Happy birthday!!

Saturday was Spouse's birthday!  And Walter's birthday!

This year I planned a very social weekend away for Spouse's birthday but kept all the details a secret.  I told him to simply pack casual clothes and don't try to figure everything out.

So Sat morning we drove to the DC area where we used to live and arrived just in time for lunch at the Taco House with our friends Jeff, Shaun, Brandon and David.  Spouse was happily surprised to see them, and of course equally happy to eat at our longtime favorite Mexican restaurant.  I'd emailed in advance to be sure the owners (who are also friends) Juan & Gloria would be there, so we had a nice reunion with them too.  Unfortunately I took no photos.

Next we drove over to have a short visit with our good friends Bugsy & Roger.  It had been about a year since we'd seen them at our house so we enjoyed a nice, relaxing visit at their home.  Again I took no photos.

Then we drove several miles south to the area where I grew up, but that has changed quite a bit.  Spouse knows that our friend Carl lives there so he guessed we were either going to Carl's house or meeting him somewhere for dinner.  But instead, we arrived at a hotel and checked in.  After a few minutes of relaxing and changing our clothes, we went to a hip bar/restaurant nearby.  Waiting for us to arrive was Carl, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Kim, Justine & Liz, Harriet & Bob, Ana & Jose, Javier, and Emily & Brandon!  This time I managed to take a few photos but they're pretty bad.  

L-R: Kelly, Javier, Harriet, Bob, Jose, Ana, Hugh, Kerry

L-R:  Carl, Kim

L-R: Kerry, Justine, Liz, me

The birthday boy

I didn't give people time to look at the camera or smile, I just snapped away.  As you can see from the table, alcohol was involved which likely contributed to the (non-)quality of the photos, but at least its better than no photos.

About 3 hours later everyone left except Kerry & Hugh and Carl, so the servers moved us to a smaller table where we ordered a couple desserts to share and continued visiting.  We had a lovely, lovely birthday dinner, as well as a fun day overall.  We got back to the hotel and crashed.

The next morning we showered, checked out, and headed back north to Spouse's sister's house.  Waiting for us there was his sister, her husband, her 2 sons, and Spouse's brother and his wife.  'The family' had a yummy brunch and visited for a couple hours before heading home to DE.

Spouse complimented me on the terrific birthday weekend and said it was probably his favorite ever.

Sharing Spouse's birthday, although completely overlooked this year, is Walter who turned 5 years old.  We adopted him in Sept but were told he was born on July 20, the same day as Spouse.  That is why Walter's middle name is the same as Spouse's first name.

Weekend recap

This past weekend our dear friends Kerry & Hugh and Kelly & Jeff came for a visit.

Its been their custom for many years to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge the 1st weekend in Feb.  Notice I said "their" custom.  They would plunge into the frigid cold ocean while Spouse held their dog Chopper and I filmed them.

But about 3 years ago they decided they were tired of doing that, but still wanted to come for a visit.  Since Spouse & I have been away the last 3 years during that first weekend in Feb, we've picked a mutually convenient winter weekend for our dear friends to visit.  This year it was this past weekend.

They arrived on Sat right at lunchtime so we wasted little time deciding where to go for lunch.  Actually, we went to the same place we often go for lunch with them, our local diner.  Afterward we hung out at the house and talked and laughed and caught up on all kinds of goings on.  Before we knew it it was time for dinner so we took them to our newest favorite place Iron Hill Brewery.  The vibe is lively and the food is fresh and delicious.

Our gang

Afterward we talked until each of us began to fade so we went to bed.

Sun morning we enjoyed coffee and bagels for breakfast followed by more relaxing, talking, and laughing.  We were going to go for a walk around town but the sky looked a bit too threatening so we turned the walk into a driving tour.  They got to see and hear a portion of what I do as a realtor.  Then we went to Crooked Hammock for lunch before they packed up and headed home.

Kelly & Jeff

We had a terrific visit!  They are such dear friends and we always have so much fun together.

Holiday highlights part 1

Sun the 23rd we loaded up the car with our luggage, gifts, food, and dogs and got on the road by 8:30, right on schedule.  After unloading everything at Spouse's sister's house, our 2 nephews joined us as we met up with our friends for our annual hippie roll and pizza luncheon.  We had a wonderful lunch with Lisa, Carl, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Alex, and Kim & Danny and I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes more than once.  As is our custom, we took a group photo:

One of the things that had me laughing so hard were the 'mini hands'.  Or as I called them, 'Trump hands'.  Kim brought these little plastic hands that fit on the end of your finger, which were simultaneously hilarious and creepy.  We kept finding different ways to position them for comedic effect.

I've lost count of how many years we've been doing this, but its certainly a highlight of the Christmas season for me.  And the owners of the restaurant couldn't be nicer to our wacky group.

