A January Saturday....

Last Saturday we had a pretty busy day. Lisa picked me and Sierra up at 8:45 a.m. to have breakfast at IHOP then go to the International Gem and Jewelry show. I have never been but Lisa and her mother-in-law Nella go every year. Lisa buys such beautiful stones and semi-precious stones for Nella to make necklaces with. Her collection is just beautiful! I should take pictures of some of her items...but anyway. This was a first for me and CC and I didn't really know what to expect. If I learned anything... it's to walk around and price FIRST then go back and buy. It was kinda hard to do with CC constantly telling me look over here, no here, let's look there, why didn't you go here, it's only $3, it will match my other five strands..... you get the point. I missed several booths but went home with some very pretty things and one VERY maxed out credit card!

The jewelry show was in the Lila Crockrill theatre. We parked at the Grand Hyatt downtown and walked through the hotel into in the theatre's meeting rooms. There was a short walk outside along San Antonio's river. I took the opportunity to take a few photos....of course. I'm a blogger...my camera is ALWAYS with me!
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This is a mural on top of the back side of the hotel.... (I love that blue sky)

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This is the restaurant in the hotel. There are beautiful chandeliers and painting and glass art work all over the hotel. It's truly breathtaking!

Lisa and I are planning to each take a day off in April and spend the day downtown, lunch here is definately on the agenda!
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This is going up the escalator from the ground level (river) to the lobby of the hotel. It's a beautiful collection of glss butterfly thingys... too pretty!

This was actually inside the Lila Crockrill theatre. The entire sculputure (if that's what you call it) is composed of soda cans.... Sierra nearly went nuts when she saw this. She now wants to save all of her Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper cans to make on huge giant Dr. Pepper can. I've been throwing all the cans away.... that plan, my friends, will just NEVER happen!

The river...... It was chilly and windy that day. But it is so pretty there I couldn't help myself. I HAD to take pictures!

CC and Jakob. Jakob has a little crush on CC and we were teasing them that they both were wearing stripes that day. It was so sweet...before I took the photo Jakob fixed his hair and straightened his shirt....

CC took this picture of me and Lisa. Sierra already knows... when she takes a picture of us it has to be from the chest up! Come on, I KNOW I'm not the only one who does this!

Now it my and CC's turn.

After the jewelry show I took Lena to buy her a skateboard (that will be another post) and then get ready to go to Sergey's 37th birthday party. I wasn't too psyched about going because the last time we went Emil had wwaaaaaaayyyyyy too much to drink and it was one awful ride home.

Anyway, Ida prepared a beautiful table full of delicious food and you guessed it....vodka!

One of my favorite Russian dishes was present.....shuba! By the looks of it, it was a favorite of everyone's! There is hardly any left!

Dolma's made a suprise visit... along with different types of salads, breads, red cavier, borzheneena, smoked salmon, steaks smothered in cheese and mushrooms. It was super delicious...and the best chocolate cake I have EVER had!

Though the guys drank, they behaved and everyone enjoyed themselves! Here is Arkadiy, my Papa Bear and Lisa's husband, Stas.

And of course the birthday boy, Sergey.... here with Arkadiy. Lisa and I thought it was quite funny how both look like they are thinking, "Get this picture over with!"The following night Emil decided he wanted some more Russian foods and I was craving more red caviar, so at 8 pm we loaded up and headed to Ali Baba. Oh man....we bought two bottles of Tarhun... the best drink you will ever drink. It's a summer-type soda made from tarragon. We bought the bologna with pastachios, lavash, ikra (2 jars), Armenian cheese (it was gone the next day) and four of those pizza-like things..one with meat and one with cheese. Oh and Emil found this Russian cream cheese that he used to eat when he was little. It was sooooo good! The girls love the Russian foods... I came home from work and Sierra was on her bed with a long oval plate with the jar of caviar, lavash bread, Russian cream cheese and some bologna. That makes me so happy that she is so diverse in her choices!

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Lena has been so happy with her skateboard. I can't get her off of it! However, my little baby was holding my laptop and skating to the kitchen to give it to me.... yes, horrible idea! Considering our luck with laptops these past few months.... And it was inevitable...she nearly dropped it, catching it on it's way down, but now my "a" key is not striking as it's supposed to....again! I will be posting pictures of her skateboarding and the new family toy soon!

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I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! We have mostly just lounged around the house.... playing. What are you doing? Anything exciting going on?