~Tommy's 29th Birthday~

After midnight on the 27th I let Tommy open his birthday card and presents. He just couldn't wait any longer knowing that I bought them months ahead of time. I thought it would be fun to wrap them in "free" post office boxes, why not?
Tommy can hook up his laptop to the TV and we can watch Blu-Ray movies! We already had these four on DVD but I re-bought them for him. He was dying to have The Dark Knight on BR!
The morning of his birthday Lauren and I went out to breakfast (to celebrate her birthday, the 16th) while Tommy and John (Lauren's fiance) went Golfing! The girls went to North Star Cafe for a Beacon and Cheese Croissant and Poached Eggs with Prosciutto and Salad! NSC just opened a location at Easton and every time that we are shopping, or walking around, it is packed!

After the guys got home from golfing 18 holes they worked really hard in the Kitchen making burgers and sweet potato fried and dessert! They, of course, had to take an "Uncle Brian Chef Photo"! Yeah, they both got a little sun too!
~Tommy, John and Sammy worked so hard cooking today~
The girls worked really hard too! Lauren and I met up with Bethany and Emily at our condo's pool! We worked on our tans while the guys made us food; just the way it ought to be! :)
~We look a little red!~
It makes me so happy to see this many burgers, all ready to go, in our kitchen. We love entertaining and it had been too long! Right now we don't even have the dinning room table in the dinning room! That and the living room are all set up for studio shooting at any time!
Sammy was sweet enough to bring me and the girls Mike's Lemonade! Everything was so delicious! I want all of it together again just looking at the photo! I am so glad that this is what Tommy wanted to do for his birthday! Good choice Babe!
~John, Emily, Joey and Tommy~
~Lauren, Me, Bethany and Sammy~
~Guess what the guys made for dessert? Creme Brulee Baby, yum!~
The next day (Sunday) Tommy and I went to my parents house to Celebrate his Birthday again! Tommy had another recipe that he wanted to cook out of a book I got him last year called Wood-Fired Cooking: Techniques and Recipes for the Grill, Backyard Oven, Fireplace, and Campfire! ~The amazing Birthday Boy made a dish that we will never forget!~
~Grill it Baby!~
~We all sat on the patio and talked~
~The final dish~
~Yum~
~Mom made him a sweet lil treat! TOM'S ICE CREAM BOWL'S CASHEWS! and raspberry brownies with his favorite candy and raspberries of course! We each got some of this, topped on our ice cream of choice! Yes please!~
~What is it?~
~A book that Tommy wanted!~
Later we watched Daddy on the DVR. The Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp Recap was on TV and Daddy recorded it! It was so fun to find him throughout the show!
After that we watched Harry Potter 6 and 7.1 to get ready to see 7.2 that comes out in theatres in July! We can not wait to see the final movie. I am sure that we will watched 7.1 again before we go the theatre to review once more!
Monday was a holiday and so Tuesday we finally got to get this!!!!!! When the girls were all laying out at the pool on Satudrday Bethany jumped up and said, "We should go get Tommy a cake". I said, "Ice Cream Cake!". Then Lauren said, "Ice Cream PIE from Greaters!". We were off! Tommy never noticed we were gone from the pool. We put the pie in the freezer (in the club house) and when the guys were done cooking and it was time to come home we went to get it and the club house was locked and the freakin' office lady left for the day! At least when we went into the club house on Tuesday it was still in the freezer!!!

~Well here it is, yummy goodness! Just sad that the 8 of us couldn't split it that night!~
Bob and Vicki spoiled Tommy with some amazing wines this year. They were sweet enough to send them from an online "wine delivery" service! They came beautify packaged and with a bottle opener as well! Cool huh? Tommy was one happy guy!

