Buffalo Trip 2006, Part 3

After a few days of fun, we raced back from Canada to Buffalo for the real reason for our trip -- my cousin's wedding!

Once again, I enjoyed the wedding in a bridesmaid dress (bridesmaid appearance #4!! -- you can hire me if you need an experienced bridesmaid!)! This wedding I was able to enjoy my role with my little bro's girlfriend, so it was especially fun!

The bride & groom were extremely happy, as was the mother of the bride (my aunt)! It was a beautiful, small wedding at Kloc's Grove in West Seneca (cute place -- I recommend it).

My family was surely the entertainment of the evening, with Ry & I tearing up the dance floor, my mother getting a lap dance from my Aunt Deb, and my catching of the bouquet and Ry getting the garter! Below are a few photos (of Ry's), with more to come once I get my film back!

Cousin Laurie (the beautiful bride) being escorted down the isle by her mom (Aunt Cheri)

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Mr. & Mrs.!

Congratulations to Jay & Laurie!

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The bridesmaids (Kel, friend G, and me!)!

The dresses looked really nice and the flowers were gorgeous!

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Little Bro Steve & his girlfriend Kel! They're cute!

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Ry & I! He cleans up nice!

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Buffalo Visit 2006, Part 2

After our fun night at the Falls, Ry & I headed to Marineland with my Big Brother, Sister-in-law, and my cutest-ever nephew!

I spent many, many days at Marineland of Canada when I did my undergrad work. But, I hadn't been back to see my whales for about 3 years! I won't ruin the re-count of my wonderful trip by listing the pros and cons of marine mammals in captivity, but I was surprised by all that had changed at the park in the last few years. Many of my favorite whales were no longer there, but there were a few new babies (including a 4 day old beluga!)! It was fun to just be a tourist with Ry and hang out with my Big Bro's family! The pictures below show some of the fun we had (though, I will add more of my cutie nephew once I get all of the film developed!)!

Nootka (this beautiful orca) gets ready to drench the crowd during the "Killer Whale Splash Zone" at Friendship Cove. Did you say you needed an adult volunteer?? Yes, my boyfriend will do it!
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Yep, that's Ry showing everyone that getting soaked with whale-water is the funnest thing one can do on a hot Friday morning!
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We visited with Kiska (my other favorite orca) in the underwater viewing area. I swear she remembers our mornings together!
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Next we went to hang out with the Belugas at Artic Cove! We met up with my old trainer friend Doug and checked out all of my Beluga friends!
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Ry & my cutest-ever nephew petted and fed the Belugas! They had the best time and I was so excited that they loved my whales!
(Cute Overload Alert -- Ry petting a Beluga!!)
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Buffalo Visit 2006, Part 1 PHOTOS!

I was unable to get photos to work on the previous post, but here are some below!! The photos are all Ry's because I took along the film camera for this trip (as my digital disliked hiking in Texas as much as I did and tried to kill itself in the hot sun). But Ry is super great at most things including taking photos, so I am happy to post his amazing work!

A rainbow formed above the rocks at the American Falls!

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Ry & I at Niagara Falls (American Falls on the left and Horseshoe Falls to the right)

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Another great falls shot (Ry took about 100, plus videos!)

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We're cute! And wet from the mist!

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The view from our awesome hotel room!

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Our morning wake-up view! Totally worth the "splurge"!
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More photos and stories to come!

Buffalo Visit 2006, Part 1

Here it is -- the first of stories from our Buffalo adventure!

Ry & I rolled into Buffalo late in the evening, and drove through the 'hood. His nervous butterflies vanished the minute we walked in to my parents' house! Within minutes, he was welcomed in to the family and we were all off to DUFF'S for the best wings in the world!

At DUFF'S, there was a lot of chatting, laughing, Canadian beer-drinking and wing-eating with Mom, Dad, Little Bro and his long-time, live-in girlfriend, K. Ry fit right in -- except that he ate BBQ wings instead of the spicy hot ones! Though I did get him to eat one really hot wing!

Thursday morning we were up early and on our way to Niagara Falls for Ry's first trip to one of the world's "seven forgotten wonders"! Dad, Mom, & K joined us for a trip on the Maid of the Mist, this super-cool boat ride that took us right by the American Falls and into the basin of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Everyone had the best time and Ry took literally about 100 photos! We were soaked (because we refused to put on the dorky blue ponchos they provided), but it felt great on the hot day!

We enjoyed the rest of the day exploring every angle of the Falls. There are lots of little parks and overlooks and trails in the area and the Sneks family had to try to keep up with Ry's excitement! We even took Ry over the Rainbow Bridge for his very first visit into Canada!

The family had to head back around dinner time, but Ry and I headed to the BEST hotel I have ever stay in! The Embassy Suites in Niagara Falls, Canada were amazing!! Below are a few pictures of our view! It was so amazing to see the falls from up there. The first hour in our room, we just sat and looked out our window! And the room itself was amazing! A king-sized comfy bed and a whirl-pool jacuzzi that had windows that opened to the room so that you could see the falls while sitting in the tub! Plus there was an awesome shower, fridge, 2 TVs, a seperate sitting room with pull-out sofa and free breakfast buffet with a sitting area that overlooked the falls too! Ry and I give our "splurge" 4-stars! If you are ever in the falls, be sure to stay there!

