Birthday!

I have to admit..I love birthdays. Not just mine, but everyone's birthdays. I get so excited because I love to plan things. So when my birthday just rolled around, my friends planned for me a wonderful day.
Jenn and Nicole came and kidnapped me and took me to the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. which consists of acres and acres of beautiful landscaping and scenery. I was very surprised...I had no idea D.C. had this to offer. And just like any other museum, it is free and open for all of the public...I suggest everyone take advantage of this.
And then, after acquainting ourselves with the many streets of D.C. (as I would like to call it, instead of being "lost") my friends took me to a wonderful, delectable French restaurant in Georgetown called "Et Voila". If heaven serves food, I'm pretty sure it would taste like this...everything we had was perfect and the atmosphere and staff could not have been any more welcoming. I am still thinking of my poached pear....
My friends know me very well....a day walking through exotic gardens and an evening dining on delicious food is my idea of a day well spent. Cities have so much to offer. Tomorrow I will blog about what they got me.
And on my birthday day, my mother cooked a wonderful meal for grandparents, parents, great-aunt, and me, a tasty chocolate cake, and my parents got me a beautiful Tiffany necklace. My sister called me to wish me a happy birthday, so it was a lovely day spent with family and dog. And a certain someone sent me two thoughtful books to familiarize myself with Paris and France.

I had a very satisfying and heartwarming birthday.

Fourth of July

Quick post...I am a bit sleepy tonight.
On July the Fourth, Jenn came with me to a picnic area in the mountains with my family and me. She baked brownies which she brought with her....which turned out much better than the cake she and I made for my birthday the last time we went to this picnic area. Stupid frosting...
I love this picnic area. It is called Bear Valley. No bears, though, but perhaps a long time ago. The most wild creatures Jenn and I came across were drunk men who whooped and hollered at us as we quickly walked past them when we went for a very enjoyable and relaxing walk.
In the area which we live in, there are many beautiful flowers that can be seen growing alongside the roads and in people's gardens that are called Tiger Lilies, or more precisely, Lilium columbianum. Even though they aren't rare and can be found in many places growing wild, I find them so beautiful and exotic, especially when they are nestled amongst other green foliage. I learned from Wikipedia, though, that when you pick the flower, it impairs the plant's ability to reproduce...I've picked a lot of these flowers when I was younger...oops.
I also learned from Jenn that if you were lost in the middle of the woods for some reason and you had no food, you could either eat berries that were dark in color and bumpy (like raspberries) or eat the petals off of a tiger lily. Curious, I plucked a petal off of a flower growing in a stranger's yard and started to chew it. Let me tell you...I wasn't missing out on anything before. It just tasted like lettuce with a floral aftertaste. Not bad, but I'll stick to my salads. I'm sure I also didn't look like the smartest person in the world, munching on a bright orange flower petal.
Aren't things that are bright of color poisonous? Like Amazon frogs?
Here are some photos of the fireworks my brother-in-law set off at the house and the carnage afterwards...they were quite impressive.

One fine day

Quick blog for today:

On Sunday, Nicole and I drove to Princeton to see La Boheme on stage and it was simply wonderful. The stage was lovely and the singers were impressive.
Growing up, I've always listened to classical and opera music, compliments of my mother and now, I find myself addicted.
The campus was gorgeous and the town was quaint, lined with tasty cafes and tempting clothing stores.
Nicole, you could make me a believer...seeing a place like that just toys with the idea of going to grad school more and more.
Sigh, so confusing...