Tag: my birthday

Weekend Things & Turning 28

Lauren8 Comments

Life gave me an eye twitch for my birthday.  And to that, I say NO THANKS!

But to everything else — an incredible dinner at El Five, a new cookbook that I’ve already dog-eared to death, soba noodles (don’t ask…), birthday breakfast at my favorite place, two bouquets of the prettiest flowers, a family BBQ, nail polish and a succulent terrarium, red velvet cake and so so many loving “Happy Birthday!” messages — I say YES, YES, YES!  I think I have a real good feeling about 28.

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I could say A LOT about dinner at El Five but I think those photos (mostly) speak for themselves.  THE FOOD, THE VIEW, THE EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY OF EVERYTHING.  Joey and I are now in a thruple with that lamb sausage and hummus dish.  It’s maybe too soon to tell, but I think, of all the Edible Beats restaurants, El Five serves the best food.

Definitely not too soon to tell that this guy is my favorite human ♥

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If you have leftover ricotta, you definitely make ricotta pancakes.  These are the rules, okay?  Post-pancake time, we biked to the Farmers’ Market and were disappointed in the offerings again.  Where the shishitos at, friends?!  We DID buy some corn tortillas and tomatoes for Sunday’s taco feast though, so I guess it wasn’t a total wash.

Oh and we had a totally weird run in with a guy who needed to borrow a cell phone on our way there.  Still not sure what was going on, but he was very desperate to use a phone to cuss someone on the other end out?  I don’t even know!

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Rockies had fun and exciting wins on both Friday and Sunday so of course we went to Saturday’s losing game.  WHOA with these super crowded games lately though!  Also, please know we spent the afternoon cleaning our house and completely ran out of grocery energy, so we laid in bed and ordered them online instead.  I feel very very good about that life decision.

IMG_0998IMG_0992IMG_0997This is what the start of 28 looks like.  Aka waking up to roses, eating an avocado tartine (so less nauseatingly trendy than avocado toast, of course :P) and multiple cups of coffee.  Not mad about it at all!

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After breakfast, we finished cleaning up our house and while Joey was outside mowing and whatever else he happily does in our yard, I was inside making quick pickled veggies, strawberry simple syrup, lunches for the week, pico de gallo and chimichurri for TACO DINNER!  Sometimes, when you have a group of six and every Denver restaurant feels small and loud, you just decide to host your own birthday dinner at home.  Plus we got to use my new grill and relax in the backyard with margaritas, grilled corn salad and homemade red velvet cake to complete the meal.  WAS SO PERFECT!

P.S. We let my sister pull a carrot from our garden and it was highly entertaining!

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SPOILED! ♥♥♥

P.S. I asked Joey if turning 28 means I definitely can’t pass for under 21 anymore and he said no 😦

Birthday Things

Lauren4 Comments

I turned 24 last Tuesday.  Please save all age-related comments and jokes for someone else as I think I’ve already heard them all.  Someone told me I looked like I was in high school (yeah, yeah I know), someone told me “soon you’ll be able to drive and start thinking about boys” and someone else congratulated me on finally turning 21.  I know a bunch of comedians, you guys!

Anyways, all jokes aside, I had a fabulous birthday and I feel so spoiled by my amazing family and friends.  Thank you all for making me feel loved!  I’ll try not to make this post too wordy (too late?) but I wanted to share some pictures of all the fun celebrating that went on.

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Joey got me some fun glass straws to fuel my iced coffee addiction.  I have a glass every morning and had been going through plastic straws like nobody’s business.  He also got me an awesome pair of Sam Edelman flats…that I already own.  It’s the thought that counts 🙂

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My dear sweet mother could not handle the idea of not seeing me on my actual birthday (we went out with my family this past weekend to celebrate) and I’m convinced she made a whole red velvet cake just as excuse to deliver it — with my dad in tow — to my office and see me.  No complaints here!  This baby was GONE 24 hours later.  At least everyone at work had the common sense to leave me the last piece.

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I asked my closest friends to join me for a little birthday get together that night.  As I was perusing Yelp! for a good place to go, I came across Machete Tequila + Tacos and that’s all I needed to hear.  I was sold.

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Their margaritas were serious!  Okay, I’m a total light-weight, but I found them to be really strong.  Delicious, but strong.  Joey ordered the “Hot Mess” and it was spicy.  We placed an order of 12 tacos — 2 each — and every single one of us cleared our plates.  I’d say that’s a success.

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Joey ordered a beef tongue taco.  BEEF TONGUE.  I must have had too much tequila at this point because I actually tasted it.  You know when you accidentally bite your own tongue?  Yeah that’s how it felt to eat that taco.  Never again.  How cool is the squid ink tortilla though?  I played it safe with a grilled shrimp and pulled pork taco.  Tacos are my life.

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Our waitress brought out a complimentary birthday shot and I forced all the girls to also get one.  No one wants to take a shot by themselves!

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Birthday celebrations continued through the weekend, with dinner on Friday and Sunday night.  Lori treated us to burgers and beer at Park Burger on Friday evening.  Afterwards, we ooh’ed and ahh’ed over beautifully historic Denver homes that cost over a million dollars (seriously, we went home and looked) before heading home.

Sunday involved dinner at the Med.  I’m pretty sure I’ve said all there is to say about my love for this place so I’ll just say that we ordered 6 plates of tapas, entrees and two desserts and now I’m never eating again.

I think we can finally put my birthday to rest.  Till next year anyways.