...oh and P.S....

I just snapped this as they were leaving for the Chargers/Colts Game and I thought it was cute how happy they are to see each other (Matt and Jake live 6 hours north).

Love these guys... that's all.

Harvest Party 2008/ Pictures of our place

Welcome to our home!

I finally got around to snapping some pictures of our place.

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If you look carefully, you can see the ugly tile that has bunches of flowers on it! Not our first choice in countertop decor.

Here's the Master bedroom... those aren't giant spots on the wall just some weird reflection from my camera.

My rudimentary painting of a lady in a big gown to go with our shower curtain.

Dining

Wine Bar

Hearth

...and the participants in the 5th annual Harvest Party!

Back L-R: Tina, Joanna, Kasey, Emma, Lindsay, Nicole

Front: Natalie, Shannon, Yours Truly, Michelle

Tina carved me into a pumpkin!

Gettin warm by the fire with Kasey :)

About as fall as it gets around our neighborhood.

I thought this tree was kinda pretty

The Ramos Wedding

Drew and I were working on picking out photos for our wedding album today, when it dawned on me... I still hadn't posted pics from Brooke and Jerrod's September wedding. I was waiting for the professional ones to come out without the copyright stamp on them, but I don't know how long that will be so I'll just post the ones I have so far.

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Brooke and Jerrod were married on September 26, 2008 at the Darlington House here in San Diego. It was incredible to see all of Brooke's hard work come together in such a beautiful event. She planned everything down to the tiniest detail- including the corner-stamped programs! The night was so elegant, and it is always a treat to watch two of our friends take their vows. I've included a mix of my poor-quality snapshots and my favorites from their photographers' blog. Even though they now live far far away, we cherish all of our fond memories of them! Congrats you two!

The ceremony

Darin as my escort

The handsome groom

The absolutely beautiful bride

Laughing with the girls!

Some of the attendees during cocktail hour.

The newly married couple

Dinnertime with some good friends

the cake cutting

...and the sendoff! I just love Jerrod's expression here!

If we get more of the good photos, I'll put them up!

My Mom's Visit/ Our Julian Trip

My Mom came to visit a couple weekends ago because, well, she loves us! Not that my Dad doesn't love us too, but he's not a big flyer. Anyhow, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit the apple orchards of Julian.

Yes, I sometimes skip, sometimes frolic, what have you.

A not-so-scary scarecrow

Look at that old rusty gem... and

how about that truck?

At first we were only picking the normal sized apples, but then I decided that these little ones were pretty cute and would make adorable mini caramel apples!

I wonder why he's so interested in my left hand...

The apple don't fall too far from the tree :)

Pumpkin Time! Drew was designated pumpkin carrier.

Mama and Drew in the little corn maze

And we also went to Drew's restaurant to enjoy some crab.

(awful picture of me, but it shows how much I love her)

She relished the chance to capture me in a bib.



We love you, Mom!

Our engagement picture photographer

Our good friend and budding photographer, Natalie Valine, has finally started a blog to share her great work (see the link on the left column for Natalie Marie Photography). Natalie did our engagement photos in March 2007 at Balboa Park, which we used for our save-the-date, our newspaper announcement and our wedding website.

So if you know anyone looking for beautiful, affordable pictures in the San Diego area... send 'em her way!

A rose by any other name...

I just found out that there is a breed of rose named the Adelaide D'Orleans. Looks like my fame has spread from the Austrailian city to the Guys and Dolls musical and finally has made its mark on horticulture. Now, if I can only get that Adelaide statue erected, I will have arrived.

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They are quite pretty, aren't they?

A night at the theatre

Swell Season

On Friday night, after a long day of work, Shannon, Jamie and I stayed on campus to see The Swell Season play at SDSU's open air theatre. They are better known as the musicians from the movie Once, Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard. Here is a tiny clip of their most famous song, "Falling Slowly," which is very poorly recorded from my camera, but is the testament to how good they sounded live.

It was nice and cool outside (finallly!) and we treated ourselves to some salted caramel hot chocolates- which sound kind of sketch but are really good.

Our new digs

...or at least the ouside. We're still working away on getting things settled inside but we're making progress!

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The townhome complex

Here's the top half, I couldn't get the bottom because of the surrounding fence.

Our front walkway

Our red rooftop view

Ahhh to entertain... can't wait!