the best {SURPRISE} ever!

Not only did Rory throw me the best 40th birthday party, he pulled off the surprise of the century!

He and my parents had been planning for months to surprise me with a visit!  You see, I've 

been in Australia for 15 years and while my Mom has been out to visit three times, Dad

hadn't made it yet.  I was beginning to think he might never come.  The details of 

how it all came about are many so I won't share.  But on Easter Sunday, I

was getting ready to leave for church and the garage door opened. 

It was just the kids and I home as Rory had gone to play

guitar in the early service (or so I thought)!  He 

had actually driven the two hour round trip

to and from the the airport to pick

them up.  When I went out 

to see why the door

was open,

I saw

Mom and

Dad getting out 

of the car!  It was the

most amazing surprise!  I 

ran to them and immediately 

began sobbing.  I was overwhelmed,

in a good way.  My sister Ellie didn't know 

that they were coming either.  She was at the church

service I had planned to go to, so we hung out at home and 

then surprised her at the end of that service!  It was so much fun

to not only be surprised but then be able to be part of surprising someone

else!  The photo above is just after we surprised her.  Mom and Dad stayed for 

two WONDERFUL weeks.  Of course, we had nothing planned so we just decided what

we wanted to do as the days arrived.  We did some touristy things, but mostly we 

did what we all love most ... spent time together.  Cooking, eating, talking,

playing cards and board games.  Lots and lots of cards and board games.

The weather wasn't great.  It rained a lot but it didn't matter.  We 

still got to do breakfast at the beach ... we did it under cover

and had no problem getting parking or a BBQ!  We 

watched a movie or two.  We went to an indoor

play place.  Had scones with jam and cream

in a tiny little cafe while the rain poured

down around us!  I loved every

minute of their visit and as

with every time we must

part, I look forward

to the next 

time!

xx

on turning forty

this is me ... on my 40th birthday 

my husband planned the most amazing and fun party for me

he had the idea and then he let a couple of our friends unleash their 

creative genius on our house!  it looked amazing.  the photos don't do it justice

AT ALL.  i'll try to explain what's going on ...

i had been sequestered basically the whole day.  part of the day was spent shopping and having lunch with my Mom (who was here for two weeks but that is another story!)  and sister and then the afternoon was spent inside the house (curtains drawn!)  with family and friends who were preparing the food. when i was led out to the party, this is what i saw!  rory was behind the 'bar' (his workbench) in our garage!!

here's the view from across the street ...

this is inside the gazeebo that you see to the right in the photo above.

thanks to our amazing friend who lives next door (he is the fairy light king 

and did all the lighting for the night!) there was a path that led from the front yard to

the back yard ...

and when you got to the back, this is what was there!  more lights.  more food.  more people!

here's a shot of the inside of the garage.  i can't believe how they transformed it!

absolutely incredible!!  there were tall tables all around the room with mason jar tea 

lights... i think there were like 8 tables.  so cool.

one of the cool things Rory did on the night was to make the cocktail he created for me.
he and our friends had been working on this for who knows how long
and it was perfect!!  it was all the things i love.  they even
infused vodka with cinnamon for the drink!  i can't
remember all that was in it but it was the
cinnamon vodka, dr pepper,
maraschino cherry 
juice, ice cubes
with red
hots frozen inside.
and i can't remember what
else!  he did write it down though
and i am hoping he will make me another
one soon!!  mmmmmm .... here is the write up
he did to describe my cocktail, which he named "the Bon Qui Qui"

the night was fun.

i loved having so many of my

favorite people there to celebrate the

big four-oh with me! 

i especially loved how much Rory thought and planned 

about what i would love.  he got it ALL RIGHT.

every single bit!

thanks sweetie.

day 96 {thirty8} 365

if you follow along on facebook, you would have seen some of these photos already

wednesday the 6th was my actual birthday but because i live on a different continent to so many

family and friends, i often end up having a birthday week ... thanks to time differences

not that i mind. seriously. it's fun !

birthday week, day one started with a friend buying me a mug of hot chocolate



here's birthday week, day two ... card, cafe, chocolate con leche ... at work.


my actual birthday ...

i get to work and find this !

so much fun !

and then, while i'm there, i get a phone call from my best friend Shay

and then a facetime from my sister and her boys

and then a video arrives from Shay and her family ... signing and singing happy birthday to me

that made me cry

half way through the morning, my lovely friend Jodie poked her head into my office

