HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope everyone has a great candy-filled Halloween! And remember, let's be careful out there!

DINNER, DOGS & DANCE

Well it was the weekend before Halloween and you know what that means: DINNER, DOGS & DRINK. Let me explain...

DINNER
On Friday night, we had the first (of hopefully many) SUPPER CLUBS. Basically, one day when we were hanging out with Jason & Saisha and Ali & Todd, we six decided to throw a dinner party where we choose a region of food, everyone cooks some dishes and we all dine in style. So for the kick off meeting, we chose New Orleans and let me tell you, the food was fantastic (Meatballs, Jambalaya, Fried Chicken, Chorizo and Okra Ratatouille, Yam & Apple Salad, homemade cake & donuts), as were the bevvies! The host couple (us) also has to make a signature beverage for the evening, we chose RUMRUNNERS (a mix of dark rum, creme de banane, OJ and pineapple juice) and let me tell you, they were stellar. If we can keep these up, more couples will be invited into the mix, we just wanted to see if we could pull one off, and we did! Hooray for the birth of Supper Club!

DOGS
Laverne is a proud member of CANINE CORNER doggy daycare and Michelle has come to know the staff quite well. Kathleen (the owner) knew we were into photography, so she asked Michelle, if we could come in on the weekend to take some pics of the staff dogs. Pictures? Dogs? No problemo! Michelle and I spent a couple hours playing with the pooches, talking to the staff and snapping pics all the while. Great practice for us and I can see why Laverne has so much fun there when she goes!

DANCE
Saturday night meant Halloween night and we were invited to a HALLOWEEN BOAT CRUISE by our friends Eric and Mark Rasmussen. The crew got into costume, got together and partied as the boat sailed around the city for four hours. I got a wee bit seasick but otherwise a good time was had by all! The costumes were fantastic as well. Here's what we had:

Gio - Julius Vodka Caesar
Michelle - Cosmo Cleopatra
Clint - 70's Sabotage Cop
Andrea - Futuristic Warrior
Bunting - Dean Martin from Cannonball Run
Angela - Lady Luck
Raime - African Man
Jen - Construction Worker
Ferraro - Dead Sumbarine Captain
Andy - Peter Griffen from Family Guy
Eric - Pirate
Mark - Sailor

It was a great way to spend Halloween and great to see all our friends in costume. You can check out pics of the weekend HERE!!!

BACK OFF MAN... I'M A SCIENTIST!

This blog is usually very "Gio-centric" talking about our activities or Laverne, from my point of view. Only once in a blue moon does Michelle tickle the keyboard and write a few installments of her adventures or Corsiworld. Recently, it came to my attention as I was talking to Michelle, that I have never seen her at work in "the field", I saw her once water sampling at a gas station, but I have never seen her in "the field", you know with Drillers, Rigs, Dumptrucks full of soil, contaminated elements of who knows what.

Yes, you read that right. Drillers, Rigs and contaminated who knows what. Michelle is an Environmental Scientist and that means that while I'm out there trying to corrupt the world through Video Games, Michelle is trying to save it.

I find her work fascinating and I asked Michelle if she could get a picture of her in "the field" one day. So she sent me this. Look at how awesome she is, hardhat, fire-retardent suit, work boots, safety glasses, gloves and a smiile that melts my heart. I love my Environmental Scientist wife, she's just so damn cool.

QUIET WEEKEND

It started with the biggest buffet of BBQ MEAT you've seen in a while. Yes, we had a Memphis Blues Luncheon at work Friday and as tasty as it was, by 3pm that afternoon, some folks were fast asleep at their desks. I also came home and surprised Michelle with her own Macbook... she's excited! Saturday we went to Ikea and Eurotile to prep for our home renovations (we are redoing the bathrooms), then on Saturday night we had a great evening of dinner and drinks with Clint & Andrea, Eric and Brimstone. Sunday, Michelle hung out with Caz while the guys and I caught 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (awesome). As for Laverne, she's not wearing the "cone of shame" yet as she started her heat this week and for safety reasons, we are going to wait before she goes in for her operation. Pinchy is still planning for world domination.

All in all a good yet "quiet" weekend.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Comedy from the duo called FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS...

THE GARBAGE STRIKE IS OVER!!!

Sweet fancy moses! After about 13 weeks of living with bad smelling garbage piling up in our garage and all over downtown Vancouver, the Outside Workers finally came to an agreement with the city and they are going back to work today! Awesome news! AWESOME! For those of you who know me well, you know I have a very sensative "gag reflex" and sometimes that old garbage smell has caused me to... gag on more than one occasion. It's going to take a few trips to clean up the city but at least it's happening!

Other than that, it's been a busy weekend. Continued pics with the 40D, gardening, taking care of our neice Shannon and nephew Colin (who schooled me at Halo 3) and celebrating Lorissa's Birthday with a surprise bash at the Alibi Room (Chad's pics can be seen HERE!!!).

Other than that, going to a Canucks game this week and Laverne goes in for her surgery on Friday. Get ready for the CONE OF SHAME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Today, October 8, 72 years ago my dad was born and boy am I glad he was!! For those of you who have not met CAPTAIN BOB (as Gio likes to call him), he is a man of few words but with a huge heart. We gave him a Nintendo DS with "Brain Age" just to help keep him sharp. Big thanks to Mario for hosting a lovely intimate birthday dinner, to Gina and my mom Ruth for keeping the evening entertaining with their stories, and to Teri, my sis for driving the birthday boy home. A great night was had by all, it was a Thanksgiving Birthday to remember!

We love you dad!

PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG...

Say hello to my new little friend. Photography just got a whole lot more exciting...

THE CANON EOS 40D


Stay tuned for some new pics coming this weekend!

BAH PARTY

Michelle and I decided it was time to throw a party. We had yet to have a housewarmer and since we were in Toronto for my Birthday, a party on the 23rd was out of the question, so we went for a BAH! What is a BAH you ask? It's three milestone celebrations rolled into one...

B is for Birthday - my 35th to be exact
A is for Anniversary - we've been married for 2 years
H is for Housewarming - introducing people to "Casa Del Corsi"

The day started with cold & wet gambling on the ponies at HASTINGS PARK. Summer is definitely over but a handful of us braved the elements for some beer, burgers and betting on the Horses. Unfortunately I didn't win a cent, not one cent. Lorissa did (betting on the fourth horse in the fourth race to win) and she wasn't even there! Tells you what kind of luck we were having.



After that, it was HOUSE PARTY time but we added a HAT THEME which 90% of the guests stuck too, awesome. The rum was flowing, the Guitar Hero was hopping and the good times were plentiful. It was great to see peeps together again and even Laverne had a great time, mixing it up with the folks!

Special thanks to Victoria for the prep help, bringing Birthday Cake and Cupcakes, Chad for being the official photographer of the festivities and Chris for helping clean up the disaster afterwards. You know it's a good party when the rummy in the alley is thanking you for the boatload of empties from the night before.

Thanks for everyone who took part in the BAH PARTY and thanks for all the great gifts, we now have enough wine to last us through the apocalypse.