Joan and Frank Visit

Frankie is in town for a football camp for the weekend. Last night we spent the evening hanging out with Joan and Frank and Manni (their dog). Frankie is enjoying the camp so far, and Joan is very impressed with the staff running the camp. Joan is going to help Dad fix up the patio and Mom got a new grill to put on the patio once it's ready to enjoy. I'll post another picture once it's complete.

Corinne and Brook!

Corinne and Brook came over for a visit. We had a great time hanging out and going to the park.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

This one is forJason. I accidently posted the one without the picture. So I included it below.

Here are my picks for Jason's celebrity look-a-likes:

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I love that The Rock was in my choices! Evangeline and Sofia came up for a couple other pictures of me too. If The Rock came up for other pictures I would start to worry. :)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy

New Car!

Well, not really new. More like a makeover, a new used car.

I had a big service coming up and needed new tires, new timing belt, and new water pump. So I dropped off the car and asked them to fix it up and give it a nice detailing job. Then I spent a week in North Carolina visiting with Jami and Tom & Kris. When I got home I had a new-ish car waiting for me! I think it looks great and it smells nice. Not that it smelled bad before.

Landscaping 101

I decided to redo the landscaping around our house. I upgrades the existing beds and created some new ones. I think I did pretty well. I still have more to do in the backyard and side yard.

Crawfish

Natalie and Chris hosted a crawfish boil this weekend. We have never had crawfish before, so we were excited about trying something new.

The crawfish arrived via FedEx Sat morning (alive and kickin').

All of the crawfish survived the trip. No dead ones in the batch.

They smelled great the whole time they were cooking. Creole seasonings helped to season them to perfection!

Doesn't it look delicious?
Mmm mmm.

It's hard work getting the meat out, but it was tasty!

Microwave This!!!!

I completed all the requirements in Toastmasters to get the award that my workplace gives out. With the money I am buying some trees for the yard and an over the range microwave. The award money was sent to me today and I immediately spent some of it on the microwave. Jason helped to install it after work today. I can't wait to use it tomorrow! She's a beauty.

It's a Girl

Jason has been brewing beer with his buddies for a while now. The latest batch is Hibiscus Ginger Saison. Today he transferred the beer to the secondary and is was pink!!!

It's a girl beer!

Comparison of Bo and Chewy

The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog as their family pet. Chewy is a bit bummed out since he was hoping they would get a Goldendoodle. Both dogs look very similar. Chewy has been mistaken for a PWD before. Below are some photos so you can compare the two.

Caribbean Vacation Success!

We just enjoyed a wonderful week in the Caribbean with friends!

Jason and I just finished a week long Western Caribbean cruise on the Independence of the Seas. We had a great time! As an added bonus, were able to enjoy it with friends.

Here are some pictures and a link to more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/christineduffy

Everyone got dressed to the 9's for formal dinner.

Jason and I attempted to climb the rock wall.
Jason got 3/4 of the way up, I got about 1/2 way up.

We attempted to boogie board, which is hard work.


Here we are in Costa Maya. We had to skip this port due to water conditions.

Here we are enjoying the Maya Ruins in Tulum Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum

And we caught the beautiful sunset on the last evening on the ship.

Here are some pictures from the other couples that went with us.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=345815017/a=26690983_12514337/t_=26690983

http://picasaweb.google.com/schoeff

Twitter

For those of you that use (or are interested in) Twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/DarthStrom. I can't promise frequent updates, but I thought this would be a good place to let people know I have an account.

Restaurant Week: March 9th - 15th

I like to visit a blog called Columbus Foodie. She talks about restaurants around central Ohio. She recently posted about an upcoming event that I think sounds very interesting.

Dine Originals Columbus’s Inaugural Restaurant Week!
42 restaurants offer a special fixed-price menu for one week (March 9th to 15th), for either $15 or $30. The restaurants vary from casual to fine dining so you can try out restaurants you've never been to or visit a favorite of yours.

I think I'll try to get out and visit one of these during that week. It's highly recommended that you make a reservation if you plan to dine in. Carryout is available for some of the restaurants - confirm that yourself if you plan to try that option.

What happens in Texas.....

Is posted on this blog! :)

We visited the Fort Worth Zoo!

Then after lunch we went to a fun center and played pool, bowled, and had some air hockey matches.

Sunday was the BIG day. Jim and Tara looked wonderful.

Before we left we made sure to see the new Dallas Cowboys stadium and have some Texas Dr. Pepper that is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Elijah

Elijah.

In the past, if I heard this name, I would imagine the actor Elijah Wood.

And if I heard the name Eli, I thought of the TV show Eli Stone.

Well something has given my brain a new image to draw up when I hear the name Elijah or Eli. It's my nephew. Jenna and Keith found out there is a little boy growing in Jenna's belly. They have decided to name him Elijah Duffy Caldwell. Now I will think of him whenever I hear those names.

I'm sure he will be cuter than either of the two Elijah's pictured above.