Birthday Cake!

Peter has finally proved his worth as a husband. Apparently he's been listening to me for the past few years! My friend, Leigh Ann, had the most awesome wedding cake 5 years ago! There were 3 different flavors of tortes that Peter & I both thoroughly enjoyed, but our favorite was the hazelnut trio torte.

Hazelnut Trio Torte

Hazelnut sponge cake & hazelnut meringue layered with praline buttercream

& Belgian chocolate truffle filling

Yumm! When Peter & I moved to the South Wedge area of Rochester we learned that the bakery where this cake is made is just down the street! Premier Pastry! We often speak fondly of the place & discuss getting a cake someday. Well, my friends, my 32nd birthday was the day! Peter surprised me with the cake of my dreams!

SO PRETTY & SO GOOD!!!

You know it's my birthday when...

Manicure, pedicure, brows waxed, hair cut & colored, new sandals, & a new outfit...

...definitely my birthday!

June 2009

In June I turned 30. Oh, joy! My birthday was on Monday, but we decided to start the celebration early on that Friday at East End Fest.

Me & Peter

Nicole, Laurie, me & Ab

Later in the month we headed out to Portland, Oregon to visit Peter's brother, sister-in-law & new baby Madeleine. Oh, and we also did a little race known as the Mt. Hood Scramble.

Peter embracing his paternal side with his new niece inside

I had to explain to Peter that covering up the baby does not make her go away!

Cutie pie Madeleine

Trucking through FREEZING cold water at the race

Just happy to have survived the experience

And how could I forget the Def Leppard & Poison concert?!

Me & Ab

Also, KJ had a party at some point in June...

Sonya, Kenny & Peter getting down at the party

Welcoming a Newcomer

This weekend was my nana's big 76th birthday! I bought her some Thermacare patches as a present. She loved them! I'm such a good granddaughter, even though we all know Nana doesn't like me.

I love this picture, 'cause poor Derrick spent what seemed like forever trying to blow out Nana's two candles!

Anyway...
Our family got together this weekend for not only Nana's birthday, but also to welcome my new cousin to the family. I haven't mentioned this to many people, but it's really exciting news! I have a cousin that my aunt gave up for adoption 31 years ago. I've known this for a while, but never really thought too much about it, 'cause it's kinda hard to imagine that I had a cousin somewhere out there so close in age. I mean, I could've been hanging out with him at bars for all I knew! My aunt has always been registered so that he could find her if he ever wanted to. Well, over the past two months he went through the steps to get in touch with my aunt, and came up this weekend to meet her (he's from Long Island). While he was at it, he got to meet the rest of us on Saturday. Kinda crazy!

The cousins (minus Ryan, Jeff, Lindsay, Sean & Jack)

Oh, and I'll have you know that I made Christmas cookies to take to my nana's on saturday, and they were loved by many! Hopefully I will continue to improve my baking skills!