The Desert Trip

Well it's definitely been a while since I've posted anything (this is John), but I think this is definitely a worthy subject and some decent entertainment as well. Last Saturday we were itching for something to do, so we made an impromptu trip to the desert. We loaded up the truck and headed out to the desert for a quick overnight trip.

I wanted to get some shots of the sunrise, so we got up early. After getting some great shots, I tested out the video functionality of my camera. It was my first run at video and overall I'm pretty happy. Definitely something I'll continue in the future. Enjoy.

September already???

I'm at a loss for words...how is it September already? This summer has absolutely FLOWN by! In the essence of time, I'll update you on the big events: OIB, Anna's visit/Phish/Yosemite, our recent move and John's new work gig.

3rd week in July I was able to head back East for the annual Sykes family beach week at Ocean Isle. This year was a bit abbreviated b/c I'm low on vacation but it was so great to see the family and get to visit with Avery and Ellie even if it was only 4 days. Avery was just a month old at the beach...she did a whole lot of sleeping. JT sadly wasn't able to make the haul, but next year will be a different story. Enjoy the pics, they're a bit biased towards the babies, but I couldn't' resist!

Ellie and her Momma, Amber

Baby Avery. The picture didn't want to rotate, sorry.

Grandma and Avery

Happy Family: Ken, Amber and Ellie

Happy Family: Momma & Daddy

Happy Family: Jenn, Paul & Avery

The gang, sans John :( but still a Happy Family

First week of August Anna flew out for a Cali visit. As soon as she arrived we immediately departed for San Fran...we had a date with the boys from Phish. John, Anna, Gene and I had an awesome time. The show was great and afterwards we headed due East for Yosemite. We camped 3 nights in Yosemite and couldn't have asked for a better trip. Amazing vistas, good weather, and great company. It re inspired me want to explore more of the great national parks of the West. The Sierras are just awe inspiring. To view all our pictures check out the below link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EcNW7JmyasWHP

Phish Concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain view, Ca

Tunnel View, Yosemite Valley

view from Sentinel Dome

Lovely day for a hike, eh?

Eeek, Anna!

John, Gene & Anna in front of El Capitan

Next up, our move. Our move you might be asking??? It was kind of unplanned, but John and I were driving around in one of the super cool neighborhoods in San Diego and stumbled upon this amazing rental. We agreed it wasn't worth our time or the hassle to move unless it was light years better than our current place and of course in our budget. Well it delivered. In a nutshell, the house was just remolded by a gay french couple (enough said on how good the finishes are). One of them got a job offer in Paris to good to turn down and with the real estate market the way it is, they didn't want to sell for cheap...enter John and Karen on the rental scene :) We really love it. We can walk/bike to restaurants and shops, the house has lots of character and a great backyard. Come visitors, come!!! We have 2Br/2Ba great kitchen that's just waiting to do some entertaining. Complete pictures can be viewed from this link: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EcNW7JmyasWHe

4773 33rd Street, San Diego, CA 92116

Tour of the new place, hosted by yours truly, Karen Trice. Ran out of room on my memory card before I could give you the complete tour of the backyard, but good enough :)

And in the final exciting news of the summer, John is following his passion for photography and doing freelance commercial photography full time now! He left the ad agency and the crazy hours that came with it and I think we're both really excited about the change. He had a great project right off the bat with the Porto Vista hotel in Little Italy part of town. http://www.portovistasd.com/ The project encompassed fun 50's vintage lifestyle shots, food shots and even a faux wedding. He's been busy with website design, refining his portfolio, and is looking to secure his next gig. I'm soo proud of him...check out some of his recent work:
http://johntrice.com//

Outdoor Spaces

With the warm weather hitting San Diego, John and I have been inspired to work on our outdoor spaces. This year we've made a few additions to the patio planters, and the garden is underway.

In fact, we had our first tomato, zucchini, and green pepper this week. Herbs are rocking and we've been using basil, chives and thyme on a regular basis. It's so fun to be fixing dinner and be able to walk outside and grab a few extra ingredients and garnishes.

Here are a few pics from the backyard...the grass needs some help, but can't do much about that when we're in a drought and under water restrictions.

Ooo...cozy. Herb garden just off the patio up against the fence.

Opposite end of the patio

Garden! Zucchini, tomatoes x4, peppers x3, cantaloupe and cucumber...mmmm

Back of the house. Our landlord installed the trellis this winter, definite bonus since we now have some shade in the afternoons.

