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Bug’s Great Limo Ride Birthday Party
Every year we joke that we’ve set the bar so high for parties that we will never be able to top it. Whatever are we going to do next year, Paris? Hah! I don’t know about Paris next year but we are really going to have to be creative to top this year’s limo party.
Everybody arrived at 3pm and Victor the limo driver and his stretch showed up at 3:30. Eight girls and I piled in.
First stop boba, of course.
You know what’s awesome about tweens? They love group shots. No more cajoling everyone to squeeze in, they were more than happy to oblige with their squad poses.
Next stop the mall! We didn’t really shop (I didn’t really budget for that.). A few girls brought spending money but not everyone did so we stuck to fun interactive things. Thankfully this mall is full of them.
Like riding down the escalator as a crew, posing on the shoe shine chairs and of course throwing pennies into the fountain in the food court.
We did make a stop at Lush to smell all the pretty soaps.
And of course the candy shop that sells Pusheen merchandise.
And lastly macarons for everyone!
Then down the escalator to catch the limo for the next stop. Victor was so patient with us. (We tipped him well to make sure he knew how much we appreciated him.)
We cruised by the beach and stopped for a special Pusheen wedding as the sun set. These girls, man. I have to say I really like Bug’s group of friends. They are so smart and well-read and when one of them officiates the wedding with all the right words and a few well-timed jokes that crack everyone up, you have to just sigh…They really impressed me.
Then we headed back home for a green dinner! I should have taken a photo of the long table in the daytime but you get the idea. The ice shard milk-carton flowers came in handy. Who cooked this dinner you might wonder? Payam did! Actually I made green enchiladas the day before so Payam could pop them in the oven a half hour before we got there. Then Payam made green quesadillas (by hand in a pan!) and we had green chips and guacamole of course. Bug looooooves guacamole.
I have such a soft spot for long-table dinner parties. They are my favorite!
We sang happy birthday and served the birthday girl with a tree of lime cupcakes. You can tell she’s fading a little bit in this picture. Poor girl had a sore throat all day but she powered through. Did you know kids don’t like cupcakes anymore? I had no idea. I also served them green tea and mint chocolate chip mochi and they all reached for the mochi over the cupcakes.
Oh yeah, I was there too! In a new green dress that makes me look like a flight attendant. I love it. We found it on a whim last minute at one of those big box discount stores.
Happy Big Green Twelfth Birthday, Bug! Whatever are we going to do next year?
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Tiny Green Pusheen Cakes in Cans!
It’s Bug’s twelfth birthday today and she is far far away at an Outdoor Ed camp put on by her school. She was so nervous to go on this trip that she woke me up four times the night before. Mostly it was just nerves. She was really excited for this four-day sleep-away camp in the mountains but she was also super nervous about getting an ear ache on the bus ride up. She’s a worrier like that.
We took her to urgent care and thankfully she didn’t have any fever at all. She gets ear aches now and then and we think (but are not sure) that it has something to do with allergies. We got her some Flonase and a doctor’s note to say she could use it if she suffered from any pain. I’m pretty sure she was fine and didn’t need it but I have no idea because she’s away at camp and they have no internet access and are not allowed to use phones! It’s like they are back in time! Gasp!
I’m sure I’m freaking out about it more than they are. Actually, I’m not. The teachers who are with them are kind enough to post pictures on a privacy-protected site and I’ve been hitting refresh every hour or so to see what they are all up to. It’s kind of like watching April the giraffe. So far not much has happened. They are wearing coats and holding snakes. Sounds like fun! Heh.
In the meantime, I am planning her party for this weekend and spending a small fortune on ridiculous party favors. Pusheen is a very expensive theme if you choose to buy products instead of make them. I have not been so busy as I usually am making things. What can I say? I’m getting old or something. Or I just have less time on my hands.
I am making little cakes though. So far it’s been an experiment of great entertainment value. I decided I wanted to make little cakes in tin cans. I emptied out four bean cans, making chili of course, washed them in the dishwasher and then made a lime cake from scratch and filled the cans almost all the way to the top with cake batter. That was a mistake because the cake in the cans rose and exploded over the sides of their little cans. Good thing I’ve been around this block before and I had the forethought to put the cans on top of a cookie sheet. Funnily, the cake inside the cans was baked perfectly AND the cake outside the can was too! Who knew! The girls ate the cake outside the can (it was delicious) on Monday when I first did this experiment and declared it a smashing success. I made lime cream cheese frosting and we dolloped a spoon on top of their experimental cakes before they were cool and it turned into a melty delicious mess.
Then I froze the rest of the cakes and today hopefully I’ll ice them successfully. I’m not too sure on the frozen part though so I’m defrosting them in the fridge as I type this. Anyway, this is all just the test run so I’ll have to do it all over again on Saturday. I might just opt for cupcakes by then because I bought these really cute cupcake boxes that look like square Pusheens and I’m not sure how my cakes are going to fit in them AND I also tossed my cans out because they were a mess of baked cake batter running down their sides and I didn’t feel like washing them. So either I’ll buy more cans (ugh, the thought of more chili farts makes me not like this idea) and do it all over again OR I’ll just make cupcakes and no one will be the wiser.
Isn’t it fun being in my brain?
And that’s just one of the twenty-seven things I thought about writing about.
