Where did the summer go?

First of all I want to apologize for my absence over the summer.  When I saw that my last post was the beginning of June I literally laughed out loud.  I cannot believe it has been that long!  I am thrown by the fact that the summer seems to have gone by SO fast, but we did SO much over the past few months that it makes sense.  

A quick recap of our summer (photos soon)...

At the beginning of July, I interviewed for a new job with a fantastic company (literally the day before we left for the UK).  After a 6 hour interview with 8 different people, I knew that I wanted the job even more than when I had applied.  It seemed like such a wonderful company that really valued its employees.  So the next day we left on our trip to England, with a quick nights stay in New York. 

This was my favorite trip to England to date.  We got to spend a lot of time with Chris' family, all of whom have been so nice and welcoming to me since the first time I met them.  Then we got to take off for a few days to explore Ireland and meet his Irish family.  I felt so 'at home' in Ireland.  The people were so friendly everywhere we went and his family treated me as one of their own (literally called me cousin!).  :)  

We were sad to leave Ireland but we had a very special event to look forward to back in England:  Chris sister was getting married!  We got to be involved in the events leading up to the wedding, where Chris was also best man.  We had a wonderful time at the wedding.  It was probably one of the most fun weddings I have been to!

A few days before the wedding I finally got the call (after many international calls to the hiring manager, might I add!) from the company I had interviewed with......and I got the job!!  What a great feeling!  

I started my new job mid-August and have not had one tiny regret about taking the position.  I am amazed that a company could care so much for its employees and offer such wonderful perks and benefits.  I know that this is where I will build my career, without a doubt!

Just before starting the new job, I was able to visit my family and friends up in Washington and had a wonderful time.  Then Chris and I took off for a quick weekend camping trip up to Yosemite National Park.  It was very relaxing and we both had a wonderful time.

Labor Day weekend was a quick trip up to Portland to visit family and friends and we couldn't have asked for a better time!  

And...TOMORROW Chris' parents arrive from England to visit for two weeks!  We have a lot planned for them...including a country music concert and a weekend cabin trip up at Yosemite (I told you we loved it!).

We are beginning to make our holiday plans now and have decided to spend Thanksgiving just the two of us in Santa Barbara...and then up to Washington and Portland for the Christmas / New Years break!  Phew!  

No wonder the summer seemed to slip by in a blink!  Luckily for us we still have the sunshine and warm weather for a bit longer (although we just got the exciting news that Heavenly resort up at Lake Tahoe is already getting snow!!!!!)!!!

Can you tell we are excited for boarding this season?  ;)

Photos to come soon...

Four Weeks & Counting...

It looks like this elbow nonsense has been a big distraction from the anticipation of Chris and I's upcoming vacation and it is now only four weeks from tomorrow until we are off! 

Saturday, July 3rd we are off to the Big Apple to kick off the trip.  We thought it might be a nice way to break up our journey over to the UK, plus I have always wanted to go to NYC!  :)  So we stay there until Sunday night when we take off for London.  We will spend a few days with Chris' family before heading over to Galway Ireland for three days to visit some more of his family, and then back to London! 

It is a special trip, as Chris' sister is getting married so we are both really excited!  It will be a great way to get to see everyone and are looking forward to the celebration.  I am sure I will have loads of photos to share when we return!  :)

In the meantime, I will be counting down the days...suddenly 4 weeks seems like a very long time!!

UPDATE: The Fall

I met with my surgeon last Friday and he said that I am behind schedule on my flexion (bending my elbow) and has put me in a dynasplint (see below).  He said there is a lot of scar tissue there that I have to work hard at breaking through to get my full range of motion back.  I go  back on the 15th and he said if I don't have better flexibility by then, he will consider doing a manipulation (more surgery), which I definitely don't want.  So I have been working really hard on my exercises, but still am not seeing the progress I was hoping for after one week.  I start with the splint on Monday so fingers crossed, I will get a lot of flexibility in that week before I see the doctor again. 

 Ten days to make a BIG change...wish me luck!

