Vacation's Over - Retirement Resumes

The last few days of our vacation were spent TOGETHER which is the very best thing to do.  Of course, we shopped and, of course, we consumed food.

On Tuesday evening, Vicki took us to dinner.  We selected Houlihan's as it's nearby and in the past, the food and adult beverages have been good.  Key words: IN THE PAST and ADULT BEVERAGES.  Jay's scotch and water was fine - how can you mess that up, after all.  My EXTRA DRY MARTINI UP, however, was disgusting.  I asked the waitress to have the bartender remake it as I was sure he's used a flavored Stoli.  She said she had him remake it but it was still disgusting - WAY too sweet.  What does EXTRA DRY mean?  Why, I thought it meant VERY little vermouth.  In any case, we had an enjoyable, albeit sober, evening since we were all together.  Jay snapped this for us:

We passed on our morning walk today.  Vicki was due to leave at 11:35 but I got a call telling us the flight had been cancelled.  Thanks American!  Nice way to start the day, NOT.  But Vicki is so adaptable [as well as adorable], that she took it in stride and switched to the 1:35 flight.  She was very anxious to be home and wanted to start her trip so we got her to the airport several hours prior to her flight time.  I just checked her flight status and she took off at 1:44 - ahead of the horrible storms that are on the way.

So here I sit: SAD.  I wish we lived closer to each other, but have October to look forward to.

I'm not the only one who's sad.  Our front door guard frog is kind of in shock.

And our frog who lounges looks rather lethargic:

And our tree is downright disgruntled:

We had a great time together these last three weeks.  On our Grand Canyon trip, Vicki was such a terrific Co-Pilot/Navigator!  I hope I do half as good when Jay and I drive to Carmel in August.  And she's just so much fun to do things with - she's up for just about anything.  Soon we'll start planning our October vacation.  I think Rehoboth, Delaware and the Amish Country of Pennsylvania will be on the list, as well as Waterbury, Vermont [for family] and Seekonk, Massachusetts for those adorable Little People, Laura and Josh.

So that's it for this bit of Traveling.  Jay and I have a little jaunt or two planned and I may blog about them.

Ciao for now.

May 1 through 6, 2011

Believe it or not, we tried to get some rest this week.  On Monday, a rainy stormy day, My Gal Pal Val, stopped over for a Vicki Visit and coffee.  We also played Make-Up like three teenage girls! 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we just ran around - Vicki got a haircut, we had lunch at Corner Bakery one day and Banana Leaf the next - just normal stuff.

On Thursday, we picked up Val and then off to the S&P Collin County office to pick up Tami.  We had a lovely, chatty lunch at Fish Express but I failed to take a photo.  :0(   Then, we did a little more shopping - Sam Moon, etc.

Steve met us at Uncle Julio's to celebrate Vicki's birthday.  Naturally Cinco de Mayo was going on so it was quite festive.  Vicki had bought a little jewel encrusted hair thingy at Sam Moon's which she wore, adding to the festivity.

Of course, Uncle Julio's is wonderful and we ate on the patio on that glorious day.  You can see the baubles in Vicki's hair!

Jay is a fan of the Girly Drink - and had TWO pina coladas.  He's such a cork sniffer!

On Friday, we took off for McKinney to further stimulate the economy.  I was looking for a new denim skirt as my favorite one is too big [yay!] and I found one at Orison's.  I'd not been up to McKinney in several years and it's all changed.  Lots of new eateries and most of the antique malls have been replaced by less interesting shops.  But, being the frog freak that I am, I found many of these frogs around the square.  I asked one of the shop owners and she said there had been a art show and the painted frog in front of a store meant there was an artist on premises.  Since I have a guard frog at our front door, I took a few photos to think about doing the same.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep our guard frog as she is - just get her a new plant [hat] - which very well could be on the agenda for today.

Steve suggested Square Burger, so we gave it a shot.

My Border Burger

Vicki's Bleu Burger

They were HUGE and could not be eaten like your normal burger.  But that was all right with me since I don't eat grains.  I tried a nibble of the fried pickle, however, and it was very good.  It's a very interesting place with lots of different burgers on the menu, including lamb - which I might try on my next visit to McKinney.  AND, tada, they serve aioli with their sweet potato fries.  We didn't have any fries but found out about it from another shop owner.  Aioli is the only way to eat sweet potato fries!  We learned that at The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vermont.

We didn't stay in McKinney very long since the antique malls were gone, so we headed to The Shops at Legacy for a walk around.  Since it was such a beautiful day, folks were out and about and the restaurant patios were bustling.  We ventured into one or two shops but just weren't interested.  So, we walked around the lake in front of the Marriott and then headed home.

We rested for a short time and then went to Remington's to eat again!  Yes, we're eating like we had good sense, but I'm still avoiding sugar and grains and will continue to do so.

Today, Saturday, we're catching up on homey things.  Of course, by mid-afternoon we'll have had enough of this Home Stuff, so we'll head out to grocery shop!  Steaks for dinner, I think, along with a lovely bottle of Cab.