BS Grapevine

Cheers to our Virginia Friends!

2009-05-15T17:33:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. We have not been keeping up with the blog - but sometimes it feels like we're barely keeping up with life!

The quick update is that after two+ years in Williamsburg, VA, Brian and I are back in Seattle. It is nice to be back to familiar territory, but we miss our friends in Virginia. So this quick post is dedicated to them.

Here are a few of the characters that we left behind, that will always be in our hearts:

Joe and Barbara became very good friends of ours. We met Joe at church because we were sitting in the same general area, and he adopted us. He calls us "the kids" and every week, saved us a seat in church. I'm already missing his commentary and warm smile. On numerous occasions, they opened their home to us. They kindly hosted us for Thanksgiving and me for my birthday and Easter. Now we have to figure out how to convince them to visit us over here!

And this is Joanie and Bernie! They are also friends from church, always ready with a hug and time for coffee.

Last, but definitely not least, are my buddies from LL. Livy and Dan are two co-workers that are friends that I'm so glad found their way into my life.

Miss you all!

DIY - Spices

2009-01-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

When in doubt DIY!

What I really like about this creation of jambalaya spice was the layers that resulted during creation. They reminded me of the wild shaped glass jars filled with sand that we used to decorate as kids...

Unmixed Jambalaya Spice

Here's to 2009!

2009-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year we rung in the New Year at The Local Vine with Becca and Kevin, Anne (yes, our friend from NYC), Barb (our new friend from NYC), and Karissa and friends -

Definitely a fabulous start to the next 365 days!

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

2009-01-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

December 30, 2008

It wouldn't be a visit to Seattle without too many things to do...

2009-01-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

We are so lucky to have so many friends in Seattle! This year we were only in town for a week, and we were glad to head back to Virginia to relax. Since we're moving back to Seattle this year, we didn't concentrate on seeing everyone, and we spent some good time with people we didn't get photos of, but here were some fun photographed moments:

Dinner at the Civitts' with the O'Neils and Welchs.

We cheered on Sarah's cousin Kendall as her team won the 7th grade basketball tournament.

Lunch with Cousin's Kendall and Lauren.

Merry Christmas 2008!

2008-12-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

Brian and I were so lucky to spend time with our families in both Minnesota and Seattle. We had a blast in both places - although in MN, we really missed Ryan and Laura who were stranded in Portland because of weather.

During our Seattle Christmas, we had so much fun, we forgot to get out the camera. This year was particularly fun because Nick and Carolyn hung out with us all day! Here's a few takes from our time in the snowy mid-west:

Oh, the time we spend in the kitchen!

The Ruhwedel/Porter/Bosmas

Grandma and Grandpa are a hoot to spend time with!
We play a lot of cards, talk and laugh. They make us feel so special when we brave the mile walk across the lake to visit them (when it's really cold, we just drive).

This year, they were cracking us up with a particular story. They were out shopping in St. Cloud, and Grandpa commented how many nice people there were because everyone was holding the doors open for them. Grandma responded, "We are really old, because even the old people are even holding the doors for us." Ha! We should be so lucky!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving in NYC

2008-12-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

We took the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in NYC this year - what a BLAST!

We stay with our good friend Anne, and on this visit, we spent a lot of time with Barb, too.

We watched the Macy's Day Parade with Morgan(my BFF), Sage and Lisa - friends from William & Mary that now live in NYC. Usually on Thanksgiving, we turn the TV on and have the parade on in the background. It was fun to actual be there!

It was our first year at the parade, and the same was true for Horton, Buzz Lightyear and Shrek.

But everyone knows, that Santa steals the show!

We had an AMAZING turkey dinner with some friends of Anne's (they're our friends now, too!) in Connecticut - the conversation was lively, wine delicious, and the laughs continuous.

We walked around NYC and enjoyed the Christmas sites and holiday windows.

Not shown: Fabulous dinners, cocktails, stories, hugs,
and all the memories of just living life.

Westward bound...

2008-11-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

We are Seattle bound as we begin a new chapter in life. Details are still TBD so stay tuned or just give us a call.

Photo by J Garner

Before I sign off I just want to say thanks to all those that have been supportive and part of my cheering squad. I appreciate all the help each of you have given me along the way.

Release your inner rock star!

2008-11-10T08:51:00.001-08:00

Rock Band 2 has augmented our home entertainment, thanks to the yearly raffle that Sarah won, and unleashed the inner rock star in both of us. So go on indulge yourself or come join us and rock out!

Halloween and a new baby - Lyla

2008-11-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Colleen and I have been friends since 5th grade - and it's a friendship that is still going strong!

On Halloween, Brian and I went down to visit the Ladd's. Gwen was a perfect
Raggedy Ann and Colleen let me play along. We went trick-or-treating with Gwen, and it was hysterical. She was more interested in the dogs living at each house than the candy.

We had to get back down to visit the following weekend because Lyla Jane was born on November 3. I have no doubt she'll be as cute as her older sister!

Classic Egypt - Pyramids and Sphinx

2008-11-02T19:06:00.001-08:00

Pyramids of Giza, with our traveling group

Guard on a camel, with the pyramids in the background

Sarah, Brian and a Sphinx that has his nose

Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza

This is one of Sarah's favorite pictures...
A step pyramid (the oldest type of pyramid)
with cobras in the foreground to serve as protection.

This is one of Brian's favorites....

Hieroglyphics

2008-11-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Brian and I have really enjoyed all the travel that we have been able to do. But somehow traveling to Egypt was different. Really different. "Traveling" itself was easy. We traveled in the tourist areas and had Mohammad with us at all times. We always knew where and when we were going, and someone figured out the logistics.

Interesting (and total side note) by Egyptian law, because we were Americans, we were required to have an armed guard (to include semi-automatic weapons) with us at all times. It didn't feel necessary, but it's kind of like getting a free drink while out at the bar: thanks, and why not?!

ANYWAY - Hieroglyphics. They were AMAZING. And everywhere. Once the wall/column was constructed, they would cover it with a plaster, and either "stamp" or carve in the hieroglyphs.

This is documentation of what offerings were made to the god each day. A temple may have been to honor numerous gods, but it was all about keeping them happy.

This is a cartouche:

According to Wikipedia, "a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name." Because the figures inside are facing the left, you would know to read this from the left to the right. I don't remember exactly who this is for, but the circle represents the sun, pronounced "Ra" and I think it represents Ramses.

Now this one? Not a clue. Brian took the picture and then included it in the post, but it doesn't mean anything particular to me. I can tell you, the symbol in the center is the key of life representing eternity. The bugs? They look cool, though...

Now this one is from Karnak Temple. This is the first spread sheet. Okay, not really, but it looked like it to me. Back to documenting offerings. The symbols across the top were offerings, down the left are days, and where they intersect is how much. Now that's cool!

First Spread Sheet

Besides these pictures, we saw amazing hieroglyphics in the Valley of the Kings and we visited a tomb of a noble that was incredible. We couldn't take pictures inside though, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cruising the Nile

2008-10-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

We disembarked the live aboard to our next adventure of a floating hotel. We flew to Aswan and our new lodging was a boat on the Nile. Well, it's called a cruise, but it feels like a hotel from the 70's that floats down the Nile.

The boat was nothing special, but the views of Egypt from the decks were beautiful. Peaceful, and definitely showed how water means life. We passed all sorts of little villages and farms.
For three days we cruised down the Nile. We would stop periodically (one to two times a day) to explore temples of the ancient Egyptians. It was very cool to hear the stories of the hieroglyphics, how and why the temples were created, and how they changed over the years.

This was the first temple that we visited. It was in Aswan, and was one built after the Romans invaded Egypt. In general, temples were built by the Pharaohs to show the people that they were favored by the gods. Mohammad (our guide) was an Egyptologist - and he traveled with us, so we learned as we went and he was able to build on the things that he taught us.

Underwater Video - Red Sea

2008-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Turtle

Wrassi

SCUBA Diving the Red Sea

2008-10-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

We were looking for a SCUBA vacation, and Sarah and our friend Seon, got to scheming...the end result: 2 weeks in Egypt, one week of SCUBA diving and one week exploring pyramids, temples, the Nile and Cairo. Between Sarah and I, Ki and Seon, we were a troop of four. But Seon had seven other Seattle-ites who were also interested, so we ended up with a group of 11. Totally fun! And now we have new friends!

The first half of our trip was on a live aboard boat on the Red Sea, which was chartered by Emperor. This was my (Brian's) first live aboard so I wasn't sure what to expect, exactly, other than a plethora of diving. Long story short, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was fabulous! Simple, but definitely tasty. The accommodations were good. We've been married now for over a year and a half, so Bert & Ernie beds for a few days was okay. We would wake up early to make use of the sunlight. The cycle of activities went like this: Sit through a dive briefing, gear up, dive, take off the gear, relax, eat, repeat. A great way to spend a week!

We did have a few crazy crossings of the Red Sea. However, the bumpy crossings (moments when the crew tells you to just go to sleep...doesn't matter that you slept all night, just go to bed again otherwise one might get seasick) would have happened no matter who we decided to dive with. Red Sea in September, apparently the chance of waves is high. It didn't dampen our fun!

The boat

Before arriving in Egypt we were expecting to see large life while we were diving. A good example would be schooling hammerhead sharks and manta rays. When we got there the conditions had changed, bumpy instead of nice and calm, so most of the big life was at depth or had moved to different areas of the Red Sea. Bummer, but we were excited to see how beautiful the coral reefs were.

Despite the wild conditions, this is how we would start the day.

We spent our time with some large life, gray reef sharks, and a bunch of fun and interesting smaller life like anemone fish (below), octopus, lion fish, cuddle fish, and more. Some of the coral reefs that we encountered were amazing! 20-30 feet of cascading tabletop corals, fan corals, and hundreds of types of soft corals. Having been there, now, and diving for a week, I can understand why the Red Sea is some people's favorite spot to dive in the world.

Anemone Fish

To Egypt and back again

2008-10-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks we've been traveling throughout Egypt. We spent the first week SCUBA diving the Red Sea and the second week in Cairo, Aswan, Hurgada, and Luxor. This was an amazing trip for us and over the next few days we'll share some of our memories and pictures.

For now we'll share a picture that we took in Cairo.

A little experiment...

2008-09-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

We got the opportunity to get a discounted season pass to Busch Gardens this year, which means that we get ample opportunity to ride roller coasters and enjoy some interesting shows too. One of the side benefits is that one can go taste beer at the park for free too.

While we were at the park recently we went in for a tasting with some friends when our taste/brew master made an interesting recommendation. We were tasting the Michelob Porter when he recommended making an ice cream float with it. The beer by itself is pretty nice. It is kind of heavy, but has some coffee and chocolate flavors and aromas. So after our tasting we grabbed a six pack and gave the Porter float a shot...we made it with 1/2 a beer each and a couple scoops of chocolate ice cream.

B: I thought it was interesting, but it benefited from an extra scoop or two of ice cream. End of the day I think I would rather have a rootbeer float, but I might have to give it another chance.

S: Eh, just ok...but would give it another shot with an ice cream that had some fudge in it or was more chocolaty than the one we had.

Old Friends in a New Town

2008-09-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Colleen and I (Sarah) have been friends forever! We met in 5th grade. We use to pass hours just walking around our neighborhood in Anchorage. Skipped school together (only once!). Played pepper in the street (just volleyball back and forth), swapped stories during college, attended each other's weddings. And now, here we are.

Colleen, Brad (her husband) and Gwen (the 3-year old) moved to Virginia two months ago. They are about an hour away from us, but we are happy to see them when we can. So far - we've been able to hang out quite a bit!