Introducing Avery Marie

Born Monday, June 22nd 7lbs 4oz, what a cutie! Jenn and Paul are doing great and are adjusting well to parenthood, given the lack of sleep :).

Mom and Dad have been down to Apex twice to help out and Ken & Amber were down visiting this past weekend as well. Can't wait to meet Avery in just a few more weeks!

Sleepy time

I think Avery looks like Paul in this picture. :)

Mountain Weddin'

June 20th our dear friends Lizzy and Jason tied the knot up in the good ole mountains of NC. Lizzy from Valle Crusis and Jason from Elkin, NC the mountains were the natural spot to choose to get hitched. They got married on a family friends property near Crossnore, NC that was absolutely gorgeous!

It was great b/cwe stayed at a family friends cabin just 10 minutes from the festivities. We got plenty of relaxing in, a little bit of hiking and site seeing and some good times with the buddies. What more could you ask for!?

Here are a few pictures from the awesome wedding weekend. Congrats to Lizzy and Jason!

Cute cabin where we stayed for the weekend

The dudes manning the grill...mmmm bison burgers. Local bison, who knew they raised bison in Western NC!?!

Trice laides kickin' their feet up and relaxin'.

Linville Falls...we explored and hiked Saturday before the wedding.

All the guest mingling and hedging bets on whether or not it's going to rain.

The fine fine musicians with the gorgeous green backdrop

Well....it did rain, but it gave way to an awesome evening. Lizzy escorted by her folks

Sealing the deal.

Seersucker + Pincord. Peej and Karen = Friends 4 ever.

tThe Trice's posing for a pic....but it's raining!!!!

Good times.

Taking the scenic route back to CLT, the Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway

End of spring and summer's on the way

Well, it is July but summer is just beginning to make it's way to San Diego. Come on already, I'm ready for it to be hot!

JT and I have had a good spring...a couple trips back East for 2x hometown receptions in Richmond and Wilkesboro...back to the mountain's of NC for our friend's Lizzy & Jason's wedding and revamping Jutland abode.

In other super exciting news, my sis and Paul had their first baby girl, Avery Marie Roe on June 22nd. They are doing great and I get to meet Miss Avery in just 2 more weeks when OIB family vacation rolls around. Can't wait!

So that's it in a nutshell....here are a few picture recaping the events.

De ja vue.... :)

The sykes chillins'

Yummy cupcakes! Way to go Momma on making this happen, they turned out great!

Buddy, Good Friend, Old Roommate, Crista and her man, Patrick came to the Richmond HTR to celebrate. Will have to visit with them next time we're in Richmond. They're suuuuch niiiice people!

we must be laughing at the fact that we're doing our first dance for a second time. Yes, it was kind of weird, and painfully long the second go-around.

Bustin' a move with Daddio

Cool dudes by the bar

I really like this picture of John. I feel like he's straight out of _Mad Men_ or something!?!?

My cousin, Maria, Jenn and me.

The Friday night before the Wilkesboro HTR, Austin & Christina had us over to their awesome new farmhouse. Corey drove from Kernersville and Rob & Kami made the drive from Raleigh for a Austin Freeman South of Town reunion.

The guys jammed into the wee hours of the morning and as with any event at the Freeman house, there were plenty of dogs running around :) and lots of good food :). Can't beat good friends like that!

Buddies at the HTR, it's like we're at the Prom, except we're all nearly 30 now!?!?

This picture cracks me up. Anna and Adriane oohing over the leftover desserts. They were certainly delicious!

For complete pictures from the Wilkesboro reception check out our good friend Whitney's Deal's blog Darling Dexter. This gal has got an eye for style and photography!
http://www.ohdarlingphotography.com/blog/category/weddings

Baby on the way!

Last weekend I flew back to Raleigh for my sister, Jennifer's baby shower. It was sooo nice to be back in NC and get to visit with everyone. Kenny, Amber & Ellie picked me up at RDU Friday night and we headed to Jenn & Paul's house in Apex. It was all of our first times at their new house even though the bought it last summer.

Balloons = baby shower time

Friends hanging out on the back porch

Soon-to-be cousin, Ellie hanging out (now 5 months!)

Jenn & her friends Amy and Martha

Saturday Jenn & Paul had a baby class so Amber, Kenny and I got the place ready for the shower and prepped the food. It was a co-ed bbq style shower so we spent the evening hanging out and then watched Jenn & Paul unwrap all their gifts. They got lots of great things and look to be set which is a good thing b/c I got an email from Jenn this week and at her checkup the docs said she's already 3cm....won't be long!

