my fajitas! (a grain free tortilla recipe)

One of my favorite scenes from Friends - I always

think of it when I make fajitas! 

Last month, we decided to try and gradually cut grains out of our diet. While going gluten and corn free was 100% necessary for me, I tend to feel better when I also limit my grain intake.

We started with one grain-free day a week for a month, and now we are at two. We're working our way to the point where most of what we eat is grain free. (At this point, I don't see the need to go 100% Paleo, but we're in an experimentation phase so I suppose that could change.)

Since going gluten free I've been trying to find a tasty and (at least somewhat) easy recipe for tortillas. We used to live off of Mexican food, but it's nearly impossible to find decent wheat AND corn free tortillas. That means no enchiladas, no nachos, no burritos, no tacos... (Are you drooling  yet? Yeah, I kind of miss Mexican cuisine!)

The experiments have gone...well, so-so. The rice or sorghum based recipes we have tried tasted dry and felt as stiff as cardboard. After many trials, we were able to create something pliable and tasty, but it had more of a chalupa-esque consistency. It works well as a flat-bread, but not for tacos or enchiladas.

We have made cauliflower tortillas several times, and while they are delicious, they are labor-intensive and don't really work if you're short on time. They also haven't held up well for leftovers.

So I've been experimenting and putting together different recipes to find an easy and delicious tortilla. This recipe will work to make tortillas OR flat-breads - the only difference is how much batter you pour into the pan!

Today I was craving fajitas, so I doubled the recipe (for leftover purposes) and whipped these up! They held perfectly and tasted delicious. 

(For the pineapple chicken recipe to stuff inside your tortillas,
click here!)

*Note: It's been nearly two years since I have had a wheat tortilla. I think these grain free tortillas taste fabulous, especially compared to the other recipes I have tried. Ben still eats at Taco Bell occasionally and he says that these taste good and have the right consistency and pliability, but taste a bit different than regular tortillas. I played around with the recipe and he liked them better the second time. Just want to give you a disclaimer that you will probably notice a difference between these and regular tortillas!*

Grain-Free Tortillas - Recipe makes 4 tortillas or 3 flat-breads (using a 6-inch skillet)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almond flour (you can buy almond flour or use a coffee grinder and grind your own!)
• 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
• 2.5 tablespoons water
• 4 egg whites
• scant 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
• coconut oil for the pan (I use a tiny bit of coconut oil for each tortilla because it adds a nice flavor. You can use whichever oil you prefer...)

Instructions:

Mix all of your ingredients (except the oil). I use a small six inch skillet - you will want to use something small, as your batter will be thin and will fill the space you pour it into. Heat your skillet on medium-low and place a dab of coconut oil. Once it melts pour 1/4 (about one small ladle-full) of batter into the skillet and make sure it spreads evenly. 

The tortillas are thin and will cook quickly, so don't leave them on the pan for too long! When first removed from heat, the tortillas will seem stiff (don't worry - after cooling for a few minutes they will be nice and pliable!)

Hope you enjoy! Leave a comment if you try them and let me know how they worked!

may turns the big 3-0

May, May, May…

I don’t even know where to begin. I could write about when we met (biology, McQueen) or when we became friends (listening to “Rockabye” on the way to and from that youth conference in Sparks, which at that point, seemed SO far away) or even the times we visited each other in Santa Barbara and Folsom and Fayetteville and Seattle. I could detail the future plans we have to visit each other in South Africa and Japan or the plans we are making for our “sisterchicks” vacation in 12 years. I could reminisce about the times we have commiserated over school and family and friends.  I could even wax poetic about all the big decisions we had to make over the years, many of them coincidentally occurring at the same time. Our “big” moves to Fayetteville and Seattle and then our even bigger moves to Misawa and Capetown. Our frequent talks on the phone about visas and customs forms and passports, where one of us calmed the other down, only to switch places the next day. Those days I thought I would collapse from the stress, only to feel better knowing that you were facing the same situation and that I wasn’t alone. Yes, I could talk about a lot of the memories I have, some ancient past and others more recent.

