happy opening day

Bryan woke up this morning to me handing him a gift bag while saying with pure excitement "Happy Opening Day!"

Today is one of his favorite days of the year.

Today is the day that I lose my husband to his first love... baseball. Anaheim Angel gear is pretty non-existant now that they've become The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which is so lame because Anaheim isn't even in LA, it's in OC.

They just changed the name because they thought it would make the Angel's more money.

We hate it.

Therefore I scoured the internet and found him a brand new ANAHEIM Angels shirt.

Major points for wifey today!

***

Bryan's love of baseball began at an early age.

He played Little League all throughout his youth winning 52 games straight and pitching 2 no hitters.

Bryan threw 1 perfect game and 1 no hitter in high school and was drafted by the Cubs, but decided to play college ball instead.

He was a pitcher for Cal State Fullerton and if you know anything about college baseball, you know that Cal State Fullerton is major when it comes to college ball.

They've won the World Series of College Baseball and are a force to be reckoned with.

Throughout his 14 years pitching, his teams came in 1st place 11 times.

Pretty impressive record, right? Can you tell I'm proud?!!

Well, he blew out his arm and the rest is history...

***

Fast forward.... Bry and I meet..... fall in love..... and get engaged.

What comes next?

Time for the parents to meet!

You best believe all 6 of us went to an Angels game for their first introduction. Today I am a super-dee-duper wifey for suprising my baseball loving husband with some new Angels gear!

And you best believe he threw the shirt right on and is currently sitting next to me sporting it!

where have we been?

Kate's States Visited:

Bryan's States Visited:

Yep. We've pretty much been everywhere in this great country and have worked in just about every state marked. And the states we didn't work in, we vacationed in. I've been to 48 states and Bryan has been to 43. We've been fortunate enough to have visited about 40 states together, and let me tell you, it's an honor to have seen so much of our country. It's a beautiful and diverse country, and because we drive everywhere we really do get to see all it's wonder that one misses from an airplane.

We've been to most states and cities multiple times. For instance, we've been to Portland, ME about 10 times. I've been to Lincoln, NE 12 times. We've been to San Francisco and Las Vegas about 15 times. As you can imagine, we have met many people all over the place and are blessed to have friends everywhere.

After visiting nearly every state and driving to most of them I can report that:

• There are beautiful people everywhere!


• Everyone complains about their weather and thinks that 75 degrees one day and 40 the next is only unique to their area. News flash -- weather moves across the country and we all experience the extreme weather changes in the blink of an eye


• No matter what age, people have an extreme interest in southern California and celebrity life


• The guys in the midwest (Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Dakota's, etc) really do look cornfed


• Those states mentioned above, Nebraska and Iowa, laugh at the fact that Ohio is considered the midwest because to them, Ohio is so far east. I kind of agree. I think there should be a mideast just like there's a midwest. It would totally make sense!


• Florida is ridiculously flat


• Wyoming is like heaven on earth and Cheyenne is straight out of an old western movie


• There's no better place to be in the fall than in New England


• Seattle has the most fresh seafood you'll ever eat


• Texas is blah, but San Antonio is unique to the country and ridiculously fun!


• Scottsdale has the most plastic surgery I've ever seen ever... in-your-face boobs everywhere. Wonder why Bryan likes it there so much!! :)


• Pittsburgh has the most breath-taking entrance to the city


• Garth Brooks is from the middle of no where, Oklahoma


• Nashville is ah-mazing beyond belief and one of my favorite places in the country!!! But it is not a mini Vegas like the locals like to think (they call it NashVegas)


• Charleston and Savannah are about as southern as they get


• New Orleans has it all - food, culture, nightlife, history, music, architecture, ocean


• Syracuse houses my favorite restaurant of all time and has a terrific mall!


• There is no little rock in Little Rock... I went searching for it and turns out it is now under water, river water that is.. such a disappointment. But I did find another rock in Little Rock to hug... in front of the capitol building! (look closely, I sure am hugging it :)


• There's no place like Vegas


• Lincoln and Omaha are really fun!


• Tornado's really do exist in Kansas... I know because I was once in one. Yep, the below photo was taken as Renee and I were running with a group of people from a random Kansas gas station to the basement of the dirty motel behind us. The motel manager came into the gas station where we were all hudled and said "the eye is coming straight for us, everyone get in the basement NOW!" Scary stuff..


• The Rockies are a work of art


• upstate New York (on the Canadian border) looks like it's filled with imbred people. They're all so funny looking!


• The Indiana Dunes are a must see and a complete suprise to the state of Indiana


• Louisville has a really happenin' street downtown


• Santa Claus really does exist... in Indiana. Look it up, it's really a town. And we've been there!

• Des Moines has a wonderful restaurant called Sage that is so swanky that you feel transported to NYC or LA


• Bryan really does exist too... in Ohio. And yep. We've been there too!