(i love it when she does that)

she came bearing delicious treats ...

for lunch, the girls in my department and i hit the local sushi joint

i probably don't need to tell you that sushi is my ALL TIME favorite food

i could live on it.

three meals a day, every day, til the end of my days

if only i could afford it



after lunch, i didn't go back to work

i wandered the mall a bit, i NEVER get to do that

i went to a kitchen shop

i LOVE to do that

i went to a little lolly shop to get a Dr Pepper ( this lolly shop is the only place you can get it ! )

and while i was there, i discovered that they had (ALL NEW) candy corn

yum

i love them



when it was time to get the kids, my friend toni greeted me with a present from smiggle

i could spend a fortune in that shop

i LOVE stationary

we got totally drenched walking into the school

happy birthday to me !

and then on the walk back to the car, she and her youngest boy cam treated me to a couple

renditions of happy birthday



once we got home, i'm sitting outside, watching the kids play ...

catching up on the 123 (yep, i counted) facebook birthday greetings (!!),

when my neighbors came over with birthday cocktails

we had a lovely time chatting !

knowing that i didn't need to get dinner started because rory was coming home

to cook burgers, when offered a 2nd cocktail, i thought 'why not?'



then rory gets home and says

'would you be totally disappointed if i told you i've made a reservation for us at a restaurant ?'

ummmm ... let me think about this for a minute ?!

i still don't have to cook ?

i get to go out ?

yeah ... i'm good !

so ... the kids gave me their presents ...

we are saving to go to the states so i told rory not to buy me presents

and i told the kids too

they got quite creative, making me cards and coupons and a poster

i love their little (big!) hearts !!



here's Alia's coupons ... the yellow that you can't see on the new iPhone game ...

that says "out of my own money"

i said, 'wow, really?'

and she says 'yeah ! daddy says they only cost $1'

ha ha !




free shoulder massage ... my favorite of jono's coupons !

that is me in the picture ... and his hands.



jono drew this poster

i love it

and on the back ...



i love the bit about the giant mutated sun flower.

and then just this morning, rory was looking at the photos my dad posted of me

on his blog

and he noticed this one, it's me on my 7th birthday

(the year that my birthday fell on Easter Sunday)

and look at the poster hanging on the wall behind me ...

do you see it ?

the giant mutated sunflower ?!?!

hilarious !



this is getting pretty long but i'm just getting to the good bit !

rory got a phone call just as we were getting ready to go out, from our friend craig

he said 'we've got a present for bonnie,

would you guys swing by and pick it up on your way to dinner ?'

up until that phone call, i had NO IDEA anything suspicious might be happening

after that ... i wondered if all wasn't as it appeared !

but ... i had NO IDEA of the amazing surprise that lay in wait for me

weeks of planning, international conversations, importing of food

so ... we get to C & J's place to 'pick up the present'

and the house is all decorated

and something smells incredible ... (and very familiar)

and then there were shouts of surprise and the faces of other friends i love

rory hands me an envelope and says

'this is my present to you'

inside the envelope is this menu .........



the foods of my childhood !

and VONGOLE !

(my requested birthday dinner every year since we had lived in Italy !)

now ... this is no easy feat ... because in my little girls mind, the vongole (clams)

HAVE TO BE IN THEIR SHELL

well ... you can't get that here ...

in fact, you can't get clams here at all, unless they are in a can

so Rory IMPORTED them from New Zealand

can you believe that ?!



the food was amazing.

APPARENTLY, they had been cooking all afternoon ... I thought Rory was 'working late' !

Here's the Patatas Alioli and the Champinones Al Ajillo con pan, of course.



And then came the never ending supply of Gambas Al Ajillo ... OH YUM !!



Master Chefs in action ...



Amazing team work ...



And here's the Traditional Vongole ... with homemade fettucine ...



And the Vongole like my Mom used to make, only with a spicy Casa de Ross twist.



Do you know one thing I loved about this night ?

There were so many things I loved ... but here's just one.

I loved that I was the only known clam lover of the bunch but they still cooked this for me !

And (almost) everyone tried the clams ! Some even liked them !

All of these dishes were new to everyone besides me and Rory, and everyone tried them !

