Retirement Party, Cook your Own Dinner and Spending time with Family in Santa Maria, California

     

    

    So yesterday, my sister Lisa and I were honored to attend the retirement party of our cousin Vera, short for Elvira, she was named after our grandmother and her dad and my dad are brothers. So we are sister/cousins, kind of sisters, kind of cousins. The party was held in Santa Maria, which is about 2 1/2 hours from where Lisa and I live, so we left work at noon so we could take our time getting there.

      The party was held at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge during their Friday Night "Cook Your Own". Now this is one of the most unique, scary, dangerous cookouts I've ever seen. You purchase what type of meat you want, Rib Eye ($30), New York Steak ($25), Fish ($25), Chicken ($25), Pork Ribs ($25) or you can get just the salad plate ($15), no meat. They gave us a ticket for our meal, Lisa and I both chose the New York Steak...GO BIG OR GO HOME, right?

    We had our own private party room and it was set up with a  full bar and tables just for our party. Lisa and I both had a glass of wine and enjoyed the appetizers which consisted of 7 Layer Dip with Chips, Spinach Dip with Bread and/or crackers, Chips and Salsa, and Chicken Salad. We could have been satisfied just eating that spread!

Picture of the Guest of Honor, our cousin Vera and her daughter Anna

    It was so nice to see Vera so happy to be done with the daily drudge of going to the office and having to deal with the drama and stress of a job. She's got great plans in her future to do more gardening and yardwork, to go camping with her children and grandchildren and hopefully to spend some time visiting me and Lisa!

L-R: Lisa, Me, Vera and Anna

    We met several of her coworkers and they all had wonderful things to say about her, they are truly going to miss having her around.

    Finally it was "Cook your Own" time and it was confusing but next time we will do better. First you stand in line with your ticket by the table that handles what your meal is going to be. We were having New York Steak so they had this huge tray of the most gorgeous steaks I've ever seen and you get to pick which one you want and they put it on a foam plate for you and give you a glass plate. We asked them at this table if we really and truly had to cook our own dinner and they said yes! But they gave us a tip, they said look for one of the guys in a red shirt and let them know it's your first time and they will help you.

    We found a very handsome and sweet man in a red shirt, I wish I had gotten his name but he was just the best. The photo below is of the "seasoning table". This is the first step, they have a spray bottle with brine and shakers with salt, pepper, something that just said seasoning...we added a lot of everything!

Red shirt Hero!

    Mr. Red Shirt then took us over to the grill which you can see in the background behind him. I was lucky that Lisa decided to man (woman) the grill, here's a shot of her standing there watching our steaks.

Brave Lisa standing next to that burning hot grill!

Dangerously hot! You could feel the heat!

    Since Lisa was doing such a good job at the grill, I decided to go and get her a Margarita and they had a very friendly bartender that was really sweet and gave me a free drink to try, he said he had just invented it. It was delicious with the flavors of peach, very tasty and refreshing!

Lisa's Margarita in the background and my free Peach Drink

Friendly bartender, gray haired man in the black shirt.

    On the walls they had several plaques with names on them. I'm not sure what they signified, but as I was standing there sipping my drink, I noticed the one below and had to get a picture because I follow a YouTube channel called Arne and Carlos. They are two knitting and yarn designers living in Norway, absolutely love them and how weird that the name on this sign is almost the name of their channel!

Arne and Carlos sign

    Finally our steaks were done and we made our way out of the grill room to the next station where they had several side dishes, baked potatoes, chili beans, salad, macaroni salad, French fries, garlic bread and various salsa and sauces. I loaded my plate and it was all delicious, so delicious that I didn't even think to take a picture. 

    We were stuffed and I only ate 1/3 of my steak. Luckily they give you bags to take your steak home. We continued to visit with cousins that were arriving late and finally it was 9pm and Lisa and I had planned to leave no later than 8:30 pm as it's a 2-hour drive home, but it was hard to leave as we were having a good time.

    We arrived home safely and we had a fabulous time and we wish Vera every happiness in the new chapter of her life. We love you cousin!

Mom is 85!

 On December 19, 2021 our mother turned 85 and we had to celebrate her. 

In 2016 she turned 80 and we tricked her! Instead of celebrating her birthday on December 19th, we changed it up and had a huge bash for her on October 22nd, you can read about it and see pictures HERE. 

Here's a photo of her at her party for her 80th Birthday.

This year we wanted to do something big for her again, not everyone makes it to 85! Unfortunately COVID has changed so many things and gathering family from far and near was just out of the question. 

So we decided to do a smaller gathering, just her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Not everyone in the family has received their vaccines and I'm really serious about keeping mom safe and away from people that may possibly be sick. The idea of mom dying alone in a hospital without her family is just unthinkable!

Anyway, because December is cold, we planned a lunch for her and we weren't able to surprise her because it was planned for the backyard of my house and she lives with me. Regardless we had a wonderful time and "Our Queen" was so happy. 

I want to share some photos of the event.

Here's a photo of mom alone with her cake. Honestly I think she is getting younger!

As always, she's draped in red, her favorite color for as long as I can remember. She always dressed us in red as children.

From left - my brother Fred, me in pink, mom in red, my sister Lisa and my brother Jaime. I'm the oldest, Jaime is the baby.

Not everyone was able to attend at the same time as some had to work, I tried to get photos as I could of her with everyone.

Here's mom with me and my son James, my daughter April was missing.

The next in line as far as age in our family is my sister Lisa. Here she is with her husband Sean or as he is known to us Guero. Lisa's son Sean Jr was unable to attend as his wife was pregnant and due to have that baby any second, turns out the baby had his own schedule and I'm proud to say that little Baby Sean was born on December 22 at 5am, healthy at 9 pounds, 21 inches long.

My sister Lisa and her husband Sean aka Guero and mom

 We did take mom to visit her newest great grandson on December 31st, New Years Eve, I'll go ahead and post a picture of her with the baby here, even though the baby did not attend her party! Isn't he precious! Mom was so happy to meet him.

Next in line is my brother Fred aka Federico, named after my dad. His family was all working, they did show up later in the afternoon, but I didn't get a chance to get any pictures! But I did get one of mom with Fred.

Next was my baby brother Jaime and his family. I didn't manage to get a family photos all together, but I did catch them all separately.

Mom and Jaime

Mom and Jaime's wife Connie

Mom with brother Jaime's children, Gabriel, Clarissa and Sarena

And last but not least, I have to share this photo of my mom with our dog Chorizo. Mom and Chorizo are the best of friends and Chorizo seemed to know it was a special day and stayed close to mom's side.

It was a beautiful day and I am so grateful to have this woman in my life, she's been a great teacher and friend. Love you mom and we'll write another blog about you when you turn 90!