tsk, tsk says the audience

Amanda and I have been pretending we are in college for the past month. First Amanda turned 30! Then we went to play in Tennessee. All the while, we've been scolded numerous times for not updating with our summer time adventures. Here's some photographic evidence we've been busy...



(These two lovebirds got married last week, and I managed to escape with wedding sans a picture of them all dolled up. sigh. they were beautiful, as were their nuptials!)




More to come about our adventures as soon as I unpack the suitcases...

Family Vacation, North Carolina Style

We had a delightful time being beach bums last week with Amanda's family. The ocean was amazing and the company was even better. Amanda's cousin (and her family) joined us; she happens to be quite handy with a camera.


The highlight of the trip for Amanda was all the boogie boarding. She was quite good at it....when she could keep her shorts above the ankles. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, North Carolina has seen quite a lot of Amanda. No I am not showing you a picture of Amanda flashing the entire beach.


Other than splashing in the water, we played with these adorable children and played a few board games. Amanda will want me to call Marlena The Cheater.




Thanks everybody for making this trip happen; we had a blast!

Richard was born; the world rejoiced!

We have this GREAT! friend Rick. He's made appearances here and here previously. Anyway, it turns out he was born something like 350 years ago yesterday. This post is dedicated to him.

I was going to make a list of things we like about Rick totaling to the number of years he's been on the earth, but seriously, who can count that high.

Ok for real. Rick is a gem, a rare find, that all the world should know. He makes incredible chocolate chip cookies, fixes things, laughs hysterically, and really tries to cook. He is a cleaning machine in the kitchen.

He is a blast to party with and to sit and do nothing with. He is a great listener and doesn't over-analyzes things. And what's more is he isn't at all ticky about money or frugality. He would never keep his cup from Costco to capitalize on that free refill next time.

Rick is an incredible parent. We like his kid, Chipmunk, pretty good, too. I mean, the gypsies wouldn't take him so...we kinda had to like the little guy. No, that is not a fat joke.

Things everyone should see Rick do include: a signature dance move involving a dirty martini, a tequila shot taken before he realizes we are out of limes, and a recital of all the funny lines from every.bloody.episode of Friends.

We love you, dude! Thanks for being born and being our best-good friend. You are the best; Happy birthday!

P.S.- In case you single ladies were wondering, He's available. And I am not above emailing his phone number out upon request.

Southern Flying, Racoon Fighting

Alas, we've returned home! Vacation was amazing (more to come about that) and we are thrilled to back to our Bay Area life. Upon our return home we've come to these realizations:

1. Flying is terrible. Flying into the airport 10 minutes from your house is most certainly not terrible.

2. While humidity is reminiscent of childhood in the south, life without it is very, very good. My hair is grateful I've picked a place sans soupy dampness to style in on a daily basis.

3. Our dog (see photo at right) thinks he is super-tough. This is demonstrated when he so courageously attempts to defend our house from Mr. Raccoon who is eating his dog food in the garage. After a skirmish that takes place under the car (?!?), Max-dog runs in the house whimpering. Mr. Raccoon climbs atop the dog food bag and screams "take that b@#$% and try walking without your left claw!" Sure enough, the raccoon ripped out the dog's toenail and laughed all night while gorging on the science diet. Max-dog is sore depressed about the food and the nail, though is telling all the neighbor dogs, "You should have seen the raccoon!"

You are the waves; I am the ocean

Vacation suits us, don't you think?

Wherein the word busy doesn't begin to describe

So we've been a bit occupied these past few weeks...

Michelle wrapped up the semester with her students.
Amanda planned Junior Golf Camps.
Sarah came to visit. We recruited like Jim Jones to get her stay. We failed.
Michelle worked 12 hours a day for 3 weeks for the Jazz Festival.
Amanda went LPGAing in Phoenix.
Michelle worked some more hours for that crazy music festival.
Amanda and Michelle saw some incredible music (like jazz? check out Randy Weston. Not a huge fan of jazz? check out Esperanza Spalding).
Amanda and Michelle kicked off the summer schedule of Monday:Softball, Tuesday: live music, Wednesday: relax, Thursday: Live Music, etc etc.
The softball team sucks, but the pizza and beer make it better.
The live music is fantastic. All who read these words should move here to partake.

Tomorrow we leave for a beachy vacation with Amanda's clan. Super thrilled, lots to do--
catch ya later, blogosphere, like, in July.

Active Recruitment

I'm really to busy to blog this week; I'm expending all my energy recruiting this girl to move to the Bay Area.Let me tell you folks, I think we almost have her!


Last night we wooed her with fine dining at one of the town's many desirable eatery's; Amanda even got gussied up for the outing (though you can't really tell from this picture)!

To sweeten the deal we invited a very funny friend to give this girl a taste of what her social life might be like.
I'll keep you posted on how the recruitment efforts go.