Here we all are enjoying lunch at the Cheese Shop in Williamsburg:

Busch Garden pictures to come soon...

Have you ever been to Berryville?

2008-09-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Berryville? Probably not - but we'll get there in a second...

It was back to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend. Brian and I drove up Saturday morning, and it was great. An easy 2 1/2 hour drive, and we met up with Phil. Yeah for Phil!

Phil lives within walking distance of the Mall, so the three of us wondered through and into the Air and Space Museum. The last time Brian and I were in DC, we saw everything from the outside, so it was fun to check out the inside - and the AC was welcomed because it was HOT!

I made the boys practice looking animated in the pictures - and they got pretty good! The museum was cool - but definitely was cooler in the 80's.

Darn. The museums closed, so we worked our way to dinner via margaritas... Sushi for dinner, which was a totally treat for us! Given all the conversation, our throats were dry, so we had to stop for another beer or two...good times!

Then Sunday morning, it was time for BERRYVILLE! An hour west of DC, Mary's (Phil's lovely girlfriend) family has a house they call the "farm." It is a beautiful restored farmhouse, with a very modern pool area. Mary joined us after work - and Sunday we enjoyed the sun and the laid back feel of the country. Brian and I treated Mary & Phil to herbaltinis - YUM!
We (okay, Mary) made dinner, played games and laughed like crazy.

Then we (okay, I) STILL had Monday off of work, so we enjoyed a good ol' fashioned BBQ with friends, food and fun. And what's a pool party without red keg cups! I guess you are really only as old as you act!

Happy Labor Day!

Colonial Williamsburg - FINALLY!

2008-09-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

For two years now, we have lived in Williamsburg, VA. The home of the second oldest university in the country, William & Mary AND Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg (or "CW" as the locals call it) is the historic area of town where every day is sometime between 1774 and 1781. Everyone is dressed in period costumes and you'll get invited to listen to the reading of the Declaration of Independence because most likely, you can't read.

We have been taking advantage of some free time on the weekends to explore CW. We have sat in on conversations between slaves as they debate whether to leave and fight the British, listened to Benedict Arnold announce the British occupation of Williamsburg, and cheered a general by the name of Washington, who went off to battle.

It's been a trip to hear things like "the house of Burgess" and other things that remind you of your US History classes. Plus, it's just fun!

This is Sarah showing you how those held in the Public Gaol used the facilities.

And here's Brian in the gardens behind the Governor's Mansion:

It seems that a few hours is all we can handle, so we take in a few things and then head home to relax and enjoy the modern amenities.

Happy 30th Birthday, Brian!

2008-08-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today's the day - Brian is 30 years old.

You can see his reaction:

He's actually handling it with style. We will celebrate at the Fat Canary, our favorite restaurant in Williamsburg, and talk about what a 30rd year-old does that a 29 year-old can't.

Don't worry, Brian is still young at heart -
my husband is asking for Rock Band II, Pixar movies and board games.

See...he's quite a few adventures to go before he's over the hill...

photo from Digital Quixote

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN!

A little trip that went up, up and more up...

2008-07-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

I went climbing a few weeks ago now and my body still remembers the point of defeat at 1.8 peaks. I had a great time with Nick and my sister that day. On a less important note, I am almost all healed up from my one tired moment on the mountain where the mountain won. Still not sure what happened exactly since I remember standing still and the next moment I was on the ground going for a little ride that ended in a bloody hand. I must have been day dreaming or something, but it reminded me of the times when I used to ski a bunch. My best friend and I would have no problem zipping down the mountain, but once we stopped at the bottom the odds of us (or at least me) falling over greatly increased…

For pictures and another perspective of the great hike of 2008 check out her blog

The next day I went with my Dad for a hike around Mt. Rainier. My body was thankful that this was a much more relaxed hike instead of another crazy climb like the day before. In fact I would be willing to bet that my body might have down right revolted at the thought of doing another crazy climb the next day...

It was great to spend some time with my Dad up on one of the mountains that we used to go to often when I was younger. I had forgotten how pretty it can be hiking around on the trails at Mt. Rainier. But, then again being on the East Coast I had kind of forgotten what a real mountain looks like too. Thankfully I got two solid lessons while I was in town.

For pictures and other details check out his blog

Phil & Mary Vacation in Williamsburg

2008-06-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

So, if you didn't believe it yet, you really should come and visit Brian and I in Williamsburg - everyone else does!

This weekend Phil and Mary came down from DC to hang out with us, or maybe just use us for the pool. Phil and I have been friends since grade school and Mary's a "friend" of his - we liked her! We made the most of the sun and heat - mimosas by the pool, some played tennis, Brian made curry and we played lots of Mario Kart. We had dinner at the Fat Canary (our favorite) and then beers at Chowning's Tavern, a colonial tavern, so we watching a magician, listened to musicians, and played "Shut the Box" - a dice game.

The four of us had a lot of good conversations - and talked about all sorts of things...food, friends, jobs, politics, the media, and George. Hopefully, we'll get to visit them soon in D.C.

A little trip to TJ's house...

2008-06-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

The drive behind our trip was to come and checkout Thomas Jefferson's house at Monticello. Pretty nice place if you ask me, but back his day I bet it was pretty darn warm inside.

I really enjoyed the gardens at Monticello. Jefferson was absolutely crazy and scientific about his plants. In fact he kept a journal about each and every plant that was on the grounds and had a preference for useable plants...

Without my navigator I'm not sure we would have made it to the house. However, if I had known the place was retrofitted with AC I would have had no problems finding this place.

May as well make a quick stop at the university that TJ designed (UVA) too.

While we were at the university that he designed we felt that spending a moment with him in the shade would be a nice little break. Thankfully not to long since the shade was scarce and it was hot that day.

And we finished the weekend at lunch with friends

My Kappa Phi Girls

2008-05-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, I'm extremely involved with Zeta Tau Alpha. I enjoy all of the time that I dedicate to it - and this past year has been especially special. I was asked to be the General Advisor for Kappa Phi, the Zeta chapter at Christopher Newport University. I threw the girls for a loop with my energetic style, but they soon got use to it and we accomplished a lot together.

I know I was suppose to be their advisor, but week after week leaving the chapter meetings, I knew I was getting just as much advise on life from them; whether they knew it or not.

I never tried to be cool or in the know, and I'm sure not either of those things now...but I'm a little closer. =) Late night phone calls, a retreat in North Carolina, LOTS of email, "mash the potato", Facebook, LOTS of hugs, smiles and thank yous. It was a year that I will always cherish.

Visitor from Seattle

2008-05-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

AND then we had MORE company! Karissa came to town! We walked around Colonial Williamsburg, enjoyed a bottle of wine in the garden of the Cheese Shop, played Mario Kart (be careful, boys, she holds her own!), and time catching up.

It's wonderful to make new friends, but it's heart-warming to be re-united with old ones. We have been through some adventures together and it's always fun to get together and talk through all that is ahead of us.

We love entertaining! Good thing, huh?!

Visitor from Anchorage

2008-05-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

One of my (Sarah) friends from FOREVER came to town this weekend. Carrie had class in Norfolk, but we convinced her to come in a day early and hang out with us. It was so good to see her! We drug her to a graduation party. Worth noting: the party was sponsored by an official taster at Budweiser. So don't feel TOO bad for her. PLUS we spent time at Virginia Beach - darn good weekend if you ask me!

Graduation is/was here!

2008-05-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

We can't believe two years have gone by so fast! On May 11, 2008, we heard my name announced as I was awarded my MBA. We had a great day - an MBA brunch, class picture, Mike Tomlin (Steeler's head coach) gave the main commencement speech, and we went out for a fabulous dinner.

My folks joined us in Williamsburg for a few days and it was great to see them. We talked and laughed a lot and were definitely sad to see them head home.

Graduation is here...well almost

2008-05-06T20:29:00.000-07:00

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Only a few days left until graduation! Yippee!

Kentucky Derby Time!

2008-05-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

All dressed up to watch the races! We (right) joined Sage and Morgan (left) and Carter and Lisa (below) for homemade mint juleps during the Kentucky Derby. I am starting to understand this sport, but all of this for a TV viewing of one of the fastest sporting events? Either way we found a way to make it fun!

Austin or bust

2008-04-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to our tour guide for taking this picture for me!

I got a chance to go to Austin for a few days. I was there primarily to interview for a job, but we'll see how that pans out here in the next week or so. All in all I feel pretty good about how the interview went and will continue to be hopeful until I hear otherwise.

Now my visit wasn't all work or an attempt to get work. I got a little bit of time to explore the fun city of Austin and one of the days I was there I spent on a Segway (the idea of me taking a Segway tour prompted my sister to call me either a mega or super nerd). I thought it was a blast. It was also a great way to see a new area, since we were traveling at about 10MPH. I think that the tour could have been better if we had a little ear piece so that we could hear our guide a little better, but all in all it was pretty good. We heard about deep musical history of the city and toured many of the "important" buildings in the city like a few hotels, the capital, and a couple of cultural sites. Did I mention that this was a great way to see the city? Being on the Segway lifts you up a few extra feet off the ground which gave an interesting perspective and removed the need to try and look around the rest of the people on the sidewalks. I wonder if this is how someone like Kevin Garnet feels as he is walking around regularly, but I digress...

I think that after being in Austin for a few days that this really is a place that the we would enjoy. The culture is laid back and unassuming much like I feel Seattle is. They also have tons of great food and some good local breweries in Texas. For now, cross your fingers while we wait and hear if I get the job that I want and I will update once we know more =)

Cruising through a neighborhood on the way back to the car!

Sports update...

2008-04-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

The 2nd year and 1st year MBA students went to Charlottesville to play softball in UVA's annual MBA softball tournament. Our team went last year and got to the semifinals, but couldn't beat the 2008 team from UVA. This year much like last year we had a great time up in Charlottesville for the weekend with registration at a local Irish Pub and the second night at a great bar with food, drinks, and an opportunity to mingle with MBA's from around the country.

Once it got to game time the 2nd year team was poised to win. We had been practicing off an on to help get back in the swing of things and help people like me remember how to catch a ball. Day one during pool play we played four games and ended 2-2. We beat Harvard and Boston College, but lost to the 2008 UVA team and Kellogg. At this point it was 6 or 7pm and we were in the quarter finals for the playoffs. We had an interesting and fun opponent in Babson college, but we played well and made a clean sweep of all the schools from the Boston area...unfortunately in the morning we had drawn the 2008 team from UVA again for the semi-finals...we played well on defense except for one inning and that inning killed us. Not that it makes it any better, but the conditions weren't great (it had rained for most of the night so we were playing on all grass) and all of a sudden I couldn't catch the ball anymore. Oh well we played great, I had fun playing, and spending time with the team and some of the other teams.

After we got back from the tournament, a few days later, we had the intermural playoffs for volleyball. We were more successful in this en devour since we won and got some new t-shirts =) But, I wish we could have won one more match...we were one game away from beating the men's club volleyball team for a second t-shirt. Unfortunately, they rebounded after we played the best game we had all season to come back and beat us. It was fun playing volleyball again, but it would have been sweet to beat the club team.

Day Trippin'

2008-04-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

While we are on the East Coast we decided that it would be fun to go to Atlanta for the day. Yes, the day...I know lots of other people have given us strange looks as we told them we were headed there for the day. But, when we looked at it there was only a few things we wanted to do, which included going to the Aquarium and the Coke factory.

The Coke factory was a fun and interesting historical tour with a bunch of memorabilia from all of Coke's history. As we walked through there was a introductory movie, a 4-D movie, an Andy Warhol section, an opportunity for tasting, and a gift shop. The 4-D movie was something we could have passed on and spent more time with Fizzy Bot the robot and in the Andy Warhol section. It was really neat to see and try all sorts of new flavors from around the globe. I forget how many flavors they actually had, but I do remember a number that weren't to my taste preference...

