Birthday Recap: Friendships, Guacamole & Cupcakes

by Valerie on December 10, 2012 · 6 comments

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One of the many reasons I felt very lucky on my birthday this year:  Vanilla Lemon Ginger Cupcakes with Coconut Cashew Frosting from Gena.  

I usually try to take the day off on my birthday – it does not always work (see 2010) but when it does, it makes for a really nice day (see 2011).  For a couple of years, my birthday was on a weekend, which I just realized because I could look up old posts which reminded me. In  2009, it was on a Sunday, and in 2008, it was on a Saturday in our last month living in New York before moving to DC. That birthday (my 30th) my husband and I had a wonderful day walking around New York, going to the Met and eating an amazing meal at Tabla (RIP).  I do love the continuity of having a birthday post up every year (I only wish I had started back in 2007, when I first started blogging).   In fact, I wrote up this whole post back in October, but somehow it never got published.

So, even though it is no longer October, here is my birthday post.  This year, I could not take the day off on my birthday, but I still had a lovely birthday. I continued my birthday tradition of working out in the morning (I started it last year).  After work, my husband took me out to dinner at Rosa Mexicano, where I had wonderful guacamole and veggie tacos.  

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The tacos contained a combination of pumpkin seed salsa, sauteed vegetables and a potent cabbage escabeche on the side.

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When we got back home, my husband gave me my gifts: art journaling supplies, Potomac Chocolate Upala 82% bars, and vegan gluten-free cupcakes from Red Velvet.  Looking back at other posts on the blog, these cupcakes are starting to be a birthday tradition.

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My friends also made sure I had a lovely birthday. Gena gifted me with some lovely dark chocolate and scrumptious Vanilla Lemon Ginger Cupcakes with Coconut Cashew Frosting.  A couple of days after my birthday, several friends and I shared sweets from Sticky Fingers (DC’s vegan bakery – they have some great gluten-free vegan options) and got together to art journal and try out new crafts, thanks to our friend Laura’s hospitality.

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I got to play with alcohol inks (it was my first time using them!) as well as watercolors, which have both made my art journal that much more vibrant. 

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The watercolors were great for creating backgrounds for my pages, while I used the alcohol ink cards as accents on various pages.  It was a really wonderful afternoon. While we had not organized it specifically that weekend because of my birthday, it was a really nice day and, since it was just two days after my birthday, it very much felt part of my birthday week. I feel very grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Victoria December 10, 2012 at 2:56 am

Happy birthday! Looks like it was delightful.

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2 Shirley @ gfe December 11, 2012 at 12:03 am

So glad you had a wonderful birthday, Valerie! Thanks for sharing with us. I love the photo of you crafting. It’s obvious that gives you such joy and your work looks very cool. :-)

Shirley

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3 Cheryl December 16, 2012 at 11:58 pm

Happy way belated. Looks like you had a terrific time!

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4 Gena December 21, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Fun to read the recap! I’m so happy I could contribute to a good bday :-)

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5 Debi December 27, 2012 at 3:15 am

What a wonderful celebration of your birthday even if you didn’t take it off. 😀 Your cupcakes made me miss Red Velvet! Definitely need a cupcake next time I’m in the area. Darn that Diane for getting me hooked!

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