Monday, February 25, 2008

Aim turns 27

Sunday night I took Aim out for a nice Birthday dinner, just the two of us.
Since it was her pick we hit up J. Alexanders. We both love this place so it was win win. We thought it would be packed but.... It was just us and two other tables in the place. So we received the treatment- Saweet!




Filet Mignon, baked taters and broccoli, Nice!



After dinner we went to Webster Wine Bar. A little spot of the beaten path that Aim loves.



It was a very nice night out just the two of us

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Birthday Girls

Saturday we hit up an early di-din at Pepe's mexican restaraunt for the Momma and the fiance's birthdays-


Chicken Chimichanga, Muey Bien!

Cooper was chillin while Jerr read the menu-

Popps: got a new car, new shirt and not sportin the fake picture smile- Nice!

Maybe her wish already came true with all these handsome dudes

The Birthday song makes yet another public appearance
(look at their smiles, they look like little kids)



Luigi received a gift from Gavin. Lou wanted us to put this on the blog to show Gav that he even did the flip up trick with it-


Ranks for the rone Ravin rit rwas Rummy!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

St. Valentines Date

This is the card I gave Aim for Valentines day-

Luigi got a Valentine surprise too-

Aim and I headed to Joe's Stone Crab and Sea food for dinner. We love this place, We had our engagment party their the night I popped the question. They always give you great food and service

Surf and Turf.. Filet mignon and lobster tails--

We became the same side of the booth couple...Only for the picture-

After dinner Aim and I went and saw the movie Definitley, Maybe. Aim and I both agreed that we maybe definitley should have seen a different flick. The movie was long and slow. The story follows a Dad and his story of love and loss told to his 10 year old daughter. There were some funny parts though. I thought it would have been a great rental that would have been nice to doze off to.

Happy protest of Claudius II day



In case any one cared i looked up the History of Saint Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.


Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.


The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

Were not keepin it a secret- 7 months encounting

Monday, February 11, 2008

THE BIKE SHOW

Sunday I went to the Chicago Motorcycle show with my parents- The show is pretty sweet it has all different types of manufacturers and styles of bikes. Since Popps is a biker and I love to ride as well, it was good time-

Since it was 1 degrees and we had to park so far away from the show there was a shuttle that picked us up and took us there. Hey Dad I'll take a #2 supersized with a diet please-


Since I am a big fan of them we took this next to the Ducati camp but we couldn't get the logo in the pic- (Ducati is an Italian bike maker)

This time we got a better shot and Dad gives the thumbs down to bust my chops- Since "these bikes suck"

The local boys got a stab at the competition too.


This bike was in the contest for best in show

According to Popps this is a shot in front of "the Best bike maker in the world" Thumbs up for this one

Does this really need a caption?




After the show we hit up Gene's and Jude's (a popular hot dog joint)in Franklin Park- I used to go there all the time when I valet parked for the Rosemont theatre in college- This place is the best and they don't even offer Ketchup(sorry Aim and Daryl)

A dog and fries $1.89

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Jerri's surprise 40th

Saturday night Aim and I headed out to Lombard for Jerri's surprise Birthday party at Bucca Di Beppo. Daryl had this planned for a while, and it was a blast. 16 family members and friends showed up-- She was really surprised when they showed!

Daryl booked The "POPE" room and this was the table's center piece. Little creepy-

The Illinois family (sans kids) came tonight to celebrate




As always there was a ton of food to mangia


Daryl reads a clever poem to the group about Jerri... Great minds think alike-

The Birthday song has been brought public!

Group shot-

Jerri's friends Ruth, Katie, and Bonnie with their significant others came too. Nice spread, lots of laughs thanks to Popps and Uncle Bob we had a great time... Happy Birthday Jerr-- Good Job Daryl!... Cool shirt too-

Sunday, February 3, 2008

BIG win

Aim and I weren't really sure what we were doin for the Super-Bowl even at 4:45pm. (I was fine with chillin on the couch, but that really is boring) So we decided to walk up to Moonshine... A short walk to see friendly faces as always. When we got there, Johnny the owner, said that there were still some squares left for the "pool". So we payed $20.00 for 2 squares and sat and ate and had a great time. Just her and I..(again she is a sports fan so I am lucky, she was up for it)



Aim and I are Bears fans lets be honest...Which means we were used to routin for the underdogs! We really were'nt even payin attention to the squares.. We were exctied that the Giants may win.. End of the game, Johnny brings the board to the table... He says
"You won with the the last numbers!" $400.00 Aim and I had a nice laugh on that cause we were thinkin about stayin home! It was a nice surprise and they let us keep the board too!

She is my good luck charm-CHA-CHING!