Chicago is my kind of town

Mardi was in Chicago for work so we decided I would come down for the a long weekend too. Saturday we went shopping along Michigan Avenue. In the evening Mardi's cousin Noelle joined us for a few drinks and Jazz at Al Capone's last club The Green Mill.

On Sunday we hung out at the Millennium Park and Shed Aquarium which was fun. We were lucky to have awesome sunny weather the whole time we were there.

Monday and Tuesday Mardi attended her conference so I wandered the Chicago Art Institute and Contemporary Museums.

My good mate Jaclyn (right) visited for the weekend on her way to Ireland for the Summer. We met on my season at Big White.

Anna (left) is Jaclyn's friend from school. She's is on a six month sabbatical in Tacoma, WA. They only by chance discovered they would be in the same city at the same time.

It was great to catch up after three years. After few drinks at our Loft in Belltown including my dismal attempt to make Margaritas we headed out in Belltown. We wound up at the Crocodile in a one sided screaming match with a band from Wakefield, England. They won cause they were up on stage with microphones and big speakers. We ended the evening with hotdogs from my favourite hotdog stand on 1st Ave.

Weekend in Santa Monica, CA

It's been a long time between drinks. I haven't blogged since Mardi and I posted our Christmas video card.

Turns out I really only like to take pictures. And when I have new pictures I put a link on my blog. I haven't taken any photos for a long time so this would explain my blogging absence.

Mardi and I flew down to Santa Monica, California for a nice long weekend. It's Dee Dee's birthday trip. Marie, Dee Dee, Babs, Mardi and I all stayed at Santa Monica beach and went shopping in Santa Monica and Hollywood. We spotted Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver at the cafe at Barney's. I think I accidentally interrupted Maria's shoe shopping later on by sitting right where she was trying on shoes. Mardi called me over to her to get me out the way. It's tiring waiting while the girls shoe shopped.

Sorry I didn't get any photos of everyone. I only managed to get the camera out on the last day.

Happy Holidays

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Weekend at the Races

We didn't pick a winner but had bonza time in Lexington, Kentucky at the races. We sincerely thank Jimmy and the Dawahare's for their Southern hospitality.
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Big Grandma

We spent last weekend in Vancouver celebrating Grandma's 85th birthday. A technology storm arrived at her home on Saturday afternoon bringing 3 laptops, 1 projector and 1 scanner. Belinda and I spent the afternoon scanning old photos and having Grandma narrate them. Here's the first in a series of movies that will be a living history of Big Grandma. The software we used is Windows Movie Maker which is included in WindowsXP View this clip on Vimeo

Happy Birthday Marie

Marvelous Marie
Originally uploaded by hutcho.

All of Marie's friends came over to our loft to help celebrate her 40th birthday.

Mardi went crazy organising the party. I think she was treating it as a dry run for the wedding.

100 Cupcake Royal cupcakes plus heaps of Salumi cured meats plus cathlene catering plus a $50 block of cheese with copious amounts of alchohol equals lots of sore heads.