Time for Turkey Bowl!!!

<24 hours!!!!!!!!!

A Piece of Cake

Hi! Liz here. Chris is out at steak night with the boys, so I thought I would post about how I kept myself busy tonight. I have picked up a new, time consuming, and delicious hobby - baking cool looking cakes.

This new activity came about when Chris' Mom turned 50 in July. We had an Orioles-themed surprise party for her and I thought to myself, "This party deserves an awesome Orioles-themed surprise birthday cake." Then, after an entire week of working on it, I thought to myself, "I deserve an awesome surprise kick in the butt for ever attempting this on my own."

To prepare, I read everything I could find on the internet about making fondant, stacking cakes, and the best tools to buy. I spent about four days in A.C. Moore, forty-five minutes crying when the fondant stuck to the buttercream, 13 bags of powdered sugar, six days scrubbing the food dye off of my hands, three hours washing the icing out of my hair, two hours to drive two miles up the road holding the darned thing in my lap, and a week working off all of the calories I inadvertently consumed throughout the process. Well, it paid off! Chris helped me a LOT and together we created and transported the best 50th birthday cake we've ever made in our lives.

Tonight, it's time for MY Mom's birthday! After a surprisingly successful try the first time with Ms. Lori's cake, I got to planning Mom's cake. It's much smaller because it only needs to serve four people, but I learned some new tricks with it. I baked this cake and the almond icing from scratch. I also made the pink royal icing. I learned how to make those daisies with the fondant cutters and the pearl dust, which was really fun. Check out the pics and stop having birthdays or I'll need a bigger kitchen!!!

Pollack - Gribble Wedding

The wedding was awesome and we have the pictures to prove it! Congratulations, Jan and Nick!

Ocho Psycho

One more reason to dislike the Bengals.

Housekeeping

What an ugly word, but I have a LOT of it to do after the busy-ness of summer! First, let's housekeep this blog. Chris has jazzed it up and made it look really cool with awesome gadgets and news feeds and photos, etc. I am just checking in to let you know that there is a lot more to come and to share. Our trip to the beach was a ball and we really whiled away at lots of things like mini-golf, a baseball game, sunning, swimming, dining, and whining (Marin and Allie only). I am going to create and post a Picasa album so that you can see all of the Myrtle Beach fun for yourself.

I will also be posting an album of pictures from Jan's wedding!!! That's right, we're traveling again! We are off to Pittsburgh tonight for cousin Janis and Nick's wedding this weekend. It's a highly anticipated event and sure to please. We couldn't be happier for them. Here's to the summer and its final hurrah in Pittsburgh with the Pollacks!

Liz

P.S. I PROMISE that we will post our own wedding pictures in an album soon, too. Our one year anniversary is coming up on October 13th and I still don't even have a hard-copy wedding album put together or photos on the walls. I'm getting there. The Picasa album will be a start. Check back in for it.

Moon Shots

Full moon over the water

Full moon from the gift shop

Weather Update

Hurricane Fay nowhere in sight

Hurricane Marin in plain view

You CAN teach old people new tricks

As I mentioned previously, Myrtle Beach is the mini-golf capital of the WORLD. So it's only fitting that we take in 18 holes at the WORLD'S #1 ranked mini-golf course. In the WORLD. The course appeared neat and great and the guy at the counter appeared really nice. And really old. His extreme oldness was confirmed when he told us that he only accepted CASH. I began wondering if this was also the OLDEST mini-golf course in the WORLD.

So it was quite a surprise when we approached the first hole and a sign alerted us to this: the hole has a LIVE WEB CAM. We were stunned. I was skeptical. So here's what I did: I called my grandma. Who else would appreciate seeing her grandson and her granddaughter-in-law mini-golfing more than her? No one. And if this old guy can host a live web cam, surely I can walk Grandma through the steps to see it for herself! I gave her the Web site and sure enough, within 15 minutes, she was on the site. Soon after, she exclaimed this: "There you are!" Success. The live web cam was legit! Grandma was legit! Then I did the unthinkable: I walked Grandma through a screen shot. She did it again! She was copying and pasting like a PC professional! Below is the result of her hard work and determination.

Pelican's-eye view of Liz and I golfing on the first hole

For a few minutes, Liz and I were golfing before the entire world. And thanks to two old people, me and Liz know what we looked like on the first hole of the WORLD'S #1 ranked mini-golf course!

Chris

Summer Wind

THIS FRIDAY WE GO ON VACATION! An entire week free from work, crazy neighbors, and Lib.

Our first stop is the Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, NC. Sounds comfy!

Our second stop is a Starbucks somewhere between Rocky Mount and Myrtle Beach because when you're the only one driving and you're pretentious with your coffee, you need a $4 Cafe Americano.

Our final stop is awesome Myrtle Beach, SC! Did you know Myrtle Beach is the mini-golf capital of the world?! Plus they have a billion big-golf courses. And did you know it has a BEACH? With sand and everything. Sounds perfect! But in the meantime, back to work.

***SPOILER ALERT*** (Marin, don't read any further.)

Marin is getting some really cool beach gear!!

Chris

Welcome - From Lib

Hello and welcome to our family blog! As soon as Liz created the title for this blog, I thought about food. The phrase "while away" brings lots of things to mind for me. Some of them include licking myself, taking giant craps, eating anything, toilet bowl water, a field to never run around in, trash, long morning walks to the dumpster, a cozy bone by the fire, sheep, going psycho, hating everything, barking at anything that moves, collecting smells, searching the parking lot for cats, chasing squirrels, dinnertime, scaring little kids to tears, leaping off decks, museums, and roadtrips to the vet - just to name a few. To be honest, I don't think I've ever whiled away at anything because I'm too busy thinking about how much I hate other dogs. I know I'm young and I should feel ambitious and work-oriented, but I'm ready to get off of this leash and out of my crate for some quality terrorizing. I keep overhearing Liz and Chris making plans for an August trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. I'm sure they'll let me go with them! I'll be sure to post about it here!

Lib

Welcome - From Chris

Hello and welcome to our family blog! As soon as Liz created the title for this blog, I had second thoughts about it. The phrase "while away" brings lots of things to mind for me. Some of them include playing Wii, a glass of Stella Artois, a giant field to play wiffle ball in, a John Mayer concert, Ritchie Highway, bowling, a cozy jam session by a fire, a basketball rim to slam dunk on, a Luke Scott home run, a Hootie concert, a long walk without Lib, Christmastime, wintertime, museums, Hammertime, and roadtrips to Giant Eagle - just to name sixteen. To be honest, it's late July and I can't remember the last time I whiled away at anything. I know we're young and we should feel ambitious and work-oriented, but I would agree with Liz if she happened to say that she's ready to get off of the beltway and out of her cubicle for some quality whiling. We have some planned for August in Myrtle Beach, SC. I'll be sure to post about it here!

Chris

Welcome - From Liz

Hello and welcome to our family blog!

As soon as I created the title for this blog, I had second thoughts about it. The phrase "while away" brings lots of things to mind for me. Some of them include a good book, a glass of lemonade, a wrap-around porch overlooking a lake, the beach, a field of corn or flowers, a cozy blanket by a fire, a tall tree to climb, a ballgame, sled-riding, a long walk, snow storms, summertime, museums, bike rides, and roadtrips - just to name a few. To be honest, it's late July and I can't remember the last time I whiled away at anything. I know we're young and we should feel ambitious and work-oriented, but I have a feeling Chris will agree when I say that I'm ready to get off of the beltway and out of my cubicle for some quality whiling. We have some planned for August in Myrtle Beach, SC. I'll be sure to post about it here!

Liz