Wein

This weekend, we went up to the ranch to visit los padres, and our friends the Ladds came to visit on Saturday! It was their first time actually exploring California outside of the Bay Area, so we thought: winemaking/tasting and cows and apple hill? Done. Except now that I think about it you can probably do a lot of those things in Missouri too. They just wouldn't be as cool there.

But it was a super fun weekend, and my parents were SO gracious to let us crash their house and eat their food and drink their wine. We basically all invited ourselves over and they said SURE!

So, some pictures:

And here they thought California would be so different from Missouri. Surprise!
Nolan gettin' some lovin' from one of his bovine friends.Pressing grapes to make wine!

Our haul of grapes! The master put us to work!

Lesson learned: don't wear a dress to pick grapes in.

The only other thing that's really been exciting for me since Friday was the twisted satisfaction of reading my email from Netflix this morning, recanting their decision to split dvd's off into "Qwikster". It was something delicious, akin to the feeling I get when I say, "I told you so!". Business strategy fail.

Thankful Thursday

I've been meaning to blog all week now, about how I heard a guy on the elevator telling his colleague that he went to a show called "Menopause" with his wife and that it took all of my energy not to turn around and say "duuuuuude". Also about exciting things like the iPhone 4S coming out, Steve Jobs passing away the same week (SOB), the grass seed I planted, the secret stuff I'm making for Christmas presents this year, blah blah blah. There have been a lot of fun things. But it's also been a busy week, with 2 bible studies starting on tuesdays and wednesdays, all of our talent review work coming to a head at work, reports due on top of that since it's month-end (or was), and trying to keep up with stuff at home. I can't wait for next week, when I'll have a better grip on things. So you can imagine how grateful I was when I got home today and Nolan swooped me up and asked me mid-tango how I'd like to change into my pajamas, pop in a movie and order Thai. Hallelujah. It looked a lot less glamourous than it felt:

But it was totally awesome.

Last Friday, we had a Diabetes Walk to raise money for the fight against Diabetes, and our entire building participated. Or at least, said they would. Here are the few and the proud from floor 22. I don't know what happened, but it's like only the young short ones from our group actually showed up. Also I KNOW the picture is upside-down. It's rightside-up on my computer, just not on this blog. I don't know what to tell you.

I also managed to get a picture of my car when I was at Target last weekend, because when I came out of the store I almost walked to the wrong vehicle. Can you spot the difference (besides the spoiler) on these cars? Please ignore how ridiculously dusty my car is - I washed it after I saw this! I'll give you a hint: one belongs to us and the other belongs to the enemy.

Can't guess it? I don't blame you - the picture is really not clear enough to see. But! I can tell you that while my car flies the flag of the Oregon Ducks, the other has a sticker and a license frame supporting the OSU Beavers. John, I thought you'd appreciate that I noticed!

This weekend we're heading up the mountain again for a little weekend getaway and some visiting. Our friends Eric and Erin (read: the other doctor/liberal arts match-up at Stanford) are meeting us up there on Saturday for some exploring in the area! There will most likely be caramel apples and winetasting and hot-tubbing.

Speaking of the weekend:

1. I'm thankful for a couple days to sleep in! I've been exhausted lately and I think it's because I've been sleeping terrible, which I THINK is because Nolan's been sleeping terribly.
2. I'm thankful that I've been productive through my tiredness and have gotten through a lot of my deadlines this week.
3. I'm thankful for STILL meeting new friends! It's so fun and encouraging that I feel like I'm overflowing!
4. I'm thankful Nolan's had nights free this week and we've gotten to hang out a lot. I missed him.
5. I'm thankful iPhone 4S has been released and I'm free to upgrade! Though I might opt for the 4 -- ylehsa pointed out that why would I spend the extra money to upgrade when the 4S isn't that spectacular in comparison to the 4? Might as well save the chunk of change for the iPhone 5. My only regret is Siri...
6. I'm thankful for pretty fall weather! I've stepped out of my car each evening when I get home, and I can smell wet pavement, apple spice, and wood fires. I adore Fall.


I was going to have a quote of the week here, but I thought I'd show you a snippet of our daily lives instead, because sometimes it's equally entertaining/boring/youtellme.

