Cigar Chic in Charleston, SC; 1/21/07

Luckily, the rain held off all afternoon! We traveled through the rain 2/3 of the way to Charleston, but the skies remained gray, but dry for Melissa's arrival in Charleston, SC. She told me her flight was scheduled to arrive at 11:33, and at 11:30 I received a call from her saying "we are taxiing to the gate". We had just arrived in Charleston and headed to the Smoking Lamp to hang out until she got there. While there, we met up with Terry Orvig. Jim and his new girlfriend, Ginger, made the trip with us.

Terry Orvig and Connie

Jim and Ginger

Connie and I

I had estimated that it would take Melissa an hour and a half to get from the airport to her hotel, and back downtown. She arrived just as I figured at 1 pm. Her work associate, Linda, with her. Melissa was dressed in her Indianapolis Colts jersey and beads!

After a cigar was smoked and a few presents were exchanged, we headed for some lunch at A. W. Shucks, a local seafood restaurant. Afterwards we took a stroll through the Market. Melissa and Connie found the shopping to their liking.

Terry had to leave shortly after we got to the Market, but before he left we managed to get a group photo:

Once through the Market, we made our way to Los Palmas, a cigar shop where they roll their own Dominican cigars. Here's pic of us outside the store:

Melissa even found a man "just her size", plus he has attributes that any woman could love; he's quiet and always hard...WOOD!

We walked around town a bit more and then headed to a local bar to watch "the big game".

Melissa turned out to be quite the party girl! Here she demonstrates her skills with a beer pitcher!I guess that drink could double as a victory drink since her Colts wound up winning the game! My gang left at halftime of the game since we had a couple hour drive ahead of us. When we left, the Colts were in quite a hole, but we got updates on the game from Melissa via cell phone! She was quite excited when she called me to say "we're going to the Super Bowl"!This was a great day and I'm glad I had a chance to meet Melissa and Linda. I hope they find more time to see the sights downtown while they're here! They'll be in Charleston until next Friday, the 26th.

New Year's Day at Charlie's house: 2007

I was lucky enough to be invited back to Charlie Ruffalo's house for another New Year's Day pig pickin'! It was a great time last year and I looked forward to doing it again this year! Charlie and Jan were great hosts! At the height of the afternoon, approximately 80 people were in attendance, and half of them were smoking cigars! It was a great time!

Here's a few pics:

Some of the prep work! Charlie, Jan, and Charlie's uncle who is 85 and sharp as a tack!

He really liked the scotch! I think it keeps him young!

Of course, Charlie opened his well stocked mooch-i-dores!
One of the "events" of the afternoon was starting the fire in the fire pit. To do this you simply need some wood and a freshly used Christmas tree!

This whole process took "maybe" 2 minutes!

Charlie's posse did another great job on the pig:

After a long day of entertaining, I finally managed to stop

Charlie and Jan long enough for a group pic:
A tired Charlie enjoys a well deserved drink:
Thanks Charlie for another great start to the New Year!!!!

New Year's Eve, 2007!!

Connie and I decided to stay close to home on "amateur night", so we chose to hang out at...The Wild Hare! Where else? It's close to home and they also had free food and cocktails from 9pm to midnight! We had some friends meet us there; Jim and Ginger, Frank and Kelly, and my son Ty showed up for a short while with his girlfriend Lauren. Great time with great people!

Welcome 2007!!!!

How's this for a necklace? Like my Big Balls???

Of course, every woman wants...

BIG BALLS!!!! Jim and Ginger Frank and Kelly Ty and Lauren The kiss at midnight!

The whole gang! (minus Ty and Lauren)

Happy New Year to all!!!!!