Last Weekend

Last weekend was a special weekend. A bunch of family and friends got together to take Shelsea out for her birthday. It was a fun time. I was even able to score the company car for a DD ride there and back. That may not seem like a big deal I guess, but the restaurant is about 40 mins away in Phoenix. (VIP - that's how we roll) The white Lincoln Towncar went all the way to south Gilbert first to pick up the birthday girl, stopped by our place and we headed off to Bacchanal's Greek restaurant. We've been going there for Shels' birthday for a number of years now. We have tried a couple new places along the way, but eventually we come back to Bacchanal's. Its always fun and this year did not disappoint. I can't say I've ever had the food there actually. We've always just gotten lots of appetizers and that always seems like enough. They've added a couple cool things to freshen up the entertainment. For one, the belly dancer that was there, the owner's wife, finally retired. Whew! - This is good news as she was getting slightly..um.. well... it's a good thing. Trust me. They also added a trio of girls who do the traditional greek dance. And of course, the owner always leads us all in the plate breaking and line dance around the restaurant and out to the parking lot. It's always fun there.

Happy Birthday to Shelsea, one of my favorite people! We hope the night was special for you! Her and her husband Mike are great friends, we love them dearly! :o) More photos from that night.

Another interesting side note about Bacchanal's is that it was the location and occasion of a first date for us. 5 years ago, I took Craig as my date to Shel's birthday event. He sat close to the dance floor which made him an obvious target for the belly dancer. She drug him out to the floor where apparently he performed a very unique interpretive dance. For me. However, I was in the restroom and didn't get to see it. I'm told its for the best, if I had seen it, we might not have had a second date! He won't do it again for me, he says he's retired and sits at the opposite end of the dance floor!

Charlotte, NC

As you know, last weekend we hopped on a plane and headed East to North Carolina to visit Susan & Geoff Brown, per previous random Memphis post. Perhaps the best summary of our trip is actually on the Gibson's blog - Great job Laura! - but we also wanted to post some of our favorite photos from the weekend. We had lovely weather for the entire time, so I think the Riebe weather curse could be lifting. Maybe this comes with the May addition of a new, sunnier Riebe :o)

Anyway, we had a great time, thanks so much to our hosts who thought of everything. The first day we toured several wineries in the area. We tasted such a lovely Riesling at the second winery; I loved it so much we had some shipped back to Arizona. It has arrived, but UPS has custody of it now, since you need a signature to have it delivered. Wine gets better when it sits in a 200deg warehouse somewhere doesn't it, I think I heard that somewhere.

Day 2 was fun on the Brown's boat! Craig and I really missed just being out on a boat these last couple of years, so it was great to get out on a lake again and their boat is fabulous. To the right is Matt Gibson doing his 'shark'. Just as the sun was setting, we pulled into the dock to find all of Susan's friends there waiting to celebrate her 30th birthday. Geoff did an amazing job planning this special event for her, and she was totally surprised!

One of the many cool things about our trip was the Bears-Panthers game we went to on Sunday. Thanks (again) to Geoff, we had amazing seats! I've never been to a professional football game before, it was so cool to actually be there for it. Very different than watching it on TV, that's for sure - the game seems to go by so quickly when you're there? On TV, and when Craig's watching the games all day long, they seem to never end?

Thanks again to Susan & Geoff for having us at their lovely home. We had a wonderful time, and their puppy, Jasper is adorable! It was also so great to see the Gibsons, and the Hunts too. Good spending time with everyone... when Craig and I finally buy a home, you are all welcome for a visit. Maybe sometime in the winter months! You can see all of our photos from the weekend here.

New Arrival

This post is a bit overdue! Back In August, Craig's cousins, Aaron and Dena Fellows welcomed their baby girl Zoe Jean. They were kind enough to send some photos and, of course, she's just gorgeous. She seems to have features from Mommy and Daddy. Mom and Baby are doing well, so Congratulations to the Fellows family, we are very happy Zoe is here!

Memphis or Bust!

