Alcohol

A super fun night out with Cristin! Sadly, these are the only pictures I have.

Dinner at Dos Taquitos

Waffles and Champagne for breakfast!

Cristin’s post, with more pictures, here. Thanks, Ms. Criss!

The worst thing about being back at work? Not being able to have a beer at lunch every day.

A fabulous Henry gift from Larry and Hiroe!!!!

Yum!!

I’ve compiled some of my favorite pictures from my trip to England.

The Tower Bridge (look familiar?)

Bill, my and Alba’s host in Cambridge, who indulged me an an hour-long conversation about my favorite British TV shows

A much deserved beer at the end of a long day of biking around Cambridge

How much I adore a decent half-pint!

My tower of coasters

Self-portrait at Picadilly Circus

Getting attacked by a street performer

Lovely shadowplay on the Houses of Parliament (courtesy of Alba)

Self-portrait in front of the Tower Bridge

An alley cat I made nice with in a pub in Harrow

See the guy in the back, on the right? Later that day, he gave me his match ticket from the match that had played that day in Wembley Stadium - what a lovely souvenier!

The only rain I saw during my whole trip was as I was about to board the plane home

We spent all day Saturday (not Caturday) getting the place ready for the big festivities.

Dave and Eric fill a horseshoe pit with sand.
Kevin assists.
The horseshoe pits are kind of important. Lots of attention focused on getting them just so. They don’t kid around, measured distances between the pits, posts pounded in at an 11 degree angle and all that.
Leslie and Vince watch a game of horseshoes. Vince stole my hat, which I stole from Riley, who stole it from Grampy’s closet.
The view of the house and garage from the horseshoe pits. The main structure you see is actually the garage. The house is behind the tents/canopies. We have tons of tables and chairs and tents and coolers. It should be a good day!

More to come…

With Dave gone, I think I’m a little down and less motivated. I haven’t been very inclined to cook for myself, which I have managed to do in the past when he’s gone. On the way home I knew I had to stop at the grocery if I was going to have any chance of eating a decent meal over the next few days. On spur of the moment, I stopped at Earthfare to get my groceries tonight. I figure I’ve been stress-eating lately, I’d be more productive if I stress-bought!

Here is proof of Dave’s theory that “organic” is code for more expensive.

• Conventional Peaches: $1.99
• Organic Red Plums: $2.99
• Organic Nectarines: $3.99 For Dave, I got some Ram’s Head IPA from Top of the Hill Brewery! Fun that you can buy it here, and in cans, as well!
  A gift for Jenny - local soap powder for your laundry!
  Here’s my dinner - Manchego, spiced salami, asian pear, Jonagold apple, Wasa crackers and steamed asparagus, with a glass of Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay.

  I thought it was quite tasty and a nice change from the deli sandwiches and Bojangle’s I’ve been eating.

Sunday morning was breakfast and then a few hours by the pool before meeting Mom and Gene at Fishmongers for a big lunch. Yummy!

We had several rounds of beers, several pounds of shrimp, a dozen steamed oysters and a dozen steamed clams, a pound of steamed crab claws, some broccoli, limas and corn, and two orders of onion rings. Mom and Gene and I each had two oyster shooters, which were quite tasty. Vince couldn’t be convinced to try one.

Both Gene and Vince worked on this steamed oyster for 20 minute until they finally got the little cuss open. Gene said it was mighty tasty.

Here’s one from the Small World department. Last night Kerri called me up to go grab a beer and some dinner. We debated our choices. Lynnwood was out because they were rude to Ker. O’Malley’s was out because it’s just too smoky. Dos Taquitos was closed. And Ben’s Place was out because 1) Kerri went there on Saturday and 2) there is a total tool of a waiter who works there. He is so annoying that I decided we should just avoid the place. We ended up going to Rudino’s Rooftop.

We walked out onto the patio and it was quite crowded. As we milled, looking for a seat, two guys sitting at a large table offered us a seat at the table. There weren’t a lot of options so we sat down…with the waiter from Ben’s Place. Ha! Luckily, he left after another beer. Obnoxious and drunk, what a lovely combination.

Towards the end of the night, we ended up talking with this 7 foot tall guy. His nickname is, not surprisingly, Lurch. I can’t believe I didn’t have my camera. His license plate is a Hurricane’s vanity plate, so it has the little Hurricanes symbol on the left. On the right, it says 1LUR and the two small characters that designate the tag type are CH. Ha! How clever. If you don’t quite get it, you will the next time you see a Carolina Hurricanes vanity plate.