After a couple of hours at the Coke factory we were off to the Aquarium which is about a stones throw away. First on the list was another 4-D movie this time with fish...clearly we didn't learn our lesson as this was more programming that was designed for a considerably younger crowd. Ah well next time we might remember. The rest of place was amazing, but one of my favorite things in the big tank was the whale sharks! This place is definitely worth going to see. In fact, I would say that it is worth going out of your way to go see, but we are a little biased since we love the ocean and all that it has to offer.

After all that we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then back home. Great day!

Makeover time...

2008-03-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

Ever wanted to give yourself or someone else a makeover? Well now with this easy tool from Taaz.com you can! There are some really good and really ridiculous ones out there...

For example:

What did you do last weekend?

2008-02-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well here in the booming metropolis of Williamsburg there was a lot of activity...or at least one big activity in town for us. We went to a MBA dance aka prom.

This event was a huge hit last year and this year was no different. We had a mix of first and second year students doing the coordination and my hats off to them, because it was a blast. However, before you start reminiscing back to your high school days you have to think about how you would have done prom differently if you could do it all over again. That said this was a lot different than what I remember prom being back in high school and a step up from last years party. Part of the reason it was so different is because HS prom consisted of tuxedos, fancy dresses, hair being done, and it being pretty expensive...it was a racket back then for pictures! Yes, we did dress up and take pictures as you can see, but most importantly we all had a lot of fun!

We went to dinner at a place called Long Horn with some friends. After dinner we were off to the dance for music, dancing, drinks, and more great company like we had at dinner!

Holiday Travel - Minnesota

2008-02-16T12:44:00.000-08:00

From Seattle, it was off to Minnesota eh. My (Sarah's) family lives in the country, and since we know no one else, it's all about family. We arrived the day after Chirstmas and had to catch up quick. We visited with my sister Beth, sister Laura and brother-in-law Ryan (yes, Brian and Ryan..not so easy on the grandparents, but we work with it), Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa.

Once again, we spent hours watching the birds and squirrels in the yard. We can identify all four types of woodpeckers and when the pheasants show up, everyone looks out the window.

We spend hours playing cards, and this year there was enough snow that we could use the snowmobiles. And when Brian and I got REALLY crazy, we walk across the lake to Grandma and Grandpa. They think we're amazing, and then we play cards.

Such a great trip! Four days is not enough, or just right. It's alway nice to leave wanting more.

Happy Valentines Day

2008-02-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day from us to you! Hope you enjoyed a day to celebrate how much you love the people in your life as much as we did.

Holiday Travel - Seattle

2008-02-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

We know, we know - it's the beginning of February and we haven't posted any fun stuff from Christmas.

We started our holiday travel in Seattle. I (Sarah) wish I could deny it, but we were totally nerdy and had a schedule...in excel. But come on?! You guys love it! It gave us the chance to see so many people. So here's our recap:

Sydney is such a cutie! You can tell how everyone looks at this precious little thing...It was great to see Kori and Colby (mom and dad). They have been our friends for years, and I'm sure we're just getting started.
Brian and I got to meet Catherine (Mike & Angela's new baby). It was great to catch up with them - Angela was glowing with happiness and Mike and Brian could have kept talking and talking and talking...the way best friends can.We had another baby to meet, Benton, but this time we met up and the Seattle Aquarium. I think that we might have had more fun than Benton did.

Brian had lunch with his old co-workers from ArenaNet and I hung out with Beth. It was fun to eat at Chanantese (one of my favorite Thai places).

The Civitts clan was a sight for sore eyes! Linda and Tony (Jen's parents) were in town from NYC to see the new baby. James was born in December and you can tell he's already lucky with an older brother like Jack around. The Civitts hosted a fabulous dinner - chicken parm. YUM!AND we got to meet Riain (pronounced Ryan). I loved holding her. She was 2 months old and had plenty of baby fat to make her cuddly. Erin (her Mom) was all smiles, as usual. Erin & Mike were there, too - representing the "yes, we're married, no kids yet" group like us. What's crazy, is that a year and a half ago these ladies and I were meeting for "Wedding Wednesday." Erin, Erin and I were all engaged, so we would get together and chat (Jen was there for support). Nothing productive - all fun. But I'd bet it kept the stress of the whole wedding thing down. What a great group!

The Harris house was hopping with kids and a great gift exchange while we were in town. A gift exchange is always fun, but going over to the Harris's is always a treat because of the great company, wonderful new wines we are exposed to, and Sara makes some of the best appetizers!

Brian and I like Williamsburg, we really do. But eating out is a challenge, unless you're willing to eat at a chain restaurant. So while in Seattle we made sure we visited a few of our favorites... we did Thai Tom in the U District for lunch...

Redhook Brewery with Cory and Shelby. They got a chance to come and visit us near the end of 2007, but we always have a good time with them. Even if we are searching for Cory's chicks!
Northlake Pizza Tavern with Mikelle and Jon. They were married last fall and they're such a great couple!JaK's (a local steakhouse) with Ki, Seon and Fred. They're our scuba diving friends (some of them) and it was a lot of fun to see them.Cactus (fun Mexican) with Brian's family. Conversation was entertaining, as always!

Breakfast/brunch with David and Paul at the Barking Frog! We spent the morning of our wedding day at their house

And we were spoiled again with dinner at the Suarez's, home of Kaptain Kenmore. Little Eliana is such a sweetheart. And once again, Erin and Mike were there. We all had such a good time, we finally had to call it quits at midnight. Brian and I were on vacation, but the rest of the kids had to get up for work.Christmas itself was fabulous. The Porters have some great family traditions - dinner on Christmas Eve, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. (By now you all understand why the eating right/exercising New Year's resolution is a must this year!) We were all blessed with time spent together and such fun gifts!

Overall, Seattle was all smiles, lots of love and counting our blessings, which are so many, I think it graduates to a miracle. Brian and I truly feel blessed with the wonderful family and friends that make Seattle still feel like home.

Loving winter (or I guess that is what it's called when it's January and cold...)

2008-02-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

As we watch the weather, we see how our West coast fans (um, friends) are getting snowed on.

Here was out winter...

Snowed one day.
Cold and sunny for two days.
Rain.
50s and 60s today.
The groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter.
We can handle that.

Life is good.

and, if you notice the day and time...yes, I'm watching the SuperBowl and working to catch up the blog! Go Giants!

Celebrity sighting and meeting

2008-01-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

Sarah got a chance to meet Ty Pennington a little while back. Who is Ty Pennington you ask. Well you might remember him from his involvement with ABC's extreme home makeover show, or his signature line of flooring with Lumber Liquidators.

Long story short, Sarah got a quick chance to meet, greet, and have a picture snapped with Ty.

One Semester to go!

2008-01-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

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With one semester to go, for my MBA, the goal of graduation is in sight. Now if a job were also in sight we would be set, but all in due time. For now I will think about the semester ahead and how it will continue to prepare me for the job market.

I am taking six classes this semester which are:

Corporate Finance - this will build on the finance classes I have taken previously while putting theory and practice together.
Leadership Advantage - this class matched each student, from day one of the program, with an executive coach to help us with our leadership preparation and skills.
Global Competative Strategy - sounds like it will cover decision making process at multiple levels of an organization. From what I have heard our professor is great and the class is top notch.
Project Management - This will look back at some more interesting operational problems and get into the nitty gritty of project management. Should be pretty helpful since I am leading our field consultancy group.
Advanced Financial Modeling Techniques - I am expecting this class to help put more of the corporate finance into practice and help me develop some interesting tools for the future, but who knows.
Field Consultancy - This is a very interesting way for us to get hands on work outside of our summer internships experiences. It gives students the opportunity to help companies work through real challenges and see their solutions challenged and implimented.

Go Hawks!

2008-01-12T12:27:00.001-08:00

Stewart's Visit Willyburg

2008-01-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

What a treat! Of all the friends that we have, the Stewart's were amongst the last that we thought would ever make it to Williamsburg, but wonders never cease. The Stewart's would be the first to admit this! I (Sarah) use to work with Shelby, and we have become great friends with the two of them. But they have two (adorable) little girls, both work more than full time and always seem to be busy, so we were totally excited when they decided to come to town! We had a great time showing them around.

We made sure they visited the historical triangle with a quick drive through of Jamestown, Yorktown and back to Williamsburg. We ate at our favorite BBQ place (so far, all of our guests have enjoyed Smokin' Joes!) and they were in town for one of the famous things that Williamsburg does, GRAND ILLUMINATIONS!

The first Sunday in December is Grand Illuminations. So, we headed into Willyburg in the late afternoon to walk through Colonial Williamsburg. They still decorate for Christmas like they did in Colonial times. So no electric lights, it's all done with organic materials. Each door is adorned with a Christmas wreath and every wreath is different. Rather that use ribbons and pinecones for decoration, wreaths are decorated using fresh fruit (apples, pomegranates, lemons and pineapples (of course)) and other materials (cotton, sticks, feathers) and the result is very cool. We rested at the Cheese Shop with a great bottle of wine (Cameron Hughes Syrah Lot 24).

then we walked to the lawn in front of the Governor's Place to listen to the fife and drum before the fireworks. It was a 20 minute show and really was well done.

We were sad to see these two head back to Seattle - but we knew we'd see them at Christmas...
post to come soon.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Day. We sure did!

Volleyball...

2007-11-06T18:21:00.001-08:00

We came real close to winning the tournament this time around, but came up just a little short in the third game in a best of three. Game one we killed the other team, game two we lost by a few points, and same story for game three...so close...unfortunately close doesn't count in volleyball. According to what my Dad taught me, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades...

Dinner Party

2007-11-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

Mike, Nicole, Sarah and I have been to a restaurant in Williamsburg called Chef's Kitchen a couple of times and had a great time. Each time you go it is an interactive live cooking show and dinner where you walk away with a recipe booklet of what you had that night. I have learned some interesting techniques, from chopping, to not stirring as much as I would like, but what has been really nice is the extension of our recipe book. After being there for dinner, the wives decided to go to a cooking class and guys went to a wine paring class. So with some new recipes and a little wine paring knowledge we decided to put our talents to work with a dinner party.

We invited a number of our classmates out to Mike and Nicole's house for a dinner party (menu below). It was the first time I had tried to pair wine with an entire meal...this was actually harder than I expected...I think we were pretty successful and when in doubt everyone just found a wine that they liked, which is important.

MENU
Appetizers on the Patio: Sparkling White Wine/Champagne or Muscadet
Oysters on the Half Shell
Grilled Vegetables

Starter: Chardonnay
Asparagus and Artichoke Salad

Main Course: Pinot Noir, Bardolino, or Brunello
Pork Loin with Risotto and Green Beans

Desert: Black Muscat or a Zin
Apple Pie & Ice Cream

Shenandoah Valley

2007-10-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that the changing of the leaves would be so popular? People actually track when Fall will go through the East coast much like when the cherry trees bloom up in DC. Well we thought it was going to be an East coast trip to remember so off to one of the Meccas for Fall color changing!

However, this story starts about a year ago when Sarah made reservations for us to go up to the Shenandoah Valley and stay at a hotel in the park. Not only were we trying to go during a popular season, there are only a few places to stay in the park. We were nearby mile marker 51 at the Big Meadows Lodge. Being in the park was awesome during peak Fall color time because there are tons of nice and entertaining people, you are surrounded by the bright leaves, and there are lots of hiking trails within a few miles.

