Pie in the Eye

Steaming hot peanut butter, chocolate, and whip pies

And sometimes we do things like this in Altus...

As part of an office-ish fundraiser, a good friend of ours nominated Eric to take a pie to the face. The top 8 names on the list were to be pied and before Eric knew it, his name had made it all the way to number two! What can I say? He's a popular guy. As a result, one of two things could happen. Eric could pay double the amount that was bid on him to avoid the pie in the eye OR he could step up and take it like a man.

He chose to take it like a man.

Once the list of people to be pied was established, the pies themselves were auctioned off. You could bid to pie your colleague, boss, or spouse in the face. The same friend who nominated Eric to be on the list in the first place got into a bidding war with a paralegal from Eric's office. He eventually put a pretty hefty chunk of change on a pie (with one stipulation: I was to be the one to smash the pie in Eric's face). I accepted his offer.

As I stood there, steamy pie in hand, I looked sympathetically into my husband's eyes and faced a dilemma: take it easy on him (because I certainly wouldn't want this pie in my face) or make my friend (who made a generous donation to make this all possible) proud. I also felt I owed it to the paralegal (who really wanted a chance to pie him) not to let this opportunity pass me by. I think I settled for a happy medium...I didn't crack his nose, but I got him pretty good.

Trying to appear brave.

Eric attempting to communicate telepathically, "go easy on me, will ya?"

Me letting him know I couldn't quite understand what he was saying.

 This was the result.

Once it was all over, we thanked our friend for saving us the money on couples therapy.

Berrey Bash 2K12

I won the jackpot this year and got to enjoy TWO full weeks at the beach. The first with the Hergs, and the second with my extended family at Tybee Island, Georgia. As usual, the clan made the pilgrimage from our respective homes to our peaceful spot on Tybee, which over the years, has become familiar enough to feel like a second home to most of us (thank you, Granadma, thank you, Grandma). Speaking of Grandma, this year I had the honor of being her travel companion. I drove from Altus to Fayetteville, Arkansas to pick up Granberrey and escort her to the ocean.

The night I arrived in Fayetteville, we met up with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and some friends for dinner. Aunt Carol and uncle Charlie are pig racers and work during the summers; traveling all over the country. It's been a long time since they've been able to join us in Georgia, so I was thankful to squeeze in a visit when I could. The next morning, bright and early, Grandma and I took off for the beach. We had a great trip complete with time at the end to get the party started with cocktails while we waited for our family to retrieve us from the airport. It was five o'clock somewhere.

The beach was it's normal wonderful self. Over the years, certain traditions have developed. There's the haggle for beach chairs and umbrellas conducted by uncles John and Randy, which takes place on day one. There's the filling out of Grandma's dance card, which determines which sub-clan she will dine with on any given night. There is the cocktail party/pot-luck hosted by aunt Kim & uncle John each year. All the food is always delicious and sometimes impressively gourmet...is it wrong to say that I most look forward to the frozen pizzas cut into bite-sized pieces? Then there is the last-beach-day-lunch, hosted by Grandma at Marlin Monroe's.

In between each of these events, is a week full of fun, jellyfish stings (though hardly any this year), food, sand castles, beach walks, beach naps, birthday parties, laughter, Savannah Mud, and in our case, puzzles. Many, many puzzles. My mom's BFF, Tina, and her son, Jordan, joined my mom and I in our condo this year. While Jordan played games on his computers in the evenings, my mom, Tina, and I aggressively and obsessively (no, really kind of almost unhealthy) attacked all of the puzzles in our condo. We lost sleep over this, but it certainly kept us entertained.

Every year it seems, there is at least one episode that generates a good deal of excitement. Last year it was mom's Manta War attack (we were all impressed she got back in the water this year). This year it was a pretty wild storm. We were all out on the beach, enjoying the water, waves, and lack of jellies. We were thinking about how it was almost 4:30, the time where the chair and umbrella-hustlers re-claim their goods and kick us out of our camp. We also had an eye on the sky. Some dark clouds were rolling in and apparently they were rolling in quicker than we thought. All of the sudden a crazy storm unleashed on us. The wind picked up chairs and umbrellas; throwing them out to sea. People were making every attempt to grab as much as they could and run for shelter. Most people, that is. A few of my crazy cousins stayed IN the water. They didn't want to miss a chance to catch some wicked waves on their boogie boards. The condo lost power, but not for too long. At the end of it all, everyone was safe and we took a nice walk on the beach to look for treasures left behind in the storm.

Before we knew it, the week had come to an end. Grandma and I got dropped at the airport and eventually made it home in one piece. And so begins the countdown for next year. If Grandma starts feeling hesitant about making the trip again, we will get Phi to give her some encouragement. I mean, who could say no to a face like that!