Instead of writing about all of those things, though, I decided instead to write about how I feel about all of those things. Despite moving all over the world, changing jobs, graduating, making and losing new friends, our friendship has been one of the few constants in my ever-changing world. I always know that even if we haven’t talked in a while, you are my best friend and sounding board and venting buddy and prayer warrior and fellow world-traveler. I know you’re only a skype call (or facebook  chat) away and that I’ll soon have a two hour conversation with you that will inadvertently make us both laugh, cry, and then laugh again at our crying.

I feel so lucky to have been a significant part of your first 30 years and am excited to continue in that role during the next 30.

Happy birthday, friend.

true love

We found out that a friend of ours lost their baby last month. It's such a heartbreaking thing to hear that a couple has lost their child. Though they didn't get to know their little sweetheart, that child was loved beyond compare. Being so far away, it's difficult to be comforting to friends who are hurting. All we could really do was pray.

Our friend Julia came to visit, and in preparing things to do during her visit, I came across an amazing pathway devoted to children who had passed away. It was near a Buddhist temple that I thought Julia would be interested in visiting. At the temple, you could purchase a pinwheel to place on the path in remembrance of the child. We placed one on the hill with the others, a tribute to a life that never got to be. It was beautiful, with the pinwheels standing out in stark contrast to the snowy hills they were placed on.

It was a small way to pay tribute to true love.

the moral of the story

Yesterday, I read a fable to my students. Basically, it was about a crab and a lobster who are friends and about as different as could be. Lobster was laid back, outgoing, adventurous, and sometimes a little too excited about dangerous situations. Crab was a stickler for rules and preferred to lead a quiet, and sometimes boring, life. One day, Lobster convinces Crab to go for a boat ride. There is a storm approaching and Crab is very weary of going out in the boat. They end up going anyway and the boat sinks. Crab is terrified, and Lobster points out that they aren’t really in danger, since they are both sea creatures so drowning really isn’t a worry. The boat sinks, and as they take a leisurely walk along the ocean floor, Crab realizes that he had a great day full of adventure.

I asked the kids what the moral of the story was, and they all said something to the effect of making sure you’re careful when you go on a boat so you don’t drown.

While that is good information, I pointed out to them that the point of the story was that Crab had a good time when he left his comfort zone and had an adventure. We then had a class discussion about some of the amazing things they can do here that they won’t be able to do anywhere else. We talked about Japanese festivals and the cool restaurants they can eat at. They brought up how fun it is to talk with the locals here and how nice they are. They were excited about the salmon festival a few weeks back and Sapporo Ice Festival that is coming up in a few months. They were ecstatic to share some of the Japanese foods they have tried here that most American kids have never even heard of. It was a great conversation about stepping outside your comfort zone, and of course, being safe while doing so. We encouraged each other to go and try something new this week: whether it was something we had never done, a place to explore or an interesting food to try.

My new adventure was something that I had actually decided to do earlier that morning. On the way to work every day, we pass a mysterious bridge on the other side of the fence that marks where the Misawa Air Base land begins. This bridge is actually inside of two fences, belonging to some sort of “no man’s land” in between the main road on the base and the beach where military families can hang out and barbeque in the summer. Every day, we see cars driving on it and wonder how they got there, and where they are going. I told Ben that after school that day, we were going to find out.

When I got to school in the morning, I told one of our friends that we were going to explore the “mysterious road on the other side of the fence” and she let out a gasp, and then explained that she had always wanted to figure out how to get to that very same road. So a plan was set in motion to go on a courageous expedition (yes, we may have made it out to be a lot more exciting than it really was) to go find the road.

Two hours later, I read the fable to my kids, and was excited to be able to use a real-life example in our conversation. The kids were excited to hear about our findings, as most of them had seen the road and had never been on it.

School ended and we set out, with a vague google map and our iPhones to lead the way. I’m sure it would have been a lot more adventurous without the use of technology, but it gets dark here at 4:15 pm and we didn’t want to spend hours trying to figure out where it was and then not be able to see it because it was dark.

It took about 20 minutes to go around the base and the lake, and we started thinking that we must have gotten lost (which is very easy to do in a city with no street names and very little English) but we finally found a road that looked promising. As we drove over the mysterious bridge, we waved at all the cars on the base who were driving by on the other side of the fence. Then we took some pictures, admired the view of the lake, and then climbed back in the car to defrost and talk about how proud of ourselves we were for finding the mysterious road.

