Birthday Parties Are Fun

Yes, I did it! I went to a one year olds birthday party this past Sunday and had a good time. My girlfriend invited Andy and myself to her daughter’s birthday party at her house. Andy opted out of the festivities due to the Badger game that was on TV during that time. Of course I let him off the hook so he could stay home and suffer at the loss of the Badgers in March Madness. I must say though that he did a great job at picking out the birthday gift. This past Friday night we went to Toys R Us to pick out a gift and he was such a great sport that I was pretty proud of him. Normally Andy doesn’t like to do stuff like that so he complains and begs me to pick the first thing I find. This time he was all into it helping me get Ella just the right gift. We got her a battery operated gun that blows bubbles and an Elmo car that she can ride on or push around and it makes all kinds of noises. This car was the hit gift at the party. Ella loved her car so much that she didn’t want to get off the car. When daddy took her off to readjust the wheels she screamed until mommy put her back on. I get points for attending the party and bonus points for the best gift. Here is a picture of Ella on her sweet ride that will make all the neighborhood one year olds jealous!

My friends live by my work in Tempe, which is near the super cute nail place. I figured since I was going to make the journey all the way down there I might as well get my nails done. So, here is a picture of my super cute nails.

After the nail place I arrived at my friend’s house for all the birthday festivities. I got there early so I hung out with his family members which flew in from Chicago. They reminded me of a typical and friendly Midwest family. I just loved it. Soon her family arrived and they are always fun. It was me mixed in with lots of family since Andy couldn’t make it and neither could our other friends who were invited. Normally this would be awkward for some, but I really enjoyed meeting new people and especially the family members of my close friends. I got to see where they really come from. I had such a good time that I think my girlfriend was surprised. I think she was even surprised that I showed up, but I don’t know why. Maybe because she knows babies scare me and birthday parties normally are not on my list of fun things to do, but I am getting older and finding this kind of entertainment isn’t so bad after all. So, all-in-all I had a great time!

Three Down One To Go

Yesterday we went to another Cubs Spring Training game with our friends and tailgated before the game. This would be the third Saturday in a row of an all day event, but there is only one Saturday left until next year. Our friends wanted to begin tailgating at 9:30am, so that meant for an early Saturday morning. I am not a morning person, so that was a big deal for me. We had to get up and get going by quarter to nine to pick up Mike and arrive on time. As Andy was packing the car the dogs thought they were going with us. They got all excited and started crying. This made it really hard to leave them behind, especially for a very lonely eight hour day. Remember, they are not used to being alone. This made for a sad exit. After the game we headed to PetSmart for yet another apology trip for the dogs. Actually, the trip wasn’t just for an apology for being gone all day because we were out of chews for them and we can’t have that. Our dogs always need something to chew on. While I was there I decided to pick them up a new toy as well for feeling the guilt of leaving them alone all day. It was a $6 toy that lasted about six minutes, so I paid $1 for each minute the toy lasted…awesome! This is why I have a hard time buying them any doggy toys because their main goal is to destroy them. I gave the girls their toy and left them in the backyard for maybe 10 minutes when I walked in the kitchen and saw this.

Yup, that is Izzy and Madison in the middle of the stuffing they managed to tear out of the stuffed animal. This is a perfect shot as it captured exactly what we always find shortly after giving them a stuffed toy.

