A slew of updates

Wow, so I know that my posts in the past have been sporadic, at best, but it has been 16 months since my last post. It looks like I've been slacking off, but so much has happened in the last year+ that I have not been able to justify putting aside time for the blog.


After my last post, we went to two weddings, had two Vegas trips, bought a condo, graduated from college (both of us), got a cat, made friends, two camping trips, tons of fun, and we got engaged!!! As you can tell, it's been quite a year.

Olive!!!

Stone Brewery on the way to La Jolla Indian Campgrounds - 2010

Benjamin and Elie - Yay for new friends!

Scott's Birthday 2010

Scott popping the question at the Orange International Street Fair

I hope to add some updates and new pictures soon but, as you know by now, I'm not a very consistent blogger.

Angels Game 6.14.09

This past Sunday, June 14th, Scott and I went tailgating with some friends to celebrate my friend Beth's birthday. Amanda carpooled with us and since we were the first ones there, we took the opportunity to snap some pictures. As you can see, we were ready to start tailgating.

About twenty minutes later, everyone else showed up and watching them unload from the 15 passenger van they came in was pretty entertaining. One minute, there was an empty space against the wall of the parking lot and then the next minute there was a circle of chairs, four tables, and a barbeque set up for grilling. They're professionals.

We debated between flip cup and beer pong, but flip cup won out after one round of beer pong because more people could be involved. We grilled for a while and played a few rounds, but then some people began to be anxious because the game was about to start. So, be began to pack up and head to the game (and finally made it to our seats in the second or third inning). There were about 25 of us total, but one person was removed from the game early because he was caught with a can of beer at the game.

While the day began overcast and bearable, it turned out to be unbelievably hot and sunny. Luckily, I had the foresight to bring sunscreen so that Scott wouldn't get burnt. I offered it to some of my coworkers and most of them took up my offer, but poor Chirichiello made the mistake of declining my offer. He is still paying for it.

The game itself wasn't really that interesting because the Angels were well ahead of the Padres, but the company was fun, the food was good, and the beer fulfilling.We couldn't stay until the end of the game because of the heat and sun, but we had a great time anyway. It was good to meet some new friends and to hang out with some old ones. I'm looking forward to our camping trip next month.

Family

So, last night Scott and I got to hang out with our cousins for the first time in a while. I say our cousins because his cousin, Lisa, is good friends and works with my cousin, Bethany. The last time we got to hang out with them Scott was exhausted after a long day of work and had to work early the next day, so he didn't really get to spend any time having fun. Vasi came along too, which helped to balance the group.

Last night though, was pretty fun. When I got home from work Vasi and Scott were attempting to assemble a tent we just bought for an upcoming camping trip. The laughter that ensued after watching their attempts made me forget the stresses of the day and I only had to intervene in the bickering a couple of times. The tent is HUGE! It took over the entire livingroom. Anyway, after realizing that there was no way that we could assemble the full tent in the livingroom without suffocating ourselves, we decided to pack it back up until we can try again in a larger area. That's when Lisa and Bethany arrived, with perfect timing, so that we could go to Hollingshead's for a beer.

We have become somewhat regulars at Hollingshead's because they have the best selection of beers on tap that I can think of. While they don't have nearly as many as the Yardhouse, the quality of beers they do have on tap surpasses every bar that I have been to.

So, we all ordered a beer each and just relaxed. After our beers, we went back to the house and started a game of Cranium, but never finished because Scott got distracted making dinner and never came back for the all play round. Oh well. Dinner was great and the company was wonderful, so it was a great way to spend a Wednesday night. I can't wait to do it again.

Life can be overwhelming.

So, with work and school life is pretty hectic. Obviously, I have not made a lot of time to update our blog, but I just wanted to jot down a quick update.

February, March, April, and May have flown by. Besides work and school, Scott and I have been looking for a house. We're not sure exactly what we are going to get yet, since it all depends on the market, but we definitely want to get into a home this year. We have been looking all over Orange County, but it looks like we will most likely end up in Santa Ana or Orange. Hopefully we will find something that will close at the end of our lease in September.

School is going pretty well for both of us. Scott should be done at the end of this year, if he can get the last few classes he needs this summer and fall at OCC. I'll be done early next year with my BA, but I think I'll only have a month off or so until I begin my MA. We are both going full speed ahead and don't have a lot of time for relaxing, but know that our dedication will pay off eventually.

We definitely miss spending time with friends and hope to be able to see some of you this summer.

Birthdays

So, January was the month of birthdays. My dad's was on the 15th, our friend John's was the 17th, Anna was the 18th, mine was the 21st, Amanda's was the 27th, and my step-mom's was the 30th. This meant that in addition to our crazy work and school schedules, every weekend was dedicated to birthday parties.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of pictures from them, but Anna is amazing and always has her camera on her.



It actually was a ton of fun because we were able to see people we haven't seen in far too long and it gave us reasons to celebrate. I was touched that so many people came out to celebrate my birthday, but that also meant that I did not get to spend enough time catching up with everyone.

Scott totally surprised me by having our roommate pick up a birthday cake.
It was the first birthday cake I've had in 7 years, so it was a little shocking to see all the added candles.

I got to take a shot with my sister, Erynne, which was a first,


hang out with my girls from forever,

and basically have a good time.

Slacker

Ok. So I know it's been more than a month since I said I would go home to work on this thing, but the holidays really swept me up.

Now that those are over, I started a new class (which is kicking my butt) and caught some illness from people at work (I mostly blame Matt). So, I'm afraid that I will have to be putting things off again. I'm hoping that I will be able to catch up with work and school so I can devote some time to getting this thing up and running.

Here's our xmas picture in front of the house.

And so it begins ...

So, Scott bought scottanderika.com a while back and we never did anything with it. He said it was my project and I am not internet savvy at all, so it has sat with one lonely picture of us for months.

Once he finally explained to me that I just need to create a blog that he can point the website to, I decided that it was time to take action. So, here we are. I don't really have much to say at this point. It's been a long day and I'm taking a break from my work.

When I get home, I'll dig up some pictures and stuff and think of some of the events that we have upcoming. We just celebrated our one year anniversary, so I hope that we will have some interesting stories to document.

I will be back with another post soon.