marissa's big weekend!

so then Friday we went to lunch at the pastrami place - I would call it Mile End but that one is the Brooklyn one- this one is the Portland one---LOL - and now I remember it is Kenny & Zuke's (what kind of name is Zuke????)

the sandwiches were good but hey - it was no Schwartz's from Montreal...

then we went to S&S house to pick up Grandma Sue and bring her to the hotel for some rest (she got in at 2AM last night!) and later everyone came to the NINES for the casual dinner - sushi, chicken wings, and good finger food- followed by wine time at S&S house - including Marissa's birth year wine- a 2000 Bordeaux!

so here are a few photos to get us started - of the NINES (as in "dressed to the") - the location used to be a department store - actually still is - just a shrunken version now with a hotel on the top floors. Lobby level eight.

first two from Kenny & Zuke's where they had my favorite (available in N. America) ginger beer!

then the NINES - where these ladies obviously were not dressed to...

then off to S&S's - where the wine was a special pour for Marissa's Bat Mitzvah and a photo of a painting by her brother Jack! along with a very very very cute dog that calls Marissa "mom" - LOL - her name is also Lucy (just like my little cat- frequent star of blog photos! LOL)

then the next day was the big day! Marissa's Torah portion went very well and the service set a new record in length of time it takes to get through the thing- Catholics have nothing on the Jews (being Presbyterian- sort of- I can't understand how it takes more than 40 minutes to get through a "service"... so the more than three hours - and we didn't even get there for the start - seemed interminable to me!)

 

 

the kiddish luncheon was super! - worth the wait for the mac and cheese and some really super salads along with tables of cookies that we managed to down a huge selection from.... then time off for a few hours until the party begins!

 

the party started with an incredible sushi buffet and lots of good passed appetizers and then we went into dinner... the kids had kid style food and spent their time socializing and readying themselves for dancing. We watched a fun slide show of Marissa's long (LOL) life from birth to 13!  And then dinner for the adults was served course by course....

 

 

the party went until the appointed hour but I did not- as I was attempting to stay on eastern time as much as possible.  However- we did have time to stop by the photo booth to have our photos taken to add to Marissa's scrap book from the big evening- all in good fun -

 



the next morning everyone joined for brunch in the lobby eatery - a farm to table place with really good food...

 

 

 

 

then later again headed back to S&S's to wind down the big weekend- and eat left overs all afternoon... along with the famous Voo-Doo donuts (which I wasn't all that thrilled with considering the wait was a mere 45 minutes - although the bacon maple one was unusual) - then back to the hotel at a reasonable hour because we had a 6 AM flight out on Monday morning - it takes all day to get back to Florida - so we weren't home until nearly 6:30 PM!

my cousin Michele had been our cat sitter so the girls weren't eve n cranky when we got home- but they did have some trophy geckos to show us! LOL - little killers!

so next up-  some ball games, closing on the condo, a great wine event, two good plays - actually one GREAT one- some visits from friends and then we head into April... better late then never!

march madness

and not the basketball kind either.... so as you can see from dates on the listing of my blog posts, March completely got away from me -

so I will try to go back and cover some of the really great reasons you haven't heard from me-

First- there was the trip to Portland for Marissa's Bat Mitzvah
then we came home (FL) and went to Kissimee for a Cards game (Braves)
then we did the walk through on the condo we bought
then we closed on the condo
then we did the Wine Walk to Ca d'Zan (a fab fun event we had no time for but did anyway and it turned out to be a superb evening)
then we moved (after buying beds and do a whole LOT of cleaning)
then we had visits from Lew & Ellie and Chuck & Georgia to celebrate the new home
then we went to two plays - one of which was one of the best plays I have EVER seen
then we had new closet treatments installed so we could complete our move of clothing from the rental to the new place
then we had the electrician, the plumber and the HVAC folks in after visits from ADT and the cable company
and we went to the recycling center with cardboard from shipping boxes numerous times
then we went to another Cardinals game in Ft Myers (Twins)
then we figured out what to take back to Chicago and what to leave for future visits
and finally we drove 1200 miles and spent one night in a hotel with Penny and Lucy-