At night there was a little pub downstairs in the lodge that had some local entertainment, which was very fun. The first night there was a guy who had been playing there for around 25 years. That night was his last so he was going to play what he wanted...He was very musically talented and got the crowd involved by teaching us the chorus to the song he was singing then he would listen to the crowd and harmonize with us. Very fun!

On our way home we stopped by the Luray Caverns, which turned out to be nice one mile walk through a beautiful cavern filled with stories from our tour guide. Good weekend!

Sarah's Mom Came to Visit

2007-10-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

My Mom (Sarah's) came to visit for a week in September. It was great! She was a lot of fun to have around. I still had to work and Brian had school, but she added some excitement to our evenings. Plus, we she helped me cheer on the MBA softball team...and some games, they needed it. It was fun.

We explored one of the plantations in the area. Anyone remember Shirley Plantation that Pastor Mike spoke about during our wedding? He spoke about the giant pineapple that travelers could see from the river. It served as a sign of hospitality and welcoming, so travelers knew they would have a place to stay. Here it is:

You'll have to trust me, that it's a pineapple on top. It was very cool to see! Thanks for the memorable homily, Pastor Mike. On another day, the three of us drove to Smithfield to see the Virginia countryside, try some country ham and she-crab soup. It was a fun morning.

We love having visitors -you're more than welcome to come!

NYC

2007-10-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

A nice long three day weekend in NYC with our friend Anne! Anne, thanks for letting us stay with you. Also for showing us around the city even though we taunted you with large touristy maps and destinations that you would only give us directions to.

Scottish Festival

2007-09-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

The name says it all except for the fact that there were actual people tossing caber for a competition!

Virginia Beach exploration

2007-08-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

A day at the beach with our favorite Boston College fans! The four of us figured we should go to Virginia beach, since it is so close to us and classes hadn't started yet... We threw the BC football in water, went swimming in the crashing waves, tried some food on the waterfront, and just enjoyed the day!

Rock Island Adventures

2007-08-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Late one night Mike, Caesar, and I went on a little adventure hike. We had rations (Doritos and Bud Light) just in case we didn't make it back...we figured we could survive out there for at least a few hours with what we brought with us. In fact it was about a few hours when we were signaling the house from the rock above...mores code from the rock along with a flurry of text messages yielded no more rations. Probably a good thing, but we did manage to sneak back undetected, get some water, and watch a few shooting stars before being found.

Great adventure and a great trip all around!

Rock Island Boating

2007-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Boating and laying at the pool were a couple of the favorite past times while at Rock Island, but boating doesn't always equal boating. Sometimes it means rope climbing, bridge jumping, wake boarding, tubing, floating in the boat towards the dam, swimming, and of course seeing real live super heroes!

Of course of the activities listed above wake boarding and tubing seem to be the most logical fit. Here are a couple highlights from our wake boarding experience featuring Mike, Brian, and Pam!

Rock Island Arrival

2007-08-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful summer in SoCal I had a trip planned to join up with some old friends in Eastern Washington at the Villa.

After being picked up at the airport by Angela, we went to grab Mike so that we could load the car and boogie over the Mountain Pass and start a nice long weekend of relaxation...so we didn't get on the road exactly when we expected, but I didn't have anywhere else to be so I wasn't concerned about when we got there at all. Mike and Angela were a little concerned, but once we got to Monroe we saw the big DQ in the sky and started the vacation with a Blizzard.

This DQ was a classic sight since there was one manager and a bunch of trainees on shift that night. The manager essentially did everything, but the random antics going on the in background were enough to just keep all three of us laughing as we waited for our frozen treat. One of the best moments was watching one of the trainees ask the manager to help him find a top for a sundae (it was for a drive through customer). He looked around for a little bit, found something that looked like it would work, but couldn't get it to fit...he then asks the manager for some help to find a top, the manager grabbed the one out of his hand and just pushed it on top of the container and ta da a perfect fit!

30 minutes after we walked in the door we actually had Blizzards in hand and were still cracking up over the DQ antics. But, with a Blizzard in hand everyone was a happy camper! Now just a little more driving to see the rest of the crew at Rock Island...

New Friend - Morgan

2007-08-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

Where should I start? This is Morgan...

Morgan and I have been spending a lot of time together the past few weeks, and it's been a blast. Morgan is dating Sage, one of the guys in the program, and she has just moved to Willyburg to hang with the kool kids. (really to be with her man and work as a high school teacher and volleyball coach) I have been joking with her that she's my pity case because our friends were worried about her moving to town without knowing anyone, so I took her under my wing. hee hee The boys are out of town, and we really have had a good time hanging out.

Girls, remember the days when you had that friend that you called every day to see what they're doing and if they want to play. Seriously. We've gone out to eat, gone shopping and just hung out. We've figured out my new nav-system (thanks, dad!) and explored the area. The picture here is our excursion down the Colonial Parkway and lunch in Yorktown.

And with every good thing, it comes to an end...
Yesterday, Sage arrived back in Williamsburg, so I've started going through my Morgan withdrawal. But, Brian is back in Williamsburg tomorrow - YEAH! So now we can all hang out. And I have no doubt we will. The start of school will bring intermural softball and now I have a friend to go to the games with. (I was solo-spouse last year.) pictures to follow...

For now, I'm off to dinner with another couple here in the complex - wonder if I'm the pity case this time?! =) No complaints from me!

Chics Ahoy - Summer Volleyball

2007-08-19T13:42:00.001-07:00

This summer, Monday nights were reserved for Volleyball - Women's 4s with my team, Chics Ahoy. It was a fun change, especially since it's been years since I've played on a women's height net. These girls were a blast to play with and playing fours keeps you moving. Let's just say, Sue, Kristen, Lisa and I did walk away with a new t-shirt, but we always got a few great laughs out of the night.

I'm sure some of you appreciate the old-school team photo shoot. You know I couldn't resist!

Sarah in Seattle - Monday

2007-08-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

And all of a sudden it was Monday - my last full day in Seattle. I met with the photographer first thing to finalize our wedding album (interested? check it out...) and the Rhiannon and Eli met me on Capital Hill. We walked around a bit, stopped for Thai for lunch and then hung out for a few hours in Volunteer Park. What a beautiful day!

I had to include this picture - because this sign is so NOT Virginia.

And what's a Monday (or any day really?) without happy hour?! Mikelle and John (married on August 11, 2007 - CONGRATS you two!) met me for a few drinks, and it was great to catch up with them. Mikelle and I have been good friends since college, and John completes her. Okay, little cheesey, but really they are a great couple! I can't wait until all four of us can hang out together!

Erin was back for a drink (can't keep that girl down!) and Ki and Seon picked me up. Ki, Seon and I hung out for the evening and it was so great to see them. We always have so much (life, work, diving, traveling) to talk about, there is never a dull moment. And they always know the good places to eat - which is such a treat!

THANK YOU - to everyone that took time to hang out with me! I had such a great trip! And if didn't get to see you - hopefully, we'll be back soon. Brian is officially done working today (Aug15) and he'll be back in Virginia on Monday. And I can hardly wait! Two months is a long time to go without seeing each other - and I have really missed him. Work is going great for me, and he starts year 2 of the MBA program in two weeks. Which brings all of our VA friends back to Williamsburg - so let the good times roll. AND, yes, Brian will start his job search for when he's done with school in May...stay tuned for those developments.

Love you all!

Sarah in Seattle - Sunday

2007-08-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Not to be out done by Saturday - Sunday was just as busy, and I loved it. I was able to attend mass at St. Benedict's, which was fun because I hadn't seen Father Steve since the wedding. PLUS, two couple that we know from church had babies that were baptized. I was so glad I was crazy lady on vacation that just happened to have her camera in her purse...

The bonus was sitting with the Suarez's (remember them from Saturday?) and seeing other friends of ours, too - so many reasons to be thankful!

After all the "Congratulations" and hugs, I was off to lunch with Kori, Colby and their little bundle of joy, Sydney. Isn't she adorable? Her mom and dad are just as cute (okay, kind of =) but I'm not so good with the camera, so no picture to prove it.

After lunch, was the drive to L-town. I had plans to spend the afternoon catching up with the Stewarts. They have two little girls that are just adorable. Shelby and Cory are our 500 card playing, wine drinking, work talking, career discussion friends. Bug (Siena is three, as she proudly will show you with her fingers) and Sydney are their girls.

Talk about a cute bunch. I was talking with Shelby, but Siena is all about having me read her a story. I hope our kids are as excited about reading! And if this action video of Syndey doesn't make you crack up, you are working too hard....Crawling is SO OUT!

Sunday evening was all about family. I headed over to the in-laws - which was a blast. We started the evening with mojitos while we got caught up, and dinner was fabulous. Now I've totally forgotten what Carry and Nick are doing in the picture (which might be just blocking the sun from their eyes)- but it's still cracking me up!

Sarah in Seattle - Saturday

2007-08-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning started off perfect! Erin and I were up early and off to breakfast with the Suarez's. Mike and Nicki are right around the corner and are truly welcoming when bringing guests into their home. Breakfast was fantastic and the conversation lively. Eliana was the first of many babies that I'd be visiting this weekend - and what a cutie!

Saying "See you later" was always the theme when I left someplace. And this time, Erin got to be my date at the volleyball team get together. I love these guys! And we're starting to complete the lineup with kids! Maier (Sara & Burke's) is a riot - not even 18 months and he was all over the facial expressions. Mac, short for Mackenzie, (Jaime & Mike's) is a precious *little* one (5 months). You should see her go crazy in the jump-thing! Even when she's crying, she keeps on jumping. Curt and Amanda have Johnny (the cutest chiwawa you ever did see).

And how can you not love a crowd that spoils you with cake?!? Bri, babe - if this continues...we might have to move back!

Not that we were hungry, or wanted to leave...but it was time for girl's night! Erin, Karissa, Beth and I met up at the Pink Door. Only my FAVORITE place to meet the girls for dinner. The servers let you sit as long as you'd like. The house wine works just fine and the Italian food is always tasty. It was SO good to catch up and talk, miss you guys!

Sarah in Seattle - Friday

2007-08-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Brian and I are really enjoying our time in Williamsburg, but I had the chance to sneak back to Seattle for a few days. I didn't get to see everyone and, of course!, I would have loved to stay longer. I'm going to post just a pic or two of everyone I did get to see. I miss you all! And thanks SO MUCH for working with me and my "schedule". Love you!

Amanda picked me up at the airport (sweetheart!) and we went into Freemont. We caught up over coffee and dinked around the shops, before getting lunch at Nickerson Street Saloon. Mac and Jack's, Seattle, sun - talk about a great "welcome home!"

Curt (Amanda's handsome husband) met us for lunch and even Erin was able to sneak out of work early. YEAH!

Erin and Mike have a new home that is absolutely fabulous! Erin hosted dinner for Erin, Jen and I. It was great to catch up and hear all the happenings....

Venice Beach...

2007-08-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

This beach is a great example of what happens when people reach critical mass...I saw everything from your regular Joe's to street entertainers along the long stretch of boardwalk. Besides for the wild people, on the boardwalk and beach, one could buy just about anything they might want here at Venice beach...

amazing biker

dancing, on roller skates!

Night out with the Girls!

2007-08-11T18:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, it was a few weeks ago now, but I wanted to make sure that I got these pictures posted because these are the peeps we have been friends with the longest in Willy-burg. To the right is Elizabeth (in yellow) and Bruster (the big dog), and Becky with LuLu.

Here is Will (Brian's carpool buddy last year) with his wife and their baby. (Yes, we are called Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brian) We left LuLu and Will in Williamsburg and went into Richmond.

The three of us went into Richmond for a night out on the town. It was fun to relax and enjoy the night scene. We went out in "the Fan" - think the casual bars that you can walk between...Fremont-ish. It was a blast! Then it was up early to attend the Nordstrom Sale and get back home.

