my best friend's boy

 Gavin Michael came into this world 1 week early.  

His proud parents Alisa and Mike. 

Gavin is absolutely adorable and I couldn't be happier for this new family of 3, and dog child Chandler.

This is officially one of my closest friends to have a baby.

Adam and I were able to visit the hospital yesterday and cuddle with Gavin for a short time.  Neither one of us held a baby that was just over a day old before.

Gavin, welcome to this crazy, crazy, crazy, beautiful world.

Pinterest

I had been resisting, I didn't want something else to consume my life, but I did it, I joined.  And this Pintereset thing is fun!

Dave turns 30!

 We celebrated Dave's 30th birthday at one of his favorite restaurants, Chicago Brauhaus.  It was St. Patrick's Day, but we went German instead.  Our beer may have not been green, but it was plentiful. 

 I absolutely fell in love with this place.  And the reason, authenticity.  The band was my favorite.  Old guys, looked to be in thier 70's singing and dancing and drinking hard alcohol.  As the night went on, they went from traditional singing to Elvis songs.  It was a crazy fun time.  My other favorite part, these amazing steins of beer.  They were so heavy, I had trouble toasting.

 

All in all, it was a great time.  

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag

Dave!!!

Our New Walls

Last weekend we finally painted our bedroom.  I can not believe we spent 2 whole years with white walls.  I wanted to paint the room grey.  We went with Gibalter from Sherwin Williams, and it came out looking navy blue.  I don't care though, I love it.  I think I would love anything besides white though!

Before

After

Before

 As you can see we clearly need to get rid of the Target furniture that is falling apart piece by piece and purchase some "adult" furniture.  Alas, it's not in the funds right now.

After

We re-arranged the Target furniture somewhat and I am really loving the new arrangement.  The TV will eventually go up on the wall with a new dresser underneath.  

Before

After

In my head, I know exactly how I want my bedroom to look, it's just that pesky thing called money that's holding us back.

So here's what we need:  a dresser and 2 side tables and a large floor mirror and a small chair and ottoman by the window and artwork and lamps and a new bedspread and blinds and curtains.

Is that too much too ask?

Cheeseburger in Paradise

It's very rare that we all can find a time to get together, but we did it.  BURKS MD SC reunion occurred last weekend at Cheeseburger in Paradise.  It was so fun to see everyone and hear updates.  Especially our surprise guests Tudi and her daughter Ann Marie.  I look forward to the next get together...Melissa's wedding.... ahhh. 

In the words of Mr. Buffett...

"Cause' I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potato, a big Kosher pickle and a cold draft beer, well good God almighty which way do I steer... Cheeseburger in Paradise"

.Bellissimo.

Plane tickets bought, 8 books borrowed from the library, Learn Italian app downloaded on the IPhone.

That's about how ready I am so far.  I can not wait to travel to Italy in June.  *ahhhh*

I am a little worried about myself.  This is a big trip.  I mean BIG.  I hate not knowing where I am going, or what I am doing, and the language barrier is making me crazy just thinking about it.  It is so overwhelming to plan a trip like this, especially for my TYPE A personality.  Getting the transportation and the number of days in each city, along with the hotel accommodations all in line will take some work.  But we are determined to do it all ourselves.  We have plenty of people who have been there before and are willing to help and give opinions.  I know that I will feel super accomplished with it all, especially as I make the Italy scrapbook when it's all over.

For now, I am just excited and overwhelmed. 

My notebook is overflowing with lists and I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon researching over my books with a hot chocolate in hand watching the snow fall... dreaming of Venice, and Rome, and Genoa, and Florence and our quick little stop in Pair-eeee!!!!

29th year

 So after a whole month of moping around and not wanting to celebrate my birthday because no one could do anything with me... I actually had a wonderful day.  Festivities started about 11pm Friday night, when after being sound asleep in my bed for umm, 2 hours... I got awoken by Katie running thru my bedroom door, hollering our battle cry, jumping on me and on the bed and shaking my shoulders to wake up...  there you have it... my roommate roommate drove in with her husband, Dave from Cleveland and I couldn't be happier.  I woke up and came downstairs to chit chat with them, and then we all went to bed.  I was embarrassed since our house was not put together to say the least, until Katie quickly reminded me of the time we surprised her for her 25th birthday and you could draw pictures in the dust on her kitchen table.  Ok, point taken.

 Adam had organized for us to get our nails done and pedicures Saturday afternoon, while he and Dave went to a brewery.

For dinner we went to Cooper's Hawk Winery, where Alisa and Mike met us.  Originally they couldn't do anything because they thought all my birthday plans were downtown, and since Alisa is now 8 months pregnant, it wasn't something she wanted to be doing.  So yes, 4 people turned into 6!  WooHOO!

After dinner, we drove to the city where we saw what I originally wanted to do for my birthday, and that was to see the comedy skit of Bye Bye Liver.

 It was hilarious and a must see for 20 bucks a ticket! 

I wouldn't go see it with my mother, if you know what I mean, it's a bit raunchy. 

After the show, Dave's best friend Jamie showed up to have a few drinks, along with Dave and Andrea, who were actually in the suburbs that night for a family dinner.

(I forgot to get pictures of them! : ( ) 

So I was super stoked... 2 people turned into 4, then into 6, then 2 left, and 1 came followed by another 2.

I love my friends.