it's magnificent to be a mobley!: September 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

'choose your own adventure!'

do you know what makes taking the pt board exam okay? being able to walk out of it and see your husband + two of your dearest friends drive up to sweep you away for a weekend of fun!

that's right! our amazing friends ryan + candice flew into town for a long weekend visit this past labor day weekend and we couldn't have been more blessed to get to spend that wonderful time with them! ryan + paul went to college and blasted threw engineering classes together and we've been obsessed with the garretts ever since :). we definitely do not get to see them nearly as much as we would like... so we have to soak it all up while we have the chance!

we started the weekend off at alcatraz! paul + i have never visited alcatraz together, only individually during past family vacations, and let me just say... i absolutely LOVE this place... it's so very rich with history - and maybe this is the little bit of criminal interest that i've inherited from my law-savy relatives emerging. ryan + candice had visited us during our first year on the west coast, but we were too late to get the sought-after tickets to alcatraz. ever since, ryan has been itching to get on this little island in the bay. ryan + candice were so kind to get all of us tickets so we were able to make his dream a reality. it was truly amazing and there were even new parts of the island that had been opened that paul + i had never seen before!

(nothing like a photo of a $20 photo to re-capture the memories!)

and then we went on a hike to see some pretty big trees...

and then we went to an art + wine festival where paul made a new friend...

and we saw some pretty awesome views of the city...

and then we (mostly ryan + paul) went down some pretty crazy slides...

(candice + i 'sliding' down... not exaggerated at all!)

and we swung on some rope swings overlooking the city...

(there were obviously too many pictures to choose from for this activity...)

and we went to the santa cruz boardwalk for some good 'ole fashion fun...

(wait, who's this character?)

and now that it's official on facebook... i think it's 'ok' for us to say why we are jumping for joy in this photo... the garretts are going to be a family of THREE come april!!! ryan + candice shared the fantastic news with us upon their arrival so we were lucky enough to have their entire visit to celebrate!!! paul + i couldn't be happier for these 2 and we are beyond excited about baby garrett!!! we love all THREE of you!!!

thank you, ryan + candice, for the most fabulously fun visit!!! we adore you both and can't wait to [hopefully] visit y'all in randleman this winter... and see that baby bump a-growin'!!!

just call us the dolittles!

as previously mentioned, our friends deana + danny were married in late august and we were able to 'kitty-sit' their little one, charlie, while they were honeymooning. because the rosaias often keep livi-dog when we are out-of-town, the pup + the kitty are familiar with each other and get along pretty well... when it came to tjuta, however, we were concerned about how he would adjust to the 1.5 week visitor since he tends to be a loner + extremely territorial (sounds harsh, but true).

much to our surprise... they loved each other! well... maybe 'love' is too strong of a word... they pleasantly tolerated each other and even played at times!

... and peace is restored.

thanks for coming to visit, charlie! tjuta is still walking around looking for his new-found friend...

Friday, September 10, 2010

meet the rosaias!

one of my very best friends + her leading man, deana + danny, were married august 28, 2010 at v. sattui winery in st. helena, ca. paul + i were so blessed to be a part of their wedding weekend + we had an absolute blast! we love the woodworths + the rosaias so to have a weekend full of celebrations with them was quite the treat. thank you officer + doctor rosaia for a weekend to remember! congratulations, we love you!

'life, good times, + friends'

my sweet brother, alan, recently returned to boone, nc to continue his college career + with his return came his first apartment! when he was visiting us this past march + may, we made several trips to haight-ashbury in the city where he discovered a young man who sits at the infamous corner + writes poems for customers who name their price. alan was hooked. ever since, he has been politely begging me to return to the haight + purchase a poem for his apartment. one day in august, paul + i happened to be in the city and thought to seek out said man. when we saw him, we felt like we had struck gold! a quick phone call to alan yielded great excitement and a request for a poem that discussed 'life, good times, + friends.'

alan is the only one with the original copy now, so i'm sure you can write him + ask what the poem actually says, but we managed to get a picture of alan's puppy-niece with the star poet.

happy 3 years!

paul + i celebrated our 3rd anniversary this past july when we were on vacation with the mobleys. it was a treat to spend the special day with family and we were also able to drive into downtown wilmington for dinner just the 2 of us later that evening.

words cannot describe how blessed i am to have this man as my husband. he balances every aspect of me (and all of my quirkiness definitely needs balancing) and supports me in all of my endeavors. with graduate school behind me, i hope i can be at least half the spouse + cheerleader for him that he is for me. i cannot believe that it's been three years since we were married and now we finally get to be newlyweds! i love you, paul!

once we returned back to the west coast after our amazing trip, paul treated me with a night out in the city + tickets to see 'wicked' to continue the celebration of our anniversary. i had never seen 'wicked' before and now i'm officially obsessed! i think paul was quite impressed as well. what a perfect way to mark the occasion!

not to forget...

[quick explanation: i began to write my posts as i encountered pictures in my picasa... unfortunately, i didn't have any pictures from when my incredibly dear friend elizabeth (a.k.a. 'best friend since life') came to visit us in early june + accidentally skipped right over things... BUT thanks to the wonders of facebook, i have super-stalked her photos and now have some to include in our blog (thanks, lizzy!)]

elizabeth + i have known each other since... well... forever and it was such a treat for her to come up to palo alto to visit us while she was completing one of her speech + language pathology internships in long beach, ca. we had a fabulous time touring around sf + showing lizzy all of the hot-spots! we also enjoyed some down-time + crafting at our apartment a little further south on the peninsula. elizabeth is now living in greenville, nc so i truly don't get to spend nearly as much time as i want to with her since we live on the west coast... come back soon liz, we miss you!

just hanging out in our backyard... love this girl!

we are a bit crazy... did i not mention that?

livi had her 'lady bits' removed the day before elizabeth's arrival - she was quite ashamed to have to meet her aunt lizzy with a cone around her neck, but she still managed to be as cute as ever (obvi)

of course we had to introduce liz to our favorite restaurant... the counter! she became hooked immediately.

one of the many adventures we had: visiting musee mecanique... elizabeth showed her true strength!

thank you for coming to nor-cal to visit us, elizabeth! we love you so much! okay, now hurry up + get back here...

2010 mobley beach vacation

we were so very lucky to have been able to travel back to north carolina and go on the 2nd annual mobley family beach vacation this past july! we stayed at amazing beach-front house in kure beach and just soaked up a ton of family time that we don't usually get to have since we all live all over the country... did we also mention that we have the absolute cutest nephews ever?! oh my goodness, we are such a spoiled aunt + uncle!