The Fall ...

Okay, so as most of you know...I was in a bicycle accident on April 19th on my way to work.  Heading out the door to catch the train, I thought "hm...maybe I will take my bike to the station today!"  Having never done that I figured it would get me there a bit faster than the twenty minutes it takes me to walk.

So about five minutes after I left the house, I was on a quiet, sleepy side street in Burlingame and my purse slipped off my shoulder and was hanging around my wrist next to the front tire.  So I was thinking to be safe, I better stop before it gets caught in my tire and causes me to wreck.  So instinctively, I clipped my left brake (which also happens to be my front brake!), and for some reason my left hand doesn't know the meaning of the term "softly" so I stopped abruptly and flipped over my handlebars.  

I lay in the street for a few seconds dazed, and then the inevitable tears start flowing.  Two very nice ladies who happened to be out on their morning walk, stopped to help me up and got my bike out of the street.  They offered to walk me home after we couldn't reach Chris on his cell phone, but I assured them I was fine (through tears) and pushed my bike home.  

When I walked in the front door, Chris came around the corner when he heard me come back in and I burst into tears even harder (scaring him half to death).  I finally managed to tell him what had happened and that I knew I broke my elbow.  So he gathered me up and took me to the Emergency Room down the road.  After some very painful X-Rays, followed by some very nice morphine, I was kicked back doing just fine in my hospital bed.  

                             Enormous elbow sitting in the ER... :(

The Doctor came back in after looking at the x-rays and told me that I had in fact broken my elbow and they would need to take me in right away for surgery.  After some very messy insurance nonsense, Kaiser (my insurance company) sent an ambulance to come get me from the non-kaiser hospital.  I went through the same thing at the new hospital...x-rays (though not as painful this time around)...and A LOT of waiting around.  

A very nice Physicians Assistant for Orthopedics came to see me and took a quick look at my elbow.  She walked me through what was going to happen to my arm in surgery and told me that they wouldn't be able to do surgery for two days.

I was finally released later afternoon and Chris took me home.  The next morning, I met with my surgeon and another very nice PA.  The Dr. walked me through all of my questions about the surgery and told me he would see me the next day in the operating room.

Surgery Day.

I arrived about 10:30 as requested by the nurse and found out my 12:00pm surgery time had been bumped to roughly 2:00pm.  I was in quite a bit of pain and very frustrated (until they gave me some medicine... ;).  What seemed like ages later, they took me back and I met the surgical team who would be assisting on my surgery.  They were all VERY nice and I felt very comfortable (or was it the IV that was making me comfortable?).

The next thing I knew, my nurse was waking me up and bringing me food (I was soooo hungry!).  Chris came back to see me and I was very happy to see him.  :)  About 45 minutes - an hour later, we headed for home. 

About five days later, I met with my Doctor again and had the splint taken off.  He took more x-rays (above) and said it looked great.  Having not thought about it ahead of time I was PRAYING that he didn't use staples because that just sounds gross.  He was able to do a cosmetic closure so there are no stitch or staple marks! My incision was still bleeding a little bit which grossed me out.  Chris saw it first and told me how great it looked so I told him to take a picture and show me...we did not agree on how nice it looked.  haha.

And now the recovery begins.  I was doing okay initially with being able to move it a little bit, but it has decided to stiffen up on me now.  I am lucky if I can bend it 30 degrees at this point.  It makes washing my hair and getting dressed very interesting to say the least!  Aside from the frustration of not really being able to use my left arm, I am keeping as positive as I can.  I just have to be patient and eventually physical therapy will get my arm moving again...

Zip Line over San Francisco?!

Yes, that is exactly what my friend, Ixchel and I will  be doing on Wednesday!  The Vancouver 2010 Olympics zip line event has gone on tour and they are in San Francisco!  We will be soaring above the Embarcadero on Wednesday afternoon!  How cool is that?!

