I AM 30

I AM 30. Well, 30 years and one week, if you want to get technical. In reflecting about what that means to me, all I can conclude is that I've done a lot of cool things and I have a lot to be happy about. So, in short, life at 30 is spectacular. Plus, I don't feel a day over 20.

Here's how the celebrating went down.

Friday morning my friend, Morgan, and I went to breakfast at my favorite neighborhood spot, The Fat Hen. I met her last October when she and her husband and son moved into our ward. Only a couple weeks ago we discovered that we were BIRTHDAY TWINS! We were both born on March 3, 1982. I think I'm several hours older. GET OUT. Seriously. I've never met a birthday twin (although there are two other men in our ward who share the March 3 part), and it was perfect timing to have met mine. She loves all things food related (just like me!), so I thought it would be fun to have a preliminary birthday celebration by eating good food. Heeeeeere's Morgan!

Here's the hot chocolate, a spoonful of ganache mixed up in warm milk.

She and I split two dishes. Here's the bostock, or brioche French toast topped with almond paste and sliced, toasted almonds with a side of whipped cream and orange marmalade.

Here are the remnants of our baked egg dish that boasted tomato sauce, pork sausage, mushrooms and eggs. Kill me now.

Here she is saying, "30 year old Martha is sooooo much funnier than 29 year old Martha." Psst, we don't turn 30 until tomorrow, Morgan. (Can you see some of that decor? I want to live there.)

And here are the smiling almost 30 gals. Food makes us happy. Especially when enjoyed sans kids.

Speaking of which, here are they. Thanks be to Adam the babysitter!

And then there was the birthday DAY. My two desires for this milestone birthday of mine were: (1) To feel free, and (2) to eat more good food. A friend babysat during my least favorite time of day, 3:30 - 7:30 pm, and Adam and I got our free on! I've been wanting to rent scooters for awhile, and I knew this was the perfect time to go for it.  We planned on renting two scooters but Adam forgot his driver's license, so we scooted Dumb and Dumber style. I was the only authorized, legal driver, so that left Adam scared for his life! Cue evil laugh: bwhahahah. But, nice, trusting husband that he is, he did not confirm that he was indeed terrified until our hour was up and we were back on safe ground. 

We drove to the Magnolia neighborhood and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Puget Sound and the downtown skyline (you can kind of see it in the distance in the picture below).

It was a gorgeous day for a scoot. It was sunny but windy and chilly. Hey, if it's not gloomy and rainy, we are not complaining.

Adam actually did drive for half the time. It was nice to be on the back and take in the view instead of worrying about not falling over on turns and using my blinker and changing lanes.

We had a funny moment at the very end when we had to go fill up the scooter with gas. We were running out of time and getting stuck in impossible traffic, so we got off the scooter and Adam walked it on the sidewalk and across several cross walks to get to the gas station. No shame! Just a couple of scooter novices trying to wrap things up and hurry back to the rental shop without being charged extra. And now, I really want a scooter. Like really, really bad. Next birthday?!??

Adam planned dinner to be a surprise. Love that! We went to a little place in Phinney neighborhood called Stumbling Goat Bistro. It has a big focus on local food, so it took our server a ridiculously long amount of time to describe everything on the menu because he had to mention which farm everything came from. It made us laugh and reminded us of this Portlandia video. Locavores: they are real. And they exist all around us.

This cheese plate was fabulous. That little spoon contained a tiny dollop of heavenly honeycomb, I believe from a closely-guarded beehive in Puyallup. And that tiny apple that I pushed apart is a Pink Lady, possibly from a farm in Tukwila. The crackers were house-made little wonders, and the almonds and walnuts were candied somewhere nearby, perhaps in their very own kitchen! We were getting fatigued listening through all the cheese facts, but I do know the one on the right is called Little Boy Blue because I've had it before at the Phinney farmer's market. Maybe I'm a locavore and I didn't even know it!

The lighting was terrible for pictures of ourselves, but here we are anyway.

I'm holding a tiny wedge of the tiny apple that was bred, born, and raised in the loving arms of a farmer in Tukwila. Oh, how I love this tiny apple wedge.

I forgot to get photos of our dinners, which were out of this world, so I shall describe them in as much detail as possible to make you feel as if you can see them with your own eyes and taste them with your own lips. My dish was braised wild boar ragu on house-made fettuccine. Do you need me to repeat that? I ate wild boar!! Wha?????? That's what I said. But I was trying to decide between that and the wild mushroom risotto and the server told me that the ragu was, hands down, the way to go. He was right. Wild boar actually tastes a lot like slow roasted beef. And in a ragu on house-made fettuccini. Gah! It was amazing.

Adam had sturgeon on a bed of miniature black beans with a brown butter sauce. It was good. But I think mine was better.

Our dessert was probably one of the best I've ever had. I don't even know what it was called except that it had the word Frangelico in it. Does anyone know what that means? Me neither. It was like a chocolate dome filled with Bavarian cream and whipped cream that lay on a nutty, nougaty crust topped with a blood orange slice and blood orange sauce.

