Saturday, June 27, 2009

Baby Barbecue

At which we barbecue babies... or at least that's what Justin was telling us. Justin, the guy who's going to be a father in a month.

Details to come!

Details are here!

So on Saturday, Jen and Justin had a family/friends barbeque baby shower, mostly because I think Justin wanted to get presents too. Anyway, it was a great afternoon filled with friends, pink streamers, and babies galore (none of which were harmed in the making of this barbeque).

There were lots of pictures taken between me and Justin's mom. I think every single minute is captured somehow on one of our cameras or another. We've got the pictures of the kids (us kids, I mean), pictures with the parents, pictures of present opening, pictures with the cigars (check out Luke Lumsden with his cigar below!). I chose just a few of my favorites to show off here.






I love this group of pictures- it's Jen opening my present. I ironed on a bunch of cute designs, sayings, birds, and little letter Z's onto newborn onesies and hats. I'm so glad they loved them, because I had a blast making them specific for little Zoey and her bird-loving, camo-crazy parents!

The baby barbeque was also the first time a lot of people got to meet Chris. I'm pleased to say everyone has decided he is just splendid, and he even has an open invitation to go the Deyling's for a cigar anytime he wants. And for the record, I did not tell him he couldn't have a cigar at the party!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Lost

Ryan's Lost surprise extravaganza turned out to be a big hit. Chris and Andy really worked to pull off the perfect Lost party, complete with posters of Ryan as a cast member of Lost, Quarantine signs, Dharma labels on the sodas and beers, and a great photo booth backdrop. That OSF is so talented, I tell you.

Jenna doesn't know what to do on the island!

Ryan's just happy he's got Sarah to keep him company on the island.

Sorry, Ben, no cell phone reception on the island.

Two TGO's stuck on the island! Track 15 for sure!

We even managed to keep it a surprise, so Ryan was a little dumbfounded when he opened the door to find his friends and family waiting for him in what looked like the Lost wilderness island. Of course, it helped that he was just a wee bit tipsy from the fake out bar trip that Beth took him on. 

Read Ryan's thoughts on his surprise party here!

Why am I such a sucker for these things?

Is it sad that I kind of want this set just because it's lime green?
Oh, have I not shared my infatuation with lime green yet? Hmmm... sounds like it's time for a confession soon....

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Today I...

Went to Coronado with Jenna for an impromptu beach day,
Went to work for the rest of the day and rocked out to my Spring Awakening album,
Got picked up by that cute OSF to meet the others at Ryan's house,
Was told I was feisty (and that he liked it),
Went to El Torito's for Johannah's not-so-surprise dinner party,
Forgot my camera,
Found out Rachel Bunch, from the old camp days, has a cute five month old who loves to flirt,
Was "sneaky" with Chris in the backseat on the way home, to Ryan's chagrin,
Hit up 3 McDonalds' for coca cola glasses,
Finally backed up the 2009 photos from my new computer,
Watched 3 episodes of season one NCIS.

And now I am going to sleep. See you all tomorrow.

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Great McDonald's Coca-Cola Glass Hunt of 2009

Sometimes I'm a sucker for collectibles.

Pogs.

Beanie babies.

Chronicles of Narnia books.

And now Coca-cola glasses.

It started off innocently enough last Friday. I went through the McDonald's by work, noticed the banner about the free glasses with every value meal, and decided I might as well see what these glasses were about. BTW- they're freaking awesome. I already love glass cups and coca-cola, and together they freaking rock!

There, on that Friday afternoon, it became my mission to collect all four. And let's just say that mission has changed day to day in the last week and a half. Here's the play by play.

Original mission: Collect all four colors: Blue, turquoise, purple, and brown.
Friday afternoon: Got a blue glass at Fletcher Parkway.
Saturday afternoon: Convinced the OSF to take me to the Massachusetts MickyD's, since it's next to the In N' Out for him. They tell us they had "aquamarine," which I think, and Crayloa agrees, is more turquoise than blue. And yet, when we opened it up, it was a blue glass. Jerks. And then they tell us all the stores were only selling browns for the last week, and we were out of luck with the other colors. Which just fueled my need to collect the other colors!
Monday afternoon: Got a brown glass at Fletcher Parkway. The guy there told me to try back in the next few days for purple. I think the Massachusetts Mcd's people are liars.
Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon: No dice on the purple glass at Fletcher. But they had only brown, and then only blue on these two days. I'm beginning to think none of the McD's chains were prepped on the structure of this promo.
Wednesday evening: Brittany and I head to Ryan's to watch Wall-E with Ry and Chris. We stopped at the College Ave. store, and they didn't even have any glasses at all. But Brittany later went to the one near Ikea, and found all the colors but turquoise. She picked up purple for me in exchange for one of my blue.
Thursday afternoon: Somehow I get stuck with another blue.
Friday night: Get a call from that cute OSF boy. Turns out he totally took one for the team, and he and his sister stopped at a McD's near Magic Mountain to see what they could find. Two more purple glasses!

