2008 Greater Washington Eco-Golf Classic

About 3 weeks ago, I was invited to play in a charity golf event; The 2008 Greater Washington Eco-Golf Classic. I was SUPER nervous because I was going to be playing with people I did not know and I only get out a few times a year. At any rate, I played LIGHTS OUT! I definitely don't like to brag about myself in any way, but I have to say, I really played well on Friday. My drives were amazing and my short game wasn't too shabby either! I played with 2 Noblis folks and a friend of one of them. Those guys really made me feel welcome to their team and were definitely encouraging. Friday was the PERFECT day to play golf. It wasn't too hot and there was just enough breeze to make us feel comfortable. Although, I missed some spots on the back of my arms with the sunscreen...oops! All in all, a GREAT golf day!

Can't wait to get out there and hit 'em again!

The 2nd Annual Leesburg Bakers Dozen

Saturday marked the 2nd Annual Leesburg Bakers Dozen sponsored by Plum Grove Cyclery. Lee rode in this 13 hour mountain bike relay race last year with Amy and Tom Marquis. This year his team was made up with Dharma Dill, Marc Genberg and Lee. What an exciting day. The weather definitely held up for the racers. It was the most beautiful day!! The sun was shining, the beer was flowing and the cows were mooing! Oh, and the bulls were kept away by electric fences. BIG bulls. But I digress......The race kicked off at 11:00 AM with about 100 plus racers starting their first lap. Dharma took one for the team and headed out first with Marc following her in second and Lee in third. Dharma had an excellent first lap then Marc went out for two in a row.

Just to explain my role in this whole thing.....I'm one of the team "moms". I am there to get what anybody needs before, during, or after their lap. Water, sandwiches, cookies, beer, you name it, I get it! Although, I definitely wasn't expecting a trip to the emergency room on Saturday. Yep! Nick, who has become a really close friend to Lee and me, was out on the course, came through between his first and second laps to get a fresh water bottle from me, then went out on his second lap. Lee left for his first two shortly there after. When Nick came in from his second lap, everybody noticed he had blood all over his face and he was riding his bike very unsteadily. When he didn't really respond to anybody, we knew something was VERY wrong. He came in, sat down, and just looked completely dazed. We grabbed an EMT who happened to be right across the way, and he told us we needed to get him to the ER immediately, or as I like to say, STAT. Without hesitation, I volunteered to take him. Meanwhile, Amy Casey, a racer and wife of one of the main Pedal Shop racers, Jim, called Erin, Nick's wife to let her know what was going on. I exchanged numbers with Erin, got Nick's insurance information, and I ran (yes, I actually ran) to get the truck and came back to pick up Nick. The EMT told us to go to Cornwall, which is the stand alone ER at the old Loudoun hospital center. We were on our way and Nick was talking up a storm the whole way. This was a good thing, except he kept repeating himself over and over. That is not a good thing. Something was definitely not right. I just kept talking to him and didn't let him know that I was scared out of my mind, to the point I was actually crying. To make things worse, Leesburg was hosting some flower festival on Saturday so all of downtown was blocked off. I had to figure out where the hospital was through all the detours. I finally found it and got Nick inside. Surprisingly, they took him right in and I was able to stay with him, which was good because I had to let them know that he had been totally repeating himself the whole drive there. He seemed completely fine (other than the HUGE fat lip and scrapes all over his face). He knew all the important things he needed to know, i.e. birthday, SSN, wife's name and numbers, insurance info, everything. And in true Nick fashion, was making jokes about things. They got him back right away and the Doc came in to evaluate. They took him for a CT scan and when they brought him back, he started remembering what had happened. THANK GOODNESS! Because, for the past 45 minutes, he had been saying (over and over) "I don't remember crashing". So, this was progress! We just sat there and talked until Erin got there (she was SO calm, as if she had been through this before....) After we filled Erin in on what was going on, the Doc came back to say his scan was ALL CLEAR! Yippee! He just had a pretty bad concussion and some abrasions. No stitches necessary and his noggin, for the most part anyway, was just fine.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Lee was sad because I had promised him an oatmeal raisin cookie between laps! Little did he know, all the drama that had played out while he was out on the course! I think he has forgiven Nick for his insensitivity and selfishness. HA!

