I never promised you a rose garden :)

Picture heavy post coming up!  We had huge thunderstorms roll through in the middle of the night, but they stopped early in the morning, so we were still able to bike to breakfast to start the birthday festival.  Stopped at the Chocolate Mill for breakfast.

This place sells chocolate (duh), but also does breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We decided to split the Orange Walnut French Toast:

Wow.  Just wow.  House made brioche with some sort of walnut paste in the middle.  I cannot imagine eating the whole thing by myself!  Glad we split it.

Glens Falls is doing an Adirondack chair art thing, similar to the Chicago cows and the Colorado horses.  Here is one of the painted chairs around town:

I’ll show different chairs as the summer goes by.  They are neat!

After a farmers market shop and biking home, we packed up a picnic lunch to head out to Yaddo Gardens in Saratoga.  You probably have guessed that I love flowers, and roses happen to be my favorite.  Luckily with the warm weather we have had, the roses were blooming well!  Yaddo is an artist community, but only the gardens are open to the public.



I was just so happy here.  I told John I wanted a pergola like this.

We packed a picnic lunch and sat in the shade.  I brought along my BBQ chicken salad!

Then we looked at more of Yaddo:

Such a beautiful place and a wonderful birthday!

Dinner time was at GG Mama’s in Glens Falls.  This place is a little eclectic and the menu changes weekly.  There are a variety of cuisines all intertwined.  I got the Dum Aloo, which is chickpeas and spinach in a tomato curry sauce, served with Puerto Rican rice and beans, with fried banana pieces on top:

Must recreate at home asap!

John had talapia with an olive, caper, garlic and tomato tapenade:

Delicious food!

Dessert at home with family and the cupcakes with a cooked frosting poured on top:

It’s like a cupcake covered with a praline.  Love!  Sugar overload, though.  I had more than one 😀

Lots of laughter:

Pixie wanting my present (above buddha in the box):

And a shot of my new PC notebook!

A wonderful day was had.  Pictures do not do it justice 😀

25 thoughts on “I never promised you a rose garden :)

  1. debby

    Just came over to make sure you had a happy happy birthday. So glad you did. Pics are marvelous–the peonies are my dream flowers.

    Cupcakes look fantabulous. But can I just say, that birthday dinner? I’m not feeling it. How many kinds of beans in one meal??? Just kidding around, laughing at myself. I love your short hair, Lori.
    .-= debby´s last blog ..Salad Season has Officially Arrived! =-.

    1. Lori Post author

      I was surprised at the fact that I liked both beans. Not grainy! The chickpea dish was so good. I said to John that this was a dish I would have turned my nose up at 5 years ago and I ate it with relish last night.

  2. Kathy W.

    Happy birthday, Lori!!

    (I love touring gardens, Indian food, and beans & rice–this would’ve been my kind of day, too!)

  3. Susan

    Happy Belated Birthday! I loved the rose pictures so beautiful! I’m glad you had a great day:)

    I love your new hair do you inspired me to change mine as well its on my blog if you want to see.

    I am glad to see you are mostly recovered your biking is awesome, and you’ll get your running back it just takes some time….

  4. Flo

    Happy Birthday, Lori! Looks like you had a lovely day. I have wondered if you guys ever eat at GG Mama’s. We have only eaten breakfast there. Must make a note to try dinner next trip out.

    1. Lori Post author

      This was our first time there, and I really liked it. I want to try breakfast sometime. We’ll have to meet there 😀

  5. roxie

    Happy birthday, Lori. The pictures might not do it justice, but they do convey how much love and support and fun you have in your life and in your relationships. Of course, I loved the Pixie shot!

    The brioche French toast looks HEAVENLY! As does every other food shot. Yummy!

    Hope the rest of birthday week goes as well.
    .-= roxie´s last blog ..Margheritaville =-.

  6. Kelly

    I have the eeeePC Lori and I love it! It’s small, and portable and mine is red! Happy Birthday! Looks like you had a great time!

  7. Jody - Fit at 52

    Lori, what a wonderful bday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love all those garden pics you shared with us! I am going to share them all with my flower loving friend who is away on business for 2 weeks. Those will cheer her up along with the chair pic AND of course that oh so cute Pixie pic!

    So glad you had such an awesome celebration!!!!!!!!!!! Cool on that PC gift!
    .-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..Fighting Fear =-.

  8. Shelley B

    Love the picture of you laughing – glad you had such a wonderful birthday!!! The gardens are gorgeous and I love that pergola as well! Your flower shots are so pretty – do you ever make cards from them, like on Shutterfly?

    The chair project is very cool. We did trains around here a few years ago (Bush #1 is a train fan and it tied in with his library) and my workplace is about to start a bench project. I love seeing what the different artists do with the objects. Looking forward to seeing more pics of the chairs this summer!

    Niiiiice new computer! And I love the Buddha statue as well – my grandmother had one in her garden forever – very cool.
    .-= Shelley B´s last blog ..Friday Randomness =-.

  9. Tish

    Happy Birthday Weekend! I loved your pix. My son and daughter -in-law had their wedding pix taken in the Yadoo Gardens (she’s from Saratoga Springs). It was beautiful, even in October.
    .-= Tish´s last blog ..Temptation =-.

  10. Joanne

    Great Birthday weekend! Love birthdays – not the added year on my life 🙁 …just a number right? !!!!
    The flowers are beautiful and that chair! What talent! What a great idea!

    Good food, lots of fun…you must not want this weekend to end. Oh – by the way, I think you sent that rain our way. We are getting dumped on today. But it didn’t ruin our 14mile bike ride to breakfast either.
    .-= Joanne´s last blog ..In the long run =-.

  11. MB

    Happy Belated Birthday! I’m so happy you had a beautiful day. I had a celebratory cocktail in your honor (1st one since before Lent). Cheers!

  12. Cyndall

    Happy Birthday!

    I was so surprised to open up my Shape magazine yesterday and find you in it! I haven’t been reading your blog for very long, but I have quickly become addicted to it, so seeing you in there was like discovering you ‘knew’ a celebrity! I realize I don’t know you, of course, please don’t think I’m a stalker or anything! I was just excited for you!

    Anyways I love reading your blog and I hope you keep on writing for a long time!

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