My favorite place...so far...in all of Santa Fe

So, We (Brittany and I) took Carey out to congratulate her on completing her exam. We took her to La Casa Sena. She had never been there before, eventhough she has been in Santa Fe for quite sometime, and we had a great time. The waiters perform broadway tunes and it just makes me smile and even cry a little. They take requests and I am usually the first to offer my opinion. This time they performed a few from "Wicked" and it made me realize I need to see that show.

We had fun eating and drinking and listening and chatting. Thanks girls for a fun evening!

And Congrats to Carey!!

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! We started at the Agora Shopping Center for Trick-or-Treating and costume parade and contest. We actually won the over all grand prize. We were the "Fairytale Family." I was a princess, Blaise was a knight, and Violet was a dragon. It may have been a little rigged (I know one of the judges) but it was fun anyway. Blaise was "Sir Talks a lot" Violet was "Dippity Do Dragon" (she said she was a "nice dragon not a mean one") and I was Princess Bailey Beautiful. My mom, Blaise and Violet came up with our names.

After the Agora fun we did the traditional Trick or Treating for the first time. We made it to 4 houses. Next year maybe we can do 6! Then we went to a Halloween party. It was a fun day filled with candy, costumes and face paint--just the way Halloween should be.

Happy Halloween 2008!!!!

San Francisco Trip Part Six

We stayed at my uncle Skip's house the last night we were there. He has a great house on the top of the hill in Oakland and when we woke in the morning we looked out the window to a beautiful view of the bay. We had cappuccinos and a tour of the garden before we had to head to the airport for our flight home.

San Francisco Trip Part Five

Ethan's Performance

We were so lucky to attend the "Ethan White Show" at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. Ethan had featured roles in all three of the ballets in the performance, including Romeo in Romeo and Juliette. He was fantastic and his picture was posted all over. As we shopped earlier in the day we kept running into him on signs and windows throughout Oakland. He was quite the poster boy.

Even Skip and Bonnie got into the spirit of the night. The Paramount Theater is amazing. It is an art-deco style theater and there was live music in the pit for all three of the ballets. I took shots of the theater and orchestra before I got in trouble and was told there is "no photography allowed" in the Paramount. I was such a rebel.

We attended a reception afterward where it was announced that Oakland Ballet received a 200,000 dollar grant. Wow, in the economy today this was a huge uplift for them. Maybe they will hire Ethan more and we can enjoy his dancing for years to come.

I love you Ethan and you were amazing. I am impressed with all you have accomplished and can't wait to see what you will do next!

San Francisco Part Four

My turn to try paddle boarding. Alex gave me a little lesson, he is a very good and patient teacher. I stepped on--which takes a little commitment--and was off. It is harder than it looks. The water was COLD and I was hoping to not go for a swim. I did pretty well until...

I got out there and couldn't turn around. Alex maybe has one downfall as a teacher, he left! I am not sure where he went (maybe to the beer tent) but I needed a little help getting back. It took a minute but I guess I figured it out because somehow I turned around and was able to get back to shore.

I made it--and stayed warm and dry. I am not sure I am ready for the marathon of paddle boarding but actually knowing me I may give it a try someday.

For right now, I am happy with the experience and will take the lessons learned into my life.

Be Patient and you just might figure it out all on your own.

San Francisco Trip Part Three

Alex's Race

Alex was the one and only racer to enter the 9+ mile paddle board race around Angel Island during the Sea Trek boat rigatta. He finished in 2 hrs and 45 min. It was the winning time, a new record and his personal best. My mom and I waited on the beach to "bring him home". It was such a pleasant and beautiful day that we had no problem soaking up the sun while we waited. There were lots of cute naked babies playing on the beach to entertain us as well as sand, sun and a beer tent.

San Francisco Trip Part Two

This is a picture of our best friend on the trip, the GPS. Love her!

Here I am driving the rental car. She had good pick up so I was able to keep up with the California drivers. With the help of the GPS even the driving was great.

The best part of the traveling was the flight attendant rapper. Listen closely to the directions he gives...

San Francisco Trip Part One

My mom and I went to California to see Ethan as Romeo, Nikki (my new sister in law to be) as Alice and Alex race in the first ever paddle board race. We had a quick trip and lots of fun. Here are some pictures of Alice in Wonderland the Ballet put on by Sacramento Ballet. Nikki's parents were there and we got to meet them for the first time. Ethan proposed a couple of weeks ago and we saw her new ring and were able to start talking about fun wedding plans.

This is an adorable picture of all the little girls dressed up to see the ballet.