family visit

Mom and Josh are here visiting!

(So happy to have them here, but I swear! I can’t catch a break this summer…it’s just one crazy day after another! When am I supposed to have that ‘down time’ I’ve been waiting for?)

We picked them up at the airport at 9:30 and went straight to church, where we heard Jim and Jill Kelly talk about her new book and their struggles and faith–very neat to see them and loved hearing their testimonies.

Then we headed to Elmwood to get some Saigon Cafe Thai for lunch before walking around and popping into different shops. Scored a major find at reimagine, a trendy consignment home-goods place–some small retro Pyrex/Corning saucers that match the teal-rimmed ones I found at Goodwill in Ohio! We also started eyeing this amazing black-and-wood two-tone long table for our new house…

We (well, more like Josh and I) wanted some ice cream and after seeing the wait at Watson’s, Andrew announced that he was taking us to Condrell’s, a local long-established ice cream and chocolate shop. We enjoyed sundaes and sodas before heading home to rescue the puppy (who’d been cooped up for 7 hours–thank you to Mom and Dad Layer for giving him a comfort break once during that time!) and start marinating dinner.

After a walk and a quick female-only trip to Target, we all settled in to watch This Means War (cute, but super predictable and a bit more risque than I anticipated), before turning in after midnight…

Andrew’s already off to work, I’ve been up since 5:30 working on an article and doing my morning thing, and our two visitors are still asleep! Although Josh did open his eyes and speak coherently for a bit while I was up putzing in the kitchen.

We’re off to the gym later this morning, then meeting Andrew for lunch at the Bar Bill for wings, then seeing our new house (!), followed by an afternoon in East Aurora. Sigh…I’m happy.

moog bash & breakfast

Here we are, at the Moog MId-Winter Bash. I had SUCH FUN getting dressed up and socializing with Andrew’s co-workers.

I even got my hair done! My hair hasn’t been long enough for an updo in AGES (if ever, really), so I was excited to get a french twist for the occasion. Doesn’t it look awesome? Like I actually HAVE hair?

Can you believe just a few hours earlier it looked like this??!?! She had to tease the heck out of it in order to get it to stay.

I don’t have any other photos of the bash, unfortunately. It was really neat–TONS of food, multiple bands in different conference rooms of the hotel, as well as a couple comedy shows, too–but it was a little chaotic, too. There were people everywhere; it was a wonder we ever ran into anyone Andrew knew.

Side note: Interestingly enough, we actually bumped into the company CEO! I has interviewed him earlier in the week for a human interest piece for the Advertiser, so it was actually really neat to see him again and chat for a moment or two. And introduce Andrew to him–certainly can’t hurt his career;)

We stayed the night at the hotel (it’s so nice to get away sometimes), so of course we were excited to come up with a place to eat breakfast the next morning. The Lake Effect Diner is one we’d been meaning to try–it’s one of the places in Buffalo featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives–and we weren’t disappointed.

It’s in a silver train car and it was standing-room only for a few minutes while we waiting for some spots at the counter.

“Guy Ate Here” emblazoned on the wall and a made-fresh OJ machine.

I don’t think we look too worse for the wear after our (relatively tame–we are old and married, after all) night of partying. Note Andrew’s teal shirt and the teal stripes on my cardigan–we didn’t plan it, I swear, but I had to take a photo.

Here’s a shout-out to my dear friend, Emily, who gifted me with this purse hook for Christmas. I don’t use it often (I prefer to use an empty chair next to me), but it was a life-saver this morning.

I was only somewhat indecisive this morning; as usual I wanted to try a little of everything, so I opted for an omelet and added a pancake. I chose the banana and candied pistachio pancake (I mean, where can you get that combo?) and the Greek omelet.

It even had chicken souvlaki, the leftovers of which I used to top my salad tonight. Home fries were pretty good, too.

The Lake Effect Diner is known for their smoked meats, so we had to try a couple varieties. I chose the ham, since Andrew opted for the bacon.

Andrew had plain pancakes…

…as well as my toast and a side of bacon.

Like a good little healthy eater, I halved all my food (except the pancake) and loaded up a to-go box right way. The box got even more full before I was finished–pancakes don’t keep well, so I opted to finish that instead of the rest. It was SO MUCH FOOD.

