T Stands For Birthday and bEARTHday Celebrations

What a wonderful month this has been.  It's not over, either.

Some of you may remember I told you I missed my friend Sally's birthday on March 28.  My only excuse was I was frantically getting ready for my friend Theresa's visit, as well as trying to decide what I would create for my recycling projects.  As a result, I tried to make it up to her.

The first birthday gift was actually a trip to Golden Corral buffet.  They are everywhere, so I'm sure many of you have either been to one, or driven past one.

I received a gift of a free lunch or dinner to Golden Corral with a paying guest.  So I paid for Sally's and my lunch was free.  When I was a child, my Grandmother (grandparents raised me from birth) always made me a carrot cake for my birthday and we always had pie every Sunday.  My favorite pie was peanut butter/butterscotch and I've never seen another one like it.  I am not sure, but I believe my Grandmother created the recipe.

While I was still eating, Sally decided to open her gift.  Yes, I sewed two magazine pages together to hold the gift.

It began as a look of confusion

which led to more confusion.  I don't think she liked the fossil shell I gave her.  Oh well!

Next, we were off to Sally's choice of places to eat.  No buffet here, but this is where she chose to have her birthday celebration.

I sang happy birthday to her as I lit a candle to celebrate her day.   You can see the package I sewed to hold her gift.

Look at that concentration.

I'm not sure if she's smiling because she finally got the package open, or because I asked her to.

You can tell she still has no idea what it is.

Still no idea.

Still clueless.

She finally got it.  It's a handmade (not by me, because I don't make that kind of sewn art) grocery bag.  Sadly, I have yet to see her use it.

After I opened my gifts from Susi, our food came.  Note I kept my plate off the placemat in order to take it home and make art from it.  And I simply HAD to share my meal with my lovely new rocking horse, too.   Note we both had water.

The Saturday after our trip to Ming's, we went to Merle's.  We have been here before.  We had actually planned to go to a different restaurant, but due to our time schedule, which included taking Sally's old tv to the recycling center (a once yearly event), then grocery shopping, we chose this place, which was on the way home. It was bitterly cold that day, so we opted for a place close to home.

Not only did I nearly miss sharing our water,

My meal was avocado, cucumbers, black olives, tomato, lettuce, and cream cheese on an onion roll and Sally had ham and turkey on rye.  We both had pasta salad for our sides and a pickle.

I forgot to show the gifts I gave Sally that day.

She was not too enthused about the key broach, because she reminded me she doesn't wear anything except real gold and silver, even though I made this with her in mind.

She did, however, like the wall hanging I made.  I forgot to take a photo of the piece after I punched two holes and added several fibers.  One out of four isn't bad, I guess!

Then it was my bEARTHday.  We went to Denny's because they give the birthday person a free grand slam on their birthday.

Water with lemon was our choice of drink.

Sally was bored as I took a photo of all the extras the waitress brought for my meal.

I had trouble getting all my meal in one shot.

Sally also got a grand slam, but hers included lots and lots of meat (ham, bacon, and sausage).  That was when my camera batteries died, so I have no more photos from that outing.

Late that night (around 10:30 pm) my friend Scott called and asked if I wanted to go to Denny's for my birthday.  I told him I had already been, but he wanted to take me to a different one.

The waitress was great and told me as long as I got there before midnight, it counted.  Scott had coffee and water, and I had water with lemon.  Although I felt like we were cheating, Scott spent nearly $15.00 on his meal, which they would not have gotten had he not taken me.

HMMM.  This looks very similar to the meal I had earlier in the day.  However, I took most of the pancakes and the entire biscuit home with me.  I was so full from earlier in the day, I could hardly get my two eggs and hash browns down.  Scott had a huge burger, french fries (chips) and a side of broccoli.

I had one final gift card to use and it was

for Twin Peaks.  I'm fairly certain most of my international friends haven't heard of it, but maybe you can get an idea as to what it is from the sign and the "scenic views."

Of course, from the rustic outside, you wouldn't know.

I was incredibly impressed with this majestic buck statue that adorned the front lawn.  Too bad I had to include the pole in the photo.

This was a nice menu and lovely, rustic restaurant.  Sally and I quickly noted that we were the only females in the place, though.

Before we ordered, I made sure to take a photo of our water with lemon.

Lots and lots of sports channels were positioned around the establishment, which paired well with the bosomy girls who were scantily clad. 

Too bad some poor deer had to lose its life to sit on that wall, though!

The girl in the middle right of the photo whose back is facing the camera was a server.  I noticed all servers (and there were many) sat at your table while taking your order.

I decided  to get something I have heard of but never had: chicken and waffles.  I nearly forgot to take a photo, at least until after I had already eaten half one waffle and one egg.  The meal also included jalapeño gravy, bacon bits, two eggs sunny side up, two waffles, and three chicken strips.  Sally didn't have to go with me, there were on conditions on the birthday gift, except it had to be used by May 1.

Sally had a marvelous looking four cheese, green olive, and red pepper sandwich, a Greek salad, and french fries. I took one waffle, and all the chicken strips home with me to eat the next day.  And now it's back to eating healthy!!

If you made it this far, you are very brave.  I apologize for how long this post is.  Now it's my turn to turn the story over to you.  By that, I mean it's your turn to share a drink related post.  It can be photos, a place you visited, movies, postcards, books, sketches, mixed media, drawings, paintings, tags, teabags, teapots, cups and saucers, mugs, scrapbooking, or any other art that is digital, hybrid, or traditional, as long as it in some way relates back to a drink, any drink. Regardless, please share below and Bleubeard and I, along with the rest of the T gang will be by to visit.  Old photos are acceptable because they may be taken any time.  And I won't be as long winded next week, I promise.



Since this is the last Tuesday of the month, I would be remiss if I didn't remind you to dig up your Second on the 2nd post.  It's one you have posted sometime in the past and want to share again with others.  Any genre, any post is acceptable as long as you have published it in the past.  The link will go live on the 2nd.