JB MD SC

 I always love hanging with my girls from cardiology... each one of us have gone our separate ways now, and I am so happy that we can stay in touch.  We seriously, haven't seen Louise in like 5 years, so we made it a point to meet at what better place then HER house.  She couldn't get out of it that way.  She told us we were just going to get some pizzas, and relax.  We get there and there was a meat and cheese platter, guacamole, vegetables and dip, chips, fruit...  She sure knows how to entertain.  It was fun reminiscing about how much we all actually ate in the cardiology office.  I was reminded of all the extra amazing lunches, thanks to the drug rep, and Carrie's ability to say... "yes, today we will have Magiannos!"  There were a lot of laughs and we just had a great time. 

And when Louise tells you... "don't follow the GPS, follow MY directions!!!"  You better listen!

Coraline Debut

I had to wait two WHOLE weeks to meet this little beauty, Coraline.  Amanda and I made it over on a Wednesday afternoon to oogle over the newest little lady in our lives.  She is so cute and little and cute, I can't even stand it.  As Amanda keeps saying, "Welcome to the Party, Miss Coraline!"  Thanks for letting us stop by Andrea!  (And then feeding me dinner!) 

the Floss Vegas that never was

There were 6 ladies, in their 70's sitting on the edge of the Palazzo pool, in their granny bathing suits. Wrinkles lined their faces, the sun had aged them.  Some of their hair had turned silver, some still had color. They spoke of children and recipes.  Their husbands lined the other side of the pool, all with a camera in hand snapping their group photo.  Some complained, and some told the others to shut up, "you look fine in your bathing suit, just smile."

I imagined they all met up together, and I was jealous... because that's what I wanted to do with my friends.  I had been looking forward to meeting up with my Disney girls to celebrate our 10 year reunion September of this year in what we coined "Floss Vegas."  Everyone knew about this.  I was excited.  And I really don't get excited about a whole lot.  

In what took months to plan, to get everyone on board, saving money, and agreeable... took 12 hours to fall apart about one month prior to leaving.   While I might get the cold shoulder from my Disney girls for writing this.  I just don't know how I can not.  I was beyond disappointed at this turn of events, and can't help to do what I like to do best, and that is to write about it.

I had been questioning everyone I knew about Vegas, asking them pros and cons of the city.  Finding out what shows were worth seeing and what was worth skipping.  I was reading articles and books, in my typical pre arrival fashion.  I had never been to Vegas before.  And I was determined to make Vegas "our" vacation.  A chance for the husbands to mingle, for us girls to chat and act like the goofs we are,  to celebrate a milestone birthday, and the upcoming birth of 2 little ones, and then for us to all come together at the end of the day and enjoy an awesome dinner.  But life happened, and one by one, each one backed out.  I, of course, wasn't too pleased with the turn of events.  I was hurt and sad and angry and just deflated.  You get very few chances in life to pull a group together, from all across the country, and I really had hope that this would work out.  FAIL.

However, Adam and I went anyway, and our little getaway turned out to be a relaxing, great time.  My husband was a great sport.  2 weeks prior he was in Vegas for work, of course all expenses paid, and I felt terrible because I talked him into coming for my roommate reunion, again.  And now that this was not happening, I just felt bad and mad at myself, that I was just wasting our money.  He assured me that we would have a great time, even without my girlfriends.  He was right.  I always have an awesome time with Adam and this was no exception.

Our days consisted of sitting at the pool, getting all gussied up in our fancy over sized beautiful hotel room, and then heading out to dinner, followed by seeing two amazing Cirque shows.  I learned that right before we were to leave that my best good friend Amanda would be there for business.  While she couldn't hang the entire day, we got to have two dinners with her.  It was fun... even though in Vegas they don't believe in serving mostocolli with their chicken parm.  Amanda was a bright light in the vacation, reminding me to just sit back and enjoy this other world I was in!

After spending 30 dollars at the pool for booze, I marched Adam right down to Walgreens where we got 2 bottles of alcohol, Snapple as our mixer, 2 Las Vegas souvenir cups, and snacks for 50 dollars.

Little did I know I was going to have a Disney Reunion after all... with who else than Larsen and Stephanie.  Larsen worked on Tower of Terror while we were on the college program and lived right above apartment 27202.  His wife, Stephanie and him, just moved to Vegas from Orlando a few days prior and they were able to meet us out for dinner one night as well.  We went to Emeril's Table 10, and from the sounds of it, these two locals will be back.  It was delicious and by far my favorite meal in Vegas.

To try and save money, I purchased a few Groupons, and one of my favorite ones was the yardstick drinks.  We cashed in on those and headed to Freemont Street to see the classic lights of Vegas on our last day.  Good idea, all around.

While it's not the trip I had envisioned having.  And while I didn't get that picture with myself and the Flossers, legs dangling in the pool, looking all glamorous.  I had a great time anyways, and enjoyed it to the fullest with my most favorite person in the world.

not your typical Saturday

This past Saturday was quite eventful.  I put on my wedding planner hat and helped Mrs. M.  with my first outdoor wedding.  I really love the gig.

The wedding was located in Wayne, IL on the groom's parent's land.  They live on a huge property, complete with horses and stables.  It was quite gorgeous and a no brainer on where one should have their wedding.  While the bride and groom got married under a willow tree in another part of their property, I was busy with one of the first wedding snafus.  The seating cards were all in a box in the exact alphabetical order that they should have been in, and when someone wasn't looking, the caterer decided to be helpful and take them out of the box and set them up.  This was to be MY job.  He ended up organizing them by table number and not by last name.  I could have killed him.  160 cards then needed to be alphabetized by last name, and so that left me to do it.  When the same guy tried to help me, I quickly told him to go away because he was  alphabetizing by 1st names.  Seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The second mishap... ants... crawling up the table clothes.  I chalked that up to an outdoor wedding, folks.  We tried our best to knock them off, but they insisted.

 The wedding was amazing in every way, and I think the bride and groom were more than pleased.  I even stayed a bit longer to talk to an old friend who was a guest at the wedding.  Randi and I have been friends since elementary school, and I hadn't seen her since high school.  One of my favorite things is running into old friends.  We reminisced about old times and had a few good laughs.

Through out the day, I was receiving play by play updates of Andrea's labor from Dave and I couldn't be more thrilled or excited.  Andrea went into labor Friday night, and had the baby at 5:05pm.  Coraline Marcella is one of the newest members of this big big world, and I can't wait to meet her and hear Andrea's story!!!

Congrats Andrea and Dave!!!