Root Beer

I have forgotten how fun it is to drink root beer, particularly IBC Root Beer from a brown glass bottle.  This is a sure sign of growing old.  Thank God I have younger sisters to help me defeat the onset of old age.  

You see, this weekend after chopping up a downed tree at my parents house and then subsequently stacking it at our house for use this winter, we decided to hit up The Heartbreak for a late supper.  I have dined here twice and both times came away completely impressed with the culinary skill of their chef.  My dad and I ordered the beef filet with blue cheese butter and garlic mashed potatoes, Justin of course had chicken parm, my mom enjoyed Shrimp Scampi, Becca had spaghetti and meatballs, and the twins ordered personal size pizzas.  However the star of the evening was the IBC Root Beer.  The kids were so excited to appear to be drinking an adult beverage with dinner that they even asked our waiter if they could keep the bottles.  Too cute.

What are some simple things in life that you remember enjoying as a child?

Vapor

Last Friday night we went to Vapor with friends.  Dunkin Donuts croissanwiches, lemon drops and white russians make for a bit of a belly ache but fortunately staved off a hangover.  I don't know why I don't order white russians more often.  They are like alcoholic chocolate milk on steroids.  I was also enjoying my lemon drops until one round came made with salt. Epic fail.

At any rate, we were quite enjoying ourselves despite the sodium shocker. So much so that references from The Ringer and toasts ending in "f*&%# Megan" ensued.  Megan was one of the evening's giveaway winners who was unfortunate enough to win a men's watch as opposed to the $10k grand prize engagement ring.  I won a t-shirt, which btw was large enough to join my nightshirt collection.  Hey, at least its soft.

Our evening was not without another "white pants" ensemble, although this time the pants were worn by an adorable Asian-American gentleman whom we decided to adopt along with an older black man who was a fun time, Hip-Hop Grandma, and Thing 1 and Thing 2 (gender unknown but great dancers).However I am leaving out the star of the show: Dolly Parton's twin sister who was rocking 4 inch periwinkle stilettos which perfectly matched her cocktail dress and large feather earrings. They accented her double-d frame well.

It's at this point in the evening that I decide to start writing things down on a napkin so that all the fun from the evening is not forgotten and can be shared on the blog. See how I think of you? Well it was a good idea but proof why I don't actually order white russians more often...they go down too smooth and make fodder for songs like Katie Perry's "Last Friday Night".

Well Hello Irene

Sunday we were hit pretty hard by hurricane Irene.  I can most definitely say I was surprised.  We're pretty far inland in upstate NY and somehow she still managed to wreak havoc.  The wind and rain started pretty early in the morning and continued right through until we went to bed.  This made for an interesting day to say the least: 

Rain, when coming down inches at a time, can fill an entire basement with 8-10inches of water in less than an hour.  Note that said basement was already equipped with a sump pump capable of 3150 gallons per hour.  Needless to say we had to purchase a second sump pump just to keep up.

Generators, for whatever reason, are hard to come by when you need them.  We had to travel forty minutes in the storm to purchase a generator to keep our sump pump running when the power went out.

Flash floods are a freak of nature.  They can make a previously tame road a raging river in a matter of minutes.  Our post office learned how to stand its ground in one such flash flood.

And lastly, dachshunds do not like rain even when donning a stylish red raincoat.

I find it so bizarre that yesterday could be so God awful and yet today it's absolutely beautiful out (aside from the residual water puddles and rushing rivers/streams, of course). I was able to successfully make it into work today, however my husband could not.  Travel going east and southbound in NYS was near impossible with many road closures due to flooding and downed trees and power lines.  Word on the street is the main routes he'd need to take may still be closed through 6pm tomorrow!  I guess I'll just have to leave him a nice long honey-do list to keep him busy.  He's already mopped the floors for me today... I could really get used to this.

Anwho, how did you fare through Irene?  I hope you all manage to stay safe and dry!