>>>>Road trippin to LA<<<<

June 29 - July 1

After getting to see Brian and Makenzie, we thought they were so fun that we decided to drive down to LA (Burbank) to visit them again the following weekend....hehehe - and of course to visit my beautiful and talented aunt Salli (she's a producer). We've lived in Cali for 3 years now and still hadn't made it 6 hours south to visit her, so this was as good a time as any. The 5 of us had another great time and it was the first time for both Scott and I in LA. The first night we had a yummy BBQ at Salli's, with Makenzie's "pool house" right next door to the patio. Then Scott, Brian and Makenzie decided to take an after dinner dip in the pool, after a couple shots of Limoncello (a yummy lemon-flavored dessert alcohol) of course. :)

The next day, we got up and went to Santa Monica boardwalk and beach. Brian rollerskated (yes rollerskate!), Makenzie and Scott rollerbladed, Salli and I biked. We worked our butts off, up and down the boardwalk to Muscle Beach and up and down the Promenade. It was so fun and a great way to see Santa Monica. Everyone loved Brian's skates and he can do tricks with the best of them! The kids (Brian, Makenzie and Scott) also went swimming in the freezing cold ocean and then we had a nice dinner on the Promenade.

Sunday we had a nice breakfast and Brian chauffeured us around LA, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We saw the Chinese Man's theater, a bunch of crazy characters/impersonators, the Hollywood sign behind the smog and fire smoke, Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive, and some really REALLY expensive nice houses in Bev Hills. WOW....one of the houses we counted 5 red and 3 yellow Ferrari's (we think all the SAME model) in one driveway. C'mon...who needs 8 of the same dang car! Much less cars that cost more than I make in 3 years! Well, it was a sight and exactly what I expected from the 90210.

We had a wonderful time and it was awesome to finally see Salli, and of course Brian and Makenzie again. Hopefully next time we'll get to stay for longer than a 3 day weekend. It was a long drive for such a short time so next time we'll stay and catch a show or something. Thanks again Salli for your hospitality! :) Enjoy the pics...

Brian and Makenzie visit SF

June 23-25 ----->
My uncle Brian and cousin Makenzie swung by SF on their way down to the LA area. They were on a mini vacation as Makenzie just graduated from high school in Bozeman and is going to Burbank to live with my aunt Salli and go to college in the area. She's all growns up! It was so fun to have them stop by and visit Scott and I on their way down. We got to show them around to a few sites and such, as well as let them roller blade/bike the city when we were at work. We even got Brian part of a new wardrobe...even though we went shopping for Makenzie. :) Here we are in a pic below overlooking SF from Twin Peaks and Brian and Makenzie in front of the China Town entrance. We had a great time and even Scott was barely able to keep up with Brian's adrenaline! ;) Come back and visit anytime!

Fun with work friends

I've been very fortunate to make such great friends at work! They are all such sweet, caring and fun people. :) A few weeks ago, Catrina, her husband Steven and their new (one month old) baby Jillian were back in San Jose for a night before heading to their hometown Visalia, CA to visit family. I worked with Catrina for my first couple of years at PwC and she moved to Longmont, CO with her husband last year. I've missed seeing them and was so happy to see their new bundle of joy. She's so cute and I love getting to hold such a little baby.

I was extra excited, though, because some other work friends showed up with their families and I got to see my two other favorite kids, Ally and Luka. Ally is that daughter of my good friend Grace and her husband Isaac. Luka is the son of my good friend Jelena (pronounces YELL-ena) and her husband Davor (we call him D). Luka is being held by Grace below in the blue camo shorts - he usually always has a matching hat...he's the most stylish little man I've ever seen and melts my heart everytime I see him. And Ally is so adorable and loves to dance to music, is very smart already and is always happy. I don't think I've ever seen the cutie in a grumpy or sad mood.

It was so great to see everyone again and catch up. Hopefully we'll get to do it again...sooner rather than later. :)

Happy Engagement Anniversary! : )

6/8/06 - Our engagement...

