So I haven't quite done everything on my list, but I did a few extra things and made some good dents. Plus I took advantage of my time off to spend more quality time with John, I"ll update here and John's blog soon with all of our fun fall/Halloween projects from the rest of the month. Here's my update...and I still have a few days left to finish up a few things, haha!
DONE:
1. File bills from the past (ahem) several months
-also further cleaned out and organized my half of the closet by clothes type, color, etc, it looks so much better and I can actually find things now!
-cleaned out the inside/consoles, etc of our two cars
-pressure washed off the front porch (had already done the back porch)
In progress:
2. Organize photos/photo albums (I'm okay if this takes awhile, it's fun, and goes along with another ongoing project of mine I"m trying to start...digital scrapbooking!)
3. Organize the laundry room (should be done today...going to finish as soon as I"m done with this)
5. Clean out the garage (not such a small project, lol!-very true, but we started, will just take awhile longer as we are doing it a bit at a time)
6. Paint the house (rather hire the painters to paint the house-will be done as soon as they call me back)
Didn't get to at all
4. Take all our old/unused clothes to the goodwill, etc
7. Finish staining the deck (will prob be next spring and/or prob hiring someone else to do it, ha!)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sonoma Trip-Day 3
Day 3 started with more conference for me and more relaxing for Josh.
After conference, we ate lunch at the restaurant at our hotel, Carneros Bistro. It is supposed to be the best burger in town, and it must have been because Josh ate the whole thing without giving me a bite. I had the Midnight Moon Mac and Cheese, made with mushrooms grown right in their garden on the grounds!
Then we headed out to check out some of the wineries. This part of the trip will probably disappoint some of my wine aficionado friends as neither Josh nor I really drink wine that often (ironic, huh?) so we started out at one close to town called Buena Vista Carneros. It is the oldest "premium" winery in California (not sure exactly what that means).
Then we went to the Jacuzzi Family's Winery, they also grow olives and make olive oil so we did sample all of those!
The weather wasn't great and Josh and I wanted to at least drive over and see Napa while we were there, so we drove to their downtown/visitor's center. We finally decided just to drive up the main road through the Napa Valley, then crossed the mountain and drove down the (almost) entire Sonoma Valley. It was a very pretty, scenic drive. We both decided our "favorite" little town/area was St. Helena in Napa County, it was such a cute little town with what looked like a main strip with a bunch of shops, but we didn't actually get out and look around.
We made it back to Sonoma and weren't feeling like a big dinner so we went to a little pub, Murphy's, and I had vegetable pot pie and colcannon and Josh had sheperd's pie and mushy peas. Then yet another early night (we're such dorks....actually we're so tired!)
After conference, we ate lunch at the restaurant at our hotel, Carneros Bistro. It is supposed to be the best burger in town, and it must have been because Josh ate the whole thing without giving me a bite. I had the Midnight Moon Mac and Cheese, made with mushrooms grown right in their garden on the grounds!
Then we headed out to check out some of the wineries. This part of the trip will probably disappoint some of my wine aficionado friends as neither Josh nor I really drink wine that often (ironic, huh?) so we started out at one close to town called Buena Vista Carneros. It is the oldest "premium" winery in California (not sure exactly what that means).
Then we went to the Jacuzzi Family's Winery, they also grow olives and make olive oil so we did sample all of those!
The weather wasn't great and Josh and I wanted to at least drive over and see Napa while we were there, so we drove to their downtown/visitor's center. We finally decided just to drive up the main road through the Napa Valley, then crossed the mountain and drove down the (almost) entire Sonoma Valley. It was a very pretty, scenic drive. We both decided our "favorite" little town/area was St. Helena in Napa County, it was such a cute little town with what looked like a main strip with a bunch of shops, but we didn't actually get out and look around.
We made it back to Sonoma and weren't feeling like a big dinner so we went to a little pub, Murphy's, and I had vegetable pot pie and colcannon and Josh had sheperd's pie and mushy peas. Then yet another early night (we're such dorks....actually we're so tired!)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sonoma Trip-Day 2
Day 2 started with me checking in and attending conference (Update in Dermatology for Primary Care Physicians). I think Josh mainly watched football...definitely weird being from the East Coast and football starting in the morning!
After conference we headed to the town square of Sonoma to get some information/maps to decide what to do (besides the obvious of tasting wine!) and then grabbed a quick sandwich at Basque Boulangerie Café. It's a cute little sanwich/pastry/coffee shop and I had a sandwich called the Parisian-crusy french loaf, real sliced ham and swiss cheese.
