An Afternoon Tea-Bridal Shower

This afternoon I got to attend a special tea for our friend Laura who is getting married in March.
Lindsey planned the party....and it turned out perfect. Tea sandwiches, sweets, punch, and tea of course.
The bridal party...minus Brenna who is in Alabama and Laura's future sister -in-law, Heather who had to go to another event.
Pretty table...colorful flowers...simple but just right

Anne and Gayle at the end of the table. (love the fun purple hat Kim's wearing next to me...she borrowed it from a woman she works with...apparently the woman wears a hat to church every Sunday... when she got her invitation...Kim knew exactly who to borrow one from!) I was lucky that Brenna had left one of her hats here...too bad she missed this...she loves hats!
the bride to be
Laura with her sister, Lindsey, her mom, Gayle and her future in-laws who look a bit like gangsters with those shades on...hahah...it was sunny)
Lindsey and one of the guests
opening gifts

most of the bridal party...minus the best one...Brenna who is up in Alabama.



after a couple of games and the gifts...we all posed for a picture. Art took these for me.

Cute favors for everyone.. some chocolate candy and we each got to take the tea cup and saucer we used at the party

Last Hurrah

After the big win against the Steelers...Al invited everyone back for another tailgate party before the big game against the Patriots. L.J., Al's partner in LongDoggers is a big Patriot fan...so one can only imagine the various bets/trash talk going on within the company.
Meanwhile the rest of us were just happy to know we were in for another fun time on game day. This week's party was bigger and better than ever. Eddie from ACE Hardware loaned a big blow-up projection screen TV. He also moved several large pallets of mulch to the end of the parking lot to create a wind barrier. ( It was going to be cold Sat night) The wall of mulch along with my brother David's over sized "van" created a nice bunker feel! (it also made a lot of people driving past do a double-take!!! haha)

David had a nice set up in his van as well...everything he needed to cook up some steaks and little neck clams along with some red wine for him and Bridget.
on the back side of the screen...everything was in reverse...that was the section reserved for Patriot fans. haha

as I mentioned...it was a cold night for Florida...low 40's and wind chill...so everyone broke out their coats, scarves, hats and gloves. Al set up a portable heater and there were two fire pits. (too bad no one brought marshmallows!)
The food was better than ever...pulled pork for sandwiches, clams, oysters (from Mark again) deviled eggs (I missed those!), beans and rice, brats. Duane brought two huge trays of shrimp, Al provided 40 lbs(!) of chicken wings...that Glenn J. and John cooked up. (John got Glenn's recipe...but I bought the wrong sauce...so we had to "create" our own...haha...it ended up being pretty tasty!) Mike R. brought stone crab claws and ceviche...yum! It was a feast! For dessert there was pound cake and I made brownies and cookies. Someone else also brought brownies. ( the only thing missing was s'mores) Everyone in town was there...I saw lots of old friends, met some new people and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Talked to one woman from out of town who wondered if we did this often...I explained what was going on...she commented that in her home town...no one would ever do anything like this...and even if they did...no one would come...which was too bad...because she could tell we were all having a great time!
The best part of the night was when it got a little later and all the desserts were gone...I had made some Cheese Wafers...which looked a lot like cookies to people who didn't know better. I purposely put them on the table with the "real" food...but later in the evening...someone spotted them and thought they had found a plate of chocolate chip cookies...hahaMore than a few took one bite of the cheddar cheese/red pepper wafer and spit it out because it was not what they were expecting. I was sitting at a nearby table talking to a friend when Bridget came up to me and said quietly "Whatever you do DO NOT eat any cookies...they're terrible! They're the worst cookies I've ever eaten." I burst out laughing...and told her I had made them. David walked up and chimed in..."Those cookies were the worst!" hahahahaha"
By this time I was in tears laughing...and Ron was laughing at me laughing...and I was telling the story to our friend Scott who was laughing as hard as I was. Right in the middle of the story a kid walked up and waved a cheese wafer at Scott and I and said "Do NOT eat these cookies...they taste like dog biscuits!" Scott and I were dying. His wife Tracy asked what we were laughing about...we told her and she said "Oh I tried one of those...it was savory not sweet...I liked it." So Scott pipes up "There good if you know what you're getting>" we all laughed...sort of a back handed compliment...but the whole thing was really funny. That was the best laugh I've had in a long time!
Today I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bring to LongDoggers to redeem myself...
I DO know how to bake a good cookie after all!
Too bad the Broncos lost...we sure had a great time watching the games this season...I don't know when I have enjoyed watching football more. Baseball season is going to be really dull after this!