While the Husband's Away, the Wife will...SHOP!

2007-08-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

Miss the Nordstrom Fall Sale?!

NEVER! Just a new shopping buddy....

US Open Surf Finals at Huntington Beach

2007-07-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

Being in Huntington Beach to watch surfing is very cool. Essentially, every shop in the main part of town is related to surfing or is a restaurant...long story short, surfing is king in this town.

Oh and the beach is really nice too. Imagine people on the beach basking in the sun, playing volleyball, building sand sculptures, and just hanging out with friends. Behind them is a nice little boardwalk for walking, biking, and roller blading. And in front of them is the water, a nice blue green with people swimming, playing, boogie boarding, and of course surfing!

The day I was there, Sunday, they had the Men's quarter finals, semi finals, and finals for the Jr's, Long Board, and US Open. Everyone was sitting on the beach until the US Open finals came on and then you had to work your way to the waters edge to get a decent view on the beach. Everyone else was camping out on the pier or in a VIP (purchased ticket) area, which means I was officially in the water with surfing professionals! All of them did some pretty cool tricks out on the water, but part of their runs depended on the waves, which I heard weren’t as high as they have been in the past. One of the coolest things I saw was a surfer come out of the wave onto the top of it, bounce off the wave, and get back into the wave...and this was the start of his run...it was ridiculous! He scored pretty well on that run too, but the scoring system is a bit of a mystery to me.

Here is a quick guide to surf scoring, which would have been helpful before I went, but it seems like judges have a lot of wiggle room for their final decision. This leads to guys having a sweet run and recieving a 4.25 and then other times he would have a decent looking run and get a 7.25?...This is apparently worked out through averages and having enough judges posting scores for the surfers.

Outside of surfing they also had a couple of huge skateboarding ramps/bowls setup for competitions during the day and a huge motorcycle jump where they had sponsored riders doing tricks at certain times during the day. BTW, these guys are certifiably crazy!

Would I go back and watch surfing again? Heck yeah, in a heartbeat!

AVP in the LBC

2007-07-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

It started off as an early day where I was on the road at 6:15am. This was so I could try out a new coffee shop in the area, they sent me a coupon in the mail for two free drinks, and get to Long Beach by the time the gates opened at 7:30am. Not only was it an early start, but the sunshine decided to sleep in a little. Not to worry because the sun came out for the final and the day turned into a scorcher.

For the women's final I was in sitting in the South end first row by a lot of photographers. I bounced around a bunch during the earlier games trying to find a good spot, decided that I really liked the end zone area, and I figure that all of those photographers can't be wrong, right?

Throughout the tournament and the final, May/Walsh killed the opposition. They were leaps and bounds above the rest of the group...it almost wasn't fair! Maybe it was because they had to take time to relax and meet some of the fans...This wasn't just womens play for the entire day, the Men were still jockying for position for their final the next day. So that means I got to see some of their tournament play too. All I can say is WOW! It is amazing to watch some dude get roofed (aka blocked)! Rogers/Dalhausser played really well against Lambert/Metzger, but I thought that Rosenthal/Gibbs were going to win it after watching them play on Saturday. I was curious so I watched the replay on AVP.com and Rogers/Dalhausser won the tourney.

I also accomplished a couple of California missions while I was down in LBC. I was on TV, since the game was televised, and I was in a movie called "Match Point." Now my part was small, person in crowd at beach volleyball game, but I just might make it onto the screen! With that in mind I might be cut too, who knows...I guess only time will tell.

A neat new way to listen to music!

2007-07-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Not exactly an adventure, but check it out!
http://www.seeqpod.com/

But what is it?
"SeeqPod is the home for playable search results. SeeqPod's vertically targeted crawlers crawl the deepest parts of the web to enable internet-wide search & discovery of anything that can be played or shared with friends."

Another great way to try out some new music is to sign up on LaLa. I was introduced to this neat site by a friend of mine in Seattle. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks great. LaLa has a great feature, that I just read about. LaLa allows one with an IPod to sync it to their website and get some new tunes, all you need is an internet connection. My friend said that LaLa is a great way to discover some new music and keep his CD collection up to date by trading some of his old CD's that he doesn't listen to anymore...

Got a favorite site or place to find new music? Fill us in in the comments section.

Weekend time, what are you going to do?!

2007-07-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Disneyland! Not just the morning, or afternoon, but all day!

A good friend, Steve, and his wife Reyna were down in California at a wedding. I was convinced they came for E3, but I was wrong...it was a wedding and then an internal calling brought then to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland!

Steve and Reyna are Disneyland professionals! They have been so many times that they probably know the fast pass system better than the person who invented it. Because of this expert knowledge we covered a lot of ground during the day and had great seats for the show, Fantasmic, at night! With that in mind I had a few nostalgia missions that included Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, and Splash Mountain...but I left the direction up to the pros.

We started the day with a fast pass from Space Mountain! This is a great ride that is completely dark except for a few stars all around you. The stars don't provide enough light to show you which direction the track is going to twist, turn, or dive at next, but they sure make it feel like you are going faster than you really are. Mix that with the wind blowing in your ears and it is a screaming good time.

Next we hit the Indiana Jones ride, which was one of the coolest rides in my opinion. Essentially, there are thousands of combinations that the ride can take since there are many random decision points throughout the ride. These decisions include different directions that your car can go and Indy's speeches. Sweet ride with a great ending!

A couple other highlights were Pirates of the Caribbean, California Screaming, and Astro Blasters!

Pirates of the Caribbean got a nice update with the release of the new movies, but I miss the pirates chasing the ladies and their ale, but still a nice relaxing ride.

California Screaming was a new experience for me and this ride gives a cool twist on your traditional roller coaster. Instead of being pulled up to the top of an enormous height and being dropped, this coaster stops you about 100 yards from the first big hill. Then the speakers on the coaster by your ears countdown to launch! Once you launch you are pressed back into your seat only to get lifted out of it at the top of the first hill. Somewhere in the middle there is another great spot where the first car gets held over a nice big drop before the coaster lets go! Three letters for this ride...F-U-N.

One of my favorite rides at Disneyland was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters! This is a cool interactive ride that gives you and a friend a ray gun to aim and shoot and different targets throughout the ride. Each target is worth a certain number of points, but if they are lit up they are worth even more. Then at the end the ride takes a picture of you and your friend in action, which you can email out once you are off the ride!

Watch out bad guys, these Space Rangers are good!

A day at Disney wouldn't be complete w/o dinner with fireworks in the air. They apparently have a fireworks show every night during the summer. We weren't to concerned with the fireworks because our last stop for the day was the show Fantasmic. This show has a mixture of live actors dressed as your favorite Disney characters and projections onto walls of water all over by Pirate Island. The show uses Mickey as our main character and his battles with some of Disney's most notorious villians create a great show.

Wow, this was a fun filled day, but how could it not have been? I was at the happiest place on earth with some good friends!

Williamsburg's Saturday Market

2007-07-22T13:06:00.001-07:00

It's our version of Pike's Place. Every Saturday morning and Tuesday afternoon in the summer, we have Williamsburg's Farmer's Market. There's no flying fish, but plenty of soft shell crab, crab cakes, crab meat, scallops, fresh locally grown vegetables, herbs, plants, cookies, goat cheese (a few booths to choose from, even though I don't like any of it) and mushrooms. Yum! (At this point, you all have realized that it's Sarah writing this post because Brian is not into mushrooms.)

People mill about with coffee, talking with friends, while the dogs all sniff each other. It's a casual meeting place, and there are treasures abound. The fresh scollops have made it home with me a few times. The vegetables are fantastic. And my must stop, is at Dave and Dee's Homegrown Mushrooms. They are gernous with their samples, smiles, and they have converted more than a few non-mushroom eaters. The big question is can they convert Brian!
Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

More Friends! The Schaffers plus 1/2

2007-07-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

I am one lucky girl. I am blessed with so many visitors this summer. Last weekend, Mike and Angela made a one night stop in Williamsburg on their tour around the East Coast. My dilemma was how to make Williamsburg (oh, the fun lil' town that it is) compete with the other places they visited (Chicago, New York, Boston and DC), but I was up for the challenge. Mike was Brian's best man and Angela was a reader in the wedding, so it was good to see them again. It's too bad Brian couldn't be here to, but so goes the summer.

I know you're waiting with bated breaths, "What fun things did you guys do in Williamsburg?" you're asking. You guessed it! We ate ourselves around the town. For those of you that are loyal blog-readers, I promise I'm not holding out on all the cool things in Williamsburg. So be prepared for some old favorites...but we did find some new things, too.

Mike, Angela (and the 1/2, they're expecting a little one in October) and I, went to...

Colonial Williamsburg...

The infamous Sno-to-Go

Note to self:
My Nemo and Angela's Summer Sky,
make the favorite flavor list!

We were up early on Saturday morning to get to the Saturday market before everything was picked-over or gone, so after lunch we rewarded ourselves with pool time! (Which included Bloody Mary's, unless you were drinking for two.)

All of these things, I've already written about, so we found some other fun things to do!

Friday night, we went to dinner at King's Arm.
Mike was wishing that Brian was there to join us....

I have to admit, I was skeptical. It is a colonial style restaurant, right in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. Turns out, the food was fantastic and they provided period entertainment that was entertaining. Wonder what that was, you may have to come and check it out for yourself!

There are two soups here that I would call "local:" peanut soup and she-crab soup. Peanut soup was on the menu here, and it was good. Especially, if you like peanuts.

You've seen pictures and heard us talk about Pierce's BBQ Pit, but Mike and Angela were ready for something a little more off the beaten track. It was time for some real BBQ, so we headed to Smokin' Joes. Pierce's is good, and it's famous in these parts, but Smokin' Joes. That's a BBQ experience. The typical order is a pulled pork sandwich and you have your choice of two sides:
Mac and Cheese, french fries, baked beans, fried okra, coleslaw, potato salad or hush puppies. My favorites? The baked beans for sure, and usually Mac and Cheese.

What's so great about Smokin' Joes? THE SAUCES. They have six on the table so you make your sandwich the way you want. It's great! It's fun to see the difference between BBQ sauce and North Carolina sauce.

It was great to have these two visit and I hope we can see them soon. As for this picture - they were kind enough to pose for my action shot. Yes, it's a grocery store. But how often do you walk into a grocery store that is right next to a corn field! It makes me smile every time!

Take a little trip...

2007-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Mt. Rainier from the plane

While Sarah was off having a great time in Williamsburg on the 4th, I took a quick last minute trip up to Seattle. I saw some friends, family, and some great weather!
A few of the highlights would include: a BBQ with friends the day I arrived, and spending some time on lake Union in a kayak watching a military helicopter do some training runs for the 4th of July. Also I had great time visiting ArenaNet, going to lunch with some Anet friends, playing basketball and softball, and of course seeing the family.

My only regret is that I couldn't spend more time up in Seattle this trip, since there are many friends that I didn't get to see. Next time...I should also have a little more time to plan and let people know I will be in the neighborhood!

Mt. Adams from the plane

4th of July in Williamsburg

2007-07-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

Everyone is wondering how Brian and I are doing, since we're separated for the summer...and seriously people, we're good. I'm not sure who has it better this summer. I have friend insisting that Brian's the lucky guy doing the California thing, and believe me he is doing some cool things. (I don't want to ruin the surprise of his posts that are sure to come, so stay tuned.) But I am really enjoying work and it's nice in the summer here. I have had friends visit and we have new friends here that I can spend time with. Of course, it would be better with Brian here, but since we're married for-ev-er, what's 2 months?!

But I digress, I just thought I would post a little 4th of July fun, before it's really past the date...

