Quick FW Trip

Look at how much my sister loves margaritas! Hee hee! Perhaps the after-Cebolla pics from Matty's apartment will make it onto his blog. Anyway, we had a great dinner after spending the afternoon at Mom's house with a bunch of little kids.

Laura and Phil each have a kid on their back, there's another little boy on the ladder, and behind him is their big sis Alannah. Lots of kids at Mom's last week.

Luckily Steve kept Mom and me satiated with garden jalapeno poppers and cold Chimay. These baked poppers were really good-- maybe mom will link the recipe here for us.

Then Henry and Izzy had crazy cousin time. Look, it's like they're holding hands!

German Heritage

My grandmother loved enjoying a good, dark beer at Germanfest, so after the funeral several of us went to Headwaters to raise a glass to Gram.

Mom

Miles and Janette

the Kaduks

a few Hague men

I haven't been able to spend too much time with my step-sibs and their families, so I considered this afternoon to be a treat. Now that I live closer, I look forward to spending more time with my extended family.

Goodbye, Grandma

My grandmother was her own person. She enjoyed traveling, socializing, and bargain-hunting, but most of all she enjoyed her independence. For as long as I can remember she insisted she never wanted to be a burden in old age, so I guess she left this life the way she wanted-- in her own home.

I thought we had many more years with her, but I guess lots of people think that when they lose someone special. In the past five years I traveled lots of places with Grandma-- California, New York, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and she always kept up with whatever I wanted to do. She probably even took a walk before I woke up most mornings.

Also, she always, always made sure we were taken care of. And she was happy to welcome new people into the family, from friends and boyfriends to the step-kids of her step-grandkids.

This picture was taken in 2005, when Mom, Gram, and I visited several wineries in/around Santa Barbara, California.

Ok, Here's Some of the Pictures

Crystal and I were walking around the neighborhood Friday evening and saw this in the street about a half block from our house.

My brother-in-law's aunt gave Laura and Phil these big coats to wear to a Reds game when it was cold last weekend. Mom was very impressed with the coats.

I Heart Thai

After spending three hours this afternoon at the salon having my hair cut and colored, I was ready for a great meal with some good people. That makes it sound like the food was better than the company, huh? Let's say I enjoyed the food and the company equally.

What did I do? Who was I with? Dad and Mollie have been interested in trying out Thai cuisine, so we all met Scott, Crystal and Chad at Siam Square in Fountain Square. All the guys finished every last noodle of their pad thai, Crystal had the fabulous drunken noodles, and Mollie loved her sweet and sour chicken. Oh, I had a peanut curry with chicken, spinach and broccoli. Yum! What I like about this place: they have a great and reasonably priced beer and wine menu. What I don't like: they only have low-med-high heat levels. I like a place with a larger scale... I like to order spice level 3 or 4 out of 5, depending on the dish and my mood. Crystal and I did order med-high spice level, so I guess it worked out ok.

But I surely do love Thai food! I've been to this place twice, and each time I just can never decide what I want to eat-- last time I asked Phil to choose from the 3 or 4 I'd been able to narrow the field down to. Next time I'll either get the eggplant stirfry or the shrimp/calamari with veg. Or the drunken noodles.