Another 30th

Another friend turned the big 3-0. (Yikes!)

This time it was Becky:

The blond one :)

A whole group got together to celebrate with her - at this fantastic restaurant. We hadn't been there for quite some time - I love the cheesecake. So good. In fact, it was the first restaurant where I actually liked the cheesecake (and this was not too long ago) because before I wasn't too fond of it. (It's my father's favorite dessert). I ended up getting the lettuce wraps. I would like some now please. Thanks.

Her SIL and CIL got her the best gifts - a bunch of "old" people stuff: diapers, prunes, denture cream, etc. It was AWESOME.

The group was huge - maybe like 20-25 people. Some how we got seated at the kids table. Between kids. Poor Darin.

Sweet baby S.

M. in the stripes.

Jeff and little D.

It turned out to be a great evening. Always interesting when there were children involved. Found out that baby S. really really likes fresh whipped cream. Kept her busy for quite some time while her Mama got ready to go. She still was a bit afraid of Darin. She'll learn eventually that he's just terrified of her, and she can do whatever she wants to. :)

Happy Birthday Becky!

Back in October

There was Halloween.

Remember that? Way back when?

We actually had a wonderful time. Super fun.

Darin and I decided to go as Wayne and Garth from this movie/show. I don't know why we decided to this this, all I know was that it worked for us. (In college during some sorority thing, my friend Kara and I were W and G too. I was Wayne and she was Garth. I have pictures. (So it really happened). I just have no idea why we did this. Hmm.)

Got our clothes at G00dwill. Hair at a costume shop.

Took forever to get my hat. I should have just ordered one from the Internet. Ended up getting it from here. Totally would recommend them.

***

Had two parties to go to. Yes, we're popular.

First was at Cherrah and Jeff's house.

Us. Ha.

Scotty (Mr. Woods) and Garth.

Jailbait (Alisa) and I (Wayne)

I swear the people there who didn't know me though I was a guy. Really. It was creepy.

Had lot of fun there, but were late. And we had to go to another party too so just sort of left - but had a great time. And ate way too much food. Still thinking about the bean dip. Ahh, bean dip.

Second was Mercy and Frank's bash:

Frank as Frankenstein. Clever.

Darin's brain. Haha, it's far to big to be his.
Ha ha.

Small group at their house.
Frank, Mercy, Raji, Nazelle, Chris' wife, Chris
(don't remember her name. oops.)

And we ate even more there.

Mercy had all this super creative food. Like hot dogs as fingers. Zingers as tombstones. And the Jell-0 brain. Awe. Some.

Our squirrel.

Came home to torture the dog. He doesn't particularly like Halloween. Or costumes. Or squirrels.

We went to Diana and Gus' house for the actual night - on Sunday - to help hand out candy. Yikes they get a lot of kids. The four of us and the two dogs helped celebrate the trick-or-treat tradition - and we only ate a little bit of the candy.

fun. fun.

From here.

I'm in the 'Enough for most scientists' group.

Is that sad?

Or something you'd assume about me?

Book List 2007

Tucked into one of my books packed away, I found my book list of 2007. Want to keep these written down somewhere so I will remember.

Not too exciting of a post, but hey. It's really a diary of sorts.

Books Read:
- Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
- The Sleeping Doll, Jeffery Deaver
- Plum Lucky, Janet Evanovich
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
- Atonement, Ian McEwan
- The Empress File, John Sanford
- The Fool's Run, John Sanford
- Double Cross, James Patterson
- Someone to Love, Jude Deveraux
- The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
- The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
- Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
- Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs


Books Listened To:
- The Devil's Code, John Sanford
- 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Jules Vern
- The Hanged Man's Song, John Sanford
- Grave Secrets, Kathy Reichs
- Break No Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Ashes to Bone, Kathy Reichs
- Bare Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
- Camel Club, David Baldacci

Jake, Every Day Events

Thought I hadn't written about Jacob Tiger lately. I was looking through some pictures the other day on my phone and decided it would be fun to share.

Side note: We have some what thought of changing Jake's middle name from Tiger. It's mainly because of his similarities between one of our favorite current basketball players: Dwight H0ward.

Little head, super huge body.
(You can't really tell in this photo.)

But Jake's head was so big, it slipped though his collar so many times, that we had to get him a body collar. And he's super muscular too. Plus we're big fans of the real Dwight.

So Jacob Tiger Dwight L-E. JTDLE.

It's quite a name really.

Back to photos...

Found this one in my memory on my phone.
The bunny was found during packing.
And was riding Jake for some time before he realized it.
Very funny actually.

On the car trip up to visit Kucku/Anu
He's pretty sleepy in the car.
Has his bed and other pillows to sleep on.
Yes, he's spoiled.

At the house while we were painting.
He was tuckered out.
And probably enjoyed the nice cool floor.

In bath tub.
We were watching TV and noticed he was not around.
Went to find him.
He was in the bath tub.
Trying to get the soap (orange thing).
He loved the water.

100,000 Miles

My dear Honey past 100,000 miles the other day.