And again ... liked (and even loved) them !

I love the adventurous nature of this group of friends !

And I love that they love to celebrate life.

**

Mom ... Rory insisted that I take this photo for you ....

**

Empty shells !!



Cheesecake.

When we were little, it was tradition in our house that all birthday cakes had to be chocolate.

So ... we have gazillions of birthday pictures of us COVERED IN CHOCOLATE !

BUT, once we were old enough to request our own birthday cake preference ... mine was

ALWAYS cheesecake (with cherries on top) !

My sweet friend Donna recently learned this about me and though she had never made one

before, she baked me the most wonderful birthday cheesecake ! with berries ! oh my !



and Jodie made cupcakes

that I have yet to try

but some came home with us and I will be having one for breakfast !



I was crowned 'birthday queen' and actually wore my 'crown' for a good hour.

Not the mask though ... it was way too hot for that !



Spoiled ? Yeah ... I can't disagree.



I have an amazing, thoughtful, selfless husband,

kind, encouraging and giving children,

enthusiastic, creative and (SNEAKY!!) friends,

an extended family like none other,

friends all over the world (thanks to the Navy and now facebook !) that i love

AND

to top it all off ....



my very own website !!



I cannot wait for you all to see it !

Well ... you can sort of see it here but I've crossed off it's name (which you are going to LOVE)

because I don't want you to go there just yet.

I'll let you know when you can !

Craig and I are going to play with it a bit more first ...

by the way, Craig ... who is a music lover, not a web guru, designed this !

Look out world !

**

All in all ... this has been my best, most favorite birthday ever.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it !

~ bon ~

day 95 {eve} 365

tomorrow is my birthday

today is birthday eve

hooray !!

{sooc} jasmine sunrise

a jasmine plant gone wild ~ a beautiful birthday sunrise

more sooc at melody's

and


i just discovered sky watch friday as i was looking through some of the other sooc posts

SKY WATCH ?! seriously !! a whole bunch of bloggers taking photos of THE SKY !!!

i love it and just couldn't wait one more week to join !

It's Not Quite My Birthday ...

... but today I got my present !

Celebrate

Six

Home made Birthday cards are THE BEST !

ps ... i love the bug sitting on top of the flower. don't you ?!

Thai

For a week now, I've been dying to blog.
Now that I've got the internet up and running ... I'm at a loss as to what to blog about !

ha ha

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Oh that's right, I told you about it already. Remember the flowers that they gave me at work ? Well, included in the card was a voucher for $100 to a great Thai restaurant not far from us. We decided we would use it at some point during the move. That point was Friday night. After moving loads of fragile stuff over in the car Tuesday and Wednesday, then moving the big stuff in the big truck on Thursday, and then cleaning the rental house ALL day Friday ... we were stuffed. We used the voucher and ordered in. We had to use the whole voucher in one hit so here's what we had ....

Uh yeah, that's our coffee table covered with a bath towel that we are eating on !! We had just moved, remember !!!

Spring Rolls, Money Bags, Prawn Parcels, Green Curry, Satay Chicken, Sweet Chili Chicken, Pad Thai, Massaman Curry, Tom Yum Goong and Tom Yum Noodle Soups.

It was a feast. Our celebratory dinner, if you will. And boy did we celebrate. We put on a pot of rice at home. That, with the meals I mentioned above, lasted us for days. Literally. We ate and ate and ate Thai food. It was wonderful. The kids weren't too sure at first, I think this was their first experience with Thai. But we never give them a choice to not try something. Alia ate hers without complaining. Jono LOVED his ! He kept saying ... with surprise in his voice ... 'this is good!' Funny kid !

I plan to do a tour of the house. Eventually. Maybe bit by bit. Maybe in one hit. Maybe in photos. Maybe in video. We'll see. Right now I'm just concentrating on getting everything unpacked and put away !!

We are really enjoying our new house. It's so perfect. Like it was made for us. I love the feel of it. So peaceful. So relaxing. I love the bathtub. I love the layout. I love that I have a laundry room ... not just a washing machine in the garage. I love my gas stove. I love that the oven is raised and that the microwave has a designated 'hole' ! I love that the whole house is fitted with down lights and most of them dim. I love the veggie patch. And the established herb garden. And the patio umbrella. I love the color of the walls. The location of the bedrooms. I love that the ensuite in the master bedroom has cool double doors and the biggest shower ever. And that the shower head detaches from the wall and that it's got one of those massage settings on it. I could go on and on and probably will in the days and weeks and months and years to come !