Jenn showing off the loot.

So many cute baby things!

Spring Time Adventure

John and I have been busier than expected this Spring, but we managed to find time to head up to the Central part of California 2 weekends ago to check out Sequoia National Park. The central part of California is agriculture-mania. I don't know the official statistic, but most likely the fruit you eat comes from this part of California. On our drive to the park we passed field upon field of orchards and other fruits/veggies.

Ooo...agriculture.

Made it into the park...it's so green!

We found a campsite up near Lodgepole and set out for a hike towards Alta Peak. It started out really nice, high 60's, minimal incline a few patches of snow here or there but that all changed.
We soon encountered a major incline, and lots of snow. I think it was actually in our favor that we were both in shorts b/c we kept breaking through the snow pack and would be up to our knees in snow...had we had pants one we would have been cold & miserable. Anyways, the strenuous hike gave way to amazing views!





On Saturday we checked out all the major sights like the Gi-normous Sequoia groves, Moro Rock and even General Sherman, the largest (by volume) living tree in the world. Talk about feeling small.

View of Moro Rock from afar

375 Steps to the top!

Karen at the top of Moro Rock...too bad John was too afraid to make the climb up.

The General

I spy a smurf!

More huge trees, this cluster is called the Parker Grove.

We ended the day by doing a sweet hike from our campsite along the Kaweah river. Since it's Spring, this trip was such a pleasant change of pace b/c everything was SOOO green and there was SOOO much water. Green and water are both things that are typically lacking from our normal California scenery. The hike ended at a big waterfall and there was a marmot that was hanging out. On the hike back we even spotted a black bear! Wildlife, check!

Water, water everywhere!

A marmot...too bad a random hiker was being stupid and feeding it.

Waterfall action

It was a great trip and it got John and I both really excited about our trip to Yosemite that's in store for us this August. Gotta love the big California scenery. Enjoy the picks.

And....the honeymoon pictures

I know I promised some pics from the honeymoon, so here are a "select" few. I say select only b/c John took hundreds, but there really are quite a few pictures to this post.



To recap the adventure John and I boarded our 51 ft yacht, The Phaedrus www.yachtphaedrus.com Sunday afternoon from Coral Bay in St. John, USVI. We essentially did a loop around the British Virgin Islands sailing out to the furthest point and then working our way back. The sheer number of places we got to see, some only accessible by boat, made the trip worth while. Not to mention our captain was trained in french cooking = amazing 3 course dinners and divine b'fast and lunches.

Day 1: From Coral bay we skirted along Tortola and anchored at Jost Van Dyke, a small island of the BVI's. We went onto the island for dinner at Foxy's. Fun restaurant with t-shirts of past visitors all over the place. Of course we spotted several NC themed shirts including NCSU (yay) and UNC (boooo), and even one for Cartert County.

This is unofficially the "Corona Island" because well....it looks like a Corona commercial waiting to happen.

"foxy"

Island time, Mon.

'Lil bit of home

Cape Carteret....this one's for you Becky & Fitz!

Day 2. We sailed upwind from Jost along Tortola up to another small island called Great Camanoe. It was a tucked away anchorage. We snorkeled and did a small hike. while hiking we saw lots of hermit crabs, a snake, and two goats. Neeeeaaahhhh.

Sailing Upwind = lots of waves and spray.

John reading up on all the fish he just spotted while snorkeling.


Rigging at sunset

One of our many yummy courses, Thai inspired coconut shrimp soup....sooooo yummy!

Day 3. Oh Boy. Woke up to some rain showers and en route from Camanoe to Virgin Gorda we hit a torrential downpour. Couldn't see more than about 20 feet off the boat. Made for quite an adventure. Luckily, it cleared up enough after lunch that John and I went on to Virgin Gorda and explored the very scenic, Baths.

Video of the downpour to Virgin Gorda

At the Baths

Pretty sweet....I must say!

This cave was UN-real. I wish the sun was out more b/c I can only imagine how gorgeous it would in the sunlight.

Had so much fun on Virgin Gorda we decided to stay another day. Before sunset, we sailed North East to the tip of Virgin Gorda called the "Bitter End".

Happy hour! Cocktails served up from the galley.

Day 4: Known for the resorts and accessible only by boat, The Bitter End is another protected cove. En route we passed private islands owned by Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic airlines....must be nice to own an island. Also spotted several "mega yachts" at anchor and our captain told us that those weren't even the big ones - whoa! We did a short hike first thing in the a.m. and then explored the rest of the island via taxi...stopping at Little Dix resort for a pre-noon beer, the coppermine ruins...also had to dodge a few rain showers.

