Oh my goodness

Whew! What a week it has been! Who knew being sick was so exhausting? Oh wait, me. It's that time of year again when I am constantly getting sick. After Jay's birthday I started feeling bad, but it didn't really hit me until last Monday. Bad head cold turning into some respiratory sore throat thing. Whatever it was sure knocked me out. At work we have had several people (staff, not residents!) test positive for the flu and for strep, thankfully I was not that bad off. I never call out of work but last week I ended up staying home 2 days, and again was coming in late/leaving early the other days. Good thing I have plenty of sick hours built up to use! Anyways, I didn't realize that I would actually miss blogging after 10 days of not being able to look at a computer b/c my eyes hurt.

Anyways, back to Jay's birthday. He was working the weekend of the 12th but was able to take off that Friday, his birthday. We went to dinner with his family at Cracker Barrel (yummy) then he came over and we watched TV, basically just chilled and spent time together. I had made his favorite pasta salad that he always asks for, and I also made him cupcakes.

The pasta salad is a recipe I found on pinterest HERE, and made a few minor changes to better suit what Jay likes. Here is my version: (I slacked on the pictures, oops!)

1/2 (16-oz.) package farfalle (bow-tie) pasta --I use the whole box

1 pound fresh broccoli -- I use a few stalks, mostly the flower heads and not the stems

1/3 cup diced red onion -- I don't measure this, I use about half a large one

1container of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 container of crumbled feta cheese

8 cooked bacon slices, crumbled -- I get the precooked kind you just throw in the microwave and use the whole box

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar 

1/3 cup red wine vinegar 

1 teaspoon salt 

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

Cut broccoli into small pieces.

Dice onion.

Cut cherry tomatoes in half.

Cook bacon.

Combine all the above and the feta in a large bowl. 

Whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, red wine, and salt. 

Pour dressing mixture over ingredients in large bowl, mix well.

Chill covered for a little while. I can't wait to eat it so I dig right in. Enjoy!

And the cupcakes. I love cupcakes. So does Jay. So does everyone, right?! Well I made him a whole batch with the intention of taking them to him at work that night on his birthday. But since he got off I surprised him with them at home instead. We ate a few and I made him take the rest to work on Saturday night to share. I am definitely that girlfriend who likes to surprise him with sweet things at work, even if it embarrasses him. He doesn't mind though. The guys might give him a hard time but secretly they are wishing they had a nice girl to do the same for them.  ;) And plus, they get to eat it too! So these cupcakes I made, the best batch of cupcakes I have ever made. They came out perfect. I just used the Funfetti box mix (I'm not that perfect yet to make from scratch, haha) and use rainbow vanilla icing. I had found some super cute wrappers and little flags a few weeks ago at TJ Maxx that I knew I just had to use for his birthday. The flags had little tractors on them! Couldn't get any better than that for my country farm boy. He liked them too, I could tell. 

Today is also my bestest best friend's birthday. She lives in Austin TX now so we don't get to see each other very often. However, we talk every single day. I miss her terribly but I'm so glad that even with the distance between us we have stayed such good friends. She is my soul twin. Love you, Katie!