Birthday Party, Vegan Kefir, Chocolate Snowballs, About Me

How has your Monday been flowing?  Mine has flowed quite frantically, actually.  I went to yoga this morning, and got my heated power flow going.   And I've been busy with this and that, phone calls, errands, lots of cooking and kitchen time, and of course taking care of the Birthday Girl (her official birthday date is tomorrow Tuesday, Feb 2) and she will officially be 3!!!  What have you been up to?  How was your weekend?  Anyone get snowed in?  Hopefully you're safe and sound and warm!

Thank you for the overwhelming and awesome feedback regarding the Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Some were All White with Chocolate PB Centers
And Some were White and Dark Chocolate Outers with Chocolate PB Centers


Thank you also for the feedback about What You're Doing For Valentine's Day and also What Kind of Gift You'd Like to Receive in the Mail.  Lots of you said my homemade goodies would be very welcome, so that was really sweet to hear....Muah!!! Thank You for Your Kind Words!!

And thanks for the compliments about my cutie pie and for the Happy Birthday Wishes For Her!
As promised, here are more pictures of the big party we had for the three of us...haha!  Sometimes smaller is better.  Not often, but it does happen.

I strategically placed decked the house out in pink steamers

Got the Tables Set:
Big Person's Table
Skylar's Table
Complete with Kazoo, Hat, and Place Card for all
The Gift Stash included raiding the Target One Dollar Bins.  Everything here was a buck each! 
First a $1 Dollar Tutu, a $1 bracelet, and beads.  Perfect!
And some socks, books, hairbrush, complete with Princess Card & Gift Bag.
A forgotten about Christmas Gift for Bitty Baby.   I wonder if these Twins started wearing their baking outfits at a young age?
And I wrapped it all Up in a Princess Bag
And then My Princess Came Home and Was Pleasantly Surprised!
 She loved her new books!
 She wasted no time organizing & meticulously straightening her loot. Wonder who she gets her compulsive organizational tendencies from?
The Ballerina Tutu Goes On and Dancing Begins!
Is she carrying herself like a natural Ballerina or am I just a primadona stage mother?
Definitely Not a Stage Mother:  Just A Grateful & Blessed Mother
 And Happy...
...for the mutual adoration this little girl and I have for each other!
The ironic thing that I mentioned yesterday is that she's never had a cupcake.  Maybe Barney tipped her off that they exist! 
This is My Favorite Photo of the Day of Her:  When we were singing Happy Birthday to Her.  I love this picture because she genuninely appears to be blown away with happiness and wonderment that all this Was For Her!
While holding Daddy's Hand and Grinning Ear to Ear
We laughed and she ate cupcakes.  And if I didn't react to dairy like I do, you better believe that the buttercream frosting looked so stick-your-finger-in-it-and-start-lickin' good!
And We Mutually Adored some more
 ....tons of Sugar Snap Peas with homemade Vegan Slaw Dressing

Today I was Hard at Work in the Kitchen after yoga.  I made Vegan Fudge, which is setting up now and I will post it later this week.  But in making the vegan fudge, I had about 3/4th's of a can of coconut milk leftover, so I made Vegan Coconut Milk Kefir with it.  I have posted about this before both Here and Here. 

Today I simply took the opened can of coconut milk (I used TJ's Light), poured it into a glass jar and added about 3/4 cup of water to it.
Added the Starter
Stirred.  Don't use metal utensils, the bacteria don't like metal.
And am letting nature's friendly bacteria go to work for me on my countertop for the next 18 hours.  I wish something or someone other than bacteria would go to work for me but hey, I'll take what I can get.  Need info on vegan or water kefir grains or starter?  Here or Here.  I sometimes get mine from this place.
Today after yoga I also made
Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs
Yes, it was time for a fresh batch for Scott.
Some of you have written that you're having issues with them forming into balls...just add more maple syrup and/or coconut oil.  Don't be scared of the liquid, the coconut flakes and the cocoa powder will absorb it.  Hope that helps those who have written in!  These are Scott's Dessert Love.
My Dessert Love was a few Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups!
Yoga Today is a Side Crane, aka Parsva Bakasana.
For those of you who are regular readers, you know I'm a yoga teacher and have been since 2001.  I am frequently asked how to do this pose.

The easiest explanation I can offer is:
Squat down with your feet close together.
Then point your knees all the way to one direction, let's say the right hand side.
Make a table with your arms, and lean forward and up onto the back of your arms.  
The pose is much more about center of gravity and weight distribution than it is about strength.  Core strength, in this pose and in all of yoga, is fundamental, but once that's established, just try to find the Sweet Spot, so you can lift your crane off the ground.  Hopefully that explanation helps a bit!

Here's Another Angle. Just have fun and you'll get there! 

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Two Questions:
Well, first is a request.  For the bloggers who use word verification on your comment forms, please consider and re-evaluate if this is something  you believe is really useful.  I don't use word verification and get a fairly decent number of comments on my posts.  I would say I get, maybe 2 spam comments per month, maybe.  I really don't believe word verification does anything other than slow down the commenting process for 99.9% of your commenters.  If you are on auto-pilot with that one, like you signed up for it ages ago and never took it off, please consider taking it off.  Sometimes I have to re-key words two and three times and it takes up precious time.  If you feel it really serves a purpose and you want to keep it, then I can respect that, too!

Next, is there something about me you'd like to know that I haven't blogged about?  I was thinking about creating and "About Me" Tab and am not sure what it is About Me that you'd want to know....haha!  I get a lot of private emails asking me all kinds of things, some of which are completely inappropriate, so please, keep it tasteful, clean, and respectful, my friends, but I may do either an About Me Section or a Reader's Ask and I Answer type of post.   And if no one care's a rat's bootay "about me", I can totally & completely understand that too!  ha!

Last Question:
At what age do  you think celebrating a birthday with a big party and gifts and the whole she-bang is played out and one should tone it down a little?  Age 12?  18?  21?  25?  30?  88?   Or, You're never to old to have a huge she-bang!  How old were you when you had your last amazing birthday party or celebration?  I was 24, living on the beach in NC with Scott, we did sunset yoga on the beach, he had a cake made with hot pink and purple frosting, we stayed up all night drinking wine, swimming in the ocean and laughing and having a ball.  So when was your last amazing birthday party or celebration?

Stay Tuned For Oats...