Best Birthday Ever!!!

This past weekend was my 28th birthday and I feel its definitely safe to say it was my very best birthday ever! That is because I had the wonderful priviledge of spending it with the love of my life!

Phil drove down from Canada late Thursday night. On Friday we spent the day with the kids I nanny, playing Rock Band, going to the park and playing in the pool. We also got to visit a local farm to go strawberry picking which was a lot of fun! I'm pretty sure the kids like him way more than they like me! Haha




Friday evening we spent some time hanging out around town then ordered in some Chinese and cuddled up watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

(Little side note...I've now completely converted Phil to being a Potterhead! LOVE IT! He says that my dorkiness is one of the reasons he fell in love with me....good thing! I love that he lets me be a dork and joins me in all my random dorkiness! He's so perfect for me!)

At 12:00 am Saturday morning an alarm went off on Phil's phone to remind him to be the first to wish me Happy Birthday! This was sweet and significant because last year we'd only known each other for a few weeks, but on my 27th birthday, when we couldn't be together, Phil called me at 12:01 and sang Happy Birthday to me. It meant so much to me. Previously on my 26th birthday, the guy I was dating at the time didn't do anything for my birthday but send a text at around 4 in the afternoon and we'd been together for several months. Here I'd only known Phil a couple weeks and he sent me a wonderful gift and made sure he wished me happy birthday as soon as it arrived. I've told him since how much that meant to me. It was one of those early signs that told me this guy was for real. That he was really that interested in me and really that sweet and wonderful. Over the past year he's definitely proved that many times over, but my birthday last year was that first really big signal to me that I'd found an amazing guy! It was so great being with him this year and knowing that a year previously we were brand new and had no idea when we'd finally be together, but I remember at the time hoping that by my next birthday he would be there and I'm so grateful he was!

Our plan was to get up really early the next day and head into the city...that didn't exactly happen as sleep is way too awesome! We did get into the city by about 10 so that was pretty good.



I took Phil to my favorite bagel place for breakfast then we headed down to Battery Park to catch the ferry over to Liberty Island. The wait was over an hour but with Phil there to share the line with it didn't bother me at all.



We spent the afternoon learning all about Lady Liberty and taking pictures there. Then we headed over to Ellis Island which was really interesting for several reasons. 1) Phil is very interested in geneology and has even gotten me more interested in it as well 2) As Phil and I are becoming more serious the concept of immigration has been on our minds. Eventually one of us will be hopping the border...I'm glad when that time comes, no matter how much of a pain it is, it won't be as bad as what those poor immigrants had to face!!!




After that we headed back over to Manhattan (with very red, sun-burned faces!) and went uptown. I took Phil to Serendipity for birthday dessert and showed him Dylan's Candy Bar (one of my fav NYC stores! Its like a mini Willie Wonka factory in there!)




Then we headed into Central Park where Phil made my birthday wish come true and took me on my very first romantic carriage ride! It was so great after a fun and exhausting day of walking and sun to just sit back with my head on the shoulder of my dream guy and enjoying the beauty of Central Park. Could not ask for a better birthday gift than that!




When our carriage ride ended we walked through the park to the west side so I could show Phil the temple. I can't wait till we can go inside the temple together, especially the Manhattan Temple which is so special to me.




To finish off the night we headed to Times Square where I finally got my WWII Sailor/Nurse kiss reenactment picture! I swear every nanny I know out here has one of these pics but I've never gotten one. Phil really does make all my dreams come true! He makes me so very happy!