LOL

so you can see why things got away from me in March... I promise full reports over the next couple of days and get us caught up- before we leave town and the country...LOL

a few photos to hold you over-

on we go....

life gets busy

LOL and so the blog gets neglected....

let's see - since the last post - when we were at the Cortez Village Festival - I completed my photo books for both New Zealand and Sydney this was quite time consuming hence the failure to get much else done. 

We had lunch with Al & Carol before they left for their six week cruise around South America... tried Dry Dock- food was good but the place was jammed - had to park way out on Gulf Drive -  would go back but not in season- Carol and I had the grouper tacos and Phil and Al had the lobster rolls...

Next my cousin Michele came for the weekend- and we did nothing- LOL- seriously we just hung out - went to lunch, went to dinner, got up the next day and repeated the same routine... hit the regulars (Moore's, Waterfront, Baci, Linger Lodge) - she found a new favorite drink along the way--- and we had a really nice bottle of burg at Cafe Baci-

Penny waited for Michele to arrive by blending in with the big cats on the bed covers in the guest room - LOL

and Lucy waited for Michele by drinking from the large bowl in the back yard- LOL

Penny looks on skeptically-  LOL

 

After Michele left we went up to Tampa to spend the night with CBGB- the boys went to a brown bag wine tasting and dinner and GA and I had dinner at home and discussed next year's travel plans- the four of us are going to do a barge cruise in France.  Wine - cheese - chef prepared food - and a small  bit of touring on the side - what's not to love. 

We met our Hawaiian friends Jan, Hiram& Adele and Doug & Debbie on the last barge trip we took for Phil's 50th--- and ahem, next year is our 60th year - and CB's 65th so as time flies - seemed like a good idea to do this at least one more time... we blocked out dates in May of 2014 for the trip along with some Paris time around the cruise dates-

The next day GA and I went to our class on The Romantics at the Tampa Art Museum.  This was the fourth week and each one has been very interesting and enlightening- I guess I slept through the lectures on this in college because all of this seems new to me once you get past the poets (must have been awake for that part!)

After class Phil met me at the museum and we saw the exhibit of selections from the Phillips Collection.  Some excellent works were included in the exhibit including a number of the panels from the Jacob Lawrence "immigration" series... and three baseball themed paintings I wish I could have photographed to include here-

our stickers from admission-

 

above Marjorie Phillips' Night Baseball and below a selection of thumbnails from the show-

 

We headed home to Pelican Point and Phil started to pack for his week in Chicago. But before he left we had gotten tickets to see the very last production of the Manatee Players in their old theater.  Their March production will be presented in their new space at the Performing Arts Center.  The last production in the old playhouse was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...

We had never been to the old location and so we were happy we got to go while it was still held in the traditional venue.  But the musical seriously did not hold up, and by the intermission we both had enough of the not-so-funny broad farce, and we left. 

Yesterday Phil left for Chicago and I have been organizing things for the closing on the condo (flood insurance- yes or no? mitigation report on the roof scheduling? etc etc...) Michele is coming up to house/cat sit and accept deliveries - LOL... the good news is everything ordered for the condo is coming ahead of schedule - the bad news is - I wont' be here.  Michele has graciously agreed to spend some time here next week while I am away at Marissa's Bat Mitzvah.

So it may actually be a while before I post again because we get back late on the 11th and then between the 12th and the 31st we have two plays, a big wine event at the Ringling, two baseball games, the walk through - the closing - the moving - the cable install - the alarm install and some furniture delivery- -- -- -- oh and yes, Lew & Ellie are coming for dinner...LOL

so coming up- for those who do better with visuals-

 

will keep you posted of course-