The 80's Party!!!!!! Totally Tubular!

Cousins Tammi, Paulie and Brain decided to throw an 80's party. We all dressed up like it was 'back in the day' and we had such a great time! On the way to the party, I had to stop at a restaurant to pick up a platter of food. I was all dressed up for the party and the look on the waiters face was priceless. I said "I'm here to pick up a platter. For an 80's Party." She started laughing out loud! Everyone in the restaurant was looking at me like I was a freak!

Crockett & Tubbs from Miami Vice

The Jazzercise girl and the Prom Queen

I found this hottie in the kitchen:

Preppy, Madonna, and OP shorts. Check out those popped collars!! Whoo-hoo!

Yep- that's me in my concert t-shirt, side ponytail, and Pop Rocks! Bitchin!

We had so much fun! Thanks cousins! And thanks for the birthday cake! It was delish!

FUn with cousins: 175 Baby!

Sorry I've been away for so long. I'm working like a dog these days!

First- Congratulations are in order. My nephew has somehow managed to graduate from high school!! I'm just kidding about the "somehow managed" part. He's a pretty smart kid.

So Congratulations to Alex!! We are proud to have such a great nephew. But- just in case you think we're getting soft, here's an embarrassing baby picture:

Second: June Birthday wishes are in order for a few people we love, as well as a few May peeps who didn't make it into the May bday post. (Oh wait- there was no May bday post cause I'm a slacker.)

Aunt Mary Lou

Madison B

Kelly

Sam

Heather

Michele
Uncle Rich
Chris K

Eric B.

Happy Birthday everyone!! Here's to one more trip around the sun!

When I'm not working I've managed to spend a little quality time with the cousins. I always have the camera with me, so let me share a few shots. Here's a few from the Memorial Day BBQ:

a girlie moment

What bucket?


Yes- that's cousin Brian, and yes- He's on the roof. Is anyone really surprised by that?


We also went bowling one afternoon. Jack Henry is the cutest bowler I've ever seen. Check him out:
Here's the approach....

Here's the toss.....

And here's the wait...... Most of the time he knocked down quite a few!!!

And here's Rob in action:

And for the record, I am a kick a** bowler! Check out the score of the last game. The top score belongs to me! Whoo Hooooo!!

The Movies

On occasion I am able to drag my husband to the movie theater. He is not a big fan of the theater and sees no big difference in watching a movie at home vs. watching a movie at the theater. I like the "theater experience" and the popcorn. Yesterday, we decided to grab some lunch and then go to a matinee. For lunch we went to this great burger place called Delux burgers. Delish! I highly recommend a visit, but beware, the burgers are BIG and we both brought 1/2 of ours home.

So onto the movies. I managed to convince my husband to go see.... wait for it.... a foreign film with subtitles!! AND He actually liked it! The film is called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

I read the book of the same name and it was very good. I also read the sequel- The Girl who Played with Fire- and I can't wait to read the third book- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The author is Swedish and is unfortunately deceased, so there will be no more books with this story line. I highly recommend the books. The movie was good, too. But I will say that is definitely for adults only. The sex and violence in this one is not for the timid. But I thought the movie was pretty true to the book's story line. And the subtitles weren't even distracting. It's only playing at one theater in town, so hurry up and see it!!

House update

Hello neglectorinos! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've just been busy. And I've also been neglecting our progress on the house. But I'm trying to get back into the groove. I started by finally ordering blinds for the windows. We've been living with this window covering in the bedrooms:

(It's a curtain tacked up with push pins.) After a few people recommended blinds.com, we decided to give them a try and I must say that our blinds look great. They arrived like this:

Thank goodness I have a super handy hubby to put them up. I, of course, supervised the installation.

Here's the newly 'blinded' spare bedroom window:

AND.... The spare bedroom was lacking a light fixture. We found a ceiling fan that works nicely for the room:

Now... I still need to address a few things in the house and one big thing outside the house- namely, the back yard. Its a disaster. Not quite sure what to do... But I know we need to bring in some experts. Does anyone have any suggestions??

Cooking Class with Mom

My Mom was nice enough to take me to a cooking class this week. We've been to a couple of other classes at the Sweet Basil Shop and Cooking School before. This one was all about chicken and the many ways to prepare it. I really like the instructor because she doesn't try to teach us wacky 'froo froo' recipes. She teaches practical recipes and tips for saving time or changing things up with other ingredients. The first part of the class the instructor goes over all of the recipes and then everybody decides which one they'd like to work on and we make them. The best part is at the end when we get to sample them all!

Mom decided she would work on the poached chicken breast. Keep in mind that the poaching liquid was scotch. She joined up with 2 very nice men in the class. (Hmmm.. Men and scotch? I'm just sayin...) I tried the pretzel crusted chicken breast with honey mustard sauce with another lady from the class. It was very fun and we both had good recipes. I really want to try making the chicken fried chicken with cowboy mashed potatoes recipe at home. Here's Mom and me with her poached Asian chicken on a bed of Thai noodles:

And here's a few of the other recipes. The cowboy mashed potatoes & chicken fried chicken is the plate with the giant mound of potatoes in the middle.

The pretzel crusted chicken was really good, too. I think Rob will really like that one. Does anybody wanna come over and have dinner? I have all these new recipes to try out!!! Thanks for a great day Mom!

Girls Weekend

I had a fabulous girls weekend! A group of us hit the party capital of the world: LAS VEGAS!
We had a great time! Check it out:


































Ok- Did you really think I'd post pictures???? What happens in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas!

What a month!

We have so many friends and family members with important days in the month of April! This post is dedicated to all those people:
Alex
Elaine
Aaron
P
Markie
Michele
Nick and Elaine
Duncan and Cathleen
Nicole
Nicole
Abbey

and (most important to me) is my anniversary with my awesome and loving husband. I love you honey and I can't believe this is number 11. It seems like yesterday that we said 'I do' and I still 'I do'. Love you!

And hugs and kisses to everyone else celebrating in April! Cheers!