steaks!

Work has been slowing down a bit and we have been following the World Cup by having everyone choose their favorite teams. Today I watched the Spain vs. Germany game with mixed feelings. My heart wanted Spain to win but my logic was telling me Germany would win. Well, after much anxiety the team full of heart and soul prevailed much to my delight! GOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!! Yes, I really get into these games! Who will win the final on Sunday???