Amore - Melanie's Bridal Shower

Last weekend Ali, Lindz and I threw Melanie an Italian-themed bridal shower. I put together my own collage, in honor of Mel's graphic design tastes (although my own paltry Photoshop Elements program hardly measures up as a powerhouse).

Best wishes to Mel! We love you...and someday... you will love being in love in Italy!! O mio babino carro....

Dear Fall...

Thank you for coming back after a frightenly quick jump from Summer to Winter. I knew you wouldn't hold out on us.



Thanks for making the mountains, the redeeming geography of the Utah landscape, gorgeous in burnished hues of orange, cranberry and gold.




Snaps for giving me the opportunity to wear my new pink pea-coat, curtesy of this summer's Nordstrom anniversary sale. It was not a disappointment. And no...this is not me. While I like her whimsical hair-do, any effort to style my locks in a loose look like this would make me look like Lucy Honeychurch, from A Room with a View. Great movie,very, very bad hair.


Gracias for amazing holidays--Halloween, a celebration where you dress up, and Thanksgiving --a day devoted to eating amazing amounts of food--what more do you need?




Obrigada for a fall placement break; for boots, scarves, and tights; and for seasons in general...I'm a fan.

Sincerely,
Brittany Mae

Jets v. Chargers (a game...not a litigation case I'm reading...although there are some similar fact patterns...)

Last weekend we had the chance to visit SD for the Monday Night Football game between the Jets and the Chargers. No, we are not from NY, but I have a paternal cousin who married a guy that became their QB (now backup to Favre). And my dad's clan decided to come out and support him for the game...and to do it in San Diego. (selfless effort on our part, honestly)

We had a great weekend, with highlights including my 73-year-old grandma going into the ocean naked after losing a bet.

We take bets pretty seriously.

There was also a lot of yelling, simply because that side of the family tends to suffer from all-around voice homogulation. Normal conversations were known to be loud enough that the family toddler, Gracie Jo, would cover her ears up in protest. If only we were all so lucky to have the defense mechanism at hand when religion/politics/water quality/food quantity debates arose.




My Mom and I in our 3 square-inch yard at the rental house on Mission Beach. Apparently, Californians are ok with pefect strangers strolling by their homes at all hours of the day and night. (it was worth it, the beach was amazing and we had a blast boogey-boarding)

Michael, Vin, my cousin's husband, and Trey, my brother getting ready to hit the waves. In Vin's case they more-or-less hit him.

Morning breakfast chats.

The whole gang in Jets gear. J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!

I would have liked to say we triumphantly whooped the cocky Chargers, giving them a swift kick to their bolts, but alas, it didn't happen. However, we still had a great time trash-talking (it is my Dad's side of the family, you know), eating, and people-watching from our quasi-aerial view of the game. And we got to have Inn-n-Out on the way home. We'll keep cheering for Kell, because he is a great guy, and keep our eye out for any Hawaii games...

In honor of heroes...9/11

I've had a few moments today where I have thought about 9/11 and what I remember and what it means today, seven years later. However, I think this post says some of my feelings better than anything I could write:

And so I have to tell my kid why he can’t bring water on the plane

May God bless America for another year.

First's...

My first anniversary...and yes the cake was pretty good...but then again...I would probably eat sugar in any form...at after any time period...(celebrating it with a Russian goon from a Bonde movie was a lil' bonus)...

My first day of law school...

First female Vice President candidate...

My first Anthropologie-item-covet....of this week....

As for Palin--I am excited. I like her spunk (big shock there), and appreciate the candor she uses to describe her view. I have watched some of her small-group debates for her Alaska race and she knows when to stop talking. She has a gift for stating her value or opinion but stopping before it translates nto some macro-level policy that wouldn't work on a government level.

I am also warming up to McCain, especially the closer we get to an potential reality where a senator with less than a term under his belt will become our commander-in-chief, ringing in a new era of "change" alright--more taxes; more bureacracy; more waffling on abortion, security, and protecionism. Personally, I found this a rather eloquent way to sum it up:

The Summer of Coeur d'Alene

Madison and I on a hike on a overnight trip to our Schweitzer cabin.

