Aquariums at the Pub!

I have this whole week off work, so I was excited to get an email from Summer saying that some Stew Mac folk were heading to the Pub at four o'clock! The Pub serves these GIANT beers called "aquariums," and neither of us had ever tried one.

Also, Summer's friend Sarah was visiting from San Francisco, and I'd always wanted to meet her! So we all hung out all evening long and had a great time. At the end of the night, Adam picked us up and we went out to Summer's for a dip in the hot tub! Ahhh, vacation.



Click here for photos.

Hike at the Ridges

The weather was a tiny bit warmer today, so Adam and I went up to the Ridges for a hike. I have the whole week off from work, and it's great! There was this cool horse statue that I had somehow never seen before. We walked up to Radar Hill so we could check out the view.

Gratuitous Woody Photos!

So Mer had some buddies over tonight to help polish off some Xmas Dinner leftovers, and on the guest list were Kaleb and Woody! You know what that means. An evening of CUTENESS! As hard as I try, I just cannot stop taking pictures of that cute little guy. WOODY!



Click here for photos.

Merry Xmas!

Xmas was fun this year! Uncle Mark came down from Ann Arbor, and Pete's dad Harry and his wife Kandee were in town as well! On Xmas Eve, Mom made turkey sandwiches and AWESOME clam chowder. We had a big Xmas breakfast with waffles and eggs and sausage, then opened presents. That night, Mer had us all over for stewed beef, carrots, boiled onions and peas! On top of homemade spaetzle. I had never had spaetzle before and I loved it.. Man, and the cheese. So good! Uncle Mark had gotten some old family films turned into DVDs, so we watched those and they were hilarious.



Click here for photos.

Party Train! TOOT TOOT!

Doran traveled all the way from Arizona to visit us Ohians, so we formed a Party Train for the weekend! Kara, Clark, Doran and Anne all came to Athens for Thursday night fun, and then we all motored up to Akron for Kara's annual Xmas Party on Friday night! TOOT TOOT!



Click here for photos.

Snow Charlie

We got some snow today, and Charlie sat in the window all morning watching it come down. He's so great. Aw.

Bizarro Charlie and Emma

Today, I was googling for an image of "confetti," and I ran across this picture of two cats that TOTALLY look like Charlie and Emma! It made me do a double take. These kitties, "Confetti and Tiger," are the bizarro world versions of Charlie and Emma.





I decided to investigate further and check out the web site of the owners of those cats. Look what I found! It's Shem and Chan. Check out that MULLET! I'm going to email them a picture of Charlie and Emma and freak them out.

Jingle Step!

As a holiday tradition in our step aerobics class, Mom and I make bells for the class to wear on their shoes! This is the last week of classes before winter break, so we're having holiday class Tuesday and Thursday morning. Kay brings in Christmas Aerobics music, and everyone attaches bells to their shoes! It sounds HILARIOUS, and also awesome.

This year, we made the bells more fancy than last year, with the addition of fancy ribbon and holly. The holly sort of fell apart during class, but boy were they loud! Each year, we learn from the previous year and attempt to improve our product. We sounded like a class full of reindeer! We'll be wearing them again during Thursday's class!

Holiday Birthday Surprise Extravaganza!

On Saturday night, our gang gathered for our annual holiday gift exchange. This year was different, because we surprised Leighanna and Julien with a joint birthday party! Julien's birthday is ON Christmas Day, so he's never had a real birthday party. It was great, they were totally surprised! So, we had a birthday party and then exchanged holiday gifts.



Click here for photos.

Stew Mac Holiday Party!

Tonight was the Stew Mac Holiday Party! I've been going since I was little. When I was little, I went with my parents. Now that I'm an adult, I get to be an honorary employee for the night, the party photographer!

It was at the country club this year. Summer made the cutest snow globes and drink tickets. There was Rock N' Roll Karaoke! It was hilarious to watch. Dan challenged me to an Irish Car Bomb contest and I kicked his butt.

Probably the funniest part of the night was seeing my dad in a full santa suit. Dad Santa!



Click here for photos.

Happy Birthday, Joey!

To celebrate Joey's birthday, a bunch of folks gathered at the Purple Chopstix for a potluck. Michelle, Aaron and Craig came from Columbus! And WOODY was there. The food was delicious. Twas a fine party.



Click here for photos.

Most Embarassing Gym Moments

This morning in step aerobics, I did something embarrassing. The room was really hot so I went up to the front to tug this fan closer to me, and I GUESS the fan was plugged into the same surge protector as the sound system, which APPARENTLY has a super short cord. Yeah, I unplugged the sound system. The music was blaring, people were steppin' to the beat, then all of a sudden there was a loud electric "BLIP!" then POW! Dead silence. I just kind of stood there for a second and said "Uhhh I just got REAL HOT!! SORRY!" Hahahha. Everyone was staring at me. It was funny though. Everyone laughed. Summer emailed me her rendition of the event this morning:

It's not entirely accurate — I think TRIPPING over the cord would have been one level nerdier on the nerd scale, but she captured my expression perfectly.

She's not gym-embarassment-free though. Earlier this year she marched into class while we were all finishing up our cool down, got out a step, and tried to catch up with us until I was like "What are you doing? There's only five minutes left of class!" Hahahahah, her clock at home was set an hour off and she thought class was just BEGINNING! Hahahahhah. I love the gym.

Happy Birthday, Mer!

Mom and Dad had a little dinner party to celebrate Mer's birthday!

Mom made a big old lasagna. It was DELICIOUS!



Pete and Mer work together to open up a bottle of vino.



Dad models his fancy new pink shirt!



Make a wish!



Pete cuts the cake. I made that cake. It's orange cardamom.



Mmm, cake!



Adam!



Mer has a birthday piece of birthday cake!



Birthday time!



After cake, we read stories out of the 1958 Children's Storybook Encyclopedia. The End!

Irish Car Bomb Birthday Fun!

To celebrate Mer's birthday, a bunch of her friends gathered at the Bike Shop to have Irish Car Bombs! Mer and I did all the preparations. There were about 18 Car Bombs being drunk at once! It was incredible, AND delicious.



Pete snuck a stealth picture of me.



Mer and I got all the shot glasses and pint glasses ready.



Pour those shots!



Mer and I give each other the "Is it time to say 'Go!'?" look.



Yes, it is time.



Ready...



Set...



GO!



Round two!



Chug it!



Afterward, Moss played "Happy Birthday" to Mer on his accordion.



The skate shop and the bike shop.



Me, Gina and Mer! Happy Birthday, Mer!