Happy Birthday to my hubby

Just about every time I give Andy a card, I try to think of the cheesiest, sappiest, (often annoying) name I can to use on the envelope. Sometimes he pretends not to notice ... sometimes he laughs ... most often, he rolls his eyes. This year, I don't think he even saw it. And I have to say, it was a pretty good one. So, now I'm putting it on my blog to make sure he notices. Happy Birthday to my Hubby Bubby Birthday Bear. Yep, I'm pretty proud of that one. It'll be hard to top ... I'm thinking the next one will have to involve a bunny :)

Since today's his day, I probably should quit now and not embarrass him any further. So, to pay tribute to his birthday, here's a look at the year he was born ...

1973

In Sports

Super Bowl: Miami d. Washington (14-7)
World Series: Oakland A's d. NY Mets (4-3)
NBA Championship: New York d. LA Lakers (4-1)

NCAA Championship: UCLA d. Memphis St. (87-66)

In Movies

The Harder They Come, American Graffiti, The Exorcist, The Sting, Last Tango in Paris

And the Oscars go to ...

Best picture: The Godfather

Best actor: Marlon Brando, The Godfather

Best actress: Liza Minnelli, Cabaret

In Music

Record of the Year: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Roberta Flack
Album of the Year: The Concert for Bangla Desh, George Harrison, Ravi Shanker, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann (Apple)
Song of the Year: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Ewan MacColl, songwriter

And on April 20, 1973, Andy MacAlpine was born (Thanks, Mom and Dad Mac). It was a good year! Happy Birthday, Andy!

You know it's good BBQ when ...

You can smell the smoke as you walk up to the restaurant ...

There's lots of tacky signs on the walls ...

They have real sweet tea ...

There are as many or more sauce options than entrees ...

AND

"When you burp, you say ... yum, just as good the second time" (that one's compliments of Andy)

On our continuing quest to find good BBQ in Maryland, we went to a place recommended by my boss and a friend at work, Urban BBQ. Unlike the last place we went, it's not a chain, but actually a small mom-and-pop, hole-in-the-wall type place. It's owned by a group of friends who apparently got tired of making other people rich with their BBQ skills, so they opened their own place. Good call. It was really good. Good enough, in fact, to tide us over until Muffin's dad's huge 4th of July BBQ. That is if Muffin ever gets back to me on when that is so I can put in for a couple days off and head down there. (I know, subtle, right Muffin?)

So, now that we've found good BBQ, I can go back to my quest to find the best crab cake in Maryland. Well, after next weekend anyway. We're going to some big BBQ festival on the eastern shore for Andy's birthday. Then it's back to crab cakes. Afterall, crab season has officially begun.

I thought Spring had sprung ...

Happy Easter, everyone! I hope some of you are enjoying a warmer day than we are. We had planned to go to a Navy baseball game today, but decided it just wasn't worth sitting outside in 30 degree weather for 2-3 hours.

At least the Easter bunny braved the cold and left us a basket of goodies :) We don't have much else planned for today. We had a nice breakfast this morning and I'm making a ham for dinner. That's about it though. Well, that and eating lots of jelly beans. And waiting for Spring to reappear.

I woke up yesterday (much earlier than I had planned thanks to Layla) and walked outside to snow. Yep, snow. Five days prior to that Andy and I went to opening day at the Nationals ballpark and Andy wore shorts. We went from gorgeous, sunny 75-80 degree weather back to snow.

I can't complain too much, because it was actually warmer here than in Georgia. We've been watching baseball all weekend and have been surprised to see all the crazy weather conditions.

Despite the cold weather, we had a really nice day yesterday -- nothing fancy, just a good day. We ran some errands and then for lunch, we headed to this BBQ joint near Andy's work that he'd been wanting to try. It was by far the closest thing to real BBQ that we've had since we moved here. It was actually pretty good.

After lunch, we took Layla to the Navy football stadium to get her (OK, all of us) some much-needed exercise. There's a really nice mile-and-a-half track that circles the stadium. We walked/jogged about 3 miles, and then headed back home. I could pretend that we came home because it was just too cold and windy (which it was), but truthfully, we were all tired -- even Layla. I know, shocking, right? She does actually get tired.

Speaking of walking 3 miles ... next month I'm participating in the Arthritis Walk, so stay tuned for details and to be hit up for donations to sponsor me. Feel free to give now by clicking on that link, or you can wait for my full blog dedicated solely to asking all my loved ones for donations and support.

A tribute to my Grandma

I've been struggling with whether I would do this, but I do want to let everyone know why I haven't blogged in a while and also to ask you all to keep my family in your thoughts.

My grandma passed away on Thursday after being very ill for the past few weeks. She was in quite a bit of pain and finally decided that she was ready to stop fighting. She asked the doctors to stop her treatment, and she went to a hospice early last week. She was surrounded by friends and loved ones when she passed, and I'm sure she was grateful for that. I know my dad was grateful to get the chance to say goodbye to her.

Although she lived in California all my life and I didn't get out to see her very often, she was my grandma and I loved her with all my heart. I was her first granddaughter, so she doted on me quite a bit -- with love, affection, and lots of homemade presents. When I was pretty tiny, she made me a clown blanket (that I still have today and credit as the reason why I'm one of only a few grown-ups who didn't have an irrational fear of clowns as a child) and my favorite thing she ever made -- Angie's Quiet Time Book. From that book I learned both how to tie a bow and braid hair (and it helped with learning my shapes and colors, too). She even included a pink patchwork kitten named Annie and put a little red spot on its nose -- because I had just been bit by a dog -- to make me smile. It worked :)

In more recent years, my grandma took up quilting as a hobby and for a wedding gift she made Andy and I a beautiful quilt. She was quite the hipster too -- always on the Web and chatting with her online quilting pals. I bet not many of you can say you've gotten IMs from your grandma.

When my dad gets back from California, he's sending me a few pictures of my grandma, which I'll post on here. In addition to her kids and grandkids, my grandma's leaving behind her husband of 56 years -- my Grandpa Buck. I can't even imagine what he's going through. He's tough, and he knows she's in a better place, but please, keep him in your thoughts too. And for those of you in Georgia, if you run into my dad, give him a hug and an extra one from me. He could use it.