Holiday Weekend Recap....

Well, we had a lovely three-day weekend and celebrated Joe's birthday all three days!!

Saturday, Joe wanted to ride over to Portillo's in Brandon, for lunch.  It only takes about 40 minutes to get there and the ride was easy.  We didn't run into any standing water or problems after Hermine came through.  Joe got his usual Italian beef with fries and a chocolate malt.  I decided to try their signature hotdog, shared his fries and had my own chocolate malt.

The hotdog was good, but not as good as the Italian beef. I'll switch back next trip.

Sunday, Joe wanted to go to the new Tampa Premium Outlets.  They opened before Christmas last year, but we put off going because we were afraid it would be too crowded.  I didn't get Joe a birthday gift because he wanted to shop, and shop he did!  I am blessed with a husband who loves to shop. He found two shirts at Brooks Brothers and two more shirts and a pair of shorts at the Haggar outlet.  I actually found a couple of new tops in Christopher Banks, even though I had no intention to shop for myself. The complex is really lovely and clean.  We ate lunch at the food court and decided to take the back roads home, rather than the interstates.  It was a fun trip.

Yesterday, Joe's actual birthday found us out for lunch with Helen and Cheryl.  Helen wanted to treat which was generous and wonderful.  They followed us back to our house for birthday cake.  Joe loves the Dairy Queen ice cream cakes, so that's what we got for him.  It was a Reece's Cup Blizzard birthday cake...yum!!

When Cheryl and Helen left, our friend Sheila called to say happy birthday.  She intended to drop by but was having some trouble with her new refrigerator (she thought) and asked if we would come by her place instead.  We arrived to hear a horrid noise in her kitchen.  She is still renovating and painting in her new home and just got brand new stainless steel appliances installed.  She thought the sound was coming from the refrigerator.  I thought it was coming from somewhere closer to the new stove.  Joe suggested she start turning off breakers to see if we could pinpoint where it was coming from, which she did.  I finally discovered that it was something in her waste can.  She felt really silly to discover it was the smoke detector she had thrown away.  We found it and took out the battery....blessed silence!!  Had a good laugh about it, visited for awhile then we came home.

All in all, Joe had a good birthday and a good weekend!  He got birthday calls from his brother, Lou, and from our son, Jeff and my sister, Patti.  Our son Joey is arriving this afternoon and is staying until Thursday.  He has the week off and decided to come for a visit.  They had been down in Boca Raton visiting Darlene's daughter, Rita, with Darlene's son Steve.  Steve has to go back to work and Darlene decided to ride back home with Steve and the dogs, leaving Joey to come for a visit with his dad.  We'll miss Darlene and the pups, and haven't seen Steve since Tristan's graduation, but will see him soon I'm sure since he recently moved down to Brunswick too.  It's so great having them only five hours away now.

So there you have our weekend.  It was a good one.  Thanks for your visit!! Peace & hugs!