Cool plant we spotted while on our hike

View on the trail. That little island on the bottom left is called Saba Rock and it actually has a small resort on it. Honestly the island is no bigger than a football field. Real Estate at a premium!

M, M, M, Mega Yacht!

Gorda Peak, highest elevation in the BVI's great view looking North.


Cabbin' it Virgin Gorda style

Beach at Little Dix resort. Not sure if it was the weather, or economy, but this place was empty.

Stingray in the shallows


Coppermine Ruins...you can see the green copper in the rocks.

Posing next to the chimney

We had lunch at this locals place to the left of the pier. We ordered Turtle Soup, thinking it was a local favorite....it is a favorite, but the turtles are also endangered. Whoopsies!

Day 5: Left Virgin Gorda started making our way back towards the USVI. We spent our second to last night at Peter Island. Had some iffy weather, but despite the rain, I got in for some late afternoon snorkeling.

Day 6: Woke up to some clouds but it cleared to a great calm late afternoon. We sailed along the Sir Francis Drake Channel along the south side of Tortola and then skirted along the north shore of St. John (hi st. john!!!!). We anchored at Waterlemon Cay for lunch and John and I got to snorkel the spectacular cay that so many of our guests raved about. Despite the rain, it was great snorkeling...saw big parrot fish, lots of stingray and huge starfish! We anchored at Caneel Bay just in time for some rough water.

Arrrggghhh...Sweet pirate ship we saw several times throughout or cruising.


Perspective from Sir Francis Drake Passage.

Day 7: Up early b/c of the rough water we sailed into Red Hook and got dropped off. Solid ground at last, but the equilibrium didn't kick in for days later!!! We spent our last night on St. Thomas with our good friends Will & Laurel who were also flying out that Saturday. Lounged at our B&B and played cards and then went out to a good dinner.

View from our B&B: Island View Guesthouse

Pic while we were out and about in the St. Thomas markets

Old Stairs...I like it.

Honoring Mileserific...

...the best dog of all time!! I know we have many Miles fans out there, so it's with a sad heart that I pass on the news that Mr. Miles passed away this past Friday. It's been a tough couple of days but John and I are hanging in there.

Miles was diagnosed with a pretty severe heart condition back in December that we had been managing with meds and limiting his exercise. Miles was managing pretty well, but ultimately his heart just couldn't sustain him. Miles woke us up in the middle of the night and was sick, like we thought maybe he just had a upset tummy. After watching him for an hour we realized he was becoming more distressed so we rushed him to the ER. Things didn't go well from there. We didn't want him to be in any pain and his heart just wasn't pumping strong enough so we made the tough decision to put him down. He did the best he could but it was his time.

John and I hibernated most of the weekend and had our share of tears, but we're on the mend and time will help. Miles was such a big part of our life and home that there's a definite void. We just keep reminding ourselves that he's in a better place where he can run, frolic and play again. He had many great adventures in his lifetime, and was very loved. Thanks for all the support and kind words. And in honor of the best dog I've ever met, a few pics:

Miles was such a good dancer!

He LOVED being on the trail and always had to be in front leading the way.

You know it's a good time when there's slobber involved!

Chillin' in the backyard with his mom and dad

One of my fav memories, Miles learning to swim. He always avoided the water until this random day at Falls Lake and he just got in and wasn't quite sure what to do but he made lots of splashes.

Camo Miles.... chillin' and blending into the high sierra desert scape.

:) Happy times :)

All ears! This is the pure essence of a frolicking Miles :)

Man, that guy always remembered his manners.

This was taken years ago at a weekend up in the NC mountains. Miles was up all night running through the woods with his cousins (Annie, Celo, Cutter) and was zonked out the next morning. I spooned with him that morning on the hillside. He looks pretty content to me.

Hiking with his buddy Riley. This was a tough 6 mile hike in the mountains of Southern California. He had a blast and slept for 12 hours straight afterwards. Good day!

More hanging out with his mom and dad. He was really good at hanging.

One of my fav pictures of all time. My boys.


Majestic and noble Miles

We're Married!

After a long blogger silence, John and I have emerged and we're married, Yay! After the holidays we were pretty consumed with wedding details, thus the lack of updates.

Good news is that all the headaches were up front in the planning process because the day of turned out perfect. Can't believe everything came together so smoothly having not met many of our vendors, or laid eyes on place prior to getting there.

