Party Like It's 1999

Although I look like I'm 16, this year marked my 10th year of being a Westlake High School graduate. I can't believe it either. The reunion was being held at a bar in Cleveland the Saturday after Thanksgiving so I couldn't find an excuse not to go. And, of course, I dragged Kye along.

The night went by pretty quickly ... the venue was not ideal given that we were stuck in a dark basement with a loud DJ, hindering much of any conversation ... but it was good to see some familiar faces, meet new "other halves" and reacquaint ourselves with the Cleveland bar scene.

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So much for showing off my new husband ... he wasted no time hanging with the boys and spent most of the night with Rocky's husband, Tom, and Lesia's husband, Aaron. Aren't they cute?!?!

Here we are with the usual culprits, Rocky and Tom ...

Introduce Lesia and Amy ...

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Add in some faces I haven't seen in years: Nicole, Vanessa, Brad and Bo ...

And now the after party with Katie, Scott, Lesia and a few others.

I'm certainly not as young as I used to be ... after a night of "partying like it's 1999" I found out that I certainly don't recover like it's 1999 anymore. Nonetheless, I'm glad we went!

Turkey Day with the Mulhausen's!

To pick up where I left off on our vacation in Cleveland ... here is one of my favorite pictures. When Kyle first came to Cleveland to meet my parents, we dragged him to an Indian restaurant. Being very "steak and potatoes" and never having eaten Indian food, he was not too excited. Not to mention, he was under the weather. Well ... fast forward 7 years and he is officially part of the family and not only loves eating Indian food, he even cooks it at home! Here we are at Cafe Tandoor, coming full circle.

My Aunt Hedy joined us for Thanksgiving. Jeff and Kathy stayed in Austin, Texas (given that the baby is on his way in one month) and celebrated with our cousins. Jason stayed in Columbus with friends. Now that all the Mulhausen's are accounted for ... here are a few pictures of the festivities.

I hope you're all sitting down ... here is a real picture of my father cooking! I think that's the second time I've seen this in my 29 years. Don't get too excited, though, he made breakfast for himself only, I had to take over to feed the rest of us. Guess we can't ask for too much!

So much to be thankful for ... a loving family, an amazing husband, a healthy nephew on the way, a good job, a beautiful house, two awesome sister-in-laws ... the list goes on and on ...

Since we'll be with Kyle's family for Christmas, we decided to have Christmas in November in Westlake. We were so spoiled, we needed to check an extra bag and my Mom will still need to send a package of stuff. It's so hard being so loved. :)

We were treated to a little snow while "up North" ... just enough to be pretty. I'm really a Northerner when I've only lived in Arkansas for one year and already miss snow! Never thought that would happen.

Here's Kyle's new best friend, Sandy. My husband's practicing for the new puppy he's going to get me for Christmas ... hint, hint.

We hung out with my Uncle Mike at Dave and Buster's ...

And spent some quality time with my best friend's Lisa and Rocky ...

Thanks to my Mom and Dad for an absolutely WONDERFUL holiday week! Can't wait to do it again next year. :)

Cleveland Rocks!

We arrived in Cleveland late on Friday, prior to Thanksgiving. We were pretty adamant about having an open schedule with lots of time to relax, but there are always a few "must do's" on the list.

The first was going out to breakfast to visit our favorite waitress, Norma. Now, Norma is not just any waitress ... she's like part of the family. My grandfather started going to breakfast at this restaurant back in 1968! The family has been going there ever since ... and Norma is on her 46th year of working there. Outstanding. Always nice to see her and pay homage to George.

We caught a Cav's game over the weekend too. We were definitely in the cheap seats ... seriously, we were in the very last row, cement wall at our backs.

The best view we had of LeBron was on the jumbo-tron!

But as long as you have good company, good beer and LeBron putting on a show, all is well. Unfortunately, Shaq didn't play (gotta give the old man a few games off) but we had a great time!

The best part of the night was watching the spotlight guy do Tae Bo during the game ... he was literally doing push ups and boxing throughout the game to get his workout in while on the job. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I couldn't get the video to upload.

Mixed in with all the fun was a little bit of work around the house. It's the least we could do for my Mom and Dad since we are rarely home, and they really take good care of us whenever we visit.

Here we are doing some yard work. (Kyle re-raked all the spots that I did. Again, my half-ass approach is not up to his standards ... what's wrong with a few leaves still scattered on the lawn? I think it's pretty!)

Here's my Mom with a Ghostbuster pack on ... aka, leaf blower.

And, here is the most amazing feat of all. After living in our house in Westlake for 20 years, my parents are finally able to get a car in the garage ... thanks to my amazing husband! He went out to buy some heavy duty racking from Costco, piled the "junk" neatly on the shelves, and even shaved off the step to get two racks to fit along the back wall. Unbelievable. My poor Mom will no longer have to clean the snow off of her car to get to work.

Thank you to my mother-in-law for bestowing OCD-like organization on her son ... Kyle keeps our garage spotless and even organizes my junk drawer. I mean, not many girls can lay around on a Saturday morning and watch movies while her husband organizes the pantry, right? I'm one lucky girl!