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BlogLog for October

I know our blog has been so boring lately - absolutely nothing new for a month. We have been crazy busy this month and we haven't even taken a trip. We've been in town every weekend this month. I must say, it has been a very busy month for work traveling during the week. Rick was out the week of the 6th and again the week of the 20th and then I was out the week of the 27th. Sad for us newlyweds, we only got to spend one week together this month and the weekends. Luckily our business travels are not a permanent thing.

Here is a quick re-cap of our month:

Weekend of the 4th, we went to San Jose to spend some time with my Dad and Terry. We had a little birthday celebration for me (better late than never) and then went to dinner. On our way out I accidently grabbed the wrong cell phone and left. I thought I was grabbing Rick's cell phone when really I was grabbing my dad's. Sunday morning we woke up to the phone ringing. I told Rick his phone was ring and he said that isn't my phone. I quickly realized what I had done, which resulted in another trip down to San Jose. We decided to bring our laundry with us so we could be productive while we watched the endless summer, a surf documentary my dad and Rick wanted to watch. Sure enough the washer broke, flooded the whole garage which was being used as storage for all of Terry's stuff including cardboard boxes, white couches, TV's and clothes. We had to empty the whole garage, dry it out and clean it and move it all back in. It was a long night.

Weekend of the 10th, was a weekend full of showers for me. Saturday morning I helped out with a baby shower for my friend Melissa and Saturday night I helped out with a Bridal shower for my friend Caisa. For Caisa's bridal shower we had a limo pick her and her mom up, so after the shower Molly, Jason, Caisa, Adrian, Rick and I cruised around town in the limo. Of course we had sweets and fondue for the shower so we were looking for some real food. Not much was open in downtown PA at 10:30 at night. We ended up stopping at Taco Bell, however the only thing open was the drive through. Of course the limo didn't not fit through the drive through so Adrian walked through it for us while we waited in the limo. It was kinda of funny.







The one week we were together this month, we stayed at the Claremont Hotel in Berkley. Rick had a work conference there so we spent 3 days there. I took a day off work and went out for breakfast with my friend Marielle while Rick went to conferences. We then met up for lunch and went for a swim in their wonderful pool. Rick got a massage and we spent the afternoon shopping on Telegraph Ave., my old stomping ground. We looked for an 80's outfit for Rick for his 80's work party. We bought him some sweet Risky Business glasses, pegged his jeans and bought him a little Siouxie and the Banshees pin (which I love and and going to start wearing myself).




Weekend of the 17th, was the Red Bull Soap Box Derby in San Francisco. We invited a bunch of people but most people couldn't come or we couldn't find them. We ended up running into some friends from the ward - Janelle and Jeremy and watch it with them. It was pretty entertaining, watching the vehicles race down Deloris St. There were about 60,000 people there so most of the time we sat in the park and watched it from the big screen. On Sunday was my dad's birthday party so we went down to San Jose to have dinner with him and a bunch of people from church. We also carved pumpkins. Rick and I won for scariest pumpkin. We won movie tickets.



Weekend of the 24th we went to Half Moon Bay with some friends from Palo Alto. We went through a hay bale maze that was two and a half acres big. Rick and I were the first ones to finish. Of course I was pretty excited about that. We then went to Pasta Moon for dinner. It was better the first time we went there. We had calamari and a cheese, meat and olive platter for appetizers. We then had pear and procuitto pizza and fettucine with prawns, white toasted corn, jalapenos and procuitto with a lemon caper sauce. Saturday night was the Halloween party at church. We dressed up. I wore my Norweign costume which can look a little like little red riding hood and Rick wore his big bad wolf costume. It was fun. We then had trunker treat in the parking lot of the temple. We passed out candy to all the kids in the back of the Land Rover. We then had our friends over to carve pumpkins and drink hot apple cider.








Weekend of the 31st, was a Halloween party at our friend Luanne's house. There was a bunch of couples there and we played games. I was so tired because I had been traveling all week and was on east coast time. Saturday we got a bunch of stuff done around the house and then headed to Livermore to visit with my family. We went to dinner and then watched a movie with them. It had been awhile since we saw them last.

The rain has finally come and we have been enjoying it. We love the sound of the pitter patter on the roof with the wall of windows that show the dark clouds and the rain pouring down. We finally turned on our heater and enjoyed the cold rainy weekend in a nice big warm warehouse loft!

Weekend BlogLog - Sept. 26th

I know it has been a while since I have posted on our blog and I'm sure my usual loyal readers have stopped checking for something new by now. It has been a pretty busy last few weeks. Rick and I were both out of town on business trips last week, which was good planning on our part. We planned it so Rick would be gone the same week as me instead of me one week and him another. A week and a half is long enough to be away from my adorable husband. Rick went to Pittsburgh to talk about tuna and dog biscuits and I spent the first half of my week at Hormel Foods, General Mills and Schwan's Foods in Minnesota. To my surprise Minnesota wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The business trip was actually very busy and very successful. I then headed to Arizona on thursday for a lunch meeting with the veeps at Bar-S Foods.