Anyway, the three of us headed back to camp so they could pick up all his stuff and his bike. Once he got back, you could tell he wasn't feeling great, but he was DEFINITELY back to his old self and was able to tell people what had happened. They grabbed his stuff and headed home for much needed rest!

Wow!!!!!

So, the rest of the day went pretty well, no more injuries, except Aaron's eye! He got stung or something, and his eye just swelled right up! Other than just people being exhausted and sore, everyone was A OK!

Lee and Marc both did 5 laps each and Dharma got a second wind and was able to push out one final lap around 11 PM for a total of 6! Way to go Dharma!! Their team did really great and I'm really proud of them!

Aside from Nick's injury, the day was really great. Great friends, great beer, and great bike riding! I can't wait to go back next year!!

We moved!!!

So, we moved this weekend. It's been a long time coming, but we finally got into the new place. It is so much nicer than where we were previously. We are definitely looking forward to entertaining in the very near future! We painted Friday night and all day Saturday (with the help of Greg and Sarah, with whom we would have NEVER gotten it finished), and we moved all (well, most) of our stuff on Sunday. We got to sleep in the new place last night! So exciting! Here are some pics:

It's GOLF season!

So, today was the first time I played golf since Labor Day weekend 2007. It's been a while! My mom got a new driver for Christmas, which meant that I got her old one. And boy am I glad I did!! It's a fabulous Calloway Big Bertha and made driving VERY nice today. I didn't have a great drive on all 9 holes, but I did on most! (If I do say so myself) Lee took the liberty of taking a bunch of pictures, so I thought I'd post some!!

Our Honeymoon - Day 9 (LAST DAY!)

December 1, 2007

Today is our last day on our honeymoon. We will be flying home tonight. So, we woke up this morning and started watching the ACC Championship game between our beloved Hokies and the Eagles of Boston College. We watched a little bit as we packed up and headed out. By the way, in case you didn't hear...Hokies prevailed and became the ACC champs again! Anyway, Tom and Betsy are going to take us to the airport and feed us a big dinner beforehand, so we started on our way south to San Jose. And, wouldn't you know it, I had Dionne Warwick's "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" stuck in my head the whole day. But I digress.....Tom told us about a place we could go see some Redwoods since Muir Woods didn't pan out for us at the beginning of the week. The place is called Felton Crest. They actually have a steam engine train that runs through the mountains. Unfortunately, we didn't really have the time to do the tour, so we headed up the road to see if we could just see the trees from one of the state parks. The parks were closed because we were out of season, so, again, no redwoods for us! Oh well! So, back on the road and towards San Jose. We arrived at Tom and Betsy's around 2:00 and relaxed before a wonderful dinner and conversation. I was able to print our airline tickets from their house and it was time to go. They dropped us off at the airport, we said our goodbyes, thanked them for the explorer, dinner, and the ride to the airport and we were off. We got on the plane and braced ourselves for the long overnight flight. We thought we would be able to sleep.....we were sadly mistaken. A screaming baby kept everybody awake and alert all night. Oh well! Once we got our bags, dad was waiting outside for us and took us home for a LONG day of sleep!! We hit the couch and just Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. What a wonderful, amazing, and unforgettable trip. We both can't wait to go back and relive our wonderful journey!

Our Honeymoon - Day 8

November 30, 2007

Today we are going to Monterey. We got ready, ate breakfast at the hotel then headed down the highway to Monterey. We got there and found a parking garage right by the Aquarium which was our first stop. We walked around there for about an hour and a half. We weren't really impressed but we did see some cool stuff. They have a white shark that they got after a fisherman caught it in his net. He called the Aquarium as soon as he caught it and they took him in. He is still under a year old so he is only a little over 5 feet long.

We also got to watch some sea otters play. They are SO cute!

After we walked all the way through, we went outside and looked for a place for lunch. We found Willy's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill. I had a cheeseburger and Lee had a grilled chicken sandwich. both were very good, but we are both very ready to not be eating out every meal! Today is a chilly day, so we decided to go ahead and do the 17 Mile Drive. We followed the signs and headed along the coast towards the entrance gate. Along the way on Oceanview Blvd, we found a nice spot to pull in and take some pictures of the surf.

