They Say It’s Your Birthday

Hey everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend :)  I had a really nice birthday and relaxing weekend with the family!

My birthday started off with a 3 mile run in glorious weather, then a cup of fall – Pumpkin Spice coffee…

in my “meanie” mom cup :)

When it’s your birthday, you have to have cake for breakfast!  No?  Oh, it’s just my rule I guess!  I made a Chocolate Brownie Cake Yogurt bowl using plain yogurt, crumbled Lucky Chocolate Cake (tastes like a brownie!) and chopped walnuts.  Yum in a bowl…

Part of my birthday wishes for the day included a visit to our church to help organize and pack up Thanksgiving food baskets for needy families.  I asked the husband and daughters to participate with me and we got the job done in no time!  Along with other helpers, we packed up close to 60 boxes filled with canned goods, pasta, cornbread mixes, stuffing , juices and desserts…

I was pretty hungry when we got back, but didn’t want to eat a huge lunch knowing that much more “birthday food” was to come later.  I opted for turkey and cheese on a Pepperidge Farm Deli Flat and some carrots…

Later in the afternoon, we headed to my parents’ house for my birthday dinner.  Mom started us off with proscuitto wrapped breadsticks…

Shrimp cocktail…

I had both…

Then, the hot appetizers came out :  mini crabcakes, raspberry and brie in phyllo, lobster tarts and scallops wrapped in bacon.  I tried not to go too crazy and plated a few…

But, ended up digging in to those x2!

After that settled, we sat down at the beautifully set table…

and began with a first course of Rigatoni with Bolognese Sauce…

I don’t drink often, but decided to indulge in a little vino…

Are you full, yet?  I was, but wait, there’s more!!!

The main course was served family-style and included all my favorite dishes :  Veal Valdostana, broccoli with garlic, marinated portabella mushrooms, salad and crusty rolls.  I filled my plate with tastes of it all…

The veal was delicious…

I ate my piece, but left almost half of everything else because I was stuffed!  That and I needed to save room for CAKE!!!!

And my MIL’s famous Pumpkin Squares…

I had a half piece of both!

I opened gifts (Mom got me a fun new exercise gadget – I’ll display that tomorrow!) and we called it a night.  The husband rolled me out to the car like Violet from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory…

I need juicing immediately!

Have a great day, everyone :)

ONE GOOD THING:  I was able to get in a good run before the eating marathon!

A Birthday Celebration

Today, we got together for lunch to celebrate my Dad's birthday. He had decided, after taking the Real Age Test , that he is going by this age since it is 7 yrs. younger than his chronological age! Ok Dad, we'll play along! He does look pretty good, for .........???





Anyway, Dad is awesome and a very busy guy for being "retired". He has 3 part-time businesses, but the one that keeps him the busiest is his "video to DVD" transfer business. He converts videos, slides and pictures to DVD. You can check out his website for more info: http://www.digitalkeepsakeservices.com/. That was my shameless plug for Dad - Happy Birthday, Dad!!!!!



On to the food. We went to Appleby's for lunch today at my request. I knew the Weight Watcher Menu they have would keep me on the straight and narrow. I am feeling a little "chompy" today. I went with the Grilled Chili Lime Chicken Salad which is huge and only 5 pts. Very good for chompyness....

Of course, when you are chompy, a salad does not last long. For my snack,( if I could have the nerve to even call it that since it was filling up my plate), I have been dying to try this greek yogurt from Trader Joes. I had 1/2 c. yogurt with 2 tbsp. homemade pumpkin butter and 1 tbsp. granola. I also had some pretzel sticks and a string cheese. Can you say, "oink, oink"?

I'm thinking this should last me til dinner! We'll see...