That was the weekend that was
A lot of stuff happened this last weekend, although it was pretty laid back. That's a nice mix of things for sure.
Thursday night
Gene's post-birthday BBQ dinner fun time
On Thursday night (hey I know that's technically not the weekend, but whatever) my good friend Gene was in town. A group of us went to Smoque for some delicious BBQ. I don't go there often, but when I do I almost always get the dry-rub pork ribs. This time, I tried something different, going with the brisket. It was delicious... but next time I am going back to the ribs. I love ribs. They love me. I'll never leave you again, ribs.
(Good) Friday
On Friday, I got in work a little early for me (about 6:30am instead of 7am) so I could take the 320pm train home. I had important business... it was time to conduct some spring cleaning on car, Manny the Tranny.
Manny the Tranny getting her exterior and interior all cleaned up!
I've had my lovely Buick for just over three years, and until last the last four months she's been street parked. Accordingly, she's got various chips and dents in front and back bumpers, as well as a couple of scrapes on the sides from sloppy parking by other random people. We had so much snow for such a long period of time, the interior of my car was covered in a ton of salt deposits - the black floor mats were completely white in some places.
So I took Manny in for a quick cleaning; it wasn't a full detail but they did a nice job on the exterior and interior in about 15 minutes. Manny's looking great. For being three years old, she's only got about 40,000 miles on her although her brake pads are almost completely worn through. I may have hit a pot hole a few weeks ago, there's a slight noise from the back end when I brake so she'll have to go in for a check up in the near future.
Friday night I had some friends over for dinner and grilled up some marinated lemon pepper chicken, turkey sausage with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, asparagus, as well as having a full wine and cheese spread. It was fun to have people over now that we have a good space for it. John went to an Aunt's 70th (80th?) birthday party and got back home around 9pm; the group of us went to join some other friends at the local bar for a night cap.
Saturday (what a day!)
On Saturday, John got up extremely early to drive a couple hours out to Dixon, Illinois. His family was doing a bunch of stuff for the Easter weekend. I stayed home because I was waiting for various things...
Now I'm cooking with gas
John and I grill out all the time; even in winter we'll grill out at least once a week. It's the only way to have a steak, you know. So, since the snow has (finally) melted and we have a large back deck now... I decided it was time to replace my old grill. We decided to go with "more grilling room" vs "higher quality" [i.e. more expensive]. Oh, it's so pretty. I heart it already.
I even ordered the right-sized grill cover. Whew. I usually mess up the finer details.
Saturday afternoon, after a wait eons in the making (i.e. about 14 weeks), I finally got the couch I ordered on January 1.
This is the first couch I have ever bought in my entire life.
(I usually just get discards from my friends because I've been a cheap bastard about stuff like this)
To make a long story short... I had been looking at couches for some time. After a lot of searching at various stores, this is the couch John and I liked the most. We picked our fabric and ordered in on January 1. They warned us that there was a back log with the manufacturer and it would be 8-10 weeks. After 8 weeks I called and they said they "hoped" it would be in by week 10. After week 10 passed, I called them once or twice a week. And got progressively and progressively more abrasive. At the end of the day, they gave me a quote of 8-10 weeks because no one will wait longer than that for a sofa. And it took 14 weeks for it to arrive. Needless to say, I paid significantly less for the sofa than the original agreed upon bargain. They didn't argue, because seriously, it is ridiculous to wait 14 weeks for just about any sofa.
Thankfully, I liked the way it looked once it arrived Saturday afternoon. John and I had joked that after so long, we could barely remember what it looked like. We were also somewhat worried it would arrive and we'd be like "Eh... we should have gone with the other sofa."
Once it was all set up, I was like "wow, it looks really nice." We still need to get an ottoman or an end table... plus a new rug. But I really like it, which is a relief.
John got back from Dixon around 4:30pm, and we broke out the grill Saturday night with some ribeyes and porterhouses.
