How I spent my weekend

Sadly, I didn't get pictures of everything fun from my weekend. The reason for this is twofold: 1) There was way too much fun this weekend to capture it all. 2) I don't have a "real" digital camera, and the one on my phone can only capture so much.

But regardless, a good time was had by all - even the people I don't know. Here's a not-so-brief synopsis:

Friday night I shopped for groceries and cleaned la casa de Maggie. Exciting, huh?

But I was up and out the door early to hit the gym before the festivities of Saturday began. I did an hour of Salsa/Funk and then hit the showers to clean up and primp before heading to Matt & Becky's. Along the way, I passed this and thought of Mike:

I did not stop. There is a law against eating White Castle without the Tucson Contingent. Instead, I stopped at Panera for tuna salad sammies. And pickles.

Had a great visit with Matt and Becky, but let's face it: the real reason for my visit was an itty-bitty girl who seemed delighted to see "Mahkee!" A visit with a tiny person has a few requirements: 1) the auntie must ooh and ahh over all the toys. 2) By "all the toys" I mean "all the toys." The girl kept bringing them to me. I'm pretty sure she's still unpacking the toybox. 3) I can build towers higher than Matt can before Alice knocks them over. 4) Many things go on the auntie's head. 5) Baby hugs are the best.

Becky and Matt took lots of pictures (which I'm sure will be included in an upcoming blog update, right, Bex? This is a not-so-veiled hint.) but here's an Alice smile to tide you over.

After our visit, I headed down to my dad's house to visit and do laundry. Two birds, one stone, no pictures.

So, post-laundry, I was off to my last stop on my Tour du Suburbia: Patrick's mom & dad's 50th anniversary shindig. Good food, good friends, good music, and little people. Who could ask for anything more? Well, you could ask for pictures. Too bad; I have none.

Then it was off to Lake Geneva for Venetian Fest and Hello Dave! It was awesome to hear "Biminy" and "Golden" live again. The bands sounds as great now as they did 11 years ago. Amber, Michelle and I (and our special guest Kelly) danced and enjoyed the music, and Nemo and Lana stopped by for a bit but disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Dude, where'dja go?

Either way, the main attraction was Hello Dave.

Serious big fun - great music, cold beer, good friends, warm and clear night. BTW, the big black box on the left side of the photo is their speaker set-up, and also the reason why Amber, Michelle and I are still regaining hearing in our left ears.

On Sunday, Amber and I got up and headed into downtown for coffee. Mmm, tasty beverage of life. Because she makes friends easily, Amber can be seen above sharing her sunglasses with one of the decorative horses found throughout the town. Then we walked around at the craft fair and stopped at Harry's (where the services is beyond fabulous) for a little nosh. Then it was back to the pool to catch some sun before heading back to Venetian Fest for fair food and fireworks.

There was a whole lot of activity and even more fun over the 48 hours I like to call "weekend." I wasn't quite ready to come home yet, but duty calls ... until Friday.