Thanks everyone - It really was amazing!!! I walked into Jolane and there was Peppi exactly as she said she would be. She's pretty much told you everything but I want to add a bit. Peppi is the first cooking forum friend I've met in real life and she was raving about some of the other friends she's met through here. If y'all are half as nice as she claims, I can't wait to meet more of you. Next time anyone is in Chicago or passing through, drop me an email and we can get together for more of this addictive kind of fun. We talked so much and had such a great time they had to kick us out - very politely of course - but then we had already been there for THREE hours!! Where did that time go? Good thing Peppi wasn't working that day - that was a very long lunch hour. I had the best girlfriend lunch ever. Most of my girlfiends are salad nibblers and forget about dessert. Peppi and I shared a delicious lunch and between the two of us we finished most of it. When we were emailing back and forth to set it all up she said something to me that just struck a chord..."Never trust a skinny cook". I'm framing it for my kitchen - it just made me feel so warm and good. Of course I can't let that be an excuse not to get to a healthier weight but it is a lovely thought :) Next time, and i know there wil definitely be one, we will take pictures and maybe I'll get brave enough to put a picture of myself on the internet. I had to run, barely made it home before the bus, but I did. Peppi did you run into the Viking shop? Just wondering if that's where you picked up that cool (hot) pepper de-seeder?

That's one of the complexities of genealogy I've discovered - sites appear and disappear, links take you to interesting possibilities and then you can't find your way back again. I've bookmarked many web addresses that have folded. It can be frustrating, especially since I'm still a novice at this and I'm sure I've missed valuable leads. Traditionally in Ireland Maire would be pronounced Moy-ra, however since the Anglicized version is Mary you now hear both pronunciations. The Irish used the name Muire to refer to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and used Maire as the common name for girls. My father wanted the Irish spelling and pronunciation but my Mom wanted the English version - so I'm Mary (but Dad always addressed my cards Maire). This post was edited by maire_cate on Sun, Jun 30, 13 at 21:10

Lunch was Firehouse subs, I noticed they sell their 5 gallon pickle buckets with lids for $2 each. Proceeds go to charity. Might go back and get one for my KT laundry soap. Right now I use a square kitty litter bucket.

Went out to dinner to Rey's, a local restaurant with New Orleans flair. My in-laws are visiting. I had a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, bread, broiled salmon with asparagus. They all shared a dessert of Bananas Foster. I'm not much of a dessert person and... I was stuffed. Seems all we've done for the last few days is EAT!