She is not getting older, just wiser.

(This makes no sense whatsoever).

This is my first car that I have put all of the miles on it. Well, Darin and I. I'd say that's pretty impressive as I got her in February 2006. And I drive 15 miles to work.

Wonder how many trips up to South Carolina that was?

She is a great car though. Though I'm pretty sure I can say I won't be putting another 100,000 miles on her.

That would be scary really.

Happy Miles Birthday Honey!

White is the 'new' Blue

Couple of weekends ago, we went back to the old house to paint paint paint.

When we first decided to paint the family room blue - over three years ago, we (and by we I mean me) knew that we would eventually have to re-paint. Because well it was blue, people. Blue.

So we re-painted.

I have to admit the whole 'excitement' that was initially there at the beginning was gone. We were just painting to paint. Gone were those feelings of the new house with the pretty walls. But it wasn't bad in any way, more tedious really. But not a big deal.

And we about finished - actually ran out of paint. Impressive, I know.

Family Room Pics

Master Bedroom.
Good bye dark green.

And that was that. We still have to do another coat in both rooms - the master bedroom gets the flesh color that was on the other walls. Not too big of a deal - probably only a couple hours (we're almost professionals).

And the funny thing about this was we painted a hallway in our church this past weekend. Darin wants nothing more to do with paint. (He's the edger, I'm the taper and roller).

So we'll see. I'll just have to teach Jake to paint. He's pretty talented. You never know.

What Happened to the Peppers

Well, we moved.

This you know.

One thing (out of many actually) we were really going to miss was our garden.

And by our garden, I mean Darin's garden.

Here are some previous posts to keep you refreshed:

(1) Start
(2) Growing
(3) Crazy Growing and Multiplying

Because we moved and don't water the garden twice every day (this was the key to a great garden - who knew you just had to water it a lot?!), we knew it would eventually die out.

And it did. But can you see what's poking through?

RED. RED Peppers!

It was actually very funny to see all this dead stuff with bright red everywhere! Those peppers - well, never really seen anything quite so bright and cheerful (not that I'd eat them by-the-way. I'm not that crazy.)

Can't wait until we garden again. Next time maybe we'll go for food we actually both eat.

Just sayin'.

It's not 'goodbye', it's 'see you next time'

Two weekends ago, Jake and I took a quick trip up to Gainesville to see Kucku and Anupama. It just so happened that Anupama was going to be leaving for India in a couple of days, and Jake and I needed to visit for some friend-time.

She was leaving the US for good. Sad Del.

I have to admit that it was a hard visit for me. And even though I know she'll be reading this in India with her wonderful family, I still know that I will miss her greatly. (Why aren't you on skype right now?!)

***

We were so happy for the visit though (Jake told me on the trip home while he was passed out in the back seat). Had a great time just talking, looking at fun Internet videos, eating too much food, and just being together.

First the food (had a great breakfast too - no pictures though, sorry):

At Bonefish. Eating too much.

Ended up catching a movie, going back to Kucku's, and talking. Trying to figure out how much Anu's bags weighted (a lot!). Or whether Jake could fit in a bag to India (and whether he'd be a good Indian dog - I think he would).

Or who Jake loved more...

And that was the trip.

Good, simple, relaxing, fun, memorable weekend.

Miss you friend.
Call me!

First Game of the Season

Well our first game that is.

Went to see if UCF could take on an ACC school a couple of weeks back.

(Not so much).

But they sure tried hard. And it was a good team. Sort of.

And it was a beautiful fall day in Florida.

Clear blue fluffy cloudy skies

We tail gate with a bunch of Darin's old college buddies, their friends, and their significant others. Mostly we go to see Dan and Angela (and C.) and Karen and Brad. They always have amazing food to try - love the hot dogs on the grill!

Walking to the game with C. in the cart

We got into the game actually before kickoff (we're normally about 5 minutes late because everyone has to finish their beer and walk to the stadium...), which was great!

Wow!

And it was a great game - UCF held their own. And the weather was perfect too!

Angela, Dan, and C.

Del and Darin.

We'll probably go back to another game as this was was just great - fun company and wonderful weather. If only Jake could come. He'd be super excited! It would be even funnier if he could run on the field - crazy Jake dog running away from everyone. I can just see it!

And it's Working!

Finally, my computer is connecting to the Internet at home!

Phew!

I don't know if it was because my computer is old (6 years - and runs fast and perfectly) or whether something was wrong with it's internal wireless card (but why would it work at work?), BUT it's working now.

And I can continue blogging like a champ. With blogging goals and everything!

More to come.

Weekend Wonder

Been busy here.

And the computer is still not working at home. Something to do with my wireless router on my computer being 'overwhelmed' by the amount of other wireless routers around our apartment complex. It's been a month since we could get Internet at home. Hopefully Darin can fix the problem tonight!

This last weekend, Darin and I volunteered for the Salty Dog Duathlon in Melbourne, FL. We decided to make a long weekend out of the trip and were so happy with the decision. We had a wonderful time relaxing on the beach, swimming in the pool, and not doing much of anything else.

