A Birthday Wish

Happy Birthday Dearest Mother!

Today is my mother's big day - and no I won't tell you how old she is (though I should because most people thinks she's a lot younger. I think it's because her children look so young and vibrant).

Hurray - hurray!

Decided to celebrate with embarrassing pictures.

Here goes (in complete random order):

With Joe at my wedding



With Margie in the Firebird



Christmas, unknown year



Previous birthday



Long time ago with Bobby



With me a couple of years ago (maybe 3?)



Her favorite place, the beach



Trying sushi for the first time

And for the amusement of my cousins (and embarrassment of my sister):

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love you.

A Special Day - Three Years

I bet you're thinking, oh it's Darin and Del's anniversary.

We'll it's not. (Over four years, people. Though now we get to start fresh - much better...)

It was three years ago today that I (along with Darin's guidance) adopted Jacob Tiger. (Though he didn't get his official name until later, he was just Jake).

I had wanted a dog for a long time - have had dogs my whole life. Sunshine, Cotton, Molly, Izzy, and Cricket. We were a dog family through and through.

Darin's family was a dog family as well. There was Rusty and the ever missed Poo Bear.

I waited until I was at a "more responsible" period in my life before I started looking for a dog. It was tough for a long time in graduate school and when I first moved here, but eventually I saved up enough money to afford Jake and the pet deposit in my apartment complex. Yikes.

So this day, three years before, Darin and I went to Petsmart and looked at the dogs I had been mooning over for the past week. I got Jake from a rescue organization called A New Beginning. Jake's previous owner contacted this organization and brought him there - Jake was never in a kennel always in a house with other dogs. They were generous and kind, and I knew they had loved Jake. I had gotten him from a great place.

And now I had a dog of my own.

He was a strange dog at first. Very possessive with his toys and had the strangest tail wag of any dog I had ever seen.

Now I've come to realize we got a great dog with tons of character and love. If you've met him for yourself, you know what I'm talking about.

Just wanted to share Jake's story. Along with a gazillion photos!

Here's to many more years crazy Jake.

Smooch!

Our first picture.



Look at how dark his face was!



A current picture.



His crate. He loved it, would just go in there and sleep.
Now he has our bed.



Dog park!



With his favorite friends... Dante and Lady



And of course Maggie Moe



One of his many toys (which he has killed).



And lastly with his favorite person. His Darin.

And believe me, there will be many many more pictures in the future!

Corporate Run: 5K with Coworkers!

On Thursday the 16th, somehow I persuaded some of my coworkers (and Darin) to join me in the 15th Annual Corporate Run. Some times I can't figure out why I do things - like tell people that my company should get some people together and run around downtown Orlando.

Before.
L to R: Bill, Tony, Silvija, Stephan, Tenekua, Ayesha
Del, Darin, Inderpal

Fun?!

It was, I have to admit. Though I had my normal 'I can't do this' phase whenever I even think about running over 3 miles, I got through. Overall, we all had a great time and enjoyed participating in this terrific event.

We drove there together - and ran separately. There were nice of us in total including Darin and Stephan, a woman I work with's son. I was actually expecting more people to sign up, but I think people were a little intimidated by the whole thing. I didn't realize that a lot of people walked it... oh well. We'll definitely be doing it next year.

After! We look h.o.t.

Afterward we went to Chili's to celebrate and have margaritas! It's where a lot of us normally go for after work get-togethers. Nothing like buy one get one frees!

Silvija, Tenekua, and I wanting drinks.



Who can we attack and steal their table?
Bill and Darin

We were feeling better once we sat down and ordered our dinner and some chips and queso.

Bill and Stephan. Stephan hero worshiped the guys.



Trying to be macho?
Tony and Darin



White teeth. Yikes.

A Little Stuck

I am working on a giant Jake post - to come later this week.

Wanted to share a fun picture from yesterday.

I was just sitting inside watching TV. Jake was outside laying in the grass, enjoying the sunshine. (He likes sunshine.)

And he made his way inside through his dog door.

And the poor pup got stuck.

Jake has a tendency of standing still in stressful situations. Like when he has a burr on him or a bug that he can't figure out. He was doing that here. Just standing there, looking at me. Confused as ever.

I of course had to run inside and get the camera. I even sent one on my phone.

Too funny!