A little silly? Yes. But a great time was had by all. (And now, every time we pass the mysterious bridge, we know that we’ve been to the other side of the fence.)

(left) The mysterious bridge and (right) Lake Ogawara from the beach.

friendiversary

This is a little late in coming, but with the holidays and everything, it's been too crazy to get this all up!

About a month and a half ago, my best friend and I realized that we had been friends for 10 years. For a military kid, moving from state-to-state every few years (or months in some cases) this was a huge feat for me. Having a constant friend for 10 years seemed like something to celebrate, and as we had both moved recently and hadn't seen each other in a while, we decided to do something about it. Less than two days later, she was flying from Seattle to Raleigh, and we both had some ideas up our sleeves on what to do for what we dubbed our "friendiversary."

We originally planned to hang out in DC or New York, but since May had never been down to the real south, we decided to head down to Charleston and Savannah.

When planning our trip, we came across a Samantha Brown episode, where she spent the weekend in the very same cities, so we took a page out of her book and planned to visit some of the places she did while visiting the south.


Even coming from California, we were shocked at all the fireworks werehouses. We passed at least 5 of these on our way down to Charleston.




In downtown Charleston, we found the best burger EVER. (They also had the best fried pickles I've ever had, a southern delicacy you must try.)



We found a great pier along the waterfront. We had a great view of the bay, the reeds, and the boats.




Couldn't resist snapping some pics of May along the cobblestone streets of Charleston.

A gorgeous cathedral we passed by.



On the waterfront, near the Aquarium.





We were so excited! As we were snapping pictures along the waterfront, this dolphin just swam up beside us. It was the coolest!



The regal bald eagle at the aquarium. I had never seen a bald eagle before. This was our favorite part of the aquarium experience.




This was one of the many alligators at the aquarium. This one was probably 6 feet long.







After spending our evening in Charleston, we drove down to Savannah for the night. In the morning, we drove out to Tybee Island, where we saw a beautiful lighthouse, found a secret trail leading to a private beach, and found the retirement home we want to go to when we're old biddies!














After Tybee Island, we returned to Savannah to check out some of the local places. One included the Honey Shop, which we saw on Samantha Brown. This is the best little shop! They carry a variety of honey products, ranging from grilling honey to lotion to honeycomb and cheese appetizers.





We also visited St. Vincent Cathedral, which was built in the mid 1800's. It was truly the most beautiful building I've stepped foot in. It makes me want to visit Europe to see some of the truly old cathedrals there.






While in Savannah, we also did a cemetery tour (which I'll post separately one of these days) and walked along the riverfront to find a genuine, southern restaurant to eat at. Around twilight, we began the 5 hour trip back to Sanford. Along the way, we kept seeing all of these billboards for a place called Fort Pedro, which advertised the biggest mini golf course in the state. As we reached Fort Pedro, though, it looked more like Vegas, with neon signs running down the main drag of the town. It even had a huge tower in the shape of a sombrero. We turned in, interested to see what the hype was all about, only to find that it was mostly motels and seedy diners. It struck a strange cord, and we couldn't help but take some pictures of it!








All in all, it was a great weekend, filled with laughter and friendship. Happy friendiversary, friend

the one with the dominics

Last night was the annual "costumes and tacos" night. It was awesome. A bunch of us dressed up as x-men, which was great, because I am trying to get as much use out of that Rogue costume as I can.

One of the great things about the costumes and tacos night is the creativity of the costumes. This year was not a disappointment.

When we showed up, we saw that one of our friends dressed up as Dominic, one of the high schoolers. Then, another Dominic showed up. I think by the end of the night, there were at least 6 Dominics walking around the party, each one bringing a unique set of the quintessential characteristics of the real Dom.

I'd love to see them all walking down the street or going out in public like that. :)

the one with the...

So you might know that I'm pretty much obsessed with Friends. It's one of those shows you can just watch over and over. It's funny enough that it never gets boring, but not so in-depth that you have to pay close attention to it. It's my "watch-it-while-I'm-cleaning" or "watch-it-while-I'm-sick" or "watch-it-while-I-grade-a-huge-stack-of-papers" show.

