Weekend in Review - Dan's Birthday - (new recipe too)

It was quite a full weekend!! 

On Thursday after work my mom took me to get my birthday present from her - a new pair of tennis shoes.  I really needed a new pair now that I'm trying to work out more (hopefully a post about that at some point)

I love them a lot... they feel good on my feet (so far) - and the picture doesn't do the color of the laces justice - they are much more vibrant in person... and they make my feet look smaller - score!

On Friday I woke up and worked out and then headed over to Dan's.  We then headed over to Gateway Race Track for his birthday present - getting to drive a Lamborghini around 3 laps of their road track.  I bought him a Living Social deal, otherwise I think it would have been way too much to be worth it.  He got to choose which car to drive (there was four options).

It was really cold out (luckily they had an indoor observation deck) and I was able to get some pictures (they have packages you can get with real professional pictures)  I think he had a lot of fun... although I think he was too small for the Lambo.

trust me, it's Dan

I have a video of him driving too... very exciting I'm sure

After he finished his driving experience we went grocery shopping for the party the next day.  The rest of that night we relaxed and I began to cook things for the party - the cupcakes and the jello shots.

I decided to make two kinds of jello shots - one of Dan's choosing (which was grape since he likes grape drinks).

That one I followed a recipe online
2 cups boiling water
2 3-oz grape jello packets
1.5 cups of grape vodka (I used 3 olives purple)
1/2 cup cold water

And I made strawberry lemonade since Liz requested strawberry or lemon... so combined (even if she didn't have any of them)... they were REALLY good... I invented my own recipe for this one...
2 cups boiling water
2 3-oz strawberry jello packets
1 1/4 cups lemon vodka (I used skky I believe)
1 cup lemonade

I also added a slice of strawberry to each shot for fun.

I didn't have any of the grape shots, but the strawberry lemonade were really great!!  I heard the grape ones were stronger, but that would make sense since there is more vodka in those already.

On Saturday, I prepped some more food and then we packed up and headed out for the day.  First, we stopped by my mom's house so Dan should look at a light in the kitchen that stopped working.  He was able to fix it (he's so handy!!)

Then we headed over to my aunt and uncle's where the party was.  My cousin secured the house for us (my aunt and uncle gamble a lot at the casino and have free credits for the hotel... it's super nice of them to let us use their house.)  I finished prepping some food and then started drinking and hanging out.  It was so much fun that night.  We were going to have a party for Dan and Liz (since they have the same birthday) but I guess it mostly ended up being a party for Dan.  A lot of people came and everyone seemed to be having a very good time.  I know I had a lot of fun.

I made some food - I made the jello shots, cupcakes (yellow cake with chocolate icing), sausage dip, taco dip (sour cream, two packets of taco seasoning and shredded cheese), and little smokeys.  Dan also made tri-tip and chicken wings and Andy made sausages.  All the food seemed to go over real well.

I really enjoyed the party - I love this time of year when you can sit outside on the porch and just hang out and have a beer... love!

On Sunday, my dad gave us some amazing free tickets to the Blue's game... check out how close we were to the ice

Too bad the Blues lost to the Blackhawks and they didn't even score... boo... but it was fun.  I would say the crowd was at least a third Blackhawks fans...

Sunday afternoon we were just worn out!  We lounged around and took a nap... but the weekend was pretty amazing - just one of those great weekends where you hang out with great people and have a great time.

Already looking forward to the next weekend!