One Hundred

Can you believe I have actually written 100 blog spots?

Impressive, I know. (And I am being a bit sarcastic here.)

I do have to say that I definitely write the posts and not Darin - he has written one. And I think that he should write more, but whatever...

I enjoy the writing and picture uploading - I recommend this whole blogging business to everyone. If you're worried about privacy, you can even make the blog private. Imagine that?!

A lot has happened in the previous 99 posts, and I am sure even more excitement is bound to come!

Please keep on reading - and also if you want, leave a comment!

Here's to one hundred more.

Free Tequila

Birthday Shot

Did you know you can get a free shot of tequila if it's your birthday at PRs? I did not know that. Now I do!

Man, two week ago almost my friend Josh (see below picture) got 'everyone' together for an impromptu surprise birthday bash for our friend Suzanne.

She was totally surprised! (Kind of just looked at us all when she walked into the door - like, why are they there? Super funny!)

Thanks Josh for getting everyone together such a great person's birthday!

And many birthday wishes to Suzanne!

Josh and Janice.
How cute was this? Gotta get it framed for them.



Suzanne and I.
She's a cat lover. And yet we are friends.
Kidding, kidding.

Simple celebrations are always the best!

Suckering Suckatash

An amazing thing happened tonight.

Something crept into a very small (but clean) space.

The garage. Clean. But quite full.

And what's that behind all of our Christmas boxes?

A Mini Cooper

(And first, no it is not our car. It's a friend's, Paul's.)

The excitement is that we actually have a car in the garage.

In. the. garage.

So sweet.

One day maybe we can fit a normal size car into the garage, like my car for example. Or, if we wish and wish, two cars. In the two car garage.

It is a big deal people.

MUSC Festivities

This past Friday, Darin and my very good friend, Kucku, officially obtained her Ph.D in Neuroscience from MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina). We were so proud of her and her accomplishments, and wish her the best of luck for future endeavors.

Congratulations Dr. Kucku!

Oh yeah! (Like the Cool-Aid man.)

We were so excited to celebrate with her and her family - such a good time! Ended up driving up to Charleston on Thursday (got in kind of late) and going to the graduation on Friday. We got to Charleston, found parking, and got to the ceremony.

MUSC Library

Let me say only one thing. No, two things.

1. It was outside. In Charleston. In Summer. H.O.T.
2. The commencement speaker was Steven Colbert. No kidding. Fantastic. Guess his father was a Provost of MUSC in the 70s. Yep. He got an honorary degree.

Damn Sexy!



Kucku. (Really, it was.)

I have to admit though that we didn't stay for the whole thing because we were terrible friends - had to get out of the hotel room and we were afraid they would do something to Jake. So we left early... and it was hot too.

Drove up to north to drop of Jake at his cousins' house, and came back down to Charleston to join everyone for dinner that night. Ended up going to Mistral on South Market. It's this fantastic French restaurant - so good, drooling good.

After creme brulee.

We ate some wonderful food (no pictures included, sorry) and then went walking around the city. I absolutely love Charleston - everything about it. We get up there whenever we can...

Ahh, Steve, we love you man.

Just a pretty picture.

I didn't get a picture of the whole group - there was Paul and Ann, Anoop and Martha (Kucku's sister and BIL) and niece too, and Darin and I. It was marvelous - only wish we could have gone on a ghost tour of Charleston as well.

Anyways, it's always fun celebrating with friends especially on such special occasions!

Unexpected Trip: Day 3

On Wednesday, my sister and I wanted to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom! We went out to The Hill to shop (at Vivianos) for some great Italian greats - manicotti, provel, pesto (we couldn't bring anything exciting home with us because we carried our bags on the airplane. Everything had to be less than 4 oz. Damn nice olive oil!)

And of course to eat lunch.

Went to Zia's. Of of our favorites.

Open for lunch. Hurray!

Sat down and ordered way too much food. There was calamari and toasted ravioli (deal with it...) and bread with olive oil. Super wonderful salads. And then the food. Ha. Like any of us came anywhere close.

Baked ziti, kind of



Mom with one of the specials. Great sauce.

This was all I could eat of my lunch. It was pretty shameful. Not even 1/3 was gone. Sigh.

And damn was I full. (Such language!)

Yak.

Then we went next door to the Missouri Bakery. Ha. Got a chocolate cupcake. Hee hee.

***

Since we didn't get to do a lot of St. Louis stuff last time we were here (in July 2008), Darin got to choose where he wanted to go: the Zoo or to Grant's Farm. I think he picked Grant's Farm because there was free beer there. Just sayin'.

Headed to South St. Louis and had a terrific time!

