September...Where did it go

The month of September has flown by! I don't even know where the month went, I was just getting used to it and now it's October! I really do think it's true what they say, time does go faster as you get older.

Labor Day

Our first big holiday weekend together in the house brought on two monumental milestones for us. First we bought our first dining room table. It's beautiful and can seat 6 comfortably and probably up to 8 if you don't mind your neighbors. We got a pretty good deal on it and were able to use some of the money gifted to us at our house warming party which was superb! 

The second milestone was completing our first big home improvement project. We painted our guest bathroom. Since we've lived here we've done a few minor upgrades including putting frosted glass in our door windows, installing a vent/fan in the master bathroom, and changing the kitchen faucet.



Mud is Fun
I hate running, I really do. But since Brad likes it so much and he tries to encourage me to do it I decided theo only way I was going to enjoy running was if it was "fun" so I signed up for a 5k mud run and then started training my body to survive. I still hate running, but the 5k was AWESOME!  If I could run through mud pits every day I totally would run more often! In fact I have also signed up for a 5k Mud Run in San Francisco in February...it's probably be freezing, but it'll be a GREAT time!

At the starting line

Somewhere along the way

 At the finish line

And what's more awesome than finishing a mud run? Rewarding yourself with a most delicious and greasy cheeseburger where the burger is really just an excuse to eat CHEESE! It was mouthwatering!

Martie & Betsy's Reception
I've been friends with Martie since she and I were in 4th grade. We were best friends in 4th grade and thought it was so cool that we lived in the same "model" house, which meant that we had the "same" room and we even both had brothers named Josh that had the "same" room. Very cool as a kid, still cool as an adult.
Anyway, I was so happy to go to her reception in September. It had been probably 3 years since we'd seen each other and it was great to catch up and to see her so happy! I love seeing my friends find their true love and the pictures from their wedding were nothing but pure happiness and devotion!

Second visitors

Brad's parents came from Utah to see our  new home and of course to see us. One really exciting thing that happened while they were here is the space shuttle Endeavor flew over the aquarium. Brad and I both had to work that day but I did make sure his parents knew about it. They did end up using our passes and going and they got some pretty amazing shots of the space shuttle, it was so close to them! I had to watch from work on the roof of one of the buildings and this is the view from there.

On Saturday I had a sewing class in Pacific Grove that was a ton of fun. Brad and his parents went on an adventure in Santa Cruz trying out a new restaurant I found and wanted to try and then they enjoyed the boardwalk. Saturday night we went to Brad and my favorite seafood restaurant in Moss Landing - - Phil's Fish Market. Yum!

Tea Towels

Cards

Sunday morning K&R left really early to catch their flight back to Utah. It's always sad to see visitors go, but we knew we'd see them in 2 months for a trip to the Caribbean.

Someone turned 2

Later Sunday we attended a birthday part for our friend's daughter who turned 2. It was a Dr. Suess themed party with lots of delicious food ad fun games!

Cheer-io!
Much later that same Sunday our friends from the SLO area came to visit. They were actually in town to prepare for their new move to England! Crazy fun! I wish we were moving to a new country! I bet England during Christmas will be so awesome! J&B and little L are going to be so missed! Hopefully we can go visit them in England while they're there for a few years!

Santa Cruz
The last weekend of the month we spent the day soaking up the sun and playing in our favorite arcade. We also ate at a delightful little restaurant called The Buttery.

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!