Lately, I've discovered that two of my close friends also enjoy the show to the same extent. So much so that we have started naming the events that go on in our lives after Friends episodes. Such as "The One With The... blah blah blah". It's pretty much amazing. We can name it and then reminisce about "the one with the wall" or "the one with the iron will" or "the one with the stalker" at a later date and know exactly which memory is being recalled. (PS maybe I'll write about the above mentioned "ones" later on).

Good times, indeed.

worth coming home to

With the utter dizziness of...life, I haven't had time to write any blogs in quite a while. With all the transition having taken place, life has begun to slow down a bit. It's nice to have the time to write and not feel like I'm wasting precious time that could be spent on something important that needs to be done.
As I mentioned, things have been pretty crazy as of late. (As it always is. It's interesting how that always suffices as a "good answer" for when someone asks you how things are going. "Crazy," I say, and they nod their heads, knowing the craziness in their own lives. Why are we a society that can't seem to slow down and just...take a breather?)
Anyway...


We moved again. Actually we've moved two or three times since my last update. We're living in beautiful California now! I'm so excited to have left the drab brownness that is Reno to replace it with the fresh vibrance of green that is Northern California. We live (literally) RIGHT next to a beautiful lake, and less than two miles from another one. It's awesome, because, while the two lakes feed off of each other, they are completely different. One has the stereotypical atmosphere of a lake: calm, serene, and "room-temperature." This lake's temperature follows the weather, so in the summer it's nice and warm; it never gets too frosty to enjoy it. This lake has a laid-back personality to it. The other lake, however, flows like a river and has an aura of determination about it. It's always freezing, but it likes it that way. It dares to be different and it dares you, the enjoyer of lakes, to be different as well. Really, it's nice to be near lakes with personalities, you know? You can go to either, depending on your mood. Or you can just go swimming in the pool. Whatever.
Our apartment is awesome! It's so nice to have our things out again. (We were living with some friends for a while. As great as it was, it's nice to have our own space with our own possessions.) It's amazing how much I missed having MY things. It's like we identify with our "stuff." While, to some, it might seem vain or materialistic, I DO identify with my stuff. The things I own and decorate my home with reflect a little (or a lot) of who I am. The living room and dining room are cozy and country-ish, with wild flowers on the table and comfy couches. The porch has a comfy swing and windchimes that just call to you, "Come, Sit, Relax." The guest room is black and white, with the old falling-apart bookshelf that I proudly fixed, refinished, and painted to match. There are several photos (some of my own) adorning the walls. That room is my creative outlet. It's who I am. Then, the highlight of the place: the bedroom and bathroom. They display my wild side, full of tropical landscapes and bright colors. Some of the pictures are places I've been and some are fantastic places existing only on canvas. It's amazing how "at home" you can feel when you have a place that you can decorate with "your stuff." It just makes it worth coming home to.

rest is almost here

THE DREADED FINALS ARE ALMOST OVER! It will be SO nice to finally have them done with. I will be on break, which means...no papers, no projects, no boring classes, and no having to stay up until 3:00 am working on pointless papers or studying. I'll be able to spend that late night/early morning time with the the boyfriend, who, by the way, is a great guy. Plus, my best friend (who I haven't seen since May) is in town so my mind will not want to be concentrating on the boringness of college.

Have a merry Christmas if I don't see you before then!

new place for the new year

New Year's was interesting. We were able to move into the apartment New Year's Eve. Since I didn't get off work until 5, we were only able to move the two couches, the tv, and the microwave moved. That, though, was plenty to have a New Year's party.

With the tv perched on top of the microwave's box (a tarp covering it to make it look a bit less ghetto) and the couches set in weird angles across the living room, we were all set.

Some friends and I went to get pizza and then watched some movies. We ended up falling asleep before midnight, sprawled all over the living room. So much for late nights in the new place, eh?

PS I'm pretty sure I met my future husband tonight. It's a weird feeling I have, so we'll see how that goes...

next on COPS...

Well, I got some..interesting news today. My other best friend seems to be moving..so this is both of them now. I'm really going to miss him a lot..

