Okay, so I was trying to think of a clever title for this blog entry and in regards to "blooming," all I could think of were bloomin' onions, which in turn made me think of what might be my favorite scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Andrew is riding on the back of Spike's motorcycle and they have the following conversation:- Andrew: You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?
- Spike: It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation.
- Andrew: Right. Right. Gotcha... I—I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries. They're really good.
- Spike: Not as good as those onion blossom things.
- Andrew: Ooh, I love those.
- Spike: Yeah, me, too.
- Andrew: It's an onion... and it's a flower. I—I don't understand how such a thing is possible.
- Spike: See, the genius of it is, you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes.
- Andrew: Masterful.
- Spike: Yeah. Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you.
- Andrew: Right.
Love it. It has nothing to do with this post, but it's just so funny. Anyway, the real reason for this post is to express how super excited I am because one of our crape myrtle trees just started blooming for the first time over the weekend! This may not seem like a big deal, but they are little baby crape myrtle trees and we thought they would not bloom for another couple of years (which I was pretty heartbroken about), so it was a really nice surprise! And the blooms are hot pink, the color of flamingos. I feel like it's my birthday all over again (since I got the trees for my birthday and now they are blooming)!
On Saturday, July 4, at our house we celebrated not the birth of our country, but the birth of Cy. Of course people were making their typical jokes about being born on the Fourth of July (it's not like he hasn't heard every single one of those jokes a billion times before).
We started the festivities on Friday night with a trip to Chili's where our waiter called Cy "Boss" and "Birthday Man." (He was less than thrilled.) We got a free chocolate chip molten cake for his birthday though, so I guess it was worth enduring the silly comments.
On Saturday, we played some tennis then had breakfast at IHOP. Then Saturday night, we headed over to Frank and Andrea's house for some Pizza Hut pizza and break-and-bake cookies (Cy's birthday request). For his birthday, Cy had already received an iPod touch from me and rain barrels from his parents (pictures to come, along with aforementioned pictures of trees). On his birthday, he got the Ultimate Missions Collection (Mission Impossible 1, 2, & 3) on blu-ray from my family, and a plethora of tennis balls and some grip from Wes, Kelly, & Noah (tennis balls are always a great gift, and much needed).
Then we went home to watch one of the Mission Impossible movies and try to ignore the fact that all of our neighbors were setting off fireworks well into the night. The people behind us were setting off some huge ones that we could watch through our living room windows. That was kind of interesting.
Overall, I think it was a good birthday for Cy. Even if he is now only one year away from thirty.
We arrived back on solid ground from our cruise on Saturday, May 30, the day before my birthday. I think we all felt a little shaky once we got off the boat, but I didn't feel too bad. . .until later that night. After removing the seasickness patch, and getting off the boat, I began to experience the worst seasickness yet. I spent most of Saturday night throwing up, and still felt horrible on Sunday, so we had to postpone the birthday festivities. My family went ahead and gave me my presents (Twilight, fabric for two purses!, the book Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow, and various flamingo-themed things) and then hit the road. It was sad that the plans for a pizza party got cancelled.
Finally, by about Tuesday, I was feeling enough better that the Shealys came over (with the cookie cake). We had cookie cake (yum - Rachel is probably still mad that she didn't get any of it), and Noah helped me blow out my candles and open my presents. I got a couple of vampire books that I wanted, and from Cy & his parents I got two crape myrtle trees for the backyard (pictures of trees to come in next post). Cy also gave me Wall-E on blu-ray.
Although my birthday certainly did not go as planned, I still enjoyed it, and I am now clearly getting old - at 26, I am closer to 30 than 25 now!
Okay, so I was trying to think of a clever title for this blog entry and in regards to "blooming," all I could think of were bloomin' onions, which in turn made me think of what might be my favorite scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Andrew is riding on the back of Spike's motorcycle and they have the following conversation:
