Rycolesky

This is a picture of upside-down-dog Dylan, Sara sent me... she's watching him while I'm here... and it looks like he's having a relaxing time... and has made himself at home! (thank you Sara!)


Sunday I met Cas and Nic, and some of Cas's new friends out for brunch at a place called HUE in downtown Orlando. The neighborhood has got a lot of character... The streets are cobblestone (or brick) and narrow, and there are plenty of nice restaurants and cool little boutiques.

The food at HUE was awesome... the crepes were ridiculously good... and so were their crab cakes. We had mimosas and they caught me up on all of their adventures the night before.

After HUE we went down to another place called Wildside, and hungout.... It really had the feel of Uptown Dallas meets Miami. We stayed there for a while.. honestly, I guess I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the new people, and I've noticed that recently I've been starting to cry again more often and at the most awkward moments... I think it's almost been one year... and will be in just a week... So, when the group said they were going to a bar down the street, I told Cas and Nic that I was gonna go back to the house... and then burst into tears.

They told me to stay and the three of us got a chance to talk and be together while the rest of the group went on. As soon as it was just us, I felt better... like, I could talk and be myself with people who know me, and laugh and have fun. I just wish it didn't take spontaneous crying for that to happen...

After that, we had a great, fun evening and night... a lot of girl-talk and also deeper conversations. We played the trivia and word games on the machine at a little place near Cas's called Miller's... Cas totally shocked us and blew us away with her insanely accurate knowledge of useless and obscure trivia! SERIOUSLY! The hardest, most impossible questions and she would yell out the right answer.... we got lots of top scores, and entered our winner name as "Rycolesky."

The bug made an appearance again... and of course, we took pics.... Andrew was so stoked when he saw it... so I took him for a ride... I told you, kids LOVE VW Beetles and LOVE the yellow....


Today, Cas's friend Gwen came back from Tampa with her adorable baby girl... and Andrew came home from school... That makes 6 of us total.

Cas made her famous eggrolls for dinner tonight... which were so freakin' good! Seriously amazing! They took a while and a lot of preparation, but I'm glad Nicole insisted she make them... Cas complained about the time and how complicated it was, but still liked cooking them...she's so funny, we joked about her having her own "Debby Downer" cooking show.... "This recipe is so much work.... and sucks to make.. so first, you take the garlic..."

Wow, I've talked about food a lot in this blog.... hmmm?

Nicole leaves EARLY tomorrow... :( and then I leave tomorrow evening... I'm gonna miss them! So, we'll have to plan another girls trip soon....


actually, my sister has an artist residency in Maine, and we're going to make the road trip together... So, hopefully we can stop in NYC and see Nicole!