A: " So remind me why you keep putting eggshells in the disposal?"
N: "Well...that's where they go!"
A: "No, they go in the garbage. Tiny, soft foodscraps that fleck off of plates go in the disposal. Maybe you're thinking of egg PARTICLES."
N: "No, I always put them in there!"
A: "And I always dig them out! Trust me, when it's disposal vs. eggshells, the eggshells always win."
N: "....fine...."



A: "Hey look, a gold dollar coin! Thanks, Dairy Queen!"
N: "Oh yeah? Whose picture is on it?"
A: "Hmm...Millard Fillmore. I forgot about that guy."
N: "Hah! Shut up! No really, who is on the coin?"
A: "I was being serious! Millard Fillmore! Our 13th president!"
N: "We never had a president with a ridiculous name like that!"

That whole conversation reminded me of when I got an IM from Mason in college that just said, "Anneliese! Did you know there is a book in the bible called Nahum?! I just found it!"

Also I noticed today a few pictures had been posted from my gramma's 90th birthday party, so I'll post a couple below:

Seriously, this woman does not look 90.
The most decent picture I could find of my aunt and uncle who were visiting.
Me, my brother Rory, and his girlfriend Summer. At the kids table. Where my dad ate with us too.



Happy Weekend!

Thankful Thursday

While I was cruising amazon today for some things I needed to order, I came across this costume in the halloween section:

...which wouldn't have been interesting on its own, but when I scrolled down and read this review, it immediately became just a little more riveting (click to enlarge):


We did indeed end up trying the Peruvian restaurant last night, El Hueco. It was delicious and authentic, and the service was great. The owner himself (an older Peruvian man) kept checking on us and making suggestions. Of course, while we left, Nolan said to him, "the food was great - it tasted just like the food we had in Peru!" thinking this was a compliment. The owner gave us a look like, "that's probably because IT IS THE SAME". Ah well. We then went across the street and threw our healthy-habits out the window and got blizzards at Dairy Queen. And oh man, they were so worth it. Speaking of things I like...

1. I'm thankful for time I got to spend with Nolan last night. Plus the fact that tonight is his last OB shift and then we have the whole weekend free to spend together!
2. I'm thankful for my car! I'm still enthralled by having such a great ride. And I've gotten significantly spoiled, to the point that I think I can never again own a car that doesn't turn its lights on for me when it senses darkness. Love!
3. I'm thankful for new beginnings. Our women's small group started on Tuesday, and tonight I spent some time with my partner for the week over coffee and chatting. I'm loving getting to know and grow with these women!
4. I'm thankful for our home. So often recently, I've thought about when we were in San Francisco this time of year, and how I had chilblains already from being so cold in our own house. And here I am lounging in a tank top and eating frozen blueberries. Life is sweet.
5. I'm thankful for my health. I've teetered on the brink of coming down with something (and being painfully sore after the gym and having epic heartburn two days in a row) for a couple weeks now, and I think I'm actually going to come out on top without getting sick (knock on wood). When I start to feel like I'm not in tip-top shape, it makes me really appreciate the rest of the time when I am in such great health.
6. I'm thankful for sleep. I've seen how Nolan's been so zombie-like these few weeks while he's running on 2-3 hours of sleep per day (if that, on some days!), and it makes me feel luxurious to be able to sleep at least 7 hours a night. Even though really, I'd be in better mental shape if I could get 8...

Happy weekend, all!


Quote of the day:
Brandon: "Nolan called me too when he saw Obama. I'm pretty sure he wet himself while he was talking to me."

For pete's sake...

Generally I like to think of myself as thick-skinned, but I think I'm softening a little with age. Becoming more sensitive, caring and empathetic? That may be pushing it. So I was in this new gym class, "Ultimate Conditioning" that I've been taking for a couple weeks now. It's the one that makes my butt sore in the middle - where I didn't know I could even get sore, and then when I sit in my Wednesday Pilates class and she has us stretch out our IT bands, I literally groan out loud because it hurts so good. Anyway, this class: so I generally follow along pretty well in here, and don't stop to take a break or anything, but yesterday I took a BRIEF pause while he was explaining the next exercise, and the instructor smacked my mat with his fist and said "GET UP!". So embarrassing! Also the fact that I had sweat streaming down my forehead and getting into my eyes, so I was wiping them while this was happening. It may have looked like I was sobbing. BUT I WASN'T. Maybe I need to snag a spot in the back of the class from now on.

