Friends, Family, Food and the Tube!

This title perfectly describes my past weekend. A weekend that is filled with laughter, great food, great drinks and relaxation.  Oh yes. A weekend, like others, that flies by too quickly. 

My Friday night was spent alone. But only in the physical human-being context since Tony was out of town for work. Not only was I accompanied by great wine and the Olympics...

(Hello friend)

...but I ended up playing games and sharing laughs via cell phone with my oldest sister, Jen. 

Yep. 

Then, I received this picture from her:

And immediately followed was this conversation:

(There was a lot more "bubby" madness that I couldn't include in the screen shot)

 But to say we are obsessed with our dogs is an understatement... 

...or maybe we just really are that lame. Meh. No outside opinions are needed.

But needless to say, my Friday night wasn't a complete bust. Sometimes a relaxing night, with a glass of wine, catching up on your cell phone games and admitting to yourself that the only reason you stayed in wasn't by choice is exactly what you need. ...Right? 

Anyways. Saturday was a bit more social for me. My friend Ashley graduated from her nursing program and finally put her big girl pants on a got a full-time job! I'd say that calls for a celebration. (Hooray for human interaction!!)

Kiley, Ashley and Me having some friend time! :o) 

Congrats Nurse Ashley! 

Sunday was a much needed lazy day. Although Tony and I had a lot on our "to do" list for Sunday, laying on the couch, working out and eating good food sounded a lot better. When does it not? 

One may say that a good meal is made from love, but if you ask me, a good meal is made by a man! Tony is quite the chef and as for me, well, I am quite talented when it comes to doing dishes and setting the table. 

Tony preparing dinner! 

(Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana)

 What a handsome chef :o)

The finished product! 

What a delicious, healthy, AND Weight Watcher friendly meal. Chicken Rollatini = 5pts, 1 cup of cooked white rice = 5pts and cooked broccoli = 0pts. Total points = 10! 

For the completely recipe, click here!

But Jo(W)anna know what? To end a relaxing and enjoyable weekend, Tony and I, again, found ourselves glued to the couches watching the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. I have found these summer Olympics to be addicting to watch and now I am just lost as to what to watch when I turn on the TV this evening. Maybe this calls for a good new book. I'm not sure if my interest in the Olympics increased with age, or if it was due to all the hype via social media. Either way, my eyes were glued to the tube and USA dominated. I couldn't be more proud of the athletes and their great representation of our country. 

The entertainment for the closing ceremonies was, well, entertaining. Every thing from honoring John Lennon to hearing the overplayed, yet catchy song, "Wonderwall" by Oasis had me tappin my foot and singin along. However, being a Monty Python fan, I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated Eric Idles rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. And also, being a teeny bop who grew up in the 80's and 90's, I truly rocked out to the reunion of the Spice Girls. Honestly, who didn't love this group of fashionista's? But seriously... is it just me or did the Spice Girls get more attractive with age? 

True Divas. 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of fun, food, drinks, relaxation and a lot more human interaction! Happy Monday and hurry up Friday! 

OOOOOKlahoma - My trip home!

Tony and I just got back from our relaxing trip home to Oklahoma! 

True. But not true in Tony's case. 

It never fails that he belts out this song every time we touch down in Tulsa. 

It's always so nice to vacation at home. The sun is always out, the fridge is always full, the company is fun and the wine is endless! But because of it's luxuries... I am avoiding the scale for a few days. Whoops.

It is a liar... 

I'm having trouble fully comprehending that my vacation is over. Time flies when you're on vacation time. And that's the truth. I like to keep my schedule simple, relaxing, yet fun while I am at home. Since I only get to go home roughly twice a year, I like to spend the majority of my time actually at home. But I also like to get out and do different things every once in a while as well. 

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Wednesday, when I arrived, I did nothing but hang out at home with my mom, Tony and my dogs! Have I mentioned I am obsessed with my dogs?

Yep. Obsessed. 

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On Thursday, Tony and I were supposed to take a ride to visit Oklahoma University's campus, but it was so dang hot that we decided to pass on that idea. Walking around outside in the heat didn't seem too appealing. Instead, we hung out at home in the AC until my mom got home from work. 

