happy birthday sugs!

sug·ar (shoog.er) - slang sweetheart. used as a term of endearment.

sugs - pronounced (shoogs). i can't make that sign about the actual definition and i had to modify it so it wouldn't show up as a blob. sorry beebs.

okay, this is sounding like a foreign language so let me explain. my dear friend brooke has a couple of known nicknames; beebs and blb. after james' birthday party i gave her my nickname, sugar momma. she loves to bake and made all the sweet treats for james and fellow partiers. it was amazing. well, after a while, sugar momma just turned into sugs. and today is sugs birthday! it's a big one.

this is the only picture i can find of the two of us on my computer. please wish sugs a happy birthday.

photo by amurphy

to be honest, i'm a little disappointed that this is the only picture i can find. i know i have more but where are they. this one is a bit dated but you get the point.

anyway, i'm not a huge fan of giving gifts just to give them. i mean, i know everyone loves presents but not if they are random and don't have a meaning. well, that is how i am. hopefully i'm not the only one.

but

i knew that i wanted to get something good for my sweet friend. no pun intended. maybe. but i wanted to get her something she would like. something that would make her smile. something i knew wouldn't require a gift receipt. so, naturally my thoughts went to something for baking. one problem - i don't bake. i know, shame on me. sugs will teach me though so i have hope. regardless, she is one of my dearest friends so i know her stores - jcrew and william sonoma. i can guide myself through jcrew but she almost owns the whole store but i can't go wrong with a gift card. i've done that with great results but i wanted to be more personal this year. i wanted her to feel loved. i wanted to find a way to show her how much our friendship means to me. well, that left me with william sonoma. oh dear. i knew i was in trouble but luckily i have great friends and helped to point me in the right direction. i asked for their help and inturn, got asked a million questions about what i had in mind. finally, we made a decision. nielsen-massey vanilla. sounds boring right? well, apparently this is not just any vanilla. and i'm pretty sure the bottle i bought isn't the typical, run of the mill either.

yes. that is 32 ounces of sugar heaven.

my husband was quick to point out that most vanillas are in nice, glass containers and this was just big. and plastic. it got me nervous too but i tried to hide it and reassured him that this would not matter.

i am used to normal vanilla bottles so i wanted to take a picture for scale.

i'd say that can bake a lot of sweets. i just hope i get to taste test some of them. oh, who am i kidding?! i know i will! i always volunteer for quality control in beebs kitchen.

happy birthday sugs!!!