For my birthday dinner Kevin took me to Maximilien, a cute little French restaurant in Pike Place Market. We had oysters, escargot, champers, Bordeaux, canard, boeuf, creme brulee - pretty much everything that a girl obsessed with all things French loves!
Well the usual gripe of Seattleites that ‘summer doesn’t start until after the 4th of July’ was VERY true this year. This year’s 4th of July was filled with promise - we were boating out on the lake ready to swim and enjoy being in Seattle. However our little city had other plans. Long story short - it was gloomy, then sunny, then drizzly, then DOWNPOUR, then drizzly, then just gloomy. However, we didn’t let Seattle’s bipolar weather get the best of us.
We began the day like this:
But luckily ended like this:
We did everything we wanted to do… swam in Lake Union (but brrr it was cold!) hot-tubbed on top of a houseboat, bbq-ed dinner and watched the fireworks from the boat. All in all, it was a great fourth - the Seattle gloom can’t keep this group down!
Normally I am a person who plays down my birthday. I intentionally tell people not to do anything, I don’t let anyone at work know… and I end up feeling terrible every year! This year, mainly because I have the most wonderful fiance ever, I did the exact opposite. I had TWO parties and a wonderful dinner out. If you’re going to go all out for a birthday it might as well be for your 30th, right?!
The first party on Saturday started with my dad coming to town. I LOVE whenever he comes to visit and it made me feel so special that he came just for my birthday party. In addition, my favorite couple from Bellingham, Sarah and Jake (aka: Sake Bomb) came to town too. During the day we started with my favorite activity - sailing! It was a perfect day for sailing on the Sound…
Our view from the boat… somebody queue up Christopher Cross.
My peeps Sarah, Diggy & Jake enjoying some Seattle sunshine.
After sailing, we raced back to downtown to get ready for my birthday party at Black Bottle.
The birthday girl with the cupcake tower of power! They were delicious! Also… thank you to Mama Sue Kirn who treated me to my birthday dress! She instructed me to get ‘something girly’ so what could be more girly than a new birthday dress?! Thanks Sue!! :)
We had a great turnout of friends who came celebrate with me, and naturally towards the end of the night there was lots of weird dancing and of course… a rap-off. You might know, this birthday girl likes to rap! Although I chose the wrong person to rap-off against…
Karthik (aka: DJ Tik) absolutely handed it to me in our rap-off. I am not sure what I was thinking going against a former DJ in a rap-off! This guy knows his stuff and doesn’t even get out of breath (unlike myself!). I do have the gangsta hand down though… so that counts for something I think.
I usually leave the cupcakes to my girl Jamie, but I couldn’t resist when I had an idea for patriotic cupcakes and multiple 4th of July occasions to bake them for! I’ve already made two batches of these cupcakes, one for a red/white/blue themed Duck Dodge and one for a 4th of July feast at my office today.
For the cupcakes, I made a white batter and then divided the batter into three separate bowls. I used food coloring to dye one bowl red and one bowl blue. I then layered the three colors into the cupcake pan and used a toothpick to create a ‘tie-dye’ effect. Here’s the end result…
Colorful cupcakes just out of the oven:
Here’s what they looked like inside:
All-American Laura enjoying a cupcake on Duck Dodge - she said they went excellent with her Corona. :)
Happy 4th of July!!
Ha! My girl Laura just sent me this SomeEcard and I love it! It sums up how I feel about having a birthday over a holiday weekend…
Kitty videos never get old! I think I laughed for 2 straight minutes at this!
I can’t stop thinking about all the fun activities coming up over the next few weeks!
First, one of my favorite holidays is coming up - Fourth of July! My preferred way to spend the fourth is floating around Lake Washington and soaking up the sunshine, followed by watching the fireworks show in Lake Union. Which, thankfully, was saved due to a handful of Seattle donors.
Second, my 30th birthday is coming up! I’ll be saying goodbye to my 20’s and hello to my 30’s. We’ll be celebrating with some more lake floating time (see above) and afterwards having some sippers and tapas at Black Bottle. In addition, I get to have my bestie Sarah in town for the entire weekend to celebrate with me! I couldn’t be happier!
Third, my actual birthday just happens to fall on a Duck Dodge Tuesday, so the celebrating will continue with a 80’s themed Duck Dodge - my perfect way to party!
And finally fourth, to further celebrate the entry to my 30’s, we’ll be taking a sailing vacation through the San Juan Islands! We’ve rented a gorgeous 34’ Jenneau (below) and we’ll go where the wind takes us…
Here’s to Fourth of July, birthdays and multiple celebrations!
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