Nicole's 25th Birthday!!

Yep, July 8th 2010 I turned twenty-five! Its pretty hard to believe. Twenty-five sounds like an adult, I am not sure if I feel like an adult, or if I am ready to be an adult. Maybe I can just be a kid in my heart, forever. :)

I told you about celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory in Dallas already. Have I mentioned how much I like that place?
My mom also got a german chocolate cake and decorated it herself! We lit the candles and celebrated before heading back home on Monday.

Thats a real action shot! 

My parents and my brother also got me some lovely cards:

Can you tell which one is from my brother? The inside of the booger one says: "the more you have the harder it is to breathe." Thanks for that wisdom Bubba! It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

On my actual birthday, Thursday I woke up and baked the Cinnamon Baked French Toast I made the night before. (I got the recipe here from The Pioneer Woman; it is truly awesome! She has some devilishly good recipes. Next time I will put fresh peaches in it too and then serve with blueberry syrup). It is really good on its own, but eating it with some texas pecan coffee was scrumdiddlyumptious! (and yes, that is the correct spelling, i looked it up).

After that I half heartedly worked on a few things until my friend Ashley, who is an Austin College grad, former InterVarsity member, lives in Temple, is an opthamologist, is married to a Psychiatry resident, and is super smart, beautiful, and kind (can you tell I am so happy she is friends with me and living in the same town?) picked me up for lunch. We drove to Georgetown, a quaint little town just north of Austin, to have lunch with another friend from Austin College, and a former roomate of mine, Samantha (she is also beautiful and smart,  and very creative, she lives in Austin and is a teacher). We ate at The Monument Cafe. They use local and organic growers and have daily specials that make use of the seasonal selections. It was very tasty. Mostly I enjoyed some girl time with two lovely women. Sam made me a homemade birthday card, her specialty:

Isn't she sweet and thoughtful? 

We all drove back to Temple to watch a Bollywood movie using my birthday present from Drew and my parents. Its pretty awesome, and can I just say, I am a little embarrassed by it? please dont judge me...

Its so big! I never thought of myself as a big TV person. 

We had just been using our 12 inch laptop to watch internet TV or movies on, but now we can actually relax, kick back, and watch them on our TV that is now hooked up to its own computer tower! With Drew busy with school I end up reading alot of books and watch alot of TV to keep myself entertained and decompress after busy days. But we also love having people over and when you have a nice entertainment system, somehow, it is easier to get people to come over and chill at your place - so I am looking forward to hosting people in our home more this year.

Which is why it was so awesome that Sam and Ashley came over to our place and watched the movie there. I loved it! Thanks ladies!

Later that night Drew and I also kicked back and watched Valentine's Day over Greek food (both of which were definitely my choice). Drew grilled the chicken; I made the tzatziki (cucumber garlic yogurt sauce, so good!), fried the pita bread, and put together a greek/country salad. Definitely an awesome birthday! I finished it off with a root bear I bought myself (I am trying to steer clear of alcoholic beverages, they give me migraines) and Ben&Jerry's mint oreo ice cream. I have definitely put on a few pounds from celebrating this week, but I am happy. :)

Grilled chicken pita with tzatziki, tomato, red onion, and green bell pepper.

Tzatziki - the pic isn't much to look at but, OMG this stuff is good!

Greek country (horiatiki) salad - there is no lettuce because it doesn't grow very well in the dry, rocky mountains of Hellas (Greece). Instead there is plenty of seedless cucumber, tomato, green bell pepper, red onion, and feta, lots of feta!

Yeah, our breathe smelled real good after this meal. :) 

Speaking of food, I am also planning on making myself a birthday cake of sorts, or at least, I am saying its for my birthday. The reality is that this cake looks so dang good, and I love cooking so I just decided my birthday was as good a reason as any to make this cake. I will post pics and tell you how it turns out. Its called Strawberry Shortcake Cake (I didn't come up with the name) and its another recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Check out the recipe - I dont think mine will turn out as pretty as hers, but as long as it tastes good I dont care. ;)

Fourth of July

I was just looking at my post on Fourth of July last year. I cannot believe its already been a year! We are living in Temple again this Independence Day, just like last year, but we are not just here for the summer, we are staying for the next 2 years. I have declared us officially moved in - all the boxes have either been recycled or stored in our awesome (and surprisingly large) outdoor patio closet. We have not hung pictures yet, but things are cleaned up and organized enough that I am willing to let people into our home without embarrassment. :)

Last year we needed to stay in Temple as Drew was working on research at Scott and White. This year, we had a weekend over which to go to Dallas. I thought it would be fun to go to a Rough Riders game (local minor league baseball team) - its very quaint (which is hard to find in Dallas), feels like a small town get together, and it seems very American to me (they have the standard baseball fare, plus they launch fireworks at the end of weekend games). This was a great idea - my parents, Drew's mom, brother and his girlfriend were all going to come along...it was perfect. I was so excited.

Okay, mostly I was excited for the snacks and fireworks (I never claimed to be a big sports fan of any kind)

And then this happend...

Downpour of rain!

So we walked around the Stonebriar Mall instead, but I still enjoyed that. Drew is particularly fun to shop with because he invariably finds something unusual and has to pick it up. Case in point: this is how I found him in Harry and David

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and to celebrate my birthday - I love that place. I had a new addition, Red Velvet cake cheesecake and Drew got the Snickers. Drew is always really sweet in asking for my input on what he should get, so that when we share we both get to try two things we want. I love sharing and when the portion sizes are as large as the Cheesecake Factory's there is no harm in giving some of your dessert up. :)

We managed to drive home just in time that night to catch the fireworks from Kaboomtown - its the fireworks show in Addison, TX. Its really large and well done, and you can see it from my parents' house. I love fireworks. Not setting them off, mind you, that is just crazy and I don't understand why boys like it. And I mean boys, because if you have ever watched a male of any age (even grown men like my dad and my husband) buying fireworks or shooting them off you know, boys are what they become in those moments. Watching them giddy and excited by this is fun though. As is watching the light show they set off, but I have no desire ever, ever to light any of them off myself. My mom and I end up looking more like police cautioning them in this picture, make that the one behind the car door (he's clearly the smart one):

On the actual 4th of July, Sunday we went to church with my mom and then celebrated the nice weather (thankfully the rain cleared up) by hanging out in the backyard, grilling, eating, and swimming. Here are a few pictures.

Later that afternoon Drew and I went to see his dad in Dallas to have dinner. Unfortunately, I got a migraine (probably was not a good idea to have a magarita and then sit out in the sun when I already have a predisposition for migraines...yea, I'm smart like that). So I had to go back to my parents house to get my medicine and lay down for a bit. Drew got to hang out with his dad and later that night I watched Life is Beautiful with my mom and little bro (who is not little anymore, now he is a smart, hunky film student at Carnegie Mellon). Have you seen Life is Beautiful? It is one of my favorite movies of all time - it makes you laugh and cry, the characters are wonderful, and its just good story telling. Its definitely not the most patriotic movie to watch for Independence Day, but I enjoyed it none the less.

I hope you all had a restful and celebratory Independence Day too!