2009 got off to a great start, with a couple of nice hikes in Del Mar, and lots of food at my in-laws yearly Southern style feast starring corn bread and black-eyed peas . Here are scenes of G and Dan taking pics from Torrey Pines State Park.
G's niece, Maria, was married at the end of January in Santa Rosa. Isn't she gorgeous?
We spent the weekend with G's sister's family. Even with all of the wedding craziness, Hilary and Rich let us stay with them and were absolutely amazing hosts, making all kind of delicious homemade meals for us with many ingredients coming straight from Rich's garden in their backyard. Perhaps even better, they poured us all kinds of wine. This is one of the best parts of being half of the youngest couple in the line of G's siblings. We're the fledgling wine lovers in the group, but since Dave (G's brother) and Rich have more experience, far more expansive wine collections, the access to great wine that come with living in the Bay area, and they are always excited to share their finds with us. We are completely happy to accept the tastings. Here is a snippet of the line-up Rich poured us while we were in town.
Every now and again, we manage to mix a little culture into our schedules. In January, we took a LA Conservancy tour of Art Deco Architecture in Downtown LA with the Anderson JV group. (That's the crazy name of the school's club for couples.) The tour was really illuminating and definitely add to my appreciation of Los Angeles - which isn't exactly known for it's architecture. Unfortunately, it also made me sad for all of the amazing buildings that were torn down and replaced by horrid buildings in the 70's style. *sigh*
My friend Jenny and I kicked off February by running the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. I actually forgot to take pictures at this race, my 4th half Marathon so far, so I'm cheating by posting this pic from the City of Angels Half Marathon I ran in Dec. I feel bad we didn't get pics of Jenny running her first half, but don't feel too bad b/c she totally kicked my ass.
Our friend Matt had a Mad Max themed roller skating 30th birthday celebration - really, there was no way we could pass up that invitation. In addition to it being an awesome idea, he had a photographer friend capture everyone's costumes in all their glory. So now I have the great pleasure of having professional quality portraits of us in post-apocalyptic garb -- which is awesome, because there is nothing I love more than pretending I'm a bad ass!
Jon and Megan (featured in the third picture), who introduced us to Matt, are also responsible for another awesome 2009 memory. For Jon's birthday, Megan rented a Party Bus to take a big group of friends to Point Break Live! Yes, that right - everything you love about Point Break, except better because it's live. Point Break is acted out with a new Johnny Utah chosen from the audience every show. The audience also get the added joy of being splattered with a palate of various gunks and gooes. I'm incredibly sad that I don't have any pictures documenting the show, but Jon was an amazing FBI Agent!
Earlier this same day, my sister-in-law, Suzanne, and her mom, Karen, invited me to join them for a day of Pre-Oscar festivities. Karen's movie group in SD came up on a tour bus to catch the Symposiums on Make-up Artistry and Foreign Films. It was really interesting to hear the nominees discuss their craft.
G and I spent an amazing weekend in Santa Barbara to celebrate our first Valentineaversay (our Anniversary is Feb 16th - hence the silly contraction). We took a jeep tour of some area wineries and had a very Romantic dinner at Stella Mare. I hope to put up some video clips and a longer write up of the weekend sometime - we'll see if it actually happens.
Also in February, My friend Kerry got a group together for Drag Queen Bingo at Hamburger Mary's. Kim cam with me. I won a round! . . . However, the queens gave a lot of flack for my hat and for running the wrong way during my victory lap around the bar.
St. Patrick's Day was a blast. A bunch of my co-workers got together and headed to Little Bar, after enjoying Guiness and corned beef and cabbage prepped by friend Heather at her office cubicle. Props to you, girl! We capped off the evening with a traditional St. Patty's Day sushi feast at Sake House. As you can see, by the end of the evening, we were a very happy crew.
In March, G, Marc, Amy, and I went camping - this is probably one of my favorite experiences of the year so far. We went ALL the way out to Malibu State Park. Before we headed into the park we had a picnic at Malibu Family Wines. We REALLY roughed-it.
In April, SB and I got away for girl's foodie weekend to none other than, the French Laundry. This will get it's own write up on Cooking Off Book, but seeing as how we saved up for ages to take this mini-vacay and then had to try for another enternity to actually get a reservation, I figured the trip deserved an extra mention. Also, want to give a shout out to my darling Brady and his bf Jonathan for hosting us while we were there. After the huge nine-course meal we had at FL, we arrived at their place to have Jonathan roll out his own endless multi-course menu throughout the evening.
Don't feel too bad for G for being left home all alone. He had his own romantic weekend in wine country just the week before I went up. He and a friend from B-school went up for Cakebread University - a program designed for Business School students consisting pretty much 4 days of drinking wine and learning about the wine industry. Not too shabby.
In May, I got the chance to go back in time a decade and go to Prom with my Husband -- sort of. Ok, so really, it was AnderProm, through his school, but it was a good time and I'll take it.
Up to this point, 2009 has been pretty awesome - and really this is just the stuff I had pictures of. There was also many a birthday celebration, bowling parties, and BBQ's at friend's houses. Visits from out of town family and friends, including 2 from Dina (liking the trend of actually getting to see you girl!) Book festivals, design markets with wares from local urban artisans, a wine club member pick up party at MFW (G and I have been trying to go for years. Actually made it in this year, still didn't get there in time to eat, but we did get to see the menagerie including the zebra, sheep, llama, and emu.) I've even made it to a couple of plays -- sadly, I haven't been to the theatre much in the last couple of year-- hopefully, that's changing. I had the chance to help out on an acquaintance on pilot she was shooting, and had a really great time. There was Kim's annual Pot Love - attending this year meant having the privilege of getting to celebrate the engagement of her friends Matt and Phillip. Tea Parties, Book Club, and Supper Club meetings galore, and a month long DineLA Restaurant "Week" that contributed to several extra pounds on my bum. There was even a Haircut Party one weekend -- that's right, even getting a haircut can turn into a party.
Yeah, 2009 has pretty much rocked so far.
Yeah, 2009 has pretty much rocked so far.
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