"You've Had A Birthday Shout HURRAY!"

Last year on my birthday, I had to work, so this year I asked for the day off. BUT Dan had OB/GYN clinic until 5pm, so I was solo until then.

I woke up around 8, when my dad called to wish me a happy birthday. It was great to wake up to a call like that. For one, it was my dad & for two he was the first to wish me a happy birthday! We chatted for about 15 minutes until he had to get back to the real world and then I looked out the window & noticed it was raining. Bummer. Now what to do until 5pm?

Naturally, I called my mom, we chatted for about an hour or so and then I decided to go for a run. I got all dressed up in capri running pants and a dark black running shirt.

About 15minutes into my 8 miler, the sun popped out and it was HOT. I was zapped with a mile or 2 left to go. There is one saying about Omaha weather that I now know to be true: "If you don't like the weather, wait a second and it'll change"

So I got sun burned on my birthday. Bummer. (Now that I'm in nursing school, I avoid the sun like the plague. We're practically taught that: skin+sun=cancer)

The rest of the day I read, ran some errands, & baked my birthday cake.

At about 6pm, Dan got home. (Being a med student's wife, I've learned that: If Dan says he'll be home at 5, that really means he'll be home at 7--Dan got off at 6 because he told his Dr. it was my birthday :)

I think it was Father's Day when I first discovered that Dan's family & my family have the exact same tradition for giving birthday gifts: Heavy, heavy hangover! I about passed out when they started singing the song. That pretty much sealed the deal, jk!

Dan's mom gave me some table cloths and hot pads in all different holiday prints!
Thanks, Julie!

She also gave me a cute wall hanging.

My mom gave me this cute skirt, which I wear at least once a week!

Here's the adorable lacy top to match!

And my ultimate favorite, the pencil skirt that also goes great with the matching top!!!
Thanks, mom & dad!

And Dan had Steph send me 2 white wonder tees, aka my clothing staple!
Thanks Steph & Dan!

And here's the birthday outfit!

A couple days before my birthday, we discovered a website filled with free things you can get for your birthday. So we signed up for them. On birthday I got a free Krispy Kream Donut & split it with Dan!

As for dinner, we went to Famous Dave's BBQ, aka the best BBQ ever! My meal was also free!

They let us try all their sauces on homemade potato chips, yum!
Dan's favorite sauce was Dave's original, but I liked them all!

Here's our meal!!! We also got some extra ribs because they were having a special (1/2 off!)

Did I mention my meal was free & so was my surprise dessert, which had a massive firework on it?!?!?!?

We didn't have enough room for the cake I made, but we still invited our friends over and had a great time scarfing down lemon cake anyways!

I guess turning 23 really wasn't as bad as I thought!

Jazz on the Green

Omaha is an old railroad city, so a lot of it is VERY old and run down. Especially the old "down town" areas. Recently, the city of Omaha has come up with a project to "beautify" Omaha. The initiative is called "O! What a City!"

In an effort to beautify Omaha, mid-town crossing has been built up. In the middle of mid-town, is a beautiful park. During Christmas, the trees are lit up with Christmas light. What a sight! It's so beautiful! In the summer, every Thursday it's filled with beautiful Jazz music.

We decided to check out "Jazz on the Green" with some of our friends, so we packed up a picnic and headed out for a fun night!


It started to sprinkle a bit during our picnic, so we moved under a tree to provide some cover. With the tree, came lots of bugs!

Next time, we'll take a football to throw around.

More bugs!
(By the way, Dave, a med student in Dan's class, LOVES bugs, which is very entertaining)

A guy even played the xylophone. I was impressed!

Speaking of Jazz, one night I came home from work and Dan handed me a coupon for free dinner for two at Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen!!!! I love Jazz!!

Since my family was stationed in Louisiana for 2 years or so, we all love Cajun food. In fact, my mom taught me how to make jambalaya. YUM! The first time I made jambalaya for Dan, I thought he was going to hate it, but he LOVED it!!!

Anyways, I was first introduced to Jazz in Kansas City at Legends, an outdoor shopping mall. Legends was a really fun place to shop and eat and my parents took Celina, Carson, and I there often since Leavenworth didn't have much to offer by way of shopping & restaurants. Anyways, one day we were shopping, we noticed Jazz tucked in a little corner of the mall. Of course, we had to eat there. The food was delicious! In fact, we ate there for my senior dinner after I graduated.

Little did I know, Omaha has a Jazz, too. Their bread & Cajun butter is the best!

For dinner, I ate Craw fish etouffee with jambalaya!

Dan ate Chicken a la Mar, which is by far the best meal the serve! It's heavenly. Just ask Dan!

All stuffed & Jazzed out. They have a live jazz band playing at night! (You'd think I was advertising Jazz or something?!)

After dinner, we walked around down town & we found these slides. They're a lot of fun especially for grown up kids.

Stuffed Peppers!

Dan LOVES Mexican food.

I attribute his taste bud cravings for Mexican to his 2 year mission spent in Southern California. Don't get me wrong, Dan loves a good slice of pizza just like everyone else, but if he had to eat tacos and burritos for the rest of his life, he'd be pretty happy! In fact, about a year after Dan and I were married, Dan's parents gave us a 50lb bag of dried pinto beans and a LARGE box of taco, fajita, & enchilada mixes because they knew, first hand, all about Dan's addiction. No joke!
Needless to say, I can make some mean refried beans from scratch. Yup, I've been domesticated!

Here's a taco salad that frequently gets eaten in our home. (When I say frequently, I mean like once or twice a week:)

I also know Dan's itching for some Mexican food when he brings half a dozen green peppers home from the grocery store. Yes. 6. green. peppers. So what's a girl to do with half a dozen green peppers...? Well for one, cut half of them up and freeze them for fajitas in the future. As for the others, I decided we'd better mix it up. But how? Immediately I thought back 2 summers ago when my favorite cousin Elsie Kay told my grandma to "google it" and see when she could come visit her next...lol!!!

So that's what I did. I googled it. And this is what I came up with:

Yummy Stuffed Bell Peppers!

In case you don't know, Dan and my dad have many things in common. In fact, they've got A LOT of things in common. I remember when I was younger, probably from about ages 4-7, I wanted to grow up and marry my dad. That dream pretty much came true in a lot of respects when I married Dan. Among some of the things they have in common is their favorite foods. For instance:

Dan loves ice cream, so does my dad.
Dan loves nuts, so does my dad.
Dan loves popcorn, so does my dad.
Dan loves steak & potatoes, so does my dad.
The list literally goes on, and on, and on.....
....But the one that applies to Dan's craving of Mexican food is:
Their love for chips & salsa.

I remember when my dad would come home from work, pull out a bag of chips, fill a bowl full of salsa, & top it off with some cheese. Dan's no different. He loves chips & salsa so much that we buy the HUGE "All I eat is salsa" bottle from Sam's Club. You know, the 80 something ouncer.

Well, one day we're eating breakfast burritos & Dan goes to get the salsa. He notices the cap on the salsa bottle is kinda bulging. So, of course, he taps on it and....BOOM!!! The kitchen was covered in salsa:





Update: We counted 6 tiny jalapenos on our plant tonight!!!!