2010-10-31 Hello-ween

I don't have a lot of interest in Halloween. I don't have a child and I don't care about dressing up as something in an uncomfortable costume, and spending the evening sipping my drink through a mask...but I often spend Halloween with friends, walking the neighborhood with them and their kids and enjoying watching OTHER people dress up in uncomfortable costumes!


Spent the evening with my friend Shirley and her neighbors and nephew...we had a blast...that's a pun that goes with this picture! Enjoy...

2010-10-29 Eating Epcot

Got up bright and early to head over to Epcot to experience the International Food and Wine Festival. I've wanted to go for a few years, and I thought it might be fun to take my folks. Disney knows how to welcome you right!


I could go on an on about the great food and drinks...I love the format. You enter the World Showcase around 11am, and from there you wander through sampling dishes from each country on display.

My favorite thing was the Lamb they served at the Australia booth...this is how much I liked it:


Second place was the escargot in France...I could have eaten about one metric ton of snails that day.

Third place goes to the mussels in Belgium.


Gotta say, I really loved it...can't wait to go back! Cheers!


Here's the album...

2010-10-23 Covering Billy

My friend is on the board of the local community college's foundation fundraiser. It's a concert on the campus of the school, and this year that start of the show was Michael Cavanaugh, the "star" of the musical "Movin' Out." Movin' Out is based on the music of Billy Joel and the dance of Twyla Tharp. Michael sang all the Billy Joel songs. He does a great job of covering Billy's music...


About 10 of us sat at my friend's table and just listened to some great music and we each brought food for a picnic. I made this ham...


The moon was so huge people were just standing around staring at it...


And we had a great time...

2010-10-18 Ye Gourds!

It's gourd time...


I don't know what the hell people do with these other than decorate? Can you eat these?

2010-10-17 Scouting the Competition

Our Junior League has a huge fundraiser coming up in November which is a food festival. We've done it for 28 years and it's the bulk of our budget. I've noticed a few towns nearby are sort of trying to create the same kind of event. Locally a mall had their own similar event, to showcase their restaurants, so a few of my friends and I went down there.

They had a couple of dishes from each restaurant and a few kids games.


It wasn't too much to look at, but we had fun. We liked the food!

2010-10-12 Just Training

We're still having fun training new JL members this year...


I love sharing the mission with the new members and watching our committee engage with people.

Plus, someone brought the most amazing fruit tarts that night for our potluck meal. Holy mackerel. It was a good night all around!

2010-10-05 White Out

Between Pippin and my bedding, it's a white-out today!

2010-10-04 Walking the Dog

Walking with Pippin is always like this...


My standing there staring...
The line of the leash pulled as taut as possible without snapping...
Pippin's nose in the ground, sniffing out a bug, or food, or the place where another dog peed...

I'm afraid that when he was little, we used to walk around a lake, and I stopped a lot to look at things, and never really got him used to walking without stopping to sniff extensively. He may look like a Bichon on the outside, but on the inside, he's a bloodhound. He cannot stop investigating and sniffing the ground.

So, many times when we go for a "walk", it's about me going, "C'mon Pippin...keep walking!" and about him thinking, "Wait, wait, I just wanna smell this one thing!"

2010-10-03 Dancing Dad

After I came back from Jen's today, I headed over to the Italian Fest over at the Alliance for the Arts. We walked around sampling some Eye-talian food...my fave of the day being the calamari and spicy sauce! I had some zeppoles but they weren't great...

Best shot of the day...


They had some band playing and this dad was having some kind of "dance-off" with his son. They were so funny. One would do some kind of crazy dance move, then the other would try to repeat it and make it crazier. The dad's enthusiasm was almost funnier than the kid. I was pleasantly surprised at how they just didn't care who was watching. Super cute.

2010-10-02 Jen Time

Having a little Jen-time over in Fort Lauderdale today....the best part of this picture is the pirate in the background!


We went and caught a movie and hung out over at her place. We are both huge junkies for our iPods, so we spent some time sharing playlists and watching the first season of Glee on DVD. I love to get Jen hooked on TV shows, so I was really happy when she rented it because, with her knowledge of music, she should love a show like Glee.

Funny story...I drove into Jen's driveway and started thinking about bringing my suitcase in the house a little later, when I realized...I forgot my suitcase! Yes, it was sitting in my garage, 2 hours away from where I was now parked. What a joke! I literally forgot my suitcase at the house. Yeah. No brain.