Christmas in Richmond

We had such a great time back in Richmond over Christmas -- it was nice to be with the people who love you the most and calm you when you think your life is upside down. We spent a lot of time with our families and friends, bouncing around here and there and making the most of our time. It was fun getting to introduce our new addition to everyone -- so glad they got to meet her!

Nina Bean

I've been begging Adam for a puppy for a while now...but it was never the right time. It's still not the right time, but we got one anyway! Our Christmas present to each other this year was this adorable little teacup Chihuahua named Nina...she was about 1.5 lbs when we picked her up (and 10 weeks old). She'll maybe get to be 3 lbs but no bigger than that. She is so adorable. Hope she's ready for the many adventures she'll experience with the Cristman's!

Palm Beach

What a lovely mini-vacation. I was busy with my conference for our first few days in Palm Beach, but Adam enjoyed renting a board and surfing a little. After my conference, Adam and I were so lucky to spend the day with my boss and his son deep sea fishing. We had a blast - it was so beautiful out on the water. Unfortunately, no fish wanted to be caught that day, but we had fun anyway...I'd definitely want to do that again. We spent a few days walking on the beach collecting sea glass, deep sea fishing, and laying by the pool, resting for the busy schedule to come.

Expect the Unexpected

I've nearly finished up my busy event season, traveling to San Francisco in September, and Atlanta and Chicago in October. It's been a hectic fall (hence the absence of blog posts!). And, in case you haven't heard (or read somewhere), Adam was traded to Kansas City so we'll be moving in a few weeks. The news was a bit of a shock, but that's the way this crazy industry goes. I've learned to expect the unexpected -- definitely keeps us on our toes! I'm fortunate enough to be able to keep my job and work remotely and am looking forward to doing so. Besides work and travel, we've been frantically looking for a new place to live (on the internet) but will hopefully be visiting Kansas soon to see some apartments in person. After Thanksgiving, Adam and I will be traveling from Richmond to Palm Beach for my last conference of the year. I'm sooo looking forward to that because Adam actually gets to go with me this time! We're looking forward to sitting back for a few days, and just soaking everything in...

More visitors!

My dad came to visit us this weekend in Mass and we had such a great time. Adam and Dad went to Lexington on Friday while I was at work to copy Paul Revere's ride and on Saturday, we met up with my Aunt Mary to go into Boston. We walked through Chinatown (which I had not seen before) and went to a Blueman Group show. Those guys are crazy -- the show was really great. On Sunday, we were able to go to a Pat's game to watch our buddy Steve. We got to eat dinner with the players afterward and then gave my Dad a tour of the stadium. This is one of those things you take for granted until you're with someone who thinks it's really cool. I'm glad he came :)

Conference Team

Here's a photo of me, my boss, and one of the advertising coordinators from work at a conference (black-tie) in Chicago.

Knighton Wedding

Last weekend, we headed down to North Carolina for a most beautiful wedding and fun, fun weekend. Adam and I flew into Chapel Hill and rented a car to drive down to Wilmington...stopping on the way at a phenomenal Mexican restaurant (we haven't found ONE good Mexican restaurant in MA yet). I have never laughed so hard -- Adam was so excited to be eating Mexican food, he ordered almost the entire menu, including HOT stuffed peppers as an appetizer. I took my first and last bite of a pepper and had to drink two gigantic cups of water just to rid myself of the sting. Adam was determined to eat the whole plate -- how he did this, I have no idea, but he definitely paid for it later. Lesson: do not eat an entire plate of stuffed peppers. The wedding took place on the following day, Sept. 13th. The bride and groom were picture-perfect. Brad and Britney's wedding was actually the first I had been to after my own and it couldn't have been more different than ours -- but so sooo much fun. Everybody was dancing -- old, young, strangers...didn't matter. And, it was especially fun because a bunch of our high school friends (that we haven't seen in forever) were there as well as Adam's family. To top Congratulations Brad and Britney and thanks for such a great weekend!

Surgery

Most of you know that Adam's been dealing with a very uncomfortable toe injury for the bulk of the season. He's been trying to manage the pain by getting a few injections, etc. but the pain has just increased to the point where he really couldn't go on playing without significantly effecting his career in a negative way. So, he decided to undergo surgery (which always makes me a bit uneasy but I don't want to see him in pain anymore either!). For the most part, the surgery was a success -- but the doctor did find something unexpected. There was a considerable section of cartilage on the head of the metatarsal that was significantly worn down and pretty much gone. He had to drill a bunch of small holes (microfractures) so that the bone will bleed and the cartilage will heal itself. Adam will be on crutches for about a week and then in a walking boot for a couple weeks after that.