Then we headed out to the Jack London State Park. Josh and I both love historical sites so thought this would be a cool way to spend the afternoon. After a quick drive from Sonoma, passing through the Glen Ellen Town Festival, we arrived at the Jack London State Park. Apparently his grave was here, as well as the ruins of a house he was building to live at his ranch. It was to be a gorgeous 4 story 15000 sq foot house but it burned down a month before they moved in. It was being rebuilt when he died. It was about half a mile hike from the parking lot to the ruins, so we set out. There was a sign at the beginning of the trail warning of mountain lions, which of course freaked Josh out!
Jack London's Grave
The Ruins of Wolf House...it would have been beautiful!
I particularly enjoyed just the hike and getting a closer look at the terrain. I have never been in the Northern California area other than city, so I saw a lot of new trees/bushes that I wanted to take pictures of. Most of my friends are professional photographers or could be, so please excuse my poor photography skills!
Josh looking for mountain lions (not really, haha!)
Then we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to the girl & the fig. Definitely my favorite meal of the trip. We started out with a goat cheese sampler served with three goat cheese selections, fig cakes, apple slices, cherry chutney, candied nuts and bread. Then I had a grilled fig and arugula salad and Josh had a brie and ham dish. We finished it off with a brown butter bartlett pear tart with hazelnut chantilly cream and red currant compote. It was all very delicious. Then another relatively early evening.
After conference we headed to the town square of Sonoma to get some information/maps to decide what to do (besides the obvious of tasting wine!) and then grabbed a quick sandwich at Basque Boulangerie Café. It's a cute little sanwich/pastry/coffee shop and I had a sandwich called the Parisian-crusy french loaf, real sliced ham and swiss cheese.
Then we headed out to the Jack London State Park. Josh and I both love historical sites so thought this would be a cool way to spend the afternoon. After a quick drive from Sonoma, passing through the Glen Ellen Town Festival, we arrived at the Jack London State Park. Apparently his grave was here, as well as the ruins of a house he was building to live at his ranch. It was to be a gorgeous 4 story 15000 sq foot house but it burned down a month before they moved in. It was being rebuilt when he died. It was about half a mile hike from the parking lot to the ruins, so we set out. There was a sign at the beginning of the trail warning of mountain lions, which of course freaked Josh out!
Jack London's Grave
The Ruins of Wolf House...it would have been beautiful!
I particularly enjoyed just the hike and getting a closer look at the terrain. I have never been in the Northern California area other than city, so I saw a lot of new trees/bushes that I wanted to take pictures of. Most of my friends are professional photographers or could be, so please excuse my poor photography skills!
Josh looking for mountain lions (not really, haha!)
Then we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to the girl & the fig. Definitely my favorite meal of the trip. We started out with a goat cheese sampler served with three goat cheese selections, fig cakes, apple slices, cherry chutney, candied nuts and bread. Then I had a grilled fig and arugula salad and Josh had a brie and ham dish. We finished it off with a brown butter bartlett pear tart with hazelnut chantilly cream and red currant compote. It was all very delicious. Then another relatively early evening.
Sonoma Trip-Day 1
Josh and I just got back today from our trip to Sonoma/San Francisco for my conference. It was a lot of fun, but a day or two too long to be away from John! I'm not going to lie, it was nice to have about 3 days of toddler-free days with Josh to do stuff that we wanted to at our pace, eat longer/nicer meals and sleep at least 8 uninterrupted hours a night! But I was definitely racing to pick John up as early as I could today! Here are some pictures of our trip.
Day 1-
Arrived in San Francisco. Tried to go to Ghirardelli square and ride a cable car as those were two things we did not get to do last time we were in San Fran last summer for our friend Kate and Mike's wedding. Unfortunately it was a Saturday and Fleet Week so parking was not to be found anywhere we knew there, so we decided to do a scenic drive up to Sonoma following CA 1 up the coast. It was definitely a pretty ride, but a little curvy at times.
My best try at getting a picture of the awesome view of fleet week on the bay from the car, oh well!
We were starving because we hadn't eaten lunch after leaving the airport and flying all morning, so we picked up a burger (Josh) and grilled chicken sandwich (me) from a little beach side shack in Stinson Beach.
We finally arrived in Sonoma and checked into our hotel...the Lodge at Sonoma. It was definitely one of the nicer places we've stayed, we had our own cottage with a fireplace in the bedroom and garden tub/shower combo. We weren't feeling up to a big dinner but had read about this little local place called Pizzaria Capri that we went to. While not anything very special it was definitely fresh homeade pizza...salami, pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green onion, garlic...and Josh had a yummy meatball sub. Then we called it an early night and got some rest.
Day 1-
Arrived in San Francisco. Tried to go to Ghirardelli square and ride a cable car as those were two things we did not get to do last time we were in San Fran last summer for our friend Kate and Mike's wedding. Unfortunately it was a Saturday and Fleet Week so parking was not to be found anywhere we knew there, so we decided to do a scenic drive up to Sonoma following CA 1 up the coast. It was definitely a pretty ride, but a little curvy at times.