Over all I must say that I think Tommy had a great Birthday Weekend! Mine falls on a Sunday this year. I can't decide what to do! Something fun, that's for sure! :)

~May Flowers & Fun~

I am behind in my blogging a little because I did such detailed Puerto Rico Blogs. This blog is filled with "Other Events" from May; minus Tommy's Bday of course! That one will get one all on it's own. :)

I had the opportunity to babysit little Audrey last month. She was sick and Marvin and Jill both needed to go into work. Jill called me in the morning and asked if she could drop her off in an hour. I was delited to have her but, of course, wish she felt better! We set her up in the living room with 101 Dalmatians and some blankets!
~An Hour later...~
Tommy helped me move A-dub back onto the couch. She never even knew that we moved her, she was out! I was so glad that she got some rest. She looked adorable with my rose blanket! I have had it since I was two!

On Sat the 7th I was able to attend Leah's Baby Shower! She is due this summer and having a GIRL! Yea! It was a spring themed shower! Everyone got to take come a lil flower and the prizes for the games were herbs! I loved it!
After I got to Leah's shower I heard a familiar voice, Megan! I had not seen her since High School! She and I were the class of '03 and Leah was '02! It was great to sit next to her and talk for a while.

When I got home I couldn't believe what Tommy had gotten into! He found an article about what the burger of the future will be? You must watch the video posted on this articles page! He went to the grocery store, came home and got to work! He created his own version of the meal and I pleased to say that we have recipe to archive! He even used my homemade hollandaise sauce!

~The Final Product - Best Burger Ever~
Mother's Day this year was fantastic! Daddy was sweet enough to make Mom Brunch and invite us to come along! Oh My Gosh the food was amazing! I got to help Daddy toward the end of the meal and it was great to be in the kitchen with him again!

~Mom and Me~
He made a Huge Pancake-type ordeal with blueberries and powdered sugar then beacon and tomatoes topped with caramelized onion, green bell pepper, garlic and more!
Before we left for Puerto Rico I went to visit Brooke and Audrey at School/Day Care. Brooke was playing outside on the playground. She showed me the monkey bars and introduced me to a couple of her friends. I told her we are going to the beach and will see her when we get back. Audrey was sleeping but I wrote her a note and put it in her cubby!
I was so happy when Tommy looked at Ben Randell's facebook page and decided to recreate what he had made his family, for dinner, the night before. Hello AMAZING red pepper sauce!
So my Dad bought some hot sauce when he was in AZ and did not read the bottle before dousing his shrimp in the sauce. When he told us this story, including that you are only supposed to use a drop, Tommy knew he had to try it! Do you see the drop on the plate? Tommy had already dipped his finger in this to try it and...
...this was the result!
When we were in Puerto Rico I found this Cars2 Cup! I knew that I had to get it for Audrey! When I got home and babysat I took it to her! She loved it! It's a hologram!
Jill treated herself to something real nice! LOL! A new Jeep! I just had to get a photo of the girls "playing" in it before Marvin left in it to baseball. I love Audrey's smile in this one!

~See you next time~

~Puerto Rico - Off to Atlanta/Home~

On the morning that we left Puerto Rico Tommy was sweet enough to take me to a local beach so that I could get my P.R. Sand. I brought a bottle with me but kept forgetting to fill it up everyday both weeks we were there! Lol! Here's a pic from the beach where my sand came from. It was a gorgeous beach. I wish we didn't have to go home!

~Off to the Airport~

Getting to the gate in time was NOT FUN! I knew that we were going to make it but that's only because if I left myself think that we might miss our flight... we WOULD miss it.

1. Late getting our keys back! Yikes!
   

2. Tommy dropped me off at the Delta gate to drop off rental car!

3. Was not told that drop off for Enterprise was outside of the airport!

4. Drove around looking for it, time is running out!

5. Called Enterprise to find out where it was, phone kept ringing, no one ever picked up!

6. Went to Hertz and they told him, got dropped off with me and while he was gone...

7. I was having an asthma/panic attack due to the fact that I couldn't leave our 7 large bags by themselves and I was surround my smokers. I walked as far away from them as I could without getting in trouble and tried to breathe in little bits of car exhaust at a time, that's as fresh of air as I could get. While wheezing, I still refused to my inhaler because I had not eaten since 6:30am. Tommy finally got back and told me I had to; enter constant shaking! That looks good when you're trying to get through security! LOL!