Hopefully we survive!!  :)

Spring Fun

Chris and I had a great weekend up at Tahoe.  It was our final weekend up on the slopes for this season (although Chris maintains that we might be able to get to Mammoth since they are open until the 4th of July! haha) and we had a great time.  Here is a wicked shot of Chris that Kate took a few weeks ago.  :)

We also went to see the new movie, Date Night, with Steve Carell and Tina Fey...HILARIOUS!  Love both of them and the movie definitely did not disappoint.  If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it!  Chris and I were laughing throughout the entire movie.

We took a slow drive home on Sunday and made a pit stop at IKEA (dangerous on the pocket book, but LOVE that place!  haha), where we picked up a new desk and several other things that we couldn't resist as we wandered through the store.  :)  We even got the desk put together and put up in our office / guest room.  It looks great!

Can't wait for our spa appointments this weekend!  Relaxation and rejuvenation are just what we need!!  :)
Then off to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown!  :)

Happy Monday, Everyone!!!

Moving Day

Well, Saturday morning Chris and I got all moved in to our new place!  And we somehow managed to get everything unpacked on Saturday as well!  Who knows where the energy came from.  I am pretty sure that Chris and I have been running on fumes lately!  ;)  Aside from the exhaustion we absolutely love the new apartment!  I will take some photos this week and get them posted so you can all see the new digs.  We don't have anything on the walls yet (give me a break, we just moved in two days ago! ;), but I am doubting it will be much longer before we are finished decorating.  :)

I also made my first journey up to SF on the caltrain (big double decker train) to work this morning which was equally interesting.  :)  Very easy though which makes it that much better!

On a side note, Chris and I are going to try to get ONE more weekend in of playing in the snow before the resorts close down up at Tahoe.  Yes, you read that right...we are going full steam ahead on this crazy train and heading up to Tahoe this weekend!  We both want to get a nice day of playing in the powder before it disappears!  ;)   I am sure we will have more photos / videos to share next week!  (along with some cool ones our friends Deren and Kate snapped a few weeks ago while we were up boarding with them!)

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!  Chris surprised me with some Easter egg cakes...yum!!!

Cousins!

My cousin Jess was down visiting this past weekend and we had a great time!  Sad to say, I hardly took any pictures...but I am hoping Jess has a few she can share as well!  We had beautiful weather down at Half Moon Bay (above) and a lot of laughs.  :)  

We also got to go to Six Flags and had a GREAT time riding all of the crazy roller coasters!  We even went on the sky coaster (below) TWICE!  

Can't wait to have Jess down again!!  :) 

Slacker Alert...

Okay so I have been a major slacker lately with the blog.  I have no good excuse, other than being too darn busy!! 

We had a fantastic time in England at the wedding, and getting to (briefly) catch up with everyone!  I was able to meet a few more of Chris' family, which was great!  Laura and Rob's wedding was beautiful (as was the bride herself) and little Connor looked very handsome in his wedding attire!  :)  Overall, a fantastic trip and we cannot wait to get back in July for another wedding and more time to visit with everyone!  Luckily, the quick trip didn't seem to catch up with me too much.  :)  Although, as promised Chris did manage to get a shot of me dozing on the plane!  haha...

As many of you already know, we are moving into a new apartment this weekend.  It should be a nice change, since it is a few minutes south of the city (a bit less hectic and a LOT more sunshine in the summer, which I definitely need!).  It has a really cute little balcony as well so we can sit out and enjoy our breakfast (lunch and dinner!) outside in the sunshine!

So fingers crossed that the move goes well and we are all settled in soon, as we have a busier month coming in May!  We are off to meet our lovely friends in Vegas and a few weeks after that we are meeting Mom, Kim, Ash and Peter up at Tahoe!!  :)

I hope to have some good photos from a nice little surprise I have set up for Ash up at Tahoe!!  (She hates surprises! Haha!)

P.S. To any of you interested in visiting the bay area, we have a second bedroom still in the new apartment and we love to have guests!  ;)

England, here we come!

Well, last night we had a wonderful time at Wicked!!  If you ever get a chance to see it, I HIGHLY recommend it!!!!!  :)

So tonight is a relaxing night in where we pack and get everything ready to head to England tomorrow!!