It doesn't help that the church situation is not going well. I don't want to badmouth the church, so I'm not going to post the specifics, but please keep them in prayer. Satan is attacking and the church isn't ready to fight back. Other than that, I'm not really sure what to do about it.

On a good note, though, we won the football game against SMU so we are 3-0 so far..which is the best our team has done in probably nearly 50 years. It was one of those end-of-a-football movie games, where you knew the "good guys" were going to win, but it came down to the last play during the last minute. It was amazing, though I'm sure I'll need several painkillers to make the college-kids-screaming headache go away. (Just kidding.)

We, unfortunately, got our pictures taken (by someone with no camera skills) with the big Ronald. He was completely hitting on us and wouldn't leave us alone until we got our pictures taken with him. I'm going home and watching COPS; I'm sure he'll be the next guy they nab. I can just see it now: "Drunk Ronald McDonald sentenced to five years in prison with 2 counts of kidnapping, 1 count of DUI, and 3 counts of fashion crime." Geez.

On a lighter note, we found a random couch on the grass by the parking lot. It looked quite comfy. I was extremely tempted to take a nap on it, since nobody was claiming it at the time, but Amanda didn't want us to get caught. Alas, the couch was gone when we left the game. I may never know that kindred spirit who thought to bring a couch to the football game.

life and death

My friend Jeff died in a car wreck this morning. He was in his early 20's..and his wife is 8 months pregnant. i can't imagine how she must feel right now..

Well, I've learned something during this really long and hard 2 weeks. What with Jeff and..a lot of friendship problems and my constant migraine..I've realized that I've been focusing a lot on myself lately and I need to put that focus back on God where it should be. This is a song that we sang at Living Stones tonite and it's such a beautiful song and it really struck me tonite. It's hard to read the words without the music to it, because the music is really beautiful..but here it is.

Only You

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X4)

Only You have come to find me.

Only You have come to pull me out.

Only You have come to save me.

Only You have come to wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me..

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me..

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X2)

Only You have come to find me.

Only You have come to pull me out.

Only You have come to save me.

Only You have come to wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

And no one

Could ever love me

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

(repeat 2 times)

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X4)

happy new year

My life is now complete. Last night I went to a friend's apartment with some of the girls and we all watched Footloose and Pretty In Pink, both of which I'd never seen before. Footloose had a fairly good plot, but the dancing was barely worth watching. Breakin' was definitely a better movie in terms of dancing, but it lacks the plot that Footloose has. Footloose also has some classic quotables as well. One of the "old guys" tells Kevin Bacon's character, "you know there's no dancing in this town right?" and Kevin's friend yells "JUMP BACK!" That seemed to be the quote of the night. Anytime someone asked to pause the movie to get water or use the restroom, everyone yelled, "Jump back!" So sad, so sad.

Happy New Year.

lessons learned

WARNING: this will be long. Have fun reading if you actually want to read it all. I'm officially jumping on the "2002 recap" bandwagon...remember kids, don't follow trends...

Now that its basically all said and done, 2002 has been one of the best years of my life...it wasn't because only great things happened to me (because, really, who has a perfect life?)...but because of the things I have learned from everything that has happened...

January was an interesting month..I went down to see my best friend and that was the realization that we were growing somewhat apart since she moved...lesson learned: change is inevitable and it seems that the things you dont want to change the most are always the first to change, so you need to accept that and make the best of it.

February marked another Valentine's Day alone...but I realized that I didnt need a "significant other" to make it a good time because I was starting to make some great friends from the college group that I started going to. I'm reaffirming my commitment not to date until I know "he's the one." lesson learned: being without a significant other is not being alone...good friends are even more important.

March was an interesting month..I transferred jobs, which, looking back, may not have been the best decision. Also in march, I met a lot of new people, two of whom I talk to every day and consider two of my closest friends. I also met justin, which was a big mistake. lesson learned: meeting new people is so important because they often become your best friends..but moving too quickly into a relationship often leads to disaster.

April, I went on the mission trip as a leader and found that I could be a role model to the high schoolers. lesson learned: that any one person can make a huge difference in someone's life, even by doing some thing considered small and insignificant. God is above all that crap we pull every day..