Down the Ocean

The first time the Herg family ever spent a week at Ocean Pines in Ocean City, Mia was only four months old. Now she is six and has a one year old brother, Mason. She also has a one-and-some-change year old cousin, Caitlin. The pitter-patter of little feet around the condo this year was a pretty big (but welcome) change from years past. There is nothing more fun than watching a little kid discover waves for the first time; or curiously (and unsteadily) explore the sand. Waking up to the energetic grins of toddles never gets old. And it is always fun to marvel at the fact that Mia beats you at Memory (and most games for that matter) every single time you play. Even when you don't let her win.

With the addition of kids, came a certain element of tag teaming among the adults. This made it more difficult to carve out time for the long conversations we used to enjoy so much. It also made the times we did find all the more special.

Eric and I showed up at the condo (with four coolers procured from various sources) full of Maryland Blue Crabs (I'm salivating just thinking about them). We were greeted by one of Kelly's incomparable bear hugs, which are quite impressive considering her tiny stature. Eric got to meet Masoona Tuna for the very first time and give Mia a big hug for the first time in over a year. Once we made our way upstairs, we had to catch Caitlin, who had become mobile since the last time we'd seen her, for a quick hug & kiss before she was on her way again.

On the first night, we had a huge crab feast. Eric taught Mia how to pick a crab, and for the first time many of us could remember, we got to eat as many crabs as we wanted. Until we were stuffed. So decadent...

The rest of the week was a crazy blur of trips to the beach (both oceanside and bayside- below is a picture of how we traveled),  meals (to include a first birthday party for Tuna), and visiting with friends and family. Margo, Lee, and Levi spent an afternoon with us at the condo and at the end of the week we went to uncle Jeff and aunt Mary Lynn's house where we got to see a lot of extended family.

On our last night of vacation, we drove to Rehoboth Beach to go out and eat pizza for dinner. Afterward, we walked the Boardwalk and rode the rides. When we got home from that adventure, Eric's mom and dad agreed to watch the kiddos so the big kiddos could head out for a night on the town. We walked to a bar down the street and enjoyed an opportunity to catch up with each other. We had a great night, but decided that next year, we'd pull our all-nighter earlier in the week...we were all hurting a little when it came time to pack the cars and drive home the next morning. Overall, it was a fun-filled week that flew by way to fast (zilliions of thank yous to Jerry and Lourdes for making it all possible). Can't wait to do it all over again!

Summer of Celebrations

Eric and I went to Maryland a few days apart. When I got into town, my mom and dad were out of town on a trip to Italy. This meant I had the house to myself, which had the potential to be kind of weird, kind of lonely. Fortunately for me, girl Teri came to my rescue!! She picked me up at the airport and kept me company for a few days. Being my companion for the week meant she got to do all sorts of fun things, which included activities like watching several movies while I fell asleep next to her on the couch and being my wingman on a trip to get fingerprinted for my new job. Fingerprinting took far too long and required us to wait in a too-small, too-hot room with a zillion too-young and crazy teenagers. I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a wonderful friend.

We had more exciting, good times, too. Like when we found out Meg was in town and had an impromptu dinner/slumber party with whomever we could gather. A few of our BFFs were out of town/busy (to be honest I can't remember where), so it ended up being Meg, Amber, Teri, and Me. We sat on the outdoor patio at the Cheesecake Factory, our go-to when we can't come up with a "type" of food we all feel like eating. We are always thankful for any time together that we can get our hands on. That dinner ended up being the first of three very wonderful reunion dinners with friends. Later in the week, I got to have dinner with Destiny and Lisa. We met at a restaurant central to all of us and spent a few hours trying to squeeze in updates about everything that had happened between visits. The third reunion dinner was with Marc, Michael, and Annie. Annie and I took them to the famous Papermoon Diner in Baltimore to celebrate their recent graduation from college. Marc graduated from Boston College and Michael from Haverford College. I couldn't be more proud of all their accomplishments or excited to see what wonderful young men they've become.

Marc and Annie

Michael and me

Our newest collegians and my buddy Georg

I was fortunate that my trip home coincided with the BHGH graduation party. This year it was Durrell and Donte's turn to graduate from high school. These two guys moved into Boys Hope Baltimore just a few months after I moved in the house. Their graduation from high school was both a huge personal accomplishment for each of them and a wonderful and exciting close to one of the chapters of my life. (Oh, and it made me feel old as heck! Where is the time going?) I will always stay connected to the kids I worked with at BHGH; in fact, I still have one to go, he's a senior in high school this year. But as I enjoyed my time at the party, I could feel myself moving into the history of the Baltimore program. I could feel I was not so much a part of the present anymore. It was a bittersweet feeling, but I enjoyed every minute of the time I got to share with my old and very dear friends. I love the graduation parties, they are like huge family reunions.