We are both excited to see everyone, and have planned a lot of things to keep us occupied on the long plane ride in both directions!!  :)  There may be some funny photos (if Chris has anything to do with it) of me sleeping with my mouth open or something.  This has proved great entertainment for him in the past...I have just made him promise not to share them with anyone!  ;)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!!

Busy Little Bees!

Well, Chris and I spent a nice relaxing weekend together in the sun.  :)  It was the first in a while and will be the last for even longer.  ;)  We are so excited for the weekends to come, though!

Thursday we leave for a very brief trip to England for Chris' cousin's wedding!  Very exciting!  We are both looking forward to seeing everyone and to be there for Laura's wedding!  :)  We will land Friday around lunchtime and fly home Sunday late morning sometime.  Whirlwind, but luckily we will get to see everyone again in a few months when we are back for Chris' sister's wedding!

Then just four days after we get back from England, my cousin Jess is coming to visit!!!  VERY excited to see her and catch up!  It has been far too long!  And we are going to do one of our favorite things together...ride some serious roller coasters!!!  :)  Will be a very fun long weekend, that's for sure!

The following weekend we are heading up to Tahoe for likely our last trip of the season.  We are both a little sad about that, but are crossing our fingers that we get some nice Spring weather to ride in!!!  :)  And we hope to have friends, Deren and Kate, join us again as well!

Phew, weekend number four will be spent moving into our new apartment!!!  We are both really looking forward to the move!  We spent this past weekend riding our bikes around Burlingame and San Mateo to get a feel for our new neighborhood and we could not be happier with our decision to live there!  Such a nice place and we have a fantastic balcony that we can sit out and enjoy the sun on beautiful California days!  :)

After that we have three whole weekends all to ourselves, with no plans!!!  Strange for us, really.  :)  But we hope to use the time to settle in to our new place.  We are looking forward to more visitors later in the year!  Everyone is welcome, and we always have the second bedroom!  :)

True Passion

Okay, so as most of you know, I am a journalism major and I absolutely LOVE to write.  In fact, if I could choose any job in the world, it would be to write novels, articles and stories about things that I am passionate about.  Over the years, I have gotten distracted and consumed with everyday responsibilities and have strayed from my passion.

So I have made it my mission to begin writing again.  I want to begin publishing my work even if I make $1 per article I write.  It is such a creative outlet for me and if I happen to make a little money on the side doing it, great!  So as I begin my quest to get my work published I will keep you updated on where to find my articles, etc. and maybe one day where to find my first novel.  :)

In addition to jumping back into the world of writing, my boss has some contacts in Hollywood (no, I am not going to be a movie star...) and wants to help me connect with them about possibly proofing scripts on the side for a bit of extra money!  WAY COOL!  :)  So hopefully that will happen soon as well.  Then who knows, when I finish my first manuscript I will already have some connections in Hollywood!  haha...  Mostly this is just exciting for me because it is an easy and interesting way to make extra cash.  Yay!

Stay tuned...I hope to begin writing (and hopefully publishing) soon!!!

Birthday Weekend...

Okay so I apologize for being a slacker with the photos, but here are some of the ones from my birthday weekend in Monterey / Carmel... :)

Chris is very excited to celebrate my birthday with a cupcake!  :)

Aww... :)

Walking around Carmel

On the beach in Carmel

Pebble Beach golf course (from a distance since they wouldn't let us near it this weekend.)

Big waves along 17 Mile Drive

Entrance to our adorable room at the B&B

Birthday dinner in Monterey!

Beautiful day in Monterey on Valentine's Day

Perfect weather!

awww :)

Harbor Seals basking in the sun (oh and one MONSTER seal that was scaring all the others...) ;)

Cannery Row in Monterey

Beautiful...

Chris liked Sharky, but Sharky wanted Chris for lunch... :)

There were tons more scenery photos but they all start to look the same after awhile.  :)  I didn't want to bore everyone with what looked like repeats.  We had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back again soon!! 

