Surprise!!!....

....we all yelled as Emily slowly walked in the door of our apartment, with Peyton jumping at her feet saying Hello.  Emily was surprised but seemed to be more in a daze by all the people and food that was now in our apartment...

3 weeks earlier...
I came up with the brilliant idea of throwing Emily a surprise party for her birthday on February 11th.  I thought it might be fun to do a theme party and decided on the idea of "Casino Night".  Games, food, friends...sounds like a great time.

Let me tell you one thing.  Planning a surprise party is HARD WORK!!!  Don't get me wrong, I had a blast doing it, but it was tough. 

So I started planning, looking on sites for decorations and theme party ideas.  I found great stuff, but I wanted to keep the budget under control.  So I found a blackjack mat, craps mat and a bunch of wall decorations to use throughout the apartment.  Very cool.  We didn't use the craps mat (lack of tables) but it is something I will keep for the future.  I also found some cool party favors, including $ sign beaded necklaces, poker chip keychains and giant bling $ sign chains for Emily and myself.  Of course, all of this stuff had to be delivered to a co-workers house, so Emily did not suspect anything. 

Another point....It is hard to plan a surprise party at your house when the person DOES NOT LEAVE!!!

Oh well.  I started working on things at work, including the welcome sign, fabricated to look like the Welcome to Las Vegas sign...turned out pretty cool.  Then I started to create the guest list and steal phone numbers from Emily's phone when she wasn't looking.  All in all, we had about 25 people there, including family and friends who we have not hung out with in awhile.

Day Of...
So I took a half day on Friday, the 11th, to prep the apartment for the party.  Little did I know that I wouldn't sit down until 11 pm.  I was exhausted.  So I left work and immediately went to several stores to get the needed supplies.  I got home about 1 o'clock and started cleaning the house.  I moved most of the stuff to the basement or in our room so we looked somewhat civilized.  Then Timmy showed up around 3 and helped me move the big stuff around.  Em's dad and aunt showed up and helped me even more, which I really needed (apparently, haha). 

About 5 o'clock, I decided I better start cooking.  I made quesadillas, mini paninis, taco dip, pizza, cheese and crackers, etc.  The paninis and quesadillas took forever, but I will say that our George Foreman was worth it's weight in gold.  I finally finished cleaning the kitchen and cooking around 6:50.  Finally showered and ready, I took a step back and looked around and realized....Wow, I did it!!!  Not to mention that the food was delicious and everything was hot at the same time (very tough to do).

Party was great.  Lot of fun playing blackjack and pong.  Betting chips and necklaces and Macy's cards (pong game that was High Roller).  People had a blast (so they told me, might be lying).  Everyone left by 1 and I was beat.  So much fun though and Em had a blast.

I want to thank:
-Jenn for the cake
-Tim, Tom and Auntie for helping set up
-Don and Chese for artichoke dip (great!!!)
-Margaret for fruit)
-Everyone for coming

Here's some pics:

Super Bowl Thoughts

Ok, so the Super Bowl is over, meaning that football is over for the season.  Yes, wives, you get your husband's back for 7 more months, so update that Honey Do list.  But don't fret gentlemen, the Draft is in April...so stay tuned...

My thoughts on the Super Bowl.  And these are thoughts on the day, not just the game.

1)  The Steelers LOST!!!!  The last couple of years have been tough to watch, with my Colts losing last year and the Steelers winnning the year before.  I have come to realize that I truly dislike the Steelers.  There is just something about that team.  I can't tell if it is Roethlisberger or the fact that they always seem to be good, or the fact that they always manage to beat my Colts.  I was very happy after that 4th down incompletion yesterday.  With 2 minutes left, Roethlisberger is one of the best in the game, and all I could think was "Packers 31-Steelers 32".  They always seem to manage to pull out those games and that is what makes them a great team.  But not last night.  The Packers defense played great throughout the game, defining the old addage "Bend, Don't Break". Congrats to the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.  There is a 41 year old, bitter Brett Favre sitting in Mississippi cursing the Packers.  HAHA!

2)  I eat way to much food on Super Bowl Sunday.  We went to a friends house last night and the food was delicious, but MAN!  They had chips, dips, pizza, cookies, chili, veggies (thank goodness), cheese, crackers.  What a great spread, but wow, was I feeling a little tired and stuffed on the ride home last night.  They always say moderation is the key to healthy living, but Super Bowl Sunday defines glutony.  Maybe I am getting old, but I just can't eat like I used to.

