Productive & Fun Visit

As pretty much expected, my posting was non-existent this weekend. David's sister, Carolyn, and brother-in-law, Dan (aka GoGo Dan), were visiting us from Indiana. It was a short visit but we managed to cram in work, fun activities and relaxation time.

First, an update on my last post "Crunch Time", I did somehow manage to whip the house into shape. However, the joke was that Carolyn was under the impression that I have such an organized house. Oh, how nice it would've been to let her think that was the always the case but I knew I had to 'fess up on the little secret that the condition was merely in honor of their visit. Sure enough....our "destructor" quickly scattered her toys and gave Carolyn and Dan a clearer picture of how we live.

Madeline and I met Carolyn and Dan at the airport on Friday afternoon. After a brief t-shirt shopping spree at the local Harley Davidson store (Dan has a Harley), we enjoyed a relaxing evening hanging out at home and sharing pizza & wings. It also gave an opportunity for us to plan out the rest of the events for the weekend. (Also, computer whiz Dan figured out why my new printer wasn't loading and being recognized by my computer)

On Saturday, the original plan was for us to go snow tubing after Madeline's dance class. However, the weather was brutally cold and Carolyn & Dan persuaded us to let Dan help David install a drop ceiling in the home theatre portion of our finished basement. (I took before and after photos on my camera but I couldn't find the cord to transfer the pictures onto my computer) It was one of the last things on the list of things to do to complete our basement. Dan is very talented in home improvements. We felt terrible that Carolyn and Dan would fly all the way here to visit and we end up putting them to work but the help was greatly appreciated. In the evening we got a babysitter and the four of us headed out to dinner. We decided to head back to share one of our favorites, Toro Tapas. The nature of tapas is meant to share small plates which allows for a very social, casual dining experience. The restaurant ambiance is quite trendy and in Buffalo's Elmwood village - a hip part of the city. We stuffed our guts on the cheese and fruit platter, tangerine BBQ pulled pork, calamari, a great leafy salad with goat cheese & blueberries, red pepper & basil crab cakes, potato & cream cheese enchilada & wine. We topped everything of with chocolate sushi. After dinner we went to a local bar to hear a fairly descent band - Hit N Run (the photos were taken by Dan's cell phone at the place that had the band). I believe that we all enjoyed ourselves immensely on our night on the town.

This morning we all slept in a bit (including Madeline). The guys finished up the last little bit in the basement while Carolyn, Madeline and I did the "Wegmans" experience. For those readers that are native to Buffalo, you have no idea how blessed we are to have such a great supermarket here. Carolyn is a great Wegmans fan (Uncle Charles - if you are reading this, Wegmans is similar to Austin's Central Market). I then whipped together a gut busting pasta with chicken, red, orange & yellow peppers, onion, fennel & diced tomato. After sharing dinner we had to pack things up and get ready to take Carolyn & Dan to the airport. The weekend was so short but we accomplished so many things together. We hope that we can do it again soon. We had a great time and we greatly appreciate all the (unexpected) help that was given. And, by the way, I absolutely have no chance of loosing any weight this week. In fact, I expect a gain.