Play Off Sunday

I have always enjoyed watching football and when your team is winning the games...it's even better! This football season we have had so much fun watching the Broncos and Tim Tebow...as they somehow made their way to the Playoffs. Unless you have been living in a cave...you know the story and just watching one unlikely win after another...has been a blast. Talk about exciting! And then you factor in a fan like Al at LongDoggers...and it just makes it even more fun.
Each week the fan base got bigger and bigger...most people who have been around here for any length of time are Dolphin fans...there are lots of Steeler fans in the area and New England has a pretty good following...since 1/2 the people here came from somewhere up north. The Broncos have never been a big draw...until they drafted former UF player Tebow. Because even if you weren't a fan of the Broncos...you were curious to see how he'd do.
Al happened to get tickets to the first improbable win... so we all went to LongDoggers to watch that game and look for him on TV. We cheered every time we saw Al, Grayson and Al's sign(pictured below)......and it just grew from there. Watching him watch Tebow and the Broncos pull off their string of last minute wins was as much fun as watching the game!
The last couple of weeks the group that frequents LongDoggers asked Al if they could have a tailgate party before the game. Last week (when the Broncos lost :( ) was the first one. There were oysters, clams, shrimp, brats, burgers and beer. The game was a disappointment...but then the Broncos managed to get into the playoffs anyway...so it was time to start planning
for this (past) week's tailgate. It was a perfect day...(check out the shorts and flipflops on January 8th!) More shrimp (Duane), more oysters(Mark), wings (Glenn), brats (??) chips, drinks, cake (who else? haha) and beer (Al). And best of all.... FISH, mostly from John, and more from Ron(some from Reid and Chandler and Chuck too) The kitchen cooked it in Al's batter....and it was good. As each batch came out everyone ate up!
If you watched the game you know how it went...Pittsburgh went up 6 -0, then the Broncos scored and then they took the lead.Pittsburgh (with a limping team I must say)came back to tie it up...and then that one great pass and touchdown run in overtime.
The place went wild...cow bells, Al on the horn...and everyone getting caught up in the celebration.
we had a blast...and since they won we are going to do it all again next week.....

After Christmas cleanup

For the last couple of days I have been slowly cleaning up around the house...putting away decorations, slowly taking down the tree(s), etc. Which brings me to this...you know those great pre-lit, artificial trees....they are so easy! We got one 3 years ago (I think) and last year I noticed one strand of lights had gone out.
By the time this Christmas season came to a close...another strand went out. Now...up to this point I just added more lights...right over and around the ones that were out. That worked well enough...but
today I decided to just remove the lights on the very top portion. This was even though I remembered a conversation with a friend about how he spent six! hours removing all the lights from his tree. It probably took me 1/2 hr to get the lights off just the top portion...and as I unwound them I realized the companies really DON"T want us to take them off...they hope we will get so aggravated we'll just pitch the tree and buy a new one. So I just kept unwrapping...and thinking about how you have to be a little O.C. to keep at it...but what the heck...once I started I wasn't going to give up.
One half hour or so later I had a big pile of lights and finally some empty "branches" that will be ready for new lights next year!

Just another quiet afternoon....or not

Last night John, Reid, Chandler and Ron got back after a few days of fishing in the Bahamas. They had a good trip and caught numerous fish. Well...the plan was to clean them today after watching the Gator game.
But the word got out and news travels fast
and before we knew it...here's what the street looked like.( One minute Amy ran to the store for some cooking oil...when she returned...she had to find a place to park.)
And so...our quiet afternoon...turned into a little party. I managed to use up get rid of the last of my Christmas cookies...along with the fish and macaroni and cheese and cole slaw.
Most of the guys brought their own beer...we had plenty of fish and a variety of sauces. John and Chandler cleaned the boat...Ron cleaned the fish, Ben fried it up...and Mike stopped by and seared some of the wahoo until the grill ran out of gas!
We all celebrated the fact the the Gators went out on a winning note, it was a beautiful afternoon that slowly started getting cold...and we all chatted, ate and drank.
I guess this was my Happy New Year!...just a couple of days late. :)