Basically, Brenden's Best Birthday Bash and other things

(I just realized I never did write about moving into our new place even though I hinted I would. I'll get to it once I can take some pictures of our house that won't reveal what slobs we can be.)

Okay, I was really going for alliteration in the title. Originally it was just "Brenden's Birthday" and I was like HEY! LOOK TWO "B's" IN A ROW. I CAN MAKE THIS EVEN MORE AWESOME. So I did. But in the process I may have lied. I don't actually know if this was Brenden's best birthday bash or not. Considering it was not really a "birthday bash" since we didn't have an actual party, I would suggest that it was not Basically, Brenden's Best Birthday Bash. Ugh, and now I'm a liar and all for the sake of alliteration fun!

On August 30th, Brenden was able to celebrate living 21 years and begin his 22nd year of life. Is that a totally awkward way of wording it? Explained like a normal person, Brenden turned 22 on August 30th. Yay! Way to not die yet! Here's to another year of not dying! (We aim high here in the McQuay household.)

To celebrate the beginning of Brenden's 22nd year of life, we slept in. And then we ate kolaches for breakfast. Brenden and I came up with a very simple and delicious recipe involving frozen dinner rolls, Lil Smokies sausages, and cheddar cheese. After our late breakfast, Brenden went off to school. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase wrapping paper and ribbon to wrap the presents I had been hiding in my closet.

Brenden and I aren't big on surprises. Sometimes this can be a little sad but usually I'm totally fine with it. I didn't have to ask Brenden what he wanted for his birthday. This summer he took up reading graphic novels/comic books, helped along by a few summer blockbusters (Thor, X-Men First Class, Green Lantern, Captain America.) So he got four new graphic novels for his birthday. That he picked out. And ordered. Oh dear, now everyone knows I'm a liar AND a lazy bum. I did keep it a secret when they arrived in the mail and then hid them (in plain sight!) in my closet. When Brenden started getting concerned that his books hadn't yet arrived, I reassured him that they had indeed arrived and they were simply in hiding. It was fun watching him search all over the house for his books, when they were literally sitting on the rather empty floor of my closet whose doors are always open.

Because I hadn't given tons of thought to Brenden's birthday present, I determined I needed to at least put forth some effort into his birthday card. And guys, I made an awesome birthday card. Would you like to know why it is awesome? It's because Hal Jordan is trying to get Brenden's attention so he can tell him Happy Birthday. And it's not every day that a superhero tells you happy birthday. In fact, it's not even every birthday that a superhero tells you happy birthday.

But even more awesome than the fact that a super hero is wishing Brenden a happy birthday is the fact that I drew and colored this sucker. I did copy an image I saw on the internet so yeah I can't claim the creativity, but I can claim those drawing and coloring skills. (And I might be a little more proud of myself than I should be.) Brenden needed a cool card because he's a cool kid *ahem* cool twenty-two year old adult.

Here's a picture of him with his new comic books!

Yeah, he's a kid at heart (though I don't think any kid should read V for Vendetta.) And I love that about him. He was very happy to get his new comic books. Is it totally irresponsible of me to provide my husband with four new graphic novels as soon as he begins his first semester of graduate school? Or totally awesome?

Knowing that one of Brenden's favorite restaurants is Pappadeux's, I searched for a place with similar menu offerings here in Athens and I found the coolest little place to go for his birthday dinner. It's called NONA for New Orleans 'N Athens. They're located on Broad Street which is the main street that goes through Downtown Athens. Downtown Athens reminds me a lot of The Strand in Downtown Galveston- cute shops, hip coffee joints, fancy and unique little restaurants. It's a lot of fun.

Brenden and I had crab cakes for an appetizer. I had their Creole Pork Jambalaya for my entree and Brenden got a delicious Blackened Catch of the Day (I can't remember what fish it was) with Crawfish Etouffee topping. For dessert, Brenden got Creme Brulee and we also split a root beer float. It was an exciting dinner and we got to try a new root beer (Abita)! That's always fun.

Quick sidenote: Brenden and I love root beer. Every time we go to a grocery store, we check their soda aisle to see if they have any new root beer for us. We've had the regulars: Barq's, A&W, Mug, IBC and we've had some others not available in every grocery store: Dad's, Jone's, Frostie, Hank's, Sprecher's, Stewart's, Triple X, Boylan's, Bundaberg's, Natural Brew, Virgil's, Thomas Kemper, Henry Weinhard's, and Howie's. I'm still looking around for Hires which used to be really popular but for some reason has gone into hiding. I've had it before but Brenden's never had it and I need to share the goodness that is Hires Root Beer.

Brenden's birthday was pretty low-key but that's how we are. And while I joke about him not dying yet, I am truly grateful for the life he lives and willingly shares with me. He's a wonderful, loving, and sweet young man. I'm excited to celebrate more birthdays with him.

In other news, something else we celebrated that week was our first NFL game. Say what? Yeah, we got free tickets to an NFL game. Yeah, okay, it was a pre-season game. And yeah, our team lost. But it was an exciting experience nonetheless! The game was between the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. Remember the movie The Blindside? Well, Michael Oher plays for the Baltimore Ravens, so we were secretly rooting for them too.

The game was held at the Georgia Dome, which was also home to some of the events of the 1996 Summer Olympics (the Olympic games that gave me the dreams of being a gymnast.) Hence, this fabulously awkward statue:

I really couldn't help myself. I had to take a picture of the statue from an awkward angle. The statue was just begging for me to do it.

Brenden and I don't really have any game day clothes so we wore two of the few red shirts we own- mine a basic polo, Brenden's a t-shirt from Youth Conference. We took this picture quite a bit before the game started so there aren't many people in the stands yet.

And we took this picture after we started losing the game and ability to score anymore which is why there aren't many people in the stands here either.

At the game there were concession stands. At these concessions stands there was funnel cake. This funnel cake was $6 and that one dollar difference between $6 and $5 broke my heart. You see, I really, REALLY wanted funnel cake but I told myself that there was no way I was going to spend more than $5 for it (I didn't really want to spend $5 on it either but I really wanted funnel cake.) Even so, I begged Brenden to buy me funnel cake and he insisted we need not spend $6 on cake fried in a pot of oil. But I still begged and begged. Because how does cake fried in oil not sound absolutely delicious? So he promised me we would make our own later that week. And I told him I wanted some right then and there. And I continued to beg. And then he ignored my pleas for the rest of the game. And I was so sad.
BUT!
We did end up making our own funnel cake later that week! And it was DELICIOUS! Also it was fun. Way more fun than paying $6 for a single cake would've been, I bet. I don't actually know though because I didn't do it.

I made the one on the left, Brenden's is on the right. He didn't have quite as much luck with the pastry bag as I did.

We made a lot of funnel cake. And we ate a lot of funnel cake.

Yeah, I think it was better than paying $6 at the football game. Yum!