California's Best Sunflower

I bought these flowers tonight after work when I stopped by the grocery store on my way home. They were labeled as "California Sunflowers" and I just couldn't say no to them. My great aunt Margie lives in Dana Point, CA, not far from the Pacific Ocean. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world. This is a picture of Aunt Margie (on the right) with her daughter, Katie, when I visited them last summer. She was my maternal grandma's youngest sister and she turned 90 this June (she's the last living of those seven Jones kids).

Here's why the sunflowers reminded me of her: Aunt Margie had a neighbor once who planted some sunflowers that were in full bloom one time when I was there to visit. She told me that she loved looking at them from her deck because they reminded her of her relatives in Kansas. Now it makes sense why I love her so much, doesn't it?

Lots of Wine = Lots of Laughter

Last night was our monthly book club gathering. And what a gathering it was! I'd say that it ranks right up there with "Spirit Stick" night and the small but intimate gathering we had once at Molly's house. This evening's hostess was Lori L. (pictured at left) who made a fabulous curried chicken salad. Yum.

And after 9 o'clock the conversation went to places I shouldn't discuss in such a public place. But I should point out that I've NEVER seen Denise laugh so hard. Throughout the evening, Lori B. was making some interesting faces. But I was lucky to get this shot of Suzanne and Lori when the talk turned to the socioeconomic issues of head massages, pedicures and GBV.

Just thinking back on the evening makes me smile. A lot. And giggle a little bit sometimes. It was definitely the high of my day and possibly my week!

Here's a shot of Tara and Cory at a moment when the hilarity was not at its peak:

Next month I'm the hostess and it's going to be hard to top this particular book club gathering. A very hard act to follow.

The cooks

These are the cooks who prepared our meal for the wine dinner - the famous Joe and Carrie. Carrie would say that she didn't really do anything (she said as much to me just the other day) but she did. She demonstrated to us how to properly eat the flaming cheese. And for that we are eternally grateful. Have I mentioned I really liked the flaming cheese? I wish I had a picture of it. Wasn't thinking that quickly and then it was gone.

Wine, wine and more wine

Friday night I went to a wine dinner that was purchased by some friends last year at our Art Auction fundraiser for United Way, a first for that event.

The dinner was cooked by Joe (the Eagle's food guy) and his wife Carrie (the Eagle's business columnist). Wines, cheeses and dessert were provided by The Good Life Guy and his wife, Beth.

First course: assorted appetizers consisting of jerk chicken, grilled pineapple, sweet potato chips, flaming cheese (double yum) with fresh bread and a surprisingly tasty champagne. (I'm not generally a big fan of champagne, but this stuff was really good!)

Second course: a ceasar salad and melon with a spritzing of lime juice and chili powder. I swear the fruit with the chili powder was one of my favorite courses. It doesn't sound good, but was so wonderful. I didn't get a picture of it, but I was helping to dish up the fruit and dropped a chunk of watermelon into my glass of sauvignon blanc. That piece was the best :-)

Entree (pictured above): seared salmon with mango salsa and saffron rice. So good. We had both a white and a red wine with the entree, an un-oaked chardonnay and a pinot noir.

We had a cheese course after dinner! I've never been to such a fancy dinner where there's cheese after the meal (unless someone has forgotten to bring it out). The cheeses were fab, but I don't remember their names -- I had wine, remember?

The dessert course was made by chef Damian Lehman, executive chef of the Wichita Country Club. It was "hazelnut white chocolate mousse pyramids with fried cinnamon angel hair" and was served with a cream sherry. The bottle is pictured next to the dessert. Just a little with dessert was perfect.


I think everyone had a really good time. Here's a picture of all of us after we'd enjoyed dinner:

Nancy, Jim, Terri, Brett (he didn't actually eat and drink with us, he was downstairs with little Libby and the nanny), Joyce, Monty, Pepe, me, Laurie and Debbie. Thanks to Shelly, the nanny, for taking this picture!