Didn't someone famous say that? Was it Elvis?

Craig and I are sitting in the Memphis airport waiting for our connection to North Carolina, where we will visit with several friends he went to college with. Should be fun as long as the weather holds. Craig/Matt H./Matt G./Geoff B. are known for bringing the rain though.

Several observations we are making as we sit at the bar. I've seen about 5 people with rolled up sleeping bags. What is this for? Do they hop in the bag whilst on the plane? Craig said maybe they are taking a flight to go camping. Wha? Camping, with no other gear, just the bag? I think not. It's weird.



Additionally, while Vic was heading to the restroom, I observed 2 45 year old men arguing about where one can find the best BBQ, KC or Memphis. Further, the guy behind me was putting 2k on the Tarheels in tonights football game. Matt Hunt summed it up best when he said, "Detroit is dead so I vote Memphis as the nations shadiest town."

NOTE: Clearly there were several contributors to this post. I said Riebe had the rain curse and he added the rest of his crew.

Our Brittany

I have been dreading this post, seems like it isn't going to be any easier to write anytime soon. So, I'm sure I will drippy, teary cry my way through it. I feel like I should write something about our beloved cocker spaniel Brittany. Last weekend, we took her to the vet after her appetite had gradually waned to nothing in about 5 days. The Vet was not overly concerned with her status, just treated her for a stomach ailment and sent us on our way with two kinds of medicine. But in the days that followed, she got so sick, so quickly. At 5:30am on Monday, as I slept with her on the floor, I could feel that she'd given up. After walking around deleriously from what we now know was a crazy high fever, she eventually came over to me and collapsed. I scooped her up and Craig and I rushed her to the animal hospital while she was gasping for air. We knew she had tumors and possibly any one of many issues related to age. It was very clear that we only had one option and soon the gasping stopped and wrapped up in her creamy colored soft banket, my pretty little girl was asleep.

That moment happened so fast, with minutes to say goodbye.

B-Dizzle was a gift to me on my 19th birthday and she was just that, a precious gift. We'd been through so much together. A first wedding, two pregnacies, two babies, a divorce, broken hearts, job lay-off, new job and finally a happy marriage. She was very used to my tears in her fur, that's for sure. Craig thinks Brittany was able to let go because she knew I would finally be ok now. Maybe that's true.

Brittany was the most beautiful, loyal dog ever. She always seemed to know when I was sick and would stay with me. I feel like I lost a best friend. As much as I knew she wouldn't be around forever, I still wasn't prepared for this overwhelmingly sad feeling. I love her so much. We'll love you forever Brittany.

Banff, Canada

Each time I go to Calgary, I learn new things about the area.I've learned where to stay-where not to stay, where to eat-where not to eat, that sort of thing. One of the good things I learned this time was that there is a great little town named, Banff about 2 hours away. Thursday afternoon, I took to the open road and made the trip. Even though it was pouring down rain, there was an outdoor concert going on and the townspeople were out in full effect! Its was great. Banff is a very exclusive town, they actually charge you ($9 per person) to visit!

It would have been great if my road trip partners were with me (Mal and Nick), they would have loved it! Lots of shopping and eating and general merriment! They like that.

On my way back into town, I saw for the first time Calgary's Olympic Village from back in the day too. I saw all of the ski runs and the louge tracks. Its all there still. That's the closest I've ever been to anything Olympic, even though it was deserted, it was still cool

Greetings from the airport!

This morning, I'm on my way to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have packed what seems like the biggest assortment of clothes I've ever taken on a trip. Craig and I looked at the weather forecast last night and found that today it will be 103deg, tomorrow it will be 83deg, and progressively colder until its really cold and rainy with a high of 56deg on Friday. I have a swimsuit, a suit jacket and then a puffy vest for Thursday & Friday. Interesting stuff.



