A Little Pomp & Circumstance...

I spent last Thursday afternoon til Sunday morning in Buffalo for David's graduation.  What a whirlwind weekend! 

Thursday - After sitting next to who may have been the most adorable and interesting 70 year old woman I was pleasantly surprised to get picked up not only by Momma Beyer but David and Hannah as well.  After a quick stop at the Archer's where I was mauled by my second favorite pooch, Sarge, we headed to....CHEF'S!   Seriously, if I had the money I'd put one in St. Petersburg...specifically on the same road I live on.  Afterward, we headed out to Antoinette's.  I could barely touch my ice cream after dinner but decided taking home some sponge candy couldn't hurt....needless to say, I finished it before I got back on the plane.

  Friday - I had a riot Friday with the rents, Uncle Bob and Lannie, and the Archer's!  We traveled up to the Finger Lakes where we made it to 8 different vineyards.  I can't remember the name of most, but I know I bought a bottle from 6 of them!  They were each so adorable and quaint.  The wine was amazing and I can't wait to pick up my bottles in July (I couldn't take them on the plane so mom and dad drove them back home with them).  The great end to the night was some of Aunt Jan's famous taco salad. Days like these makes a girl miss good ol' New York.

Saturday - David's big day.  This boy sure knows how to make a room full of his relatives cry.  Danielle, mom, and I were pretty much in tears once the speeches started.  We couldn't be prouder of him.  It feels like yesterday that he was strapped in his car and I was painting those little baby fingers of his!  We left the ceremony and headed back to the Archer’s so we could change (it was about 60 and rainy) and Uncle Tom even made a fire for me since I was freezing.  We headed out to his graduation party and had a great time with family and friends.  Side note: David’s dog is hilarious…Off for a quick visit at a friend’s birthday party and then home again.  

Sunday – Back on the plane at 8 a.m. and headed home.  What a weekend!


More pictures to come!

Someone's not to happy...

Brutus had a busy day and he's not particularly pleased at the current moment.  Today we traveled downtown to get his yearly shots.  He was the talk of the place and happier than a bird with a french fry...until they drew his blood, stuck his front forearm, stuck one in the thigh, and then one in the nose in all of about two minutes!  He was not too happy.  Then to make matters worse, a little mastiff puppy came in and he suddenly found himself ignored.  Someone wasn't too happy...

After all the drama, he spent much of the afternoon cuddling up with me while I typed up my homework.  He was as comfy as could be...until he saw me get out the suitcases.  I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Buffalo since David is graduating!!  Brutus followed me around the house aimlessly while I gathered my things to pack.  Not thinking, I had placed the suitcase on his usual spot so when I finally sat down to take a second he was pacing around the couch trying to figure out what to do.  Now he just looks miserable laying next to it and making me feel pretty guilty for leaving him tomorrow.  Someone's not to happy...

Out with the uh...sleeping fish? and in with the new!

We unexpectedly lost our three angelfish a couple weeks ago from unknown causes.  At first we figured it was just the big guys time, but then within days the other two were gone as well...off to the big fishy heaven in the sky...er...water?

After a short period of  trying to decipher why perhaps we lost the three beauties, we finally decided to replenish the tank since our pleco seemed to be getting lonely.  We came home with 4 little bloodfin tetras and 2 dalmatian mollys.  

18 hours in and everyone is still alive.  So far....so good...

As to naming them....we're open to ideas!

What an AMAZING concert!

 So the Keith Urban concert was just too good to be true!  First, we got into our best "country get up" as we like to call it.  It's rather funny to see, but we both think that we were secretly meant to be living in Texas, with horses, and...stuff.  

Back to the concert though, we prepaid for parking online which at first we were a little skeptical about since it was $12 but we ended up parking directly next to the arena.  So we go up to the 300 level where our seats are and it's DEAD!  There's only about two out of the tons of vendors actually open and not a soul in sight so we grab a beer and a pretzel and head to our seats.  Before we can get past the curtain the usher stops us and asks if we'd like better seats at no charge to us!  Well, YEAH...DUH!  So we head over to this really nice lady who offers us our choice of seats in certain sections of the 200 club level.  In celebration fashion I decide I MUST have my picture taken with Keith...or at least a banner with his face on it.

We pick the section that faces the stage directly and get lost trying to find this seemingly secret floor.

Jake Owen opens up the show just after 7:30.  We don't know many of his songs but find it pretty humorous that he places the words "Tampa" and "Florida" into whatever song he is singing.  There's no jumbo-tron, if you will, that helped you actually see if it was him singing up on the stage, but we took his word for it.

After a quick bathroom break, we got back in time to take a cute pic of our cowboy boots and finish our drinks.  

 

When the lights dim the crowd goes wild (are you surprised?!) but Keith's lead in song is a Beatles song....Silly Love Songs.  Either way, his Aussie accent is hot and so is he.  The crew rips down the backdrop and a huge screen appears with his gorgeous face!  

He belted out 26 of his best songs before retiring for the night...oh..wait...nope...an encore...or two!  Make that 28 songs that I absolutely love and I of course made it a point to sing just about every lyric.  (You can check out the setlist...I'm pretty sure I've found a new playlist for the iPod!) I'm pretty sure Pat was tired of listening to my desperate attempt to be one of Keith's backup singers by the end of the night. I even tried to video tape segments of my favorite songs, but the crowd completely interfered...or my phone just blows...so unfortunately I have 6 video clips of teenagers and country girls screaming wildly while what appears a miniature ant moves across a piece of grass.  Either way, one amazing concert!

Love us some Keith Urban!

So last night, just before ticket sales ended we made a last minute game time decision and bought tickets to see Keith Urban tomorrow night!  We saw him back in Columbus a few years ago and he's amazing in concert.  Granted we're so far up in the nosebleeds we could probably touch the roof of the building, we're still really excited!  I made Pat give up his favorite Keith Urban song which proved difficult at first because there were lots of questions and debate like, "fast or slow?" or "well from his old songs...".  Turns out we both decided on Days Go By as our favorite song.  Even after we still just kept naming songs we liked.  If I wasn't excited before I am now!  

So Here We Go...

So I'm currently on summer break.  Sounds like days of sleeping in, laying at the pool, and reading the latest and greatest bestsellers, right?  

Not quite.  I've signed up for two professional development opportunities, I'm enrolled in two master's classes, I'm currently writing lesson plans for the tutoring company I work for during the school year, working on getting my wedding and event planning business going, and trying to get into the habit of working out.  While the days aren't nearly as busy as they are during the school year, it's not quite the break I had hoped for but it's all for the better.   


However, if you know me at all, you  know I despise talking on the phone.  Hopefully I can really work on this blog over the summer and it will help us keep in touch with our families that are...well...just about everywhere!

Patrick is still working his butt off of course.  This time, the summer course is cramming 16 weeks of class into 10.  After this, he's onto his rotations.  It's days like today that leave me a little lonely though.  He was home for about 30 minutes yesterday and then off to study.  Today it was home to change and out the door again since they have another exam in the morning.   I know he'll do great like always.

Brutus...he's just hanging out on the couch like always and keeping me company.  What a good puppy!