Happy Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE!

Joe has work and play practice today, so we won't have much time to celebrate. When he forgot a few things at home today, I took the opportunity to ambush him with balloons and sing him our crazy version of Happy Birthday, which involves lots of Punk Rock screeching (the one from Truman's birthday).

Happy birthday, my love!

Birthday Adventures

Joe took off work yesterday so we could head on some birthday adventures.

We began the day at the Central Library in downtown Minneapolis where we checked out a pass to the Bell Natural History Museum (our next stop), checked out some knitting books and saw What's New? Phase 2: 32 x 4, a photography exhibit about the people who inhabit local neighborhoods. Four photographers with varying techniques and obsessions displayed images meant to encapsulate the twin cities. There were also historical photos on display that added a richness to the exhibit, reminding me that though a lot of these images were quite contemporary, someday they'd be historic.

In the library:




It was finally a warm day for my birthday. It hit at least 40. As a result, window washers were out in full force at the library:




I thought this font was very cool:



Then we ate lunch at Pagoda, which offers a variety of Asian dishes, in Dinkytown. We had the Kung Pao shrimp and it was pretty good. Not excellent, not bad and a very good portion for the price.




Next we headed to another photography exhibit at the Bell Museum of Natural History, which is located on the University of Minnesota campus in downtown Minneapolis. Life: A Journey Through Time displays photographer Frans Lanting's attempts to represent the entirety of the evolution of life in images captured from around the world. The original project is also compiled in a book with a similar title and the exhibit includes a lot of textual information to supplement the images. I would highly recommend checking it out. And, if you head to a metro library, even if you have an out-of-metro library card, you can "check out" 4 free adult admissions to the museum for free.

There's a "Touch and See" area of the museum where kids can get up close and personal with antlers, bones, bugs and even a bear:




Look, a family portrait:

(In college, when I was Editor in Chief of the school newspaper, I once coined the phrase "mad like a rhino." Then our web editor made a giant rhino for me out of cardboard and we hang it up near my desk at the paper. Since, it's become something of my power animal.)




A freaky white squirrel on exhibit, just for my sister-in-law Kellie, who is a affectionately afraid:





They had this giant tortoise shell displayed in the Life exhibit area. I didn't realize that turtle spines where fused to their shells, but we learned in the exhibit that turtles began as land mammals who traveled back to the sea. Their shells grew out of their expanded rib cages. Whereas frogs are water animals that evolved to grow on land, yet must return to water to breed, turtles are land animals that evolved to live in the water, yet must return to land to breed. Cool, huh?







We ended our day at Chez Daniel, a French restaurant located in the Embassy Suites "Just east of France" (Avenue, that is) along the 494 corridor. ProTip (as Joe would say) If you purchase an Entertainment book, you can use your card to receive buy one get one free discounts as many times as you like. We went there especially for the dessert—creme puffs, or profiteroles for the French, stuffed with ice cream instead of custard, with a fudge sauce.

Truman created a little savings account of food just below his chin:






At 24 I now realized how truly amazing your birthday is, only because I have now birthed a child myself. It feels very special to be celebrated on your birthday once you realize what it takes to be born. Thank you for all the "happy birthdays," this was a great one.

And, of course, the 5 cards my mom sent telling me how wonderful I am didn't hurt, either.

Happy Birthday To Ya

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

We're headed into the city for some birthday adventures, but I wanted to continue my tradition of birthday multimedia treats with this snazzy play list. I started it off with the Beatles, because my mom has been singing it to me for the last few days.

By the way, how's the memorization of last year's song going?

Also, for your amusement, a slice of life vignette from last night:

I had read that Montessori believed your brain continues developing through your 23rd year. We were heading upstairs at 11:55 last night.

Brooke: My brain still has five minutes to develop.
Joe: That's the funniest thing I've heard all year.
Brooke: The year is still young yet.

Catch-Up, It's Not Just for Hamburgers: My Birthday

I'm playing a little blog catch-up this week, so stay tuned.



Who's that strange looking fellow snuggled up to Joe, you ask? Why, it's me, of course. We headed to Osaka (a Teppanyaki restaurant where they cook food on a griddle in front of you; similar to the chain Benihana) for dinner on my birthday. They not only sang a spirited and very odd song to me and brought out tempura-fried bananas (interesting), but also plopped this fine mask over my head.

Alright, I actually kind of thought the mask was cool and wanted to wear it, as you can see below:


(photos by Nikki)






James, Nikki and Kellie joined us.

My Birthday Gift to You

It's my birthday. This year, I'm giving you the gift of the craziest birthday song ever created (courtesy of Saturday Night Live and Jack Black).




I expect you all to learn this song and recite it from memory for my next birthday.

____________________________________________________________________

And I'll also offer this aside about music infomercials:

The other night I fell asleep with the TV on and started having a dream that involved a bunch of 70s music. Right before I woke up I came to this realization in my dream that 70s love songs were actually pretty awesome. Then I woke up to a TV trying to convince me of the same fact.

I think that's their goal, to get you to fall asleep and play enough music that you grow a subconscious attachment to their crappy cds. They're dream advertisers.

Attack of the Giant White Duck

This was taken moments before the duck and little girl in its stomach took a dramatic turn and headed straight for me. I managed to get out of the way, mostly. The only casualty was my pinky nail.

So, how did I get run down by a giant duck? We were at an Art Sled Rally in Minneapolis, where people sled down a hill in artistic sled creations, some being more decorative than functional. The pictures probably say it best:














And my favorite, the Mammoth:

Birthday Advenutres

We started the day with a little Connect Four at Chatterbox Pub in Highland Park:







Then headed to some non-pictured events, including:

*buying ice-skates (surprisingly difficult; we finally found them at Hockey Giant, a store next to REI off of 494)

*ice skating at Lake of Isle in Uptown. This allowed me to accomplish one of my goals for this winter –– ice skating outdoors. It was Joe's first time ice skating and he did well. We're hoping to make it back on the ice before everything thaws, but with the nearly 40 degree temps we saw today (and, believe me, I'm not complaining) that might not happen.

*a show at Brave New Workshop called Pluto, and Other Lies My Teacher Told Me. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. If you are able to go, it comes highly recommended.

The show didn't start until ten, so it was pretty late when we got out, but we still made it over to Byerly's (the fancy grocery store near our house) to buy a birthday cake. We'd found this cake a few days before, in preparation for Valentine's day. It's layers of chocolate and vanilla cake with chocolate and white chocolate frosting. It's excellent with a side of raspberries, as well.

We also picked up some candles so I could make a wish:






and, no, I won't tell you what I wished for ...