Little 500 2010!

I was beyond excited when I found out that all the former 6121 residents were all going to be to make it back to Bloomington for a Little 500 reunion this year! Finally after weeks of anticipation and randoms squeals of joy, the weekend finally got here!

This year I wished for warm weather as the last time I went to Little 5 I'm fairly certain it was counted as one of the coldest Little 5's in history (brrrrrr). My wish was granted, although I should have specified I also wanted dry weather as it rained most of the weekend (especially during the largest chunk of time when we were outside...c'est la vie)!

We didn't let this dampen our spirits and started the weekend off right with a stop at Yogi's for some much needed grub! This is where I learned that Seth (Kathy's bf) and I share the same aversion to spicy food! We watched him painfully, but happily eat the spicy wings he'd ordered for lunch (ironically Jon and Kathy share the same love/appreciation for it)! Kathy and I had sandwiches, while Jon got something called the "G.M.O. Hoagie" (aka Gobble, Moo, Oink Hoagie) which can only appropriately be described with the aid of visuals:

"G.M.O."

Linds arrived later that night and met up with us (Allison arrived at 2am, but she was there in spirit!) at Nick's where we reminisced about old times, ate some delicious pizza, and schooled the boys at "Sink the Biz"....It's good to know that even a few years without practice can't prevent our natural skills from returning strong!

Kathy, Linds, Me!

The Boys trying not to Sink the Biz

without success :)

Saturday was the men's Little 500 race (the main event) so we got up early to start off the day right with some Village Deli where I got my favorite...the gigantic chocolate chip pancake! The race was rather unique this year given the torrential downpour. Half way through when the rain got really bad there was confusion about whether the officials had called the race in favor of the Cutters who had been leading at the time (needless to say the other teams were not happy)....long story short they waited 20 mins for the rain to settle, restarted the race and the Cutters won anyways!

Gigantic Chocolate Chip Pancake - Yummm

Jon, Me, Kathy & Seth at the race

Linds, Bill & Allison!

The girls!

Jon had to stop to get a picture in front of Assembly Hall

on the way back to the hotel

At Upstairs!

Kathy's awesome shirt complete with

retractable wings :)

Allison sharing her AMF

(Lindsay looks like she does not want in on the action)

The rest of Saturday flew by and I have to say it felt like things hadn't changed after all these years; you still run in to the same characters at the bars (it helped that this is a big alumni weekend), college boys still have the same forward & cheesy pick up techniques, and you always crave Mad Mush after a long night out.

I definitely don't get to see these girls enough, but whenever we do all get together it is the best! So glad we were able to make it happen this year & that the boys were able to come. Can't wait for the next reunion!!!

Good Ole Home Cooking

I am someone who lives for the comforts of home, more specifically...home cooked meals. While a lot of my meals are consumed in some of New York's finest, if given the opportunity I would almost always choose a home cooked meal. With this notion in mind, recently I've been making a conscious effort to make food at home, if not for economic or health reasons, because at the very least I'm kind of sort of starting to get sick of ordering from the same takeout places.

What I've come to realize though is cooking for ones self is still different. There's the special something (Kathy's equated it to love & care) that goes into a meal made by someone for someone else (even if it's mac & cheese with hot dog slices) that I just can't seem to replicate for myself (& Jon...poor Jon). Thankfully, this weekend Jon and I got a reprieve from my lame attempts and went to Princeton, NJ to spend some time with his niece & parents while his sister and brother-in-law made a short getaway to the city.

In anticipation of this weekend, I had mentioned to Jon that I was very much so looking forward to the food his dad would be conjuring up. I guess I need to preface that Jon's dad loves everything kitchen related (including bag clips, which has actually come in very handy!) and is a culinary connoisseur. I'm sure if he's reading this he might be slightly disgruntled at my use of "connoisseur", but that's the best way to describe it. Little did I know that my comment to Jon would result in a game of telephone and to make a long story short, there was certainly no lack of good food for the next 24 hrs.

Chef Hank

Lotus Root & Sprout Thingy's

Chicken!

(marinated for 2 whole days!)

Shrimp w/Lobster Sauce

Milk's next spokes model?

(Got Milk?)

Jon & Ellie spending some quality time together :)

I was only disappointed that there are only 3 meals in a day (at least in the conventional way of eating), because everything tasted so good! I can't wait to come home for Memorial Day weekend for some more amazing home cooking and some bbq'ing!

Paradise is a place I've been....

For the past week Jon and I spent some quality time perfecting the art of relaxation. We traveled to a place where to get to and from the resort part of the island your only options are by helicopter or a winding hour and a half drive....We traveled to a place I'd call paradise...aka St. Lucia!

This was a much anticipated, much needed, trip away from the city that started with an early morning flight from NYC. After a brief stop over in Charlotte, we had arrived in beautiful St. Lucia! We opted to take the helicopter ride from the south side of the island to the north in order to get to our resort. This was my first time in a helicopter and it was awesome! The views of the island from the 15 min ride were unlike any other experience you can have and the occasional roller coaster pit in your stomach feeling (I thought) was just a bonus!

Jon in the helicopter

Beautiful coastline

The resort we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous. It was a small hotel with 2 pool areas and a private beach cove. Our first full day on the island was by far our best weather wise with gorgeous clear blue sky's . We spent time by the beach and the pool only breaking for lunch or to get ready for dinner (clearly the mission of this vacation was simple....relax, eat, repeat).

Plenty of fruity beach drinks were had and despite my obsessive nature with the sunscreen we managed to get some color (some brown, some red). I got to catch up on my girly novels (Everyone Worth Knowing & Eat, Pray, Love), while Jon read a book that made him crave dim sum for the rest of the trip (I'm sure those of you that know him well are shocked)!

We made a few friends throughout the week: Steve the beach crab and Herby the lizard that hangs by the pool. I think there may have been a few Herby's but I wasn't keeping track, I was on vacation! It's hard to say what else we did since in essence everything described was the extent of activity that was intended for this trip. I think the pictures are probably more descriptive of the peacefulness and relaxed nature of our vacation and tell a better story of our time than I could.

View from our balcony

First day heading to the beach!!

Catching some rays

(I think he was trying to steal my book!)

Beautiful Cap Maison

St. Lucia at night

Trying to stay dry on day 2, the rain eventually

went away and turned into...

clear sky's!

More beach time!

(Can you spot Steve?)

We went snorkeling and saw teeny tiny squid!

(I thought they were jellyfish and swam in the opposite direction)

There's one burger missing

Yummy club sandwich for lunch

St. Lucia sunset

I heart dessert

This ended up being the perfect vacation, just what we needed. From the food to the sun to the company I couldn't have asked for more!