fun in the midwest

I'm a bad blogger...almost a month since my last one. Sorry about that! I'll make up for it with a good post about our trip back home.

We visited family and friends in Iowa and Missouri over the fourth of July holiday weekend and had a blast. We really fit a lot in and a lot of people. We spent the night with each of my 3 grandmas while home and that was a real treat for us all. Terrific food, great stories, photos, and laughs- it was perfect! You're never too big to spend the night with Grandma!

Spending time with my dad in Iowa was wonderful and we enjoyed trap shooting with him. I was a little nervous but Dad was a good teacher and I actually hit several targets. Eddie was awesome, of course, and loved it. And Dad and Lori, well they're in a league of their own- the professional league, really! We really enjoyed just sitting and talking together. Iowa is really quite beautiful in the summer with its' flowing green corn fields and bright blue skies. And the weather was perfect and pleasant!

Dad and Eddie shooting trap

New lil' babies near us...aren't they cute?!

We had a really great time with my mom, step-dad and brother Traivs. The morning of the 4th we went to a little nearby town, Hurdland, to watch the big parade. Unfortunately is was raining but we couldn't miss the parade since Travis was riding his horse in the parade. We found a good parking spot along the parade route, backed in the car, kept the wipers on and the windows up and then hollered out the windows cheering for Travis when he rode by. :-) He was very handsome atop his horse. Eddie was also impressed with the many varieties of tractors. It's a cute little parade.

Mom and Mike hosted a bbq at the house on the 4th and it was great seeing so many people and catching up. I love me some bbq!! Mom and I had a lot of laughs and it was fun just being around the house together. Eddie and Travis entertained the crowd with some lovely fireworks to top off the evening. Travis demonstrated his talent for making "sparkler bombs"- until you've heard one, you can't imagine how loud they are!

Travis demonstrating his sparkler bomb skillz

Travis and his buddy Brian treated us to a 4-wheeler ride at the farm and we loved it. Eddie drove and I rode behind and picked a bouquet of beautiful wildflowers along the way.

Eddie's dream was for ME to propose to HIM with an ATV...didn't quite happen but I think this helped tide him over

Blurry wildflowers...

We attended my neice, Isabella's baptism. Here she is with Grandpa Mike.

Lovely family ladies. (Terry, you made it on the internet!)

I'm just skimming the surface of all the fun we had. Thank you to EVERYONE for making our visit so great! We love you all and can't wait to come back again for more everything!! and you're always welcome to visit us too!

coming soon...

I know, I know...it's been a while since my last blog. We've been busy bees but very soon my friends, I'll get this thing updated with some jolly fun. Hopefully later tonight. :-)

happy father's day

Happy Father's Day to my dad and step-dad! I'm a lucky lady to have you both in my life and love you very much!

my new baby

I'm so excited about the new member of our mac family! Yesterday I got a shiney new MacBook Pro and she ROCKS! Previously I had an old iBook G4 that I purchased in 2005 (a lifetime in computer years- she served me well). We're addicts of Apple in this household, so the new baby has a lot of other Apple brother and sister products around the house to keep her company.

Apple introduced their new MacBook Pro family last week and there's no better time for an upgrade than right after the release of a new computer or operating system. The new Pro family has a ton of awesome new features that make it super smooth and fun to work on. To see details of what makes her so wonderous, click here.

Being on the computer is now exponentially more fun...watch out, I feel a lot of blogging coming on. :-)

florida trip, part 2

After we left Tampa we headed south to the Fort Myers area where we stayed at a friend's vacation home (what a super nice friend!) near the beach.  We got into a very relaxed groove for 5 days that consisted of sleeping 10 hrs/night, going to Captiva Beach every day and watching the sunset every night.  Ahhh...exactly what we needed!

