My birthday!

Although MM was on call on my birthday (boohoo), I had the opportunity to go out with my girlfriends that night for a nice quiet dinner at Maggiano's. One of my medical school friends is on a gluten free diet (AKA "a wheat allergy"), which through a great bout of irony is more common in Italians, and Maggiano's has a great gluten free menu. I also thought I could have my long noodles, but in all my birthday excitement, I had gnocchi instead. Short potato pasta.

SUPERSTITION FAIL.

The next night, when MM was post-call, he took me out to the Capital Grille, our go-to fancy place. I love love LOVE the Capital Grille. Who cares if it's a chain? I love how on special occasions, they take your picture, and give you a take home card with it that says "Live well and always find cause for celebration". I am sappy like that.

Despite MM urging me to try something new, I couldn't help but get my usual. The filet oscar. OH. EM. GEE. It's delicious. Go to your nearest Capital Grille and have one now if you haven't already.

It's divine. Source

We finished with a heavenly chocolate cake. Also divine, but nothing touches the filet oscar. NOTHING.

My lovely mother also sent me a birthday package. Included was three (3!!!) bags of homemade chocolate chip cookies, a box of brownies, 2 pairs of shoes (did I ever mention that I take after my mother, and that we LOVE shoes?), and 2 tops. I heart my mom. If I grow up to be exactly like her, I'd be ecstatic.

Oh, and she also included a birthday card. "I forgot to run to the store." she had explained. Witness:

Note the very carefully applied white-out

"It's semi-homemade!" (We also both love the food channel--Sandra Lee anyone?) My mom cracks me up.

All in all, a pretty awesome and delicious birthday. YAY ME!

Back on the [blogging] ball

I'm not going to lie--this was a very hard post to write. Not because it's picture heavy (sorry) or controversial (sorry) but because it's my FIRST POST IN OVER A MONTH.

*hangs head in shame*

Blogging is like exercising. Super easy once you have your routine down, and you are doing it regularly. But stop for a while, and that first run is TORTURE.

So this is my attempt to start. Again. We'll do this chronologically:

Utah
MM and I had so much fun snowboarding out in Salt Lake City (SLC)! We stayed with his wonderful aunt and uncle out in Sandy, UT, and were a short drive from Solitude, where we spent five awesome days snowboarding.

MM and I on the slopes!

Luckily for my rear end, I got a lot better at snowboarding than when we went to Wisconsin, and I even went on some blue runs! (For those of you who aren't familiar, like myself a few months ago, in order of increasing difficulty: green, blue, black diamond, double black diamond etc)

MM and I at the summit at Solitude. How badass am I?? (not really; I am hanging on for dear life.)

Unfortunately for my rear end, my last day of snowboarding was strongly punctuated when I landed HARD on my bum on a flat trail under some flat light, and let me tell you: it HURT. As in, it brought tears to my eyes as soon as it happened --that kind of hurt.

Thankfully MM's aunt let me use a bag of frozen peas to ice it when I got home (don't worry, they were not consumed later), and though my rear end still hurts a little when I run now, I still think the trip was still TOTALLY fun and worth it. I mean, just look at the view!

SOO much fun. And highly recommended.

Florida
After our snowboarding stint in Utah, we flew down to Florida for a few days to spend time with MM's parents. And as fun as our snowy adventures were, holy canoli was I glad to be in warm weather.

Basking in the sun. Pretty much what I did everyday.

While we were there, we ate at Tarpon Bay at the Hyatt Regency in Bonita Springs and had some of the most delicious seafood while seated over the water.

(Photo from google images)

We also celebrated MM's father's birthday while we were down there with a GIANT sushi boat.

Not our boat, but you get the idea. Source

The three of us took the whole thing down like champs. It was pretty epic.

While we were down there, MM's dad also showed me how to shuck oysters!! I took a picture of him shucking, but since I have not asked his permission to plaster his face all over the interwebs, I will refrain from posting it. It was a great experience though! I never knew shucking oysters was so easy. I got the hang of it after about six, and shucked the last six of our dozen like a pro. If my cholesterol weren't already high, I would totally eat oysters all the time...

And that concludes my February vacation! Up next: my birthday and match day!