The D.sappearing Island

The Saturday before Palm Sunday, Brad, Karen, and J. invited Darin and I out to try and find D.sappearing Island. Ha ha. They already knew where it was, and we found it again.

Met them in South Daytona at their harbor for a boat trip.

We. Love. Boat. Trips.

Was so excited - hadn't hung out with them for awhile and it was good to talk shop and all that jazz. They have a beautiful un-named boat and a terrific crazy 6 year old. Can you say, "fun in the sun"?

Darrell, being useful



Captain Brad



First Lady Karen
I made up the title. Not sure what it would be.

So we took the boat down (south) the Halifax River past the restaurant (under Port Orange bridge) Our Place Down Under, which we came back to later for dinner. Drool.

Went past the lighthouse on Ponce Inlet right by where the Halifax goes into the ocean - catty corner maybe, and found the Disappearing Island. It disappears when the tide come in! Tide was out, so there was the island and our little bit of heaven and sunshine for the afternoon.

Parked the boat



And played in the sand.
Darin and J.

Got a little bit red from the trip out to the island, but nothing too horrible. It was different being on a little island - we could see the dog beach on New Smyrna, where we went the week before with Janice and Tony (and Jake too).

About three hours later, the tide came in and the island disappeared. It was strange to see the small warm pools of water we were laying in become ocean.

It's the little things about Florida that make it just an amazing place to live.

Salmon and Scruples

Two Fridays ago, Paul - our current housemate - decided he wanted to grill some salmon. So we made an event out of it!

Way to go Paul!

We had some of Darin's co-graduate students over to eat and play games.

Bonnie, making cupcakes



My new mixer, Cherrie
I love her.



Sergio and Jakey



Paul grillin'



Uncle Sam relaxing on the hammock

Bonnie and Sergio, Frank, Darin, Paul and I all ate too much food and played this crazy game called Scruples. Has anyone ever heard of this before? My father had gotten it for me as a Christmas presents a couple of years ago from a thrift shop (so my father), and I had it in a closet just gathering dust for awhile. Nobody wanted to play my XMen Monopoly, so Scruples it was. We also horded ourselves on Bonnie's cupcakes.

The cupcakes, home-made by Bonnie



We ate them all.

Scruples was fun. Basically, you got 5 question cards and 1 answer card. You went around in a circle, one person at a time, and asked someone else one of your question cards with the idea that they will answer the same answer as your answer card. Does this make sense?

An example:

Question Card - If someone is at your door selling something, would you buy that something if you knew the person would leave you alone?

Answer Card - Choice of: Yes, No, or Maybe

So I had the answer card of "Yes", so I asked Darin because I know that he would say yes. And he did, so I got rid of one of my cards.

Ta da! It was fun. Try it.

Wedding and the Reception

I'm not really even sure how to start this...

First of all without all of the help and support, Darin and I wouldn't have been able to pull this day off. It turned out incredible. I can't think of a single thing that went wrong all day.

It just all worked out. And was perfect. Thanks to everyone!

***

I am just going to post a whole bunch of pictures. I'll try to keep my stupid comments to a minimum. :)

Alter Flowers.
(Created by some wonderful women who care for me greatly)



Margie helping with my button.
It was very special. Loved it.



Melissa and Julie, ready to go



Look at those beautiful smiles...



My Father and I, walking down the aisle.



Margie and Bob, my second parents, read a great poem

***

Formal Pictures:

Brad, Dan, Mike, Kevin, Darin, Del, Dru, KC, Julie, and Melissa
We were gorgeous!



Who was that handsome devil?



Those boys.



Beautiful! Absolutely amazing.



Strong women.



The E's



Awww.



Stupid fake smiles. One of my favorites.



Another favorite.
Just love the colors.



Another. Keeper, definitely.

***

The Reception:

Let's get this party started!



How awesome was this? They tangoed in!



Father/Daughter Dance.
My Dad picked it out himself and it was very cute surprise.
Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are"



Mother/Son
Michael Buble's "Everything"



Cutting the cake.
We had a mini-cake and then strawberry shortcake
for everyone else. So good. Drool.



Angela, Jim, and Kevin



Folks dancin'



Darin and Brad. Those tall fools.



Darin, Del, Diana, and Goestov.
Love you guys!



Dance CIRCLE.



Carrie with a sparkler.
We 'ran' 'through' them on our way out to the car!

That will be all for right now. I am pictured out! Will add more soon!