After the Freedom Run, I had the day to relax and get a few chores at home done. Then it was time to get over to Stephanie & Eric's. They have rented a great house for the next year, and it's close to CW (that's VA speak for "Colonial Williamsburg") which was having fireworks. So I convinced Stephanie that we (those of us here in Willy-burg for the summer) should hang out at their house and BBQ. We all had a good time talking, BBQing and then the competitive natures came out with Trivial Pursuit, 90's edition. It was a lot of fun!

We walked towards CW, and stopped only a few blocks from the house. There was a grassy area and some people already camped out. We could have walked in further, but then we would have had the crowds and to stand up to enjoy the show. Here we spread out a few blankets and things got underway. Now, I have no doubt, that had Brian been with me, I could post some cool fireworks photos. But he wasn't, so I can't, you'll just have to imagine. But the fun part about the fireworks, was the 4 -year old boy behind us. He was SO cute! He was standing behind us, and every time a firework exploded, he leaned forward, eyes wide and "wwwooooowwwww" would escape from his lips. Exactly.

Here are the goof balls after the show - it wasn't Gasworks, but we all had a good time.

Freedom Run

2007-07-15T13:46:00.001-07:00

This year, I started off July 4th right! Which (this year) that meant meeting up with a few friends early in the morning for the FREEDOM RUN. This area definitely gets its money out of the patriotic souls. The race was set around the Yorktown victory monument and it was a great day for a run. (With the humidity and heat around here...you can't always say that!)

Before the race:It was Stacie's (in the green) first 5k run, and she did great! She's a personal trainer by trade and I definitely benefited from her words of encouragement. It was a nice route, with a few big hills that made it tough. 3.1 miles later (about 30.3 minutes) we were stretching it out.

Tony and Molly joined us, too. Let's just say one spouse is encouraging the other spouse to run more often, so they stuck together...anyways..Stacie and I were glad they were still on speaking terms when they crossed the finish line. =) They are a great couple, so it was fun to spend time with them.

Yes, XL shirts was all they had left...but at least we got one!
A perfect way to start the day!

Opening Night

2007-07-12T22:22:00.001-07:00

from www.cinemablend.com

I love opening night/weekend at the movies! People get dressed up, cheer at the beginning, cheer at key moments in the story, cheer at the end, and sit through all of the credits. Ok, the last one might just be a California thing, since people are a little closer with people in the movies and LA is arguably the movie capital of the world. But, the crowd turns passive entertainment, watching a movie, into an almost live performance as they urge on the actors...

I didn't go to the biggest theater west of NY, Big Newport in Newport Beach California, which is relatively nearby...didn't know about it until today, dang! If I'm lucky, there will be one more blockbuster, this summer, that I can go see there...if I'm really lucky I will get to go to a release viewing. Wow, how fun would that be?!

Ok, onto the movie. Harry Potter was great! Not the best one of the series (I liked "The Goblet of Fire" the best), but definitely a big screen experience...if I tell you anymore I might ruin your soon to be favorite scene and I don't want to do that.

Next time you go see a movie, go opening night. Grab all your friends, and make an event out of opening night at the movies! Oh, and don't forget me and the wife...

from www.idoitdigital.com

Phil & Jocelyn Return to Williamsburg

2007-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

What fun! I got a phone call on Wednesday..."Sarah, can we come and visit?" It was music to my ears. I love having visitors! Phil and Jocelyn are DCers, so they were excited to come to the"country." They visited last November, so I was excited to have them return and see Williamsburg's summer glory.

They had to fight through 4th of July holiday traffic, but they stuck it out and made it! Seattle traffic can be nasty, but I'm not sure it compares to the drive leaving Washington DC. Trying to get from northern Virginia to the Richmond area should only be an hour or so, but when it backs up (from mere congestion...not even an accident) you'll be on the road for 3-4 hours. See why we love people to come to us?!

It was fantastic to have time to visit with Phil and Jocelyn. The weather was comfortable. Not hot, not sunny, a little breezy and the rain was coming. We took the opportunity to drive the historical triangle...Williamsburg to Jamestown to Yorktown. They're all connected by the Colonial Parkway which is a gorgeous road that runs through the forest and has great views of the James River. (Not that we stopped to take any pictures...maybe next time...)

Yorktown has a cute little boardwalk with some tourist shops, a good restaurant (or so we've heard), a beach and a pier.

The three of us have a good time talking about work, traveling, summer plans, future plans and sometimes, a bit of gossip.

Then it was back to the apartment to relax, have a drink and talk some more. Before they arrived, I went to the Williamsburg Farmers Market (watch for another post about this). I picked up fresh ingredients for dinner and swung by the Wine Cellar to ask Andy which wine to pair dinner with. We made Scallops with Mushrooms in a White-Wine Sauce. Heavenly! I served it with angel hair pasta and spinach. Yum! For dessert, we tried a banana foster type recipe, but I'm not going to pass that one on. I wouldn't make that one again. I'll let you know when I find a better dessert. Nothing beats a relaxing evening with good food and great company.

Sunday, we enjoyed our Bloody Marys at the pool and lunch at the Cheese Shop. The Cheese Shop is in Colonial Williamsburg (and I am going to be struck down by this comment, because it is a religion here) and I was disappointed with the sandwich. Everyone raves about them, and it's taken me months to actually get there to have one, and when I did - it was meat and bread. Both were good, but nothing to rave about. Hum. I may have to give it another try, but right now, figuring out fun combinations with our new panini press sounds like more fun. (I'll keep you posted on that endeavor.)

It's a tough life. I feel like when people visit me and the husband (when he's here) in Williamsburg, they are on vacation. So I try to treat them like I like to be treated on vacation - relaxation, lots of food, a comfortable bed and fun drinks. Anyone else interested in reserving the guest room? You're all welcome!

Special Visitor

2007-07-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

Talk about a treat! Last week, my cousin Lauren was touring the East Coast with her school. They traveled to New York, Boston, DC and then arrived in good old Williamsburg. I rescued, uh, picked her up from the group and we had dinner at Pierce's PITT Bar-B-Que. A Williamsburg must! And the Ruhwedels, we always like our ice cream. Off to Sno-To-Go...

It was great to catch up with her. She was so animated about the time she had spent with the other kids. She was indifferent about her favorite thing they had seen, but she was all over the people dynamics, which was fun to listen to. Anyone remember being in seventh grade? The boys were annoying and you didn't realize how much you enjoyed the girls because they drove you crazy. But at the same time you were convinced that you'd all be friends forever.

We caught back up with her classmates at the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with an indoor water park. The whole class seemed to have a good time, and it was fun to see them all laughing so much. I just wish I had brought my suit!

Mom's Garden - Minnesota

2007-06-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

Dad, this one's for you (and the rest of you that won't get out to Minnesota to see Mom's garden). She works incredibly hard all summer on her garden, caring for it and improving it. The house is such a peaceful place to be, both inside and out. It's out in the country, so the wind rustles in the trees and the birds are constantly eating from the feeders. The important thing of the day is to enjoy it. Here's just a glimpse, pardon my picture-taking skills. Brian can attest that I'm getting better, but I still cause a little blur now and then.

Minnesota Weekend

2007-06-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have to be reminded how important family truly is, and when you let yourself give into just enjoying life, you really can have a ball. Last weekend, I traveled to Minnesota to visit my grandparents. It was a great trip - we ate, talked, played cards, talked, ate, played cards, slept, ate and played cards again. If you know Sharon and I, we were good at playing cards, eating and talking all at the same time. A perfect weekend if you ask me! And here are some highlights in pictures...there are none of the card games, so you'll have to take my word for it. But to our family, 500 is the religion, so four people in a room means it's time to start dealing.

I was lucky to be there the same time as Uncle Gary and Cousin Bret - and here's the family in the kitchen. Would you expect anything else?

Places everyone, places...Jeopardy is coming on.

Grandpa working in his shop...that's the look that is immediately followed by that smile (which of course, I didn't get a picture of)

and look at his rotten kids...

But you can see where they learned it.

Mom and I took the boat out for a ride, and we got a great laugh after a quick stop that threw Bailey in the water.

She perches up on the bow of the boat, and try as she did, once I hit the mud, she couldn't regain her balance and ended up going for a swim.

Dry Dog. Wet Dog.

It was a great visit!

Bonsai advise - PLEASE!

2007-06-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

One of Brian's school cohorts is off interning, and I have been volunteered to watch the plant. (Not that I mind.) I haven't done any research on this little fella...but it seems to be a bonsai tree of some sort.

When it arrived at my place a few weeks ago, it had a nice curved shape.

But look what I've done to it!
It's growing!

Do I need to trim it? When? Where?

Anyone? Thoughts?

Summer Plans

2007-06-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

I thought you all might enjoy a quick update of our summer plans...

Brian has sucessfully completed his first year of his William & Mary MBA, and he has re-entered the working world. After chasing numerous leads, he landed an amazing internship at THQ for the summer. THQ is a large game-publisher and he is going to be exposed to the finance and product development side of the business. He is more than excited! And for two months he is going to trade the Virginia humidity for the California sunshine. Really, it's two adventures in one! (Yes, he's very upset for leaving the wife in VA! Or he better be...)

Home sweet home...for Brian...

Brian's new car...for the summer!

Sarah:

You guessed it! I am working in Virginia. I absolutely love my job at Lumber Liquidators. It's a great team, and I am right in the middle of the efforts to take the Company public.

It's great experience, challenging and fun.

Exactly what work should be!

Philadelphia code name Philly

2007-06-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Maciej Baranowski

Going to Philly was something that has been on our list of things to do for a while, but we just hadn't gotten around to it. Thankfully, Anne gave us a great reason (her party) to come up and visit!

We had three missions to accomplish in Philly...

1. Go to Anne's party
2. See the Liberty Bell
3. Have a Philly cheese steak

We arrived in Philadelphia at approximately 11:45pm, but didn't get to our destination until about 12:20. We managed to turn our road trip into a five state adventure instead of just being a four state one...20% more fun, right?! Well the state that we added was purely on accident and not fun at all. While in Philadelphia we accidentally crossed the Ben Franklin bridge and kept going for a little while and ended up in New Jersey. Oops! Long story short we drove around in the dark for a bit and ended up finding our way back thanks to the atlas and Sarah's excellent navigation skills.

Even though it was late, we took the opportunity to catch up with Anne over a nice glass (okay, bottle, but who's counting...) of wine. The next day we completed two of the three missions with promise that the third, a cheese steak, would be great on Sunday. Mission two was completed on our way to help prep for the party, yup we saw the liberty bell out of the car window as we dashed off to the Italian part of town.

When we got to the Italian district the four of us (Anne, Brian, Sarah & Nancy) made breakfast the first priority. YUM! Then we strolled through the market and got some vegetables, seafood, cheeses, meats and more...The best part was going into the cheese and meat shop! As Anne was shopping the guy behind the counter was giving us samples of cheeses, meats, balsamic vinegar and more...and even though we just had brunch we found a way to fit the wonderful cheeses in! The most amazing thing had to be either the ricotta cheese cake, the fresh mozzarella, or the aged balsamic vinegar.

As we continued through the market area with I think Sarah described it best by calling it a moment straight out of "Pretty Woman." Three of us with bags and Anne leading the charge down the street...

That night we went to the party (Mission 1). There was an oyster shucker, paella, all the food from the market, champagne, sangria and plenty of beer and wonderful people! Unfortunately (or fortunately), the camera was MIA for most of the night so the only pictures we have are from the early part of the evening.