I'm thankful. Thankful for such a perfect house. For great neighbors that we are getting to know. For a great location. For such a fast, easy and smooth purchase of our first home ! Really, I couldn't have asked for it to go any better than it did !

Well, I think, for not having anything to blog about, I've done enough talking for this one post !

Plus, I really do need to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight ...

Edited 24 April 2009 ... Little House In The Desert author Roberta Ann commented that I should have included this post in Table Scape Thursday. Of course, I had to go investigate this meme that I've never ever heard of ! Looks fantastic so I'm going to go add my link now ... and then I'll pop round and see what other fantastic table scapes were posted ...

Of Birthday Celebrations and Bogged Cars

Birthday celebrations often last a few days around our place.
Here's how mine happened this year.

... SATURDAY ...
Rory and the kids threw me a little family party at home ...
We enjoyed a bag of my favorite Kettle chips, and Rory made margaritas.
He got a blueberry cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory too ...
mmmmmmmm !!

The kids each got me a set of two bath towels with a washcloth and hand towel in the set. They are lovely and soft ... made out of bamboo. Rory got me a mortar and pestle ( Mom, I looked on the box and that's what is said ! In that order ... don't know why I was saying it the other way !) and a square teapot with six square teacups that I have been admiring.

How do you like the blueberry margarita picture ?
Pretty funky, eh ?
I don't know how I did it.
Total accident.
Couldn't do it again if I tried.



Do you know that my cat, Beaky, who is 11 years old, gets me a birthday present every year ?
She's a clever kitten, isn't she ?
This year, she got me a bag of lollies !!
She knows me so well ....

... SUNDAY ...
The celebration continues as we head out to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants.
Rory and I had sashimi and a little bit of sushi.
It is so fresh and nice at this place ... melts in your mouth ... yummmmmmmm !



Jono had a chicken terriyaki kids meal.
Alia had plain rice.
We all shared a plate of gyoza.

You know, I love taking my kids out.
They are great little eaters.
Jono will try anything.
Alia takes a little more convincing than Jono but we usually get her convinced !

But more than the fact that they are good eaters, I love that they are so well behaved.
I love being able to take them to a nice restaurant,
sharing a nice meal, and great times together as a family.



... MONDAY ...
Today.
My actual birthday.
The first phone call came at 7:00 am.
I was prepared, having left the phone beside my bed last night !
Rory's sister Gina called at 7:00 ...
I had three more calls before 8:15 !
Rory's Mum
Rory.
My friend Kelli !

After dropping the kids at school, Toni and I went to the pool for our usual Monday swim.
On the way home, we stopped in at a craft shop that had a sale on !
I found circular knitting needles for .50 cents each !!!
I bought four of them !!

The plan after that was to come home,
load some big pot plants into Toni's car and part ways.
All went as planned ~ up to the loading of the plants into the car part.
After that, it all went south !

You see, I had told Toni to back the car up to the front of the gate
where Rory had put the big heavy pots out for us !
She was hesitant because the ground was a bit soft after three days of heavy rain.
I assured her it would be alright.
It wasn't !

Took us an hour but we overcame that bog and the car that was stuck in it !!!
Want to see what it took for us to get it out ?

Cardboard.
Old seat cushions that were in our rubbish pile.
Planks of wood.



While we were trying to unbog the car, my sister Hannah called from Colorado.
I talked to her, my Mom, my Dad and my cousin Pam.



Here's a shot of the patched up grass ... I think it will grow back just fine.



The day didn't finish there. Nope ... in fact, it was just beginning !
I had to go to a 'all staff training ' at work from 3 - 8 pm !
After a shower, which I desperately needed, I headed over to work.
The training was fun. I love the people I work with and spend so much time laughing.
And ... look what they gave me ...
Beautiful flowers, and everyone sang happy birthday !
Sweet, eh ?

The training ended up finishing an hour and a half early so I was able to come home and spend some time with Rory before he went to bed. He was pretty tired after getting up early to go to work early so he could come home early to get the kids so I could go to my training. I know, he's fantastic !!

All in all, it's been a great birthday. They usually are ...