May was a good month..school finally ended and..that's about all that happened. Other than that it was pretty boring...lessons learned:boring can be good. We all get bored and often complain about it, but sometimes we need to just slow down, stop rushing and stressing, and just..be bored.

June/July were good.. the parents went on vacation for the whole month so I was able to just spend time alone at the house. It was a nice change. I love my family, but it's always crazy in our house. It made me realize how much I love my family but how much more I'd like them if I moved out. I also got closer with some of the before mentioned friends..and I got to go to a music festival with some friends from the collge group! lessons learned: family and friends are important, and regardless of whether you get along all the time, you need them just as much as they need you.

August/September were nothing special other than having to say goodbye again to all my friends leaving for college..and one friend who got married...and yes, then I started school again...all that jazz...lesson learned: life is basically a cycle, like it or not..

October was..school oriented..this semester was really difficult and my procrastination didn't make it too much better. Yes, everyone procrastinates but this semester was worse than usual. Other than that small drawback, the month was pretty good. I housesat for a week and had some friends come see me there. It made me realize that even though sometimes I feel like I don't have any good close friends, I am surrounded by people who care about me..and I love them so much. And, then we almost died in a car accident on the way home from Santa Clara..lessons learned: do the best you can at whatever you are doing, and you'll gain more satisfaction from it. Do not take anything for granted because it could all be gone within seconds. Just because you seem to be very close in personality to someone doesn't mean that you are meant to be with that person..and you are often MUCH more different than them than you thought you were..

November was an...interesting...month...some hard times with some friends...questioning lots of things...becoming really unoriented in so many parts of my life...some relationships will never be the same...some things that used to come so naturally are now so foreign...but I had great people sticking by me who I cant thank enough...lessons learned: once again with the change issues...it's a part of life...usually unexpected. When you're 100% convinced you're alone, you're not.

December was a pretty hectic month with getting ready for all the holidays and stuff...I wasnt really in the "Christmas spirit" as they say, until the 24th. Once it hit me, things got much better. Prior to that I had a lot of issues concerning three different really good friends of mine..but resolution comes with time and it's happening as we speak....lessons learned: family and friends really are the most important things..and that we're never done growing...and its never too late...for anything....

..and that brings me to here...standing on the verge of a new year...and I guess its all up to me what I make of it...so...I guess I'll see you all in 2003...

lies.

I hate lies. I hate lying and I hate when people lie to me. I hate all the hurt it causes. I hate how it can damage or even ruin a relationship, and often it does it to even more than one relationship. I hate how it can devastate and depress people. I hate when you can't trust someone to be perfectly honest with you, especially when you thought you were so close to them. I hate how time and effort is wasted into conceiving and acting upon a lie, and how much time and effort it takes to reconcile the hurt caused by it, if there is reconciliation to be dealt with. I hate that I'm too nice and that I can forgive so easily. I hate that I am a pushover and people can walk all over me and I won't do anything about it. I hate the fact that I care so much, and that I let things like that upset me so much. I hate..this and that is all.

sleeping cities

So there was a convention in California that my store was invited to. Since I've been there for years and am probably one of the top employees as far as product knowledge goes, I was invited to accompany the owners to Anaheim. It just so happened that my best friend, May, works at a store in Santa Barbara that is also connected with the convention. She was also invited to the convention, so this, of course, meant a night on the town with my best friend (after all the work was done, of course.)

It's amazing how quiet Anaheim gets after Disneyland closes. The streets are barren and it hardly seems to be a city in the bustling LA proper. I mean, LA never sleeps. Even in the wee hours of the morning you will find tourists galore crowding the streets and gangs prowling the alleys. This was different though. We drove for hours, talking about the most mundane things, which at the moment, seemed to be the perfect things to discuss. That happens with best friends. We found ourselves in front of the mobile home park my great grandfather once lived in, when I was young enough to sit on his lap while he told me stories of his youth. We bought California Lottery tickets, which, for some reason, has become a tradition whenever we see each other. We saw the "drive thru worship" area of the Crystal Cathedral, a moment I will always remember (and laugh at). We finally ended up at a Denney's when we found we could drive no longer. We ate cake, drank coffee, and took bad pictures of it all. It was a beautiful evening.