Kir's Wedding!

Here is the follow-up to my DC post. Enjoy the pics of Kirsten's wedding; it was beautiful!
Sisters getting ready! Ashley, left, is Kirsten's younger sister, and Steph, right, is Kirsten's new sister-in-law.

Getting ready for pictures before the ceremony. The wedding was held at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. It was a perfect fall day!

Pure joy

Doing our "sassy" pose. Not quite sure why photographers love those so much!

Favors that give back - Kirsten and Daniel made a donation to their four favorite charities in lieu of a favor. How thoughtful!

Catching up with old friends, Anne and Marc Orloff. Branden and I went to Michigan with Anne and she and Marc now live in Boston.

More old friends! Cara and I went to Michigan together.


The after party in downtown Bethesda. We had too much fun!

Is that a yawn, Daniel?!

Ashley! She's the cutest!

Thanks for a great night!

Making like tourists

Last weekend we had the pleasure of traveling to our nation's capital for my dear friend, Kirsten's, wedding. Since the wedding was on Friday, we had the weekend to sightsee (I had never been there, unless you count a drive-by 15 years ago). My hubby, the history buff, was over the moon at the chance to educate his wife. I must admit, it was pretty inspiring to see such historic sights. My feet were very tired, but it was worth it to watch the sun set over the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the day (note to self, cute shoes are not appropriate for a day of sightseeing in DC).

First stop: The Newseum

The Newseum is amazing! It is an entire museum dedicated to journalism and the biggest news stories in history. I think anyone going to DC needs to check it out. Outside is the "front page" exhibit. They showcase the front page of one newspaper from each of the 50 states. The most popular headline the day we were there was that Congress had passed the bailout plan.

One of my favorite exhibits was dedicated to 9/11. The wall shown here is two stories of front pages from 9/12/2001. It was a very emotional and moving exhibit. My other favorite, though not shown, was the Pulitzer prize exhibit. It featured all of the photographs, and the stories behind them, that have ever won the award. Another emotional and moving exhibit.

The Newseum has the largest collection of the Berlin wall outside of Germany. In addition, they have an actual guard tower from the wall.



This is the view from the terrace at the Newseum. It overlooks much of Pennsylvania Avenue and they have a map explaining what each of the buildings is.

On Saturday, we made our way over to Arlington National Cemetery. If you don't know, one of my mom's closest childhood friends was MIA in Vietnam for over 30 years. Miraculously, his remains were found in 2002 and he was laid to rest in Arlington. Branden and I were unable to attend the service (finals week in college), so it was important to us to be able to pay our respects now. Being in Arlington was overwhelming and reminded me of how lucky we really are. I was so honored to be able to see such a special place.

This was one of the last sights we saw while in DC (we saw a lot more but our camera died while at Arlington). It is the US Department of the Treasury. I took this picture because I noticed the flag was at half mast. I thought it strange, since no other flags were flying at half mast that day. My theory? They were mourning the loss of 700 billion dollars. Just a theory...

Shenanigans

Branden is in Charleston this weekend for his brother's bachelor party, so the girls decided to work on Halloween costumes today. We consider ourselves a crafty (or at least, capable) bunch, so we spent the day perusing numerous stores for costume-making supplies. Along the way we encountered many fine wigs. Several came home with us. Why? We aren't quite sure. Perhaps a wig party is in order?

Some of our favorites...

I've always wanted to be a redhead...

If you've come to visit us in San Diego and we haven't taken you to Wine Steals, I sincerely apologize. It is, by far, our favorite wine bar in town. It's a great place to spend a Friday night with friends.

Chrissy, do you recognize Amy's hairstyle? I know it's your favorite!

Keepin' Busy

Well, the second half of our summer flew by! I'm sure yours did too. We have been busy busy bees since B got home in July.

Chatting with a fellow blogging friend recently, we decided that most family and friends check our blogs for photos and *short* written updates. That said, I'll let our pics do the talking!

B is home! Celebrating the 4th by watching fireworks on the bay.

Surprise, Krista! We took a party bus to Temecula for some wine tasting to celebrate Krista's b-day.

Happy and stuffed after dinner at Donovan's. Happy 4th wedding anniversary to us!

It's a rough job but somebody's got to do it! I got to travel the Central Coast of California for work, spending a week visiting wineries and learning more about the growing region.

Barefoot Wines (a Gallo brand, fyi) proudly supports the LGBT community. B and I got to spend a weekend pouring Barefoot wine at the San Diego PRIDE festival. It was fun and entertaining, to say the least!! I couldn't post most of the pics...

In case you haven't heard, my little sis got engaged this summer! I went home to help celebrate at an engagement party thrown for her and Daniel.

Dad and Bob cooking tons and tons of ribs for the party! I think the final tally was 36 slabs! Dad is famous for his ribs and he didn't disappoint.

The happy couple :)

My date! Branden was in Asia, so my friend, Katie, was my stand-in hubby. She's getting really good at it after two deployments! She's even worked her way on to the invite list for Christmas in Cancun!

Beautiful baby Kate! Our good friends, the Fortune family, came to visit us in San Diego. Baby Kate is their newest addition, born in April.

Kate's beautiful big sister, Madison! This cutie pie turned three last weekend and it is amazing to see how much she grows and changes in between our visits.

Shelly, Steph, and Mad

We had a BBQ in honor of the Fortune's visit. Sadly, B left for Asia the same day, so Will had to cook for his own party!

Rachel's Wedding! College Roomies Reunited...Steph, Rach and I at Rachie's rehearsal dinner, hosted by Lynn and Frank Silva. It was an amazing night, full of love, family and friends! B and I agreed it was the best rehearsal dinner we have ever been to.

What a beautiful bride! The love between Rachel and Billy was so obvious throughout the entire wedding ceremony. They were giggling and whispering to each other the whole time. I felt so honored to be a part of such a wonderful day!

*These five (obviously) professional photos belong to the amazingly talented Suzanne Hansen of San Diego! She took hundreds of amazing photos of the wedding. To see more of her work, check out www.shewanders.com.

We made a long weekend out of Rachel's wedding, spending four days in our favorite city, Chicago! We got to spend time with both sets of parents, including a night at Wrigley Field with Branden's dad.

On Sunday we hit up my favorite Chicago tourist spot, the wonderful Museum of Science and Industry. You can do all sorts of fun things there, like dress up as an astronaut and sit on a cow!

Back home in sunny San Diego...on one of our rare weekends home this summer, we relaxed and enjoyed this beautiful city. We took a bike ride along the bay, enjoying the Tall Ship festival and a little nap in the sunshine!

Can you beat this view?!? Truly a beautiful city.

I've mentioned B's trip to Asia a few times now, so here are the pics. With his new job (working for an admiral), he travels a lot. Luckily, he gets to see some pretty cool things and visit some interesting places. On this trip, he visited Japan and Korea for two weeks. In this photo, he is in the DMZ (demilitarized zone between North and South Korea), a place not many people will ever get to see. He is standing in South Korea and that black line near his right shoulder is the line that marks the boundary between North and South Korea. The building behind him is in North Korea. The next time you talk to him, ask him about this trip. He saw some really interesting things and I learned a lot about the relationship between North and South Korea.

The bridge between the two countries. Again, ask him about this trip!

Well, that's the latest and greatest with us. I hope you enjoyed the photos! Hopefully, you enjoyed a wonderful summer and, if we didn't get to see you, we hope to see you soon.