Tag Archives: birthday

Starbucks…

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

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got an email from Starbucks the other day to advise that for my birthday they would give me a free drink or something to eat…

then I had some trouble getting my app to work… had to go in and change my password, lol… not sure if my age is making me forget passwords or what the deal is…

the reward is only good for a few days, so today a colleague and I walked down to a Starbucks which was close by to redeem my treat… for whatever reason the network wouldn’t connect so after a number of attempts, just paid for my Evolution drink, which is one of the only things I can have there;-(…

was kind of sad because I’d been excited about the treat… tonight I tried the app again and it connected just fine and this came up…

but I think I had to redeem it by end of today, lol…

the whole thing is a bit funny because I didn’t need the drink so should have just walked away without it…

then, to top it off, I left it at work when I came home…

maybe I will walk down there again tomorrow and see what happens…

tulips are nearly done…

birthday…

18 Tuesday Apr 2017

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today is my birthday;-)…

I love birthdays, mine and everyone else’s… I like presents too… they don’t need to be big or expensive… 

I enjoy the birthday song being sung over the phone, or in person, or nowadays by text… when my kids were little I’d sing it to them the number of years they were turning… eventually you can’t sing it enough times in the day, lol.. 

last night my BS friends brought birthday cherry pie and presents… so this morning I enjoyed the last piece of the pie with my breakfast…

I’ve never been a cake lover…

busy at work but there was time to spend with visitors, who also brought treats – chips and a lovely purple water bottle… and answer some of the birthday calls and texts that came throughout the day…

purple tipped flowers from my colleagues with a fun balloon and card… one of our traditions is to circulate a card that everyone adds comments to for the celebrant… always a gift to read the kind notes included…

was going to order from SkipTheDishes but made leftover turkey dinner instead, one of my favourite meals…

then had a treat, lol…

had some loose tea in my new left-handed the wall tea cup… works really well and the tea I’d picked up recently at one of the Farmers Markets is delicious – it is similar to one of our all time favourites that was discontinued a number of years ago… and chips with two types of chocolate bars – my favourite Aschenti Cacao 79% with Sea Salt, and one of the bars we picked up in Mazatlan – a Ritter bar that had rum, nuts and fruit in it…

I mean, I’d been good all day, and it is my birthday, lol…

thinking back to a delicious piece of chocolate cake we found and shared by the Flatiron building in New York last year on my birthday…

really was one of the best pieces of cake I’ve ever eaten…

a great day to be alive…

Mazatlan Day 1…

17 Friday Mar 2017

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left the house at 3:30 am in two cabs to get us to the airport in time for our departure…

the flight was uneventful and the four hours went by quickly… a few of us slept and others read, watched movies and snacked…

it was fun to watch the sun rise on one side of the plane while it was still dark on the other…

saw some cool mountains as we flew over… no idea where they were…

and, eventually we saw the sun rising on our side of the plane…

arrived at the airport and went through customs without a problem… the palm trees are such a welcome sight once exiting the building…

the system at the hotel left a little to be desired… had to stand in line on three separate occasions before eventually getting to our rooms…

but while we were waiting we found a cafe with free wifi and a fishing connection…

we had a shrimp party there… apparently, Mazatlan is known for its shrimp…

my favourite was the coconut crusted ones which were delicious… 

and then spent the afternoon at the pool… this was the view as we headed in to eat dinner…

we are going to pay for a week of wifi so I can post this and the next six blogs without searching for free spots all the time, lol…

now to bed, been a long day and we have an early start tomorrow… which also happens to be my girl’s birthday;-)…

overcast…

05 Sunday Feb 2017

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lovely sky this morning, even with the overcast…

that is the sun in the trees…a bit later it started to snow and it snowed for three or four hours…

picked up by my kids and went to their place to celebrate the eight year old’s birthday…

they showed me their shark, that they got for Christmas, after they topped up the helium…

ready for cake… it looked delicious and the birthday boy was happy…

got very quiet as everyone was gobbling it up…

home soon and then to bed…

sixteen…

10 Wednesday Aug 2016

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today my oldest grandson turned sixteen…

he is a lovely young man and we’ve been able to spend a portion of our Fridays in the garden over the summer… I have really enjoyed having this time together…


took this shot on Sunday at his birthday party… I’d got him the newest Harry Potter book… he enjoys reading and we’ve both been fans since the first book came out… looking forward to reading it once he’s done…

all of a sudden he looks like a man, not a boy… his grandpa would be so proud of the kind young person he has become… 

the day he was born changed my life… in two ways… 

being a grandparent is by far one of the most amazing things that has happened to me… grandchildren are such a gift to be enjoyed and we’ve been privileged to have our grandkids here and be able to spend time with them on a regular basis since they’ve been born…

it also brought my daughter and I together… before he was born I was not one of her favourite people… we were connected, but her daddy was much more important to her… well, that never changed, lol…