My little sister Lauren lives in Arizona so I was able to stay and visit with her for the weekend. On Thursday when I flew in I was able to meet up with my friend Heidi who lives close by. We had lunch together. It was fun to see her. Lauren and I were also able to visit our life long childhood friend Susie. We haven't seen her in years. It was great to be able to catch up with old friends.

Lauren, her roommate Natalie and I headed to Prescott, AZ to go camping in the National Forest. I didn't even know that Arizona had a National Forest. I thought Arizon was just filled with rocks, dirt and heat. The National Forest actually had lots of trees and was 59 degrees. I had packed for Arizona weather so was obviously not prepared for this. It rained on us a little bit but we still enjoyed it. We had a campfire, played some games and ate lots of food. The next morning we got up and headed to Watson Lake to go kayaking. It was a small lake but beautiful. The water was surrounded by large rocks. We kayaked all around through the rocks.





Since I was going to be gone in Arizona for the weekend, Rick decided it was a good weekend to fly to Utah to see his family. I was a little bummed I didn't get to go, but wanted to take advantage of a free trip to see my sister. His sister Caitlyn picked him up at the airport and he surprised his family. He was able to spend lots of time with them and really enjoyed playing with all his adorable nieces and nephews.

After a week and a half Rick and I were very much ready to see each other. Monday night I picked him up from the train and we enjoyed the evening together. This month is going to be a busy month for both of us. We both have a lot of traveling to do which is usually not the case.

San Francisco is an interesting place!

Rick and I were going to meet up with our friends Sam and Marielle for dinner in the city after work on Monday night. We were planning on meeting at 6:15ish which meant I had a lot of extra time in the city after work before meeting up with everyone. I headed over to China Town to buy some new jewelry, which I absolutely love! I then headed towards Rick's office to wait for everyone.

Sitting on the corner of Embarcadero and Market St. was a very interesting 30 minutes. I thought I must share! I had just received a free sample of Honest Tea's new juice product from the ferry building. It was a pomegranate blueberry juice which was actually very refreshing. I sat down on the corner at a little table in front of Subway. A group of black teenage boys came rolling up on their skateboards. They asked me if the juice was good and worth getting a free sample. I said yes. They were friendly boys. They then headed into Subway to order some sandwiches.

The boys came out, sat at a table close by, ate their sandwiches, and started rolling some joints and smoking them. A second later an old white man with a very long white beard and a roller bag came up to the boys and asked where the Bart station was. The boys politely pointed to the corner of the street one block away. The man continued to go on and on about how he needed to get to Richmond quickly to catch an AmTrack train that had left him behind in the city. The boys were looking at him a little strange and couldn't figure out why he was telling them this long story when he was in such a hurry.

A second later, a group of people come walking down the street shouting and cheering Honest Tea at me. One man stopped and took a picture of me sitting at my little table drinking my Honest Tea. He said he was with the company which I figured so. They paraded down the street passing out free bottles.

An older, larger, homeless, white lady on the street who had three free bottles in her hand starting yelling at a tourist man stopped with his group on the sidewalk to discuss directions. The man turned around to see who was yelling at him and what they were saying. She was demanding that he go into Subway and get her a bag for her Tea. He had a boggled look on his face. His group then hurried along on their way down the street.

With no response from the tourist she turned to me, sitting at the table in front of Subway. She yelled at me to go in and get her a bag. I said NO. She then started walking in to Subway herself saying, bleep bleep, blankety blank.... as she passed me by. As she walked out of Subway with her bag she yelled at a Chinese women at the bus stop to "Stop that Bus". STOP THAT BUS! She then hopped on the bus and drove away.

A few seconds later I saw a short, Latino, homeless man walked by with a milk crate on rollers. He was rolling around a sleeping bag and a pet cat.

For the next few minutes it seemed to be pretty normal. I saw a few people jogging with ipods, some business men and women on their way home, some groups of kids walking by, a tourist couple with a book of San Francisco in their hand, a girl with a rainbow sweater on and so forth.

Then I saw an Asian women dressed in a French maid outfit with a big black and white bow in her hair. She was walking down Market with her friend who was dressed in business clothes.

Minutes later Rick, Sam, Marielle and I were walking along the same street, out to find a restaurant that would take us without reservations. Oh how I love San Francisco!

Weekend BlogLog - Sept. 12th

Friday night Rick went kiteboarding while I took care of some stuff around the house. Rick rented me the movie Baby Mama for my birthday and bought me a box of extra buttery popcorn, so we watched the movie after kiteboarding. I wanted to see it before it was even out in the theaters, and was waiting for it to come to our local Red Box. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.

