Accidental Sunsets

You know, it’s not just anywhere in the country where you can come out of dinner and randomly happen upon the tail end of a gorgeous sunset…  But that’s just what CK and I did, coming out of a rock-solid dinner at the Pepper.  And, it was the tail, tail end for sure, as you can see in the pics. 

My first picture was of a little corner of the sun, still  in the sky.  See it there all tiny-like in the middle?? 

And, my second picture - literally a second or two later - was of no sun at all.

The end of another gorgeous day!!

There’s a New Hombre in Town

CK’s brother and sister-in-law had their baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woo-hoo!!!!  Well, technically, I guess SHE really did all the baby having, but still.  He’s here!!!  Yay!!!

I can’t wait to meet him!  We’ll be up in the ‘Burgh for my cousin’s wedding in a couple weeks, so I’m sure we’ll get some baby time in then.

This is the first grandchild in CK’s family, so they all are Super Psyched.  This also means that CK is a first-time uncle, so he’s totally ready to be the cool guy who takes the kid to Steeler games (when he’s an approporiate age, of course.  There are no Steeler ticket wasters in this family, mister!), lets him stay up past his bedtime on sleepover nights, facilitates his first viewing of The Big Lebowski, and takes him to the bar when he is 18 turns 21.  Good times.   

His name’s Nathan, and even though I SO want to call him Nate-Dogg, I’ll wait and see what they’re planning on calling him.  Nathan?  Nate?   N-Tastic 2009?  He he.  Just kidding. 

I’m totally calling him Nate-Dogg regardless. 

‘Tis the Season…

It’s that time of year of year again!  The time when winter gives way to spring and love is in the air.  The time when young and old come together to celebrate passion, destiny, bad dancing, and booze. 

That’s right, friends.  It’s wedding season.

CK and I have four weddings where our presence will be expected this year, and last weekend kicked it off for us in style.  We flew up to Richmond, VA (actually Powhatan, VA… yeah, I never heard of it either) to take part in the marital festivites of my oldest childhood friend.  K is the girl who I grew up with…who lived four houses down from me for pretty much the first 18 years of my life.  What a great time.  It was awesome to be able to hang out with the people who made up an entire second family for me when I was young.  Her fiance’s family was wicked cool, too.  PLUS, my parents and sister were invited, so it was just like a big ole family reunion. 

K was SO happy.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier.  See what I mean?

That is one happy bride, fresh out of the makeup chair!

Sure, it was somewhat of a nightmare getting there.  As it turns out, there’s no direct easy way to fly from Tampa to Richmond, so we had to connect…through Philly (naturally).  Philly is so ON THE WAY to Richmond.  Of course, delays followed, and we screeched into the rehearsal about 10 minutes behind schedule…in shorts and flip flops when everyone else was dressed for a cocktail party.  I tell you, we are nothin’ but class.  All was forgiven, though, and we went on to have a great time. 

To top it all off, CK and I built in an extra day to visit one of my roommates from college and her husband, who have lived in Richmond for a number of years now.  We drank a lot of beer, had a lot of laughs, and even had time for a quick vineyard tour of Charlottesville (I recommend the Verdejo).  The four of us can sure pack a wallop of fun into one tight timeline.

One down, three to go!

Key Lime Madness

Oh, the yum that is a key lime dessert!  The coolness… the color… the sugary tang!

Not that I didn’t inherit my mother’s love for chocolate…

I just don’t have the same level of love for chocolate as I do for anything key lime…or even regular, old lime of the non-key variety.

I made this recipe on Saturday as part of CK’s Valentine’s Day meal gift.  It was so easy to make, and it was SO good.

I pretty much followed the recipe word-for-word.  I used fresh lime juice.  They were pretty big limes, so it only took three of them to get all the juice I needed.  You’d probably need four regular-sized limes, though.  I used a tart pan, like it said in the instructions, but I’m sure it would work great in a plain pie plate, too.  Oh, and I baked it on the longer side of the time Martha gave (I baked it, I think, between 26-27 minutes) since my oven needs a time boost every now and again.

Happy Baking!

Christmas in Paradise

I’m not sure when I’m going to stop feeling like I live in bizarro world.

Maybe never?

It’s my first Christmas in St. Pete and it feels like…May.  It’s just SO. WEIRD.

I’m wearing flip flops…and putting up my Christmas tree.  I’m going to see sunsets…and seeing Christmas lights everywhere (Christmas lights that are mostly wrapped around palm trees).  I’m sitting outside at Starbuck’s…and listening to Christmas music.

Bizarro.

I’m feeling like I’m George Costanza and should be doing the opposite of every instinct I have.

Bizarro, but awesome.

CK and I put up our first Christmas tree ever together!  And, it may not be completely done…but it’s mostly up.  (We just need to put ornaments on, and he swears to me this is happening tomorrow).  He threatened that since I had to bring my tree down in the move…even though he already had one…that we were putting up both (!) trees (!).  Yes, that’s right.  We were supposedly putting up TWO trees. 

In this house… 

…that isn’t even big enough for the two of us. 

On a good day. 

I somehow managed to talk him (or distract him) out of the idea.  And, we’re down to one Christmas tree.  Check it out.

my AWESOME tree, ready to be unleashed

going up!

just look at him..."when is the 2nd tree going up?"

how does one couple have SO MANY santa hats??!?

Merry Christmas!  From Paradise…