I hadn’t been invited to the hospital as they prepared for the baby’s birth, and was waiting at home with baited breath to hear results of how they were doing and when the baby would be born…

then the phone rang, and my daughter was calling asking me to come to the hospital… from that moment we have had a much better relationship… 

so, this young man has been a gift in more ways than one…

what a wonderful sixteen years it has been… and how lucky am I…

birthday…

07 Sunday Aug 2016

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quiet morning watching Olympics… just as well as I wasn’t feeling too great…

drove to my daughter’s after lunch for the birthday party for the nearly 16 year old… 

getting much better at making the drive around the Perimeter… of course, it helps that it was bright and sunny… 


beautiful day and we were outside, which was great, because there were a lot of people there, probably around 30…

they were everywhere, visiting and playing… caught a group of friends and cousins playing a water bottle game in the garage… kept them entertained for easily forty-five minutes…


always a high point when the cake comes out… no candles, as requested by the birthday boy, but we did get to sing, lol… he cut the first piece… a tiramisu cake from Baked Expectations…


he looks like a man now, and some say he looks like George…

when I got home I added water to the pond and spotted a baby fish… will have to sit out and see if I can spot more of them…


lovely way to spend a Sunday…

cheers…

21 Tuesday Jun 2016

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started my post sitting in a soccer field as my youngest grandson practiced before his game…

was picked up at work, had a lovely home cooked dinner of chicken wings; mashed potatoes with corn, shredded cheese and gravy; and a kale salad with the family… what a treat… also had a quarter of a waffle cake (cake batter cooked in the waffle maker) with butter cream icing on it… yum… these were a treat for the birthday boy’s soccer team, at their practice…

after the soccer game, was picked up and went to see Finding Dory with the 11 year old birthday boy, a friend, his mom and dad…

brought some chocolates back so he and I had a cheers with ours…


great soccer player going by as they practised before the game…


something for everyone else to do too…


the game was excellent and our little guy scored in the first few minutes… shortly after that he got another goal which I  caught …


he kicked that ball right into the net… this boy has no fear… 

after his game was finished, went to the birthday boy’s practice where the kids devoured the waffle cakes…


saw Finding Dory, which was very cute, dropped everybody off and my son-in-law drove me to my car which was still at the office…

took this selfie of all of us in the car with our 3D glasses on, lol…


lovely way to spend my first day home from Atlanta…

difficult…

12 Thursday May 2016

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another early work day… juice had the cutest little umbrella in it…


been thinking of many I know who are dealing with difficult issues right now… health, work, loss… so much sadness…

happy news, today was a colleague’s birthday…


this was the gorgeous rose she received…

seems like flowers everywhere…

tonight I made lettuce wraps with taco meat and grated cheese… I like this type of meal because you have to work to get it eaten… even though it is cold, windy and overcast outside, this was a very nice meal… felt like Spring, at least in the house, lol…

been a full week… glad to have the day off tomorrow…

thinking…

21 Thursday Apr 2016

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today would have been my friend’s forty-eighth birthday…

she would have loved my new Fitbit bracelet…

sure do miss her…

a week ago I was finishing packing for our trip to New York…

 

Central Park, New York…photo J Noordman

 
brought to mind all of the people who have gone from my life – parents, in-laws, friends… my beloved…

been thinking about how each of them have influenced and shaped me into who I am…

how blessed I’ve been to have such special people in my life…

Japanese Maple ready to go into the garden…

birthday…

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

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yesterday I turned 65… 

was very special to be in New York with my girls…

went for a walk after midnight… because we were in NYC and you can… wandered by the 9/11 memorial and found the Charging Bull… went to bed around two… 

we headed down to the cold-pressed juice bar in the hotel once we woke up and before starting out on our last day in the Big Apple… was able to have an all vegetable juice which was a great way to start the day… I’d been eyeing the bar since we’d arrived… later came across a creperie and had a portobello, Gruyere, thyme and truffle oil one for the second part of my breakfast… yum… at lunch had freshly made motzarella, prosciutto, radishes, a fried asparagus with cheese pizza and half of a pear Bellini… snacked on a piece of coconut chocolate cake… and our final meal of the day was steak with mashed potatoes, and a tasty salad topped off with pecan pie…  

 

was pleased with the options and able to eat small portions of each so felt treated and good at the same time, lol…here is a collection of our fun day…

  
our feet, hand and bags as we were cramming our stuff into as little space as possible, ready to go through customs with all of our goodies… including treasures from Carlo’s Bakery… a wall covered in purple purses in Brookfield Place… dinner at Prime in La Guardia… cheers at Eataly… and more cheer with our dinner…

received this great phone case from the 100,000 step girls… we’d seen this as we were riding the Big Bus Hop-on Hop-off… they searched everywhere to find one with the subway map on it but when they weren’t successful they found this one…

  
had texts and phone calls from my boys… also received this handmade card…

  
all in all a pretty wonderful way to celebrate;-)…