Here is a picture of Andy and I in the lawn during the game. One more Saturday to go!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ok, so I am not going to lie…I don’t celebrate this holiday either and I always get harassed for not sporting my green apparel on this holiday. This year was no different. All day long I kept getting asked “Where is your green?” “Someone should pinch you!” Har, har, har! Instead of green I opted for light brown pants with a white button up blouse with absolutely no green accents anywhere. It’s not that I didn’t try, but more of not caring. This morning when getting dressed I looked at my green options in the closet because I thought I would at least try for one year to support St. Paddy’s Day; however, I decided against the green since I really don’t care that much. So, when people kept asking the same question over and over again all day long my response was simply “This is how much I care” while I pointed to myself in a circular motion. Yes, that might have been a bit harsh or sarcastic, but does anybody really know why they put on that green shirt today? I will be the first to admit that I didn’t know why today is such a big deal. I even asked around and kept getting dumb founded faces. That made me wonder why these dumb founded people were supporting such a holiday they knew nothing about. Mmmm…gets you thinking huh? Anyway, what I do know is that it’s about Irish people, green shamrocks and a lot of beer, but what is the celebration really about? Of course when I got home tonight I Googled the meaning of St. Patrick’s Day and found out that now- a-day’s people are celebrating the Irish culture. Ok, so I am still not interested in sporting green. The more I read the more I learned about a guy named Patrick way back in 385 AD in Ireland. To sum it up, Patrick ended up teaching Catholicism to the Irish people, so when he past on March 17th people celebrated him. Today became a national holiday in 1902 and eventually just became a celebration of the Irish culture. Ok, so I am all for a good party, but at least now I know next year when I sport my green shirt I will at least understand why I am wearing green. So, I leave you with a Happy St. Paddy’s Day, but when do we celebrate the Polish culture???

Glass Blowing Event

My firm is a sponsor of the arts and we get to attend art events throughout the year. I have been planning on attending one of these events for the past four years, but just could never make it until last night. Andy and I went to a glass blowing event in Scottsdale and it was very entertaining. I absolutely loved it and had a great time. I really enjoy art so naturally I love stuff like this. Andy really isn’t into attending events like this; however, he even had a good time. We arrive to the event at 5pm and find out that we definitely skewed the median age by ALOT. Andy was obviously the youngest person there by 50 years and that made me the second youngest person there. I knew the demographic of the attendees so it didn’t shock me at all; it more or less entertained me. Andy and I got front row seats to the show. The artist made three different pieces while we were there and we got up close and personal to see how the process works. After the demonstration I was excited to check out some of the art pieces as I would have loved to purchase something. Unfortunately real artwork is not in my price range. I found some really neat items that I would love to purchase, but it is just not in my budget this year…or next year. It probably won’t be in my budget for a couple decades. I did ask Andy for an item for my birthday and he just laughed. So for now I will just enjoy looking at art until one day when I can start purchasing artwork.

Nothing Like Good Parenting

Yesterday we went to a Cubs spring training game with a group of friends and of course we tailgated pre-game in the parking lot. When we left the house in the morning it was cloudy and cool out and the forecast didn’t show much improvement for the day so I put on linen pants and a short sleeved top. I figured the linen would be great just in case it did get hot out. Andy of course opted for shorts and a polo as he was more optimistic of the sun coming out. He was right because the sun came out in full force and ended up reaching 80 degrees and that caused me to have swass throughout the day. For those that do not know, swass is a sweaty ass. Yup, I had such swass that I was afraid to stand up from my seat just in case my pants were wet. Yes, that is how gross it was. We ended up with great seats; which was third row behind third plate. We normally just get lawn seats to the spring training games; however, this game was sold out and the seats were the only option. For the next three Saturday’s though, we have lawn seats. I find that to be more fun as it’s more conducive to socializing…the whole reason why I go to the Cubs spring training game. Unfortunately we had to leave the house at 9am for the festivities, which left the dogs home alone all day until we returned just before 5pm. Of course I was concerned for our pampered pooches that they would be left alone all day. They are not used to this so I really felt bad for them. Plus, we knew of a couple that was in town for the weekend and wanted to go to dinner on Saturday night at 6:15, so by the time we got home we had one hour to play with them before we left for another few hours. They were so excited to see us that after an hour of play time Andy and I felt really guilty heading to dinner with our friends. We knew it would only be dinner because we were really tired from the all-day festivities and the couple had their 15 month old with them. After dinner Andy and I headed across the street to PetSmart to bring home treats for the girls. We thought this would be a good idea because we both felt too guilty for leaving them home all day by themselves and gated in the kitchen. As I parked in PetSmart we both laughed at how ridiculous we knew we were being to by our dog’s treats so they are not mad at us when we get home. It did the trick though because they were so excited for their bones and treats that they didn’t care we were gone all day and night. Nothing like good parenting!