Wildcat Road-Trip

If you thought that maybe I haven't been doing anything worthy of a blog post lately, you're probably right.  So imagine my excitement as we drove to Manhattan last night for our first basketball game of the year.  And better yet, my man Jack was coming too.  Oh, and did I mention we were sitting in row 5?  At half court?  Yeah.  That all adds up to awesome pictures which leads to an awesome blog post.

And then I realized I left my camera in the car.  Fantastic.

The game was awesome.  We were so close and the boys looked amazing.  Frank was there.  And Jack was hilarious.  So here are some super fantastic pictures from my super lame camera phone.

Jack held his hands over his ears for the majority of the game.  Brooke bought him some popcorn and he would remove a hand from his ear, take a piece of popcorn, eat it, and then put his hand back.  This continued for a half a bucket of popcorn.  Hilarious.

The Octagon of Doom is loud.

Go Wildcats!

Hey Frank!!!

The boys held back during the first half, then kicked it into gear for the second half.  By the time we were up 30 points I started feeling really bad for the other team.  Especially since they were so close!  Every time they called a time-out we'd watch to see if we could figure out what they heck a coach could even say at this point.  Sad.

Wildcat Win!

My boy Victor Ojeleye got some play time.  I really like that every time he comes on the court Drew nudges me and says, "There's your boy."  He is my boy.  And his calves are insane.  I mean, he's no David Hoskins*... or Cartier Martin**... but he's this year's fave.  We were so far ahead that the walk-ons got to play.  They didn't even have names on their jerseys!  Hilarious.  But one of them is named Bryan Rohleder.  Hello!  My cousin's name is Bryan Rohleder.  But he is not my cousin. 

Yep.  That was an awkward, pointless story. 

Go Wildcats!!!

*Swoon.
**Stalker.

Anam Cara

My beautiful, wonderful, amazing cousin Jess got hitched.  And here's the story.

Ain't she pretty?

We know where she gets it from.

Ladies in waiting.

Bride & Groom.

Jess is amazingly creative, so it's no surprise that the whole wedding was absolutely beautiful.  She used peacock feathers as accents in all kinds of places.  Check out the super cute guest book.  Sure beats the Hobby Lobby 1/2 price book we used at our wedding!

So cute.  Especially those flowers!

I do this with my arm a lot in these pictures.

The wedding day started as you'd imagine.  Coffee, mimosas, hair, and makeup.  Such fun!

Waiting to get pretty.

Danae making faces.

Nicole getting extensions.

Abby being awesome.

Nails.

Ooooohhhh!!!

She's thinking about Ryan.

 After lots of food, fun, and girl time... it was off to the church to get this gal hitched.

That dress is stunning.

BFF gets the bride in the dress.

Strapless.

Straps.

MOB.

FOB.

B.

COB.

Ready for the show!

MOG & MOB.

And then they were married!

I love the McNieces to pieces.

Is it just me or is the bus after the wedding like totally the best part of the day?  It's like you're in this exclusive club and you get a sweet ride with beverages and you stop to get your picture taken and everyone else is somewhere waiting for you to arrive so the party can start.  I like it.  Mucho.

Thank goodness for those wraps!

Look how happy they are.  And look how pretty her sash is!

I have a camera full of me & Abby making faces.

I really love Jess's face in this.

Everyone loves Dr. McGullicuddy

Except Nicole.  She is pregnant and therefore not drinking from bottles.  Ever.

More faces.

Love!

Remember when I said my favorite part of the day is the ride from church to reception?  Umm... our bus had a pole.  You know how I feel about that.  Yeah... good times.

The classy bride stayed off the pole.

The classy groomsmen did not! :)

And then we arrived and the party could get started.  The reception hall was like wedding crack.  Lots of candles, wine bottles, and of course peacock feathers.  Seriously, so pretty.

Hi Drew!!!

Stop it.  I love them.  Love.

A bridesmaid's duties never end.



Dancing!

Love.

Awww...

More of these...

