order up a laugh

I think Caitlin tells it the best. This was one of the storytelling hits told while in Council Grove for the weekend:

Lucky Wishbone is one of the oldest mom and pop restaurants in Anchorage specializing in homecooked, pan-fried chicken. Certain menu titles are given to each of the different sized chicken baskets available. Three pieces of chicken is called the "Pop", two pieces is called the "Mom", and 1 piece is called the "Junior."

When Dana and Tom were last in Anchorage, they took some of the family to Lucky Wishbone. Tom took one look at the menu and was ready to order. When the waitress came to him and asked what he would like, he paused, looked at the menu again, looked up at her and said, "Umm, I'll have your mom."

You can only imagine the roar of laughter that follows this story - so much so that our cousin-in-law Josh now wants to visit Alaska, if for no other reason than to be able to make his own order of chicken.

Tom says, "Truth is, I really wanted three pieces of chicken. But I was willing to sacrifice my lunch for a joke of a lifetime."

Throughout the weekend, the group came up with a few filler responses that could also have been plausible:

1) "I'll have your mom....and ummm- I'm also pretty hungry."
2) "What side dishes come with your mom?"

I'm sure it was the first time the waitress had ever heard that before. She just smirked and walked away.

86 candles in the sunflower state

I just flew back into town from a nice long weekend in Council Grove, Kansas for grandma McDiffett’s 86th birthday weekend celebrations. What a fun trip! This had to have been one of the best times we’ve had with our cousins in a long time. Two new babies in the mix, lots of homemade pie, way too much laughing, and some great storytelling made for a weekend worth remembering.

Grandma was introduced to the Wii game of bowling. And, she was dominating the game. What a priceless expression on her face to be beating her two grandsons on her first time playing. She was tickled to death. It is always so special to watch her look around at her big extended family, get choked up, and start crying. We know how much she appreciates us all being there. She wears her emotions of her sleeve, which is so refreshing. I’m always so amazed at how with-it she is at 86 years old. She works out regularly at the gym as a member of the Silver Sneaker group, is involved in many community clubs, prides herself on never having missed the opportunity to send a card for a birthday, and is pretty famous in a town of 2,000 for making pies.

This trip, I was so excited to be given a beautiful watercolor print that she painted over 70 years ago as a sophomore at Junction City high school in 1938. The piece is a likeness of Merna Loy- a movie star at the time.

Overall, it was a great trip! Click here for pictures.

lovey dovey day

Valentine's Day was fabulous! And, for those of you that knew me when I hated the holiday- that's saying quite a lot. We got all dressed up and went to an Italian restaurant I had been dying to go to called Barolo. Dinner was great. The wine was spectacular. The dessert was sweet. This restaurant had the most romantic ambience. Take a look.

We then came home to a fire in the fireplace, chocolate, and cookies to the tune of some fabulous Disney love songs. Thanks mom!

Hope you all had a very lovey dovey day. For more pics- click here.

color your button

Today is the first day in a while that I feel like I'm back in the land of the living! I go through weeks where I slip into project comatoses. It's definitely my drug of choice. Whether it's putting new pictures in old picture frames, re-painting a wall for the 3rd time, or re-organizing all of the dishes in my kitchen cabinets- it's a period of NEW. My latest has been spent immersed in new colorbutton designs. I've always loved the jcrew look of small icons like whales and fish. And, for some reason, I seem to be completely in love with birds. Bird everything! I have even thought of starting a collection of birds. No- not real ones. It's weird, I know. Poor Jonathan is such a good sport throughout my creative nut projects.

And with that- I'm on to the next ones. 1)Looking for slipcovers for the livingroom furniture. 2)Creating a huge, beautiful fake flower arrangement. 3)Throwing away any and all clothing that I haven't worn in 3 years, and 4)Collecting twigs outside for nice fireplace burning.

Projects. They're really quite exciting!