Scott's new job!

I'm so proud of Scott! This is a great start to our 2009...

Right before holiday break, Scott found a job after searching for so long in this crappy economy. It's been especially tough in the Bay Area where it's so expensive to live, yet none of the companies can afford to hire anyone. As Scott was just completing his 12-month internship with Pentagram Design by Xmas, he was called in for an interview with a neat design firm downtown called Argus LLC (http://www.argussf.com/). They hired him right away and he started on Dec 12, immediately starting to work on big projects like an endowment fund campaign for the Bay Area's Make-A-Wish Foundation. He really likes it there and his boss and the owner of Argus seems like a really great guy to work for. Him and his wife (who is currently on maternity leave) run the design firm. As part of a "good job Scott!" present, we got him a folding bike. It's really cool and he researched quite a while to find one he liked that was reasonably priced. It's basically a full-sized bike that folds in half and is very light. There have been a lot more commuters on the Caltrain each morning when Scott goes to the city for work and a lot more people are taking bikes and public transportation in general. There are only a certain number of bike cars on the train and when it fills up you have to wait for another train and be late. With a folding bike, though, it is allowed on any train in any car (not just the bike car). It's also lighter and he can just fold it and pack it up the stairs to his new office to store it.

We also got some new fishies (an orange one named Vitamin C, and a blue one named Electrolyte) for our fish tank and since I'm posting pics, I thought I'd show you our tank. Scott made this fish tank from scratch from an old-school Mac computer monitor! It's much bigger than it looks here as it takes up the whole top of the dresser it sits on.

Until the next blog...which will hopefully be sooner than 2 months... :)

Scott and I both start work again on Monday, Jan 5 so you never know...

Happy 2009!

On Monday after Xmas, during our nice holiday break, it was a beautiful day out (sunny and 60) so Scott and I took a trip down the coast about 2 hours from our apartment to Monterey Bay. The drive on Scenic Highway 1 was so beautiful and we hadn't made the trip down the coast with Robert and Liza about 2 years ago. We walked on the beach and watched all the crazy little kids go into the freezing cold water with their bare feet. I mean, it was 60 degrees out and sunny but on the windy coast in northern Cali...that's like 40 degree water!

We walked around the cute little coast town, went into a candy shop and I swear the guy that worked there was like a native american version of Jonny Depp as Willy Wonka...he was kinda creepy and way too nice. That was interesting! We wanted to go to the Monterey Bay Acquarium, but the line to get in was like 30 minute wait and tickets were the price of a concert or something. We decided to wait until there were less people and I could find a discount through my company. The acquarium there is one of the best in the US, but only when you don't have to fight with strollers and pushy 5 year olds to see the fish and penguins.

While wandering around enjoying the beach, little shops and Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae, we came across a brand new iMax theater and decided to go watch a show. I'd never been to a 3-D movie and there was a History channel movie on prehistoric sea monsters that looked fun. We had a blast waiting for it to start and making fun of everyone with their humungo 3-D glasses. We are so hot!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 ----------- HAPPY NEW YEARS' EVE!

We met up with a friend from MSU, Josiah, his girlfriend Julie (who we met briefly on Halloween about 4 years ago), and a few of their friends in San Fran on New Years. We had some awesome Thai food at a restaurant near Julie's apartment and then headed to a bar on the Embarcadero (piers closest to the Bay Bridge) called High Dive. Other than Josiah's friend, Chip, being arrested by an over-zealous cop (ordinarily I would side with law enforcement, especially in SF - but in this particular case I think the cop was having a particularly bad night and needed to take it out on our poor friend), the night was fun and mellow and we got to see fireworks at midnight!

We miss and love all of our family and friends, especially those that we missed during the holidays, and want to wish you all a happy, healthy, fulfilling 2009!

The Holidays with the newlyweds

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009 to everyone!

Scott and I didn't go home to Montana for the holidays this year, but decided to save money and vacation time for a trip back in the summer instead. It was our first holiday by ourselves, as newlyweds...and we had a lot of fun together!

Melissa's busy season at work (which is mainly Nov-Dec time frame) finally came to an end on Dec 19th and we were so glad to have some time off without stressing about work. I was sick and tired of working 10-15 hour days plus weekends...a time of the year when I always ask myself why I'm still in this career. But in the end, the 6 weeks of torture are worth the rest of the year's perks. :)

And Scott started a new job - yes after 6 months of interviews and searching during a time when others are getting laid off, he finally found a job - with a small ("boutique") graphic design firm in the city called Argus. He worked for a week at Argus, just in time for us to both have holiday time off from Dec 19-Jan 5. We both really looked forward to the time alone together without traveling around or having to deal with airports or schedules. It was a much needed vacation after the non-stop stress of work.

We thought we'd share some of the pics we took over the holidays...our apartment all decorated (yes, it was actually cold enough to warrant a real fire!) and opening our presents on Christmas eve, which is tradition for both of us. Kozmo got a new collar and she was lazing around like the princess she is...she's so cute and always gets away with it.

On Christmas day, after some baking and good eating, we headed to downtown San Fran to go ice skating at Union Square. It was pretty chilly, but not cold enough to keep the ice properly frozen for any length of time. People would ice skate on the fresh zambonied ice and 5 minutes later there were skate grooves everywhere...making it a little hard to skate. It was fun but we mostly just watched all the other people try to skate for the first time ever and also wondering how many poor souls had never experienced real snow or ice!

We then went around town to our favorite sight-seeing locations to look at all the prettiest trees in town. From Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf, to Union Square, to the Westin St. Francis hotel lobby.

Our last part of the journey on Christmas night was up to Coit Tower to overlook the city lights. This is my favorite photo and it's so cool that all of the buildings are outlined in xmas lights each year.

Hope you had a merry, merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the newest Abels!

XOXOXO

Some or our favorite wedding pics!

Here are a few of our favorite wedding pictures! You can also scroll down a couple of posts to read our story as well :) Here's the link to our Kodak slideshow, where if you want you can view and even purchase pictures you like for your own album for a pretty reasonable price: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp. (This link will take you to one album, but to see the other 7 albums, scroll down and click on the link that says "Browse all albums.")

Other than that, thank you again for everyone's love an support. We couldn't have had such a great wedding without you all. Thank you to our wonderful photographers, Lindsey Steyee and Cali Frankovic, and of course our lovely parents and families, our great friends and our brilliant bridesmaids, groomsmen and ushers. xoxo