Out & About – Page 8 – Benford's Musings

Mother’s Day Pics

We had a wonderful time on Mother’s Day. My family went to Bistro 88 (always a favorite) for dinner and yummy food was had. Here are some pics:

Champagne & The Beatles – a winning combination!

We had some yummy wines with dinner, too. I had Conundrum. It’s a mix of a whole lot, quite sweet and I recommend it more as a dessert wine.

The rest of the table had a 2002 Maclean Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a nice flavor, just too dry for me.

For dinner, my mom & I both had a lovely sea bass that was marinated in soy with ginger and scallions. With it was a very unique (in a good way) risoto and some sauted green beans. I ate it all!

My dad had roast duck, my sister had a yummy salmon dish and Chris (my sister’s boyfriend) had the sea bass but marinated in miso. I tasted all of it and as expected, it was all delicious!! Have I mentioned that I can’t resist a creme brulet?

We were all smiles, too!

Wrapping up the school year

Our annual Band Banquet was last night and it was a lot of fun. For the 5th year in a row, we’ve had our banquet at the Marriott Austin North and it’s a beautiful occasion. We all get dressed up and have a sit down dinner. We give out tons of awards and always shed a tear or buckets. This year, our Boosters were able to give the first Katie Ewing Memorial Scholarship. Katie’s parents had a slide show of her life in pictures and we showed that before we gave out the award and that brought the house to tears. We certainly could have used the Kleenex Couch at that moment. Anywho, at the end of the night, we all danced to our hearts content and took lots of pictures. Lots of fun!

On Monday, we have our Spring Concert. It’s odd to have our last concert after banquet but that’s how the calendar fell so what can ya do? It should be a fairly good, but not too long, concert.

I’m kinda glad to be wrapping things up because this has been an exhausting year. Of course, with my teaching a band camp the first week of June, there won’t be too much down time but at least our year will be complete and we’ll be able to move to the next exciting chapter of our lives.

This summer, I plan on trying to fix up my yard some and builld stuff in the spare time I will try to make for myself. I don’t know if I’ll get any travel in and that bums me out a bit but getting my house fixed up should be really satisfying. Hopefully, since I won’t get to travel much, people will come visit me instead (you know who I’m talking to). There’s also a possibility that I’ll be helping out a friend with her job this summer and making some extra money. That always is a nice bonus to not being able to travel. 😀

My latest trip to the Home Depot

On Monday night, I went to my local Home Depot for a workshop entitled: “Building Relaxation:Creating Backyard Retreats”. I learned a few good things and I think I’m going to make a water feature for my backyard sometime this summer. They had some other neat products and projects there and some suggested projects that were pre-made. I’ve gotten some new landscaping books recently they’ve inspired me to build a few things this summer for my yard. At the end of the evening, they had a drawing to give away a few books as well as the pre-made projects and guess what, I won one! It’s a neat cedar storage bench with a place for a potted plant. They had a nice palm displayed in the plant section of the bench and what do you know, they gave me that, too!! A great start to my backyard plans. So, if you have some time and want to help me build some stuff this summer (I’m borrowing my dad’s power & pneumatic tools), give me a hollar. It should be a lot of fun!

Here’s a picture of my new bench. I took it late last night so it’s not too clear but you can make it out.

The Big Trip, pt. 4

We finished our last day in Chicago by hitting the Magnificent Mile and having dinner at the famous Gino’s Pizza. We had quite a bit of time to wander the Magnificent Mile; some people chose to go see a movie (not sure why since you can do that at home) but Kristina & I decided to walk off all the food we’d eaten by walking the Mile and checking out places we don’t have access to at home.

As with any big city, there sure are LOTS of taxi’s!

We (the adults) started out by eating at Jake Melnick’s.

I had a garbage salad…it was YUMMY!!

Matt enjoyed the time away from the kids with a drink!

It was only a root beer, though. 😦

Fred is so goofy, but a die-hard Longhorn fan! Gotta love him…

After lunch, most everyone headed to the movie but Kristina & I headed to walk the Mile. Lots of designer shops; some we have back home, some we don’t.

The Water Tower.

There were several malls on the Magnificent Mile as well. Inside the Water Tower Center, there was a very cool fountain going up the first set of escalators. Each of those spigots shot up dallops of water in various patterns. It was really neat to watch!

Another sight of a large city is window washers on the high rises. Not a job I’d jump at doing!

Also, look at the cement truck way in the back of the picture. It’s pig pink!

Here’s every woman’s dream store – The Hershey’s Store!!

I love these vintage signs.

This building used to be FAO Schwartz but once they went out of business, someone made it into a mall.

An Apple Store!

When we first got off the bus, we saw the back of the Lawry’s Steakhouse and thought we might want to eat there. It can’t be that expensive…their seasoning is only 85 cents at HEB. Later, we walked by the enterance and I think I’m glad we didn’t eat there. Seems kinda swanky!

I love the architecture in downtown Chicago.

I call this “Old and New”

Metal Horse

How many of my house can I buy for the cost of one of these condos?

From inside the Apple Store. Look at the Apples in the reflection of the ceiling window.

Birdie!!!

Jammin’ on the street.

So, that was my time on the Magnificent Mile. I actually have enough pics for one more update…but it’s from Indianapolis. I’ll post that one, eventually. 🙂

The Big Trip, pt. 3

On Day 2, we got up and headed to the Sears Tower. Sears, Roebuck & Co. haven’t occupied the tower for many years but it’s still a magnificent place to go; especially when visibility isn’t that bad. Funny story, though – when you go visit the observatory at Sears Tower, you have to go to the basement to get to the elevators that take you to the top. As the kids were streaming into the lobby to go down to the basement, I told them all that’s where they were going and it was just a tour of the basement. Some of them actually believed me and were very confused! So, with that being said, I give you –

It’s a very tall building!

The Sear’s Tower Doorman

Waiting for the history movie in the basement:

Can you tell we’d gotten a good night’s sleep?
Happy band directors = happy band kids and a good trip!

Going up!

We’re here!

Chicago from up high:

Can you see the Shedd Aquarium?

Checking out the sights:

Friends at any height:

Trumpet players:

The Chaperones are “high”. (yeah, corny joke, I know)