Pete's Rockin' (Literally) Birthday

According to CNN, the last time New York City felt the tremors of an earthquake was in 1944. (I can't vouch for this, I've only been here a month. But I believe it's been a long time.) That is, a long time until yesterday.

To celebrate my wonderful husband's 29th birthday, Washington D.C. honored him with a 5.9 on the Richter Scale. Unfortunately, Pete was at work on the third floor of the L'Oreal Building with earphones in at the time and didn't actually feel any of the shake up.

Pity. He always wanted an earthquake for his birthday.

I did feel the tremors, but it took me a while to realize what was going on. For a few moments I thought the contractors down on the first floor were engaging in some overly zealous work on the pipes. But then a picture fell off my kitchen wall and I noticed the blinds were swaying in the bedroom. Probably not the contractors.

I debated on rushing in to check Miss Amelia, who was well into a most refreshing nap--refreshing for both of us, but decided not to. I was busy wrapping a few little gifts for the birthday boy and getting his celebration ready, I couldn't be bothered with interruptions from earthquakes and the like.

Pete's birthday bash turned out to be enjoyable for everyone involved, even if he did miss out on the earthquake. Miss Amelia and I got dressed up in our fanciest and met him outside his office when he got off (at a normal, decent hour, none-the-less, which is unusual for him these days) and we walked down to a little Mexican Grill called Oaxaca Wa Ha Ka for dinner. It's a casual place (so we were a little overdressed, but didn't care) structured much like Cafe Rio but with distinct NYC touches (they offer filet mignon burritos instead of the regular shredded beef and pork variety).

When we arrived home after dinner Pete went on a little treasure hunt throughout our apartment to find 29 little notes I had posted listing things about him that make me smile. Actually, once I got going writing those notes, I had a hard time limiting them to 29. He's a good man. I'm a very lucky lady.

Miss Amelia wasn't overly patient while Pete read his love notes; she kept pulling on his arm and saying, "Come on, come see your birthday in my room," referring to the dessert and little pile of presents I had arranged on the dining table (which, yes, is in fact in the nursery. Our place is petite, and that's the biggest room in the apartment).

Once he had dried his eyes after reading my heart-felt birthday messages, we let Amelia lead us into the nursery/dining room where he opened a few gifts and we shared some dessert.

If you're wondering how one makes a birthday cake for a cake artist and aspiring pastry chef, I didn't. I decided instead to go the nostalgic route and made the cream cheese pie he always requested that his mother make for his birthday growing up. But instead of topping it with canned cherries or strawberries like the recipe calls for, I made a fresh lime sauce and served it with some lightly crushed raspberries.

Pretty powerful stuff; I kind of wish there wasn't half a cream cheese birthday pie lurking in my refrigerator.

Here's the birthday boy enjoying some of his presents. Just about everything he got was work related; new work shoes, shirts, a framed family photo for his desk, and a treat stash to keep him going on the job.

I apologize for the photos being so sub-par; these were taken on my iphone. (But I'm planning to get the SLR soon, so look forward to a drastic improvement in the photographic quality of my blog!)

Overall the celebration was pretty low-key, but I think he knows Amelia and I are crazy about him and I know he felt loved. Which was the point, really.

Success!