8. Get to the drop off for our check-ons and of course two of the three at overweight (8 and 13lbs over). I can understand that with two of the bags but they tried telling us that our rolling case was 8lbs over. It had the same items in it on the way there!!! Where they heck are we supposed to disperse it anyway. We kept telling the Delta guy that it was incorrect. He said, it's ok... $90 please. "NO!". So when we opened it and showed him what was in there he said, “Fine! I'll let it slide!”. Mean while I am taking 13lbs and putting dispersing it amongst four carry on bags.

9. We waited to make sure that two bags with photo equipment in them make it through security. Then the same Delta guy told us to go to security at gate C instead of B because the line would be shorter. This was true but still, at gate C, it was way too long!

10. I asked an attendant what she thought, she said asked TSA and show them your ticket, TSA said no, you'll just have to miss your flight. I wanted to kill him. I left Tommy in line and ran back to Delta and asked them for help. They stood there and talked for at least 3 minutes while I got to the point of begging, at this point our flight leaves in 9 minutes.

11. Finally Tommy came up to the counter (with all of our carry ons) and made it happen. Again the SAME Delta Guy ran us over to ditched the ticket check. He walked us pass two ropes and when we got up to the lady checking tickets she looked us up and down and said you need to go around to the other side, he yelled at her in Spanish and she said, "No" to say the least.

12. We went back out the two left ropes, around the line, up the right side and then she still checked six people before us until he took our tickets and licenses for us and said, “Now!”. You go Delta Boy!

13. Security was not to bad but once we got passed that we ran! Guess what we made it with 2 minutes to spare. On a full plane there was only one to board after us. One being the lady next us, ironic. She said, "I heard you were in the same boat I was so after the Delta Man let you through I showed him my ticket and he saw I was on the same flight and let me in. I ran too!".
    

14. When we sat down Tommy asked the flight attendant for water NOW! We were sweating like crazy! But we...
    

15. Made it to GA!

Tommy was so sweet to enough to tell me before we left that we had three hours in Atlanta to visit with my cousins Andrew and (his wife) Susan! I was so excited that we were able to see them. When we landed we called them and they picked us up and we were off to dinner. We went to an Italian place called Johnny Carino's. They said that the first time they went was when my dad came to visit them. I had good ol' spaghetti and meatballs and it was good!

~Andrew, Susan, Tommy and Me~

During dinner Susan announced that they are pregnant! We hugged, laughed, smiled, congratulated and practically cried! We are so excited for them. They have been married four three years longer than we have. It will be so much fun for our kids to be close in age. :)

Tommy and I were sad to leave Andrew and Susan. They dropped us off and when we got into the airport we found out that our flight was an hour and 45 mins delayed. Really? Ahhhh! We could have spent more time together! :(

We were happy to get home. We decided to sleep in the next day! It was very much well worth it! We just couldn't believe we were home from Puerto Rico and it's back to work!

~Puerto Rico - Explore the Fort~

In the morning we got some groceries and packed our camera equipment for taking pictures at Castillo San Felipe del Morro; and packed our beach stuff just in case. We headed out to the Fort and knew that it would be really cool but had no idea that it would be mind blowing!
We had driven by at least a half a dozen times while we were there (this view) but had not been inside before. We thought that it would be big but would not have guessed that it was SIX Levels and so beautiful! Tommy had a wonderful time photographing. It was so hot though.
Lies on the northwestern-most point of the islet of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Named in honor of King Philip II of Spain, the fort, also referred to as el Morro or promontory, was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the city of Old San Juan from seaborne enemies. In 1983, during the Reagan Administration, the fort was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in conjunction with the San Juan National Historic Site. Over two (2) million visitors a year explore the windswept ramparts and passageways making the fort one of Puerto Rico's main visitor attractions. Facing the structure, on the opposite side of the bay, a smaller fort known as El Cañuelo complemented the fort's defense of the entrance to the bay.

