a cakestand, a suitcase, and free flowers

I got a cake stand for my birthday . . . isn't it pretty? Rachel has an uncanny ability to get you the gift you've been longing for for years - - and she usually ups it a notch too - - choosing, for example, a cake stand ten times classier than the one you yourself had imagined:
Malachai and I went to the trastero ( our 10x10 storage room down in the garage) yesterday to pull out one more suitcase, and on our way we saw these geraniums that one of our neighbors had thrown down onto the sidewalk - - cleaning out the shabby ones, I guess. They weren't too shabby for us, though (we're easy to please); we picked them right up and stuck them on on our table. We don't need them to last too long anyways;
just a couple of days . . .
Tuesday we drive to Madrid to fly to Dallas

you know how on the Iron chef, when the panel of judges taste the contestant's culinary creations, and the princess of Japan says things like "oooooohhhh! this is so exquisite - - like a rainbow exploding into a million dazzling pieces in my mouth!"
and then you (the show viewer) just kind of snort and snicker, and roll your eyes that anyone could possibly talk that way about
food . . .

well, it happened to me.
yep, here - - all night long Joshua and I were saying absurd things like - - "this is so good, I feel like I am going to cry!" and "the combination of textures is unexpected and masterfully juxtaposed" and "the flavor is so deep and complex, and yet so clean!" . . .

Really - - the food was that good.
the best part, though, was Joshua - - and me - - and Joshua and me married for NINE YEARS!
it gets better every year, baby.

something you need to know . . .

if you want to be a two year old with any social standing whatsoever in our local park, it is necessary - - absolutely necessary to own one of these little plastic motorcycles (called motos); everyone who is anyone has one.
if your parents don't want to dish out the fifty bucks to buy you your own moto, make sure that you know someone who does own one (in this plaza it tends to be the lovely little Jaquelyn); stand next to it, eying it wistfully and reaching out a longing hand towards it until the mother of the moto-blessed friend pushes it towards you and urges you to get on and do a little loop.

because teeth should be celebrated:

this post is dedicated to Selma.

and her new teeth.