North Carolina is Beautiful

We spent last weekend in in Greensboro, NC visiting Richie's friends. It was fun to meet all of the people he talks about and I loved listening to the stories they tell about him. After our visit we headed to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore. I have always wanted to go there and it was truly a magnificent place.

Fancy fast food

We just arrived in Asheville, NC and hit the McDonalds to use the wi-
fi. They have a fireplace and a grand piano. It's fancy here. More
updates to come.

DC clean out

Well we left DC on Saturday and as we drove away, I cried. I don't think I ever really felt super sad the first time I left because I still had stuff there and I thought I'd be back. But on this trip I emptied out my storage unit, picked up my car and said goodbye. Mostly I will miss the people who became my close friends. Over the last seven years I had so many amazing experiences that made me who I am today and I will always love DC for that.

Here is a picture of the unit almost empty. I got rid of a ton of stuff and what we didn't ship is going to make it's way back across the country with us.

Thanks to Eric, Alisha, Genvieve and baby Emory for letting us stay at their place. And Mack and Lish, I will miss you forever. Can't wait for our girls' weekend.

Storage unit fun

Richie was the best storage unit emptying helper ever. He even became an expert at riding the cart down the hall. Mostly he didn't judge me too much while I told him I wanted to keep a box of dirty old buttons that belonged to my grandmother.

Road blogging

Since we're on the road for a bit, I set up our blog so I can post
from my phone. We may not write as much but we'll post pictures.
Nobody "reads" a blog anyway. It's all about the pictures.

Here are some pics from our visit with Matt and Rebecca. We enjoyed a lovely evening at Longwood gardens.

Having fun

Pretty little girls

Madeline and Lillian love to pose for pictures and they had such a
beautiful backdrop.

Richie showing Lillian the fish. He's very skilled at spotting them.

Portland, Oh Portland

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Portland. I was there for a friend's wedding. Lori and Greg had perfect weather on their perfect day. They both looked so happy and their reception was so much fun. It was like a big fun party with all of our old friends.I took advantage of my weekend in Portland and enjoyed some quality time with my dad. (Mom is in St. Louis helping when Em's baby comes. Any time now.) Dad and I had a nice Sunday dinner on the deck and then visited the Portland Rose Garden. Other trip highlights include a quick trip down to Salem to visit Andrew & Linda and the gang and a lovely dinner with Dad, Sheila and Harry to celebrate our birthday. Wish I had taken pictures of those fun times too.

Dream Date

A few Fridays ago Richie and I biked to a local park where we had a picnic dinner. It was my way of replacing our usual dinner out each weekend. After all, I did lose my job and we can't be the DINK's we used to be. (My position was "eliminated" about a month ago, in case you hadn't heard.) After arriving at the park Richie said, "All your dreams are coming true, aren't they." Yes! They were. It was so cute to ride to the park and have a picnic. We got some exercise and had homemade yummy food. What could be better?

Sunny San Diego

We took a fun weekend trip down to San Diego the third weekend in May. I was able to reunite with some good friends from my mission on Saturday morning. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast together (made by Lucinda) and then spent time chatting on the beach. I love seeing those girls - April, Michelle and Lucinda and their families. It's fabulous to catch up with old friends.

After our visit, Richie and I headed into San Diego. I had never been so we first went to the famous Balboa Park. It's a beautiful place with old buildings, lovely gardens and interesting street performers. We especially liked Sleeveless the Magician who wowed an entire crowd with his tricks.

Perhaps our favorite parts of the park were the cactus and rose gardens. They had a nice view of the valley and both were beautiful in their own way. It was a nice end to our trip to Balboa park.

Fancy Japanese Garden? Really?

In Blaboa park I saw a sign for a Japanese Friendship garden and I insisted that we go in. We paid the $4 admission and we were expecting something pretty nice. After all, the rest of Balboa park was free and it was lovely so surely the entrance fee part would be even more spectacular. After walking around the entire grounds in 3 minutes, Richie said, "I think the parking lot at Benihana is nicer than this place."

The coolest part of the garden were the fish in the koi pond -- so we thought until we walked to a different part of the free park and found a HUGE pond with lots of koi fish. And that pond even had water lilies. We felt duped. Here are the five fish we paid to see.

La Jolla

The jewel of Southern California just might have to be La Jolla. After a beautiful day in San Diego we headed up North a bit to Sheila and Harry's favorite town. The evening had turned a little overcast but we still enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner and a nice stroll along the coast. The only beach we saw in La Jolla is, I believe, designated for the local sea lion population which we enjoyed looking at and watching other people gawk at them. Here are some pictures from our evening.