We arrived to St. John on Wed the 25th after many of hours of traveling. Ironically we reunited with our folks and family in the Atlanta airport. We were all on the same flight from ATL to STT. After arriving in St Thomas, we went to the courthouse to get our marriage license and then took the ferry from St Thomas to St. John. St john is not a large island, the roads are very curvy and you drive on the left. The drive from Cruz Bay to Concordia takes about 40 minutes even though it's only about 10 miles. As a little background, we all stayed at Estate Concordia, an Eco Resort that's on the National Park of St. John. It has a treehouse feel with all the units positioned on the hillside and are connected by a series of boardwalks. There are eco-tents and Eco Studios. To read up on it, or perhaps do a little research for your own vacation here's the link: www.maho.org

View from our studio...stairs!

After going down several sets of stairs you hit the office / pool landing. View of Salt Pond Bay is below.

Looking back towards some of Concordia's tents / studios. You can see the boardwalks

After a long day of traveling...dinner at Cafe Concordia. Food was quite delicious!

Some folks had already arrived so it was nice to get to visit with them and yes, have a much needed rum drink, mahn. Thursday we met with our planner and officiant and scoped out both the reception area and the ceremony area at Little Lameshur Bay. We had the afternoon to relax and snorkeled at Lameshur Bay. So great to finally get to chill out and enjoy the scenery.

Hanging out in the shade at Little Lameshur Bay.

Amber, Kenny and Ellie (11 weeks)

Anna soaking up some VI sun

Good friends James (Best man), & Audrey thawing out from the VT winter. Audrey manned John's camera the day of, so thanks for all the great pics, Audrey!

Thursday night my sis planned a little girls night out action. After being surprised with a lingerie shower we left for skinny legs for some local food and music. The dudes went out for their own fun at Island Blues.

Rocking some new shoes

Riding in the outdoor cab to dinner: KBD, Lizzie, Me and Laurel

Dancin' with my momma

After Skinny Legs, we went to the Sputnick to hear some live reggae. Gettin' down to the funky island beat, Mon.

Friday we all went to Trunk Bay, one of the most scenic beaches of the Virgin Islands and i believe it's made several top 10 lists of one of the best beaches in the world.

The Blue Towel Group at Trunk Bay

The old San Diego Crew: Jason & Steph, Aaron & Margaret (plus 1 bun in the oven)

Hi Friends! Will & Laurel, and Meg & Peej (plus one very small bun in the oven)

Ellie even got her toes wet!

Then it was back to get ready for the welcome dinner in Coral Bay. We had a great dinner at Shipwreck Landing, a very special musical toast by best man James, followed by some great music performed by the buddies.

James roasting, I mean toasting at the rehearsal dinner. The toast was in a musical format but of course.

After dinner the buddies serenaded us with their tunes. LOVED it!

Saturday flew by...everyone warned me that it would, but holy cow did it ever. We were running ahead of time then all the sudden it was 3pm and the photographer was arriving and I wasn't finished getting ready and then it was time to drive to little Lameshur bay for the ceremony. I was hanging out in the car as everyone was getting placed then me and my daddy stepped on out and it was show time. It was so overwhelming seeing all the smiling faces and of course my groom waiting for me. We had two beautiful readings by my aussie fairy girls, Heather B and Kelly (Crissy was with us in spirit). After choking up during the vows we finally got to kiss and be announced as Mr. & Mrs. John Trice. We exited to our fav band, Phish, "Tweezer Reprise". I cried during the ceremony, and John cried afterwards. We're such softies.

My daddy escorting me

The kisses!!!!

The Bridal Party: Anna, Amber, Jenn, Karen&John, James, Austin, Corey

The guys being oh so silly.

Group shot with both families

With my momma and daddy

With two of the 3 Fairy friends: Heather B and Kelly

The Trices

Sykes siblings

After some photo ops we hustled on over to the reception. We had great food and great music and it really flew by so fast. A few highlights from the reception:

Lem, the steal pan player. He actually stayed late night and jammed post reception with all our friends.

Umbrella Drinks!!! So glad these survived the journey to St. John and came together the way we had hoped they would. Concordia actually purchased them from us which was GREAT b/c we didn't have to fly them back home.

Dancin' Dancin' Dancin'

More dancin' fun

Kelly's hoop made an appearance!

Kenny bustin' a move. He also did the worm later on...classic!

Next I'll work on posting some honeymoon pics from our island hoping adventure.