Today is Melissa’s birthday – yay! Everyone should send her a happy birthday email. I got a real, bona-fide, snail-mail card from her the other day! It is awesome to get real mail. Especially from awesome people. :-) So Melissa sent me a card, and I didn’t send her a birthday card. :-( August kind of snuck up on me this year. That’s the problem with birthdays at the beginning of the month – they sneak up on you. Oh well, Melissa is awesome and I know she’ll forgive me. :-)

I’m getting ready for my first overnight guests! (My family doesn’t count) Frankie and Anna are stopping by on their way up from Florida tomorrow. I’m excited to see them! And I can’t wait to show Anna my prom dress, which was the exact same pattern as her bridesmaid’s dresses! :-) She has good taste. ;-) Mine is almost the right color, too – just a tad bit darker green. So yeah, it’s fun to have guests. I went out and bought a second set of sheets for my bed. I figured having two sets will come in handy, and it would also be good to get something a little less feminine than purple flowers. It took me a long time to find the perfectly matching color (because, well, you know me) but I think I got it.

I’ve also had some dinner guests recently – some old friends came over on Sunday and we had Peruvian cuisine – lomo saltado. Mmmm! I’d never made it before but Susan isn’t afraid of the stove like I am, and it turned out really good. I wanted to get some chicha (sacred Inca drink made from purple corn) or Inca Kola (Peruvian soda that’s bright yellow and tastes like bubble gum), but we settled with water. It was fun to have people over and fun to cook Peruvian. I have five recipes now; anyone want to invite themselves over so I have someone to cook for?

Well I have to go get my laundry and make a trip to the grocery store for sustenance. I have to make sure I have some Coke on hand – and anyone who knows Anna (Hampton) Jackson will understand why!