SO, at the parade, we staked out a spot in front of Liz's mom's house. They have a party every year, and since Liz and Blake weren't able to make it to the shower (damn you, David Gray) and we aren't going to make it to their wedding in April (too pregnant) I was determined to see them!
But first, we went to Perks and walked past our old house on Saint Rose. Ahh, memories of the days when we lived somewhere where we could walk or bike easily to coffee shops, jobs, bars, and restaurants! But I digress.
Liz is the Queen of the Saint Patty's Parade every year. She was looking beautiful, as usual, and ready for the big wedding!! I was looking...pregnant...in the cute dress Leigh loaned me. Yay for not having to buy a whole bunch of maternity clothes!!
So, Jeff, Jane, my parents, Andy and I all went to the parade. We finally found Blake and got to visit with him for a while and find out about his new position as the head lawyer at DNR. Pretty impressive, I must say, Blake!!
None of us realized that Mom and Dad are big time bead magnets. I'm so glad that they were there and that the weather was as beautiful as it was! I love parades!!
Jane and I voted this girl's outfit as the most inappropriate of the parade. It wasn't a costume, otherwise it might have been more appropriate.
This is Mom only beginning her days bead collecting activities. Many more were to come...
Jeff wasn't as good of a bead magnet as Mom, though I think he was more concerned with talking to Andy and drinking beer (same thing Andy was doing.)
Most of my beads came from Dad, who was able to get some away from the little kid who was standing next to him getting ALL the beads. I got the soccer ball beads, which I found out later the kid coveted. Too bad, KID!
At some point, Mom decided she needed to offload some of her many beads, as her neck was getting weighed down. It was a tangled mess. We eventually got someone from a float to give us a box to put all the beads in!
Eventually, we saw the people I wanted to see most in the parade: Carey and Mary! Carey's company has a float, and I knew they'd be there. I totally missed them when they went by, though, so I had to chase their float down to say hello. Of course, the parade had been going super slow until right after their float passed us, and then they were booking it. So I had to haul pregnant ass to catch up to them. But after I saw them, I was happy and didn't care about the rest of the parade, really! It's fun to see friends!!
Speaking of fun to see friends, Jessica rode her bike over and hung out for a while! YAY! Since we didn't get to visit too much the night before at the baby shower, it was great to visit with her at the parade.
After the parade was over, we went to our favorite place, The Chimes!! First, though, Andy and I stopped by our Alma Mater and took pictures in front of the parade grounds to show our child later on in life.
Then, we went to The Chimes for some delicious food and bloody mary's! Even my virgin bloody mary was good! And guess who we saw again at the restaurant?! Carey and Mary! It was nice to actually get to talk to them that time, instead of just screaming their names and receiving a bunch of beads in return (though I am ever thankful for their generosity.)
If you're ever in BR, go to The Chimes. The food is so good and they have a huge beer selection. AND you can sit and ponder the homo-erotic football scene painted on the wall.
