10/29/2010

Oct 17th: Football and Friends

Sunday was a dreary murky day.  We originally planned to go to the Raiders/49ers football game, but opted out for fear of rain.  We ended up at Rickys Sports Bar in Oakland, which is one of the "Raider Nation" spots.  Austin and Colin met up with us, and of course the craziness ensued. 

dreary day

but tons of fun with these boys

Poor raiders lose.....

Car outside....Terry snapped a photo

We headed back towards Austin's neck of the woods and kept playing into the evening.

At this point, Austin and Colin wanted to do "scenario pictures", as in give you a prompt, you make a face for it....oh geez
Me: "High Five for this ridiculous game"

Austin (or maybe it was Colin): "You just found out you have cancer".....uhhh awkward

I dont remember the prompt but Terry wouldn't participate so he put his mustache up, which ended up making me laugh.  I think though that it was something along the lines of "you just won 1 million dollars".

Me: "Who's responsible for this ridiculousness"

Austin: "It's the 4th of July".  I guess they were being fireworks.

Me: "What a Raiders fan looks like right now".  I'm not going to post the pic of what a 49ers fan looks like right now. 

Again, really wish I could remember the cue.  Colin found it hilarious, Terry isn't participating...again, and Austin is unamused.

Again, not remembering the cue, but I can't help but laugh at Colin. 

They were coming up with something and taking too long.  This was Colin yelling at me not to take a picture until they came up with something.....and I guess that is Austin trying to come up with something.

Me: "Who's a little bit tipsy"

I think Austins cue was an Otter and a Salmon

An awful attempt at a prom pictures

hilarious Colin

Love my boys

a lot

End of a great day with great friends

 We all love Terry....ha

10/28/2010

Oct. 16th: Sunset in San Francisco

There isn't really a whole lot to talk about concerning this day other than it was one of the most beautiful sunsets and romantic experiences I have ever had.  We had lunch with Mike and Shannon and then left Lake Tahoe for San Francisco.  We pulled into the city just before sunset.  We grabbed a bottle of wine and walked out to a point overlooking the bay.  The pictures tell the rest.   You can pretty much classify these as all favorite pics. And just so it's said in case anyone wonders, none of these have been altered.  It was breath-taking.






















10/27/2010

Fri Oct 15th: Turning Twenty-six at Tahoe

We finally slept in a bit, thank goodness.  Terry had to go "run some errands", so I stayed an lounged and got many birthday calls.  When he got back, I had to go finish getting ready in the bathroom....he's smooth.  I came out to a cake that he decorated with the mountains and the lake as well as 26 candles and a really sentimental card.  I instantly ruined it when I asked if it was the only birthday card they had left in the store because that kind of card is so unlike him.....he was not AT ALL amused.  He's a good boyfriend.

That cake was SLAMMIN!!!  It was Boston-creme-esque. We devoured our slices.  Great Breakfast!!

 Our hotel- Harveys Hotel and Casino

Perfect name

The Gondola wasn't running until November, we were pretty bummed out, but instead we went walking through all of the shops.

Fall is my favorite season


favorite shot #5




There were several art galleries that we went perusing.  The last one that we walked through, and mind you this was the gallery that I didn't want to go into because it boasted a Dr. Seuss Certified Gallery (whaaa???), ended up being the one we bought our first piece of fine art!!

This was the first piece that we saw that we both loved.  The artist, John-Mark Gleadow, who as a sidenote is from and still lives in Delaware, painted the book set below.  He has several different sets and purposes in the books he groups and paints, but this one was spot on for us.  I think this could easily be a contender for the next piece of art we buy.

On to OUR painting though!!  We got to the back corner of the gallery, and it was a corner filled with paintings wine.  Last year at the St. Louis Wine Festival, we came across an artist named Thomas Arvid, and we both fell in love with his style of painting, called hyper-realism.  Basically, although the painting is watercolor, it looks like a photograph.  It's so incredible up close.  The artist they had showcased, Eric Christensen, had the same style, and where he won out is that his painting was of Grgich Hills.  Flash back to the day before, where we met Mike Grgich, and you see why the stars seemed to align. 


We found out that Eric had been commissioned by Grgich Hills to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the winery.  She said that the original is at the winery in one of the back rooms.  The following hour or so went somewhat along these lines: 

T: I really like that painting
L: Me too....one day we'll buy one
Our Art Guide: Why don't I hang it in a private room for you two to look at
T: Eh, it won't do any harm to look at it in good lighting
L: Sure! ::whispering to T:: I hope she doesn't think we're going to buy this
T: That looks amazing in the right light
L: I'm a little bit in love. Oh my god, we aren't really considering this?!  We can't buy this right now.
Our Art Guide: Can I get you both some wine while you talk it over?
L: She thinks we're serious......Terry are we serious??
T: Well at some point we're going to have to pull the trigger and be big kids.
L: Oh my god, we ARE considering this! 
Our Art Guide: So should I be congratulating the two of you?
We look at each other, smile, and say: T: I think so. L: Oh My God!!!
 
We Own Art!! (But I still don't want to be a big kid)

We left the gallery on cloud nine and headed back to spend time with Mike and Shannon.  They were coming up to Tahoe for the weekend as well, so we got to spend time with them.  We got in the car to do a little sight-seeing around Tahoe.

shots during the drive


I wish that these shots below were the other way around, but with how much time I just wasted trying to get them to be next to each other, they will stay as is.  The one on the right is the original photo, which is also favorite photo #4 of the trip.  I wanted to try and doctor it a little bit (picture on left), but I think I still need to work on it a bit to be just right.  Still, just love it!























At one point on the drive there were all kinds of people overlooking a bridge, so we, like the good little tourists we were, pulled over to see what all the fuss was about.  I forget the proper name for the fish, but some species of salmon was spawning in the creek and there were 1000's of them.  I've never seen anything like it in my life. 



close-ups

We drove around to Emerald Bay, which was breath-taking.   





The drive back during the sunset

We got back to Harvey's and went to grab some food with Mike and Shannon.  We ate at  Cabo Wabo inside the Hotel and Casino.  Random sidenote, we also met Sammy Hagar's son, Aaron.
brothers



with Aaron Hagar

Late into the night

Much later into the night with Brian and Cindy

We did a little bit of gambling. We both came out ahead, so that's always a plus.  For the record, on Roulette, on one of the rolls, we both bet on 26 (26th birthday), and it hit!!  Lots of squeals.  Also for the record, I am pretty legit at guessing red or black hitting on Roulette.  Finally, for the last record, Terry is a stud at Craps.  It was a fun night!!  We got to bed wayyyy to late, but it was a great 26th birthday bash!!