Two Weddings Down, One To Go!

Last Saturday was not only Greg and my "un-anniversary" (the day we had originally planned to get married), but it was my sister Katherine's wedding! What a perfect week. Katherine's reception was at my parents' house, so I was able to go back to Chestertown for the first time in three and a half months. It was so nice! The weather was perfect - blue skies, not too humid/hot, and everything seemed so incredibly green compared to Yucca Valley!

I arrived home Tuesday night, and was able to relax and spend a few days at home before the big day. On Wednesday, I went into D.C. and ate dinner with a few of my old college friends, which was wonderful, especially since finding friends has been a bit of a challenge this summer! Thursday I hung out with Katherine and Ann, and it was great to catch up with them. Overall, it was great to see the hustle and bustle around the house, and to take it all in, instead of having to soak up the atmosphere in four hours at the reception.

Friday the family arrived, and the festivities started. Katherine had a beautiful rehearsal dinner at an old hotel in Chestertown, complete with a slideshow and many toasts. After the rehearsal dinner, some people went out to the local bar, but I went home to rest up, since I had to pick up Greg from the airport at 6:15 in the morning!

Saturday was a total whirlwind. I left my parents' house at 5 AM to go. pick up Greg. It was so great to see him! I then went to the "ladies' luncheon," and was whisked away by my mom to get my hair and makeup done at our house. We then all took pictures (it was a PERFECT day!), and went to the church. After the ceremony, we headed back to the house, where we had a beautiful outdoor cocktail hour followed by dinner in a tent. After dinner, there was dancing with a band, and before we knew it, the reception was over! We had a blast, and can't wait for wedding #3 on December 13 in Utah!

Here is Katherine and Jacob at the wedding. What a classy pair!

On a sad note, my grandfather also passed away while I was home last week. This wasn't a surprise to us, as he had been declining in the hospital for some time, but was very sad, nonetheless. He was a truly great man. On Sunday morning, my mom organized a beautiful memorial breakfast, with all of his relatives. It was great to celebrate his life by telling stories of how kind and caring he was. I think his obituary does a beautiful job of describing his life: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/222-08192008-1578655.html

With the wedding and breakfast wrapped up, Greg and I headed back West to our ever-growing pup. With the big events of the summer done, I now am really hoping that a job comes my way soon. Wish me luck!

Natural Disaster #3

This past Monday, as Carolyn and I were driving to 29 Palms so I could show her around base, we encountered my 3rd natural disaster in 2 months. What looked like a rain cloud suddenly became a horrible flash flood, causing the main highway to be closed, and us to wait for 2 hours on the side of the road. After the storm had passed, I found out that they had closed the base entirely, since all the roads leading away from base were flooded, and over $150,000 worth of damage was sustained! This picture appeared in the local newspaper the other day, and I thought I'd post it up, just to give you all an idea of how crazy this storm was! 

So, for the record...wildfire, earthquake, flash flood that basically looks like a twister...what can possibly come next?

Greg and I are looking forward to relaxing this weekend, for the first time in awhile. He has been out on the range all week overseeing Marines shoot ammo, so he's had several 16+ hour days. This weekend we will just sit and take care of Rocky (who had his surgery to get fixed yesterday), and enjoy a peaceful weekend!

The Gardens at the Hotel Bel-Air

Roscoe comes to town!

This weekend Carolyn Roscoe came to town on her first visit to California. It was so nice to see her, have someone to hang out with during the day while Greg was at work, and to show her the sights!

One of the highlights of her visit was definitely our day trip to Beverly Hills. As a surprise parting gift, my dad gave Greg, Roscoe, and myself a lunch at the Hotel Bel Air, which is this AMAZING boutique hotel in Beverly Hills. We left Yucca on Saturday morning, and got to LA just in time for our lunch reservation. The hotel was gorgeous - it has these lush, beautiful gardens that are something out of a movie. The neighborhood it's in is pretty ridiculous, too. I felt like I was in 90210, as I drove my blue Prius up next to the Bentleys and Aston Martins and BMWs and Jaguars. The people at the hotel weren't snobby at all, though - they were so nice, and the service was great. We sat outside on the terrace, in the midst of the garden, and had a wonderful lunch of smoked salmon, ahi tuna sliders, salad, key lime pie and chocolate cheesecake, and (of course) wine. 

