It was my birthday!

The day itself was pretty ho-hum – I worked an extra-long day, it rained like crazy, the cupcake shop I planned on visiting closed early without warning – but it’s always nice to have survived another year!  And my pre-birthday trip to New York was pretty fabulous; I am glad I got my good weather then.

Highlights from the week…

Pathetically, I ate this strawberry Airhead as my birthday-day dessert.

But later in the week we splurged on this $9 pint of marshmallow and violet ice cream.  <– best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, including the stuff I ate at a Jeni’s in Ohio last fall

Lately in coffee, I’ve tried and been disappointed by several packaged options.

At least I fulfilled my favorite birthday tradition – freebie Starbucks quad iced latte with sprinkles on top.

I made a cocktail with this dream team –

We got salad bowls at Chipotle with so much cheese on them it was almost too much, almost.

My birthday dinner was our first – mightily successful – trip to Beer Run.  They’re kind of famous for their nachos.

And I had a salmon bahn mi (with pickled strawberries!) that was pretty good.

Plus a key lime brown sugar margarita and a key lime pie tart ale.

Yesterday we slow-cooked a delicious dinner.  Brown sugar garlic chicken thighs.  I added smoked paprika, but otherwise followed the recipe.  With roasted broccoli with crock pot drippings and Sriracha.

Less than 12 hours to the weekend!