Surprise!

The fact that Tim decided that the silence on my little blog corner of the interweb had been deafening and took the reigns means that I've really been slacking. But it's not like I've been lounging on the patio sipping mimosas and reading the latest celeb gossip.

I'm coming to believe my calling has been event planning with a nutrition twist. Surprise birthday and anniversary parties. Professional events. Cooking classes. Blogger dinners. That is what I've been up to these days.

One of my favorite events that I coordinated was Tim's surprise birthday. He turned thirty on Monday (wish him a belated happy birthday on Twitter at @fittochange!) and so myself and some home-cooks-turned-caterers (his mom, stepmom, my parents, my aunt and many other gracious hands) whipped up a party for sixty of our family and friends, complete with a shockingly awesome surprised face that made it all worth it. We celebrated in a lakehouse cabin complete with exposed beams, a lake-facing porch, fireside rocking chairs and the largest spiders I've seen on the Eastern seaboard. But it was all worth it. Spider terror and all.

This was the beautifully long table we gathered around to celebrate the old man's birthday.

 We spent some quality time in rockers on the porch overlooking the lake and the sunset.

 And no time is a good time without a gangster pose photo.

 

After a night of catching up with friends and family from out of town, we woke up and assembled breakfast: coffee and blueberry pancakes!

Breakfast table view.

The weekend proceeded to bring with it a long, leisurely bike rides, raucous games of Bananagrams, and some seriously jumbo toasted marshmallows.

  It was just a great excuse to party and celebrate my favorite person's milestone.

Yes. Just to clarify, that person waving a flaming marshmallow is my favorite person. Oh dear.