...Take 7...

Well, we are off to Tahoe this weekend for another round of snowboarding!  :)  We made a few adjustments to my board last night and I am really excited to test it out.  I am going to work really hard this weekend to get all of my turns down so when we meet up with Deren and Kate next time, I can show them my progress!  Deren was so patient and gave me some great tips so I am going to try to apply them all again this weekend and hopefully progress a lot!  :) 

I will try to get Chris to video me and take photos so I can share my progress.  Gosh, watching my video from my first time up on the mountain compared to where I am now, I feel so good about how far I have come!  :)

Hope to post some photos for you to see soon!  :)

xoxo!

My birthday weekend!

Well, as many of you know (all 5 followers of mine...haha), Chris had a whole surprise weekend planned for my birthday weekend.  Wait, let me back up.  Over Chris' birthday last month, we decided that we would no longer have "birthdays"...we would have "birthday weekends!"

So leading up to my birthday weekend, the only thing Chris would tell me was to be ready Saturday morning at 9:00am.  So when we woke up, I went into the living room and there was a big present wrapped on our ottoman in the living room (apparently he had gotten up in the middle of the night and wrapped it down in the car!).  So I opened my present (a bread machine....SO exciting for me, as anyone who knows me will tell you...I LOVE to cook / bake).  Then we got ready and jumped in the car with an overnight bag.

About 45 minutes down the freeway, Chris finally told me where we were headed... Monterey / Carmel!!!  I have always wanted to go there but we hadn't made it down that way yet.  :)  I could not WAIT to get there!  We took a nice slow drive down, stopping to sit outside in the sun in sunny Cupertino and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a snack...then arrive in Monterey early afternoon.  My next surprise was an adorable bed and breakfast...built in 1887 and still has all of its original charm!  And it was enormous!  :)  As a person that would love to have her own B & B someday, I really took to this one... When we were led to our room, we had to go outside to get to it.  We had our own private little cottage with a fireplace!  :)  

For those of you who are not familiar with the area, we were taking the scenic 17 mile drive from Monterey to Carmel, when we were told the road was closed...?!  When we asked why, they told us because of the famous Pebble Beach golf tournament!  Darn, we were hoping to spot JT... :)  

So we got to Carmel another way and had a walk around their cute little shops (little but not inexpensive!  yikers that place has a lot of money!)  We made it back to our B & B and relaxed for a bit before getting dressed up and heading out for our dinner reservations.  We had great food and great conversation over dinner, and I got to have my absolute favorite dessert...creme brulee!!!!  :)

Sunday morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast at the B & B...great food!  Then got ready and headed out to explore Monterey.  We wandered down to the bay and got some really beautiful photos of the scenery and a few of us.  Then made our way over to the famous Cannery Row with all of the cute shops and restaurants.  We stopped for lunch at Sly McFly's and then went to the IMAX to watch the sharks 3D movie by Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques Cousteau).  It was really good!  We then had a nice walk back to our B & B and headed home.  Traffic was a bit hairy with the golf tournament crowd as well, but we made it home in one piece!

So in addition to celebrating my birthday, we were also celebrating our anniversary and valentines day.  All in all, a fantastic weekend!!  I truly couldn't have asked for anything more!!!  Chris made it a great weekend and we both really enjoyed the trip.  

I haven't downloaded the photos yet, but will try to get them posted soon!

Thanks again to everyone for all of the birthday wishes!!!!  They really made my day!!  :)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day!!!  :)

Snowboarding...take 6

This past weekend was my sixth weekend snowboarding in my life and although there was frustration and tears here and there...I feel SO good about my progress!  I can now officially get off the lift every time without falling (BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT for me!).  Chris' friends Deren and Kate joined us on the slopes and were so patient with me and gave me a lot of good tips and advice.  I was able to go forward (nose facing down the mountain) for the first time consistently and it feels fantastic!!  The snow was amazing...very soft and forgiving, which is great for learning.  Next up...learning to turn consistently and in control.  I am SOOO excited to go again in two weeks!! 