Total tally: 2 blue, 3 purple, 1 brown.

Confession: This sort of situation is prime to bring out the OCD in me. I need to have these things in nice numbers. Either one of each, or two of each, or, as it was looking, three of each.

So since the turquoise glasses were nowhere to be found, Mission #2 became to collect three each of the blue, purple, and brown.

But then.

On Saturday night.

Ryan and I decided to initiate the Great McDonald's Coca-Cola Glass Hunt of 2009.

We would not rest until we found the turquoise glasses! We would drive for hours, cranking the Spring Awakening soundtrack as we stopped at each and every restaurant in our search for the holy grail of coke glasses.

Oddly enough, the closest McD's to Ryan's apartment, the one inside the Walmart on Aero Drive, had both turquoise and brown. Go figure. So we took our food and our glasses and went back to the apartment to watch Ella Enchanted and then take a last minute trolley ride downtown to take pictures (but that's a story for another blog).


Oh, at this point, Brittany finds out that you can buy the glasses for $1.99, instead of buying a value meal every time. Errrrr.... My stomach would have been happier finding that out sometime on Tuesday.

Sunday morning: Ryan texts me that the power of suggestion is too powerful for him, and he was already the owner of a brown glass too.
Sunday afternoon: Brittany and I run errands and stop at the Navajo store for a brown glass, 79 cent coke, and no value meal. Take that, McD's!

Tally: 2 blue, 3 purple, 2 brown, 1 turquoise.

Sunday evening: As I explain my OCD plight to Chris and Ryan, Chris suggests I give Ryan one of the purples and collect 1 more turquoise, putting my final tally at 2 each, which is a nice even number that will make it easy for me to sleep at night. Excellent.

Which brings us to today. Monday. No final turquoise glass yet, but I have high hopes for the week. And remember: if you stumble across a MickeyD's giving out turquoise glasses, give me a call!



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

"Stop putting your cells on me."

Hmmmm. I guess that's more of a you-had-to-be-there-having-a-discussion-about-the-various-ways-besides-fingerprints-the-government-keeps-track-of-us kind of thing.

Too bad. Because it was good.

So here's the weekly update:

{06}{07}
What an interesting day this turned out to be. I was still sick from my joint colds, had to miss my soccer game, my dad tried to fix my car up the best he could, and Jen's first baby shower was that afternoon. While I absolutely love that girl, I couldn't wait to go pick up a 79 cent coke and go home!

Jen got soooo much cute stuff for Zoey. That kid is going to be the trendiest Deyling/Aubrey ever. And Cindy and Heather as hosts made for a fabulous tea party that was the perfect blend of girly and normal- just the kind I like!



{06}{08}
Jenna finished her last week of school over the weekend. Hurray for her! Over the past few days I've found her reading for pure pleasure; she stole The Atonement Child from my bookcase a few nights ago. So good to see her reading good ol' regular fiction instead of her various psychological theory textbooks.


{06}{09}

So technically this picture of the day should be of Josh Damigo and the house party he had at Colleen's house. However, Josh decided to sit right in front of the lamp, which made for worst photography op ever. So instead, I had Ryan model in his Spring Awakening shirt, which the OSF pointed out was like a walking advertisement for my blog. Heck yeah!


{06}{10}

Really grasping for a POTD on this day. Resorted to the baby blue golf ball that randomly appeared in our kitchen. Anyone who's been by recently lose a baby blue golf ball they'd like back?

{06}{12}

Britt, my baby sister, graduated from high school on Friday. My parents no longer have any children below college age. Apparently, she's already set up with classes at Cuyamaca in the fall, but has no ideas yet what she wants to be when she grows up. In other news, Friday night is the night the OSF met my family for the first time, and he seemed to walk from the ordeal unscathed. He's a tough one, that OSF. And even Britt was nice to him! Awww... they grow up so fast....

{06}{13}

On Saturday night, Brittany hosted the ice cream social, in which she invited guests over for her now-famous homemade ice cream. Though the crowd was small, there was much fun over Mario Party, Veronica Mars episodes, and photography-for-Liz's-wedding discussions. Strawberry was the clear winner of the night, although I had the chocolate chip the following day, and that was pretty amazing too. Go roommate, in your new kitchen endeavors!

{06}{14}

Sunday was Gwen's family/older friends birthday party, and while she seemed a bit overwhelmed being the center of attention by so many people, by the time most of the group had left she was gung ho about going outside to take special ninth birthday pictures. Of course, she wanted to grab her latest favorite toys, Webkinz, which are basically nano pets for the next generation. They come as real stuffed animals, but you virtually interact with them online. With the addition of Jack, the turtle Justin G. brought with him, she now has three of these things, and she just loved setting up pictures with them too. Once I go through some more, I'll be able to post a special Gwen grid of the ninth birthday photo shoot.