happy birthday stoner!

yesterday was rolling stone's 2nd birthday. i can't believe she's 2 years old already! i'm so proud of her – it's been 6 months now since her accident and she's 100%. she's still graceful...still has the same kitten-soft fur...still loves to play with her crinkle ball...still jumps 5' high...still cute as ever. we had a kitty birthday party and the attendees were peanut butter, stoner, stephen and myself. we gave the kitties birthday cake (which was actually a sample of some special food - which they LOVED), played with the crinkle ball and played on the patio. we all had a great time and stoner happily licked her chops and basked under the setting sun as she gave herself a bath.

yesterday was also christine and jake's 2 year wedding anniversary. after speaking to my sister online, it sounded like they had a nice little celebration. i'm glad they were able to manage it, as jake's schedule seems pretty hectic and unpredictable. congratulations on 2 years to my sister and brother-in-law. i love you guys!

my beautiful kitties

i just want to show them off. they're my babies and i'm proud of them...

a weekend of tennis

stephen and i were glued to the tv this weekend watching the championship matches of wimbledon. both the women's and men's finals were scheduled early in the morning. by british tradition, breakfast at wimbledon consists of strawberries and cream. so what better way to celebrate and enjoy a match than to eat local strawberries with fresh whipped cream in your pyjamas? amélie mauresmo (france) defeated justine henin-hardenne (belgium) in the final. she played AMAZING in the third set and she deserved it, she played awesome. the men's championship match was also a captivating one. it was filled with great rallies, amazing serves, groundstrokes, angles and drop shots as roger federer (switzerland) beat rafa nadal (spain) to take the crown.
i'm going to include the simple and delicious recipe for strawberries & cream. i served them in a new dish i received from christine in april and was really happy with how it looked!

Start with the fruit: you should buy them the day before, then throw them in the fridge. Keep them intact rather than slicing them up. Either the night before or immediately before serving, rinse the strawberries to remove any possible nasties from them. Take a knife and decapitate the little tuft of green vegetation at the top of each strawberry. Next, the cream: this wonderful stuff is known formally as chantilly cream. Here's what you'll need to make it:

1 cup of whipping cream
3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

In a bowl, whip the chilled cream until it stiffens up from a liquid into little peaks. Next, add the vanilla and powdered sugar slowly while you continue beating the cream. Voila!

i've also included a photo from the patio, we had a stormy afternoon and in the evening, the sun decided to peek through the clouds. it was really pretty.