Birthday and Putt Putt

I'm late on posting this, but on Good Friday, a group of friends and I celebrated Shana's birthday. It was her 29th (*gasp!* I'm posting the truth on the Interwebz for all to see!!!)  birthday! We met at La Hacienda de los Barrios to scarf down some Mexican food and margaritas. Here's me and the birthday girl:

 Shana's favorite dessert is brownies and ice cream. Let me interject here to tell a (relatively) short story. A few months ago, Jason, my brother-in-law Brandon and me visited Shana for a weekend. I thought I'd be a good friend and bring homemade brownies. Now, let's just say that these brownies were kinda sorta awesome. I melted chocolate for these brownies. I melted Guiridelli chocolate for these brownies. And you know what? Those brownies were gobbled up by the four of us. So fast forward to now. I ask Shana what kind of cake she wanted me to make for her birthday. She said she really just wanted brownies and ice cream. "Okay", I think, "I can do that". Then she says, "just make the box brownies. They taste the same anyway".

What? WHAT? Did my friend just insult my baking? "They're just easier", she explains.

 I enjoy baking and I like the process, so I don't mind making things from scratch. But I complied with my friend's birthday request. I bought a box of brownies that specifically called for a 13in x 9in pan. Now here's where the story gets interesting:

I got home after a long shopping trip and got the mix out. It called for vegetable oil. Oh crap. I didn't have any vegetable oil. I only had olive oil. Wait......olives are a vegetable, right? Olive oil should work. It will taste fine. I think.

So I made the brownies with olive oil. The batter tasted a little off, but I wasn't sure if it was just me. I baked those suckers and set them out to cool. Then I notice that they look flat. At this point, I have to be at La Hacienda in a few hours. I don't want to leave. I don't want to do anything. So I don't. I took those sprinkle-laden, olive oil filled brownies to the birthday girl along with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. My mistake was informing Shana of my mishap before she actually ate any. Oh well! That's what she gets for making me make BOX BROWNIES! So here we are lighting the flat brownie:

Do you see how much glass there is over the brownie? Seriously, I was embarrassed to even admit I made it. I made up for it by making her blow out all 29 friggin' candles. Ha!

Dinner was great and no one even complained or turned away the olive oil brownies smothered in vanilla ice cream. Jason and I stopped to take an obligatory photo:

We got a shot of the entire group before embarking to putt putt. We lost a few people on the way. Something about being tired and crabby and working was said, but I chose not to listen to such conversation.

After losing a few people, we were down to eight, making two teams. Here's team RASH (or Robbie, Adam, Shana and Jason. Nope, I have no idea how that spells rash.):

If it helps, the dude being sensual with the putter made it up. Here's team JSBD: Jason, Stephanie, Brandon and Devona. So we may not make up a word, but at least we know what we stand for!

Here's what a 6'8" husband looks like holding the longest putter possible:

Surprisingly, it fit him better than expected. My camera's wide angle lens, however, did not fit him as well as expected.

After 18 holes, I lost by some ridiculous amount. I kinda suck at putt putt, but at least I didn't lose my ball in the water. That would have been worse. Here's Shana with her boyfriend, Adam. Aren't they cute?

And here is my evidence of spousal abuse. I do believe that a putter counts as a weapon!

After smacking him into his place, Jason and I took a lovely picture together:

Happy birthday Shana!