Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I have to start off my post by saying Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I know she reads so I had to wait to spill the beans and tell you all what we had up our sleeves today.

Today was all about getting ready for my Mom’s Birthday Celebration and then of course celebrating it.  I did manage to get everything done before we took off with the exception of going to the Farmer’s Market.  I might have withdrawals for missing it for a week :)

My Mom is one of those people who HAS everything she wants and so we really tried to brain storm the things she LOVES the most.  She is really into scrapbooking, genealogy an having pictures of us at different stages in our lives.  So, today, we all got together and had our picture taken at the Picture People.  The BIG gift that we gave my mom was a BIG picture collage that included my Brother, Sis and I along with our significant others.  It was worth all the craziness at the Picture People (not being too organized even with an appointment and waiting forever) just to see her face ~ She totally LOVED it and kept glimpsing at it all night throughout dinner….Yeah for a successful gift!

While primping and getting ready this morning, I snacked on some Annie’s Honey Bunny Grahams.  LOVE these – I think of all the flavors, this is my favorite cookie.

 

As we headed out the door, I was STILL hungry, so I grabbed a Sargento Colby Cheese square and snacked on it while we drove.  The irony is that my Real Simple Magazine was all about smarter snacking which was totally not planned :)

We stopped for lunch at my absolute FAVORITE Salad place called Jack’s Urban Eats.  I LOVE Jack’s because they have a huge selection that you can pick from for them to make up just about any salad combination you want and it’s always fresh.  They make their own dressings too which I LOVE.  Everything there is delicious whether you are getting a pre-designed, but, made fresh salad, sandwiches or plain comfort food meals.  I picked the build your own salad.

* Mixed Greens Plus, 6 Toppings:

- Pickled Red Onions

- Dried Cranberries

- Candied Walnuts

- Strawberries

- Kidney/Garbanzo beans for protein

- Cherry Tomatoes ( should’ve chose something with yellow or orange for more color!)

- Balsamic Vinaigrette

My salad was HUGE – I managed to eat about 2/3’s of it and I was stuffed.  I rarely say I am stuffed when it comes too salad too.  Along with the salad, The Husband ordered some Cheesy Garlic Bread…Yup, it’s about as amazing as it sounds.  I had 1/2 of one of these pieces but was really trying to save up my breads for dinner.

 

After lunch we had a little time to spare so we stopped in at The Grateful Bread Company.  They had already sold out of the Sour Dough Walnut Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Swirl and Apple Swirl.  However, they had one loaf of Cinnamon Swirl that i gladly scooped up and bought.  I am thinking this is going to make some fantastic French toast tomorrow :)

The Husband also picked up a snicker doodle. I felt so bad when he broke it open and he was like ugh ~ this is the wrong cookie – where is the snickers bar – Ha!  He thought that snicker doodles were the Snicker Surprise Cookies I make.  Poor guy.  He begrudgingly ate it and I broke off a bite.

We actually didn’t tell my Mom where she was going for dinner, just that she was going out to eat with all of us.  That is sort of our birthday tradition – The Birthday Person gets treated to where ever they want to go.  We took her to her favorite local Italian Food place called Visconti’s.  The Dad and family are usually there every time we have gone and personally come out to greet you.  It always amazes with of the hundreds of people who go, he always seems to remember everyone – so cool!

They have AMAZING garlic bread that is totally worth the garlic breath it leaves you.  I downed 2 slices as soon as it came out all hot and fresh.

Next up was my house salad with their homemade house creamy Italian on the side. It is like a spicy mustard vinaigrette – YUM!  I do think their salads need more color for picture taking purposes :) but this salad is good in all it’s simplicity.

 

I had a hard time deciding what to get.  I wanted to try pretty much one of everything and we pondered ordering a bunch of dishes and sharing.  I know my Mom always gets their Eggplant Parmesan (one of my choices) and I knew I’d steal a bite.  So, I went with a dish that I cannot remember the Italian name but it was basically Shrimp Scampi with grilled asparagus over linguine.

 

This was honestly one of the BEST SCAMPI style dishes I’ve ever had.  There was just enough garlic/butter to compliment the pasta and shrimp and it was spiced up with black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  I seriously NEED to replicate it – it was SO GOOD!  It came with 4 gigantic shrimp that took about 3 bites each just to eat.

  

I ate my entire plate and I am STILL full, but, it was so worth it!  I do wish I had saved room for Vanilla Bean Gelato because I had ice cream envy when my Mom’s came out.  I was cracking up that they used a candle she couldn’t blow out – so fun to be a kid again and to see my mom so happy!  It was a great birthday celebration!

Tonight I got the total hook-up!  Do you all remember how I wanted the Starbuck’s Re-Usable cups but they have been sold out forever???  My Niece works at Starbuck’s and was able to buy a couple for us as soon as they came in – Yahoo!!!  You know what is crazy, she said people have been selling these on E-Bay for $80 since they cannot be found anywhere….funny! 

When we got home, I had a fantastic package waiting for me in the mail – My FAVORITE Balega socks that I won from Amanda’s running giveaway!  I cannot wait to use them – Thanks Amanda!!!

It was a busy but good day.  I am completely wiped out now so I am off to relax!

See you all in the morning after my Weight Watcher meeting. I am challenging myself to a week of tracking every single BLT (bite, lick, taste) and meeting all my daily requirements beginning tomorrow.  I feel like I have strayed too much lately so it’s time to reel myself in…..Feel free to join in and we can encourage each other along the way.

Nite!