The Outlawz Friday Coloring "At the Beach/Pool" Challenge and Blake's Birthday Card

Ooooh, it is hot here again today. If you live in the Valley of the Sun, you know what I am talking about. Desert heat with the added monsoon--ain't nothin' like it. Egads! Hot, humid, dusty. How fun. Really would love to get away right about now, but that's not in the cards. Soooo...on to today's challenge:

We are sponsored this month by All Dressed Up, the home of really darling stamps! Our randomly-selected participant will win two free digis of his/her choice. Lucky you! Please join us this week. Remember, you can use any coloring medium! We love to see what all you talented peeps out there can create, and this week's theme of beach or pool is a fun one.

This week I am using two different digis for my scene. I made a birthday card for our local-chef friend, Blake, whose birthday is on August 1st. It's nice to be ready in advance for a change! I combined Make It Crafty Tropical Beach and LaLa Land Crafts Summer Luka, printed them on X-Press It Blending Card, and colored them with my Copics:

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, E04, R20

Hair: C5, C7, C9

Swimsuit: Y02, Y04, Y06

Water/Floats/Fins/Goggles: B12, B14, B16

Snorkel: YR12, YR14

Turtle: YG21, YG23, YG25, YR12, YR14

Palm Leaves: YG21, YG23, YG25

Coconuts/Shells/Palm Trunks: E41, E43, E47

Sand: E0000, E30, E40, E42, E43, E50, E70

Sky: B0000, B000

Clouds: C0, C1

I went for a simple design on this, so I only added some Stampin' Up ribbon and Candy Dots. My DP is from the Best Creation Inc. Splash Fun collection,and I paired it with Stampin' Up CS. Hope Blake likes it. 

Gary took me to J&G Steakhouse at the Phoenician for my birthday dinner last Friday. We had marvelous watermelon gazpacho, Au Gratin potatoes, and filet mignon. Then they gave me a birthday dessert, which I selfishly did not share with Gary. It was delicious, and here is a photo of it:

Also, Gary gave me a lovely wine-dinner gift this week. We ate at our only Arizona AAA 5-Diamond restaurant, Kai, on Tuesday. Was it good? Does a bear poo in the woods? Sorry, that wasn't very classy of me, was it? Anyway, we were joined by our friends John and Carol and Bob and Connie. The meal took 4-1/2 hours, a bit longer than it should have. Our wines were OK; I really loved two of the 5 we were served. But the food was spectacular! I even ate the venison! And I hated venison when I grew up in Montana--the wild, gamey taste did nothing for me back then. However, this venison was superb--prepared beautifully, (no gamey flavor, thank goodness), and so tender you didn't even need a knife to cut it! So here are the courses, skipping the Amuse to start the meal--which was foie gras, as well as some other little bits that were delicious, but I have no earthly idea what they were! Forgot to take a photo of that. And pardon my photos--I was trying to take them quickly, so I didn't disturb everyone at our table with the flash. I didn't get the best shots, but oh, well...

1st Course: Citrus Olive Oil Poached Dover Sole, Escabeche of Summer Root Vegetables, Lettuces of Arugula, Grapefruit Buerre, Tobiko Caviar:

2nd Course: Sweet Grass Smoked Squab Breast, Santa Cruz and 60 day Corn Bread, Pickled Cherries, Cafe Dulce Foie Gras, Charred Asparagus: 

Intermezzo palate cleanser. Oh, there were such flavorful layers to this. Of what, I am not sure. But it was sooo good, and definitely cleansed the palate!

Main Course: Mole Adobo Rubbed Venison Tenderloin, Pommes Dauphine, Golden Chantrelles, Sobrasada Emulsion, I'itoi onions:

Dessert:  Light and Dark, Dark Chocolate Sponge Cake, White Chocolate Crumble, Roasted Marcona Almonds & Goats Milk Butter, Wild Strawberries and Huckleberry:

They also did the most unusual thing. They brought out small arrangements of flowers and herbs, and then added liquid nitrogen to them. Really unusual effect!

Also worth mentioning were the breads. Several kinds were given to us. And, if our bread plate was empty, they came by and added more. My fav was a roll with a salted-honey glaze on the top. (You can barely see it on a plate next to my venison course.) Yum, yum, yum. So that was a great deal of fun. The food was paired brilliantly with the wines; the chef made all of the wines taste even better than they actually did without food! Loved the conversation and the atmosphere. If you ever get the chance to dine at Kai, please do. Expect to spend a goodly amount, (including your first-born, just kidding), but it is soooo worth it! 

We stayed overnight at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, which was really a good idea after drinking all of those wines! (Although I never had them refill any of mine!) And our little Donovan had a short staycation at my sister's house. Thank you again, Merrilyn & Ron, for taking care of Don.

Oh, forgot to mention that our daughter, Angela, took me to Vintage 95 in downtown Chandler for brunch this past Sunday for my birthday treat. And, it was a treat! Really yummy food, there, too--salmon wraps, chilaquiles, and shrimp lettuce wraps. My favorite were the scrumptious chilaquiles shown below. Do you think I got enough fabulous food to eat in the past week? Yeah, I think so, too! And now I have to lose weight yet again. Sigh...will I never learn? Apparently not in this lifetime!

I'll leave you with my photo of Blake's card. Do check out the wonderful creations by my talented teammates: Carla, Dawn, and Kathi! And, please join us this week with yours! 

Have a great weekend!