A Hodgepodge By Any Other Name...

Welcome to June and this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go... 

1. What do birthdays look like in your house? How are they celebrated? Any special traditions? What about birthdays growing up? 

If you've followed me for any length of time then you know I love celebrating birthdays, especially my own. True story. 

I also like to make the day special for my girls, my grands, and my hubs when their birthdays roll around. There will definitely be cake (or sometimes pie for the hubs) and I'm a fan of balloons to make things festive so there will always be balloons. 

And definitely a birthday card because I still love to write wishes inside a card. I also like to make a favorite or special meal if I'm celebrating with family in person. 

I love a theme and hosted many a themed birthday party for my girls when they were growing up. We enjoyed coming up with the theme and then adding lots of detail to make it happen. 

Oh and my favorite birthday parties are home parties with a made from scratch cake. A venue now and then is okay, but I love the coziness of a home party.  The big thing for me and birthdays, my own or someone else's, is I want the celebrant to feel like they were thought about ahead of their special day. 

As far as tradition goes, hubs always gets me a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a chocolate ganache on top. 

Growing up I had birthday parties some years and others it was just family. My mom always made me a German Chocolate cake which is still a favorite. I remember feeling loved and special on my birthday which is how I want everyone to feel on their birthday. 

2. Someone is sending you a dozen roses...what color are you hoping for? Are you someone who gets accused of seeing the world through rose colored glasses? Is your accuser correct? Elaborate. 

If hubs is sending me roses they're most likely yellow as those have always been one of my favorites. I also really love the roses that are a little bit pink and a little bit peach. I think they're called Tiffany. 

I've often been told I wear rose colored glasses to see the world, but I'm okay with that. I'm a total optimist and I own that. Do I know the world isn't always rosy? Absolutely. But I'm always going to be the person looking for the silver lining, the bright spot, the rose amidst the thorns.  

3. June 4th is National Cheese Day...will you celebrate? What's something (besides a burger) you make in the summer months that calls for cheese? 

Since cheese is a favorite here I have it in some form most days. In the summer months my favorite is probably a Caprese salad with vine ripened tomatoes, basil from my garden, and sliced mozzarella with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic glaze. 

4. 'tis the season...any weddings on your June calendar? What's the first word that comes to mind when I say marriage? 

We have just one wedding on the summer calendar and it happens to be in June. I love weddings and look forward to celebrating newly marrieds. 

The first word that comes to mind when I hear the word marriage? Trust. 

5. What are you most looking forward to this June? 

We have a lot on the June calendar to look forward to including the above mentioned wedding, catching up with friends we haven't seen in several years en route to said wedding, my daughter's birthday, a grandson's third birthday, our anniversary, Father's Day and celebrating all the wonderful dads in our family, and of course lake time. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Have you watched the short documentary film on Netflix called The Quilters? If not I recommend. It's the story of prisoners who learn to quilt and then go on to make quilts for children in foster care, autistic children, and others. It's only about thirty minutes long, too short actually because you want to know more...definitely worth viewing.