A bunch of us stayed the night and by noon the next day everyone was famished. So off to get a Philly cheese steak (mission 3). Thankfully the night before we met a Philly native who filled us in on the original cheese steak and how to order. The original is "American with," which means one gets white American cheese with grilled onions, YUM! Now some of the crowd wanted another local favorite of "Wiz with," which as you can imagine is cheese wiz with grilled onions. No one left hungry and everyone was quite happy with their authentic Philly cheese steak.

On the way back from Jim's Steaks we saw the Liberty Bell one more time, only this time we actually hopped out of the car and saw it up close and personal. We wandered around a bit more in the area as we tried to settle the enormous cheese steak in our stomachs.

Philly really is a beautiful city and hopefully, our travels will bring us back sooner rather than later, but all in all a wonderful weekend!

More of Lovely Williamsburg

2007-06-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

We are still new enough to town that we're working through the list of "Williamsburg To-Do's." We grabbed Molly & Tony (you guessed it, MBA friend and wife) and were off. Now, realize, that these lists are not always created by adding the best things in town to do, but more so, the things that keep visitors busy. So, we started at the winery (always a good place to start).

The Williamsburg Winery is small. I know we're tainted by Washington State, but we enjoyed the tour. It was Molly's first winery tour, so it was fun to hear her comments. The tasting...was fine, we'd go back if we had guests in town that were interested, otherwise, considered it checked off the list.

And JAMESTOWN. That was our second mission of the weekend... it is a living history museum. Being the residents that we are, admission is free. It is a very well done exhibit, and the boats are cool to see. (The weather was anything but cool - yet another reason why Sno to Go was so tasty.) This one we'd go back to, guests or not. Long story short, we came, we saw, and we conquered.

Ok, so we didn't really take the canoe out on the water, but you could imagine what it would be like.

Sno to GO!

2007-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

If you thought that Zip Lines + Hot Springs was crazy delicious we have found something that takes the cake.

Imagine it is 90+ degrees outside and the humidity is at approximately 80-90% and you have in front of you a cup layered with snow cone, ice cream, snow cone and lastly ice cream...it is a recipe for a wonderful afternoon!

Such a place exists, and thankfully, nearby. It's called Sno to Go. This wonderful shack has a chilled treat like no other that I have ever seen. It is a snow cone puree stuffed with vanilla or chocolate ice cream served up in a variety of wonderful flavors. We tried "Frog in a Blender" and "Sea breeze." YUM!

BTW: They can and will change the color of your tongue.

Side note related to Sno to Go is brain freeze! Our friend Molly said that if you are prone to brain freeze or have it, you should take their tongue and lick the roof of your mouth to help reduce the likelihood/pain of the terrible condition, brain freeze, that goes along with frozen treats.

We have a new Brother in Law!

2007-05-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

GETTING TO THAT POINT WAS PERFECT! Brian and Ryan livin' the life!

Think Brian is sharing his "how to deal with the Ruhwedels secrets"? Only the Coronas will ever know...

The sand under our feet, the flowers on the arbor, the waves crashing into the rocks, the bride and groom looked fabulous. Aunt Barbara performed an amazing ceremony.

The Mexican food was an amazing dinner, the open bar was everything it should be, and the villa was a perfect backdrop for it all.

Everyone was all smiles - especially, Mr. & Mrs. Masury!

Photos from Robin Ruhwedel

The DJ played a great variety of music, and it was fun to dance in the wading part of the pool.
And to top it off, as the sun was setting...a pair of dolphins were swimming in front of us all.

Peurto Vallarta, Mexico

2007-05-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a year of traveling, but we were really looking forward to this trip. Laura and Ryan were to be married on May 19, 2007. The Ruhwedel's used to travel here on Spring Breaks from school, and Sarah's been here since with friends. But as always, it was fantastic to be on vacation together.

We stayed at Playa Los Arcos, which is in the "romanitca" part of PV. It was a perfect place to be because everything was in walking distance. The pool and the ocean were wet, the sun hot, and the beer cold.

Brian and I had the mornings to ourselves. We enjoyed the local coffee shop and spending time with our books in the morning. We would venture out for breakfast/lunch depending on when we actually got moving. You know, vacation.

What was different this time, was every time we turned around, there was family...Mom, Beth, Aunt Barbara, Uncle Mike. You had to love it! Seriously, it was fun.

We took a morning and went scuba diving. As it is with scuba diving boats, everyone was pleasent and talkative. It is always interesting to hear where people have been diving - now Bonaire has moved up on our list. =) Then we spotted grey whales (or we think they were grey whales). One breached and then did it's lazy swim and blow and ended up 20 yards from the boat. It was so cool! For all the whales I have seen, I swear this is the closest that I have ever been. THEN there were areas of the surrounding water that was populated by smaller, black dorsel fins...Mantas! Now for all the diving that I have done, I still haven't seen a Manta ray. Over the next 15 minutes, we saw 4-5 of these guys, jump out of the water. CRAZY! I didn't know they did that. They were airborne, and I swear some came down on their "stomachs" and some on their backs. Mantas are definitely light on the underside, and we saw that side of them pointing up at the sun. It was amazing...and no, no pictures. We couldn't be distracted with a camera =)

The diving...definitely not our favorite location, the visability was poor, the water temperature was warm then cold, and our gear was...definitely rental gear. BUT we saw numerous moray eels, rays and even a guitar fish. Guess I will have to continue on my treck to see a Manta while scuba diving.

We love jet noise...

2007-05-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

This guy showed his love at the show!

One of Sarah's friends came to town for a conference, which got Sarah looking around for things to do in the area when she ran into the Air Show at Langly Air Base. I was siked that she was interested in going to an air show.

When I was younger we used to go to the Abbotsford Air Show every year. I was always excited to climb into a handful of the planes that were on the ground, see the heat wave as the temperature climbed throughout the day, spend some time with family, and of course hear and feel the roar of the newest jets as they went ripping through the sky at break neck speeds.

We arrived at the show right as the action began at Langly Air Base, but there was a decent line ahead of us. However, before we could get to the back of the line a man and his son approached us with incredible kindness and gave us a couple of tickets. This man's son worked at the base, they were at the show the day before, and didn't want to wait in the long line to get in that day. So they passed along two tickets to the tent where there was food and drinks...we thanked them and had no idea what we had gotten into. Thank you again to the kind man and his son at the air show.

After watching the show from line for a little while, we got through security, and nearby the jet way where we saw how much some people really do like their jet noise. We stayed there until the first half of the show passed, where we saw a warthog, stealth fighter, stealth bomber, a few acrobatic planes, and of course the amazing F-15.

It was approximately noon by this point so we decided that during the break in the action we should check out the planes on the ground and see what the tent, where we had tickets for, was all about. The ground displays were great. My favorite was the F-22 raptor!

When we arrived at the tent, we found out that it was for friends and family of the people that worked at the base as well as the pilots in the show. It was wonderful and in hindsight we should have come over sooner, since they had chairs that we could relax in. The tent was fully catered by the likes of Carabba's, an Italian restaurant, along with a few other companies like Budweiser, hence the self serve taps on the side of the truck. As you can imagine, we stayed there for the 2nd half of the show. The 2nd half of the show was more of the jets that I love including the new F-22 raptor, but the real treat was a showing of the Thunder Birds!

For the roar of jets or air shows in your area check this state by state schedule.

Italy - Part III Venice

2007-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Venice is a magical city. If you have been there you know that pictures and words can only describe a portion of what Venice is really like. For those of you that haven't I hope that I do the wonderful city justice enough to entice you to want to experience it for yourself.

I (Brian) had never been to Venice until this trip. As we approached by train all of my preconceived notions were thrown out the window. However, soon after we hopped off the train I knew that something was different about the city of Venice. But, I couldn't put my finger on it until the first night as we were walking home from dinner and Sarah brought it to my attention. It was the fact that there was no regular city noise. All the noise that one could here was people walking, talking and of course the water in the canal. The city echoes with the excitement of people.

Along with the city being unique, the people in Venice were very friendly, especially our host Riccardo from the little bed and breakfast Corte Campana. He talked us through the area, shared some of his family with us, and seemed to be excited to see us wandering through the streets. Wandering the streets was the best, and in Venice, we seemed to be eating constantly. We would see a good looking panini shop, get one to go, and have to share. This allowed us to stop again, relatively soon, and try another one. The ingredients are fresh and the grill makes everything melt together into heaven. We didn't worry about what was inside, we looked through the glass and just pointed at what we wanted. We fooled ourselves into thinking we'd be able to find the same place twice...maybe it's a good thing we didn't. And don't forget the gelato!

I was in amazement every minute and I was trying to soak up as much of the feeling of Venice as well as the feeling of being on vacation that I could. In our bliss we went to the top of clock tower in St. Mark's Square, took the water bus to see the grand canal, and even fed the crazy pigeons! It was a fun experience having those little birds climbing on us and looking for another piece of corn.

Italy - Part II Florence

2007-05-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

Before I get into how much we enjoyed Florence, this little story still has me smiling. Brian's dad met us at the train station, and we took electric bus "A" back to his apartment. He loves these little buses. They are cute, energy efficient and he thinks they're quiet. So, we all jump on the bus and start heading through Florence. Now on the bus, you can hear this high pitched noise that warns people the bus is approaching, because it's electric, it doesn't have the engine noise of other vehicles. Brian and I had to look at each other and smile, because he thought these little buses are so quiet, but for those of us that can hear that pitch of sound...it is anything but. =)
Okay....Brian's dad (we'll just call him Dad from here on out) was living in Florence for the first semester of 2007. He taught a finance and a new venture class for the Gonzaga in Florence program. It allowed him to live in Florence, enhance his teaching skills, build up stamina for his walking muscles, make use of his amazing eye for photographs and remember when he was a student at the Gonzaga in Florence program - and we benefited from all of these attributes.

Dad has a cute little apartment right past the park with the sycamore trees. It was perfect, with two Bert and Ernie beds just for us. Dad has been able to audit a history of Florence class, so as we perused the city, he knew all sorts of interesting things and this translated into him being the best tour guide in town!

Florence, itself is an amazing city. The history, the architecture, the artwork and the food are all incredible. It's easy to walk everywhere (although, Brian and I were sore after day 1 - but we pressed on to keep up with Dad). We visited the Duomo, David (which is still amazing to me) and the Uffizi. We went to Dad's favorite, the Medici chapel. The time, energy and money these people put into the remembrance of their own legacy was incredible.
Brian and I really enjoyed ourselves in Florence partly because Dad asked us to be apart of his teaching experience. Brian and I were the guest speakers for his new venture class. We spoke about our experiences working with start up and small companies and how that varies from other work environments. It was fun to talk with the students and to see their enthusiasm for the future.

Undeniably, the best part of Florence was spending time together, all three of us. We had no problem talking it up. We would talk while we walked and talk while we ate. You know you're on vacation when you can stop in for a late lunch, order a carafe of wine and stay for three hours. We talked about history, our interpretations of today and some of the future. You had to be there...maybe next time...

Italy - Part I ROME

2007-05-10T10:05:00.001-07:00

It has been a beautiful spring in Williamsburg, and before time really gets away from us, we did want to post some highlights about our Spring Break trip to Italy. We flew to Italy, primarily to visit Chuck (Brian's dad) in Florence. It was Brian's first trip to the Italy, so we also spent some time in Rome and Venice.

We had problems getting to Rome, but we finally arrived a day later than planned. Being the flexible folks that we are, we just decided to visit Rome for the first day instead of the last. Brian was mainly interested in "Caesar history," so that is where we focused. We arrived late in the afternoon, but didn't waste any time...we visited the Colosseum, and then saw the Forum from the road. After the long day(s) of travel, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, so we walked to the Pantheon. Since dinner is truly an evening affair, we sat down and watched the crowds of people enjoying our first gelato of the trip.