Boy is it chilly....So windy!!!!! We headed towards the entrance gate again and paid our $9 to drive on the famous route. Our first stop for pictures was at Point Joe. I think I got out of the car for a whole 30 seconds or so! Our next stop was at The Lone Cypress.

This was where a cypress tree was sitting out on a perch and has been there for over 250 years! We continued around the drive seeing HUGE houses along the way. We finally made it around to the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links. All of the courses in this area are so beautiful! I would love to play out here some day. After passing Pebble Beach, the road took us away from the coast and into the hills where we got to see a lot more huge homes. Some are for sale! Ha! We became pretty bored with the drive so we decided to go to Carmel. Not much to see in Carmel unless we wanted to park and walk around the town. It was too cold for that, so we headed down Hwy 1 towards Big Sur. We couldn't be happier with that decision!! Just south of Carmel, we stopped at Vista Point to take some more photos. Just gorgeous! We continued along the coast and came across Rocky Creek Bridge.

This bridge was built in 1932 and was the bridge I was looking forward to seeing! Lee got out to take some pictures of the bridge and I decided to hop out to take a look too. It was so unbelievably windy that we both decided it would be much safer to get back in the car and continue on the way down the coast. This road is so curvy and you are right on the edge of the cliffs looking straight down into the ocean. So scary, but so beautiful at the same time. We came around a corner only to find another bridge, twice as big as the Rocky Creek Bridge. THIS is the bridge I was excited about!! I had seen it in commercials and the Tour of California bike race went across it and I remember being so excited to see it and drive over it. We pulled off to the side along a gravel dirt road to get a better picture of it. I got out of the car and walked over to look down. I couldn't even see the bottom! This was the Bixby Creek Bridge, also built in 1932. It looks exactly like the Rocky Creek Bridge but was probably twice as long.

This drive was SO worth it. I will suggest this drive instead of paying for 17 Mile Drive any day of the week! We continued along the winding road along the coast. This road has been in so many commercials, TV shows and movies. And righfully so! AMAZING!! We made it to Big Sur and pulled into Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, paid our admission and drove around for a bit. We started to get hungry so we headed back to Monterey to get some sunset pictures and find a place to eat for our last night. We stopped at the same pull-off on Oceanview Blvd. to get some more pictures but the sun had already set. The ocean still looked amazing so Lee put on his jacket and hat and grabbed the camera and tripod to get some pics. I thought Lee and the camera were going to blow over into the water!

He hopped back in the car and we drove back towards the town and found a restaurant called Lattitudes at Lovers Point. they sat us by the fireplace, which was PERFECT! We wanted to take our time here since it was our last night, so we ordered a bottle of Napa Ridge 2006 Sauvignon Blanc and their calamari and artichoke hearts appetizer. We took our time before we ordered our meals. Lee ordered the prime rib and shrimp scampi special and I ordered the Chef's Choice which was a pasta dish with the chef's choice of seafood. It included mussels, clams and salmon in it. Delicious! We were greeted by the chef and owner Tene Shake. He has his own local cooking show here. We finished the evening with coffee and dessert. Lee had pumpkin pie (which he was DYING to have since we didn't have it at Thanksgiving) and I had an apple tort. A perfect ending to our honeymoon! We headed back to Santa Cruz to get some sleep before out last day.

Packing for the move....

So, packing for a big move can be a good thing and a pain all in one. It's a good thing because you realize how much crap you've accumulated over 5 years' time and you can finally throw it all out, give it away, or find some use for it. It's a pain because you realize how much crap you've accumulated over 5 years' time and you actually HAVE to throw it all out, give it away, or find some use for it. Geez.....when will it be over??

Our Honeymoon - Day 7

November 29, 2007

Today we leave Sonoma and head south to Santa Cruz. We got an early start, checked out of The Sonoma Hotel and decided to grab breakfast somewhere along the way. BIG mistake! Despite the traffic report that said South 101 was clear, we sat in bumper to bumper traffic for miles. We were starving and McDonald's seemed to be our only choice (BLAH). So, that's what we did. Definitely not the best breakfast, but it was alright. After we ate, we hopped back on the highway, and wouldn't you know it, the cars started moving and we were up to the speed limit in about 1/4 mile! Oh well! So, we continued south across the Golden Gate Bridge for the final time :( and hopped on CA Route 1. This was so beautiful. Just seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time was amazing enough, but watching the waves crash against the big rocks and cliff sides was amazing. As we climbed up the winding road we came to an abrupt stop due to some blasting construction on the highway.

