alypalooza!! . . . continued

Don't think just because the day is over the celebration is over, cuz that's not how we do it in this family.
We draw the party out, over days and weeks,
so AlyPalooza is still in full effect!!!

I had such a blast this weekend, so I want to tell you all about it!

First off I painted my nails for the big day.

Then I spent most of Saturday baking this amazingly delicious cake.

 I've never made something chocolatey from scratch before (other than frosting)
I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, an amazingly great recipe blog, that you have to check out, I have a never-ending list of her recipes I want to try out!

There were tons of ingredients I had to get, but in the end it was %100 worth it.  This is hands down the best cake I've ever made. So moist, so flavorful, so good in fact . . .

that I couldn't even get a picture of it before it was attacked!

It's the Double Chocolate Layer cake, with Chocolate Ganache and a Raspberry/Strawberry filling.  I strayed from the filling recipe just a bit, I don't have a food processor or any sort of blending device so I chopped up the berries added some sugar and let them sit to macerate in their own juices, then cooked them down (so I could eat them without going to the hospital). I also added strawberries to the raspberries, because they're delicious, and it's my birthday so I can do whatever I want.

 We had a couple friends over Saturday night and it was wonderful 

(thank you for coming over, you made my day!).

After a night of alcohol and cake (don't worry mom and dad, we stayed classy), I thought Sunday was going to be a wash. Just a sleep in and watch t.v. day.

But then The Man surprised me!

We went to the Davis Movie Theater to see The Avengers!!!

It was so great!

We haven't been out to see a movie since Alice in Wonderland (yeah, like March 2010, that long). So it was quite a surprise when The Man told me what we were doing.

The Davis is a great theater, no bells and whistles, and just $5.75 to see a movie before 6pm (around $8 after). When the movie got out we took a stroll through Lincoln Square to check it out, becaaauuuse . . . 

We're moving!!!!

To Lincoln Square!!!

YAY!

(but I'll tell you more about that later)