The Main Entrance (do we look full?)

Took a tram/bus thing up to the main level and saw all of these wonderful animals. It was very similar to that one ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom, but with deer, buffalo, and turkey.

Long horns. Moo.



Retired Ralphie. Not really.

Then we went to/saw a:

Elephant show.



Scary bird. (Almost attacked Dru.)



Camels. Watch out, they spit.



Read magazine with a llama.
My favorite picture...



The Clydesdale.

It really was very fun - and worth the parking fee (it's a free park to get into). And we got free beer too!

***

Then we went to Ted Drewes again.

I'm kidding. Seriously people. (We were really all full and had dinner in like 2 hours.)

Had my other cousins over for a quick dinner (my mom's side) - Carrie and Molly. And finally met Molly's new little girl, L. So sweet.

Mom, with L. and M.



And Carrie (in glasses) and Molly

After a nummy dinner, we (Dru, Darin, Dad, and I) drove to the Ameristar Casino to g.a.m.b.l.e.

Oh yeah. (Not really).

My wonderful Aunts got Darin and me a room for the night and offered to take us to the airport at 7 am the next morning. How sweet was that? Thanks Uncle Sam!

We had the best time at the casino - Dru, Darin, and I ended up playing pai gow poker, while the others played the slots. I won $2.00. Nice. It was also another tribute to my Grandma because she was a casino fanatic! Here's to you Grandma!

And that's that. Flew back to Orlando and realized it felt like we had been gone for over a week when it was only three days. Crazy crazy.

Unexpected Trip: Day 2

Tuesday was the day of the funeral. It took place at Zion Lutheran Church in downtown St. Louis. This was the church my father and his family grew up in, supported, and had a gazillion memories of. I remember many times going to the church for a service or a lunch gathering. My great Uncle Elmer and my Grandparents were very involved - such a beautiful church, the stained glass windows were just as amazing as ever.

Zion Lutheran

After the service and the processional around downtown St. Louis in the car to the cemetery, we all gathered for Grandma's last wish - celebration of her life with some good food and company.

Outside the restaurant

It was actually very good food (in a really bad St. Louis neighborhood). We were the majority of the people in there - it was early Tuesday - so we got our food fast and ate it up.

Toasted ravioli. A St. Louis tradition.



Numm.

The specials were fried chicken (which my father got) and chicken dumplings - we decided this was a special sign from Grandma because we had Sweet Sue's chicken dumplings like almost every time we went to visit her and Grandpa when they lived downtown (when I was younger). Never quite tasted as good when not at Grandmas...

Del and Gina - with a fried pork chop

Oh and there was chicken dumpling soup as well. Yep.

The L clan.

***

After lunch, we all split up and my family headed to Ted Drewes on the way back to where we were staying.

Outside on a Tuesday afternoon. It's always busy.

Mind you, we were already completely stuffed with lunch (ordered three toasted raviolis for just our table), and Darin was about to burst. Yet, he still got a mini strawberry concrete. He's a glutton for punishment.

Poor Darin. Luckily he's not lactose intolerant.



The family. We looked kind of bleak.

It was a pretty sad day all around, but fun memories were made.

Unexpected Trip: Day 1

Well, we had some sad news the other day - my grandmother (my dad's mom) passed away. She had been sick for awhile and we kind of knew that she would die soon. Even with that said, it was a sad sad day for us all.

So we hopped on a plane and flew to St. Louis to be with our family and celebrate my Grandma's life.

My cousin Jill picked us up from the airport (thanks!), and we got to meet her new daughter D., who was born in December.

D. such a great baby!



Gina with her niece

After a quick change of clothes and enjoying the birds on the great Midwest (gotta love the robins), we headed out to the wake at the funeral home. Darin hadn't ever been to a wake before - a blessing I would say - and we talked to family and friends. And looked at some incredible pictures of my Grandma Vera and us as kids. Too cute. My Grandma looked beautiful and at peace.

The group:
(back) Dru, Darin, Del, Mom, Dad, Aunt Helen (Dad's sister),
Uncle Dave (Helen's husband), and Luke (Jill's husband)
(front) Gina, Aunt Carol (Dad's sister), Jill, Toni, and Uncle Sam(Carol's husband)



The Giants.

***

After the wake, we all went out to dinner at this wonderful brewery in St. Charles called Trailhead Brewery. It was a great time and we watched the Cardinals game and drank some beer. My father and I both got the sampler... I had to beat him and drink it faster.

Ahh, beer. They were all quite good.



Aunt Helen and I



My cousins - Sisters: Jill, Gina, and Toni

After a great dinner, we head off to get some sleep. It was a long day.