We spent the evening with Anna & Gorgeous on Clifton Hill, enjoying being "tourists" and just having lots of fun!

Overall, I think Ry & I really enjoyed our day in Niagara Falls and his first trip to Canada!

More stories to come!

(I can't post more photos at the moment, but I will soon)

Bio Neurds!

The Neurodegenerates have advanced to the 3rd round of the playoffs!

Our softball adventure continues next week! We have to win about 4 more games before we win the championship -- and we'll have fun doing it!

Here we are last night at the local bar celebrating our playoff win (by way of the other team's forfeit) and our fun season!

Congrats Missy!!

CONGRATULATIONS MISSY!!

Cheers to Missy, who did a wonderful job on her Masters Thesis Defense at SJU yesterday!
The world is a better place now that we are better at understanding the effects of greenhouse gases on crop plant diseases!

(The picture above is from the 2005 Sigma Xi Symposium. Steph S. (center), Missy (right) and I are busy "getting ready" to present our research. We're good scientists!)

A bit of knit!

This was not started as a knitting blog (as DancingFish and Amandamonkey's blogs were), but I thought I would throw my two gifted knitting projects up, in case you linked to this from one of their pages accidentily thinking this blog would be about knitting!

I have only been knitting since October and I don't do it very often, so all I can make are scarves! I don't know the knitters' lingo, but this white scarf that I gave to my mom had a simple 4 row pattern that I kept repeating. I then ironed the scarf so it would lay flat for her. I used fabric softener in the iron-water, which pleased my mom! There were only a few mistakes, so I was very happy with this gift!

The fuzzy, soft, bright pink scarf I gave to my brother's girlfriend. I started it to give it to her for her birthday in January, but it took longer than I anticipated. It was my first attempted at purling and is just a simple stockinette stich with a 3 row knit border around it. I loved the yarn the most and it is super soft!

I have nothing new really started yet, but at the rate I knit, I need to start some christmas presents ASAP!

Go Neurds!

After a wonderful trip to Buffalo (photos & stories will be posted soon), Ry & I showed up in the Little town just in time for a week filled with softball!

This summer we have been enjoying the great outdoors with a bit of intermural softball fun with our friends in the Biological Sciences Department! Despite our penultimate finish, The Neurodegenerates have had a great time this year (especially at the bar after the games)! And that second-to-last place spot clinched us a play-off spot!

The last two days of games have guaranteed our play-off appearance. Tonight we start out against the first-place team. I think it is double-elimination, so we get to play again tomorrow too!

Check out some of the season's photos on the BOGS web page!

And keep your fingers crossed for us!!
I'll let you know how we do!

Everybody gets Lei-ed!

Luau in Buffalo!

Sunday, June 16th! 2pm!

(For all of you WNY readers!)

Ry & I are heading to Buffalo for the weekend to visit the family and celebrate my cousin's wedding!

Please stop by my parent's yard for some swimming, food, fun, and fireworks!

Summer Blockbusters!

In the last few weeks since returning from Texas, I have spent a few evenings spending my hard earned cash in the movie theater. Below are my reviews from some of the summer's hottest movies. The scale is out of 4 stars and, I should point out, that my taste in movies has often been considered ... less than good! :) But I like what I like!

1) X-Men 3: 2.5 stars. The first 2 (which I watched with Ry on my 19" TV when he discovered I had yet to see them) were much better. But it wasn't a bad movie. Kelsey Gramer was a big blue mutant, which was cool. The funniest part of the movie was that the butter from Ry's free popcorn leaked through the bag on to his shorts, leaving some conspicuous spots that had to be hidden when we walked out. It was Ry's 3rd time seeing the movie, so he obviously thought it was good.

2) Superman Returns: 3 stars. Good movie. I don't exactly remember the old Superman movies (except the part filmed at Niagara Falls). But I enjoyed it. My friend Kathryn has looked far too deeply into the movie and thinks that Superman might actually represent Jesus (too many "savior" references, and then the "rising from the dead" scene).

3) Devil Wears Prada: 3 stars. If you liked Princess Diaries, you'll like it. It's like that, but with trendy clothes and 5th Avenue in the background, rather than the Golden Gate Bridge. Obviously a chick flick, which is why I saw it with DancingFish instead of Ry. But, get your girls together and waste a few hours of your life. It's worth it.

4) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: 3.5 stars. I liked it. But I also loved the first one. We actually had a group of 13 people together for opening night, including a kid dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow. The effects were more complex than the first one, all of my favorite characters were there, as well as new ones, and the story line flowed well. Down sides included an annoying cliff-hanger ending and the long long time it took to get to the ending resulted in Ry's butt falling asleep and my bladder practically exploding. But I recommend it, just don't get a soda and wear a sweater.


Only 1 chick flick in the crowd, but that's OK! I was at the "guy" movies with the cutest guy around. Oh .... and the pictures below may give you another clue why I don't mind going to see any movie Ry wants to see!

Big Pimpin'

My Pimp name:

Sugartastic Sneks Fresh

What's your pimp name?

global warming

The title caught my eye, but the article actually has a few good points.

If only gay sex caused global warming.

But what can we do about it?