After that we hit the movie theater to see Prince of Persia (not a bad movie!)
then we faced the hour long train ride home very very sleepy (I in fact did fall asleep! LOL)

On Sunday we went to church and then spent the evening with my employers who had a big Father's Day cook out. Then came rotten Monday and Phil had to head back to Canada :( I always hate saying goodbye so much but I'm so very happy for the time we got to spend together. I love you sweetheart!!! Thanks for making my birthday so wonderful! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

I'm A Real Hufflepuff Now Baby! (And a great big Harry Potter dork! Haha)

I have two great weekends to report on because I've let my blog get rather behind! I'll split them into 2 separate posts :) The first was 3 weekends ago when I went up to Canada and got to spend the weekend with Phil and his daughter Abrianna. It was a short trip (just Saturday morning to Sunday night) but we sure packed a lot of fun into the time we had! On Saturday after they picked me up at bus we spent some time with Phil's brother and sister-in-law. We all went to a fun fair at the local school and had fun playing games and visiting the animals at the petting zoo (where we met a very bold billy goat and Phil's brother got friendly with a camel haha). Then that afternoon Phil made one of my dreams come true and took Abrianna and I to the Harry Potter exhibit currently stationed in Toronto! I've been dying to see this exhibit since I first heard about it! It started out in Chicago which I knew I couldn't go to but was still tempting. Then it was in Boston and I thought "Hey I could totally go up there!" But unfortunately that never ended up happening (mostly because no one around here is dorky enough to go with me! LOL) When I found out it was in Toronto I was THRILLED and so was Phil! He loves that I'm a dork and loves to make me happy so this was a total win/win! The exhibit was amazing! I was even sorted officially by the hat into HUFFLEPUFF! Yay! When we got home we ended up having a massive jump-a-thon on the trampoline and had a blast!



That night we all soaked our achy feet from walking all day long and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together. The next day we went to church and spent the afternoon with the missionaries. Then before it was time to head to the bus station we had yet another jump-a-thon and took a little nature walk near Phil's house. It was a great Sunday! Up until the part where I had to go home...that part is never great :(

Pastry Chef Amanda Gets Brave!

For some reason, I've recently become excited about the idea of cake decorating. I love watching Ace of Cakes and seeing all the awesome things they come up with as well as other cake shows on Food Network. I also love wedding cakes and seeing the different things brides come up with to go with their wedding themes. Since I've been working on improving my cooking skills lately, and particularly since I made the delicious cupcakes and buttercream from scratch a few months back, I've been wondering if I could decorate cakes.

At the craft store they have cake decorating classes and every time I'm in there buying crafts for the kids I take one of the fliers. I've been intending to sign up for months now, but the classes are always on weeknights during times I'm still working :(

So this past week I decided to start checking things out online. On Youtube I discovered a ton of cake decorating instructional videos (YAY Youtube!) and started watching and learning. Then it was off to the craft store to get a few of the basic tools.

Yesterday, because it was Memorial Day I had most of the day off and decided it was the perfect opportunity to make my first cake decorating attempt! Not wanting to completely overwhelm myself on the first go, I decided to use a box cake mix instead of making my own. I did however make the amazing from scratch buttercream!

I wanted to attempt a tiered cake for some reason (I probably shouldn't set my sights so high in the beginning! Probably should have started with a tiny little 6 inch round! LOL) but obviously I don't need mountains of cake in my house for just little me! So I went with the smallest layers (which still ends up being way more cake than I need for myself but oh well!)

I baked the cakes (yellow cake mix, my fav!). I leveled off the layers. I filled the layers with raspberry (YUM!). I made the buttercream. I colored the buttercream, I frosted both layers and let them set. I assembled the layers successfully with reinforcements. And finally, I decorated the whole thing! I did a patriotic theme for Memorial Day. The idea was that I thought I could share the cake with my employers who were having a bbq with a few friends....but the process took ALL DAY! By the time I was done it was about 10 pm! HAHA But I must say I was VERY pleased with the finished product! I think its pretty amazing for a first attempt! What do you think???





Tonight I froze the top layer and started in on the bottom layer. It tasted really good so that was awesome! Now I just need to figure out who to give the leftovers too because there is a TON of cake here!!!!!! Anyone around who wants a piece...come on over!!!!

XOXOXOXOX
Love To You All