I chose to channel Julie Andrews in Sound of Music at this particular moment. I think it worked, albeit more hair and less Nazis skulking about.

Michael wakeboarding on his new board--Happy Anniversary/Birthday. The size of the bindings...Magnum. Didn't even know that was a size...sounds like something from an Austin Powers movie.

My back from Brazil RM brother Trey "surfing" behing the boat with my Dad's latest water gadget. Trey is undoubtedly the best surfer in the family, although having Mike as the amazing-movable fat sac certainly doesn't hurt.

My good high school BF Cathie's wedding in Boise on August 9, 2008.



The rest of the Fabulous Foursome from high school, my friends Grete and Emily. We were nostalgic about our HS memories...when we debated, vandalized, ate amazing amounts of ice cream at Dockside and once stole a penguin from a teacher's yard. Life was good.



The sunset view from the reception site.

The wedding site, St. Mark's.

My little sisters getting to ready to go out on the boat (Madi had straightened her hair the night before and opted to wear a snazy swimcap so as to not get her hair wet while wakeboarding). And apparently Madison is eating Hannah.

Me on a friend's jetski.

Mike--he did a bit more submarining on his ride...but did you expect anything less?

My little sis Hannah and I getting ready to wor---I mean---eat, Costco's amazing chocolate cake. Apparently, they call it the Holy Grail. Amen indeed. Pretty much the whole cake disappeared under our evening-out of edges.

My Mom and I took a side trip to Jackson Hole to see our cousin Mallory perform. On our day out we took a ride up the mountain that abutts the main town.


We also sucessfully found our cousin (lured into her saloon by her southern yodeling) and watched her cheese-it-up at the evening shootout.

It was wonderful to see Mallory and to take our time in driving back to Utah. Since Michael was still in CDA helping out with a kiteboarding clinic for friends, I ended up getting some quality time with my madre.

Being home was wonderful--simply without words. While shuffling family traditions/recreation activities/outings isn't always easy between two highly possessive families, it was a good problem to have. Much love to everyone we were able to see and those who we will have to catch on the flip side.

Camping and Fishing -- We are from Idaho

A few weekends ago we had the chance to go camping with some friends of ours, Troy and Breezy. While the trip started a little later than planned (we got to the campground as our neighbors were zipping in for the night), it was great. Basically, my husband got to show off his camp stove culinary skills, which include eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage and some derivative of those mixed in with onions and generous amounts of grease, and we sat by a fire and went fishing. His meals probably won't be in a heart-healthy brochure anytime soon, but they were delicious and certainly appreciated. (We also appreciated the bandanna, which was an intentional throwback to the 80s. Rock on.)



I roasted starbursts and tried to help with the fire (e.g. balling up newspaper pages and holding the air pump to artificially enhance the oxidation process). What can I say? I'm handy. My starbursts were a hit. Apparently, our Girls Camp pastime hasn't made it to Georgia yet.


We wimped out on setting up our tent, mostly because it was dark and the campground felt a little too crowded to begin with, so we broke in our wedding gift gear with a nice car camping night. The Highlander was suprisingly comfy, with an air matress mostly blown up and the seats totally flat. I slept well, but it has been said I would sleep well in the middle of an interstate. It also didn't hurt that I was woken by rain and thunder at at 2 am... I have never really trusted my skills with the "rain fly", mostly because I think the emphasis is on it "flying away" while the rain comes. Glad to review my position on that from inside the SUV.


The next day we blew up our friend's dingy and went on the reservoir, hoping fore freat fish karma. Turns out it was the husbands' who were praying for fish karma because they were terrified that if we didn't catch anything we would never set foot on a fishing boat again. And voila! The gods smiled on me and I did catch a fish...you can see the footage here...

As a wrapup, it was a great trip, and who knew there was a reservoir in the middle of Granstville? Oh, and yeah, remember that when you ask your husband if your face looks red, because you suddenly realized that you never put sunscreen on, and you were out of your regular nice Olay lotion with light SPF...it means you want to know if you look sunburnt! And yes--red means sunburnt!!!