I GOT SO SPOILED YESTERDAY WITH AN EARLY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BY MY THOUGHTFUL AND GENEROUS FRIENDS

Last night was Yaya night and we were celebrating my birthday and Kathy's.  Adrienne planned a fun bbq with a sweet 16 flashback, complete with pink tiaras for the us birthday girls and 80's music.

Kathy and I have celebrated together for 13 years and counting.

We had an assortment of yummy cupcakes from Twinsies - they sell vegan cupcakes - yay me!

We were trying to get a photo with all the sweet 16 candles lit and a fake blow - didn't work out so well, candles melted super fast and we couldn't stop giggling.  It was hilarious.

We all brought a picture of us in the 80's.  This is me in the 80's with my bestie Kristen.

Want to see my presents?  I got a super cool succulent pot from Brenda.  I'm ecstatic about it! It's gorgeous and has some starts of chicks and hens from her pot.  And, I got cool new shades from A that won't fall off my face running or paddling.  They're rad and I absolutely LOVE them.

I am super delicious to mosquitoes, so Kathy got me some citrus body butter and spray.  I'm putting it to the test when I'm in Arizona next week.  Cindy got me two sets of monogrammed dessert plates.  I'm so excited to eat my birthday cake on them tomorrow.

To make the day EVEN BETTER, earlier I had lunch with my Soul Sisters at Marco Polo.  I received a very generous gift certificate to Amazon and spent the afternoon purchasing things from my Amazon wishlist to help with my urban farming dreams.

All these lasses did some serious spoiling yesterday.  I'm so thankful that I have known them for so long and have them in my life.  These women are amazing and we've been through a lot over the years.  They teach me how to be a better woman, friend, wife and mother.  I love their guts.

GEMINI BIRTHDAYS WERE CELEBRATED AT YAYAS

I get to celebrate with my YaYa sister, Kathy, every year and it is so much fun!  YaYa birthdays are definitely a night to look forward to!
We had a delicious dinner at Cindy's and ate on her grandmother's china - what a fabulous treasure she has there!  We got super spoiled by our YaYa sisters with fabulous gifts and ended the evening with red velvet cupcakes and a vegan cake.
I smiled all the way home - I always do on our nights.  There is something about YaYa night that fills my cup.

IT WAS A YAYA CHRISTMAS

and a Yaya birthday last night. After an awesome dinner, we had a homemade Christmas exchange.Then Brenda had her cake and opened birthday presents. One year, six out of seven of her presents were a bottle of wine.

This year she got two aromatherapy window gardens
and two hats. It probably isn't too funny to you, but to us it was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.

Maybe you just had to be there.

YAYA

We had the yummiest dinner at Yayas. We always do, lucky us.Happy bellies, smiles and aching cheeks from laughter, what an awesome way to spend an evening.

FRENCH RUSTIC PEACH TART

was dessert for Yayas.Do you remember when I told you we were working on a project involving a lot of wood? You're getting a little sneak peek - we are building a patio (meaning, my incredibly talented man is). It's going to be amazing when it's finished. Anyway, Yayas was at my house and we ate dinner on our semi-finished patio.

The table cloth you see, was hand embroidered by my Great-Grandmother, Rachel Elizabeth Smith Daniels. The photo on the right, shows the center top.

On our delicious collaborative menu:

Main Dish - Red Lentil Artichoke Stew over thin spaghetti, chicken tenders

Side Dish - Sesame Green Beans, Green Salad loaded with the works

Drink - Perrier

Dessert - French Rustic Peach Tart with vanilla ice cream

You want this recipe. You really, really do.

Pastry

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBSP cold Earth Balance butter, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup ice cold water

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Incorporate butter, leaving small sized pieces. Slowly mix in water. Return dough to bowl, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Filling

2 pounds sliced peaches

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted**

Toss together first three ingredients. Roll out dough into a circle, the more imperfect it is, the better. Place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle almonds over the dough (leave approximately a 2 inch border), pile peaches on top of almonds and fold dough over the peaches.

Glaze

1 TBSP Earth Balance butter

1 TBSP apricot preserves

1TBSP sugar

Heat in a small saucepan until melted. Brush over dough and drizzle the remaining glaze on peaches.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 20 more minutes. Serve alone or with ice cream.

**Next time I make it, I am going to roughly chop the sliced almonds.

LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN

The Yayas kicked off the birthday celebration for Kathy and I, and we were spoiled!

Photo taken by Adrienne

I had so much fun, I think I'm going to be celebrating my birthday all month long.

GOT YOSHI?

We had a fabulous Yaya evening where the theme was STRESS.
Kathy had us wear comfy clothing, bring a food we like to eat when stressed and then had a relaxing surprise for us.
I'm relaxed but have sore cheeks from all the laughing!

IT WAS A YAYA BIRTHDAY

celebration last night for Jamie.
Cindy hosted a tea party, and you know there is never a Yaya night that we don't leave stuffed from delicious morsels.

We spent the evening catching up, laughing and celebrating our beautiful, amazing friend Jamie.

REVEILLON DINNER

Yayas is always extra special in December because we celebrate Brenda's birthday and we do our Christmas celebration.
This year Cindy introduced us to a reveillon dinner. We had a 4 course meal with all the fixings. Atmosphere and food were perfect.
We did an ornament exchange this year and Jamie got me this coton de tulear ornament - seriously, how cute is it?!

And, the man clan went gaga. Now we need to get our Christmas tree!

VEGAN COCONUT CAKE

for Brenda's birthday is what I'm taking to Yayas tonight.
If it's 'okay', I'm never making it again.
If it's amazing, I'll think about it.
It smells heavenly.

WE CELEBRATED TWO YAYA BIRTHDAYS

Birthday girls always get very spoiled at Yaya birthday celebrations and this was no exception.
Yummy food, lots of laughter, delicious birthday cake (Kathy made "super cake" and it was super good!) and lots and lots of presents....

With it being a 'back to school' month, a few brought their yearbooks...

We admired 'guns'....

And have I ever told you that we laugh a lot at our get-togethers?

I love my "yaya fix"....

IT WAS THE YAYA 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

and we celebrated with a delicious bbq with our husbands.....

We played a hilarious rendition of The Newlywed Game, which Larry and I lost (I know - shocker! but the questions were silly) BUT we weren't bummed for long because we we won a night at the Gescher Lakehouse.

Yay for us!

Brenda prepared a Yaya quiz for the husbands, to see just how well they listen to us after our Yaya nights and how well they know all the Yaya sisters.

Charles and Todd hit that one out of the ball park - very impressive!

With full bellies and sore cheeks from laughter, our husbands felt the Yaya experience.

It was such a fun, fun, FUN evening!