Sometimes...

..you have to test your sanity by baking something special.

It went so far that I had to math to finish the cake as my pans were a different size than the ones in the recipe..

But I saw this recipe a year ago and decided it would be the perfect 50th birthday present to my closest colleague of nearly ten years.

I cannot tell you how nerve wrecking it was to cut the first piece to see if it had worked out.

But hurray! There it was, the Norwegian flag all decked out in cake.

It was a red (and blue) velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and it was absolutely delicious.

Sven was super pleased too.

My Chinese birthday

It was a fun coincidence that this year my birthday fell on Chinese New Year.

We went downtown to check out the action.

And the lanterns.

Love the lanterns.

What I really liked though were these "terracotta" warriors made with the traditional lantern technique.

I went a bit shutternuts.

*grin*

And hey, fireworks!

I'll take birthday fireworks!

And you know what?

46 is a pretty good age.

Guess who's FOUR?

 Someone who wanted flowers and butterflies on her cake :)

My niece is a pretty cute four year old.. I'm her auntie, I might be biased here..heh..

 So why just two fingers and not four?

She's showing off the colors on them.

We were trying out her artist pastel chalks.

I love this pic.

She's happy to ham it up for Niina.

Sweet fur balls

 Niina turned 12 in late January. As she had gotten her present (a new phone) two weeks prior, I organized a visit to play with 4-week old kittens.

Cuteness overload.

And yes, she wanted to take one home.

But no, we couldn't... 

The visit reminded me just how allergic I am to cats, I was happy to come home and get into eye drops and antihistamines :)

But yes, they are sweet.

We had a party

Someone turned nine years old :)

She wanted a Littlest Pet Shop themed party, so we decked out all her littlest pets on the table.

Along with some decked out lollipops.

And quick and cute initial cards.

And loads of goodies...

..fun gifts..

..odd hot dogs..LOL.. there has to be one who doesn't like sausages...

..I like the real kind :)

We got a dance show!

Finally the guests bundled up and hit the snow...

Everyone had a great time!

Looking through my viewfinder :)

For my party yesterday I beribboned my chandelier :)

Fairylights and lots of KI Memories ribbons.

Easy, quick and fun!

Other details...

Fresh pineapple and sweet chili sauce...yummmm...

This is a fun little tray I remember from my childhood.

Pepperoni crostinis ready for the oven.

Favorite sweets..

Chocolate cake..

I tried making macaroons...

Didn't turn out that pretty, but they were good.

Me.. after the party :)

Dress and jewelry this morning...

I'll end with favorite flowers..

I'm feeling very lazy today.

Work tomorrow...ugh...