Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday to my Mom - otherwise known as Grandma JoJo around our house. And a belated very Happy Birthday to my Grandfather, whose birthday was yesterday.

To celebrate JoJo's birthday, some of the women in my family gathered for drinks and dinner last night at Nektar on Elmwood. Plentiful martinis, fantastic food, wonderful ambiance and great company. It was a good night out.

My personal highlights of the evening? When I caught one of my Aunts muttering into her cell phone after a few martinis and many glasses of wine and I asked my cousin who my Aunt was talking to on the phone. Her response? "She's drunk dialing Grandpa." Heh. 'Cause, why not drunk dial Grandpa after you've had a few, right? Or when my other Aunt ordered up a bottle of wine and when the server asked her how many glasses to bring with the bottle, she looked around the table, shrugged and said, "One." Yes, we may have imbibed a bit. Just a bit.

We also had a chance to see some of the carvings displayed throughout the city as part of the fundraising effort to retree Western New York after the "Surprise October Storm of 2006." They are beautiful, intricate, HUGE carvings made from trees destroyed in the "Surprise October Storm of 2006." (Yes, I have to keep referring to the storm in all of its media hyped glory.) It's a fantastic idea and it is great to see the carvings out and about the city.

Our day today is much more low-key. First rain in quite a while. It's nice to have a chance to regroup at home on a holiday.