Breaking in the new grill!
We had a few friends come over and just chilled out. We cleared everyone out around 10pm, John went to bed, and I purposefully conked out on the new couch. It was sooooo nice.
Edit: Oh, the last thing about Saturday... John started the process of buying a new car. I hope all the paperwork gets resolved and he can pick it up next Saturday. Mostly likely going to be a fully loaded Ford Escape with AWD. WHOOO!
Sunday (fun day!)
So on Sunday morning, John and I got dressed up and took a two hour drive out to Walnut, Illinois for Sunday Easter Brunch with his family.
Two sets of family photos, as John's parent's are divorced
So it is always interesting to hang out with John's extended family. While his sister Sarah's family knows, with everyone else it's still a "don't ask don't tell" sort of thing. I know for a fact our relationship isn't really a big issue for anyone in John's family (except possibly his Dad, but just a little bit there if at all), but everyone is respecting John's privacy about it. So I go to these events, I have a great time, and I have to work really really really hard not to overtly "out" him but at the same time not misrepresenting anything which I refuse to do. Considering how extroverted I am, this has been a consistently hilarious mental process in my head.
Brunch was great. The weather was warm, the food was good, it was nice to catch up with John's family... definitely a nice way to spend Easter.
The other nice thing about Sunday was stopping by Sarah's house after the family Easter Brunch. Sarah has a lovely young Black Lab/German Shepard mix named Harper. She's about 2 years old now and super sweet.
Harper playing around.
Once Harper got her chew toy, she wasn't so interested in hanging with me anymore. Hahah!
Although she's a little bigger, Harper looks a lot like Boomer the Wonder Dog in the face. It reminded me how much I miss having Boomer around. I suspect by next year I'll be ready for another dog, but time will tell.
John and I got home late Saturday afternoon. I made dinner and John caught up on Game of Thrones (he is binge watching to catch up to the current season; I have read the books so watching the show casually doesn't bother me at all). For all the stuff that was going on, we had a nice relaxing weekend.
Thursday night
Gene's post-birthday BBQ dinner fun time
On Thursday night (hey I know that's technically not the weekend, but whatever) my good friend Gene was in town. A group of us went to Smoque for some delicious BBQ. I don't go there often, but when I do I almost always get the dry-rub pork ribs. This time, I tried something different, going with the brisket. It was delicious... but next time I am going back to the ribs. I love ribs. They love me. I'll never leave you again, ribs.
(Good) Friday
On Friday, I got in work a little early for me (about 6:30am instead of 7am) so I could take the 320pm train home. I had important business... it was time to conduct some spring cleaning on car, Manny the Tranny.
Manny the Tranny getting her exterior and interior all cleaned up!
I've had my lovely Buick for just over three years, and until last the last four months she's been street parked. Accordingly, she's got various chips and dents in front and back bumpers, as well as a couple of scrapes on the sides from sloppy parking by other random people. We had so much snow for such a long period of time, the interior of my car was covered in a ton of salt deposits - the black floor mats were completely white in some places.
So I took Manny in for a quick cleaning; it wasn't a full detail but they did a nice job on the exterior and interior in about 15 minutes. Manny's looking great. For being three years old, she's only got about 40,000 miles on her although her brake pads are almost completely worn through. I may have hit a pot hole a few weeks ago, there's a slight noise from the back end when I brake so she'll have to go in for a check up in the near future.
Friday night I had some friends over for dinner and grilled up some marinated lemon pepper chicken, turkey sausage with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, asparagus, as well as having a full wine and cheese spread. It was fun to have people over now that we have a good space for it. John went to an Aunt's 70th (80th?) birthday party and got back home around 9pm; the group of us went to join some other friends at the local bar for a night cap.
Saturday (what a day!)
On Saturday, John got up extremely early to drive a couple hours out to Dixon, Illinois. His family was doing a bunch of stuff for the Easter weekend. I stayed home because I was waiting for various things...
