Catching Up with Old Friends

Dr. Cindita (on the left) was in town briefly on Friday.  I met up with her and our friend, D, for some Charlie and Jake’s carryout at the hospital.  D recently returned to work as a physical therapy manager at our local hospital.  She had her second son in May and just started back to work after her maternity leave.  D could not take a super long lunch break so we brought lunch to her.

A brief note about Charlie and Jake’s…  Barbecue is definitely a regional thing.  People are loyal to their barbecue.  This was never more apparent than when I was stuck Texas barbecue for five years.

“This is not barbecue!”  I would declare.

Where were the fried okra, garlic toast and sweet potato chips?  Where were the brown sugar baked beans?  Where was the sweet sauce?  What the heck was brisket?!

Charlie and Jake’s is a Brevard County institution.  It’s wonderful!  Their pulled pork is to die for!  Seriously.  When you don’t have it on a regular basis you crave it like crazy.  This was the case for Dr. Cindita, who lives in San Francisco where they might not even have such a thing as barbecue…

All Dr. C wanted on Friday was the barbecue she grew up with.  That and a spin around Publix.  I was happy to oblige.

After we returned D back to her office and took care of Dr. Cindita’s Publix fix, we it our pool.  I sliced some fresh oranges to go in our Syfo on the rocks while Dr. C and I relaxed in the warm water.  We caught up on the gossip of our lives for an hour or so before she had to hit the road again.

It was such a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  I’m so glad I got to spend time with my friends for a while.

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4th of July Party Weekend Recap

It was an atypical 4th of July holiday for us this year as we normally host or attend a family party.  Since Steph was in Mexico and half of our relatives are divorced we ended up going our own separate ways to celebrate Independence Day.  I have to say that it was a pleasant change of pace.  No stress.  No drama.  Just good times with good friends.  That is how it should be!

We went to a small barbecue at a friend’s house on Saturday to say good-bye to Geeg and her family (again).  They were officially moving out of state on Monday so we tried to squeeze in as much time with them as possible over the weekend.

J entertained everyone with his whale riding skills.  Is there any doubt why I married him?  Don’t be jealous.

I was asked to participate as a guest instructor at a Zumba Jam on the morning of the 4th.  I was happy to help out since I knew I’d be gorging myself later on some yummy food.  It was so much fun and a great workout to boot!

We headed over to another friend’s house for a get-together late in the afternoon.  I brought some sassy, patriotic watermelon to share 🙂

The weather was pretty crappy all day.  The constant drizzle did not stop the children and the kids-at-heart from going bananas in the street with fireworks.  Some of us chose to watch the activity from the safety of the dry living room.  As you can see from the smoke cloud outside, there were quite a few fireworks being lit that afternoon.

We left the party after a couple of hours so we could light some of our own fireworks on our driveway.  J donned his Viva Mexico sombrero for rain protection.  Again, don’t be jealous!

I sat on the front porch in my lawn chair alternately watching the rain fall on my flowers and the fireworks display that J and the kids put on.

Eventually we packed it in and headed over to the causeway to watch the various fireworks displays on the river.  I was surprised that they were not canceled on account of the rain.  I chose to sit in the car and watch them.  J and the boys, however, ventured out into the drizzle and mosquitoes.    Brave souls.

All in all, it was a great 4th of July weekend.  Hope you had a great one too!