Check out my two additional breakfasts, happily sitting in the fridge 🙂

the lion king

Really, the title of this post should be “we had a great date-night out and all I have to show for it are two snap shots before we left.”

(Don’t we look nice all dressed up? I love my new cardigan–a neutral gray with stripes of one of my favorite colors, teal–a major find at Target.)

Don’t get me wrong, the show was AMAZING (more on that later) and dinner was fantastic, but what occupied most of my brain was all the great “documenting” I was missing because neither of us wanted to carry around the giant camera.

Seriously, I don’t know how “real” bloggers do it. Kath bikes everywhere, so where the heck does she keep her camera? She uses a digital SLR like Andrew’s. I’ve even toyed with the idea of getting an uber-fancy point-and-shoot with lots of manual control settings that would force me to learn how to take good pictures.

However, I still have yet to purchase said camera, which is turning out to be a good thing, since the NEW iPhone 4S is out and I’m getting one! And, apparently, the camera on it is the best thing since sliced bread, so maybe I’ll just use that… I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for the iPhone (first for it to come to Verizon, then for the iPhone 5 that was rumored to come out this year) and I’ve been eligible for a new phone for A YEAR and my touchscreen is completely broken…so you can see that I completely deserve and can justify the iPhone. (Or not, but I thought I’d try…)

The iPhone will, however, really come in handy now that I’m back in school and thus away from the computer more than I used to be. I can take photos, upload and blog from anywhere, check movie times and get directions while in the car and use awesome apps that will allow me to count my calories and even find my car in a parking lot–SCORE! (And apparently the “S” part of it is this awesome “personal assistant–Siri–kind of thing” that will basically talk BACK to you, which is neat. Once I get the hang of all the voice controls, I will no longer feel guilty about what little texting and driving (gasp! Only at stop signs and lights, people!) I do.

OK, enough about the iPhone…I’ll blog more about it later when I actually get it.

Back to our evening out 🙂

I ROCKED my second Anatomy test (ANOTHER 100% baby!) and the tickets for The Lion King were actually my birthday present from Andrew’s parents, so the hubby let me choose where we went to dinner. I chose Papaya, which is an (as we found out, UPSCALE) Asian Fusion restaurant in downtown Buffalo. We loved it! Well, I loved it and Andrew liked it–which basically means he’d go back. In Andrew’s words, “It was a very ‘me’ place.”

I loved the atmosphere; a bit modern but still comfortable. White tablecloths, wine glasses and candles. Diners were all dressed in at least business casual, if not a bit nicer, so that worked out really well for us. There is (almost) nothing I hate more in life than being over- or under-dressed. Seriously. It puts me so ill at ease that I can barely enjoy myself. Is it a terrible fault and should I be able to just “get over it?” Probably. But I’m still waiting on that magical power to appear… So, we fit right in since were dressed up for our show.

We started with a Whiskey Sour (for Andrew) and a Pineapple Upside Down Martini (for me–YUM!) and split orders of spring rolls and potstickers. Andrew said they were the best potstickers he’d ever had.

Andrew got the Pad Thai and I branched out (I ALWAYS get the pad thai to see if I like a restaurant’s version) and got a spicy pepper chicken dish served with sauteed bok choy and coconut rice. The rice was to die for. It was basically dessert for dinner. Andrew liked the pad thai and I tried a few bites, too. It had a smokier, deeper tamarind flavor than you typically find in traditional Thai restaurants. We both really enjoyed the meal and are looking forward to going back again soon. Heather, you would have loved it!

We walked three blocks to Shea’s Performing Arts Center and took our THIRD ROW seats with time to spare. Shea’s itself is a beautiful theater; its walls are ornate and decorated. it felt like we had traveled back in time or something.

The show was phenomenal. At first I thought it was weird that we were surrounded by kids (you know, at night, downtown, on a school night, at a play) until I remembered it was The Lion King. Duh.

The costumes are incredible. There just is no two ways about it. If you like the theater and are into color and arts-y stuff and interpretive dance, this is the show for you. It was neat to “revisit” our childhood a little and see how excited some of the youngsters got. There was even a GIANT elephant walking down the aisle next to us!

Les Miserable, my absolute FAVORITE play (mom took me while we were in London for my 16th birthday) is coming to Shea’s this spring and Andrew has never seen it. Guess we’ll be back there soon…