It was the perfect place to stop because we were able to get out of the car and look at the spectacular view. It was pretty windy out there, so I got back in the car after about 30 seconds! Lee got the camera out and got some awesome shots.

The cars ahead of us started to move, so we headed on our way again. We came across a strip mall that had a Starbucks, THANK GOODNESS, so we got some coffee and headed down the coast. It is definitely strange to be going south and the ocean is on your right side. We pulled into Pomponio State Park in Half Moon Bay so we could walk on the beach. BOY was it cold!!! I put my finger in the Pacific Ocean!

Back in the car again. This time we pulled off at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. The wind was insane!! Lee snapped a bunch of pictures there.

It was so beautiful. We found out we were visiting right at the beginning of the whale migration. We stayed to watch for a while, but no such luck. After we got too cold, we hopped back in the car again. This time we made it all the way to Santa Cruz. We went to the visitor center to get information about things to do and places to eat. We were only about 2 blocks from the hotel, so we we headed that way so we could check in. When we turned down the street, the entrance to the hotel was blocked off by a bunch of DEA officers. GREAT, more drama! So we parked around back and asked an officer if we could go in. She said yes, so we headed in and the front desk girl told us it had nothing to do with the hotel. They happened to just pull somebody over in the parking lot. They were searching about 4 different cars. NEAT! So, we brought our stuff up to our room and headed back out to go to the boardwalk for a late lunch/early dinner. Not much is open this time of year, so the boardwalk was pretty empty. So, we headed to the Wharf and parked there. We heard this God awful noise and looked over the side of the pier to see a bunch of loud sea lions.

We watched them for a while, took some pictures and found a place to eat; Stagnaro Bros. Famous Seafood Restaurant. They serve Gordon Biersch Marzen on tap, so we both ordered one. We got the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, Lee got the prawns over rice and I ordered fish and chips. Both meals came with clam chowder too! Yumm-O! After we were full, we headed back to the car and went to Lighthouse Field State Beach to watch surfers, dogs, and a beautiful sunset.

Of course, Lee got lots of pictures. It started to get really chilly, so we headed back to the car and back to the hotel. We put our V. Sattui Sauvignon Blanc on ice and relaxed to get ready for our drive down the coast to Monterey tomorrow.

Our Honeymoon - Day 6

November 28, 2008

Today we wanted to go to Napa. So, we enjoyed our breakfast in the lobby then headed across the street to The Sunflower Caffe for some Mochas to go before hopping in the car and heading to Napa. On our way there, we passed vineyard after vineyard after vineyard. As far as the eye can see, grapes! We pulled up to the visitor's center to get some brochures and directions to the winery/vineyard where Marc and Toni were married; V. Sattui. We drove about 14 miles, passing so many wineries along the way. We pulled into the parking lot and knew we would love this place. The winery was so beautiful!

We went in and enjoyed our tasting. The man pouring gave us some tips for the tail end of our trip and told us about a new winery owned by the same folks as V. Sattui called Castello di Amorosa which took 14 years to build. It is a replica of a 12th century Tuscan castle. After buying a bottle of V. Sattui Sauvignon Blanc and taking a lot of photos, we headed to Castello di Amorosa to see the castle.

We got there, took some pictures, found out we had to pay just to look around, so we decided to pass, and headed up the road to Rutherford Grill for Toni's recommended prime rib sandwich. Absolutely worth it. Yes, we paid $18 per sandwich, but I would've paid 3 times that! We were officially stuffed, so we headed back to Sonoma. We came back to the hotel and realized we hadn't done much relaxing, so we went up to our room and both fell asleep! Two hours later, Lee headed out to take some pictures of The Plaza and I decided to take a bath in the large porcelain tub.

Unfortunately, the tub only fills up half way before the water starts to drain, so that didn't work! Bummer! After Lee got back, we got ready for dinner. We left the hotel and walked around to find some dinner. After walking around The Plaza for a while, we ended up at La Casa for some Mexican food. We had chips and salsa, i had chicken quesadillas and Lee has enchiladas. Again, another great meal. Time to head back for our last night at The Sonoma Hotel before heading to Santa Cruz!