Rock the Mullet

Jason and I had our "Rock the Mullet" party today and it was a success! It was a redneck/hillbilly/white trash themed party. Our first guests arrived at 2pm and the last left at 10pm - all in all I think we had 40 people show up. And yet somehow I've still got the energy to update the blog! (Hint: if you click on a picture you can see it bigger.)

I don't have many pictures of our food, but here was our menu:
Appetizers & Munchies - Pigs in a blanket, White Castle burgers, chips, dip, crackers and spray cheese, cheetos, funyons, and pork rinds.
Main - hot dogs, brats, potato salad, baked beans, macaroni and cheese
Dessert - Twinkees/Ding Dongs Cake, Jello mold, Spiked Watermelon (and wow, was that a pain to do!), Rice Krispy treats, Dirt pudding, Oreo cookies, and Fig Newtons. We tried to find Moon Pies but didn't have much luck.
Drinks - Jello shots, beer, Boone's Farm, soda, lemonade, and orange drink

Decorations - to start with, the front of our house - complete with a snowman, bunny rabbit, yard ornaments and a clothes line with some granny panties from Goodwill. The flower pots on the front porch were in tires, and we replaced our bench with some plastic chairs and a cooler. Oh, and Keystone beer sign on the front door.



In the backyard we put a tent up and had some parrot lights dangling from it. Also see the trashcan we set out - on the other side of that is the lawn mower we decided to leave out as well.


This is just a nice picture of the deck because I don't think I've actually posted one yet. It's 20'x24' and Jason & his dad built it this past fall. My mom and I put in the lattice work and did the landscaping - now we just need the bushes to grow!


This is the awesome bar that Kyle built for us! The keg is to the left of it - we decided to be a tiny bit klassier than originally planned and went with Coors Light instead of Keystone, Natty Light, or Pabst Blue Ribbon.


Baby pool with the rest of the beverages - soda, lemonade, and 9 different flavors of Boone's Farm (and would you believe that those aren't even all that they make?!?


Glider chairs with a big bowl of cheetos. The "centerpieces" are little vienna sausage cans with red carnations "planted" in them.


Main table. The centerpieces on this one were SPAM cans with carnations. This is also where one of the Keystone Light wind chimes was hanging.


What are you supposed to be looking for in this picture?? The twinkee and ding dong cake sitting on the table. Oh, and the White Castle box in the lower right corner.


The cornhole boards! We got them as a wedding present but both were all white. I painted them with the IU and Purdue symbols this week.


And now for some of the costumes! I'd like to point out Jason's rat tail - he was quite proud of it!


Jeff, Kerry, & Brooklyn - what a cute family!


Kevin and then his wife Beth - both with a few black teeth.


Katie and Brandon - aka K-Fed and Brittany Spears.


And my favorite - Chrissi!


I've got quite a few other pictures but it's time to hit the sack! I'll probably post more later!

Happy Easter!

We had Easter lunch/dinner at our house this year. It was Jason & I, my mom, Patrick, Karen, Stephanie (one of Karen's friends from law school - she lived too far away to go to her home for Easter), Roland, Susan, and Matt.

We had cole slaw, deviled eggs, broccoli casserole, creamy mashed potato bake, macaroni & cheese, ham, and peach cobbler for dessert. It was a combination of each family's favorites.


On the table I used a pale green tablecloth, and then mom and I deciphered Martha Stewart's instructions and turned the napkins into bunny ears! The basket in the middle of the table held the rolls.


Lastly, this is a picture of the fun new drink container that I have! There is an inside tube that holds the ice, so it keeps the drink cold, without watering it down.

Our new car!!!!

Jason and I traded in the Honda Civic today for a Chevy Equinox! It's a 2005, with 24,000 miles. It's All Wheel Drive, and also has heated leather seats, a 6 cd changer, and a sun roof!! We weren't planning on buying one until this summer, but they got this one in yesterday and it was such a great deal that we couldn't pass it up. Not to mention that it's the color that I really wanted - Salsa Red!




And lastly, Jason's artistic shot ....

Cruise Day 1

We had such a great time on our cruise! We left Monday morning just in time to beat the snow, thank goodness! We got to our ship, The Sovereign of the Seas, around 1pm. First on the agenda was eating our first buffet meal, and having our first drink. Then we walked around and did a tour of the entire boat. Here is a picture of our ship, and of our room. It was tiny, but you really aren't in it that often so it didn't matter much. The bathroom left a little to be desired though!

