Weekend Getaway in Napa

To celebrate our 4 year anniversary we decided to head up to Napa to stay at a B&B and do a little wine tasting. We had to drive in the pouring rain through the maze in Oakland which is not an experience I'd like to repeat anytime soon, but after making it out of there alive we were able to start relaxing.

We stayed at this beautiful place called Churchill Manor. It is a gorgeous mansion built in 1889 and was within walking distance to downtown Napa. We walked there the first night for dinner and just enjoyed walking around.

Here is the view from the front porch of the mansion.
We made sure to take an umbrella with us on Saturday in case it started raining again.
Our first winery stop was Sterling up in Castiloga (the northern most region of the Valley). We'd never been quite that far north before and we were excited to try out this winery.
We had to take a tram to get to where Sterling is actually located. It made for a gorgeous view both on the way up and at the top. Everything was so green from all the rain. We've only ever been up in the summer so it was a nice change from all the brown.
On the tram.
After grabbing some sandwiches from a deli, our next stop was not far from Sterling. We could actually see Castello de Amorosa from the top at Sterling. This castle was impressive to say the least. It was under construction for 14 years and has only been open for the last 2 or so. They imported stones from Spain and tried to make it as authentic as possible.

We didn't go on the guided tour so we missed out on the torture chamber (Kevin was bummed), but we were able to wander around the main level on our own.

Kevin making gun sounds out the window of the watch tower and getting strange looks from people down below.

4 years....doesn't time fly!
The scenery was amazing!

After leaving the castle we had to stop and get a picture with the grape vines and the landscape.

The next day we stopped at Rutherford Hill Winery to go on the cave tour before heading back home. We had such a wonderful time. We've been so busy that it is nice to get away just the two of us with no t.v., computers, etc to distract us. We were able to catch up on sleep and we left very relaxed. Maybe we'll go camping for our next getaway since the weather is starting to get nicer.

Phoenix!!

February was such a crazy month and I know I'm really behind on posts. Between working, fun stuff going on, and the Olympics I feel like I haven't really had a minute to breathe. It's been worth it though. Kevin and I are watching the USA vs Canada gold medal hockey game. We already know the outcome so I'm using this time to try and catch up a little bit.

A couple of weekends ago I made my way down to Phoenix to visit Amy and Dustin. I needed some quality girl time with Amy and it was Dustin's B-day weekend so we had something to celebrate while I was there.

I flew in on a Thursday night after I got off work and we didn't waste too much time the next day before getting busy. We headed to Camelback Mountain for a hike in the nice weather. It was a really steep 1.5 mile hike up and although I'm not in the best shape of my life the hike felt really good. It was a beautiful day and I loved the view.

Amy got ahead to take a picture to try and show how steep it is. This isn't the steepest part but still a fun photo.

We stopped about halfway up to take a few pictures. So beautiful out!
A view from the top. Ignore some of the smog on the right side of the photo.
That night we met up with Dustin to go out dancing to celebrate his birthday. We met at his loft all dressed up and ready to dance. It was wonderful being with my favorite high school buddies once again. I'm so grateful to still be close with them even after all these years. (10 next year....I can't believe it)
After a fun night out we met up to watch the KU basketball game. I know what you are thinking....KU? I was outnumber 2 to 1 and at least they were rooting for Kansas and not Arizona or some other state! Unfortunately the game wasn't being televised (at least in AZ) so we just spent the afternoon hanging out and catching up.
I brought the rain with me and it was raining . It's funny that out of the 350ish sunny days a year I show up for two of the rainy days. Oh well....at least we got a rainbow!

Amy and I spent the rest of the weekend shopping, hanging out, and I got to meet her boyfriend too. It was great to see her in person. We talk on the phone but it is never the same as some good old face to face chatting.
Kevin and I are headed down to Phoenix together in June for my B-day and I can't wait!

Superbowl!

Kevin and I made it back from the ski trip just in time to watch the Superbowl. We headed over to Sarah and Jonathan's place and only missed the kickoff.

As many of you may know...I love themes. Therefore I was extremely impressed with Sarah's cake. Extremely creative and fun! The football is actually a fondat covered football shaped rice krispie treat. When you cut into the cake there were horseshoes. (Jonathan is from Indianapolis).

I just had to include a picture because it was incredible.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you how awesome the game was. Jonathan looked a little stressed at some points, but he handled the loss well. After the Superbowl we watched 'Undercover Boss' and played Mario for the Wii. It was a fun end to a fun weekend!

Another Boxer Lab Ski Trip

Last weekend we headed to Tahoe for another Boxer Lab Ski Trip. We got in late Friday night and were excited to check out the slopes on Saturday. The weather has been excellent for skiing and we were ready. Luckily the roads weren't too bad and we didn't have to stop and put on chains.



