Chris 30th Birthday

 Well the day finally arrived, Chris' 30th birthday! He's been celebrating since this previous Wednesday and we have plans all the way through this coming Sunday. Milking it a little, you think? Celebration began last week at Moo Creamery with the Palla Family. Friday night the cast of the Melodrama went out to BJ's Brewery after the show. Sunday was jam packed with events starting with him having to be to work at the church at 7am. Yuck! From church we went to lunch with Chris' mom and Nana and Papa to Que Pasa. Following that was some present opening! It looked like Christmas in the trunk of my car. Next was back to work for the show at the Melodrama.

Then the best part: cake time! I told Chris to pick whatever dessert he wanted, something I've made before that he really liked, something he's been wanting to try, anything! He chose my white cupcakes, stuffed with lemon curd and topped with my lemon, white chocolate, cream cheese frosting. I actually came up with the recipe but in a layer cake form for his mom's birthday a while ago. I made them into cupcake form for one of my friend's mom's bridal shower.

Chris helped me back the cupcakes on Saturday and we were craving them all afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday. We were bouncing off the walls for these cupcakes! We reminded ourselves of a story we'd read on a blog called Hyperbole and a Half. It's a great blog, take a few minutes and read this story. Click on the photo below from the story and enjoy!

That is exactly how we felt! CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE! The time came and Chris blew out the adorable sparkly 3-0 candles I found at target. Those cute plates were from Target too! I also had monkey napkins but somehow they didn't make it into any of the photos.

We were supposed to have rehearsal for the next show at the Melodrama that Chris is directing but 3 of the 6 people in the cast called in sick or couldn't be there for whatever reason. In the spirit of his birthday the remaining 3 encourage/begged Chris to cancel rehearsal and he agreed. Chris and I headed to PF Changs (one of our favorite places in Bakersfield) and enjoyed a few appetizers and a drink. We then watched a movie and called it a day before 9pm. Pretty wild party! Mike and Jen from the theater are taking Chris out to dinner on Wednesday then Chris and I are headed down south on Saturday for my friend's wedding. We figure we'll make a detour and have lunch at Stone Brewery in Escondido before heading to the wedding in Fallbrook. On Sunday we're going to Disneyland to celebrate one last time and have dinner at Blue Bayou. Happy 30th Chris!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Basic white cupcakes with fresh vanilla bean frosting decorated with glitter and sprinkles for Valentine's Day

Dijon Chicken Night

The Melodrama has moved to a new schedule this year. Instead of doing 8 shows a year (5-6 weeks of each show), we've moved to 6 shows with longer runs of each show (7-8 weeks). The greatest benefit of this: 2 weeks off a rehearsal between each show! Chris and I have been able to cook dinner together, go to our young adult Bible study, spend time with Nik, Melissa and their kids, and have dinner with my parents and Chris mom. It has been wonderful. The past two weeks have been so much fun! Rehearsal for our new show, Bedlam at Sam Lynn Ball Park, starts tonight so it's back to the grind. Chris is directing this next show (yayyy!) so I am stage managing for him. Last week Chris made me one of the best dinners I've had in a long time. Okay, I helped with some of the prep, but the ideas of what to cook and the majority of the actual cooking was all Chris. We had his family's famous garlic salad, (I'll post the recipe in my online cookbook when I think about it) Onion Soup Mix potatoes (the recipe is on the back of the Lipton Onion Soup box) and a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, Dijon Chicken. Yummy!!!! If you've never read Smitten Kitchen online before do it now! Here is the link for the chicken but look through the whole site while you are there! Chris and I decided the chicken was a little bit salty, we used low sodium chicken broth but will look for no sodium next time and probably cut back on the salt when seasoning. We also thought this dijon sauce would be fantastic on pork. Give it a try! Thanks for a great dinner, Chris.