That afternoon we had to do our "Muster Drill" which was when we had to put on life jackets and go stand near our lifeboat. That evening we went to our first show, and had dinner in the Mirage Dining Room. We had second seating, which was at 8:30pm and the meal was great. The best part was that if you wanted two of the appetizers you could. If you'd rather have a different side, you just had to ask Nicholi (our main server) and you got it. After dinner we went to Karaoke Superstar (and wow, Simon from Amerian Idol would have had a hayday with some of them!) and then hit the sack. We were getting up early Tuesday morning!

Cruise Day 2

Day 2 of the cruise was my birthday!! Rather than docked, the boat was tendered, so we took little ferry boat over to CoCoCay Beach - the private island owned by Royal Caribbean. We got there about 9am, and even though it was cloudy, it was all still so beautiful. By 10 am, we'd had our first drink (a CocoLoco!) At 10:40 we had our first excursion - all 6 of us went on the Wave Runner tour. It lasted about an hour, and we got to stop a few times, and even though it was a tour, the guys were still able to drive the wave runners as fast as they wanted.

Lunch was a fabulous barbecue and then we went snorkeling for a few hours. The fish were beautiful and as soon as we get our underwater camera developed I'll post pictures. We left the island around 4:30pm to go back and get ready for formal night. As a birthday present from Jason, I got to have my hair done. Sitting up in the dimly lit salon/spa, feeling the gentle rocking of the boat, which having my hair done was so relaxing!

We all met for drinks in the Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception and then went to dinner that. The highlight of the meal were the appetizers - Jason and I both had the shrimp cocktail and escargot - yum! At the end of dinner our table, plus our 3 waiters all sang happy birthday to me and brought an extra dessert.

After dinner we went to see the night's show "Dancin' Thru the Movies." After that it was time for the Rockin' Dueling Piano show (and more drinks of course!)

The best part of the night was the Chocolate Buffet - so much chocolate, so little time! We finished off the night with the pizza buffet. What an action packed birthday!!


Oh and when we got back to our room we had our first towel animal - an elephant!

Cruise Day 3

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the day that we were docked in Nassau. We weren't all that impressed - once you saw one block it was all the same. There were tons of jewelry stores, and of course the straw market. "Hey pretty lady - you want your hair braided?" Jason was most impressed with the Nissan Skylines he saw driving around and the guns on a ship we went by.

We went back on the boat for lunch and then back out to Nassau to take a water taxi over to Paradise Island and Atlantis. It was beautiful over there! The largest room in Atlantis goes for $25,000 a night, with a 4 night minimum. To see the room you have to put down at $5,000 deposit, which you lose if you don't book the room. Atlantis is also famous for it's aquarium - and Jason took tons of pictures of that!

That night we decided to just eat dinner in the buffet, and then we to see the "Love and Marriage Game Show." It was hilarious with questions from "how many people did your spouse date before you" and "where is the most unusual place you've made whoopie?" The couple that had been married 58 years won the show. Afterwards we went to the Dancing Under the Stars and poolside midnight buffet. Then it was time for bed! We had two swans kissing from our towels that night.

Cruise Day 4

Thursday was our day at sea. The morning started out sunny and hot, but the closer we got to Florida, the cloudier and cooler it got. We still had time to lay out, but ended up spending a lot of this day watching some of the contests (Men's sexy legs, and the belly flop), hanging out in one of the bars, and playing in the casinos. (We came out $6.25 ahead.)

Dinner was at the buffet again, and then we went to see the last show. It was called "Flashback" and then did some awesome musical numbers. At the end they brought out a lot of the crew and it was a great way to end it.

After the show we went to Superstar Karaoke again, and then came the highlight of the cruise. We played an adult scavenger hunt game called The Quest. Some of the items were:
- a male team member must bring up two ladies bras. Jason took up mine and Beth's.
- a female team member had to go kiss a guy's bald head. I did this one.
- 2 male team members had to skip around holding hands. Jason and Ben did that one.
- a male team member had to go crawl around and bark like a dog. Jason did that one.
The grand finale was:
A male team member had to take his shirt off, put on a bra, wear lipstick, ladies shoes, and carry a handbag. And you guessed - Jason did it! If you click on the link below you can see video of it (sorry, no sound.) It starts out and Jason tells Rob, our cruise director, that we are team #5. Then Rob tries to fix the bra on Jason. Then you get to see his fabulous model walk, finishing up with a nice smack on the butt. Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUM6Yz-N_pk

In case you can't get the video to work, here is a picture:

After another great pizza buffet we went to bed. Our final towel animal was the best!

Congratulations Megan and Allen!

Gavin Andrew Tucker entered the world on Feb. 7th, at 3:11am. He weighs 6 lbs, 8 oz and is 21 inches long and has a full head of black hair. The proud parents seem to be doing great! Jason and I get to go meet Gavin tonight at the hospital and we can't wait - until then, here is a picture of him: