Category Archives: snapshots

august in review

9/6/2011family & friends, snapshotsali

August began with our trip to Costa Rica, (which you can see here) and continued wonderfully. It was the first month in a long time that I haven’t had a two-week work trip. It was so nice to be home with my guy, and my cat and in my own bed. I also enjoyed getting time with family and friends. Here are the highlights from August…

My friend Amanda is having her first child, a baby girl, in late September and so she had a baby shower. She looks fantastic and it was fun to catch up with her and her friends from all different places. In this photo is Amanda and some of her friends (who were, coincidentally, very coordinated – they blended well together, we noted).

The next day, my parents threw a Luau pool party at their house and invited all of R’s family (and my friend Chelsi!) to swim, eat, play and dance. We had a grand time!

R taught our youngest niece (3 yrs) to swim! She was swimming the length of the pool by the end of the day. Amazing…

We also had a balloon toss and a hula dance contest. How cute are my sisters-in-law and my friend Chelsi?

My Mom and Chelsi get along so well, I love it. It’s like she a part of the family…

And my Mom throws a good party. Fun was had by all.

Hooray for August and a delightful summer!
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catch up #4: july (two)

8/24/2011family & friends, snapshots, travelin' moonali

Toward the end of July we went to Washington for the wedding of Lindsey & Joe! It was in the picturesque Skagit Valley, which neither of us had visited before – we fell in love with it. Just delightful. We also got to see friends, which is always the best.

The wedding was one of our favorite’s ever – such fun!

Here are my two favorite photos I took of Lindsey…

(The tongue out photo was actually on the list of important photos for the day – we got it!)

The reception had this amazing view of the mountain in the background, which made for lovely photos. I also think I have a cute husband, but I realize I’m biased…

Here is a link to all the photos I took. (Sadly, I have none of the amazing reception – I was having fun and dancing!)

Congratulations to Lindsey & Joe! We love you.
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catch up #3: July (one)

8/15/2011family & friends, snapshotsali

Since my parents moved to Southern California late last year we’ve really enjoyed being able to see them quite regularly. It’s like they’ve become our favorite weekend friends. They love to explore and I love that they invite us to go along so often because we’ve explored local communities more than ever.

In July we went to visit Ventura, a beach community North of LA County (where my Dad works on Fridays, actually). We had lunch at the Ventura Harbor and wandered around to explore the shops and the coast. It is lovely…

Here we are posing under the sea:

And my parents as pirates:

And then, the beautiful shore…

What fun!

On separate occasions, we’ve also explored Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Seal Beach, but I did not take any pictures. I must get better about that.
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catch up #1: late may

8/7/2011goings on, snapshotsali

It’s been some time since I posted because I’ve been uber-busy (hasn’t everyone?) – but during May, June and July I was traveling all the time…to Houston (2 weeks), to NY (2 weeks), to San Francisco (just 1 day), to Washington State (to celebrate!), to Costa Rica (vacation!). Today, I will play some blog and photo catch up.

First, MAY…

Mother’s Day falls in May and we went to the Renaissance Faire with my parents to celebrate, which was a fun afternoon. Only a couple of photos, sadly:

Enjoying a rootbeer float and a beer at the same time, apparently…

And then I got into trouble for being so naughty…

May also meant my birthday month! I had a lovely birthday, only part of which was photographed…

I wore my special birthday t-shirt “Little Miss Birthday” and had a cake at work…

Mmmm, chocolate frosting on my nose!

Don’t I have lovely office mates? That’s Chelsi, Teri, Caroline and Amy…

Later on the evening of my birthday, after I taught, Rory took me to a fabulous Italian restaurant I had never been to. It was called Osteria La Buca – wow, delicious. It is now one of favorites. The only photo I took here was of the card he gave me and my divine birthday dessert…

I heart the month of May!
(I also spent 2 weeks in Houston during the month of May, teaching every day and visiting/catching up a couple of times with my friend Rachael, but I took zero photos of that. Oops.)
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april & may 1st-3rd.

5/11/2011goings on, love, snapshotsali

There has been so much happening…

First, R’s older brother had his 40th birthday! He and his family came for a visit from Kentucky. It was great to see them, although we really wish we had been able to spend a lot more time with them.

We do not have a shortage of cute nieces and nephews in our family…

For the full set of birthday photos, click here.

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Then, we had our 2nd ever S Factor Retreat in Coronado. It was, once again, off-the-hook amazing, inspiring, beautiful and fun! I spent so much time in the sand – in my clothes, getting sandy and enjoying every minute of it.

Each morning we woke up at dawn and worked out on the beach, which was delicious (though chilly).

And on the last night, we had a campfire on the beach, with live drummers and danced and danced in the sand. I can’t really explain it, so the word I will write is: Freedom!

See all the retreat photos right here.

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Finally, R and I celebrated our Year Anniversary! I arrived home from the retreat on the day of our anniversary and the next morning, R woke me up super early (4:30am) and we caught a ferry to Catalina Island for a surprise overnight anniversary trip. Catalina is wonder-full!

We rented a blue tandem bicycle (but forgot to photograph it) and rode to the Botanical Garden which is filled with all kinds of succulents and cacti. This was awesome because I happen to love succulents and cacti. It was fun to learn their names and discover some we had never seen before.

This is my favorite kind of succulent plant…

And this cactus had crazy hair…

During our bicycle ride for two we also visited the Wrigley Memorial, built for Mr. Wrigley (of Wrigley Field and Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum fame – he bought Catalina Island way back). It was a lovely memorial with delightful details and a beautiful view.

I had never been to Catalina Island before and loved, loved, loved it. And I love, love, love my husband for being the guy he his, for loving me and for being my partner in the adventure of life.

View our anniversary trip photos here.

I am so grateful. So grateful, indeed.
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Gemini Alley

The Family K