There was this great fair in Melbourne that weekend too which we visited all three days/nights. So much fun! Had a great dinner Friday night to celebrate our birthdays and got a great bottle of wine. Saturday night we headed out to a fun Irish bar for some beer and soup. Sunday went to a great bagel place for breakfast sandwiches and headed home to our pup.

As soon as I get my computer up and running, I'll add some photos.

Enjoy your weekend!

Something Funny

Just got this email from a service guy who came to update software two weeks ago. I had told him that I wished our company brought donuts in every Friday like his does, and here's his response:

Really Donuts! I was kind of jealous of your soda supply. We do not always get donuts. We change it up from beagles and also fruits and yogurts.

Beagles = Dog
Bagel = Bread substitute

It was very funny to me. He's such a funny guy - but he totally didn't realize this blunder. Ha ha! Made my day.

Excitement

New things are happening.

Good things.

(On the work front people.)

My company was acquired by a much larger one. Much larger. And we're all excited to be given this great opportunity!

Here's the news!

:)

Dad's Favorite Place

Going to head over to one of my father's favorite places.

I'm not sure if it's "of all time", but I'm pretty sure it's up there. Or the concept of the place is.

I am speaking of Goodwill.

There just happens to be one five minutes from our new apartment, and I want one of the shower container things for shampoo and stuff. And I don't want to buy one full price. Or go somewhere to actually get a new one. And I think I've donated a couple myself.... so we'll see.

I also want to get a shower curtain, but not sure if they have those. Sigh. Is it gross to get a used shower curtain? I mean, I'll clean it and all. (Or at least I'll tell people I did, kidding.) Now I don't think I'd do towels, but maybe if they were new looking (had this conversation with my sister the other day). But I think I would with a comforter because I would use my old comforter, you know? But would I have used Darin's? I guess we did for some time, so probably would use a strangers as well.

Wish me luck on finding bathroom stuff. Don't want to buy new - so Goodwill here I come.

Quick Labors

The family all got together on Labor Day - as well they should!

Didn't take too many pictures (busy eating), but I did manage to grab a couple of fun ones.

The men outside. Grillin' meat.

Is this what Darin would look like with some extra lbs?

We ate a nice lunch - adults at one table and kids at another... memories. Then the kids found a lizard in the kitchen and their father proceeded to show a fun trick that he, Diana, and Darin used to do when they were little.

Gross.

And that's about it. Ate, mingled, and then went back to work. For cells didn't know what 'days off' were.

Texan Visit

A couple days before Labor Day Weekend, my friend LaShan came for a quick visit as she was meeting her family in Orlando to celebrate summer and all that Orlando has to offer!

I haven't seen her since she graduated and headed to Texas, so I was pretty excited to hear/see how she was doing and just spend time talkin'.

She ended up getting in semi-late on Wednesday night - we headed out for a quick dinner with Darin, and then headed home.

Thursday, I took the day off (woo hoo) so we could relax and enjoy the sunshine with her. We headed over to Cocoa Beach but I was a little afraid because we had a hurricane off our shores and the water was supposed to be crazy strong.

* Which it was! We were afraid (as was everyone else at the beach) to go in too deep.

But it was a beautiful day to spend enjoying the sunshine and breezes.

Dark water - can you see it in the photos? The water was this dark brown color - not from gross stuff in the water, but from the waves turning everything up from the ocean floor. There were also tons of fish jumping out of the water at every moment - I've never experienced anything like this before. It was cool and gross at the same time. (I'm not too fond of fish. Yak.)

Shan at our spot!

We ended up sitting right in front of Coconuts and right in front of the life guards - we didn't want to take any chances.

Where did her feet go?

As I've mentioned, the water was crazy strong - we walked a lot up and down our little stretch of sand and did go in the water to cool off a bit. While we were there, three little sea turtles washed up on shore. I guess there was a casting off of sea turtles by the Sea Turtle Preservation Society that morning and some of them got caught up my the rough seas. The life guards ended up taking them back to the preservation area.

Had a good fish lunch, drove around to see the sights, and then I dropped her off.

It was a brief yet fun (and relaxing) visit!

Darin vs. Jake's Toys

Beware.

While moving (yes I know I'm blogging a lot about this recently because well that's what we had been doing for the past couple weeks), we found the box of need I say 'retired' toys from Jake. They were all lovingly given to us from various people, loved by Jake for maybe 10 minutes, and then killed by Jake shortly after.

(I've kind of learned since that he can only have a stuffed animal toy for a short part of time before he starts trying to get to the squeaky).

We thought it would be fun to add some photos of them (with Darin's help).

Enjoy:

Killer upside-down duck?

Vampire lion and bear?

Ninja hedgehog?

One legged sheep

No eyed cow.

Attacking an already attacked purple monster!

He has more. Don't worry. At least I didn't show you a picture of what happened to the blue arm of the 4-armed Kong toy. It was a very scary sight.