Engagement Party

It's Memorial Day weekend and we have more to celebrate than just the holiday.   A little over a month ago, Tony proposed to Christine and today, we had the chance to get everyone together to congratulate them. Twenty-six people filled our house in support of the newly betrothed couple, and we had a wonderful evening of fun, laughter, and eating 'til our heart's content.  We are so grateful to be able to share this special time with them, and look forward to many more in the future!

Neal prepared a surprise for Christine and Tony, and blew

up several of the photos we had of them.  We put them up

throughout the house in honor of the happy couple.

One of the pictures was left with a white border around

it for guests to sign throughout the evening

Tony and the boys, including his Best Man, Chad (right),

who flew in from Arizona to attend the party

Neal and the twins

Carolyn, Christine, Debbie, and Julie

Christine and Tony with his mom, dad, sister, and cousins

Preparing for cake-cutting on the wedding day!

The Police

Tonight was The Police concert (the tickets I got Neal for his birthday) at the Woodlands Pavilion. They were awesome! Here are some pics....

It was a great evening for an outdoor concert

Sting coming out for a preview to sing a song with 

opening act, Elvis Costello

Battle of the Bands

Well, the most anticipated event of the year took place this weekend - the Rock Band Battle of the Bands competition. This event was hosted by our super spirited neighbors - Mike & Lisa - and featured artists from fellow neighbors (Sarah, Gi, Neal, and myself), as well as others from the "regulars group" of Rock Band fanatics. We have all been playing like real rock stars over the last few months (some of us even jumped one or two levels on our instruments!) so Mike thought it was time we really see who's boss. He and Lisa put together three bands with four members each: a singer, a drummer, a bass guitarist, and a lead guitarist. Each participant was assigned a band based on instrument played and skill level (to even out the bands). Our mission was to dress up as if we were really going on stage in front of an audience, and show up prepared to rock the house.

And that's just what we did. No one in the competition was lacking a great costume. We all got very into our roles, as did our host and hostess, who had orchestrated a full-on stage, complete with elevated platform, overhead sign, fog machine, black light, and colored strobe lights. They had even prepared framed CDs with a laser Rock Band inscription and group photo to present to the winning band. This was the real deal.

We had a blast, though neither my band nor Neal's band won (through no fault of our own I must contend! :o). It was certainly a memorable evening, with great costumes, great company, and great music.

The Black Mambas:

Monica, Neal, Lisa, Joan

3rd place

The Dingleberry Shortcakes:

Jonathan, Sarah, Kelly, Scott

2nd place

The Infected Dorks:

Gi, Angela, Mike, Chad

1st place

Don't you love the kilt?

Amadeo

Neal flew to Arizona over the weekend to become a godfather to Amadeo, the son of his good college friends, Adam and Cindy. From the great photos, I'd say they had a beautiful ceremony and a nice time.

Neal, Jenny, and Amadeo

Adam and Cindy (to the left) with their family and friends

Happy Birthday Neal!

This weekend we celebrated Neal's birthday. The party started on Friday night (when Neal received a suspicious looking package at work from his mom and sister :) and ended on Sunday with a nice dinner out.

Here's the suspicious looking package.  Lynn is so cute, she 

even wrapped the gift inside with Transformer wrapping paper!

Hmmm....what could it be?

What else but Guitar Hero 3!  Neal has been wanting

this for quite some time and now we have a second

guitar to use on Rock Band so that we can have a

bass player.  We've already had a full band practice

on Saturday night with our neighbors, Sarah and Gi.

It was a blast!

Neal's sister, Carolyn, found this shirt tucked away 

at home and sent it with the package.  It was his dad's

 old Harley shirt.  What an awesome gift!  

Breakfast at iHop on Sunday morning.  There's nothing

like starting a birthday with a nice, big meal.....

....and finishing it off with another big meal.  :-)

For dinner we met up with Christine and Tony

at a place we haven't tried before - Cafe Adobe.

Supposedly they have the best margaritas in town.

It was a fun atmosphere and a nice time.

Opening gifts:  First, a Harley card from Mom and Dad

Continuing with Mom's wrapping paper theme, 

Christine included some Transformer tattoos 

with his gift.

For Neal's gift, I bought us some concert tickets to see

The Police.  He's been wanting to see them for the longest

time but has never been able to make their shows for one

reason or another.  Now he finally gets to go this month!

I'm really looking forward to it too.  They're kind of a blast

from the past, a band that anyone who grew up in the '80s 

grew up listening to. 

The spot on my right shoulder is water after having to clean

myself when one of the busboys dropped a bowl of salsa and

it splattered all over me.  Other than my salsa shower,

we had a good time.