Where I Spent My Friday Night...

I left work today a little after 2:30.  This is actually normal on Fridays...we work late on Tuesday so that we can roll out right after the buses leave on Fridays.  (Woohoo!)  So, I left work and drove into the city.  And I went here and got this...

  

So that I could get my book signed by and meet this lady....

 

And I thanked her for linking to my shop...

 

She was every bit as gracious and wonderful in person as one would hope that she would be.  And I would like to give a big shout out to Juli for coming with me tonight.  She was sick all week and I am so grateful that she was able to make it.  It was a fantastic evening.  And I didn't say anything crazy or stupid.  I sometimes have a tendency to do that.  But I didn't...and we had a great time.  :)

The Girls plus Andre Evening

{Christy, Molly, Juli, Angie and Beth}

I had a girls night (plus Andre, who was our fabulous chef for the evening) at Molly's tonight. My children were glad to see me go because they knew they were in danger of receiving a smack down. No one seems to know how to flush the toilet in my house (aside from me, Chris and Q...I'll let you figure out who is having trouble remembering). The same culprits do not know how to keep the toothpaste on their toothbrush, in their mouth or in the tube, and not all over the bathroom counter (which I suppose is better than the stair railing). I also believe that when I say, "Watch your brother for a minute while I go to the bathroom/blow dry my hair/get the mail, etc." that they then close their eyes...because twice today bad things happened after I made this request.
1. Quinn colored his legs with a black sharpie. I do not know where the black sharpie came from or why no one took it away from him.
2. He dumped a plate of cheezits on the kitchen floor, danced on them, and they left it there with no attempt to clean up the mess. Then when I came out of the bathroom I asked Casey to sweep them up. She swept the whole pile into the corner of the kitchen and left it there.

So, I was glad to go to Molly's and they were glad to see me go (I don't know this for sure, but I have my suspicions...and maybe not Chris, although he claimed he had enough social-ness this week and couldn't do another social outing). Juli is in town before her summer in Wisconsin and then travels to Seattle. It was (as always) great to see her. Beth joined us this evening, which was a great treat and Christy was also there (this is my once a year visit with Christy). Andre cheffed it up for us tonight with these amazing tomatoes filled with feta cheese, chives, drizzled olive oil and cracked pepper. I think I ate 12 of them. And then these fantastic portobello mushrooms with cheese and oinions, grilled and placed inside a toasted bun. He also grilled some fruit...but I am anti-fruit, so I didn't try it. A round of applause to Andre - for preparing a yummy, yummy meal for us and just being, well, one of the girls tonight.

ps - Please note that in the picture, I did not get the wear dark colors memo. This happens to me all the time. I went to a girls dinner a couple of months ago - everyone (and I am not exaggerating) wore a black top of some sort and me...yeah, I wore white. What can I say? Black just isn't me so much.

One Weekend...Three Years Ago

One weekend, three years ago (next month) I made a weekend trip to Chicago. I flew in Thursday night and home Sunday morning. I kept it simple. While 98% of my family lives there, I stayed with my cousin, Jimmy, (although he prefers James) and had enormous fun. Yes, that is a Fleetwood Mac album (cd, whatever) that I am holding. It was the soundtrack to our weekend. We jammed out everywhere we went to that CD and now whenever I hear Fleetwood Mac (like I did today on the way home) I think of that weekend. And of Jimmy. And of dancing in the car while driving through downtown Chicago. My personal favorite...Second Hand News. I can't get enough of that song.

We went to the little local park and did some swinging. Yes, I have perfect form.

Then we went to a fest and had some sno cones. I do love sno cones.

And then we went to this guy's wedding. My other cousin Jimmy. He married a (wonderful) Polish girl and they had a big Polish wedding. I had never been to a Polish wedding before (nor have I been to one since) and I must say, if you are Polish and getting married, I want to be invited. Oh, such fun! The center pieces on the table....big bottles of vodka surrounded by shot glasses. No, I am not kidding. And there were 300 people there. At least 30 tables. And the dancing...oh, you know how I love a good dance floor!

And so there was this...lots and lots of dancing...and making the dancing face.

I love thinking about this weekend. It was a surprise to my family that I was there (except for my Uncle Dave, who took me out to lunch on Friday while Jimmy was at work). So when they walked into the reception...SURPRISE! It was awesome. I read Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brook that weekend and listened to Fleetwood Mac, nonstop.

A Trip to IKEA and a Mini High School Reunion

For me, today felt like my last day of spring break...even though tomorrow really is.

This morning began with bringing Q to bed with me at 6am while Chris got ready to leave the house to run a 5K in Athens. Q and I were sleeping soundly when the girls came bounding into the room at 8:30 this morning. Argh! And so the day began.

I took the girls for a room shopping trip to IKEA. They, apparently, were very serious about the green and red/black rooms. I thought for sure we would get there and they would revert back to the pink (for Casey) and blue (for Chan) that they have been doing for the past 6 years, but no. They were actually surprisingly good IKEA shoppers. It may have been that I prepared myself for the worst. So we now have dressers and nightstands and wall stickers and lamps that hang from the ceilings and throw pillows...new bedding and pillows...the list goes on. We have never let them have quite this much say in their rooms and it is very exciting for them.

Then tonight Molly and I went to our friend Dea's birthday party. We all went to high school together - wlong with 2 other girls that were at the party. It is crazy to think that I have been friends with these people for over half my life...that the time that I have known them is longer than the time that I didn't.

And now I am very tired. And I have a long day tomorrow - church, grocery shopping, preparing for the week and mourning the end of spring break.