By Friday, Eric had made it to Maryland. My parents had also gotten home from their trip. On Friday night, my mom & dad hosted a party at their house. A handful of our closest friends and family attended. It's not like we ever need an excuse for a party, but it was the best way we could think of to see a lot of different people. My mom and I made pulled pork and a few other favorite dishes. We had a bonfire, music, and great weather. Eric and I were so thankful to be able to see so many friends. This was the first and only picture from the night. I guess I found it impossible to pull away long enough to snap a few pictures of the crowd. If we ever move back to Maryland, we are hosting parties like this one, monthly. Mark your calendars.

The morning after the party, Eric and I loaded a car and left for a week at the beach with his family. I will write all about this in a totally separate post. On our way down to the beach, we had one, very important stop to make. We picked up Dave and made our way to Margo and  Lee's new house. We had to meet the newest member of our family: little man Levi. He is the first baby born to (this group) of our friends. And he is the favorite. We spent the afternoon feasting on crabs (I can't tell you how much we missed this), playing lawn games, and sitting by the pool. That evening, Lee's parents watched the pumpkin so we could all go out to Red Eyes. It should come as no surprise that this night was a great time. These guys played the most epic game of giant Jenga. They drew a huge crowd of spectators. The suspense was palpable.

After our beach trip, we were fortunate to be able to attend Kasie and Ryan's wedding. Kasie is one of my sister's and my oldest friends. She is like a little sister to us. Her parents, like second parents. We grew up together in what seemed like Pleasantville, where we spent endless hours a day running like wolves in a pack with our friends. Gila was also able to come to town for the wedding, which I was so happy about because it had been quite some time since I'd last seen her, too. All of us were very thankful to have been a part of their special day.

Kasie was one gorgeous bride (which should come as a surprise to no one) and Ryan the sweetest of grooms. I am happy to report that I saw Mrs. Debbie tear it up on the dance floor with my own eyes and Mr. Fred looked every bit the proud papa as he walked his little girl down the aisle. At the reception, we got to sit with other old friends and neighbors. It was amazing to see everyone all grown up. It was hard to believe how much had changed, but wonderful to see all that has stayed the same. Their wedding, with the exception of being, ahem, somewhat Steeler-themed (black and yellow), which Kasie claimed was only accidental, was the perfect ending to a completely wonderful trip home.

OKC ends with a BANG

Weekends away from Altus are (almost) always planned with the goal of killing two birds with one stone in mind. Any time you go, well, anywhere, there are at least a handful of stops you have to make while you are, "close enough to a [insert store name here] to go." After we finished our celebratory I-finally-got-a-job breakfast, we made our way to OKC. Our first order of business was to drop Eric's car off at the Dodge dealership for a few hours. When we bought the car, we noticed there was a tear in the window tint. At that time we didn't have the time to have it fixed, because we were picking it up on a different killing two birds with one-stone trip. In fact, we were about an hour away from hopping on a plane bound to Maryland. So the guys at the dealership just said to bring it back at our convenience (a word that has taken on a whole new meaning in the past year), and they'd be happy to take care of it. The Dodge dealership is conveniently located next to a large shopping center. Eric and I walked to the shopping center and, like kids in a candy shop, happily passed the hours by throwing money at a handful of different stores, which many of you have come to take for granted.

Once we got our car back, we made our way to the Sheraton in Bricktown where we had reserved a nice room by naming our own price online. If you haven't tried that, do it! We may be late getting on the bandwagon, but it is so, so cool! Exhausted from our shop-a-palooza, we closed the curtains, crawled into bed, and took a killer nap. When our growling tummies woke us from our slumber, we walked out into the city for our first night on the town. Meal #1 was consumed at The Wedge, a really cool wood fire oven pizzeria in Bricktown. They use super fresh ingredients (many of which are grown in the garden we saw outside) to make beautiful, gourmet pizzas. We tried the two pizzas the waiter recommended: Truffle-Shuffle and The Vedge. We liked our food so much that after we finished dinner, we ordered the appetizer the waiter had suggested and another round of beers. Thoroughly stuffed and happy, we walked back to our hotel along the riverwalk. As we strolled along, we poked fun at ourselves for being ready to call it a night at the ripe hour of 9 pm. We shamed ourselves for our epic drop in stamina and laughed at the fact that bed and a movie sounded much more appealing than a crazy night of bar-hopping.