You know, when you're at a wedding reception and the DJ starts playing the Grease Mega-Mix and you start having flashbacks to your 8th grade talent show, you assume you'll be performing alone.  But then someone like Sarah steps up the awesome and performs the duet the way it should be performed... choreography and all.  Sarah, you made my night.

Summer lovin', had me a blast.

I don't remember much after that, but I was told that later I stole a peacock feather from a centerpiece and conducted a one-woman marching band in a parade through the city park.  Sounds like me.  Classy like me.

Such a beautiful wedding.  Such a wonderful weekend.  I could not be happier for Jess & Ryan.  And I can't wait to see what the future holds for them.  Love you guys!!!

Good Eats

I fell in love with Alton Brown when I was taking my first food science class.  It was right after I'd finished my chemistry class, so I was finally able to appreciate the fact that cooking is science.  And it is totally awesome. 

So when I found a flyer in the paper this weekend for a book signing with Alton, I jumped right on board.  But not without my favorite FACS teacher and my favorite Foodie. 

We stopped for a quick bottle of wine bite to eat at Noodles before the book signing. 

Mmmm... noodles.

After that we headed to Unity Temple to stand in line with all of the other AB fans.  Jana pointed out that there are some strange looking fans... but that's neither here nor there. 

When we finally made it inside it was a few minutes past the 7:00 starting time and they were rushing us to get our books and take a seat.  I was so busy grabbing my book that Jana and DeAnna had to bring my attention to Alton when he walked out.

So skinny now!

Does that chick look put off?  Well, she is.  Alton was scolding all of us and telling us to take a seat so we could get started.  There was absolutely no time for pleasantries. 

Since the show was kind of a last minute thing for us, we didn't have time to bring the appropriate accessories... AKA Yeast Puppets.  I told Jana to have her students whip some up, but it didn't happen.  We were all thrilled when we opened our books to find that they have all the plans necessary to make your own yeast puppet.  Sweet!

Stickers for authentic yeast faces.

Blueprints for making your very own yeast sock puppet!

Good Eats!

Rainy Day Books put on the show, which meant we had to listen to the owner lecture us about the rules and regulations of listening to Alton Brown speak.  Alton got impatient and kept walking out and making a scene.  I'm pretty sure he was trying to hurry her up and get her off the stage, but she was not budging.

"No flash photography!  I mean it!"

Finally she let Alton do his thing!  And he was hilarious.  I mean, I DVR the show every day, so I know he's funny.  But in real life, he's just fantastic.  Were I cool like DeAnna and on Twitter, I would have tweeted everything he said.  But I'm not that cool... or quick.

After he talked for a bit, he started answering questions that people had written while entering.  My favorite answer was when someone asked what the most important kitchen tool is.  He answered that it is the kitchen table because if you don't have a place to sit down and share with your loved ones, then all that work in the kitchen is pointless.  Betcha didn't know Alton was so insightful?

I almost died of jealousy when he started taking questions from the floor and a gal asked if she could have the nutmeg he keeps in his pocket and he said YES and threw it to her!!!

It's okay, we brought our own.

Alton finished up after answering lots of questions and this lady came back to do some more talking.  Alton sped her along again as she drew names for door prizes. 

Come on lady!  Let's get moving!

Then came the line for the book signing.  The scary lady was c-razy about making sure everyone was in line according to ticket number.  Our tickets were in the 300's.  Yeah, we waited a while.

BFF!!!

Actually, I think I made a bad impression when I told him I'm a teacher and show his videos in class and asked if he'd ever considered doing a teacher's addition.  He said no because there wasn't any money in it, so go ahead and keep ripping him off by showing it.  Oops.

T-Dub & AB

Where's your nutmeg Alton?!?

Jana rushed us out and shared an even more horrifying story of embarrassment.  I'll let her share that story.

OMG!

So bad that TW had to Google some info STAT, just so we could clear things up.

Help!

By the time we got out of there it was way past my bedtime.  It was such a great night though!  Jana and I had Alton sign our books to Mrs. Keeley and Mrs. Gibson so that we can show our students.  And you know I'm going to frame that picture and keep it in my classroom!  Love me some Good Eats!