I got these beautiful flowers from Scott on our engagement anniversary. :)

I can't believe it's been a year already! (Well, actually more than a year by now as it takes me sooooo long to post anything.) We are finally starting to plan real wedding stuff now as our wedding date, 8/16/08, is actually in the nearer future. I'm getting really excited and it's awesome to have a fiance that cares about planning stuff as much as I do...the designer in him comes out in full force.

I just want to say how very lucky I am to have such a wonderful man in my life and can't wait to be spending a wonderful wedding day with him! Oh yeah, and of course the honeymoon! I love you so much sweety and am so glad you came into my life and that I have you for the rest of it. ;-)

Celebrating Robert's B-day - and Papu is in town!

What a jam-packed weekend! First, it was the weekend before Robert's birthday (the last weekend in May) and second, our good friend Papu was in town for work. Papu is one of Scott's closest friends from Helena. He used to run a board shop in Helena and has recently been doing some freelance work for another Helena friend, Dave, who lives in San Fran. The company that Dave works for, Facebook, was going through a big market launch and Papu was in town helping out. We were so excited to have him here as we haven't seen him since Xmas and he's always so fun to hang out with. It was great to see him!

The other great part of the weekend was that Robert and Liza were able to come to town, see Papu, and we celebrated Robert's birthday early.

Thursday night was the annual Spring Show for the Academy of Art...this is the night that undergrads show off select pieces of work they've worked on all year long and grad students get to show off their portfolios in hopes of being hired for a job. The Spring Show is always so fun and it's great to see all the different styles of art come together, from fashion to graphic design to illustration to sculpture.

Friday night we met Papu, Dave, Dave's girlfriend and friend/co-worker Nate out at a club. It was fun, but a little too crowded for our taste. The dance floor needed to be bigger, but it would have been nice as a VIP if we would have gotten to sit on the nice cooshy couches.












Saturday night was when Robert and Liza came into town and we took them to eat at a cluster of restaurants that is located down a cute alleyway in SF...one of our favorite eating spots. It's very European and there are 6 restaurants of different styles all located down one block with lights strung between the buildings and plenty of outside tables for a romantic feel. After dinner we headed to a house party at our friend Stefan's. He has monthly themed house parties and they are always a blast. The theme of the night was color by numbers...wear your favorite color and/or number. His roommate is in a band and they even set up in the dining room area and played some music for us. Poor neighbors! :)

Here are some pics of the weekend events - the four boys: Papu, Nate, Dave and Scott
















At dinner on Saturday night -















Scott and the boys playing around on Friday while poor me was at work all day! Nice glasses Bono! Nice Hooters Papu

















Some pics from the party at Stefan's - gotta love the Homer/Married with Children look that Papu and Robert pulled off on the couch. It was Scott's brilliant idea to get a mini-keg for the party, cuz it was cooler than carrying a bottle of wine I guess.

More hiking in Folsom

Another great weekend with Robert and Liza! A weekend in mid-May...one that Robert wasn't in Minneapolis for work (which happens often with projects for his job at the California ISO)...we went to visit the happy couple. They recently got a Nintendo Wii and since we've never been gaming nerds, Scott and I were thrilled to give it a try. It was actually really fun, and addicting of course, and we played into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

After getting some sleep, we woke up and went on an awesome hike to a place called Clementine Dam...one of the many hikes in their hiking trail book. Between the four of us and our 3 hiking books, we hope to cross off all the hikes in the next few of years. Maybe minus the really hard expert ones, unless of course I get in better shape. :) But we always manage to find cool new places to go and Scott and Robert had fun playing with Scott's new slingshot. It's as if we're babysitting sometimes, but it's still a blast!

After our hike, we got rested and cleaned up and headed to a yummy local sushi restaurant. Then it was off for some bowling and pool at a local bar. We haven't been bowling in so long so it was fun...but so embarrassing for me cuz I'm sooo bad! I think I barely bowled a 50 the second game. I definitely don't take after my grama, who used to be a bowling champ.