It was literally the best people watching of my life. There was a baby shower at the table next to us, where seven trendy women in their early 30s munched on these huge gourmet cupcakes and shared stories about when they were pregnant. The highlight of people watching came was our hunt for celebs was fulfilled...twice! First, at the beginning of lunch, I saw Greg nod his head in the direction of the pool. I saw this man walk by in swim shorts and a tshirt, not looking like anyone famous at all. When I looked closely though, it looked like Robin Williams. Right as he was out of site I heard his unmistakeable voice, and knew it was him. That was pretty exciting. Then, a few minutes later, I saw Javier Bardem walk in with a Spanish director that I recognized, but can't place a name to. He walked in and sat about two tables away from ours, and proceeded to have a business lunch with the person he was with. Javier Bardem, for those of you who don't know, was the creepy killer from No Country for Old Men who had the weird haircut. He won the Oscar for Best Actor last year for it - that's how scary he was. I've definitely had nightmares about his character before. But in real life he is MUCH more attractive. After making awkward eye contact several times, our run in was over, and we left.

After the Bel Air, we stopped by the Santa Monica pier to show Roscoe the Pacific. It was nice to see another part of the LA area. We then returned home for a much needed rest, after the long drive. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out around the house, and showing Roscoe Palm Springs. On her last day here, Roscoe and I got caught in a massive thunderstorm, in which 5 inches of rain fell on 29 Palms in 2 hours...the main road was closed, so we had to wait for almost 2 hours at an Elks' Lodge, where lightning struck a palm tree right by our car. Again....Mother Nature rules in California unlike any other place. 

So that's the update! This week we are hanging out and relaxing, before our big trip back east for Kat's wedding!

Our Pup Is Officially A Teenager

If you've never had a dog before, you won't realize this, but puppies truly do end their cute do-whatever-you-say phase and become teenagers! Case in point: Rocky. A few weeks ago, he literally jumped on all fours from the floor to our kitchen table - I've never seen a dog do this! Luckily, we let him know that we were not happy, and he hasn't done it since. Look at the agony on my face, after he spilled Diet Coke on my computer as a result!

Sunset in Yucca Valley

View from our backyard...the sunsets here are amazing!

I Survived (Two) Natural Disasters

It's official....first the wildfire, then the earthquake...so we've now officially survived two natural disasters within two months! Crazy - I've honestly never been in a place where nature governs more than the California desert.

On Tuesday I was sitting at the kitchen table around 11:45, and all of a sudden my chair, the table, and every single kitchen appliance started shaking and rattling. It lasted about 10 seconds, and at first I thought maybe a car had driven into our house or there had been some huge accident outside or something, but then I realized that most likely it had been an earthquake. I figured I wouldn't ever really know for sure, but then 15 minutes later I went on CNN.com and sure enough, the earthquake had been centered in Chino, which is about 75 miles east of us. For those of you O.C. fans, Chino is where Ryan was from. But that's enough of that. We were all ok, and for the Hi-Desert region, this wasn't a big deal. In the past ten years, there have been two earthquakes above 7.0 within 20 miles of us. So we'll see....we might get another one before we leave here. 

That's about all that has gone on around here. Except that we had a wonderful weekend with Mom and Dad last weekend! We showed them everything, from the base to Pioneertown to old Palm Springs to the Palm Desert shopping district. It was so much fun. I'm so glad they got to come out here. Dad and Rocky LOVED each other (so did Mom...but Dad and Rocky are soul mates, I'm pretty sure). We had a blast, and I hope they come out here again soon!

Other than that, Rocky graduated from puppy kindergarten this week! He was so good at the graduation, and even got second place in musical chairs (a pit bull mix won first place because he was bullying Rocky...oh well).

Tomorrow Greg and I are SO excited because Carolyn Roscoe is coming to visit! Roscoe was my roommate in Richmond last year, and was the best roommate ever. She is so great and funny and we are going to have so much fun. She'll be here until Tuesday morning, and we can't wait to show her around. One of the highlights of the weekend will be a day trip to Beverly Hills! I'll keep you all posted on our adventures next week. Have a great weekend!