3)  Speaking of getting old, I have come to realize that I may not be the most social Super Bowl Sunday person out there.  I think I would much rather sit in my own house and watch the game in my sweats with my dog.  Not that I didn't have fun last night at our friend's house, but driving home, I just kept thinking "Can't wait to get home".  The game is Sunday evening, lasts until at least 10 and you feel like you can't leave the TV just in case of a legendary commercial or some sort of wardrobe malfunction.  That's a lot of pressure.  You can't miss history.  Can you?  Also, I love my wife.  I love the fact that she puts in the effort to care about the Super Bowl, because she knows that she canNOT watch anything else on the TV with me in the room for those 4 hours.  Bless her heart, she fell asleep last night in the 4th quarter and woke up to see the Packers win and said "Oh they won, good for them!"  How great is she?  So, with that said, I may never leave my home again on Super Bowl Sunday.  Feel free to come over.  That is an open invitation.

So, that's what I think.....Go Colts, Go Bills

Looking Back at '10

Looking back at 2010, I can only say "Wow".  That had to be the fastest year of my life.  So much happened and it actually was the most important year of my life, thus far, but it just seemed to fly by.  Emily finally finished school and we got married in September.  Tim and Laura had a baby and Mel and Cliff are finally getting ready to move back to New York and be closer to the family.  We had great times with friends and family.  So what did you do Jon, you might ask?  Well sit right down and let's go for a little ride through 2010:

March 2010:  Disney World!!! Our First Vacation Together!

The whole Stalica crew (all 8 of us) decided to go to the wonderful, magical world of Disney in March, thinking, maybe, it would be nice out.  YEAH RIGHT!!!  It didn't get over 65 the whole week.  Not that I am complaining or anything, but really???

We decided that week that we would do all the parks, which in hindsight, may have been a mistake, because we were all exhausted by the end.  When we arrived, we fell in love with the complex (thanks Mel and Cliff).  It was huge, with big rooms, a lake, several hot tubs and a golf course.  Our plan was to do Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, in that order.

Animal Kingdom:  I really appreciated Animal Kingdom, as I have always wanted to go on a Safari.  That is, by far, the coolest part of the park.  You ride around in a truck and see all these live animals in a "natural" habitat.  The ride was pretty long too, at least 45 minutes.  There were lions, giraffes, elephants, basically all the cool animals you always want to see.

Epcot: Some of the best rides in the Disney complex.  The virtual stuff was awesome.  There was the virtual space shuttle launch, which pushes your chest through your back, which is AWESOME!!  You can also design your own rollercoaster and ride it in this virtual reality machine.  Those were very cool.  We did ride space mountain, which was pretty cool, but there are better coasters out there.  Then it was on to Beers of the World.  Of course that ended up with some dancing in the streets and some beret wearing.  And also a movie starring Martin Short.  Crazy right?

Hollywood Studios: Best coasters of the complex.  The Tower of Terror was excellent, and we lucked out because there were very few people so we could do the ride, then go get right back in line.  Longest wait was probably 10 minutes.  The Aerosmith ride had the best take off and was very cool.  There are some great pics of Karen and Mel during take off.  HAHA!!  The family also watched a very cool stunt show that involved drifting cars and different action sequences.  I think that scene was portrayed in the movie Knight and Day.  Pretty cool.  I would have to say that Hollywood Studios was the best park, overall.

Magic Kingdom: For kids.  Definitely for kids.  Some cool rides, but it was the busiest park with the fewest attractions for grown ups.  Still pretty cool to see all that stuff I remember from when I was a kid.

Overall: What a great vacation!!!  We had a lot of fun and we were busy throughout the entire week.  By the end, we were all exhausted and ready to come home and relax a little bit.  I would go back to Disney when I have a family, but I will probably skip it on the next few vacations.

July 2010: Brad Paisley Concert

I have determined that Emily and I are concert goers.  That is our thing.  Some people like to hike, some like to play tennis, some like to go antiquing.  We are concert goers.  We have been to several.  This year, we went to see Brad Paisley as a wedding present from Emily's friend.  Usually, we sit in the lawn seats of Darien but this time we were under the awning.  What an experience!  I never thought it would make a big difference but with Brad Paisley, the show is just so much more entertaining up close.  At one point, he walked down into the crowd and played on a make shift stage with people crowded around him, about 2 rows from us.  Very cool.  That has to be the best concert I have ever been too.

July 2010: Baby Becca is born!

What a beautiful baby girl!! 

August 2010: Picton Party

Very low key this year.  Emily and I took it a little bit easier than we have in past years.  We still had a blast.  I will post pics soon.  I would say there was probably 300 people there throughout the day.  We rode over on Chris' boat with him and Missy.  Shaggy rocked out as usual.  I guess we might be getting old, or maybe it's because we didn't bring any friends this year.  Maybe 2011 will be different????

August 2010: Emily finished school!!!! She also got a great job!!!  We are growing up!!!

September 2010: Our Big Day!

See my various posts on this!

November/December 2010: Emily passed her test!  Chris also proposed to Missy!!!

As you can see, 2010 was a big year for Emily and I.  A lot of other things happened throughout the year, but I hit the big ones.  I can't wait to see what 2011 brings me.  So far we have 3 weddings (I'm in all 3), we are going to buy a house and I will be traveling for work.  Should be an interesting year!!!