My Chauffeur

It all started with the question of a hat and this is what I opened the door to this afternoon:



This was Mark, my dear friend Sandy's husband, who picked me up at my aunt's house to take us to another great friends' home for a belated St. Patrick's Day feast. Sandy had asked him if he had a hat that he could wear to pick me up and before she knew it, he had delved deep into his bag of tricks to find a complete ensemble of the bowler hat, the strange glasses, the crazy teeth and the tux with button red lips on the collar. You should have seen the looks on my aunt and uncle's faces when I introduced him. It was a total scream!

I am always humbled by people's extra efforts. This is one pick-up I will likely not forget for a long time. The best part of this for me was the bowler hat...of course!

Winks,
Sarah

My Chauffeur

Pinching and Petit Fours

Beannachtai na Feile Padraig! (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Woke up on time with a little Irish luck so I could walk Cabal and be on time with Yummy (he's 1/4 Irish!) on skype. We have only managed snippets of conversation the last few days so talking for a few hours got us caught up before he had to get going for a weekend visit at his mother's home...

Today is the casual dinner I have organized for my aunt's 62nd birthday. Her Filipina genes have erased a decade and half off her face so she doesn't look her age which she freely tells anyone who is curious enough to ask.

Cracker Barrel was our restaurant of choice. It is very homey and has enough for everyone to choose from no matter the picky tastes. My aunt, uncle and Nan met my cousin Dave's family and me at the restaurant. The girls were late getting back from the hair salon so my uncle called to let us know they were 30 minutes behind.

Dave did the drive around town to burn time since he was already on his way and I took my time at the grocery store to get three Mylar balloons and a pound of petit fours in lieu of cake. My thinking is we didn't have to slice a cake at the table nor did we have to feel pressure to commit to a big slice. Everyone received at least two pieces after dinner.

Normally, we go to my apartment for cake and ice cream, but because of my busy schedule, my place was not available for viewing. I haven't had the time to properly decorate and entertain. Can't do it half-assed; have my street cred to protect, you know.

Lack of the color green on your person during St. Patty's Day began a wave of pinching around our table of eight. I did have green on my bra, but that didn't count because no one could see it and I wasn't willing to prove it. My cousin Dave's son Carter enjoyed this part of dinner best, the little five-year old ghoul!

Carter and I then began our own game of pinching: hams (behind the thighs), marshmallows (tummies, but sometimes in his exuberance he misses and gets boobies - ouch!) and pies (cheeks). This was a short game since he and I grew tired from laughing too hard.

It was thankfully an early evening and I wound down from the activities of today and the night before. I received a text message from Yummy during my evening nap and texted back 15 minutes after. It was a great feeling to know he arrived at his mother's okay. Received one more before he retired for the evening.

I'm going to bed early, too. Tomorrow will require all the mental clarity I can muster. Having a girlie outing tomorrow with Tawnyia and my aunt which should be as funny and crazy as a bawdy limerick. We roll like that.

Pinching and Petit Fours