Let the countdown begin

I'm hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow at our small townhouse with our giant family. Luckily, nine people can't make it so there will only be eighteen of us. Eighteen people. And only three of them are from my side of the family. That's what happens when you marry into a family of eight siblings. In a townhouse. It's not like I have a whole lot to cook, I only have to do the bird, throw some crescent rolls in the oven along with three boxes of Trader Joe's sweet potato pie bites. But just making sure the house and everything is in order is tiring. Our house is a mess most of the time, but when I'm having people over, it has to be spotless. Weird. I have a headache and I'm exhausted and I can't think right now, so I leave you with this:

I was on the phone with my dad yesterday and he said, "So what's for dessert on Thursday?" And I said, "Pumpkin pie, apple pie, and cookies." He didn't say it, but I know he was hoping a pecan pie would be making an appearance. He's from the south, and pecan pie is a staple there. So I trekked out to the store, bought a bag of pecans and some corn syrup and got to baking. Yeah, that's a homemade pie crust, no big deal. He should be pleased. 

Chi-town Adventure

Something unheard of is about to happen. I'm going to blog about something the day it happened. This is instead of just thinking about blogging about it and never getting around to it.

Today I checked another major city off my bucket list: Chicago! I have been to the Chicago area before, like the suburbs, but have never actually gone into the city. A lot of Frank's extended family lives there and his 17 year old cousin, also named Francis, has been begging him to come visit lately. So we made the super fun 7 hour drive from Pittsburgh on Thursday afternoon. Something crazy happened, I stayed awake for the entire car ride (I usually can sleep straight through) AND I drove for four consecutive hours of the trip. 

Today we went to a Cubs game at Wrigley field, walked around Wrigleyville, took the train into the downtown area, visited Millenium park and "The Bean", checked out the new Marilyn Monroe statue, ate deep dish pizza and became pregnant with a pizza baby, took lots of pictures, etc. 

Yayyyyy baseball. Actually, I get bored after about two innings, some nachos, and ice cream. But it was cool to go to Wrigley field.

The super glamorous Chicago Theater

Dinner at Giordano's the famous Chicago deep dish pizza chain. The site of the conception of my food baby.

Millenium park

The "bean" sculpture in Millenium park. 

Inside the bean

Doing our touristy stuff

Owling, duh.

Frank and his cousins' not so good attempt at planking

Crazy sculptural Millenium Park amphitheater

Giant Marilyn Monroe statue

When I asked Frank's cousin what the significance of this building was, he said it was in the most recent Transformers movie. That's what you get for letting a 17 year old boy be your tour guide.

There is more fun stuff scheduled for tomorrow and then a great big Filipino family reunion. More to come!

Family Beach Vacation 2011

I can't believe that it's almost the end of July. This summer is going by way too fast! I know it's because we have been going non-stop, we have had so many little trips that I have literally been living out of my suitcase when I'm home. So far this summer we've been to Italy, Philadelphia, Stone Harbor NJ, Ocean City MD, and Dewey Beach DE. We still have a trip to Chicago the weekend after next and then possibly a trip to Galveston, TX in the fall. I love to travel, but I'm really happy to just be home right now.

We just got home this afternoon from Dewey Beach. We started going there last year with Frank's sister and her family. This year, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law also came, so we got a bigger condo. It was right on the beach and the perfect size for all of us. Wake up, lounge around, go to the beach, shower, nap, dinner, lounge, bed, repeat. I love it. It reminds me of my childhood family vacations in the Carolinas, Florida, and Georgia. I never get bored of it. Unfortunately, due to work and Frank's MBA classes, we couldn't stay the whole week. I did get him to skip class one night so that we could extend it one day. 

Some people might dread spending almost a week living with their MIL, but I'm pretty lucky in the in-laws department. I can't complain. Although she did drive me a little crazy, because she can't waste anything. I threw the end piece of a loaf of bread out in the garbage and she dug it out. I also got a death stare when i didn't drink the milk at the bottom of my bowl of cereal. 

We had a little photo shoot on the beach the last night that Frank and I were there. This was when the crazy east coast heat wave had really started to settle in, so it was SUPER hazy out. I kind of like how it made the pictures look, even though some of them are a little overexposed looking. 

Top row: Frank's brother with our niece and nephew, Frank's mom with them

2nd and 3rd Row: sister in law and her family, Izzy-my god daughter

Las Row: Us with Zach and Iz

These last pictures are straight off the iPhone

I have some more pictures I want to post, including photos from some of our previous trips that I didn't blog about yet, but they're currently being held captive on my point and shoot camera and the card reader won't work. Grr. So hopefully I can figure out how to access those soon.

Your mom . . . no MY mom

I wanted to post this so that I don't forget it.  Its a sweet email my mom sent me on my birthday.  Its kind of a running joke in the family about who "the good one" is.  I have two sisters and my mom always tells us individually that we're "the good one". 

TOP TEN REASONS WHY EMILY IS “THE GOOD ONE”

1.        SHE IS A GOOD DAUGHTER WHO KEEPS IN TOUCH WITH AND SHOWS CONCERN FOR HER PARENTS.
2.       SHE IS A GOOD WIFE AND PARTNER FOR HER HUSBAND.
3.       SHE WILL BE A GREAT MOTHER.
4.       SHE IS FUNNY, QUIRKY AND ENTERTAINING.
5.       SHE IS SMART AND INSIGHTFUL.
6.       SHE IS BEAUTIFUL.  JUST BEAUTIFUL.
7.       SHE IS CREATIVE AND LOVES TO TRY & EXPERIMENT.
8.       SHE IS ALWAYS GOOD FOR A CRAZY, FUNNY STORY.
9.       SHE IS THE CHILD SHE WAS – SHY AND WORRIED, CRAZY AND FUNNY, ADVENTUROUS, WITH A SMART & FAST MIND.
10.   SHE IS NOT LIKE ANYONE ELSE.  AND THAT IS A GOOD THING.

Mom

 My younger sister, mom and me