Saturday morning we ran around and did some errands for the birthday celebration that evening. We spent the rest of the day cleaning, cooking and prepping for the party. Rick made some pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon for lunch. It turned out pretty good. The meat was very tender.

Rick sent out the evite for my birthday party but I was the one who actually did the work. Boys aren't the best at those kinds of things. He looses his attention span if he has to clean and cook for longer than an hour or so. He is great at making dinners and platting dishes and making them look and taste great, but when it comes to prepping and presentation for a party he isn't as good.

We made the party simple. We had a cupcake decorating contest, hula hoop contest and a moneky pinata. It was pretty fun. Diana, Becky, Derek, April, Matt, Molly, Marielle, Sam, Jentri, Shane, Jeremy, Janelle, Ryan and Angela came.





Of course all the girls did well in the hula hoop contest except for me. I was the only one in my family who didn't get the hula skills. I think Rick and I were the worst of the bunch. Marielle, Janelle, Jentri and Beciky made it to the finals and Marielle took home the gold.




As the winner of the hula contest Marielle was the first to have a chance at the monkey pinata. Our warehouse is a perfect place to have a pinata, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. To our surprise it seemed like everyone enjoyed the pinata. Jeremy even cheated with the eye patch on so he could get a good hit with the swimming noodle. Yes, that is right; we used a purple swimming noodle to hit the pinata with. It worked out great.



Derek was the judge of the cupcake contest. Marielle's cupcake won cutest or most Martha Stewart, Sam's won most Cosmic, Ryan & Angela's won Best and Janelle's won ugliest (however, I really liked hers and thought it was the most creative rather than the ugliest). It was a fun night.



Sunday afternoon we went over to Marielle and Sam's house for a potluck dinner. It was fun. There was a lot of new couples that we didn't know. We all stayed for quiet a while. We played a few games, my favorite was the yoga ball game. We put the big yoga ball in the middle of the room and we had a contest of who could sit on it the longest with out using their hands or touching the ground with their feet. Rick and I were pretty good at this one. It is funny to see what can entertain a group of adults in a room at a potluck.

My Birthday Day!

I have such a wonderful husband who made my birthday a very special day. One of the greatest things about my birthday this year was, I was able to roll over in my bed in the morning when the alarm went off and get a nice big birthday kiss from my new husband!

We headed to the gym bright and early as we do each morning. It was our swim day. After a few laps, I headed over to the smaller pool to do some exercises and stretches. I noticed Rick had left the pool early and was heading for the locker room. I headed in myself and showered up. As I was walking out, I see my cute husband standing by the door with my favorite breakfast in his hand, a hot croissant breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese and bacon from Specialties Bakery. He then took my bag and walked me to work. We ate our sandwiches and some fresh orange juice along the way. I loved it.

He walked me about three quarters of the way and then said he must go and gave me a birthday kiss good bye. I continued on and walked down the stairs to the park. I looked down on the sidewalk and saw a picture and sure enough it was of Rick and I. For about five seconds I was slightly boggled and then it clicked in my head. Another few feet I found another picture. I got to the cross walk and found another picture. I had a trail of pictures leading me all the way to my office. I then saw Rick quickly running from my office door (he was not able to get in since I am always the first one there in the morning, he was locked out).

He then called me for lunch. I got to the restaurant first and got us a table. I was waiting and waiting for him and of course he was late. He finally showed up and again had more pictures for me. We enjoyed a nice lunch together and then I headed back to my office.

As I walked in I had some beautiful flowers sitting on my desk with pictures every where I looked. There was an adorable glittery pink card with a little Mexican girl shakin her bum. On the inside of the card it said "It's your Birthday! Shake what your mama gave you! He then wrote, Everywhere I look I only see us together. Happy Birthday The luckiest man alive."




For the rest of the day I was distracted, searching for all the pictures he had left behind. I picked up my phone, there was a picture, I opened my file cabinet and not only was there a picture but some Dots as well. I checked my bag and sure enough there was a picture and some Nerds. Everywhere I looked I found candy and pictures of us from all the different adventures we have been on together.

After work we went to our stake temple night and had an enjoyable evening in the temple. I couldn't have had a better day than that. I'll take the pictures, thoughtful breakfast, flowers and card any day over the new work out clothes, shoes and other gifts I got.

My Girls

As many of you may know, I am in the Young Womens presidency in my ward here in Oakland. It is definitely different than any other young womens program I have seen. This week we had a combined activity with the young men and we all went to City Beach in Fremont. The owners wife is in our young women program with us so lucky for us it was all free!

It was a great experience for the youth. We did a ropes course which is designed as a team building activity for corporations. We learned that we have to work as a team to accomplish great things. We had to climb up a telephone pole and walk a tight rope. We had a partner up on the rope to do it with us and a team of people on the ground supporting us in case we fell. The kids did great and were very brave. Marielle and I walked the tight rope together. It was pretty scary!