Dinner with Friends from LA LA Land

Mark, looking quizzical.
Which begs the question, if quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

So, our good friends Mark (of The Cheese Fry fame) and Faleena headed to town this week from their perch in L.A. and we were lucky enough to be invited over to visit and eat on Sunday night. Usually when they come to town they make time for us lowly Dallasites, which we appreciate very much. We either have them to our house, go to a restaurant, or on very special occasions, we get invited to Mark's parents' house for a meal. Yum-o.

Mark fried up some sweet potatoes.

Said potatoes, post-fryer.

Sweet Maggie D was also there to greet us.

Tricia and S...

...and Wayne caught up at the kitchen table before we ate.

There's Faleena, with Laura and Derrick.

Proof I was there.

Faleena and Laura.

S and Jon - I love this photo - I caught them acting like the hams they are.

The table was adorned with really cute napkins and place mats.

The burgers came "with or without smoke."
Further instructions were, "the good ones have smoke."

Those fries got seasoned.

Jon, for one, was excited to dig in.

As was S.

Dessert!

I have to mention the tea - Mrs. Dempsey makes the best iced tea.

So, we gathered and ate. And, Mark and Faleena had a big announcement. I'll let you choose what it might have been:

a) They are moving back to Texas.

b) They were abducted by aliens and lived to tell about it.

c) They are going to baby.

If you chose A or B, you are wrong. It was C. C! They are going to have a baby girl in June! Everyone was delighted to hear this exciting news and there were congratulations all around.

Then, after dinner and the news, we played this game called MAFIA. Have you played it? It's a new fangled West Coast fancified party game. The LA-ers taught us how to play.

This was supposed to be S by the fire.
That is the fire in the background, but, well.
We'll move on.

Maggie, being a relative of Mark and Faleena, also knew the fascinating game.

So, here's how it goes - you draw slips of paper - all the slips of paper say, "Villager" except two slips that say "Mafia" and one that says "Detective". One person moderates the game - that is, they don't play. We switched off being the moderator so everyone got a chance to play.



Everyone closes their eyes - the mafia are told by the moderator to reveal themselves. They choose a player to "kill." Then, they close their eyes.



Then, the detective is given a chance to open their eyes and guess who the mafia are - they get one chance per round - they point at someone and the moderator motions yes or no.



They, everyone opens their eyes, finds out who is dead via the mafia, and together must choose who to kill off to avenge the Mafia's killing. This is where the strategy really comes into play. You have to read faces and motives to get ideas on who the mafia are - the villagers of course want to kill off the mafia before the mafia kill off the villagers.



And the detective can possibly help with special info, but might not want to be labeled the detective for fear of being the next person killed by the mafia. After the group kills someone off to avenge the death, you have finished a round and start again until either the mafia or the villagers are left.



Once we got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun. I got killed off early often, which allowed me to watch the game and how people work. Interesting, too, to see how different people strategize in the same game.



Then, when it got later, we all went home. Thanks Mark and Faleena, and Mr. and Mrs. D, for hosting us! And, we can't wait to meet the little girl. What fun!

Even the Pigeons Were Cold

On my way to Kellie's shower last weekend, I was stopped at a light near an overpass. The day before this photo was taken, it was 80 degrees and sunny. On this day, it didn't get out of the 30's and the windchill took it into the low 20's and it was overcast. I know it's been way colder in the northern part of the country lately, but trust me, it's cold for us. And, it's all relative.



The wind was from the northwest. I was struck by how cold these pigeons looked up there on the side of the overpass - all huddled together, and on the east side of the concrete, which was blocking the wind for them. I checked as I went past - there were no pigeons on the other side...they aren't as dumb as it may seem! I just had to share my quick photos through the car windshield of the cold birds. Stay warm!

My January Geranium

Being a girl from the Midwest, I still marvel at flowers that grow in January. This year, I never got around to planting the garden variety Dallas winter annuals - pansies and cabbage - but I still have some plants alive in the pots on my porch, and the geranium is doing exceptionally well.

The gerbera daisy plant is still alive, but not actively blooming.

This begonia plant - three years old - is showing some wear and tear from the cold.

But, the little geranium from last spring recently started to BLOOM again.

WAY before spring.

In the spring, these little blooms might not look too noteworthy against all the blooms of the season. But in January - well, even in Dallas, and especially with no pansies hanging around - I think it's beautiful each and every time I pass it by.

It's dirt was ravaged last fall by squirrels burying acorns. We'll shore it up again soon.
And I'll keep covering it when it goes below freezing. I'm even thinking of giving it some plant food before spring gets here since it seems to like the weather.

And I'll keep enjoying my little blooming January geranium!

Kellie's Shower

Last Saturday, I co-hosted a baby shower with my friend Tricia for our friend Kellie. Kellie, who lives in Round Rock, is having her second boy - to be named Samuel - sometime around Texas Independence Day. (Look it up if you don't know - and shame on you if you live in Texas.) She drove into town so we could get together to celebrate.

Her older son, Jacob, is losing his first tooth soon, so it's been a while since she was getting ready for a newborn. It was necessary to stock her up with itty bitty things once again!

There were itty bitty favors...


...and itty bitty table decorations...

...and a not-so-itty bitty pile o' presents.

Before we go any further, let's get the all important food shots out of the way...

There was hot tea (or cold tea if you pleased)...

...a yummy salad trio, which of course included strawberry pretzel salad...

...and CAKE!

Right about now, some of you - my most loyal and devoted readers - are thinking - wait a minute - I've already been to this shower - back in November - and Deborah, not Kellie, already had that baby! Never fear, you are not confused. There was a shower back in November for Deborah, and it was in this same room. Funny thing is - I'm the only overlap between the two. I did happen to have the responsibility of finding the place last time, but not this time. So, it's just a funny co-inky-dink.

This group visited and caught up just like the last, and shared stories about babies and their cuteness, their needs and their birth pains. Scroll on through a sampling of crowd shots - I'll see you on the other side.

After we ate our salad trio, but before the cake, so as not to go into a complete "yummy food coma", Kellie opened presents. Tricia arranged for Kellie to have a pretty corsage to wear. Since she was in town, and she's a loyal and proud Mustang, Kellie was off to an SMU basketball game after the shower - she decided to not wear the corsage to the coliseum.

Kellie started in on the pile of gifts - is that a greenback I see?

And Tricia kept an accounting of what came from where.

Kellie received an assortment of gifts - there were the completely practical items:

A bib you can wipe off and a diaper bag to carry it in...

...and diapers and wipes...something about that face tells me Kellie knows this'll get a lot of use.

And, of course, there was the requisite gift of Butt Paste.
Notice the packaging outlines it's most important features.
Ahem.

There were lots of cute clothes:

Tiny shoes...

...and tiny pants.

And decidedly "boy" gear...

...all the while...

...remembering the Mommy.

Kellie also received several gifts that were made lovingly by hand with her little guy in mind:

Aunt Kitty made this one...

...and Kellie's mom made that one there...

...Tricia's grandmother made this one...

...and even this was homemade -
a diaper and wipe keeper crafted by Steve's sister, Deanna.

Then, there were the gifts that fell into the category, "they didn't have this when Jacob was born!":

A baby safe feeder...

...and the oh-so-cool BebePod - now with tray.

It was so nice to see Kellie and all of her guests and to shower her with a little bit of what she'll need for this little guy. It was fun to catch up and laugh a bit with everyone there, too.

Kellie's mom, Kellie, and Kellie's aunt.

We'll be watching our email inbox for the news come Texas Independence Day. Best wishes, Kellie!