By the time we made it to our hotel, we were feeling pretty sad about how much life had been sucked out of us. Eric turned to me and asked, "how about one more drink a the bar?" It sounded like a pretty good idea to me so I took him up on it. We picked out two stools at the sleepy hotel bar. As we sipped fancy nightcaps, the crowd started to file in. In no time, we were talking with people about the haunted hotel next door. Story has it, the Skirvin Hilton in downtown OKC is haunted. I'm serious. Read about it here. After we heard a few stories about it from the patrons at the bar in our hotel, including the bartender's admission that he has served many a customer who purchased a room at the Skirvin only to get creeped and come over to the Sheraton to purchase a second, less ghostly room for the night. Eric's and my curiosity was peaked. Eric thought it would be a good idea to have one last nightcap (one nightcap is never enough anyway) at the bar in the Skirvin. And I agreed.

For starters, the hotel is beautiful, and I mean beautiful, both outside and in. We each ordered a drink and enjoyed listening to the piano player take request after request from the much-more-lively-than-the-Sheraton crowd. By the time we had finished this round of nightcaps, we had started to feel a little bit silly. We decided it would be a good idea to ride the elevator to the 10th floor. The floor rumored to be haunted, and take a lap to see if anything supernatural was going on that night. And to think, just a couple of hours earlier we were worried that we were getting lame in our old age. We were so impressed with ourselves. Needless to say there was nothing out of the ordinary going on on floor number 10. We rode the elevator back down, crossed the street to the Sheraton, and turned on a movie. We went to sleep happy that night knowing we could consider ourselves to be full of life, brave, and adventurous. At least for one more night.

The scary Skirvin.

Let me preface the next part of this story with the admission that I always, I repeat, ALWAYS leave something necessary at home on every trip. This time it was hair goo. Anyone who knows me, knows two things: 1. I cannot be seen in public sans hair goo, and  2. I always forget it on trips. Eric and I woke up and left the hotel on a quest to find a drug store and a greasy spoon for breakfast. Two hours after starting our walk, we had found none of the above. What we did find was the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We spent a long time there. It is a solemn and peaceful place. I hadn't planned on seeing it so I didn't bring a camera, which I ended up being thankful for. Sometimes experiences are more meaningful when you aren't behind the lens of a camera.

On the way back to the hotel, I saw a ritzy spa, which was clearly my only option for hair goo. Eric sent me in and, 40 dollars later, I came out with mousse and hairspray. Mission (expensively) accomplished. We never found any food so we had nibbles and coffee at the breakfast nook in our hotel. Earlier in the day, our post-breakfast plan was to go for a run on the riverwalk or around the city. But after our long expedition earlier that morning, we felt we had seen almost all there was to see. We opted for a treadmill run instead.
 


For lunch, we had a Groupon for at a burger joint. Ron's Hamburgers & Chili served the heftiest, greasiest, ooey-gooiest, most delicious burgers we'd had in a while (and we've had our fair share of burgers recently). It was a disgustingly delicious lunch, which we ate entirely too fast. After lunch we went to the Paseo Arts District for the annual Art Festival, a giant arts festival attended by over 60,000 people annually. There were artists from all over the country; masters of sculpture, every type of painting, pottery, and a zillion jewelery makers. It was totally awesome, but freaking hot. The combination of the heat and disgustingly delicious lunch was not doing me any favors, and unfortunately, we kind of zoomed through the vendors. Eric and I decided to set a goal of attending again next year, but with some stipulations: no greasy lunch, sunscreen, plenty of water, and prepared to purchase a piece of art for which we will have spent the year saving up. Sounds like a plan, right?

After regrouping and resting at the hotel, we met up with a few friends for a little bit of night life. We started at an awesome tapas restaurant in Bricktown called, Bolero. After dinner, we did some bar hopping and ultimately ended up at Coyote Ugly. You know it's a good night when you end up at Coyote Ugly. We joined a bachelorette party by befriending a stereotypical "mom" person who caught our attention while dancing on the bar. So impressed by her confidence and commitment to partying like a rockstar, we bought her a drink and told her how cool we all thought she was. We danced and celebrated with the best of them until last call. Eric and I parted ways with our friends (new and old) and began to prowl the city for late-night eats. We stumbled (literally and figuratively) across a gourmet sausage stand, ordered some gourmet sausages, and took a seat on some steps to chow. Midway though our midnight snack, we saw a crowd rushing out of a bar and into the street  They were all watching something going down on the other side of the riverwalk. Eric jumped up to assess the situation; I proceeded to enjoy my gourmet sausage. Next thing we heard was, "Oh my god they hit him with a car!" and then, "Oh my god, they hit him with a car again!!" And then we heard a boom. A shot. Like, from a gun. And then another. The next thing we knew, bouncers were shoving us, along with the rest of the crowd, into a building. Others hung around to watch. Eric and I escaped through the backside of the building. We ran in the complete opposite direction of all the commotion straight back to our hotel. That night we went to sleep, thankful NOT to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Oh, and this was just depressing.