Julie's Birthday

Today is my sister's 22nd birthday. My mom and I headed up to Akron to take her out to a birthday dinner. My aunt, who happens to work with my sister in an office at The University of Akron, met up with us at the restaurant.

When we got to her apartment, Julie immediately got her present from Mom...a cool little bench/storage box that she has been wanting for awhile to put at the end of her bed.(I think it's really cute! Maybe I should pick one up for the living room to keep blankets in). Julie was very excited about the gift.Then we set off for the restaurant. Unfortunately, when we were almost there, we got stopped by a train. We had been sitting for awhile, and all of a sudden, the train just stopped. Right before the end passed the intersection where we were stopped. All of a sudden we heard it starting up again, but it started going BACKWARDS. Julie made an illegal U-turn, and found an alternate route to the restaurant. But she was upset about the situation :-PWe finally made it to the restaurant and IT WAS PACKED!! It's a local pizza place in Akron called Luigi's, and it was amazing! Apparently it's very popular, and it's a must-visit if you're ever in Akron, Ohio. Which most of you probably never will be unless you're from Ohio ;-) But anyway, it was a very charming place, and the food was pretty fabulous as well.

My aunt and sister told us we had to order a salad. THIS is why:

Now that's one unhealthy salad. But it sure was good. I seriously said, "Where's the lettuce?! I can't find it!" As I was digging through the salad. It was quite tasty, though! We also ordered a pepperoni and mushroom pizza, and it was probably some of the best pizza I've ever had.

After dinner, we said goodbye to Aunt Viv, and headed over to Julie's apartment. Julie's best friend from the interior design program at Akron is a florist on the side. So apparently, she brings Julie fresh flowers all the time for her apartment! I think I need to find a friend who's a florist, too!

For the rest of the evening, we did some menu planning for vacation. Apparently I'm in charge of 2 dinners while we're there: a spaghetti dinner one night, and poppy seed chicken and parsley potatoes another night. Julie had never had poppy seed chicken before, and asked me what was in it. After I told her the ingredients needed to make it, she renamed the casserole as "heart attack chicken." Okay, so it is a little unhealthy. But it's so delicious, I just don't care. I think it's a dish that Paula Dean would be proud of ;-) I think I'm making it for a church picnic this Sunday, too. But anyway, back on the subject of our vacation. We leave 2 weeks from Saturday. Is it too early to start packing?? I'm excited!So it was a fun girl's night. Before the evening was over I had laughed myself to tears more than one time. This weekend we're having a little party for Julie with cake and ice cream and the rest of her gifts. So that will be fun too!

I hope everyone is having a blessed week!!