Our first anniversary

I'ts hard to believe it's been a year already. Adam and I took a weekend trip to Cape Ann and toured the towns of Rockport, Gloucester, and Manchester. Adam had an appearance on the 1st in Manchester and we took advantage of the time to enjoy the beautiful Singing Beach at Manchester by-the-sea. We returned home and it took us a little while to undo the amazing wrap job my sisters and Mom did on our wedding cake, but we eventually ate some of the scrumptious cake. We exchanged anniversary gifts about a week early though because our gifts for each other arrived in the mail early and, like children, we couldn't wait to deliver them. Adam had been talking for a while about wanting a baritone ukulele, so that's what I decided he should have on our anniversary (more a perk for me since I get to listen to him play it!). I did a little research and ended up ordering the uke from Hawaii, all the while wishing I could pick it up myself! Adam gave me a beautiful Cape Cod bracelet and matching necklace. So far, Adam's played that uke into the ground -- he's played it at church with the worship team and many, many times at home. And I love my bracelet so much I don't plan on ever taking it off. Thanks so much for everyone who sent us anniversary wishes, cards, emails, and gifts. It was lovely getting to re-live that awesome day a year ago.

Weekend at the Cape

A little while back Adam and I got a chance to stay for a few days at Cape Cod. We went down on a Thursday night and stayed in the town of Brewster where we sampled their delicious ice creams. We spent Friday down in Falmouth/Woods Hole and visited the aquarium where our good friend Keith Love was interning for part of the summer. We then took an evening ferry over to Martha's Vineyard and explored the towns of Vineyard Haven and Oaks Bluff. Lots of cool shops and restaurants. Saturday we went to the beach in the morning and then rented a sail boat for the afternoon. It had been a while since Adam had done any sailing so needless to say the first half an hour on our BeetleCat were a little scary. I will give him some credit though, not only was the water incredibly choppy, but there was some sort of sailboat racing going on which, being in the middle of it, didn't calm our nerves. Once he got the hang of it, we were cruising but still praying for our hour to be over! We spent our Sunday closer to the tip of the cape in a town called Wellfleet. I rented a surf board and surfed most of the day while enjoying the beach and the great dunes on the Atlantic coast. It was another great summer weekend. Next time I hope to see Nantucket, too!

That water's right and the weather's perfect...

Adam goes fishing a lot more than I do, but I got lucky and was able to take a little day trip out on the lake with Wells and Adam. I didn't technically catch anything, but the fish that Adam's holding in the pic below was definitely supposed to be mine.

LA for the Fourth

One of the great perks of my job is that I get to travel to a bunch of places I've never been to. My first solo trip to scope out a hotel was to LA and just happened to be the same time as the Rev's game against LA, July 4th. We decided to turn this trip into a mini-vacation and we couldn't have had more fun. We had breakfast with one of Adam's old bandmates, I got to see Adam score two goals against LA while visiting with his family, the Vogel's, and we also got to stay in one of Hollywood's most famous hotels, the Hollywood Roosevelt. We were in a crazy modern room that had such a great view of Hollywood Blvd and all of the crazies that pass by the minute. The last night we were there, we decided to check out the rooftop pool and who do we see? Matthew Perry and Tara Reid (not together, of course). I rented a car while we were out there, so we visited a few beaches, Manhattan and Malibu, both beautiful. I think Manhattan beach was my favorite -- there's all kinds of great restaurants and shops that lead up to the beach. To top off the trip, it just so happened that my family the Holland's were out visiting my cousin Mary, so we connected with them and sampled some of the best fro-yo I've ever had. I don't know how I'd like living in LA, but I sure loved visiting!

Photo shoot with Brad & Britney

Brad and Britney are getting married in September and asked us to take a few engagement photos of them. Here are a few of our favs:

NASCAR visit

Brad, Wells and Adam had the opportunity to do an appearance at a NASCAR practice in New Hampshire. They got to tour the pits, the garages and had front row seats to the Sprint Cup qualifying. They even got to meet a couple of the drivers including Denny Hamlin, a product of Richmond and graduate of Manchester high school.

Holly & Jesse come to visit!

While Adam was away for a game, Holly and Jesse came to visit me from Virginia! We had a great time going out to dinner, visiting a beach in Rhode Island, and just being together. I miss these girls!

New apartment

The time has come for the love birds to leave the nest. Adam and I just got our first apartment. It's equi-distant to Adam and my work but it's a lot less of a commute for me. We live in a little townhouse community and couldn't be happier. We do miss the Love's but luckily we get to see them quite a bit at the games. And, to go with the new apartment, Adam got a grill! It's finally warming up in New England and Adam is taking full advantage of that. We live just a minute or so away from a little park so we go frequently on the weekends to play frisbee or walk. And, Adam's attempting to teach me how to golf (good luck!).

Melissa's Engaged!...

...and she's moving to Colombia! This past weekend, all of the Highrise girls convened again in Reston, VA to celebrate an extremely happy occasion, Melissa's engagement to Juan Perez. The party was so fun, but we couldn't help but be a little sad knowing that Liss would no longer be a short plane ride away (for me) and just a few minutes drive for everyone else. That said, it was so very obvious to everyone around that Liss had found a wonderful guy who was going to take care of her and make her happy for all her days. The proof: Melissa danced the whole night, and MELISSA DOESN'T DANCE :) Congratulations Liss and Juan! Thanks for giving us an excuse to take a vaca to South America!