Yesterday, despite Seattle's ominous clouds, turned out to be a lovely day. In honor of my birthday Elisa and my mom brought me an incredible bouquet of flowers. The flowers transported me from what had begun to feel like a nominal day straight into the most magical of stories. I just kept staring at the peonies wondering how they could have known... For the last couple of weeks I had been looking at peonies on blogs, pinterest, and instagram wishing to have some of my own...
As the day went on, I received phone calls from Germany, Indiana, and Oklahoma (homes to some very amazing women in my life!). I kept thinking how much those women had invested into my life, and how I would not be the same person without their love.
After work Anna whisked me off to dinner at Poquitos. Ahh.. their smothered torta makes my mouth water just remembering it. Next, we made our way over to Arabica Lounge.. it was closed but Stephen and Jojo graciously re-opened and snuck our little party in to celebrate. How often is it that the owners of a cafe re-open just for you on your birthday? The entire experience made me feel like I was in Europe.
Jojo surprised me with an incredible cake!! It had a typewriter on top which completely made me freak out (yes, I am pretty sure there was some squealing involved). He said the typewriter was because I am a blogger, boy!, he sure does know how to make a person feel special.
You may be wondering why would I end up at Arabica Lounge on my birthday, especially since I seem to be there every other day of the week. There is no doubt it's because Arabica Lounge has become a sort of second home for me. The ambience, food, and community never cease to inspire me!
"You cannot be fully yourself until you are deeply connected with other brilliant people." - Scoutie Girl
My family presented me with a fantastic Daphne Guinness style fool's gold ring for my birthday. In the accompanying card my mom wrote about how the ring will serve as a reminder for me in New York to seek true gold and not be distracted by fool's gold. Those words are now indelibly written on my heart.
Jojo played some of the fantastic Moonrise Kingdom soundtrack for us (with Jacob singing along) and I was appalled to realize that somehow I had managed to become one of the last people to the movie! That was a situation that had to be remedied.
Moonrise Kingdom upon review is hard to put into words. It was hilarious, beautiful, and sweetly nostalgic. My sisters had never seen a Wes Anderson movie before, so watching and listening to them was almost as entertaining as seeing the movie itself. They were completely caught off guard by Wes Anderson's style and humor. Just imagine Anna busting out in complete belly laughter at all of the wrong times....
Seeing the movie I was filled with memories of my own childhood adventures...Have you seen it? If so, what were some of your favorite scenes?
top photo by: OLIVER SCHWARZWALD
moonrise kingdom photos: unknown
all other photos: me