Name That Tune

This week at work, we had one of our most popular United Way fundraisers: Name That Tune. These are my homegirls, Heather and Robyn, who competed in the contest as the Grim Reapers (they are both employed in the obituary department). Sadly, they didn't make it to the finals, but they had the best t-shirts! The t-shirts say "Grim Reapers We're DEAD Serious" and it has a picture of a hearse. They also had matching skull and crossbone necklaces and headbands. So cool.

This is another one of my homegirls, Denise, and her partner, Bob, who is not posing for the camera. Bob and Denise (aka Captain and D'Neil) won the whole competition today! They rocked it and beat out three other very good teams. The traveling trophy is now theirs.

Before today's competition began, Danna's boyfriend Lamont came into the room with a dozen roses and a bunch of balloons and proposed to her, or so I'm told. I missed it because I was downstairs getting quarters. When I walked back in there was nary a dry eye in the room. Really people, they're just quarters! But enough about me. She said yes. Congrats to both of you!

My niece Anissa

Today is my niece Anissa's 17th birthday. This picture was taken a year ago when we were on vacation in California and it's one of my favorite shots of her. I believe this was the day we went to Laguna Beach and played in the ocean. Anissa is the oldest child of my sister, Jenny (she's the middle child in my family). I remember Anissa's first birthday. She had gotten a little hippo that had a keyboard in the top and I (with the limited musical ability I have) played "Happy Birthday" on it while we sang to her. Good times, good times. She doesn't remember it, but somewhere there are pictures.

Happy Birthday, Niss! And enjoy your senior year of high school.

More nephew pictures

Several of you asked for pictures of me with the nephews. While I hate pictures of myself, I feel that these boys are the focus of both pictures, so I'm uploading them against my better judgment.


This is a shot of me with Caden on his baptism day. His grandma Debbie is talking to him. My sister, Teresa, is his other grandma.

Introducing...Caden

This little guy is my very first great-nephew, Caden. He's the son of my oldest nephew, Andrew, and his wife, Rachel. He was born July 11, so he's just a little over a month old. This was taken on Sunday after his baptism. His aunt Katie (my niece and his godmother) is holding him. He's got the darkest blue eyes right now and I think he's pretty sweet. We haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, but when we do I can tell him all sorts of stories about when his Daddy was little and I'm really looking forward to that.

My Mom likes to say that she has grandchildren from A (for Andrew, who's the oldest) to Z (for Zachary, the youngest). And I think that's pretty cool.

A birthday toast

Tonight I met my friend, Sandi, (pictured with margarita in hand) at Cheddar's for a birthday celebration since tomorrow is her birthday. We met a lot of years ago (I don't remember how many and I had a margarita, too) playing tennis. Since she played in high school and college and I didn't start until I was in my 30s, she will always be a better player than I am, but that's OK. I don't hold it against her. We had fun chatting and eating and sipping margaritas (OK... yes, we had more than one each). Happy Birthday, Sandi! Let's not wait two years to do it again, OK?

Introducing...Zach

I thought I'd share with you a picture of my newest nephew. His name is Zach and he's about 3 and a half months old. He's my oldest brother Mark's son. Mark's oldest son, Tyler, is 18. Talk about spreading them out. But he's pretty cute, huh? I took this picture of him last weekend. It's hard to get his sweet smile captured on film (or digital) because once you raise the camera his expression turns to confusion because he's trying to figure out what you're holding in your hand. He hasn't figured out how to be a ham. Yet. But I'm trying to teach him.

First post

It feels weird to be posting my first blog entry. I'm sure I'll get used to talking about myself...doesn't everyone? But right now it's just weird. In the meantime, I'll figure out the picture thing and I promise to post frequently. I've been reading a lot of blogs lately and there are some great ones. I'll do my best, so be kind blog readers and I shall share my thoughts with you from time to time.