Weekend wrap-up

I had a really wonderful weekend. On Saturday I met up for a mini-reunion with some girls I used to work with when I worked as a singer/dancer in an amusement park after high school and throughout college. It was the perfect job for a young theatre major and I spent so much time on stage and in dressing rooms with these girls! So anyway... it was sort of like getting together with you old sorority sisters and talking about the inside jokes and crazy things you did... only we did it all in front of audiences! We had a wonderful lunch at a tea room and sat for hours catching up.

Saturday night I decided to back my nephew, X-Man, a birthday cake from scratch for his 5th birthday. I decided that learning to bake a 3 layer chocolate cake from scratch was going to be on my "to learn to do" for the new year... so this was a perfect way to practice my baking. This was my first cake from scratch and it took 3 hours! But it was wonderful and everyone was impressed. It was a 2 layer strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting... I even pureed the strawberries and strained the seeds (which is pretty time consuming) all by myself! Mr. D. even had two slices when we ate it at X-man's makeshift b-day party at my house the next evening! X-man took one look at it and declared that he doesn't like strawberry cake anymore (lol!) even though he requested it just the night before! Oh well... my brother and my SIL also liked it... and X-man totally enjoyed the ice cream with rainbow sprinkles that were next to the cake!

Sunday we slept in a little then headed out to Big D for some shopping and lunch at our favorite Mediterranean place. Then we decided to check out the Holocaust Museum because I am currently directing a play about a concentration camp during this time. This was my favorite thing we did all weekend... Mainly because I had the opportunity to meet Mike the founder of the museum and a survivor. Mike showed me around part of the museum and we chatted for quiet a while. He told me part of his story and showed me the numbers tattooed on his arm... I purchased the book he wrote about his 4 years in the camps and autographed it for me. I was so honored to stand and talk with Mike.... and to hear him tell his story and it reminded me of the power of the human spirit. It reassured me that no matter what hardships you face in life that you can overcome even the most devastating tragedies. I have already finished Mike's book... I read it cover to cover in less than 24 hours... I just feel so heavy with the responsibility of portraying the play I am directing accurately and truthfully and I really feel passionately about this new project. I can't wait to take the entire cast back to the city to meet Mike and have them hear his story too. I just can not say enough about the spirit of this amazing man.

Sunday night after the little b-day party I fell asleep in our big recliner at about 7:30 pm... The next thing I knew Mr. D. was telling me that he had run me a bath for me. I went into our bathroom and he had filled the room with lit candles (Sunday night Finn ritual!). I had a wonderful bubble bath waiting for me... with towels layed out, my new robe hanging by the tub, my latest O magazine on the chair, a big glass of water (and a shot of Gentleman Jack!) on the edge of the tub, and he even had my favorite Sunday night guilty pleasure on the TV (Desperate Housewives... ugghh... I know...)! I felt so pampered and loved! He is always doing things like that for me.. I just can't tell you what a great man he is... I don't know what I ever did to deserve such an incredible husband... and as I slipped into the bubbles I told him... "I am so blogging about this..."

It was just such a great (and busy) weekend. It was really nice to have such great moments with my friends and husband. And since a lot of this blog is dedicated to me sorting out my problems and whining about my everyday pains and issues, I also wanted you to know that we do have very happy times and appreciate all that we have been blessed with in this life.