Sunday, October 24, 2010

A preview

I am starting the process of picking favorites from our wedding photos to share with you (as promised).  This is not an easy task because I love them all!  I ran across this one tonight and just had to share.  Many more to come...

Many overdue weekends...

Ok, the moment you have all been waiting for...what makes Scott tick?  What was so exciting at Home Depot?  Prepare to be disappointed because it is no more than a portable grill!  

After evaluating about 10 options, a phone call for male input and a few eye rolls from me, we walked out with this puppy.  The answer to what makes Scott tick, though, is his tailgate.  It is like a switch clicks in his head to "tailgating planning master" and it is hard to get him back.  From the moment the email goes out to friends and family, the wheels are turning with ideas on how to make this one that much better!

This year we made our way to the Stanford v. USC game.  We donned our best red accessories (this is the last year for that...Buffs join the Pac10 next year) and headed south to get set up for the big tailgate.  This year, Michelle, Aimee and Kristina jumped on the tailgate bandwagon and talk about being stocked and ready for the day!  We had:

-Chips
-Dip, Guac, etc...
-Beer
-Wine
-Champagne
-Water
-Deviled Eggs
-Pasta Salad
-Hot Dogs
-Hamburgers
-Caprese Salad (thanks Andrea!)
-Salami (Andrea again...you must bring a chef to your next tailgate)
-Brats
-Cookies
-Cupcakes
-Kabobs
-Corn Hole
-Ladder Game
-25+ people
-Chairs


Ok, you get the idea.  It was ridiculous.  We packed a Rav 4 and Tahoe full of supplies for our big day.  I would call it a resounding success.  I manned the phone this year so Scott could enjoy "his" tailgate and everyone managed to find our little plot of land.  Definitely an annual tradition that we will continue!  I do get a bit nervous about how Scott plans to top this one though!!  

Andrea can saber a champagne bottle-not a bad party trick!
The boys tailgating, Scott with his Gloria, Tanner preparing to drive the Rav away, Scott and his nieces.
Kate and I tailgating


A quick rewind...I failed to mention that Katie was in town this weekend (if you hadn't figured that out from the picture above)!  We got to spend Friday through Sunday night taking the city and surrounding areas by storm.  Friday night we took Katie to one of our favorites, The House.  The food is just oh so good!  


As you saw, Saturday was a bit busy as well!  Why stop there?  Sunday we packed up and headed to, where else, Napa! We did switch up the order of things a bit to keep it fresh.  First stop, Mondavi.  Then we headed across the street to Cakebread.  This was my first visit there and it definitely exceeded expectations.  



Kate and I at Rutherford Grill.


Kate with her new Cakebread wine!
We learned a neat trick to aerate wine and put a few years on it.  Just roll back and forth and for every 30 seconds it ages a year.  It is incredible to taste the difference.

We ended the day at Gloria, of course!  It was a jam packed, fun weekend!  Come back soon, Kate!!!

Obviously I am very behind in by blogging because I am officially three weekends behind.  The weekend after Kate's visit was very low key and the camera didn't even make an appearance.  Lots of couch time, a massage for me, and more couch time. 

We needed the weekend to recover and prepare for all of our Giants cheering!  It is a very exciting time to be in San Francisco!!  Unfortunately they went to Philly to clinch it but we sure had fun being in the stands.  


Nice view of the Bay Bridge from our seats.

Don't worry Mom, it is just the weird light...I am not quite this pale!!

This weekend we continued our theme of taking it easy, but headed over to the Strand Fam's for some pumpkin carving and Giants watching fun on Saturday night.  Oh, and I got a haircut.  We aren't talking about it.  
I got a bit of a domestic wind and decided to make cookies and cupcakes for  our night of pumpkin fun!

The littlest Giants fan enjoying his juice box! 
All our hard work paid off!
"We're going to the World Series!!!"
I do believe we are now caught up.  One of these days I will get my act together and be a better blogger! It is definitely more fun to write when the stories are fresh in my mind.  I am sure it makes for better reading too.  I'll see what I can do :-).

Monday, October 11, 2010

And we're off

**note that I am a week behind...another update for this weekend coming in the next day or so**

No, not off to the races or off to work...just "off".  This weekend was just one of those weekends where Scott and I both had a little trouble getting it together.  We weren't terribly motivated to do anything or really feeling very peppy.  As a result, we did a lot of relaxing.  I think it was the first time since the wedding so it was a nice change of pace (though don't expect it to last).


Friday we went to the Giants game to watch them clinch their playoff spot.  I boogied out of work at about 4:30 for the festivities and to join in the sea of orange and black that had taken over 3rd & King St.  While we had a great time at the game, the playoff spot was not secured and I took home one very depressed husband.  After a very tense weekend we finally got our spot on Sunday...go Giants!


The Hyland Family was rooting for the home team as well! 
Saturday we had a rather domestic day of going to Target and Home Depot.  Oh, Target, how I love thee and your rows and rows of items that I absolutely do not need but somehow end up in my cart. It truly is a bond that cannot be broken.  Yet, Target does leave me broke.  Without fail, $100 leaves my bank account on each visit.  I should really not be left unattended at this establishment.

I will discuss our Home Depot trip during next week's post as it pertains to a certain obsession of Scott's that can only be shared with photo documentation.

Sunday we decided to be slightly more motivated and headed out armed with gift cards to work on our registry completion!  Oh what fun it is to buy things and not have your bank account change!  We finished off our pots and pans and knife set and it might be as great as a trip to Target.  I now get excited to head home and chop vegetables for dinner with our freakishly sharp knives!

After all of this domestic errand running we felt a little bad for our cute little pomeranians so we packed up the car and headed to the beach.  Arnold Pomeranian has always been a landlocked dog so this was his first trip to the beach.  He was definitely fired up and kept attacking Lola to try and get her to play.  Unfortunately, we waited until too late in the evening and the tide was extremely high and the waves were quite angry - like Brittany Spears swinging an umbrella at the paparazzi angry!  All I could imagine was Arnold being swept up and out by the water, his little eyes looking at me and me drowning trying to save my little Snooch.  Therefore, his first trip to the beach was a little lame but don't worry we will be back and there will be a sandy salt water mess to prove it!
A beautiful day at the beach?

Scott perched on our wonderful picnic spot.  
Lola doesn't mind the less than ideal Nor Cal beach conditions!

Burrrrrrrrr.......

I think that might qualify as the longest blog post about absolutely nothing of consequence.  But, there it is.  You might want to start preparing for next week because this weekend is going to be so awesome that it might just blow your mind reading about it!