Winter Birthday

My birthday was nearly two weeks ago now. I waited to post anything because half of my husband's budget for birthday gifts was being saved for a trip to Ann Arbor (record stores, used book stores, thrifting, and Vault of Midnight). But for the past two weekends the snow has kept us in and we haven't been able to go. Now, it sort of feels like my birthday is over and I'm not sure we'll go before spring for a regular scheduled mini vacation.

Oh well, I did find something I may buy myself to make up for it, and if I do I'll have a whole post dedicated to it!

Here are some pictures from the Birthday-Wintery times!

Frost on the windows

I made some decorations! I didn't have a party or anyone over, so just me and the husband enjoyed the decorations. It really brightened the place up! And, made it festive. Here you can see some paper accordion-flowers and some...I don't know what to call it. I cut up papers and taped it to paper straws!

Here you can see some garlands I made, and also weird vertical garland type things. I was just having fun making festive looking stuff from what I had.

A paper hot air balloon and some colorful origami cranes in the window. I later added papermache light up lanterns, also very colorful.

I opened presents from my husband in the morning while we drank coffee. First up was Abbey Road, Beatles vinyl, which I put on and played for the rest of the morning. And then these set of plates! They match a huge cup and saucer I have. Now I have the whole set. They're so dramatic and bold and wonderful

Delicious, dense, wonderful french toast for my birthday breakfast courtesy of my parents!

After breakfast we went to Barnes and Noble and I got a book that had come out a few days before. It's the last to a series I like (and own). Plus, I had 15% off

Husband got a half day at work and came home with roses and that amazing card you see on the bottom right 'dat ass', and also champagne! 

We went to my parents house. What a lovely display of presents! My dad did the pink and white polka dot one all by himself, including the ribbon. So proud! And, see that framed Japanese doll?

My mom cross stitched her for me! What an adorable birthday keepsake! Her colors are perfect.

Butterflies from the husband

Flowers that were with my presents from my parents. They matched the wrapping and are so springy! 

An amazing coloring book that I can't stop paging through! I also got a huge pack of prismacolor colored pencils, and a special sharpener that sharpens at two different angels.

My big gift from my parents, an pink instax mini8! I love it! 

My brother got me a beautiful bracelet that we saw while shopping for Christmas presents in December. I haven't taken a picture of it. It's marcasite and onyx. After presents, we went to a chinese restaurant we all love but haven't been to in years. We got way too much food and everyone got to take home leftovers. It was amazing, I kind of want some now, actually! When we got back to my parents' house, we had cake, ice cream and played our favorite board game, Cosmic Encounter. I won! It was a goofy game, we were all acting ridiculous. And, I took my first picture with my new camera while playing, it's not a good picture, but it IS, because it's my whole family and it's badly taken. 

On the way home, the night of my birthday, we went to Target and I got this pink PS3 controller as part of my birthday, and the movie bridesmaids (my husband and I love that movie).

The day after my birthday. We were supposed to go to Ann Arbor but we got a huge snow storm. Maybe a foot of snow in a few hours? Husband and I drank the champagne he got me, midday, while watching Bridesmaids then playing a game he got for my birthady. When all of a sudden there were huge fluffy balls of snow falling from the sky outside, the size of a fist, and falling slow. It looked like  a cartoon. so we ran outside. It was too late, just regular snow, but we took a few pictures with my camera.

Peculiar Girl and an Orange Birthday

Stay wanted an orange cake for her birthday. She wanted it to be bright as the sun and sweet on her tongue. Oranges were common in the area, growing in groves in abundance on the other side of town. Stay’s mother didn’t often bring oranges home, she was keen on red fruit: strawberries ranging from blood red to lip pink to sun-kissed peach, raspberries in small bundles to be munched on in one day, watermelons cut in slices, red apples with shiny skin, cherries with their pits to be spit in competition; Stay and her mother giggling as the grass became littered with cherry seeds, secret hopes of them growing played like a song in their minds.

Stay begged her mother weeks prior to her birthday for an Orange cake. It started with simple suggestions of how fun orange would be, her mother would suggest pink strawberries or apple pie. After a week Stay’s mother shook her head with a small smile as Stay talked about the skin of the oranges making funny faces on the cake, whole slices of orange within the cake, the possibility of tarts and orange pancakes for breakfast.

Stay, at eight years old, woke up on her birthday to find oranges heaped in woven baskets and piled in pulled out desk drawers. They covered the chairs and sat in bowls covering every flat surface higher than the floor. Orange peels filled the kitchen sink and fell scattered on the kitchen's tiled floor. The floor slick with juice and rinds, Stay’s feet crinkled as she walked, her skin sticking, wanting to stay attached to the sweet coating.

Orange cream, chocolate covered orange segments, candied pecan rolls and caramelized orange rinds, orange butter and orange banana bread. Orange frosting on a frozen orange cake, hollowed half oranges filled with mousse, a bowl of rising yeast, no doubt filled with oranges, cinnamon sticks soaking in thick orange syrup and oranges in the freezer, peeled and unpeeled, as popsicles and fused in ice. Oranges soaked in jars of various liquids full of spices, oranges sliced, diced, whole and squished.

The smell overpowered stay, a waking dream as the world around her turned into the color, smell and taste of orange. Stay's eyes watered, Orange. She could smell the tangy color as she hurried, blind, to find her mother outside making orange jam, oranges piled beside her waiting to become some new delightful creation.

The warm air of the summer morning steamed over the dew speckled ground, the orange sun rose in the sky, a happy birthday lighting its way into Stay’s heart. Stay dances, her mother laughed as she continued to peel oranges, tossing the rinds into a boiling pot over a crackling fire, the segments being set aside to slowly simmer in another pot. The scent was intoxicating. Stay plucked a segment from the pot and plopped it in her mouth, the warm juices flowed down her throat, thick and tangy it puckered her cheeks. She grabbed a segment of rind from her mother’s hand and stuck it in her mouth, sucking out the morsels of juice and giving her mother an orange smile.

Stay’s orange birthday was the best birthday she ever had, it lasted for weeks, remnants of orange constantly being found and the smell lingering until this very day. The smell of her home would forever be wood, smoke, and oranges.

© Ash Huntley