Afterward we hung out at the house with the family for a couple hours, then met up with our old friends Ron & James and Mike & Clark at our favorite Mexican restaurant Cantina Mexicana, also known as The Taco House.  Unfortunately I neglected to take any photos of our gathering. We've known them for over 20 years and we're all very happy we've maintained our friendship despite Spouse & me moving away 12 years ago.  The 4 of them have visited us many times at home, and we were happy we all had an opportunity to meet up for dinner.  We were also overjoyed to see the Taco House owners Juan & Gloria too!  As we were looking at the margarita menu we noticed a small typo.  One of the choices was a "Caddillac" margarita. We speculated about what it was made of. Someone suggested it was made with top shelf tequila, so I joked that the top shelf liquor made it special and was responsible for the extra "d" in "Caddilac".  Then I said "Who doesn't like some extra D???" and we all had a good laugh!

Weekend fun

This past weekend our good friends Kerry & Hugh came for a visit.  They arrived late Fri night so we only talked for a while before we were all ready for bed.

Sat morning we had bagels and coffee for breakfast and talked and caught up on the goings on in each others' lives.  I guess we hadn't seen them since Christmas.  Eventually we got ourselves cleaned up and went to the theatre to see "Ready Player One".  While its a movie about virtual reality video game players in the future, I really liked it.  The story was compelling enough to keep me interested despite me not being a 'gamer' at all.

After the movie we were all hungry (not having eaten lunch) but it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner.  So we went to Grottos Pizza and ordered a pizza to share, as a 'snack' to tied us over until dinner.  Next we stopped at Beach Time Distilling tasting room and sampled some flavored rums, gins, and such.  

We hung out at home some more and talked and laughed until we were ready for dinner.  We decided to go to Arenas for soups and sandwiches.  We watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sun morning we had coffee at home, then went to Bethany Blues for their awesome Sun Brunch Buffet.  We had talked about this before so Kerry & Hugh were eager to experience it.  On the way home we stopped in to tour a historic home my team has for sale.  Kerry & Hugh love old homes and this one is really interesting.  Shortly after returning home they packed their things and headed back to VA.  It was a fun visit!

Christmas recap

Since Thurs is my regular day off, I planned nothing else but wrapping and baking.  I mean, we were leaving the next day so I really couldn't put it off anymore.

This was 1 of the few gifts I actually wrapped with paper and ribbon. I think its beautiful but it was really time-consuming.

Most of the gifts this year where wrapped in tissue paper and went into reusable shopping bags.  Without really planning it, we ended up with this shopping bag concept which worked well and saved a lot of time.

I made 4 pans of magic cookie bars.  The 2 in the foreground are the original recipe with coconut flakes on top.  The other 2 were variations; 1 with crushed candy canes and the other with peanut butter chips.

I made them in these aluminum pans with lids so they would stack easily for transport to VA.  We had them both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and they were a big hit!  I made so many that I wound up bringing some home, which is definitely NOT a bad thing.  I also made 2 pans of breakfast casserole (not pictured) to take with us too.

On Fri our former neighbors dropped off a gift and card while I we were at work.  They have 2 young boys whom we love and who were so sweet to our dogs.  The envelope of the card touched me!

Their card was added to our growing collection which I staple to wide ribbons hung from the top of the molding with push pins.  I love displaying cards this way and incorporating them into our holiday decorations.

Spouse & I both came home from work early (unexpectedly) so we decided to have a very early dinner out, then packed our bags, loaded the car, and hit the road.  We arrived at Spouse's sister's house at 9:30.

Sat we hung out with Spouse's sister and her family all day.  But that evening I drove back to DE to perform in the last holiday LEGENDS show, then drove back to VA afterward.

Sun Spouse & I drove out to my cousin Nez & Steve's house.  

They live in a 250 year old stone house that's really cool.  Its been our tradition to spend some time together on Christmas eve.  We had lunch and a lovely visit together.

When we returned to Spouse's sister's house they were leaving for Christmas Eve mass, so we helped set up while they were gone.  Shortly after they returned, the rest of the family began showing up.

Our niece Anna's daughter Gabby with her dad Randy

My handsome husband

Our nephews Tommy and Eric

To be honest I was a more than a little concerned with how Christmas Eve would turn out.  As long as I've been a part of this family (20+ years) we have always celebrated Spouse's mom's birthday on Christmas Eve.  With her passing last April, this was our 1st Christmas Eve without her and I hoped it wouldn't be a sad time.  But her 4 living children were all there, with their spouses and their children, and everyone ate and drank and visited just like before.  I really think Spouse's mom would have been supremely happy about this.

Christmas day was very relaxed and fun.  The boys & I enjoyed coffee in the quiet before the rest of the family was up.

