This year was particularly exciting, because I got the news of the century: I, CAROLINE JANE, AM NOT ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH! This is big, ladies and gentlemen. The long story short is I was misdiagnosed as a kid due to a concurrent infection, which was then blamed on sweet, perfect shellies. 14 years later as doubt crept in, I got the name of an amazing immunologist in town who did the testing and confirmed my suspicions...I have been AVOIDING my favorite food for the better part of my life. All my culinary adventures have been cut short, until now. I may just have to become a food critic in celebration.
Some of my first sweet shrimps back on the wagon. I ate an entire cocktail ring from the grocery store for lunch one day. Yes, my need for these little protein packed creatures was this strong.
My mom's birthday is the 6th, and between a finicky car that had to go to the shop (which meant no ride for work...) and wanting to show her a lovely time, I was on my feet in the kitchen from noon to 6:30pm! I always get in over my head with cooking celebrations.
Food prep fun. I made spinach puffs, roasted green beans and shallots, roasted lemon potatoes (who didn't make the photo cut), and a strawberry-peach crumble. Effort well spent!
Blowing out the candles with baby Evelyn in tow.
A close up on the newest Kittrel clan babe, Evelyn Diane. She is a sweet and very content little babe, with big brown eyes that look awfully wise for her three months of life.
It's pretty hard to get a good shot of all the grand kids together, lots of feelings from seven small children and all. Despite Owen being rather blurry here, I think this is the best we did for the 6th.
Saturday night was Luminaria, a fun festival of lights in San Antonio in the Hemisfair Park area. My friend Haley's dog Boone is generally the star of the show in public spaces. He is a beautiful Great Pyrenese with a perfectly sweet temperament, hard NOT to love him.
A large light sculpture in the center of the Luminaria walk...I dubbed it "The Ojo".
Boone dog cuddling on Haley's lap.
I celebrated my 25th birthday just a week after Mom's and it feels like a big milestone somehow. I know the only real difference is I can rent a car- but I've been doing that with Zipcar's help for a few years now. Mom got tickets for "Wicked" for that evening, however we discovered they were actually for 2014... ended up having family dinner again, then out to drinks with a great group of friends at my new favorite San Antonio bar 1919. Daniel was off on spring break so we got to go out as big kid siblings for the first time!
Sweet baby Berkley housing a cupcake from Bird Bakery...she is generally topless for mealtime for this express reason. Love that sweet face!!
Beautiful birthday flowers from a sweet friend. One of the prettiest and fragrant arrangements I've seen in a while.
Big D and me!! I look kind of crazy in this picture, but whatevs. We had so much fun that night!
Bar 1919's housemade infusions...there's a sweet potato/cinammon bourbon, cilantro something, strawberry rum, and lavender whiskey. Tasted all but strawberry and they are beyond fantastic.
As part of my participation at Camp Capers for the Diocese of West Texas, I did a little presentation/spoke at my home church to encourage families to participate in our camping programs. Its funny how nervous I get speaking in public; people assume since I have significant acting training I should be able to pull it off flawlessly. But I am capital T, Terrified of being myself for a big group...all alone. My autonomic nervous system kicks in: hot, sweating, heart rate jumps up. It's bananas! Still went fairly well and I had a few people approach me asking for more information, which was the goal!! Our church does not have many youth who participate in the church culture, so even one recruit for this summer season would be a blessing.
Right after my big speech, I drove up to Austin to spend some time with my two besties Carlyn and Marie Louise. We went Ziplining at Lake Travis Zipline Adventures. So much fun, and what a rush! We made reservations at Clark's Oyster Bar to celebrate my big 2-5, but were rather pressed for time after our big adventure...ended up fine dining in our T-shirts. :) Spent the evening after getting home prepping my taxes for a few hours...oh, joy. Better to get it done early on though.
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Looking good in helmets and harnesses. Carlyn is left and Marie Louise is right.
My scaredy-cat little butt taking off on the line.
What most of the afternoon consisted of: being silly and generally disturbing the rest of our rather quiet group. Gotta love a motley crew!
My first oysters at Clarks...so good we ordered a second round of appetizers!
One amazing lobster roll, the most generous meat to bread ratio... I'm NOT complaining!
After finalizing the summer staff on Tuesday, the staff retreat was Friday night out at Camp. SO wonderful to finally have my staff together in one place with minimal missing attendance. Got some paperwork done, played fun games, and did a general meet and greet/let's get excited about camp. Just a little overnight action, then back to San Antonio for one more night in town...
And now, after much ado, I'm finally off to Arkansas to begin rehearsals for Next to Normal. I feel like this has been such a long time coming, having known about the show since early November. The show is so incredible, moving, funny, smart, with great music and a star studded cast to boot...I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of this production.
Josiah's 1st birthday!! So glad we got to stay in town the extra half day before the big drive to Arkansas to help celebrate with the fam.
My first Birchbox! Check out the website to learn more, such a fun concept! Glad it came in before my departure.
I'll be sure to write about Fayetteville once I get my feet wet! Lots of love and spring sunshine to you all!
