Birthday Celebrations

I had a great weekend with my family for my birthday.  Mostly it was going out to eat.  Friday I took off work for my Birthday and both Dustin and Jennifer had the day off, so they took me to lunch.  We had a great lunch at Biaggi's,  good food and lots of fun talk about past birthdays, vacations and good times together.

On Saturday I had the birthday with my Mom and siblings.  Mom came down with Denise, Lori and Annette and Emily came with Blair and Judy.  I also brought Jennifer since she was not working.  We met at the Garden Cafe at the Grand America.  We had been there before and know what a great brunch they have.  The restaurant is quiet and we were able to talk for hours and catch up on all the happenings. 

I gave Mom and each sister and my sister in law one of the Birthday Towels that I had just finished.  It was fun to see them look for the "secret" message that I wove into the border of the scarf.  

And the presents that I got from them were wonderful.  Blair and Judy came with a big balloon bouquet and a gift card for going out to eat.  (One of my favorite things to do.)  Denise had costumed the porcelain doll that I made in a class with Jennifer years ago.  (The poor little doll had been nude for about 20 years.)  She looks wonderful in a Victorian inspired dress of lavender silk.  Annette painted a beautiful picture, her usual combination of paint and collage, with a wonderful poem about weaving incorporated in the background.  Lori sculpted a goddess doll about 18 inches high carrying a water jug, very Aquarius looking.  She is beautiful and the detail of Lori's work is wonderful.  Mom got me wonderful door mats with a pastoral scene of sheep.  They will look great at the front and back doors. I really hit the jackpot on birthday gifts.

Finally Sunday, Bruce, Dustin and I went to try out a new Chinese restaurant.  They are local and on Sunday they serve a Dim Sum brunch.  It was like the place we went to in San Francisco.  The waitresses were pushing around carts with the plates of food for us to choose.    We didn't go for anything really different, but tried several things that I had eaten before.  A great place and we need to go back for a family dinner soon.