The Valley on a Sunday Afternoon

Hadn't posted anything in a while, so I figured I'd ease back into the blog world with wine. Don't worry bike fans, I have a whole bunch of bike-themed posts primed for publishing, too. But its Sunday, so let's stick with the wine theme.

A few weeks back (before the Soberanes Fire started) we did our Carmel Valley routine...morning run at the dog-friendly Garland Ranch followed by lunch at the Corkscrew Cafe and sips of wine at one of the twenty-some tasting rooms in Carmel Valley Village--Boekenoogen and Cowgirl Winery on this particular Sunday.

And of course, a coffee stop on the way home...

To my sweetest friend...

It's been quite a while...a shade over 10 years. I don't think we'll ever need to start again, but the song felt right. Love you!

"Come To Me"
by the Goo Goo Dolls

I'll be kind, if you'll be faithful
You be sweet and I'll be grateful
Cover me with kisses dear
Lighten up the atmosphere
Keep me warm inside our bed
I got dreams of you all through my head
Fortune teller said I'd be free
And that's the day you came to me
Came to me

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo

Come to me my sweetest friend
Can you feel my heart again
I'll take you back where you belong
And this will be our favorite song
Come to me with secrets bare
I'll love you more so don't be scared
When we're old and near the end
We'll go home and start again

Ooo Ooo Oooo, Ooo Ooo Oooo

I caught you burnin' photographs
Like that could save you from your past
History is like gravity
It holds you down away from me
You and me, we've both got sins
I don't care about where you've been
Don't be sad and don't explain
This is where we start again
Start again

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo

Today's the day I'll make you mine
So get me to the church on time
Take my hand in this empty room
You're my girl, and I'm your groom

Come to me my sweetest friend
This is where we start again, again

Come to me my sweetest friend
Can you feel my heart again
Take you back where you belong
This will be our favorite song
Come to me with secrets bare
I'll love you more so don't be scared
When we're old and near the end
We'll go home and start again (yeah)
Start again (yeah)

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo

Things are a Changin'

Test test. One. Two. One. Two. Is this thing on?

Yeah, we're playing around with a new website. Terry told me to do a test. So this is my test. Complete with a holiday photo of us. Call it our Christmas card. For a long winded explanation of this photo and our Christmas card, scroll down. Or don't. No big deal. I just have to demonstrate to the Welliver Photography IT Department (i.e. Terry) that I can work the new blog.

Lower Conness Lake. Mt Conness in the background. Twenty Lakes Basin.

So here's the story about this photo. Terry and I were out and about during our weekend backpacking trip to the Twenty Lakes Basin last summer, exploring the Conness Lakes area. I think this was our 13-mi trail day. At one point we bumped into to this adorable old couple (they had to be in their 70s) who were also exploring the high country. They asked us to take a photo of them and of course we obliged. Then the sweet old lady asked if we wanted them to take our photo, so we said sure. She snapped the loveliness you see above, then she exclaimed, "You guys are wearing green and red, that will be your Christmas card photo!" We laughed and exchanged thank yous and parted ways. We came home and downloaded this great picture and were very appreciative of that cute old couple miles out on a trail who took our photo (most people get freaked out by our cameras and don't want to touch them).

Now, the second part of the story. When we first started dating the tv show Friends was pretty popular (still is in our house). There's an episode in which couples Christmas cards come up...Monica and Chandler were dating and Monica suggested a Christmas card, Chandler said, "no way, its too soon!" Maybe our first or second Christmas I told Terry we should do a Christmas card and Terry said, "No way, its too soon!" Ten years later, that's our own little Christmas joke...still too soon to send out a Christmas card. This will photo have to do. Merry Christmas and Happy Assorted Other December Holidays!

Snow Day

We had an uncharacteristic snowfall here in Lousyana on Thursday night. My unofficial measurement was about 4 inches on the grassy areas. I had already planned to take the day off on Friday so casually waking up that morning to a lovely blanket of white over everything was perfect. Terry laughed because I really was acting like a kid on Christmas morning, but I couldn't help it. I love fresh snow. We haven't lived anywhere that really has a true winter since we left Colorado in 2003, so waking up to a pristine white landscape made me giddy like a school girl. The snow even made Lousyana a wonderful place to be for a bit...beautiful and serene, with all the yucky red mud and brambly undergrowth hidden away under a clean sheet. We decided to build a snowman, but apparently I don't know how to build one. I guess the snow in Iowa was always too dry or blowing around to much to make many snowmen when I was growing up. Luckily Terry is some sort of snowman-building engineer, so he did most of the work to get Freddy the Snowman off the ground. I have no idea why we named him Freddy. We slapped a camera on a tripod and with my handy-dandy Canon timer remote-controller to capture our progress in 10 second intervals. Smash all those images together and you get a fun little movie...

Too bad the snow was completely gone and we were back to our usual brown yuckiness by about 1 pm. I'll get some images posted here a bit later to show off the snowiness. Also, don't forget to check out our ongoing 2010 Photo of the Day project on Flickr.

Eight Years Ago

February 24th, 2001...I lost a bet and had to take Terry out for a steak dinner. Most of you know the story, and while I do love telling it, I won't bore you again... Here's what we looked like then...on film no less.

And here we are now. We still celebrate the anniversary of our first date.

And he still gives me first-date butterflies on a regular basis.

Blog

The Valley on a Sunday Afternoon

To my sweetest friend...

Things are a Changin'

Snow Day

Eight Years Ago