~From the "Water Side" on the Second Level~

~We sat at the Fourth Level for while to cool off~
As we were leaving Tommy saw an English Bulldog and just had to say "Hi!". Boy was the puppy happy to meet him! Look at that face!
After exploring Tommy and I went to another Tapas Place that we had our eyes on all week. The food was good but over priced for what it was; small portions of food that we make better! Either way we had to get a pic.

While I was in the restroom there I noticed a sign that I had to get a photo of... for real? Duh!
When we got back to the car we noticed that we had a ticket! We looked around for a sign that said that we were not supposed to park there but couldn't find one. These girls that walked by said, "Tear it up!". We were not sure if we hear them correctly so when we looked over at them the one girl said, "Do you live here, is that a rental? TEAR IT UP!". So we brought it home to scrapbook! We'll see if we get a letting months from now, forwarded to us from the rental place!
That evening we decided to go to the beach at Casino Resort! We knew where it was (and a lot about it) because that is where Jeff and Jenn stayed.

I can now say that I have been in an Infinity Pool! The pool that was attached to the Casino. It was fun to look behind us and see the beach and ocean. Too much fun!

We went to the casino and played til 10pm. I made my money last at the 1 cent machine while Tommy played Black Jack! We got back to the condo around 10:30 to get dressed and head back out. We were out clubbing til around 3am. Most clubs don't close til 5 am in Puerto Rico but lets be honest, we were getting tired! The next morning we got up at 8:30 am and went to the pool up on the roof.

It was just the two of us laying out for about an hour and then three pre-teens showed up! It was no longer quiet but that was ok. It was fun to hear them laugh and play. Around 12:30 we went in and took a nap. Tommy got up 45 mins later and started cooking lunch. He was sweet enough to let me sleep til it was ready. We ate around 2:30, right after food we went back to sleep and we napped another 2 hours. I think that the two weeks of adventures caught up to us.

~Tommy served Puerto Rico Cucumber with Olive Oil and Sea Salt~

~Then served Pork with Rice and Beans~

After our second nap we got EVERYTHING packed up for the next day to leave; this includes all of our camera gear from the wedding so... three hours later we decided to do one more fun thing before leaving the island. At 8pm we went out to Old San Juan for some restaurant hopping!

We were drawn to the first bar/restaurant because they were playing live music and there was salsa dancing. We sat at at the bar for 10 minutes, at least, and no one tended to us. Three bar tenders passed us by at least 5 times each and nothing. What was really sad is that there were only four other people sitting at the bar. When we got up and walked out the host looked at us like where are you going?

At least we got to watch some dancin'! Next Destination: Back to Dragonfly. That was where we ate with Nef, Nina and Nina. Tommy at sat inside at the huge couch with a covered coffee table to hold our drinks and SUSHI! T was so excited to go back and try some because they have a Beacon, avacado and eel roll. It was really good.

Tantra was the place we ended up at next; mostly because no one else was open. For how popular Old San Juan is we were really surprised that all but three of the restaurants were closed. We had no idea if we would like Tantra or not but we walked in and we were really impressed with the décor.

I asked Tommy to order whatever he wanted cause I wasn't really hunger when we left the condo and I had just had half of a very filling sushi roll. He ordered a duck and plum sauce stuffed soft taco and all of a sudden I was hungry again! Oh my goodness, soooooooooo good!

~Right before we left San Juan~

When we were leaving downtown we noticed that one of the two docked Cruise Ships was moving. We pulled the car over to get out and watch for a few. It was kind of breath taking in a way. I know that sounds silly but true to me.

When we got back to the condo we finished watching the movie Unstoppable on the laptop. The next morning we left Puerto Rico to go home. SAD! We were just getting ready to ship our things over to stay for the summer! Lol!