It snowed pretty much the entire day Saturday which made for some beautiful scenery and made the skiing itself fantastic. I'd never skied in conditions like that and it was amazing. The copious amounts of snow did cause us to fall a little more (you'd run into huge unpacked piles sometimes and just fall down), but for this same reason the falls didn't hurt.



Lunch time! We found a spot inside to warm up before heading to the backside of the mountain. Kevin and I had never been over there before. The back side of the mountain at Kirkwood is only blues and blacks and tends to be a little colder so it is a little less crowded. It was amazing going down some of those runs and having it be so quiet.



We stopped to take a couple of pictures. Getting the camera out is sort of an ordeal. You have to take your gloves off, find the camera in the numerous pockets of your jacket, take the picture, then put the camera away and try and get your gloves back on. All while it is snowing, cold, and you are less mobile because of the skis on your feet. We managed to take a few though before I gave up.
I just wanted you to have a view. There is hardly anybody around and it is amazingly white! Gorgeous!
Me, Kevin, and Bettina heading up on one of our last runs of the day.
Minsub recreated his famous Korean dinner with the help of KB and Bon Jun. Once again it was delicious. The problem with 20 people in one dining room is finding enough seating. We managed to get everyone around, but it was a cozy fit.
It was Luke's birthday so Laura made cheesecake to celebrate!
We played 'Wolfen' again this year and had a wonderful time. No one could worry about work, or having to leave to go home. We just hung out and laughed and really enjoyed ourselves. On Sunday people headed back at various times. Kevin and I were originally planning on skiing again that day, but we decided to stick around the house to make sure everything that needed to be done before leaving was done. (The house was in our name since Kevin organized the trip). This allowed us to get back in time for the Superbowl so I was pleased about that. We do have to go skiing again this season though since we already have vouchers for lift tickets....darn!

Storage Unit

In the back of our apartment complex we have a storage unit above a second parking spot. While a handy spot for big items we don't use very often, it is always a pain getting in and out of the unit for anything. You pretty much had to take half the stuff out to get what you needed since everything was just piled on top.

Here are a few photos.
It's a mess. There is quite a bit of space in there and we knew there had to be a better way to organize items. We'd been talking about buying shelves forever, and we finally got to it.

After.

Not only is it more organized, but we fit more stuff inside and it is so much easier to get things out.
It didn't really take that long once we picked out the shelves, we just had to decide we were going to it and take care of it.

Favorite Movies

I just turned on the television to have some background noise while putting groceries away and cleaning up around the apartment. The movie on is 'Sleepless in Seattle'. I turned it on right at the part where Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Victor Garber are sitting at the table talking about the movie 'An Affair to Remember'. I started laughing just like I do every time I watch this part.

This got me thinking about how every time this movie comes on I always end up watching it (or as much of it as I can). There are lots of movies that I love, but few that I could watch over and over and over again. It especially helps that Kevin really likes this movie too. :)

"The Cutting Edge' is another movie that I can watch anytime. I just wanted to know if anybody else has one of these movies they can't get enough of. Leave your comment with your all time favorites and we'll see what movies stand the test of time.

Masquerade Ball

I've been sick this week so I'm just now getting to this post. Last weekend we went to a Masquerade Ball put on by Stanford for graduate students. It was 'masks required' and 'black tie suggested'. I always look forward to an opportunity to get dressed up. I only wished I'd found out about the event more than 2 1/2 days ahead of time.

We found our masks at Diddams' party supply. I luckily had this dress that I'd bought last year for only $20 and we found this really nice suit jacket for Kevin at Goodwill for only $20. Kevin has a couple suit jackets, but they were his Grandpa's and don't fit him quite as nice as this one did. We only need to have the sleeves shortened a bit.

Ready for dinner!
We went to a Spalti, an Italian restaurant in Palo Alto for dinner. Suiting up required a nice meal somewhere. I think the guys look fantastic! Brian was lucky enough to find a tux jacket for the event.

Gnocchi anyone?

Waiting in line to enter the ball. The color didn't turn out that great on this picture, so I just made it black and white since I loved it.It was fun seeing all the different masks. Those who didn't wait until that day to buy masks had really cool ones they ordered online. Hopefully they will do it again next year and I can find one I really like! (I liked mine, but there were really pretty masks).
Kevin and Luke. Luke's mask is an example of one found online. Kevin was jealous.


The D.J. wasn't that great, but we managed to have fun dancing anyway.
Moria took this picture and I think it is hilarious. Jonathan's classic 'duh' look, Kevin making a crazy face, and Brian's mask...priceless. If only Moria were in it...

February is going to be a pretty crazy month. A lot is happening so there should be lots of posts if I can keep on top of things. Kevin is in Kansas this weekend, ski trip next weekend, a long weekend in Phoenix for me and possibly Vegas for Kevin. Our 4 year anniversary which we'll spend at a B&B in Napa, and a poster presentation for Kevin at a biomedical conference in San Francisco. It'll be busy, but should be really really fun!