The water was so warm! We spent probably 5-6 hours  in the water everyday- that's how great it was!  One day while we were swimming some guys came running down the beach pointing and yelling about something.  They were letting us know that there was a MANATEE swimming nearby!   We saw his big paddle-tail splashing in the water and his round back as he came up for air...incredible!  During that same swim there were dolphins swimming behind us, pelicans diving in for fish in front of us and a full DOUBLE rainbow overhead!  I know this sounds like something from Ace Ventura or the Discovery Channel but it all truly happened.  We were in awe and reveled in every moment.  

can't quite see the second rainbow here, but it's there

my McSteamy playing in the sand

we rented scooters, did some sight-seeing, and a little geocaching.  

we visited the Seashell Museum on Sanibel Island and were pretty impressed.

a sailor's valentine made completely with shells

loved ending each day with gorgeous sunsets on the beach

florida trip, part I

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last blogged- I'll try to do better.  We've been a  bit busy.  What have we been up to?  So glad you asked...:-)

Eddie was away in Tampa, FL, most of the month of May preparing for the opening of the new Crate & Barrel store.  I flew down to meet up with him at the end and attended the store opening party.  The opening parties are always fun and I enjoyed meeting the friendly Tampa crew and many other top-notch peeps that Eddie works with. It's always nice for me to be able to meet the people he's been telling me about and finally put a face to their name.  The Tampa store is gorgeous and sits on a pretty lake filled with tropical birds and even an alligator or two, no joke.

Here's a few pics from the party:

Arrghh matey!....what's a party in Tampa Bay without a pirate eye?

After the store opening we took out to begin our mini-vacation.  First stop, food!  We drove down to Ybor City, a very historic area of Tampa.  We stumbled upon the Columbia Restaurant, the oldest Cuban restaurant in Florida.  Inside and out, the restaurant was filled wit historic charm, photos of the family generations that have ran the restaurant and beautiful Cuban architecture and tiling.  Apparently Food Network also liked it since we saw a framed article on the wall about them naming it a "must do" for Tampa.

cool keyhole doorway into an old ballroom that's now a dining room


the gorgeous original bar from the early 1900s.  

delicious Cuban sandwich with amazing hot, fresh homemade bread

incredible Cuban sampler platter with meaty yumminess and plantains

hands down, the best mojito either of us have ever had! and that's real sugar cane.

europe in a day

We live in the vicinity of the German Embassy and often joke about how nice it would be if our "neighbors" would finally invite us over for dinner sometime.  They frequently have parties and they appear to be pretty awesome. Several times a year while the weather is nice they have lavish garden parties- parties that require almost a week to set up all the big white tents on their enormous estate.  The grounds of the embassy really are spectacular and we finally had the opportunity to enter the gates last weekend!

Once a year the embassies in DC host an open-house weekend and welcome everyone in for a tour.  We made a special effort this year to visit our German neighbors.  It was like a mini-festival with a variety of booths, music, food, drink, and freebies.  

Of course it happened to be one of the hottest, most humid days we've had so far and we were downing sparkling German water with double-fists.  We sampled chilled cherry soup (yummy) and some German wines.  They were also offering grilled brats and pretzels but we opted to forgo the very long line in return for more sight-seeing.  We came away with so many little treasures from Germany: lapel pins, key chains, bracelets, stickers...oh and this little beauty - the diplomat's BMW(just dreaming).

While we were waiting in line to get into the German Embassy I was chatting with the woman behind me who said she had visited the Hungarian Embassy earlier in the day and really liked it.  So...after Germany we hopped in the truck and drove on over to Hungary.  It was nice but very small compared to the German Embassy and very crowded.  They were out of the Hungarian goulash (rats!) but it was good for a bathroom break. 

After leaving the Hungarian Embassy we randomly discovered the Embassy of Belgium and figured we might as well stop and say hello.  So glad we did!  We toured the embassy, saw the ambassador's office, and really enjoyed their party snacks.  We tried these cookies called Jules Destrooper biscuterie and couldn't get enough! They looked like large, flattened waffle cones and tasted like crunchy, caramelized wafers.  They were so good that I swallowed my pride and went back for 2 more...one for me and the one for the husband.  They gladly complied.  We also enjoyed incredible Belgium chocolates made by Galler, which according to the box is "The" Belgian chocolate. We sampled some delicious pear nectar juice and of course had Belgium beer.  Come on, what's a trip to Belgium without some infamous Belgium beer?! Some of our favorite beers are from Belgium.  We enjoyed a bit of Duvel, Stella Artois, and something else that I can't remember.  

So what started as a trip to Germany turned into a spontaneous tour of Europe.  We had a really great day exploring together!

a view from inside the German Embassy looking out onto the lawn

the "ladies' sitting room" at the German Embassy- notice the curves

Embassy of Belgium