Happy Birthday Grandma!

let me tell ya - she is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside!

My fellow food lover!

I simply love the joy on her face here.

It's my Grandma's birthday today! She is 80 years old (sorry Grams I hope it's okay that I share this with the blogosphere). You'd never know it though - she has aged so gracefully and is sharper mentally than I am a lot of times!

I thank my lucky stars that I get to have a woman like her in my life. At 80 she is still so full of life, love and curiosity. I love that I can have a serious conversation with her or be a silly goofball with her. I love that when my sister and I were growing up, she would sing songs like "I'm a lonely little petunia in the onion patch" on car rides with us. I love that she once spent an ENTIRE day making family Sushi recipes with me the old-fashioned way. I love that she collects pebbles from different corners of the world and has them labeled in a beautiful display case in her bedroom. I love that I can't find a single picture of her anywhere without my grandpa by her side - those two are soul mates I tell ya. I love that she could stay up until 5 am playing Shanghai. I love that we get to cook together on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love that whenever I am home in San Diego, I can call 15 minutes before I arrive and she is always ready to hang out and feed me :). I love the way she values family. I love the way she finds beauty all around her. I simply love this woman's spirit and I hope to goodness I am lucky enough to inherit even a little bit of it.

Happy Birthday Grandma!