Amazing Artwork...in Chalk

A couple weekends ago Jim and I, along with some friends, went downtown to Little Italy to check out Festa 2010. Festa is large Italian Festival that goes on every year and features "Gesso Italiano" (Italian chalk art). The highlight of the afternoon was walking around and seeing all the amazing artwork done in chalk on the street. The artists ranged from school children to seasoned artists. These were some of our favorites...enjoy!

Great Friends are Hard to Come by these Days...

We had great time on a Saturday morning with Andrea, Reggie and Corban at Old Poway Park. Jim was photographing their little family while I was able to just hangout and talk with Andrea in between shots. I must say that all three of them are so photogenic and Corban has the most cute and silly faces. After Jim finished taking the pictures, we headed over to the Farmers Market and then to breakfast to just hang out and talk.

Elijah & Elsie

As a gift for my sister and brother-in-law, my mom asked Jim if we would take pictures of Elijah and Elsie for the 3rd and 1st birthdays, respectively. This would be Jim's first photo shoot for JPhotography, his new business endeavor. Both kids were hams for the camera so Jim was able to get some good shots. Enjoy my nephew and niece...and Jim's work!

A Day at the Races

Although I have lived in San Diego all of my life, I had never been to the Del Mar horse races until Jim and I met up with some of his Orange County friends a couple of weeks ago. I didn't know what to expect, or how the betting worked, so once we arrived at the race tracks we walked around observing people and eaves dropping on conversations about how the betting worked. Just before the first race, Jim decided to take a shot at placing a bet. The race started and instantly the energy level was raised as everyone was intensely watching the track and cheering for their horse. Although he didn't win anything the first race, Jim went on to win five of the next six races.

After the first race, we met up with a few of Jim's friends on the inner track where we watched the rest of the races for the day until the $1MM race when we decided to call it a day. We will definitely be going to the races again next year and may even make it a family event and bring my parents, Jen, Matt and the kids. Although they too have lived in San Diego for most of their life, they have never experienced a day at the races.

10 years later...

During my senior year of high school, my family made the decision to house an exchange student for the year. I remember waiting anxiously at the airport for Nanna to arrive. The year Nanna lived with us was full of many great memories and adventures... and flew by way too fast.

Fast forward ten years later. Jim and I have just arrived back in San Diego from our trip to Chicago and are on our way to my parents house to visit with Nanna and her family who have flown in from Denmark. Earlier this year I was talking with Nanna via facebook and found out that her and her family were planning a vacation to the states during the summer. The thought of getting to see her and meet her family was exciting. She had told us all about her family while she lived with us so it was great to finally meet them.




Nanna still looked liked Nanna and we had a great time catching up on each others lives and reminiscing about time she spent with us. In some ways it didn't feel like it had been ten years even though a lot had transpired.

The time with Nanna was short, but well spent, so maybe we will just have to take a trip to Denmark to visit some more...and see a new country!

Nine down, twenty one more to go!

For those of you who may not know, one of Jim's goals is to visit every major league baseball stadium for a game. Last month he was able to check Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers off the list, during our trip to Chicago for a friend's wedding. Although visiting all the baseball stadiums isn't high on my priority list, it has been fun to be able to do this with Jim, knowing it is something he looks forward to. Many of our friends keep telling Jim he has a pretty awesome wife who is willing to do this...I would agree!

I Love Surprises!

It was Friday evening, Jim and I were celebrating our four year anniversary eating pizza and watching shows on our DVR, when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID to determine whether I was going to answer the phone or just let it go to voice mail and saw that it was one of my best friends, Kelly, who hadn't I talked to in a while. I answered the phone and to my surprise, Kelly and her husband were in San Diego driving up the 5, for a little 4th of July weekend get away. Kelly and I have known each other since second grade; we went to the same the church, same college (lived together for 2 years) and were in each others wedding (two weeks apart). We hadn't seen each other for three and half years so the thought of getting to see her was exciting. Luckily we had the Monday after the 4th off so we decided to meet up for lunch so we could catch up and Brenton could get his In-N-Out fix! Even if I had had to work or had other plans, I would have made sure to find a way to meet up.

We had a great time at lunch, catching up on life, reminiscing about the past and talking about what the future may have in store for each of us. If only Kelly and Brenton lived closer...maybe one day we will live close to each other again.

I don't mind these types of surprises and could definitely get used to them if they happened more often!