Having said all of that...I have never been so sore in my life.  Literally from head to toe...haha.  But it feels great!!!  Chris and I forgot our camera so there are no photos to share this time unfortunately, but we will try to get some good photos and video next time! 

Yay for snowboarding!!!

"Winning..."

Okay, so as most of you know, I am not a political person.  It gives me anxiety to say the least.  :)  HOWEVER, I want to put this out there so that I feel as though I actually have a voice, even if it isn't one that will ever be heard by these selfish people that we call public servants.

Like many Americans (say 45 million...), I watched the State of the Union Address on Wednesday evening and was disgusted by what I saw.  Yes, that is right, not by what I heard.  What I saw.  The room is divided (that word creates our first problem in this scenario...) Dems, Reps, Independents.  And on more than 25 occasions there were points in President Obama's speech that caused certain members of the house and senate to clap, stand, or both.  

Now, although I tend to have liberal views, I am by no means "pleased" with democrats at the moment. So don't think you Dems are getting off that easy.  However, when President Obama says that it is time to focus on main street Americans and tax these big banks that hurt so many Americans, or when he says that we cannot allow millions of Americans to go without healthcare any longer, and not ONE single Republican stands up or claps...that is worrying to me.  I realize that it is an election year, and that you so called "public servants" are campaigning, but it isn't about "winning."  If you receive the most votes, you will be "elected" into office.  That in itself is not a win.  WINNING is fighting for what is best for the American people.  To say that you will not vote for things or will flat out block things from being passed, just so that the other party doesn't have that on their list of accomplishments, does not punish the other party.  It punishes the American people that need those things to be passed.  Can't you see that?  And this goes for all parties.  I am not sure if you old kogers realize that the younger generation doesn't care one little bit about your agenda or what party you want to tear down.  I am tired of hearing what the other guy did wrong.  STOP IT.  Instead, tell me what you are going to do RIGHT, for the American people that you were "elected" to represent.  Or do you not have any positive ideas for the future of our country?

What do you say we put aside our political agenda and start making the American people our priority.  After all, when you are elected into office you are representing ALL Americans, not just the ones of your own party.  I recall a speech last year that said, "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."  It doesn't matter which party is responsible for this quote.  What matters is that ALL of you use this as your motivation to get things done in Washington.  Because it is what is best for the American people as a whole.  Not your political party. 

Like it or not, my generation is the future of this country and if you do not start putting the American people that you campaigned so hard to represent, before your own agenda, we will not re-elect you for long.  You have been warned. 

Stairway Walks in San Francisco

I recently bought a book called 'Stairway Walks in San Francisco.'  There are these amazing stairways all over the city and the book gives you a lot of history and details about each walk.  So I think Chris and I are going to try one of them out this weekend, if his studying allows him the time!  I am really excited, because it gives you a different perspective on the city and the neighborhood that the walk is in.  Some of them are "hidden" so you would never know they are there unless someone tells you!  I will try to take some photos if we get to go this weekend, and post them next week!  Hopefully we aren't too sore afterwards!  :)

Thirsty Bear Restaurant and Brewery

Wednesday night, Chris' boss was in town from Portland, and since I worked with him as well in Portland, we all went out to dinner at Thirsty Bear Restaurant and Brewery here in the city.  :)  We had been there once before and really loved the food!  It is Spanish tapas and paella and a really fun atmosphere, so we had a great time!  It was really great to visit with Jason and hope to see him again next month!

http://www.thirstybear.com/

Chris and I are part of an Indian Food Lover's group that gets together once a month at the best Indian restaurants in San Francisco and we love it!  This past Tuesday we visited Aslam Rasoi here in the city and loved it -- in fact, Chris said it was the best Indian he has had here in the states!  And being from England, he sure knows his Indian food!  :)

The creator of the group chooses the restaurants based on their health department scores so we only visit the best and cleanest restaurants!  It works out really great, plus each month there are new and different people there so we get to meet a lot of great folks!  :)

http://www.aslamsrasoi.com/