My best friend from high school celebrated her 40th birthday this weekend. Shawna (shown middle) also happens to be my sister’s (shown on your left) sister in law. I know, I know. But it’s the south, remember? And how did she celebrate this milestone, you ask? With a real life ho-down square dance —–in a barn. Now you’re starting to be jealous that you don’t live below the Mason-Dixon! It was unbelievably fun. We laughed at old pictures of big hair and blue eye shadow. We learned how to ‘alabama{allemande}-left’ and ‘rip-and-snort’—-that’s square dance lingo for all you northerners reading. And I think the best part was that the teenagers and small children had just as much fun as the adults. Though they probably won’t be as sore tomorrow.
I spent the night with my sister, who lives at the Foothills of the Smoky Mountains and we enjoyed some good food and good fellowship before the party. That’s my brother–in all his Volunteer glory—who, as you may or may not remember, won $25,000 in the Poker World Series this summer.
Sis made these little pumpkin yummies and I took about 53 pictures of them.
The kids had a blast at the square dance. It reminded me of days gone by when this is how ‘we’ entertained ourselves and our youth. Nobody said ‘bored’ —-not even once!
Shawna, Gina, and I and all our girls (minus my little Caiti—who would’ve had a ball). It was so nice to be together again. Happy Birthday Shawna!!
Uncle Mark, who said before we left for the party, “I don’t why this family has to square dance everytime we get together,” seemed to be having more fun than anyone.
My wheels are turning now ’cause Steve and I are renewing our vows this summer and plan to celebrate a little. I may just have to ‘grab my partner and do-si-do’! You gotta love the south!
Archives for October 29, 2009
The Morning After
If we’re friends on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter, then you may know that we just purchased a crack pot espresso machine. I’m on a 36 hour bender. And when I crash, it’s not gonna be pretty.
If I hit rock bottom and come begging you for more coffee beans, don’t enable me. As it is, I’m typing 600 words a minute. And Stevie must like me jittery ’cause he just made me another
latte.
coffee, espresso, milk, half and half, cream, chocolate syrup, and various liquors. I stayed up until 2:30a and was back making espresso at 6:30.
It’s a Jura Capresso machine (fully automatic) and uses whole beans. It makes perfect crema and is a refurbished model—which makes it half the price that it would normally be. It may not seem so inexpensive when I’m in the ER for an arrhythmia!