Tony's Birthday

KSU vs. KU in basketball and Tony's Birthday. For him, these are the two most important days every year... and this year they were combined.  We headed to Manhattan bright and early on that Saturday to watch Game Day (which was in Manhattan) at Kites - our home away from home.  Tony's parents met us to take us to lunch and back to his gma's to open presents.  Around 3:30 we headed back to Kites to snag a table for the game.  Tony and his dad were actually going to the game, but Valerie and I were going to fight the crowd at Kite's.  'Crowd' is an understatement, it was more like completely over capacity with people hanging out of the windows...  I have never seen it so busy!!  And I have had my fair share of days in Kites.  Somehow we got a table in a corner and watched the game there with a lot of my friend's I hadn't seen for a while.  Even though we didn't come out with a victory in overtime it was fun, but it was crazy!  Valerie, you were such a sport!!  :) 

Puppy Kisses

Tony and I celebrated his birthday on the Friday night before with dinner at Zest, and then home to open presents.  Here is Margo helping with the wrapping paper...

 

Shortly after the presents were opened, this took place.  I don't know if Tony smelled like his filet from dinner??  Or if Margo just got completely lick happy.  Now, I am not okay with dog's licking my face... maybe that is something I'll get used to... or not.  But Tony doesn't seem to mind our sweet puppy cleaning his face with her saliva.  Maybe I should start kissing like that :) 

La Fiesta!!!

Somewhere along the road we came up with the fabulous idea of having themed dinner nights with some of our friends.  The pizza night started it all...  La Fiesta took place at our house in January.  We had tacos, margaritas, hand-made mustaches and sombreros.  Thank you US Toy.  Emily and I walked around in awe for a good 30 minutes looking for props.  We both have our hands full of mexican goodies including 6 sombreros and the guy checking me out says 'Are you having a fiesta?'  I quickly responded with 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'   :)  Loved the look on his face- he was so confused. 
We were also lucky to find the Spanish music channel on our TV.  Good thing too, or we would have had the Macarena on repeat all night long. 

A little family photo- mi familia :)

And of course the night would not have been complete without a pinata!!!! 

**Please note Emily and Dave's handmade ponchos

The Calhoons are hosting next... post to follow

Mama Mia Pizzaria!

This Wednesday in January started off cold and snowy (go figure right?).  3:00 rolled around and we were let off work.  I immediately called my besties to see if they wanted to come over.  What is better than a fire with friends and wine!  Talk of dinner came up around 5:00 or so and this wonderful idea of making homemade pizza.  We even made the dough from scratch (well, on the first one)
Here are some action shots: 

One more thought...

By the way... who ever made this rule that everyone should work until 5:00 on Fridays??  It never fails, 9:00 on Friday morning I find myself hoping that something will happen and I will be able to leave at noon (like my dear husband) and go meet friends for lunch and afternoon drinks.  I mean, crazy things go through my mind... a random snow storm in the summer, electricity breakdown in the building, even the stomach flu would be better than staying at work all day on Fridays!  I guess I chose the wrong profession.  However, I finally understand the lyrics to 'everybody's workin' for the weekend...'  Amen, Loverboy.  (that's who sings that song - yes, I googled it)

M.I.A.

Ok so I completely suck at keeping up with this...  as my lovely friend Gina keeps telling me :)  This seems to be my problem with most things.  I get all pumped and excited about something and then it slowly (but surely) takes the back seat.  Sooo right now, I am focused on commiting to this blog. ...starting next week.  C'mon it's the weekend!! 

Coaches vs. Cancer

In October Tony and I were invited to an event with Deston & Sarah Rizzo called Coaches vs. Cancer at the College Basketball Experience connected to the Sprint Center in Kansas City.  All proceeds went to cancer research which is very important to both of us as we have experienced the sickness with close family members.  Tony actually decided that he wanted to be on the board for next years event which I think is great! 
KSU, KU, and MU's basketball coaches had a press conference and talked about the up coming season.  Norm Stuart was also in attendance (Tony would be disappointed if I left that part out).  We had drinks and appetizers while chatting with local fans.  My favorite part was the silent auction which included signed memorabilia, game tickets, and even a chance to be a KSU cheerleader for a day...  I quickly passed that one up but Emily is still bitter we didn't get it for her, she just couldn't imagine who wouldn't want to do that!  Tony and I ended up getting 2 tickets/parking pass to a Big 12 game this season and (drum roll please...) a signed pair of Frank Martin's tennis shoes!  He will wear the shoes to coach against KU on January 30th, which also happens to be Tony's birthday, and we will get them after the game.  I don't even care if they stink... eventually they will be displayed proudly when we have a basement bar.  Don't worry, I'm not going to hang them from our dining room chandelier in the mean time.  KSU basketball has been soo much fun to watch these last few years and we have enjoyed making it 'a must watch' priority. 
Soo if you are tuning in for the KSU vs. KU basketball game on January 30th... focus on Frank's feet! :)