Nolan and I have been trying to keep our heads above water while he's on his OB rotations, meaning we hang out EVERY possible second we can. He works literally opposite shifts as I do, so for example yesterday I just happened to get home right before he left (usually I miss him by about 30 min), and so we got to see each other for 60 seconds. So I'm more than a little excited that he doesn't have to go in until later tonight, so we'll have a few hours to ourselves for a date night. He gave me first pick of where to go, so I'm thinking El Hueco, which I've been dying to try and is biking distance from our house! Bonus!

...Aaaand here are a few more photos from our mini-reunion with family in Moss Landing a couple weeks ago:
Nolan was pretty serious about his bowl of ice cream, as you can see.

Thankful Thursday

This morning I went to the early class at the gym, and after sweating off any remainder of the previous day's makeup and showering, I saw with horror that I forgot to cover up my faux-hickey. Which is TECHNICALLY a real hickey but not really (don't panic!) because it wasn't, like, romantically created. It was HORRIFICALLY created, because it's right under my jaw, right where I have this unnatural fear of people getting close to (too much Twilight, maybe?), which means it's Nolan's favourite place to attack me and make me panic and freak out. However, I think he latched on a little too hard while I was fighting him off, because it looks like I was shot in the jaw with a BB gun. And by BB I of course mean BlueBerry. It's a bright purple spot the size of a quarter. Lovely. Apparently my makeup has worn off already too, because my coworker just IMed me "your hickey looks pretty bad" and I was like "what are you talking about" and then "!!!!!" when I looked in the mirror again. Good thing Nolan doesn't read this very often because he'd crow with success if he did.

Now that I've successfully weirded you out...

1. I'm thankful that tomorrow is the last day of summer! I've loved actually having summer weather this year, but MAN it's been hot. Plus, what's not to love about Fall?! My favourite season!
2. I'm thankful that Nolan had a few hours off last night for a date night, even though he was terrorizing me all night (see above). I missed not seeing him for a few days while he has been working night shifts!
3. I'm thankful that our new womens' small group starts up soon! It will be SO fun to do a Beth Moore study with a bunch of great ladies!
4. I'm thankful for the free lunch at work today, provided by the Festive Club. Which is the weirdest name ever, because it's basically just a membership that costs $12 a year and provides you MANY free lunches and other perks. Today it was delicious Vietnamese food, which, let's face it, is something to be VERY FESTIVE about.
5. I'm thankful for fun new gym classes! I hate getting bored with routines, so I'm really excited about all the new classes I'm trying! The Ultimate Conditioning class this morning kicked my butt FO REALZ.

Another weekend already? Bring it on!

Summer at its best

So I finally found some pictures of Stumpy Meadows, where we went kayaking and took our only pictures from vacation. See how beautiful it was there? And the water was surprisingly warm, considering how far in the mountains this place is.

Okay, so this is one of our very rare vacation photos since we are super lame and forgot to take pictures of anything else. Of course, nobody wants to see pictures of what was basically lounging around anyway.


This lifejacket only stayed on for a minute before I realized that a.) I don't need a lifejacket in a warm, calm lake and b.) it made my arm movement similar to a T-Rex's and therefore my paddling was totally ineffective.

I also randomly found this picture on Nolan's camera (with tons others) from when he and my dad, little brother, and Jacob went to the 49ers game and had field passes. Apparently that was the best part of the game, since the 49ers are actually pretty terrible at football. They ended up leaving early to get Indian food with us ladies.



And finally, I've received one solitary picture from the mini-reunion last week, so I'll post it until I get some more! With the exception of me and Ine (red sweater), can you see the resemblance?

Thankful Thursday

Let's just move this one right along, shall we?

1. I'm thankful for long-lost family! It was SO fun for Nolan and I to get to see his aunt/uncle/cousins who live far away! Nothing beats good times with good people.
2. I'm thankful for groupon deals - I was craving something not from my own fridge for lunch, but had limited cash, so...I bought a Groupon for $5, used my $5 Groupon credit, and essentially got a free lunch (except for the 81 cent tax I had to pay) of delicious Indian food!
3. I'm thankful for my team at the office - it's important to have people around that you like working with and can respect. Plus, I was reading this hilarious display and feeling lucky/laughing hysterically. Read. The link to the further display of Justin Bieber material is also TOTALLY WORTH IT.
4. I'm thankful for friends and exercise and being so close to another fun weekend!Hanging out in Mountain View tonight and then being all over the place on Saturday/Sunday.

Happy almost weekend!