This weekend was errands, dinners out, golf and then a trip to Sunsplash/Golfland to end the summer. Very productive weekend, I would say. So, here's the final boarding call; I've prolonged my entry onto the plane as long as I possibly could, it seems. Every time Craig and I fly, we buy the customary pretzel pizza combos and they were out of them this time. So, I'm smarting a bit from that, but somehow I'll manage with the gummy bears and chocolate covered pretzels I brought from home.

Holy cow, I just heard some Canadian answer his phone, eh? Ugh.

79

It is my pleasure to state that I finally broke the 80 barrier in golf this past weekend with a 79 from the tips of the beautiful Westin Kierland course in the enchanting city of Scottsdale, AZ. 7000+ yards of fun on the Mesquite 9 and the Acacia 9 (which is probably one of the better 9's in the valley).





Not sure if it was luck or skill considering I only hit about 4 fairways off the tee, but I'll gladly take it. Up next: Round 2 on the TPC Stadium course Saturday. Miceli and I hope to improve upon our last trip there prior to the wedding where we both played rather average. Luckily Kevin Harper was there to keep our score respectable...I won't even mention what Gibson shot... And yes, that is a picture of Kevin feeding a sheep at Whistling Straits, and yes, the sheep does now have a restraining order against Kevin.





On a final note, I start working Monday so I've got 3 final days of freedom. Going to be wierd going to work again, but it's time to start getting paid. I know Vic's ready for that...



Lastly, because I know no one reads this blog to hear about me, Nick and I went golfing last week and on a par 61 he shot an 87 from the red tees. He doesn't hit it very far yet and he needs to keep working on his putting, but he literally didn't have one miss-hit using his driver or irons. He already has a near perfect swing that he can consistently repeat. Really impressive. Nick has tremendous potential.

Another Birthday Girl!

Saturday night we went out for my birthday celebration. We had a wonderful, low-key night with a few fabulous friends. We started with dinner at Ra, I love sushi and there's a new one near our house. After that I thought it was time for all of us to go bowling! When's the last time you've been bowling - a long time ago right? So, we found some lanes that just opened recently and it seems to be the new(ish) thing? It was a bowling center that was really customized, they had couches and cocktail tables instead of the normal round booths to sit on,lights, music and a full bar! The bowling centers in Palmyra PA don't look like this? The only bummer was how long we waited - almost 2 hours!

Before Sat. night, and when the girls asked me what I wanted to do, I immediately said let's go bowling, guys against the girls! And we should get some kind of t-shirts or something. Well, the girls took this one comment and ran with it. That night they had gotten a 'bowling chicks' t-shirt for all of the girls! I was super excited. Somehow they managed to combine bowling with my favorite thing, chicks?

Let's be honest. These shirts are no one's style really, are they? But the fact that these friends of mine purchased them and had the spirit (of friendship) to wear them as a team all night for me is priceless. What a wonderful group of girls I have and I love them all. I appreciate this so much, it will be a birthday not soon forgotten.

More photos, here.

Birthday Parties!

After what seemed like a two week-long celebration for Mallory's birthday, we finally wrapped things up on Friday night with a concert. As a present, I took Mallory and Kacie to see Jordin Sparks and Jesse McCartney. I knew right from this start it would be a very specific demographic, MOMs and teenage girls. I was fairly dead on. So, I made sure I had snacks. I always feel like you can get through any situation, as long as you have some good snacks. We had great seats for the fun - the girls had a good time! And, since it was their first concert, we tried to glam it up a bit with makeup, eyeliner and some red streaks in the hair!

Outside of the concert, she also had her first boy-girl party this year. We made a hot pink/lime green palm springs desert theme. Everyone had a good time, it always seems that the group start reallly shy for about the first 2 hours and 45mins, then..... everyone starts to come alive with 15mins left. I am particularly proud of the cupcakes I made this year. They looked pretty, but I guess they tasted good too, cause the kids pretty much snarfed them up! As they get older, it gets harder to fill a loot bag, especially for the dudes. I had no idea. So, I gave them what I thought was funny - Rubber chickens. I love them, I think they are hilarious and it takes me back to rubber chicken shots (of fruit punch Mallory) in the sorority.