Comments (32)

By kilax, December 23, 2009 5:58 am

Yesterday was Steven’s birthday, and even though I had to work, I wanted to make the evening as special as I could!

What do you do to make your loved one’s birthday special?

On my train ride into the office, I got off quite a few stops early to go to Steven’s favorite bakery (Deerfields) and pick up some of his favorite donuts for him (yes, the same donuts last year’s donut tower was made out of)! When I got off the train, the conductor said “Leaving so early?” When I told him I was going to the bakery, he said “Deerfields? I LOVE that place! I would hold the train for you if I could.” Ha. What a nice guy. I wish he could have held the train for me! Luckily, the bakery is right by the station, so I walked there (in the snow) and back and caught the next train. I made sure to pick up donuts for two of my coworkers too!

Steven picked me up after work, and we went to Red Robin for dinner. Red Robin is actually my favorite restaurant, but Steven wanted to go there since we hadn’t been for awhile. I love it because they have two different kinds of veggie burgers and BOTTOMLESS Vegan Steak Fries! Of course, the veggie burgers aren’t vegan, so I get the Red’s Rice Bowl without the fried noodles on top. I still love going there because I think it is great that they cater to so many diets. They even have a great tool online for calculating the calories in your meal.

Onion Rings

Red’s Rice Bowl (actually on a plate)

Whiskey River Boca Burger with Fries

Plus, the give you free ice cream on your birthday (after they sing you an obnoxious song of course)! You can’t beat that!

Steven opened his gifts before dinner. I gave him Pictionary, the same lego calendar I got Lauren (it’s so cool!), his favorite Christmas Tree Cakes, and a little monkey (we have an inside joke that he likes monkeys). A few days ago, I told Steven not to go in my closet because I had a small present in there for him that was not wrapped. So during dinner, I said, “Oh no! I just realized I left that unwrapped gift at home! You will have to open it later.” and acted all sad. But it was a trick (more below).

After dinner, we went bowling. Fun fact – we used to be on a league so we both have our own bowling balls and shoes.

I was a bit rusty – it’s been awhile! We bowled three games and Steven’s top score was 190 and mine was 132.

Steven had one of his donuts when we got home.

Is it salmon flavored?

The glorious inside of the donut

After he finished the donut, I gave him the “little gift” that was in my closet – which was really a HUGE gift that I could not have taken to the restaurant.

I got him the weight stand he wanted, and get this, I only paid a fraction of the price it was listed for on amazon! We have a reward program at work, and I used my points to get $80 worth of amazon gift cards to use towards his gift. Score! It felt good to get Steven something I know he really wanted AND needs!

The new weight stand (before, the weights just sat on the floor in this spot)

I hope Steven enjoyed his birthday – I know I enjoyed it!

What what your perfect birthday day be like?

I actually got mine this year– I got to spend the day on the river, relaxing, then eat vegan chocolate cupcakes and cake!

Comments (16)

By kilax, November 12, 2009 5:34 am

Oops, I am so used to saying “no thanks” to people trying to hand me things in downtown Chicago, that when a when a woman tried to give me a $10 Dunkin’ Donuts giftcard on Monday, I said “no thanks” without even thinking about.

My mother would be so dissapointed.

Even though I wouldn’t use it (I don’t drink coffee and I don’t believe they have vegan options), I am sure I could have found someone whould have (perhaps my donut afficionado husband?).

Oops.

Comments (26)

By kilax, December 22, 2008 9:26 pm

Today is Steven’s birthday. Can you guess how old he is?

When I asked Steven what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said he wanted a “huge bavarian creme donut.” “Not twice the size of a normal doughnut, but like, four times bigger.”

Hmm.

I sent an email to our favorite bakery, to see if they could accommodate the request:

Dear Deerfield’s, My husband loves your bavarian cream donuts. I was planning on ordering a cake from your store for him for his birthday, but he asked if I could order him a big bavarian cream donut with chocolate frosting. Is it possible to order something like that? I think he just means bigger than a normal donut, about four times the size. I would order it for pick up on Dec. 21st. Thanks for letting me know (and for humoring me!) Kimberly

They responded right away:

Hello, We don’t make a “jumbo” donut however we can either do a layered birthday cake with a custard filling or a Bavarian Cream Pie which has 2 layers of yellow cake filled with Bavarian Cream and topped with fudge icing. Please call Customer Service @ 847-520-0068 ext. 4 to place your order, Thank you. Cindy

At least they humored me. I laughed when I saw “jumbo” in quotation marks.

So, Steven didn’t get his “jumbo” donut – he got the leaning tower of donuts (thanks for the suggestion, Denise!) as well as a birthday cake, and some black and white cookies (which were very, very disappointing).

I gave him the donut tower, cake and cookies yesterday, since I wouldn’t have the opportunity to pick them up today. I also made sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and snickerdoodles yesterday (for Steven to take to work). So breakfast was donuts and cookies. Lunch was cookies and cookie dough. Afternoon snack was string cheese, then cake and ice cream with our neighbors. Pre-dinner snack was cookies. Dinner was penne pasta with alfredo sauce and green beans.

No wonder I had a headache when I woke up this morning!

When I was walking from the train to work this morning, I thought maybe yesterday’s sugar overload had finally cured me – I had made me feel awful enough that I would never binge on cookies again!

Yeah, right.

Sweet treats will always be around at celebrations! Birthdays just aren’t the same without a special sweet treat. I hope Steven enjoyed his! Happy Birthday, babe!

Steven and the furbaby.

Comments (10)

By kilax, September 28, 2008 7:19 pm

My parents were in town this weekend to see Robin Williams at the Chicago Theater.

My parents look so cute! And Steven and I… look like goobers!

We had so much fun while they were here – we watched a movie and ate popcorn, made pancakes and eggs for breakfast, played Rock Band, went to a car show, went to our town home association “Fall Harvest” celebration in the park, ate at a Mexican restaurant, toured my office, went to see Robin Williams, and visited the Mexican bakery in our neighborhood.

And that was all between the hours of 9:30 pm on Friday to 10:00 am on Sunday!

We took a long nap when they left.

Robin Williams was really funny. In the beginning of his skit he told some Chicago and global warming jokes. Then he told quite a bit on politics, which really made me laugh (and proud of myself for actually knowing what he was talking about). And in the end, he told some of his sexual jokes. He did a lot of impersonations and facial expressions – there were two large screens on the stage so everyone in the theater could see him “up close.”

The show was about an hour and a half long. We were all amazed by the energy he had for the whole time! I’m surprised my stomach doesn’t hurt today from laughing for so long.

For breakfast today, we took my parents to the awesome Mexican Bakery close to the town train station.

Yes, that’s all for four people (to try)!

This place is amazing – tons and tons of sweets and breads at cheap, cheap prices. You grab a tray (or bucket) and tongs when you walk in, then go around and grab all of the different things you want – and there are so many things to try. There was a line of at least 10 people waiting to check out when we got there – at 9:00 on a Sunday morning! I guess we are not the only people who think this place is awesome!

Steven paid $10 for his tray, and mom paid $8.40 for her tray.

It’s interesting that baked goods from other cultures never taste like you expect them to – even when they look the same as an American staple! We love to try new things though, and found some that we really like.

My poor mom, though. After we got home, she got sick, and couldn’t try anything. She had a really upset stomach – and still did when she got back to Iowa. I told her that is what I feel like every time I go home – from eating WAY TOO much food. So, oops, I guess we did the same thing to her! But when family is around, don’t you feel like eating a ton of fun food? I sure do. I hope she feels better soon. Because other than that, it was a perfect weekend!