• No Kaitlyn or Kate, but there is a town that shares my last name with me in South Carolina


• Oklahoma City has a great nightlife and Tulsa houses my 2nd favorite sushi restaurant


• Southerns really stand out as "tourists" when anywhere on the west coast


• LA truly is full of fit, attractive people


• As far as big cities are concerned, Chicago has it all


• New York City isn't all that hard to drive in. It looks harder than it really is


• Sioux Falls, SD has a cacading waterfall downtown, hence it's name


• San Francisco is cold. Year round.


• One of the most random nights of my life was spent in Fargo, ND


• Niagra Falls is gorgeous... from the Canadian side that is!

what i'm loving

I'm loving how spunky my dog gets after she eats. It's like she's completely fueled up and goes nuts for about 10 minutes... and then totally crashes HARD!

I'm loving that we've been invited to 2 destination weddings this year.

I'm loving that my hubby was out of town all last week and came back to me with a fresh outlook and positive attitude!

I'm loving that my job is taking me back to my great state of California next weekend - YAY!!! I'll be far from home up San Francisco, but at least Hollie and I will be reuniting while our men are home with the dogs!

Hollie and I in Maine, Jan 2010

I'm loving that I'm getting my hair done this afternoon. Roots.Be.Gone.

I'm loving that I had a $25.00 gift card to Forever 21, bought 3 pairs of earrings and 1 necklace and still have $7.00 left on the gift card. Gotta love a good deal, especially when you walk away with super cute accessories!

I'm loving that the flowers Bryan bought 3 weeks ago are still full of life and continue to add much color to our dining table. I guess changing the water every other day really does make them last longer!

I'm loving that I have 1 more week in my 20s! Should I do anything special? Go out of this decade with a bang?? Hmmm... how do I want to live out this last week of my 20s???

it's been 1 year...

... since we packed up our lives and left everything we knew to start this new journey together.

We left all of our family and friends.

We took a risk.

All so that we could attempt to live out our dream.

We're currently living out our dream.

We've now been living in the Carolina's for 1 year.

With our travels, we've actually only spent 7 months here, but none-the-less, this has consistently been our home base.

My, my... how time flies.

The transition from west coast to east coast has been easier than anticipated and we are so happy with where we've chosen to live.

Of course we miss California.

I lived there for 25 years and Bryan is 3rd generation Californian.

It's kind of sad that that part of our life is over because it made us who we are today, but being that both of our families are still there, there are many reasons to visit.

This whole "life" thing.... it's not always easy.

But it's so much easier when you've found someone to spend it with.

Happy 1 year anniversary North Carolina!

whiskey, wine and cheescake

In trying times, what else would a gal want?!

After a long, hard fight a friend of mine decided that her marriage is irreparable.

She came over for some girl talk.

I welcomed her with a shot of whiskey, a glass of red and a nice big hunk of cheesecake.

That's just the kind of friend I am!

the usual suspects

We...

Drank some good wine.

Drank some bad wine.

Caught up.

Laughed.

Drank some beer.

Played some shuffle board.

Listened to a live band playing classic rock.

Kinda crashed a 40th birthday party that was in a bar... slash barber shop.

Found out the birthday boy was from Orange County.

Bonded over Orange County.

Found out you can get an eyebrow wax there for only $7... but it's only for men. Boo!

Was offered the birthday parties catered Mexican food.

Accepted their offer and ate their Mexican food.

Was good and only ate shredded chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa.

Left the yummy refried beans, guac, cheese, taco shells and birthday cake to everyone else.

Chilled in the barber shop.

Kinda felt like dancing.

Had fun... but secretly missed how fun I used to be.

Beer + Mexican food = felt bloated.

1st ones to call it a night.

Went home at 1:00am to tons of puppy lovein'z!

cirque du soleil: totem

I suprised Shannon for her birthday and took her to see TOTEM.

I was in complete aw over the strength and raw talent of these performers and am just so glad that I got to see this amazing show.

Plus, girls nights are always a good time!My favorite part: these ubber talented and unbelievably strong trapeze artists I'll be working a sponsor's marketing campaign with TOTEM in a month or so, so it was great to get my eyeballs on the show and see the evolution of mankind, Cirque style!

a little piece of california

lemons from my parents lemon tree

30th birthday celebration with my parents

That big 'ol birthday of mine is a mere 3 weeks away now and since Tim and Nance were in town, with Bryan's help, they suprised me with an unforgettable evening.

*

My most favorite thing to do in life is to sit on a front porch and drink wine.

My favorite place to eat is in a historic home renovated into a fine dining restaurant.

My favorite people in this world are Bryan and my parents.

We celebrated my birthday eating dinner on the fronch porch of this renovated 1913 Craftsman style home with 2 bottles of wine, great food and my favorite people.

I think I died and went to heaven... They only come outta the home for special occasions

Capped off the night with candles and $50 cheesecake! Waste of money anyone??? But ooooh, it was SO good!

kiss me, i'm irish

The Irish pub next to where we live closed down the street, put up tents and brought in a beer truck/bar on St. Patty's Day.

Us proud Irish folk walked over for some corned beef and cabbage, live music, bag pipers and beer!

It's always fun celebrating all things green!