The Italians (and their visitors) are shoppers! The shops were alive at night, so we just followed the flow of people and ended up at the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and did a few laps around Rome before we called it a night.

Definitely a great first day in Italy.The next day we planned to catch a train to Florence to visit Dad/father-in-law/Florence guru. In order to catch a train to Florence, we had to leave Rome around 1:00PM. We considered visiting the Vatican, but the line was hours long at 8AM. (One of the only times that spring break traffic was apparent to us.) So instead, we spent over two hours exploring St. Peters.

We visited Pope John Paul II's tomb, which really touched Sarah. We explored the main portion of the church at a leisurely pace and admired Michelangelo's Pieta. We climbed the duomo and had a great view of all of Rome.

Lunch was one of the major reasons we love Italy. A cut out of a place, only 10' by 10', serving hot fresh pizza by the ounce. mmmmmmmmm!

The train ride was relaxing, the country side was absolutely beautiful. We played a few games of cribbage (and I believe I double skunked him =), plus had time to read... It was great to be met by a friendly face.

We claimed the volleyball title!

2007-05-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

It is official; the MBA students added another championship to the pile this year. Unlike softball, claiming the volleyball title for the MBA School was a combined effort of both classes along with Stephanie from the admissions office. What does winning the inter mural volleyball championship really mean? It means we got another t-shirt for weekend wear and a little bit of glory to carry into next year.

An Italian monument of sorts...

2007-04-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Actually, we would like to dedicate this post to our friend, Cory, back in L-Town. He has a certain love for a certain designer and there happened to be a monument, of sorts, in Rome. We ran into this monument, with the initials LV all over it while in Italy (more about this trip coming soon), and had to take a picture for our friend Cory! It is actually an up and coming store front for Louis Vuitton.
The lighting was really bad at the crazy hour in the night when we found this priceless monument. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good distance shot, so you'll just have to imagine how amazing this soon to be store front was from a distance! We did get a detail shot to show the craftsmanship that our friend Louis' is known for and how far and wide his name has spread among the fashion industry.
Lastly, Louis V you better watch out. There are some talented folks out there making some incredible reproductions of your famous work...but never fear there will always be someone out there defending your reputation!

MBA Softball Tournament Weekend!

2007-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

It was a nice sunny weekend in Charlottesville where the 2007 MBA softball tournament took place. There were a number of schools, from up and down the East Coast, which converged on Charlottesville for this wonderful weekend that was filled with softball.The first day consisted of pool play to determine who was playing on Sunday in the playoffs and where the teams would be seeded. We had a bit of a ruff morning seeing that we went with the other teams to register at McGrady's Irish pub where they had free beer and drinks for us...Game one we were moving a little slowly, and we should have won. The rest of the day was pretty good, but the team got a little banged up as we slaughtered the next team. By the time we got to the last game of the day we were all pretty tired from sprinting around the field and just being in the sunshine all day, but we knew by then that we were playing on Sunday.
That night was a more relaxing night than the night before, mostly due to the fact that we were exhausted from playing softball all day. Most of us called it a night early, but a few of the single guys stayed out at a place called Orbit (another place that was offering us free drinks and beer).

Sunday came and we made it to the semi-finals where we played the first year team from Darden. It was well played game by them and we held in there, but our bats just didn't deliver when we needed them.

All in all a really fun weekend with the team! The biggest downside was staying at the Econo-Lodge, but I guess everyplace you stay on the road can't be an inviting place to come home too. This place was downright scary!

...Coach we're gonna have to fly you in next year...

Roatan...diving, diving, more diving, and some new friends

2007-04-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

photo by: Scott Johnson

For the last week of our Honduras adventure we were on the island of Roatan! The water was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, the company was perfect, we got in a few dives (a day), and Brian almost saw a whale shark!

One of the best things about getting to Roatan was there were no more fried plantains with every meal. At the beginning of the trip I thought they were great, but after a week of plantains I've had enough...But the rumor is there are some good place to eat in West Bay, so off we went the first night to the Argentinean Grill where we met Andy and Anne. We talked with them through dinner and then shared a taxi back home where we met up with the rest of the cast of characters for a beer or two. This is when the stories began...The most memorable was how Eric got Tiffany with the conch shell mating call and then clubbed her to drag her home and marry him. So some of the stories were a little outlandish, but a fun night was had by all.

The rest of the week included a bunch of relaxing scuba diving into the ocean. One of the highlights was going on a night dive w/ a couple of night dive virgins. Tina and Armen were another incredibly nice couple that we got to enjoy some time with, but the night dive with them was one to remember. Tina was a bit concerned, but once she saw a few creatures in the coral, she relaxed a little and took her nervousness out on her flashlight. So for those of you that have never been on a night dive, or SCUBA diving for that matter, there are a bunch of hand signals that one uses to communicate. Many of these hand signals get replaced with flashlight motions during a night dive considering its pitch dark underwater. For example, to get your buddy's attention one would swing the light beam back and forth on the sea floor in front of them. Back to Tina. She apparently saw something amazing and was shaking her flashlight back and forth nearby Armen like she was going to run out of batteries so we decided to go check out what she found. None other than the elusive sea cucumber, which she thought was the leg of an octopus. Long story short she had another flashlight convulsion, and guess what she found...Yup, another octopus, oh wait, sea cucumber! Other than the entertainment that Tina provided it was a nice and relaxing night dive with some incredible phosphorescence as we swam without our lights off.

I mentioned earlier that West Bay had some of the best places to eat. Well surprising the best restaurant we ate at in Honduras was an Indian place called Ooloonthoo. The food was magnificent and the service was good too. This is definitely a place that will make your eyebrows sweat and that isn't even with the dish that says "This preparation is very hot and definitely not for the uninitiated!"

Before I forget I saw two out of the three signs that there is a whale shark in the area. First one sees the birds off in the distance swooping down at the water picking up fish. Once you are nearby the swooping birds, then you get to see the living room size circle of fish jumping out of the water and into some of the birds mouths. Those are the two signs that I saw. The third and most important one is the whale shark swimming by or near the surface...no luck, however, maybe next time.

That is it for Honduras, but here is to many more adventure to come!

Wedding Photos!

2007-04-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Just the other day, we got our wedding picture proofs along with a link to some of the pictures up on the web.

Hope you enjoy the sampling of pictures as much as we have so far!

Wedding Photos by J. Garner

Ever wanted a Peculiar Aristocratic Title?

2007-04-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

I found ours this morning and thought that everyone should have an opportunity to have a title associated with their name, even if they are "peculiar."

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
His Highness Brian the Imaginary of Lower Hellswicke

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Excellency Sarah the Contrite of Burton-le-Coggles

Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Dirt Track Racing!

2007-04-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

It was a guys night out! We went up to Urbana where Mike had put together a fantastic BBQ spread that included steaks, salad, potatoes and more. This got us ready to go to the Virginia Motor Speedway and watch some locals battle it out on the dirt in their homebuilt racing machines.

We were on turn two of two. The first place we sat was a little to close to the track because we were getting showered with some of the dirt, from the track, as the cars came screaming around the corner in a full four wheel drift. So we walked up the stands a little further where everyone else was sitting. Looking back, I thought it was kind of strange that no one wanted to be close to the action. But, in a stadium about the size of a high school football one, you can see all the action from just about every seat.

The most amazing part of dirt track racing is I now have a glimpse into understanding why people love NASCAR or any other kind of racing. The rumble of the track as the cars fly by along with the roar of the engines is absolutely amazing!

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

2007-04-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

It has been sunny and in the 70's all week, but we were greeted with a little surprise this morning. It was snowing! There had been reports of potential snow coming in all week, but with the great weather neither one of us actually expected the snow.

Traveling to Tela

2007-02-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

With Brian's appetite fully restored, we were on our way with Gus at the wheel.
We stopped at Pulaphanzak Waterfall, which was incredible!

Then it was up to the cloud forest. We only hiked for a few hours, and both Brian and I wished we could have spent more time here. We were on the lookout for birds and learned all about the forest.

This absolutely AMAZED us:

This is a fern. Seriously. A fern.
And when you looked closely at the "trunk" (which is hairy) there are spiders. Spiders with tiny bodies and LONG thin legs. Brian eyed those guys and Sarah wanted nothing to do with them.

We hiked down to another beautiful waterfall.
Then it was lunch time. This place still has us cracking up. There were no menus or anything that might have led one into the back of this place in order to find the lady by the freezer who was in control of the fish...But, dang it was good!

Lake Yojoa, Honduras

2007-02-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

Brian wasn't feeling so hot when we left Copan. We planned to stop at a coffee planation, but after an emergency roadside stop, he wanted nothing more than to get to the lake and relax.

During our time in Honduras, it was time to pick coffee beans at the highest altitudes. The people of the highlands, seem to plant coffee plants everywhere. All along the hillsides. As we traveled, the hillsides would catch your eye because the bushes were moving something fierce. They pull the plant over, pick the beans which grow near the top, then release the plant which causes it to spring upright. (Think "weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.") Once the beans are collected they are laid out to dry. Throughout our drive, the houses along the road had huge cement slabs as "driveways," but that is where they spread the beans out to dry. Often the whole family was involved with spreading out the beans in the morning, and then shoveling them back into bags at night because of the moisture in the air. Once the beans are dried, then the outershell is removed and two coffee beans (like we think of them) are inside. Brokers will pay the individual families for their beans and the price goes up the further into the process they get.

We arrived at Lake Yojoa, which was a beautiful lake. Brian slept and I relaxed in the hammock and explored the grounds of our hotel. The most interesting aspect was the wedding that took place that night. The ceremony was outside, so we conviently sat down for dinner as things were getting started. (Well, I ate dinner, Brian was able to keep down a Sprite and few bites of my dinner.) The ceremony had two efficients, one from the state and one from the church and they both had speaking parts. There was dinner and lots of dancing, for the guests, which unfortunetly didn't include us.

Copan, Honduras

2007-02-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know it's taken us forever to get our honeymoon pictures posted, but we promise it is worth the wait. We really had a great time in Honduras. If you're planning on or thinking about visiting, give us a call because we can help you make the most of your trip.

We arrived in San Pedro Sula and were greeted by Gus (short for Gustavo). Gus would be our personal tour guide for the next week. It was great having someone that we could ask our questions to, but it was tough having someone listen to all the inane things you end up talking about.

Straight from the airport we headed to Copan. To get to Copan, it's a three hour drive. The road is two, undesignated lanes. Primarily, one for each direction, but we found that there are no rules as to when passing on hilly, curvy roads is appropriate. Once we learned not to pay attention to Gus's driving style, it was all about the scenery. The drive is up 3,000 feet over the mountains and then down into the valley where Copan is located.Our hotel had a beautiful view, and after a long day of traveling it was nice to relax.

Then next day we learned of Gus's extensive knowledge of the local flora and fauna. Which of course, was very cool when we heard it and now we can't remember much. I think the palms of this tree was used to build homes.

Anyways...there were lots of Macaws (Scarlet and Emerald) throughout the country. These happen to be tame ones.

Copan is famous because of the Mayan ruins that are located there. Extensive research has been done and the history is amazing. It was interesting to explore Copan, because two years ago we were at the Yucatan Pennisula and explored Chitinetsa.Besides the ruins, the most memerable picture is that of the tuk-tuks. These little red taxis were all over the place. Apparently, the people of Copan scoffed at them, but quickly became so acustomed to them, they hardly walk from place to place now.

We never actually caught a picture of one, but here is approximately what they looked like

Honeymoon...

2007-02-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

This is kind of a teaser, but there are more details being collected to get you all up to speed on the wonderful adventure that we embarked upon to Honduras! For now I'll leave you with a picture from our first night in Honduras.