Summer Lovin'

August is the month when weather gets a smidgen better in Monterey, we get sporadic days of warmth, which is a welcome change from the mostly cloudy, cold, and drizzly damp days. We had a lot of fun in the Month of August, we had our first visitors, saw some great friends, and even went on a mini vacation. Another major event for us was our open house, which was quite fun!

Newport Beach
We were invited to meet up with our friends down in Newport. This was our mini vacation and it was nice to escape to warmer weather for a few days. We left after work on Friday and spent the weekend exploring the town and hanging out.

Upon recommendations from other people we tried Sprinkles cupcakes. I was told they're SO much better than Georgetown cupcakes...well, I tried them...3 different flavors and I have to say I much prefer Georgetown cupcakes. Sprinkles cake was dry and not flavorful, the frosting was just like any other grocery store frosting. I have to say Georgetown cupcakes is still my favorite by FAR!

We spent lots of time on the beach and walking along the beach. The water was actually bearable and enjoyable in comparison to Monterey. The Seagull above was really determined to eat that bag of chips but it couldn't figure out how to undo the clip, it was quite amusing. 

Visitors
The party continued the following weekend when we hosted our first visitors, none other than the ones we met down in Newport. They decided to make their way back home to Utah via our place.

We went to the aquarium and saw the deep sea exhibit which had been under construction for quite a long time!

We drove along 17 mile drive, stopped and skipped rocks on the bay, ate strawberry hand pies, and walked to a sunken ship of sorts on a beach.

Thanks for coming S&M! We had a fabulous time with you and are so glad you were our first visitors in our new home!

Fancy Cars
I volunteered at a car event where I got to rub elbows with some very influential people for an evening, as well as indulge in some delicious gourmet food, and see the unveiling of a few very high class cars including the Lamborghini SUV and the new Aston Martin Vanquish.

The following weekend was the Motorsports reunion at Laguna Seca, which is by far my favorite race of the year. I love seeing all the old cars dating way back to pre-1910! Amazing that some of these are still running!

A face in the car

We also attended a going away party for my friend Marisa. She was living in San Francisco and has since moved to San Diego where she'll be earning her PhD. Go Marisa! I didn't get to see her too often, probably once a year or so, but I'm hoping I'll continue to be able to see her about that often since I tend to travel to San Diego for work occasionally.

Home Sweet Home
We're finally homeowners! Our house warming party was a success! We had between 25-30 people attend and I couldn't have asked for a better time! I was worried for a bit that no one would show up, but it all worked out beautifully. This also means that the house was clean enough for me to take proper pictures of areas that I had previously been avoiding taking pictures of ie. the kitchen.

July on fly

July

O Canada!
Remember how Erica won the showcase showdown on The Price is Right? Well, how could you forget! One of the prizes was a trip to Ottawa Canada and she took me, how lucky am I !?!

In DC we went to the Eastern Market and ate some awesome Italian food at Acqua Al 2 which we learned is a restaurant in Florence and there is also one in San Diego. It was so hot and muggy that we decided some time indoors would be a nice relief, so we went and saw the movie Brave in 3D. We also wondered around the Mall where there was some kind of sustainable faire/event with colleges demonstrating different tools/techniques/lifestyles for sustainable living.

In Ottawa we had an awesome room overlooking the city. We spent most of our time walking around and touring local historic sites. We had two tours of Parliament, as well as the Peace Tower in the main block. We also went to The Currency Museum Bank of Canada, National Gallery of Canada, The Royal Canadian Mint, walked along the Rideau Canal, watched a few boats travel through the historic locks (portions of it since the whole trip is 2 hours through all 6 locks),  watched the Parliament light show Mosaika, did a double -decker bus tour, toured Rideau Hall where the Governor General resides and works, saw the changing of the guard, walked past the Prime Minister's estate peering in the fence line to catch a glimpse of anything, went to a Latin night club and danced, wandered the Byward Market many times buying fresh fruit and other wares, visited the Ornamental Gardens, got massages, and spent some time by the pool at our hotel. I'm sure we did other stuff that I'm forgetting, but that's a good enough list for now.

I pretty much travel for food. If I can go somewhere and try something totally unique or just an excellent variety or recipe I will. So it's no wonder that I have just as many pictures of food as I do of "sights". For me, food is the one sight I can't get enough of!

ESRI
I have the opportunity to go to a wonderful conference for a whole week in San Diego, not too shabby eh! It's pretty much the only training I get to go to so I take full advantage of the technical workshops and hands-on demos. Here are some pictures of the people I hung with and the random sights and food. My flight was at 6:00am out of Monterey, so I got to see the sun rise over a blanket of fog/clouds which was pretty awesome.

Flock of Seagulls
"And I ran, ran so far away, I just ran, I ran all night and day, I couldn't get away" from the plane fast enough to make the drive up to Santa Cruz for a free concert featuring Animotion and Flock of Seagulls! Animotion was the opening set, which was pretty entertaining. It was a good night!  You can see the horrible ugly gray clouds in the second picture, that's Monterey/Marina...big difference in weather from sunny Santa Cruz...so weird since we share the bay!

Dad's Birthday Weekend
We celebrated my Dad's birthday a few days early. We went to Boomers and mini golfed...at least until we were flooded out. We also rode the Karts around until the park closed. Lots of fun!

Almost all caught up!

June in the afternoon

June

D.C.
As promised, here are the pictures from the end of the road trip in D.C. This was the first time Brad and I had been there at the same time. It was raining and warm the first day but we still had fun. We saw the Federal bureau or Printing and Engraving, Postal Museum, the Capitol, Library of Congress, American History Museum, Natural History Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

We also saw this guy walk into and use the women's restroom near Washington Monument.

One place I always try to go while I'm in DC is Georgetown cupcakes. YUM! I also have an obsession with Deli/Bakeries, especially French or Italian inspired, so we found a cute little deli/bakery to eat lunch.

Rodeo Weekend
One of the best event to kick off the summer! I look forward to the Livermore rodeo every year, it's a tradition!

Betcha didn't know cowboys can cartwheel...off bulls!

or that bulls come back for revenge...

or that a 4 year old can sleep through the hootin'n'hollerin, clapping, cow wrestling, music playing craziness of a rodeo! He's so cute with his little wranglers!

or that everyone drinks out of and knows the words to "red solo cup" and sings in unison when prompted by the rodeo clown.

All in all, it was a good day at the rodeo, even if the cowboys couldn't stay on their bulls/horses or rope the cows/calves in the numbers that they usually do.

The rest of June we celebrated Father's Day each with our own fathers. Brad was in Utah running the Ragnar and I was with my parents moving most of our stuff into our new house. We then spent the rest of June unpacking and getting situated. Then I left for D.C again for a visit with Erica and our trip to Canada.