My best try at getting a picture of the awesome view of fleet week on the bay from the car, oh well!
We were starving because we hadn't eaten lunch after leaving the airport and flying all morning, so we picked up a burger (Josh) and grilled chicken sandwich (me) from a little beach side shack in Stinson Beach.
We finally arrived in Sonoma and checked into our hotel...the Lodge at Sonoma. It was definitely one of the nicer places we've stayed, we had our own cottage with a fireplace in the bedroom and garden tub/shower combo. We weren't feeling up to a big dinner but had read about this little local place called Pizzaria Capri that we went to. While not anything very special it was definitely fresh homeade pizza...salami, pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green onion, garlic...and Josh had a yummy meatball sub. Then we called it an early night and got some rest.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Fun Weekend and Mission Organization
Check out John's blog for pictures from our super fun but tiring weekend. We went to Davis's 2nd birthday in Raleigh and then John's first Carolina football game of the year. Sunday we spent with Josh's family celebrating Great-Granny Ingle's birthday which is actually next week when Josh and I will be in California!!
Next up, I have a lot of little projects that I've been meaning to get to and am committed to finishing up this month with my nice schedule. After I finish updating this blog I think I"m going to try to knock one out of the way. They include
1. File bills from the past (ahem) several months
2. Organize photos/photo albums
3. Organize the laundry room
4. Take all our old/unused clothes to the goodwill, etc
5. Clean out the garage (not such a small project, lol!)
6. Paint the house (rather hire the painters to paint the house)
7. Finish staining the deck
I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of for now!
Next up, I have a lot of little projects that I've been meaning to get to and am committed to finishing up this month with my nice schedule. After I finish updating this blog I think I"m going to try to knock one out of the way. They include
1. File bills from the past (ahem) several months
2. Organize photos/photo albums
3. Organize the laundry room
4. Take all our old/unused clothes to the goodwill, etc
5. Clean out the garage (not such a small project, lol!)
6. Paint the house (rather hire the painters to paint the house)
7. Finish staining the deck
I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of for now!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Never A Wish
So I've blogged off and on through various sites over the years and most recently John's blog. However I realized apart from John's blog, I really haven't kept a record of my thoughts, feelings, etc very regularly as I've been going through probably the most life changing period of my life, med school, pregnancy, new baby, graduation, intern year.
I struggled a good deal trying to keep a balance the last year and a half, so exhausted from a baby that didn't sleep and then starting intern year, that I often felt I was just surviving life, and not really living it. I've been working on that over the past few months with a good bit of success. The other day I had the afternoon off, maybe I was post call, either way, I was picking John up a little early and we were laughing in the car, looking at the cows and the trees. It was my favorite time of day, late afternoon in late summer/early fall when the air is crisp and casts a golden hue on everything. I was listening to a cheesey but favorite CD with some instrumental music on it, and a son that reminds me of my time in Kenya came on. We passed a field with the golden air, birds flying, my precious son talking and laughing and it hit me...I was THERE. In the moment, really experiencing that beautiful, simple, peaceful moment, really living my life.
The title for this blog comes from another cheesey song I like and feel like relates a little to that moment and my quest to live life...A Hundres Years by Five for Fighting
I struggled a good deal trying to keep a balance the last year and a half, so exhausted from a baby that didn't sleep and then starting intern year, that I often felt I was just surviving life, and not really living it. I've been working on that over the past few months with a good bit of success. The other day I had the afternoon off, maybe I was post call, either way, I was picking John up a little early and we were laughing in the car, looking at the cows and the trees. It was my favorite time of day, late afternoon in late summer/early fall when the air is crisp and casts a golden hue on everything. I was listening to a cheesey but favorite CD with some instrumental music on it, and a son that reminds me of my time in Kenya came on. We passed a field with the golden air, birds flying, my precious son talking and laughing and it hit me...I was THERE. In the moment, really experiencing that beautiful, simple, peaceful moment, really living my life.
The title for this blog comes from another cheesey song I like and feel like relates a little to that moment and my quest to live life...A Hundres Years by Five for Fighting
Caught in between 10 and 20 And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are I'm 22 for a moment She feels better than ever And we're on fire Making our way back from Mars 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to lose 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live I'm 33 for a moment Still the man, but you see I'm a they A kid on the way A family on my mind I'm 45 for a moment The sea is high And I'm heading into a crisis Chasing the years of my life 15 there's still time for you Time to buy, Time to lose yourself Within a morning star 15 I'm all right with you 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live Half time goes by Suddenly you're wise Another blink of an eye 67 is gone The sun is getting high We're moving on... I'm 99 for a moment Dying for just another moment And I'm just dreaming Counting the ways to where you are 15 there's still time for you 22 I feel her too 33 you're on your way Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live |
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