We had breakfast casserole and then opened our gifts.

It was a nice day spent hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

Our brother-in-law and 2 nephews chilling

That afternoon I picked up my aunt Mary and brought her over to join us.  

Mary with Marvin

We exchanged gifts and then had dinner.  Spouse's sister made rigatoni, gnocchi, sausage and meatballs, eggplant parmesan, chicken parmesan, and salad.  Aunt Mary brought sweet potato shuffle (a family favorite) and a hummingbird cake (my favorite).  It was a peaceful, wonderful Christmas day.

On Tues Spouse's sister and her husband joined Spouse & me as we met up with our dear friends Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Lisa, Carl, Kim & Danny, Pat, and Alex for our annual hippie roll and pizza luncheon.

The infamous hippie rolls

Alex and Kerry

Spouse's sister, Kim, Pat, Danny, Spouse's brother-in-law

Me and Lisa

We returned to Spouse's sister's house, packed up our stuff, loaded the dogs into the car, and headed home.  It was a wonderful holiday!

Magic

I happened to be off work yesterday and after running multiple errands I was on my way to the grocery store at 3:00 when I got this text from Spouse:

"Can  you make magic cookie bars for my office cookie exchange tomorrow?  I need 4 dozen."

I've never made magic cookie bars before, but we've both eaten them many times at our friend Kerry & Hugh's house, so I Googled the recipe.  It was easier than I thought it would be so I purchased the 5 ingredients while in the grocery store.

That evening after dinner I made them and they turned out beautifully!  

I doubled the recipe in order to make them on this large, non-stick baking sheet.  I wasn't able to taste them because the doubled recipe made 48 bars and he needed exactly 48 bars for the exchange.  Fortunately someone was allergic to coconut so Spouse brought their bars back home and we got to eat them.  Delicious!

What's a magic cookie bar, you ask?  Here's the recipe.  Here's a tip: while still warm, run a knife around the pan's edge to loosen from the sides.  But wait until thoroughly cooled before cutting into bars.  If not, the soft chocolate will gunk up your knife and make your bars look messy.

I challenge you to find a simpler recipe than this.  And if you don't like coconut you can swap it out for something else (see recipe).

The magic cookie bars were a big hit with the folks in his office, and I think I'll make them for Christmas since they're so doggone easy to make and will travel well.  If you make them, let me know your experience.

Ikea and Kerry

Yesterday I drove to VA (about 3 hours) for my friend Kerry's retirement party.  In order to avoid the horrible DC rush hour traffic I left early, which meant I had about 2 hours to kill, so I went to Ikea.

I've always liked Ikea since the Potomac Mills location opened in the mid-80s.  When Spouse & I lived in VA and had a beach home here, we bought dishes and placemats and kitchen utensils and lots of other stuff at Ikea.  We've also purchased 2 TV stands from the scratch & dent section there.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but since we've been talking about changing out the rugs and curtains in our TV room, I thought I'd check those out.  While I saw things I liked, none excited me enough to pull the trigger.  However, I did end up buying 2 decorative pillows for $3.99 each, a package of 4 pillar candles for $1.99, and a 'starter' tool kit (hammer, screw drivers, plyers, tape measure) for $7.99 which will make a nice little gift for a 1st time home buyer.  It was fun to browse through the store at my own pace.

Then I went to the retirement party at a community clubhouse.  It still pains me to think that my dear friend Kerry who is 9 months YOUNGER than me is retiring.  Only OLD people retire!!  But actually she had worked for the County school system (Head Start program) for 30 years, and retired yesterday at the age of 53. 

The party was organized by her sister Kelly and several of Kerry's friends from work who are also personal friends.  Several neighbors and friends like me were there, too.  I'd estimate about 100 people came to the party which was very enjoyable.  I took several photos but am just sharing 1 that kind of sums up the general mood/spirit:

Me, Alex, and Maura

It was a really nice tribute to Kerry who has touched the lives of so many consumers of the service she provided, but also influenced so many of her colleagues over the years.  The room was filled with love and gratitude.  We should all be so lucky!

Back in DC

This past weekend Spouse & I were back in DC again.  I say 'again' because we were there a month ago for Easter, and 2 weeks ago for his mom's viewings and funeral.  But we went back again for 2 important reasons.

The 1st was a 35th high school reunion cocktail party.  This was not an official reunion planned by the class.  This was a cocktail party reunion held at our dear friends Kerry & Hugh's home.  Kerry sent out an Evite and I created a Facebook event to get the word out.  Probably 25 or so classmates came and everyone had a ball!

I had an idea of taking selfies with my classmates AND my cosmo, so you'll see several of those, plus some other photos.

