Birthday & Bed & Breakfast (B&B&B)

In a shocking turn of events, Mindy totally beat me to the punch in blogging about not only her birthday, but Ingy's birthday too!  However, I have been working ridiculous amounts of OT lately (let's just say that I am a PowerPoint PRO at this point), so I feel slightly justified in the fact that I have been MIA.

But, enough is enough.  It's time for me to get back in the blogging game.

Mindy's b-day weekend was spent at a small little B&B in the middle of nowhere, called the Greenhouse Bed and Breakfast.

Green house, indeed.

Mindy had gone there a few years ago and has talked about it ever since. It's just a beautiful old house managed by Mark and Guia. They're focused on local, organic foods made by hand (and HOLY COW was it good).

Seedlings getting their start

I could sit out there all day

For the life of me, I can't remember their dog's name.  But he was incredibly excited to see Mindy's dog, Chloe.  Chloe?  Notsomuch.

Ingy and I wanted to surprise Mindy by booking the "Attic Suite" of the house so we could all sleep in the same room, a la SLEEPOVER!!! It is the only room with its own bathroom (not like we really needed our own bathroom in the middle of the winter in Kempton, IL...there weren't any other guests there!) - little did we know that the bathroom didn't have a door. Good thing we are all sisters!

Tin roof = beautiful

They had their own organic coffee and it was delicious...despite Ingrid's apprehension to make it.

Stairs down to the rest of the house

The bathroom - sans door, but completely blocked from the sight of the rest of the room - no worries ;)

I loved this toilet seat cover

If the lights look familiar, it's because we have them in our front hallway

Since we left after work, we got there around dinnertime and (again) surprised the birthday girl with a homemade birthday dinner, chosen by Ingy and me. Guia and Ingy worked together to finalize the menu and ensure that Mindy would have a delicious meal and special dessert. But I'll let the pictures do the talking this time.

Broccoli bacon salad

Beef stroganoff DROOL

Garlic mashed potatoes from heaven.  I think I ate half this dish alone.

Sisters <3

As if you couldn't tell already, the food was INCREDIBLE (and enough for 6 people).  I don't think I even took pictures of the rest of it.  Needless to say, we needed a break in between dinner and dessert - perfect timing for presents.

Ingrid's beautiful wrap job, as always

An adorable (if I don't say so myself) Pink tote that I was tempted to keep for myself.  But then again,  I'm always tempted to keep the presents I get for Pin.

Mindy sporting Ingy's present - a super sparkly necklace that I wanted to steal

Then came dessert, served by Mark and Guia, cheerfully singing "Happy Birthday." (Love them.)

Molten. Chocolate. Lava. Cake.

Ingy and the desserts

Make a wish!

Full from our 20 lbs. of food, we trudged upstairs where Chloe instantly claimed her place on the bed (that is, until bedtime came and she snored directly in my ear 2 inches from my face all night).

I love this dog.  Really.

We finished out the night by making Ingy watch The Notebook for the first time (I know, we couldn't believe she hadn't seen it, either!).

The next morning, breakfast was ready for us when we woke up.

Fresh flowers

Pancakes and turkey bacon

Breakfast potatoes

Egg casserole

Corn bread

The best fruit I've ever eaten

Chloe entertained us with Circus Dog

...And all too soon, it was time to leave. But that wasn't the end of the birthday weekend - horseback riding was our last activity.

Kankakee State Park has a pretty neat program for horseback riding. We went for a 1 hour tour and survived!

Ingrid and Elvis

The only shot I got of my horse, Cherokee

The birthday girl and her horse (I clearly forgot the name)

...but not without (minor) incident, of course. Ingrid's horse, Elvis, was 29 years old and avoided every single possible obstacle. Fallen tree branch? Elvis would walk around it...through a thorn bush. My horse (Cherokee)? Followed Elvis through the thorn bush. And had a bit of a trotting problem. It would lag behind Ingy's horse and then suddenly start trotting through low-hanging branches and trees, trying to catch up. Pulling on the reigns didn't do much good because it didn't have a bit in its mouth (broken teeth). Mindy's horse? Was trained for shows, and therefore stayed (literally) on my horse's a$$ the whole time. It sounded like Chloe snoring behind me the whole ride.

But all in all, it was a nice, relaxing ride with a few very minor hiccups (that are more amusing than scary, thank goodness).

This birthday weekend will definitely go down in history.  I am so lucky blessed to have my sisters.

[See all the pics here.]