I decided to water the flowers around the house, since Oklahoma is in a drought. While doing so, a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly graced me with its' oh so beautiful presence. 

 Look at that beaut!

 I spy two butterflies now.

I became so captivated with taking pictures of the butterflies that Tony had to finish watering the flowers for me. Haha.

 He looks handsome watering flowers too! ;o)

We then headed out to the mall to do some shopping! Shopping always sounds pleasant when it's too hot to do anything else. Meh... ok. Shopping always sounds pleasant regardless of the weather.

That's when I tried on my Miss America dress as a joke: 

However, my mom ended up loving this dress that she tried desperately to convince me to have a "Plan B"  dress in case someone spills something on me on my wedding day. A girl pays so much money for a wedding dress that hell, it better be worn the entire night; spills or no spills. So needless to say, the dress ended up staying at Dillards. 

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Friday Friday Friday! The Driller's Game! My dad's company gets free tickets to the Driller's Games so yep, we took advantage of that. And let me tell ya, we had pretty darn good seats:

So me, being camera happy and all, of course took a lot of pictures. Tony always makes fun of me for constantly having my camera on hand... But he'll thank me some day. 

 Tony and I in front of the ballpark! 

 My sister, Jen, and I enjoying the game!

 The Driller's mascot, Hornsby! 

 Tony and I! :o)

 Jen and I decided to buy Tony a blow up monkey. It was the best $5 we've ever spent.

 Me walking with Chase!

 Chase on Jen's shoulders.

There are many many more pictures of Chase the Monkey. But I thought I would spare you. 

After the game, we were so close to the Center of the Universe that we decided to just go visit it! Wait, what? The Center of the Universe? Yes. You heard me right.

The Center of the Universe is in downtown Tulsa believe it or not! You can follow a brick path that leads straight to a brick circle. When standing in the middle of this circle, you can make any sound that you like and it will echo in your ears. What's crazy is, is that no one outside the circle can hear it, no one outside the circle sounds like they are echoing to you when they talk, and there are no surfaces near enough to even produce this echo! That sh*t cray.

Me in the Center of the Universe.

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Saturday! Pool day! 

Love me some sun... except for when I don't put enough sunscreen on... womp womp. 

Yep. I got burnt. If you know me, that's no surprise. 

Maybe I wasn't using the right sunscreen? 

 Wish I would've known about Will Ferrell's Sexy Hot Tan lotion. 

Ooooh well. The pool was fun regardless. Jen, Tony and I sipped on some drinks, enjoyed each other's companies and relaxed all day! Even after a dip in the pool, we found this little guy on Tony's chair wanting to hang out with us:

 But Tony wouldn't share his seat with him.

Nope... Tony was too cool sportin my Fedora:

 (What a stud)

Then there is me... just enjoying the day! 

Doesn't get any better! :o)

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Are you guys ready for this next activity? 

On Sunday after church, my mom, Tony and I experienced our first Indian Pow Wow. Yeehaaaaw. Wait. Wrong expression. But let me tell ya... it sure was an experience!

 My mom and I! 

 A woman in front of us getting ready for the pow wow!

All of the Native Americans from different tribes parading into the pow wow.

Hold up. Pictures don't do justice...

I could have kept recording, but their dances and songs are very repetitive. 

After the pow-wow, we headed home for an early celebration of my mom's birthday! For dinner, we had buffalo steak, baked potatoes, broccoli salad and fruit. That was my first time trying buffalo steak and let me tell ya, hopefully it won't be my last. Boy was that some expensive delicious meat!! 

After dinner, we shared laughs, wine and cake as my mom opened up her gifts!

  

It's not a Larkin birthday if there isn't cake, wine and laughter!

I would say laughter is the key to maintaining youth! :o) 

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So Jo(W)anna know what? Trips to your home, or even just staycations, can sometimes be the best vacation. It shouldn't matter where you vacation, but rather who you vacation with that matters. I could have spent a whole more month at home and not get sick of my family... but unfortunately, reality calls. A dose of family is sometimes just the right medication. 

Now if only I could get back into the swing of things at work and stop being in denial that vacation is really over... 

Yep.