Now I'm cooking with gas
John and I grill out all the time; even in winter we'll grill out at least once a week. It's the only way to have a steak, you know. So, since the snow has (finally) melted and we have a large back deck now... I decided it was time to replace my old grill. We decided to go with "more grilling room" vs "higher quality" [i.e. more expensive]. Oh, it's so pretty. I heart it already.
I even ordered the right-sized grill cover. Whew. I usually mess up the finer details.
Saturday afternoon, after a wait eons in the making (i.e. about 14 weeks), I finally got the couch I ordered on January 1.
This is the first couch I have ever bought in my entire life.
(I usually just get discards from my friends because I've been a cheap bastard about stuff like this)
To make a long story short... I had been looking at couches for some time. After a lot of searching at various stores, this is the couch John and I liked the most. We picked our fabric and ordered in on January 1. They warned us that there was a back log with the manufacturer and it would be 8-10 weeks. After 8 weeks I called and they said they "hoped" it would be in by week 10. After week 10 passed, I called them once or twice a week. And got progressively and progressively more abrasive. At the end of the day, they gave me a quote of 8-10 weeks because no one will wait longer than that for a sofa. And it took 14 weeks for it to arrive. Needless to say, I paid significantly less for the sofa than the original agreed upon bargain. They didn't argue, because seriously, it is ridiculous to wait 14 weeks for just about any sofa.
Thankfully, I liked the way it looked once it arrived Saturday afternoon. John and I had joked that after so long, we could barely remember what it looked like. We were also somewhat worried it would arrive and we'd be like "Eh... we should have gone with the other sofa."
Once it was all set up, I was like "wow, it looks really nice." We still need to get an ottoman or an end table... plus a new rug. But I really like it, which is a relief.
John got back from Dixon around 4:30pm, and we broke out the grill Saturday night with some ribeyes and porterhouses.
Breaking in the new grill!
We had a few friends come over and just chilled out. We cleared everyone out around 10pm, John went to bed, and I purposefully conked out on the new couch. It was sooooo nice.
Edit: Oh, the last thing about Saturday... John started the process of buying a new car. I hope all the paperwork gets resolved and he can pick it up next Saturday. Mostly likely going to be a fully loaded Ford Escape with AWD. WHOOO!
Sunday (fun day!)
So on Sunday morning, John and I got dressed up and took a two hour drive out to Walnut, Illinois for Sunday Easter Brunch with his family.
Two sets of family photos, as John's parent's are divorced
So it is always interesting to hang out with John's extended family. While his sister Sarah's family knows, with everyone else it's still a "don't ask don't tell" sort of thing. I know for a fact our relationship isn't really a big issue for anyone in John's family (except possibly his Dad, but just a little bit there if at all), but everyone is respecting John's privacy about it. So I go to these events, I have a great time, and I have to work really really really hard not to overtly "out" him but at the same time not misrepresenting anything which I refuse to do. Considering how extroverted I am, this has been a consistently hilarious mental process in my head.
Brunch was great. The weather was warm, the food was good, it was nice to catch up with John's family... definitely a nice way to spend Easter.
The other nice thing about Sunday was stopping by Sarah's house after the family Easter Brunch. Sarah has a lovely young Black Lab/German Shepard mix named Harper. She's about 2 years old now and super sweet.
Harper playing around.
Click to viewOnce Harper got her chew toy, she wasn't so interested in hanging with me anymore. Hahah!
Although she's a little bigger, Harper looks a lot like Boomer the Wonder Dog in the face. It reminded me how much I miss having Boomer around. I suspect by next year I'll be ready for another dog, but time will tell.
John and I got home late Saturday afternoon. I made dinner and John caught up on Game of Thrones (he is binge watching to catch up to the current season; I have read the books so watching the show casually doesn't bother me at all). For all the stuff that was going on, we had a nice relaxing weekend.