Trip to LA

Last weekend, Mom, Dad, Jake and I took a roadtrip to LA for April's wedding. It was H-O-T!!! My Dad was part of the wedding party (walked with my sister down the aisle), so he and Mom went to the rehearsal dinner. Jake and I decided to hit up a restaurant we'd seen in commercials, and have wanted to try for a while...Joe's Crab Shack...it was DELISH!! I'm also a big fan of Deadliest Catch, so I ordered King Crab to help support Captains Phil, Sig, Jonathan, Andy and Keith of the Deadlest Catch fleet...of course, we also had to order some good drinks too!

Awesome Drinks

Supportin' the Industry!

I actually cut myself on that thing!

At April and Matt's wedding

After we won free Mickey ears outside the hotel

Mom and me!!

Finally! The rest of the Texas pictures

Yay! I found the other memory stick!! Well, actually Jake found it. We didn't get any pictures of the cats because they were all hiding, and I thought I got pictures of the birds, but I guess I didn't. Well, here are the dogs, and my last adventure in Texas.

Dixie

Nessa



Elphaba

Piper and Flea

Roxanne

Me with a Long Horn Cow at Big Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World

Jake and I on the plane home

The trio

I would like to introduce our kitties. They are Neebs, MJ and Chloe. I have officially learned how to upload videos. I'm sorry the video is a little dark...it was lighter on the camera. Oops. Enjoy!

Introducing the trio

Neebs in the Shower

Neebs, MJ and Chloe

MJ open for business


Chloe in the laundry basket

The boys watching birds outside

Chloe showing off

MJ saying Hello

Texas Trip

So, I know it's been about 3 weeks since Jake and my trip to Texas, and there was an entire memory stick of pictures of Rick and Maria's managerie. They have 6 dogs, 4 cats, and 2 birds. Let me see if I have all this down:

Dogs: 1.) Dixie - an American Eskimo 2.) Piper - a miniature Schnauzer 3.) Flea - a Cairn Terrier 4.) Roxanne - a yellow lab 5.) Elphaba - a Doberman/something else mix 6.) Nessa - A possible pitbull/something else mix

Cats: 1.) Abby - a calico 2.) Phoebe - a calico 3.) Spike - a tuxedo cat 4.) Max - a tuxedo cat (and Spike's brother)

Birds: Paige and Prudence - cockatiels

Whew...can't believe I remember all that.

Anyways...so we got to Texas and Maria's brother Charlie picked us up and drove us to Maria's work. From there we went to the house and met Rick at the SaltGrass Steakhouse where he stood outside waiting for us. He was quite surprised to see us. It was warm and humid, and definitely not weather I'm used too, but after a couple of days, it grows on you and doesn't bother you anymore.

I learned about fire ants and wolf spiders (yes, they have those there) and saw some of the most beautiful houses I've ever seen. I'm definitely jealous. We went to the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where they make paper money), although they didn't let us take cameras inside for security purposes. I saw buffalo on a farm, and Texas Motor Speedway (see picture below). We also went to the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards which is the biggest cattle auction house/tradepost in the USA. There, I got to see my first Long Horn Cattle (see picture below). They're HUGE!!! I'm not kidding.

We also got to go to the PGA Tour Invitational at Colonial Golf Club in Fort Worth. I got to see Phil Mickelson (the #2 golf player in the world behind Tiger Woods). Tiger Woods didn't couldn't make it to the invitational. It was interesting to see professional golfers "do their thing" and see the following that they have. I also got my very first experience at Bass Big Pro Shops "Outdoor World". All I can say is...wow...it's a redneck Walmart (hahahahaha)

OK, so I'm posting a couple of pictures of our trip, and when I get the other memory stick, I'll post those too. Enjoy!

Texas Motor Speedway

Long Horn Cattle at the Historic Stockyards

Laurel and Flea

Miss Piper

She's been "branded"!!!

