Nifty, Nifty, Tiffy's Fifty!

 

I took yesterday (and today) off of work, but I didn't get to sleep in, because I had to drive to the Kohler Water Spa, which is two hours away. Tiffy was waiting there for me, and we got to use all the fun pools in the spa, like the grotto with a waterfall, the hot tub on the top floor under the skylights, and the hot tub and cold plunge pool you are supposed to use in conjunction with the steam and dry saunas in a detailed manner (five minutes in this one, three minutes in this other one, etc.), but we just kind of went in the right order for as long as we felt like it. And let me tell you, we didn't feel like spending more than about ten seconds in the cold plunge pool! Then we had lunch in our terry robes, and I had chocolate tea - so good! After lunch we had our treatments; I had the Lavender Rain treatment, which is a pretty good description of what it was, and Tiffy had something with a light show and even more water. Hers was longer than mine, so I went to the top floor and prayed the rosary up there, under the skylights and beside a lot of very happy-looking plants. I do have to say that the music at spas kind of annoys me. Sometimes they play actual Asian or Native American music, and that's fine, but then they will play that New Age piano music or Fibonacci Sequence chimes, and that's just boring. Not awful, just kind of tedious.

Then we went to our college friend's mother's house, and a fourth friend joined us for dinner. We wanted to go to a wacky supper club in Kiel, with Liberace's old piano and a bunch of doilies everywhere, but it had gone out of business, so we went to one in Chilton instead. Then we went back to the house, and they had gotten Tiffy a cake and put those relighting candles on it. The cake had thick and very brightly colored frosting, and the candles fizzled and sunk into it, so it was kind of a chore to dig them out. Here is a picture of part of the cake so you can get an idea.

Sorry that it's sideways - when I turned it, Blogspot refused to acknowledge its existence, so I had to post the original image. Anyway, we ate way too much of this neon cake that would probably glow under blacklight, and we stayed up late talking to our college friend, her brother, and her mother, and playing with her dog Pluto. Pluto is some kind of terrier mix, and he has so much energy. He also recently celebrated his first birthday, and our friend did give him some frosting, but not cake, since it's chocolate. Then he was on a sugar high and was really energetic. Tiffy and I probably burned off some of that cake playing with him.

This morning Tiffy and I drove back to Madison, and I gave her Present #2: a chocolate puzzle.

We each tried a piece, so it can't be put together again in its entirety. I got the milk chocolate version, thinking Tiffy didn't like dark chocolate, but she says she likes all real chocolate, just not white chocolate. (In case you are wondering what Present #1 was, it was a compilation I made of our travel adventures together. I gave it to her yesterday, on her actual birthday.)

After that, we had shrimp curry at the Globe, then we hung out at the Union Terrace and, yes, got ice cream. Not long after we got back to her sister's apartment, her parents arrived. Tiffy is actually staying in a guest suite at the apartment building, which is very cute. We checked it out before she had to go get ready for her birthday dinner with her parents at Samba. Happy birthday, Tiffy! Don't think of it as "over the hill" - think of it as having a better view!

Famous Hat