Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pictures from San Francisco

Steve and Anita (Justin's parents) came up for a visit Memorial Day weekend so we decided to take a trip up to San Francisco. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway which was beautiful and we mainly did the touristy San Francisco stuff. San Francisco was really cool- I can't wait to get up there again!


Here is a view from the cable car:
We took a boat tour around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge- some pictures from the boat:

Golden Gate Bridge (it was pretty foggy/rainy/COLD!)Alcatraz!

On Monday we went to Golden Gate Park and saw the Japanese Tea Garden:


After the trip to San Francisco they spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Santa Barbara- here's a picture of us on the beach the last night they were here:It was awesome having them here! We went to farmer's market on Tuesday downtown in SB and Anita liked the farmer's market so much she said- and I quote: "I wish I lived here!"...hmm, we wish that too! :)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Top 3 Favorite New Ryan Pictures


I just love this picture. I love the puffed out cheeks and the food all over his face. I think this is priceless!

This second he was apparently mimicking the look on Steve's (his grandpa- Justin's dad) face. Love it!

The last one is so freaking cute I can hardly stand it. He was getting his first haircut and they put him in this little car and he was doing great- there are tons of pictures of him smiling and being good- and then the stylist accidentally nicked his ear and he started crying- hence this photo. It just makes me go "awww!" :)

Thanks to Anita for bringing the pics out when they came to visit! More blogging will be forthcoming about their visit and our trip to San Francisco (or "Frisco" as Steve now calls it) soon!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Santa Barbara vs. Iowa City

I had fun thinking of this list. The good, the bad, the neutral- differences between Santa Barbara (my current home) and Iowa City (my home):

1. In Santa Barbara they drink soda. In Iowa City we drink pop.

2. In Santa Barbara they have "fire days". In Iowa we have snow days.

3. In Santa Barbara it is apparently unimportant to be on time- one Californian explained to me that in California they are just "less uptight"....well, I guess that's one way to put it.

4. Santa Barbara children eat lollipops- Iowa kids eat suckers.

5. "Gnarly" is like California's aloha- except where "aloha" means good-bye or hello, "gnarly" can mean good or bad. Iowan's stopped saying "gnarly" about a month after Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure came out on video.

6. College students in Santa Barbara don't go to class when it rains. College students in Iowa still go to class during blizzards.

7. It's always sunny in Santa Barbara...seriously...always. It's a bit much.

8. Gay couples can get married in Iowa but not in California.

9. Santa Barbara= ocean and mountains. Iowa City= river and corn.

10. I like Santa Barbara. I LOVE Iowa City.

No offense Santa Barbara, but you're no Iowa City.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Batter Up!

Abby sent us some pictures of our adorable nephew Ryan today. He is 10 months old and already clearly understands some of the basic concepts of baseball. I just love this picture as he appears ready to throw a pitch- see how he keeps his eye on the batter? He's going to be a star!! :)

Trickin' and Killin'

Sunday we went on a five hour deep sea fishing excursion with Softshare. FIVE hours! I was so tired when we got home I fell asleep on the couch (and I am NOT a napper!) I didn't catch any fish worth keeping- actually, not many people did. Apparently the fish were not so hungry yesterday. Since Justin is a vegetarian and I haven't cooked many fish ANYWAY I wasn't too heartbroken. We had a good time and it was nice being out on the water! Here are a couple of pics:

Friday, May 15, 2009

Scary

I find this scary:



Justin's comment "I would not mess with that kid man."

Kittens: Inspired by Kittens

I think this is hilarious:

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I'm back.

Ok ok, I'm back on the wagon...for now. My mom has been harassing me to get back to blogging (well not so much harassing as asking very nicely...it might be the guilt that makes it feel like harassment!) So what were my excuses? Well, I just haven't felt like I have much to say lately! As Justin put it- we've kind of been on auto-pilot lately- extremely entrenched in our routines. This isn't all bad since our routines include good things like working, exercising and spending time with friends. But, enough excuses. If I'm going to expect other people to blog and post pictures of my niece and nephews (and I DO!!!) then I had better be walking the walk...even though I don't have any cute kids to write about or take pictures of...boo hoo. BUT my mommy insists that she wants me to blog anyway and since I love my mom SOOOOO much, I will oblige. (And since you're probably the only one reading it, right mom?)

Recent happenings:

1. FIRE in Santa Barbara- this was a scary one! It didn't get close to where we live (in fact, you can usually assume that it won't- we're in a good position fire-wise) if it gets to our place, then Santa Barbara is toast. It WAS however, close to my work- work was in the "Evacuation Warning Zone" which means you are supposed to be ready to evacuate at "a moment's notice". Did I get time off? Sadly, no (I really could have used it!). It burned over 8500 acres and ~80 homes were lost. 30,000 people were evacuated- it was pretty crazy. I've said it before and I'll say it again- I'll take floods and tornadoes any day over fire. Here's a picture from outside my office:

2. Mothers Day came and went with the realization that I am the only non-mother in my entire family (besides the men, obviously). Oh, and Audrey.. but she's 9 months old, so that doesn't count.

3. Justin celebrated his 29th birthday Tuesday! I am so thankful for another year of Justin!!!! He started off the day right with two chocolate/coconut donuts (courtesy of me!) and ended it with...drumroll...dinner at Chili's (Woo hoo! We know how to party!) He got to choose and that is what he wanted. Cool for me- I do like the Chicken Caeser Pita! He received lots of presents but seemed most enthralled with his book arriving in the mail (he ordered it weeks ago) and subsequently spent several minutes thumbing through "Plato and the Socratic Dialogue: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form". Yep. We know how to party. :)

4. We're going to play softball for the Softshare Softball team. I didn't really want to (I'm not that good, and you know how I feel about doing things I'm not good at) but Justin really wants to so I'm going to soldier up and do it. Had our first practice today- went pretty well, but we didn't do any batting practice (that's where I really stink!). I'm sure plenty of good stories will surface as a result of my participation on this team.

Other than that, not a lot to report. This weekend we're going on a Fishing Excursion with Softshare. Five hours of fishing complete with cheeseburgers and drinks served on the boat...not exactly a vegetarian-friendly event, as Justin pointed out, (What's that honey? Killing fish and eating cows doesn't sound like fun??) but I'm sure we'll have fun just the same. I'll try and take some pictures and write about it next week.

Till next time...