I have to introduce a very lovely lady in Jake's and my life. She's a whopping 8 months old and is our form of entertainment everyday at the office. This morning, of course, was no exception. She frequents our neighborhood Starbucks with her daddy (pretty much every morning) and this morning, Starbucks decided to give back...literally. She rolled in the door in her stroller with this "thing" on her forehead. The "thing" turned out to be a coffee bag label/sticker from Starbucks. Her Dad thought it was hilarious. Here she is...our niece, Skyler Raynne.."branded"

What are you laughing at?

Umm...is there something on my head?

Searching for furniture Mecca

When Jake and I were in Texas (yes, yes I remember I have to post pictures and I will I promise), we went to a store caleld Stacy Furniture in Grapevine. It was the ulitmate oasis for those on a furniture-seeking pilgrimage. Unfortunately they are unable to ship half way across the US, so woe is Jake and I. But it did get us thinking. In the 3+ years we've been together, we've only bought one major piece of furniture, our bed. All of our other furniture has been hand-me-downs, or compliments of the Goodwill (hey, money was tight). So we decided we would begin building our home again with all new, squeaky clean, know-who's-been-sitting-in-my-chair furniture. Well, reality decided to intervene and made us realize...we need EVERYTHING. New couch, new chairs, new entertainment "center", new guest bedroom furniture, new computer desk...you name it, we pretty much have it on our "need to get" list. Luckily, we are already awaiting our new dining set. The one we have currently is cute, don't get me wrong, but were growing out of it, and the kitties have decided the pads are purely for scratching purposes. So the foam padding in the chairs in now peeking out and it is time to say "Syonara" to our beloved retro inspired dinette set. Here is was we currently have (minus the flowers and tea set)


And this is what we're awaiting for arrival on Monday afternoon. (6 stools instead of 8)

I will be sure to take pictures of it when it arrives with it's entire set-up. I didn't really realize how tough it is to find furniture stores. The closest one we used to have was Levitz, but everyone knows they went belly up. There are some stores in San Francisco, but The City with all it's one-way streets and almost no street signs makes me nervous. So, Jake and I went trailblazing to Ashley Furniture in Concord and Brothers Furniture in San Rafael. The only thing I dont like is when the employee (or owner) follows you around like a proverbial shadow and tells you in broken English "oh...yeeeesss, set is sofa end luvsit 2 fo 1 offa" (In asian accent) At this point I'm thinking "OK, I can either leave now, or buy something. Either way, this person isn't going to stop talking to me." And you can't really get angry, because all they're really doing is trying to make a living. I can't begrudge anyone that...can I? Anyways, so the furniture hunt/saga continues. Ugh...

A Monterey Anniversary trip

So I know I might have emailed family saying there was only one post so far, which was true when I emailed them (see post below). However, I am adding pictures from our anniversary, and the trip to Monterey. Enjoy!

Jake got me breakfast and roses to start off

Off to Monterey: THUMBS UP!!!

Even Jake is all smiles

The Monterey Aquarium

(The picture above is of an octopus)

Us in the wave tunnel

Jake taking advice from Merlin

Back at the scene of the crime (the proposal)

Having dinner at Bubba Gump's

(I'm happy to brag that I got ALL of the trivia correct)

First post: A year after the wedding

Well it's been a whole year since Jake and I got married. Wow...a whole year. Where in the heck did the time go? We've been through A LOT in the past year, and my mom never ceases to remind me of how far we've gotten. We got married, went on a honeymoon (my first internation travel EVER), dealt with the death of my grandmother, moved an hour away, started a new business, became and aunt and uncle, and I was in my cousin's wedding. Wow...that's a lot, even to type in this post.

For our first wedding anniversary, of course we had big dreams of a romantic getaway for the weekend with nothing but room service, massages, and each other. Then timing and money seemed to say "Run Away!!" to us, and before we knew it...it was a week before our anniversary. We ended up going to Monterey for the day of, and went to the aquarium, 17 mile drive and even to the spot where Jake proposed. It was fun, but cold. We were scheduled to leave the next day for Texas to visit Jake's Dad for a belated surprise birthday gift. (Pics and post to be written/shown later). So, I figured some pictures would be appropriate, so here we go. (Drum roll please...)

Jake and Laurel married May 19th, 2007

Jake and Laurel: one year later

Well, there you have it. We are officially an old married couple...hahahahaha!!! Just kidding.