With the month of July comes another year older....the best part is I get to share with my Bestie, Kathy:))  If your a frequent follower, you have read my mentioning Kathy is my Best friend.  We have so much in common it's almost freighting sometimes...

Here is a  picture of Kathy and I exchanging our gifts the day of my birthday, to which was also a large gathering at my home for a clam bake later that day.  The clam bake just happened to be on my bday.  When planning a bake such as a clam bake, you have to have it when the clams are plentiful and at a good price.  This seems to be the week around our birthdays.  Kathy and her family actually were at a clam bake the night before ours, there is a short window of time when planning to have a bake during the summer months.  The early weeks of Fall is also a good time for clam bakes and fresh steamed crabs....gotta get em when the price is right!

It's no secret how much I love chocolate!  I just love these prim boxes I was given as a gift....now I have an excuse to find a new prim shelf to purchase and display them on;))

 My good friend, Linda arrived later in the day with a HUGE Wilbur Dark Chocolate Bar for me.  Wilbur is the local chocolate factory in my hometown of Lititz, Pa and known for it's Wilbur Buds, in my opinion the chocolate is much richer than Hershey's and much more delectable..! I only eat a small block per day of the candy bar, due to it's rich flavor...

I gifted Kathy a Gift Set I hand chose from Olio,  a new business that recently opened in Lititz. I loved this shop of different Olive Oils for bread dipping and cooking with...I also gave her all the fixings for Baking Fresh Bread and serving it....I Even had 5 loafs of pre- made frozen bread for her to bake in a whim...

Disregard the stuff in my garage behind Kathy;)

Kathy and I have much of the same taste in decorating and just about everything, to which it makes life so easy when it comes to finding the right gift...

As the rest of the gang showed up later in the day, I was over whelmed with the thoughtfulness others showed me with Bday gifts.  My friends, Judy and Carrie gave me a basket of homemade Christmas and Easter Ornaments.  Shown above, Mamma Karen (Carrie's mother) gave me the beautiful Prim Fresh Flower Arrangement she made and my Cousin Linda surprised me with a bottle of White Wine and a ceramic crock for salsa or cheese.  

 Whats a Birthday and Gathering without a cake...!!?

I made this Chocolate Cake I Labeled, "Death By Chocolate"

I was planning to give myself a break from baking and purchase a similar cake from a very High End Bakery which sells their awesome sweets to Restaurants.  When I found out the cake was 70.00, I put baking a cake back on to the "to do list"... 

 I made a Chocolate Cake with Ganache in the middle, Chocolate Icing with another layer of Ganache on top and finished off with mini semi sweet morsels...! There was not a crumb left.  I didn't think I was going to have enough cake to go around...;)

We had such a fun time with the clam bake another gathering is already planned in August...this one will be a covered dish with lounging around and in the pool..

When your invited to my home, you make yourself at home!   

Thanks for stopping by...

K