goodbye lunch for auntie lore

...i think i've mentioned that ted's little sister lauren ('lore', 'orangeloren') is embarking on a new adventure and moving to sweden to be with douglas, her boyfriend of 3 years. after my statistics exam on friday, we met up with lore and dave and becki at victory's banner in roscoe village for a goodbye lunch.

...oh, the other big news is that dave and his girlfriend becki are now ENGAGED! i think it's okay to say that here, since we told yia yia last sunday, and i doubt grandma carol has internet access. anyhoo, yup, it's true, and we're very excited! so now becki is auntie becki, and i'm very glad because we are going to miss auntie lore when she's far away in sweden, and auntie ali is far away in seattle.

...anyhoo, lauren and her one way ticket are leaving on a jet plane to lund, sweden on tuesday. i personally cannot imagine moving to another state, let alone a whole other COUNTRY on a different CONTINENT. mainly because i can barely get myself to pack for a mere vacation, and when i do actually move residences, i end up with a ton of stuff thrown into about a dozen miscellaneous boxes at the 11th hour, and i can't imagine they'd let you on a plane with that many miscellaneous boxes without charging you an arm and a leg and a bubbo (cadencean for 'elbow').

...hopefully, lauren will be back for one of the holidays later this year, so she won't miss all of cadence's toddlerhood. and if i ever get up the nerve to fly across the ocean with a preschooler, maybe we'll go visit her in sweden. but cadence would have to become a lot more docile for that to happen and for some reason, i have my doubts about that...

...in other news, we have a new addition to the family. becki's mom sent a gift for cadence, and it happens to be a very life-like dolll. it's not 100% lifesize, but the details are amazingly accurate. i just hope this doesn't cause cadence to start asking for a brother or sister. hopefully, this doll will suffice for now.

...i love this picture of cadence giving her uncle dave a smooch! ha ha. i think it's the best photo i've gotten of her smooching something or someone.

...man, what a cutie. yeah, she can be a screaming terror at times, but usually she really is this adorable.

well, my birthday was yesterday. i can't believe i'm 34. my brother says i'm in my mid-30s now, but i'm gonna stick to the notion that i have one whole year before i have to admit to being in that demographic.

my cousin kris and friend connie came over for dinner last night. ted cooked a fabulous dinner of tilapia with tomatillo sauce, avocados with creamy maque choux (corn and peppers) and margarita granita. the menu was from rachel ray's 30 minute meals2 book, but i would have to say that this was more like a 2 hour meal. it was definitely worth the wait though. everything was sooooo goooood. it was great seeing connie and kris again, and i think ted had fun playing chef, bartender, brewmeister, and host.

now i have to get back to my reading while cadence is still napping. ted got me 3 books off my amazon wishlist for my birthday, and one of them is margaret salinger's 'dream catcher', a memoir about life with her dad j.d. salinger. and y'all know how i feel about the J.D....