enjoying...

in a previous post, i talked about my dad retiring and his party held in honor of this. here are a few more pics from that night. i want to get everyone in, because i think this is the first time all of these people have been in the same room at the same time in years!!!...all to celebrate my hardworking dad. he so deserved this.

i seriously want to eat this little one up...so does peyton. this is baby evie, my sister's first baby.

my sister, auntie tawny...taryn's twin! yes, two sets of twins in our family. both sets identical!

heather rocks my world for planning and making the party happen!

mom, auntie elaina, my bro-peter, and evie!

gramps!!!

grandma polleti...from italy. just moved to michigan recently. my kids are a little scared of her!!!

because i can't get enough of this little one.

...and my grandma who i love so much. she rocks...like seriously, she is the best, most supportive person i have ever known. period. she has been sick lately and has not been herself. i have faith that she will feel better soon. i need to kick her butt in a mean game of poker (even though she is the best card player i know)!

tonight, a couple of my sisters, me and our husbands met up for thai food, the BEST thai food 5 years running by the city of detroit...bangkok 96, and although it sounds like a thai truckstop, it's not. they have the best thai food ever and i look forward to going each year.

then, we decided to go have a drink at kelly's irish pub (naples peeps: think the polar opposite of mercado's irish pub). it is a hole-in-the-wall little, smelly, old bar. it was perfect. just the right spot for elaina and heather to have a polka dance dance-off...in the parking lot...BEFORE we had our coctails. it was stomache-hurting funny and just what we all needed to catch up. before we left, we all said we would never to return to the smelly hole-in-the-wall, but secretly i was attracted to it's oldness. we don't have much of that in naples. i hope to go back soon!!!

a few days ago, i drove to lansing, mi and visted kelle's sister, carin and her sweet girls!

oh it was so much fun. her girls are LOVELY, lovely, sweet, sweet, girls. i love them so much and had so much fun hanging with them and other family and friends. i loved meeting people i had only heard of in conversation between kelle and carin and the blogging world. i had never been more excited to enter a room of realtively perfect strangers bc i knew i would be meeting really good women. i so did.

i loved listening to the cousins remember old family stories and memories. i would hear things like, "really? i didn't know that." or "aww. i miss grandma and grandpa so much." some tears, but all good stories.

we almost instantly started walking the 'runway!'

we sat and talked, took pictures, loved on the kids...it was so comfortable.

barb...are you real? i love u.

we sat in carin's anthropology-ish, funky, cool home.

it is so charming and i can't b how much carin has done in such a short time. she has an eye for this stuff.

next morning...

and shopping in downtown lansing. love it there with it's vibrant culture and flower lined streets...

i adore little streets like this with little shops with hand painted open or close signs in the windows and little colorful brick buildings. i truly could live on this street. carin took us to a store called october moon and it was a perfect little shop that sold french and vintage inspired treasures, and when i decided on a set of vintage abs cards for beckham...they wrapped my purchase with twine and lavendar. oh yeah, i am a sucker for this stuff. i admit it. if i had bought three things, i would have asked for three seperate bags just for the twine and lavendar!!!! it's how i roll.

finally, we visted a gallery...

and met honora...she rocks. she just wants to talk about art and process-i thought she was so cool.

it was such a fun day. a great experience to meet honora and see her studio, gallery, and art. chat with my friends...talking about life and babies and other little things in between. having such a great time, that i think over and over how much i don't want to leave.

thanks c & k

xoxo

we are having such a good time here!!! love seeing my family and watching peyton and beckham enjoy the special people who love them so much. jeff and i are headed on a trip upnorth this weekend. i can't wait to take pics and share all of the fun i know we will have.

g'night!