Donna looking incredublously at something Gary is saying, with Susan

Me and Patty

Me and Corky

Jeff, Kelly, Wayne, Corky

Me and my sister from another Mister Lisa

Me and Ginny

Scott and Allison

Lisa and Kerry

Me and Jeff

Carl and Kerry

Me and Kelly

Me, Kerry, Kelly, Jonathan

Me and Gary

Me and Carl

Me and Susan

Apparently only Carl could hear the amazingly funny joke...

Me an Allison

Me and Scott

The next day was Mother's Day, and only 1 month after Evelyn's passing.  This was another reason for coming back to DC; to spend Mother's Day with Spouse's sister Mary and her family.  We figured it would make the loss of our mother easier to endure on Mother's Day if we were together.  We had a very leisurely morning, talking and laughing a lot, and then ordered a bunch of Chinese food and ate lunch out on the deck.  Anna made this cake for her mother:  chocolate with mini M&Ms - her favorite.

We left at 3pm and after some traffic congestion finally arrived home at 6pm.

Mourning after

Last Thurs Spouse & I packed up the dogs and several days' worth of clothes and left for VA.  We arrived at Spouse's sister's house just before lunch time so we took her and her older son (nicknamed Baby David) to lunch.  Afterward we stopped at a few stores because Spouse wanted some new pants for the viewings/funeral, and Spouse's sister needed a few things too.  That night we ordered food in and looked through a bunch of old photos collected from Spouse's mom's apartment.  We pulled out about 100 of them to use on the memory boards and in a slide show.  Here are some of my favorites:

Evelyn loved sitting in her back yard

Evelyn was a member of lunch AND dinner Red Hat groups

Glamour Girl in her kitchen

That adorable little boy in the grey suit is Spouse

Memory board #1

Memory board #2

It was fun and somewhat therapeutic to go through all the old photos.  And yes, that's Evelyn riding a camel in Egypt in the center of memory board #2.  The woman got around!

On Fri the family arrived at the funeral home at 1:15 for the private family viewing, then set up the memory boards and slide show.  Next was a viewing for friends at 2:00.  According to the guest book about 75 people came, including many of the residents and staff of the retirement home where Evelyn had lived.  Spouse's boss came from DE with her husband, and several friends of ours came too.  We had a break from 4:00-6:00 during which time the family had a light meal and I picked up my aunt Mary.  Then came the 2nd viewing from 6:00-8:00.  Approximately 125 people attended that one, including our dear friends Mike & Clark, Ron & James, Kerry & Hugh, Kelly, Justine & Liz, and the retired pastor and associate pastor of the church we attended in VA, who are still dear friends. While it was obviously a sad time, I can say that it wasn't overly sad.  Friends shared cherished and often humorous stories about Evelyn and I imagine there were likely as many laughs as there were tears.

The funeral mass was at 11:00 in the Catholic church Evelyn attended for many, many years.  There were likely 150+ people there including our good friends Steven & Thad.  For me, this was sort of the 'finale' and I anticipated having trouble keeping my emotions in check, so I planned my coping mechanism.  When I felt like I may ugly-cry, I would think about a hilarious situation involving Evelyn at a restaurant.  Spouse & I were out to dinner with Evelyn when a familiar looking woman was seated a few tables away.  Evelyn thought it was her old neighbor Pauline who had moved away 20 years prior.  Spouse suggested to his mother than Pauline would now be much older than this woman so it likely wasn't her.  Spouse's mother persisted that the woman was wearing a ring just like Pauline, so she decided to approach the woman at her table.  The brief conversation went like this:
Evelyn:  Excuse me, are you Pauline?
Woman:  No.
Evelyn:  Are you sure??  You look just like her!
Questioning whether the woman was sure of her identity still makes me laugh to this day, so I knew it would help me shift my mood when it became too heavy.  Fortunately it worked.  Immediately after the funeral mass there was a lovely luncheon in the parish hall.  In addition to eating lunch, it was a great opportunity for us to thank our friends for coming and chit-chat.

Afterward Spouse & me, aunt Mary, and Steven & Thad all went to Spouse's sister's house and hung out for a while and visited.  Then I took the dogs and my luggage and rode back to DE with Steven & Thad.  I needed to get back and Spouse was going to stay for the internment on Mon morning.  After feeding/walking the dogs and getting them settled at home, I joined Steven & Thad for a quick dinner and then headed to the Blue Moon to perform in the Legends show.

Sun morning I was up early to hold a moving sale for my clients.  They'd intended to include the furniture/furnishings with the sale of their beach home, but the buyer is going to live there full-time and already had her own stuff, so I offered to hold a moving sale for them on Sat.  Due to the funeral I pushed it to Sun.  I advertised it on several buy/sell facebook groups and had a GREAT turn-out.  I sold nearly everything in the house, including an old ironing board!  After the sale I went into the office to catch up on emails and administrative tasks.