English Trifle for dessert!

Here I am, a 29 year old, writing this blog My parents and I celebrated my birthday a couple of ways. Since we were giving a chamber recital the Sunday after my birthday, we needed to have the dress rehearsal on the day of my birthday, Thursday. A couple of the fantastic musicians involved in the recital came over to join us for some cake!

The lovely and unusual cake from Paradise Bakery - honey and hazelnut

That evening we went to dinner at a Scottish restaurant called Tam O’Shanter Inn on recommendation of our friend Darryl – we had a great time!

Posing after dinner next to the Fraser clan tartans displayed on the wall

Sunday’s chamber recital went really well, we had an enthusiastic crowd and a fun mix of music. Here are a few pictures from the event:

Baroque chamber piece using the lovely harpsichord in the corner.

The big cahuna of the afternoon, the Mozart octet Serenade #12 in C minor.

Posing after a successful musical afternoon!

The baby was doing somersaults while they were trying to take the picture!

We are planning to register at Babies R Us, Right Start, and Diapers.com. Look forward to more updates in the coming months!

Our landlady had a lot of work done to the front yard over the July 4th weekend, so we now have two parking spaces and a large grass area.

Lovely new front yard

Steven made it back safely from NYC, and brought me some beautiful earrings for our anniversary!

Five year wedding anniversary!

Steven’s mom and I did a lot of running around. We spent some time in lovely Pacific Palisades:

View from the bluff of the Pacific ocean, beach, and cliffs of Pacific Palisades

Another day was spent being pampered, me with a massage and Mom S with a trip to the hyperbaric chamber!

Hyperbaric Chamber fully inflated

She's in there somewhere!

We were also thrilled to see Jessi for a brief visit!

We love Jessi!

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Happy Mother's Day in Santa Barbara!

Steven’s parents left today after a nice visit with us in Glendale. They attended a concert I performed last weekend with the Rio Hondo Symphony, playing principal on Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Steven and his mom went to Descanso Gardens to look at the new blooms, and the doggies enjoyed having each other to play with. This past weekend we took Mom up to Santa Barbara and Solvang to look at the cuteness and do some wine tasting at local vineyards. It was a lovely weekend and I hope she had a great mother’s day trip.

Here are some pictures of the past two weeks – thanks for a great visit!

Apollo and Fresco sleeping on opposite sides of the couch after a long day of playing.

Mom and Dad S at Rideau Vineyards

Victoria and the puppies hanging out on the beautiful porch at Rideau

Dad and Steven tasting wines at Rideau

You can barely see Dad S waving from the top of the Santa Barbara Courthouse

Ella and Apollo looking at the birds outside

Steven and I took a quick weekend trip to Palm Springs with Apollo to spend some time together before Steven left for a business conference in Las Vegas for the week. Read more…

We were very grateful to be invited over for Easter dinner by the Jamisons, a family from church. My contribution was a lemon layer cake with lemon curd in between the layers. Read more…