Yesterday was Darios Birthday, so we had adventures.

In the AM Pat, Chad, and I went to Confederation Park with my Dad to watch the remembrance Day Ceremony. I always forget how cold it is when you stand out there for half an hour. It’s a pretty cool ceremony, except this year the speakers busted so we couldn’t hear a thing. Oh well.

After thet we met up with Dario and headed over for a somewhat traditional Meat Fest.

I always forget how much a Pulled Pork Sammich fills me up. Seriously, 3 bites in and I’m almost done. I think that’s kind of why I like getting the Elvis Platter, you can take just the right amount of meat that you like, and there ain’t no bread to fill you up. Well, other then the corn bread, but that is just amazing bread. Despite the fact that my stomach shrank, the Pulled Pork Sammich was still amazing!

Chad & Dario had the special – Brisket & Sausage Sammich. Looks so good!

What is with us and our meat/food comas lately?

After Meat Feast 2010 I passed out on the couch for 2 hours watching The Golden Girls and Friends. Heaven!

Post Meat Nap we headed over to Darios Parentals house for more meat. As tradition dictates, in November, on Darios Birthday we must all get together to eat an Italian feast.

Polenta – Sopressa – Cheese – Pickles – Olives – Castagne

It took me 20 some odd years of this tradition to finally gain a taste for Polenta, but now that I have, I am obsessed!

I don’t think this many people have ever been invited before. The legend of Castagne Night grows.

Pat made them. We named them.

Polenta Silders. COPYRIGHT.

Chad broke something. Mom was in hysterical tears.

I guess he has grown out of having a Birthday Cake.

Brains

I don’t eat the castagne. That is one flavour I haven’t grown accustomed to yet. Instead, I take everyone’s shells and crush them up more and apparently make nests.

I am the Castagne Crusher.

This is not wine. This is Raspberry flavoured Grappa. Very strong. Very Dry.

Pat downed this whole thing in one sip.

Fricken Fracken Fatherly Advise.

Don’t work construction when you are hungover. It’ll cost you $1500. HA.

These boys. I feel like they are my kids. Well, I guess, my husband and our kids.

We had this conversion about when we actually have kids, Uncle Pat and Zio Dario are going to feel attention deprived and will start to act like kids themselves (they aren’t too far off that now) as to get your attention back on them!

No I must prepare myself for the greatest Bacon & Onion dinner of all time.

If you want to view more from last night, click – More Pictures Here

There is nothing better then making a sign in Microsoft Word. Ghetto is Better.

There he is!

I don’t think I have ever had to wait so long for luggage, and it wasn’t even mine. He had to check his bag because he imported some Olive Oil for us. Thanks Aimee!

Instantaneous Smiles!

Everything ran smoothly last night. Because I am obsessed with my new blackberry (I just realized I never blogged about that) and I am obsessed with playing Four Square on it, I am always excited to go to new place and check in and get millions of points. Yes, this is what my life has become. I suggest you also join in on the Four Square fun and then become my friend, because that just makes everything better. I ended up checking in at the airport and at the baggage carousel because I am that crazy. Hey, I’ll do anything for extra points!

We finalized the menu for Fridays dinner. Since Pats favorite thing is Bacon and Dario’s favorite thing is Onions, but they both like both equally as much, I had to make sure all my bases were covered. Sausages, Onions, Bacon Mashed Potatoes, Steak House Salad, and maybe a few surprises. I know I make myself crazy trying to do all these sweet and thoughtful things for people, and I know I don’t always get sweet, thoughtful things in return, but that’s not the point. I like to see the joy on peoples faces. I like to show them that I care. That is why I make myself crazy over all these dinners and parties and such. All that I ask for in return is that they are happy and appreciative.

I think most of the time our plan is to make Pat realize how much amaziness he is missing when he is not here so that he can feel bad and move back, but I don’t think it’s working. Or maybe it is and he is just good at hiding it.

Everything is right in the world, at least for the next few days.

So, believe it or not, I did plan to blog 4 times this week. I actually have all the posts ready to go, but clearly it was not meant to be.

Every night something came up that pushed everything I wanted to do out the window.

Monday – WINE MAKING

Tuesday – BROKEN DOWN CAR

Yea, thats right. Half way home from my Moms house and the Kia died, DEAD. Effffff. On the positive side, Kia took care of it completely and it didn’t cost us anything, but on the negative side, we had to wait out in the chill for over an hour and the night was ruined. Plus, the stress of having to deal with this car, AGAIN, and right before we were about to leave pushed me over the edge.

Thankfully, we picked it up today, ready to go, and it can go to sleep and rest for a month now.

