Drive By

Today we had the pleasure of seeing Uncle Patrick, Aunt Natalie and my four AmAzInG cousins. We had a delightful lunch at one of Chicago's favorites, Portillo's :)

Italian beefs, cheese fries, chocolate cake and laughs were had...

My FaBuLouS cousins...

So FuNnY....

Aunt Natalie, it was so good to see you in person. Until we meet again blogging will have to do!

Thanks so much for dropping by for a drive by lunch...Dan and I truly enjoyed our time with your family. Our time was SwEeT though it was short and lacking in sweet tea ;) Love you guys!

The End

P.S. I think this blog post with pictures may have taken me less time than one of Uncle Patrick's Tweets :)

On Blogging and Getting Over Myself...

Since I've started BlOgGiNg, things in life that at one time might have HoRriFieD or EmBaRRaSseD me have morphed into opportunities to LaUgH HyStEriCalLy, not take myself so SeRiouSly, and be GraTefuL to those in my life who make it far more InTeResTinG than I could ever manage on my own.

Allow me to explain by sharing a somewhat recent incident that occurred at our cousin David and Heather's wedding. It think it IlluStrAteS my point BeAutIfuLly...

The location was GoRgEOuS...

The BrIdE was RaDiAnT...

The company was DeLigHtFuL...

And to top it all off, I had my HaNdsOmE HusBaNd at my side and a NeW dress I had been saving for the PeRfeCt occasion...

The night was nearly MaGiCaL as we LaDiEs enjoyed TwIliGht in the garden...

Then suddenly, the UnThInKaBle happened, and my state of SeReNiTy quickly turned into this...

ReD, that's right, I said ReD wine SpLaTteReD all over my brand new dress! In great confusion, I turned to see my extremely apologetic brother BeN and his nearly EmPtY wine glass sitting on the table.

Now you see... at one time in my life, this incident would have HaD the potential to RuIn my entire evening, BuT this time, instead of being EmBaRrAsSeD and HoRriFiEd, I found myself enjoying the moment and taking advantage of this opportunity fully realizing its BloGgInG potential...See what I mean...

All I could do was LaUgH as my SwEeT sister tidied me up!

Having recently blogged about said sister, she did this dirty job with JoY realizing that doing so would most DeFiNitEly give her another appearance on yet another Blog Post... Thank you for your HuMbLe service dear sister...

In the end, it turns out a bit of SoDa WaTeR and SaLt does WoNdeRs on ReD WiNe dress disasters. I danced the night away without a care in the world...

And thanks to my place in the BloGoSpheRe, I can sincerely say words that at one time in my life would have been UnImaGinAbLe:

ThAnK YoU Ben for spilling red wine on my FaVoRitE, NeVeR BeFoRe WorN DrEsS.

I dedicate this post to you and consider myself forever InDeBteD to you for giving me a MeMoRaBle story to share instead of the standard slideshow of pictures I would have come up with on my own.

These are my People...

So there's this country song that goes something like, "These are my people, this is where I come from...it ain't always PrEtTy, but it's ReaL....wouldn't have it any other way"...

I think we can all relate to the fact that when FaMiLy gets together, BiZzArE things happen...

I recently had the pleasure of visiting some of my family, and of course my camera was working overtime! To keep it InTeReStiNg...or at least EnTerTaInInG for me...I've decided to share the photos and stories that aren't the PrEttieSt of the bunch and may seem a bit UnConVeNtiOnAl , but they fill me with TeNdeRnEsS for my family and GrAtItuDe that ThEsE are My PeOpLe...

#1 Photo Op. in a hotel lobby whose name will remain anonymous...

These are my people invading a hotel lobby full of plush chairs and plenty of space for our big group...what the picture doesn't tell you is...no one in my family was actually staying at said hotel! Of course I made this known to everyone as they joined our party. They would see the drinks and say "at least we're buying drinks"...I would then point to SoMeOnE's purse...not naming any names here...and they would laugh as they glimpsed the wine bottle inside...ThEsE are my PeOpLe...

#2 The Topsy Turvy

This is an upside down tomato plant. If you're like Dan and me, you've seen commercials for these things and guffawed and thought, "who buys these things"?! You can imagine my AsTonIsHmEnT to find this dying tomato experiment in my Grandparents' backyard...You can also imagine the entertainment I found in watching this:
It took three men from my family to move this baby to a place where it could get more sun...as they're doing this, of course I'm wondering "do you ReALly think that what an UpSiDe DowN tomato plant needs is sun?" I sincerely hope the BeSt for Grandpa's tomato plant, but if nothing else, it was worth a GoOd LaUgH...

#3 My People love DeSseRt...we come by it naturally...

Grandpa loves when everyone comes to visit because he gets some extra SwEeTs...This picture epitomizes my grandma and grandpa...I love them to pieces!

#4 Sometimes I like to HaRaSs my people...actually I'm known for it. A few examples:

Forcing my mom and grandma to HuMoR me by taking this picture...one day they'll thank me for it...pretty darn CuTe if you ask me!

Playing paparazzi to my Uncle Dave as he tries to enjoy his meal...My people really AdOrE me even though they sometimes tell me to "Get outta here"...you can clearly see the LoVe in his eyes...

#5 My People also enjoy HaRaSsiNg me... Oh cousin Deirek...I know you love me so...you just cant' stay away from me...

Thank you cousin Colby for stealing my camera and taking completely PoIntLesS and somewhat DiStuRbiNg pictures of food and such...

I know the ArTisTiC GeNiUs of the above macaroni and cheese shot is a lot to handle so I will spare anyone who has made it this far in this post the other masterpieces from the day...

If you're still with me on this post, don't worry, I'm done with silly AnEcdOteS from my most recent visit...but I'd like to end by sharing my FaVoRitE thing about my people... My people LoVe and LaUgH a lot...ThEsE are my PeOpLe...and I LoVe 'em for it!