January 7, 2007

Happy New Beer

The New Year festivities were as alive as ever this year. We got back into San Diego late on the 30th which was just enough time to organize a New Year's dinner at our house. We had friends over for drinks, appetizer, and a super yummy dinner prepared by Chef Shawn and su chef Sharon. After plenty of wine, champagne, beer, and vodka Collins we hit the Morena Club to ring in the new year. We had a blast dancing and a big thanks goes out to Aaron for fulfilling the DD roll and driving us around that night. Enjoy the pictures and I hope everyone has a great New Year!!

The Spread: Chicken Piccata atop a bed of rissoto and asparagus. Yumm-O!

How cute....I guess that qualifies as missletoe

Happy New year Friends!

I couldn't just stand there, I had to Bust a Move.

Like Oh my Gosh...It's New Years!

The Gals: Liz, Jesse, Karen, and Margaret

The Guys: Aaron, John, and Paul

January 6, 2007

Holiday Cheer!

John and I made the hike back to the East Coast to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends. We both flew out on the 21st on a red eye and arrived in our respective cities (Charlotte / Richmond) on the morning of the 22nd. We spent quality time with our friends and family. I got to squeeze in a night on the town with my good friend Lori and her cousin and also visit with my guy pals: Travis, Marc and Matt . We celebrated Christmas and on the 26th John drove up to Richmond to hang out with the Sykes fam. We ate a ton, shopped, and got to hang out at Kenny & Amber's new house in Richmond. On the 28th we drove to Wilkesboro and spent the last portion of our visit with the Trice family. We had a big ole' dinner with friends our first night in town. It was so special getting to visit with James & Audrey (who now hail from Vermont) and Will & Laurel (Laurel as of the 30th is temporarily hailing from Malawi). And as with many other a nights that involve friends and festive drinks we ended the night with an impromptu jam in the basement. We also got to visit Stone Mountain for a 1/2 a day and did some hiking/climbing on some familiar "home turf". It was a busy 10 days but it was great to get to visit with everyone. However I will admit that John and I were both so glad when we landed in sunny warm San Diego....Nothing beats palm trees and 65 degrees in December!

Ho Ho Ho...Merry Christmas

Hanging out and Kenny & Amber's new house in Richmond.

The Sykes Fam gearing up for another big dinner

Nothing beats a good game of scrabble

Hey Yall!

John's getting quite the homecoming welcome from the guys.

Hey Gals! Anna, Audrey, and Laurel

The Basement Jam featuring: The JT's (jim and john trice), Will, James & Audrey.

The Moon Rising above Stone Mountain...cool

The Bouldering Area at Stone Mountain...it was so great to see trees again!