birthday weekend (illustrated ed.)

I had a fantastic birthday weekend! Saturday we worked at the church all day and then ate at Bonefish Grill where we split Pan Asian seared tilapia capped off by banana's foster. SO good! Sunday we met up with my parents for lunch, had cake at their place, and then relaxed around the house. Because of our little mouse friend, I disinfected all of my countertops and cabinets with bleach water, washed all of my pans and utensils in the same, and then we went to Starbucks and to go see Traitor, which was pretty good but a little too late.

The best surprise of my Birthday? My gift from JT, of course. We were sitting at Starbucks and I notice some paper peeking out behind my coffee collar. After a great effort, I freed it, grumbling about how someone had come up with the genius idea to pique curiosity and sells ads behind coffee collars. The red and white cardstock said eTickets, so I began to suspect something. He had gotten me tickets to see So You Think You Can Dance! I was very involved with that show this season and am looking forward to seeing and possibly meeting the dancers and checking out the brand new BOk Center in Tulsa.

Monday I had brunch with two of my longest girlfriends. One was in town for a bit on a break from grad school in Minnesota, where she is pursuing a master's degree in catholic studies. We had a delicious spinach, egg, and cheese breakfast quiche, some velvet crumb cake, and my homemade blueberry muffins, which turned out more like blueberry crumbles. Get a load of this beautiful tablescape and our contributions:

On Tuesday, it was back to work and back to reality, but I realized I hadn't planned anything for dinner. I asked a coworker if she had any recommendations and ended up making this quick delicious dish of sweet and sour chicken:

She said I needed a bottle of Russian dressing, a jar of tangerine preserves and a packet of dry onion soup mix. I was in the supermarket for maybe three minutes to grab the the chicken, dressing, and preserves and I was set. Plus, it gave me the chance to clean out my fridge, but the veggies are interchangeable. Yellow squash, green onions, and cilantro were in my fridge and tasted great! She puts the chicken in a casserole dish, covers it with sauce and veggies, and bakes it until the chicken is done. I made mine in a pan with brown rice and it worked just fine, too!

Needless to say, after this weekend, I felt like this: