Birthday Goodness!!

Today was my 27th birthday and it was a gooder! 

I got an early present from my aunts in Vancouver. They picked up a Clay Pot for me for Christmas and got me this recipe book for my Birthday. I flipped through it and am excited to try a bunch of the recipes out! There is one in the back for Maple Pecan Croissants. I have to find a gluten free croissant recipe to do it, but I think it will be worth the effort, they sound amazing!

Today started off earlier than I would have liked as I had to work, but we stopped off at Starbucks on the way and I got a treat- a Triple Caramel Macchiato. Work was good although the leaky ceiling was quite annoying. Jon stopped by to bring me lunch and brought me a surprise Americano from Transcend....so yummy! Then, about 30 minutes later Shannon also dropped in, with a Transcend cup in her hand for me...Yay for a 3 coffee pileup! 

Shannon also brought birthday goodies! An awesome t-shirt from ThinkGeek and a hand warmer. She stuck around for a bit of a visit and then went back to work.

Jon came to get me from work and had these lovely flowers sitting in the front seat. He went to Off Whyte Floral before getting me and Kristi put this pretty collection together! I love her! And him!

Since we were going to be home for dinner Sylvie made my favourite....lasagne! We were all out of gluten free lasagne noodles, so it was made with corkscrew pasta instead, but still tasted amazing! Before eating I opened up my gifts, it looks like the present fairy raided the Apple Store...I got a new laptop bag, a keyboard protector, an amp for my iPhone, and a wireless mouse and keyboard for my iMac. All of my Apples are feeling special now. The only sad thing is that my iMac is too old to have Bluetooth, so the wireless goodies wont connect. We'll bring them back tomorrow and see what other solutions they have for my strange workspace (the cords on my normal mouse and keyboard are too short for where I sit, my arms are fully extended when I am using them!)

We inhaled the lasagne before I could get a photo, but I did get the cake on record. Gluten Free Chocolate Oreo cake. So good!! We didn't have any little candles, so one big one was the way to go! Oh yeah, this is what I look like when I actually wear my glasses! 

This is what the inside looks like. It tastes as amazing as it looks!

And now, i'm curled up on the couch with my sweetie, our kitties, a bottle of wine and Dirty Dancing on TV. Life is good! 

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes today!

Amazing.....

Today rocked! Really, really rocked!
I got to sleep in and both kitties and one puppy were sleeping on me, keeping me warm.
Jonathan got up and made me eggs and toast for breakfast (without me asking...)
We stopped off at Transcend and I had a really, really good Mocha.
The new woman that we hired at work is awesome, positive, smart and fun to train!
We picked up a copy of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on the way home from work.
We also picked up some candy while we were at the movie store. Without even thinking I picked up runts and Jon grabbed nerds. When we were at the till he glanced at me and said "Well, it makes sense, your a runt and I am a nerd." The sad thing is that it was a very, true statement. The sadder thing is that I am just as much of a nerd as he is! I made him pose for a photo with his box, and he took one of me with mine....notice how short I am compared to him next to the wreath on the door behind us. Also, now that I look again, at the beautiful cleaning cloth that is drying there....and killer stealth ninja behind Jon. Yep, definitely nerds. Oh well.

We ended up doing a Dr.Seuss double header: The Grinch and Horton Hears A Who. Both amazing! I love cartoons and really, really love Seuss! Jon thinks I'm a nut bar (I sing along with the Grinch song) but he loves me anyway....

Speaking of the Grinch song, check out this version of it: Love!!! Straight No Chaser was formed a long time ago while they were all students at Indiana University. They graduated and decided that they loved it so much that they weren't going to stop! These guys have a ton of talent and a ton of fun! I strongly, strongly recommend all of their Christmas tunes (and all of their other music too....) 

I had an awesome dinner of homemade gluten free waffles (once again, Jon's cooking...) 

I got caught up on today's Twitter and learned that the Alberta liquor commission changed it's story from banning the sale of any beer over 11.9% alcohol to raising the prices of all specialty beers that are over 11.9% to reduce teen drinking. I am not sure why this effects me so much. I am allergic to beer unless it's from special gluten free breweries, and there are only 3 stores that I have found in Edmonton that sells beers I can drink. None of the beer that I can have is over 11.9%, so thankfully I won't get a price hike. I think it irks me because the people who are buying these specialty brews are supporting smaller (and local..) breweries, and it's going to hurt their bank account. In my experience, teen drinkers are going to buy the cheap stuff so they can have 12 and get sloshed. They are not the people who buy 1 or 2 specialty bottles to enjoy the taste. I blame Andrew at Transcend Coffeehouse as he is the one who told me about it originally. For more info, click here! 

I also had time to check in on the blogs I follow. There was a great link on K.Law's blog to an online radio segment. It is awesome on so many levels (and was fantastic background music while I read the rest of the blogs I follow. It is a crazy mix of Christmas and normal music that keeps you guessing an singing along at the same time. Please go check it out! You can grab the link through her blog or right here!

And, in case this description of the day doesn't already live up to the title, I took a photo of one of my Christmas gift tags....awesome!