MMMMMM.

As you can see, it was a great birthday.

Coasting

Things are really good around here. 

Sienna is at water's edge, and her friend, Mason, is standing behind her.

It's been a long, hard 8 months, but in January, we made Noah cry it out through his nighttime wakings. After night 12 (Can you believe we lasted 12 nights?? It was excruciating.), he showed progress. Now he sleeps from 7 pm to 7 am and usually wakes up only once a night. I can also put him down awake instead of bouncing him around forever until he falls asleep. LIFE. CHANGING.

With all this amazing sleep I'm getting, I am literally a new person. I actually love being a mom and feel like I can handle my load. I also love my kids. I couldn't really say that most days for the past 8 months.

 Now Noah is a few days away from being 9 months. And sometimes I love him so much I want to squeeze him until he pops. Look at this little, lounging, sand-covered, furry morsel.

I'm also suddenly feeling like babyhood is fleeting (instead of feeling like it will never end). For example, look at this leggy lady. She is a giant compared to Baby Noah. And in 2 months she will be 3!

Every time we go to the beach, she gets in the water with her clothes on, no matter how cold it is.

I also want to squeeze her until she pops.

We Did Some Valentine-y Things

Another holiday revolving around food? Yes, please! We made sugar cookies.

 And ate them all (early in the month).

 We made chocolate sugar cookies. And gave them all away (on Valentine's Day).

 We had a pink-plated breakfast.

 With heart shaped everything.

Two of my Valentines:

A certain visiting bearded Valentine...

 Don't forget your heart hat.

And a card from dad.

As well as a few decorations ...

and my Mr. Noah.

Nonsensical Items of Intrigue

*The Bachelor. It's real, people. Don't doubt it. Ben is real and the girls are real and I am obsessed. I have succumbed to trash TV. And I can't stop being intrigued.

*Crafting. It has brought me a little V-day joy. Pictures to come.

*Baking as therapy. It's really the best thing I've got going right now. I'll sometimes try to include Sienna, but always glad when she loses interest. Because baking on my own is just kind of therapeutic.

*Katy Perry. The girl is kinda trashy, but she's had about seven #1 hits in the past year. And that don't just happen to anyone. TGIF!

*Last weekend was my Christmas gift realized: a date to the ballet Don Quixote with my own Man of La Mancha aka Adam Ware. Aside from the ballet being quite intriguing, surprising and Kitri an extraordinary dancer, my favorite part of the evening was when we had just gotten to the Seattle Center and Adam, looking nifty in his new suit, said, "Sometimes it's nice to escape the grunge of Seattle. Oh, nope. There's jeans." Shortly followed by a man who can only be described as having just hiked in straight from his cabin on Mt. Rainier wearing lots of fur items including a large fur headpiece; he was arm in arm with a female counterpart donning a fur pelt. The Fur Family had arrived in their own version of best to see the ballet. Seattle! The people! Intriguing to say the least.

*I watched A Streetcar Named Desire recently because I wanted to understand the Modern Family reference. "Stelllllaaaaaa!" Remember? Well, let me tell you something, that movie is jacked. But I enjoyed every messed up moment. When old movies are scandalous, that's when you know they are scandalous! Because back then people had morals. But who can really uphold morals when Marlon Brando is around? Hmm? Tell me.

*Watching Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire within several months of each other made me realize something: Sienna reminds me of a pale-skinned, blue-eyed Vivien Leigh. It explains so much. One side drama, the other side poisonous sweetness. Her cunning ways are evident when I am flustered at her and she straps on a plastic smile, gets right up under my face and asks, "Are you happy mom?"

*Adele's hair. Can someone please explain?

*Glee. Is anyone still watching?

*The Office. Is anyone still watching?

*We are watching both, though sometimes I don't know why. However, Glee's recent MJ episode was one of their best episodes yet!

*Parks and Rec is the biz. Tom Haverford! Ron Swanson! Andy! I could go on. I love the whole cast.

*Now, back to The Bachelor. Where are all my short haired homegirls? Hmm? Only long-haired beauties need apply, Chris Harrison? Huh? I am offended, but mostly it just affirms my belief that short-haired girls are wise. And real. Except all those girls dating Ben are real. They really are. Everything about that show is real. Oh, wait, spray tans not real. Everything else, real.

This Time With Words

Brown Eyed Boy

Having a little boy is pretty special. Now I think I understand how Adam feels toward Sienna: protective. Maybe it makes more sense for a father to feel protective toward his daughter. Men have been in the "protector" role since the beginning of time. But I feel like I'm more pragmatic with Sienna and more protective with Noah, and it's not because Sienna bullies him constantly. It's because I know that someday he will hold the weight of the world on his shoulders.

These tiny little baby shoulders!

Guys have it hard!

They have to put up with women, for one.

They have to be practical about choosing a college degree that makes enough money to support a wife and kids.

They have to be tough (or at least pretend to be).

So, for now, I need to be protective of his space.

And his play time.

Make plenty of time to giggle.

And nibble his cheeks.

And let him jump to his hearts' content.