Saturday we had a Good Bye party for ourselves. We spent the whole day preping, and thank God we did because it was the easiest, most relaxed dinner party I have ever thrown. I know I may not have looked relax – to those who were there – but I was. Dinner was amazing (if I do say so myself). We did everything on the BBQ and it was AWESOME. Chad did a great job!

Roasted Pepper & Bacon Bruschetta
Cajun Spiced Pork Loins
Roasted Pepper & Feta Rolled Flank Steak
Garlic Prawns
Arugula Salad with BBQ Onions, Feta, & Tomatoes
Grilled Green Beans with Romano Cheese
Garlic Chesse Bread

Post dinner we had some Limoncello & Peroni Beers and then headed off to the Blarney Stone!

Guess what drink this is!?

I love this face.

You know Chad is drunk when…

MEXICAN GANGSTA

When I become a Saint, this is what my statue will look like.

Yes, Please.

I think it is pretty clear we had a great time!!!

The newly renovated Blarney Stone is so nice, I actually can’t wait to get back to Vancouver to go back! I know, shocking that I am saying this.

I know I haven’t given you much substance to go on while I flee the country, but it’s not like I still have a lot of readers. Pfft.

I will have my Moms mini laptop with me during the trip, so I shall update when I get the chance. I will be posting some of my favourite pictures on Facebook, but will be posting all of my photos on Flickr organized by day, so you can follow along there.

See you later, Bitches!

Headed over to Mr. Perizzolos on Saturday for a Summer BBQ in the rain. He had the table nicely set and everything ready to go before we even got there. Shit, he was more prepared then I am for most dinners!

We were told to arrive around 6pm. Chad and I were early birds because we couldn’t wait. Shannon & Kelly arrived non to short after, but the damn Tyrrells were too busy making out to show up on time ;) Actually, it was that damn HWY 1 that is going to annoy us all to hell by the time it’s finished being upgraded.

This man…who does he think he is?

I was bringing back 1985, just for Ryan.

Dinner for Shmucks!

Dario served us Chicken & Beef burgers, salad and fries, not to mention an abundance of wine.

Before all the cool people showed up Chad, Dario and I were having a conversation about the flow of his house. While doing so we  collaborated and came up with a great idea to knock down half of this wall to create a bar.

While re-telling this story at dinner something was said about whether or not Dario would actually have the motivation to build this bar. Well, no sooner was that said, but the hammer was taken out (from it’s convenient cubby in the kitchen) and smashed into the wall, providing ample amount of motivation for Dario to get on it!

Just because it’s not his party doesn’t mean he can’t control the evening!

Mr. Photographer at work.

Ryan clearly thinks he is just too cool.

You seriously can’t take him out of the house.

Sporadic Moment of Proof #2

Apparently one drunken evening the question was asked, can Dario throw the football over his house? Well, it wasn’t solved that evening, but it sure was solved on Saturday. Dario threw a perfect pass to Chad from one side of the yard to the other, then did the exact same thing back to Ryan. To say the question was answered would be an understatement. It was like Christmas morning for those boys.

This then meant that football had to be played in the house as well.

We found out that Kelly was unable to catch any sort of ball, so Chad gave her a lesson. Chad is good at catching balls…

While the boys were in the kitchen discussing world politics, the girls somehow got into an impromptu yoga lesson. Now, I have never done a minute of yoga in my life, but Kelly showed me a few poses and it was like I was a natural, which I actually found very surprising. I actually couldn’t believe how much of a work out I got and how sore I was the next day. It was pretty damn amazing.

Who know what was going on in here.

Where is Kelly!?

Kelly and Shannon are sisters and good friends of my cousin Francesca. I’ve known them for a while, Chad has known them some and they met Dario for the first time at Ryan and Elise wedding. The group of us really hit it off  at the wedding and it was great having them over for dinner on Saturday. Shannon is actually going to be in Italy at the same time as us so we’ve planned to meet up, which we are both really excited about. I really hope we plan more events with these two lovely ladies in the future!

An awesome Saturday evening as usual with our favourites. The boys ended it outside on the patio with Scotch, and the girls decided to watch Knocked Up the uncensored edit, filled with ‘head popping’ scenes. Ick!

Where does the time go?

Elise’s Stagette is tomorrow. Chilliwack River Rafting in the AM and then Roosters in the PM. Neither of them I have ever participated in before. Have I already told you that? I have no idea what to expect, and oddly enough, the thing I am worried about the most is if my hair is going to get ruined while river rafting and how I will re-due it for the evening. Silly, yet important to plan out.

I get so overwhelmed when there is a weekend with a million things going on. I focus so much on the big picture and I just start to get stressed about it all. This weekend feels like that right now even though there is nothing to stress about and everything will work out.

I need to relax.

I don’t have any time anymore. I just keep repeating the same things over and over again. I am possibly loosing my mind.