Cheeeeeeese!!

Ever wonder what you get when you combine girls night out, wine, and a self timer camera?? 
25 pictures of the exact same thing with a few different poses thrown in...  we thought we were hilarious!!!

Margo

October brought us our little baby!  Yes, she is a dog but she's our little baby.  We had been talking about getting a dog FOREVER, but wanted to be settled into our house.  We decided that there wasn't ever going to be a perfect time so we bit the bullet after Tony found a picture of her on the breeder's website.  We had always wanted an english bulldog, but they come with health issues... I talked to one lady that said over the passed 3 years hers had a tail amputation, knee surgery, 3 ear surgerys, and a face lift.  Yes, a face lift.  We weren't ready to open up that can of worms, so when we found Margo who is half english half american bulldog- we decided it was our best bet.  She has been SO much fun to have around!  Not to mention it totally secured my thoughts on Tony being an amazing dad one day!  Don't ask him who his favorite is... I don't want to hear the truth :)
She is almost 6 months old and has grown SO fast.  She's around 40 lbs. now and will be about 85.  Hey fatty!!  She was spade today so no reproducing for her.  We made this decision based on our friends having a boy labradoodle and can you imagine those puppies???  Ha! Love you LeRoy!
These pictures are from about a month ago. 

And she LOVES her baths.  I couldn't find her one day and heard something coming from the bathroom.  I looked in to find this...

On the road again...

Our latest trip was to Chicago in September.  Tony's cousins (Joe & Kim) were celebrating their 10 yr. wedding anniversary and were kind enough to invite us along!  I, of course, jumped at the chance and after some conviencing and finding great plane tickets Tony was on board!  We had been there the year before celebrating our one year anniversary and had a blast! 
We had quite the crew on this trip which made it that much better.  Tony's other cousin Jake and his fiance Alaina and Joe & Kim's neighbors in Oklahoma came along.  One of Jake's clients owns a beautiful house in Lincoln Park and let us all stay there for free!  Such an adorable little neighborhood filled with soccer mom's and strollers. 

The weather was wonderful and we walked quite a bit ... I had blisters to prove it.  Mostly, we braved the subway and ran into our fair share of problems.... mostly with hopping on the wrong direction.  Tony and I were on the verge of killing each other as we headed the wrong way WHILE lugging our HUGE  bags from the airport when we got into town.  Jake & Alaina got a tour of Chicago on accident one afternoon.  But Kim was always enjoying life on the subway... see below. 

We headed to Wrigleyville when we got into town to have ourselves a well-deserved Old Style (remember the luggage/subway story). 

We enjoyed a few beverages out on Navy Pier.  There was a band playing and it was sunny.  I probably could have spent all day there...

We also visited the John Hancock building again this year.  It was Tony and I's favorite thing to do last year.  The 95th story is called the Signature Lounge and you can have dinner, appetizers, or just a drink while looking over the whole city. 

It was such a fun trip with such fun people!  Where are we going next year???  :)

"I Do"

I'm going back a couple of years to the best day of my life... our wedding!  And I'm speaking for Tony that it was the best day of his life as well... :)
It was absolutly perfect in everyway - well besides the preacher calling Tony 'Todd', the sound of Baby Got Back playing during our vows from the reception above us, and our North Carolina blue Powercat cake.  Good thing I wasn't a bridezilla (my mom might say differently).  All jokes aside, it was AMAZING to have all of our family and friends there to celebrate the day that we married our best friend!  
I'll post some pictures below.  Actually, looking back - the pictures were the worst part of the day!  I just wanted to get married!!! (and of coarse get the party started)
Another HUGE thanks to both of our parents and friends who did so much making it all happen!