Happy Halloween!

Love Andrea, White Kitty, and Ben

Bridge School

Dear Metallica-

It all started out as a nice evening listening to some music and catching up with old friends at the Bridge School Benefit Concert. The beginning acts (Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, and My Morning Jacket) were good but not great. John Mayer gave a disappointingly short set, Tom Waits and the Kronos Quartet went on a little too long (I really can't stand that voice), and Neil Young was predictable. Jerry Lee Lewis is very old and can barely walk, but can still play and sing and put on a good show.

Then we get to you... The audience was eagerly awaiting the final performance and looking forward to your acoustic set. It was 11:30pm, we had been there for 7 hours, it was freezing cold, all the kids were patiently waiting onstage, and you were 30 minutes late! I know you are very famous and all, but next time think of the kids. Then we are willing to forgive you for your tardiness and you start out with a cover. Um....what? And then the covers kept coming!

Very disappointing Metallica, very disappointing.

-AndreaEven though I was disappointed with Metallica, we really did have a good time and will probably come back next year!

Hitting the Green

Ben and I had planned to wake up at a decent time on Sunday morning and go to the driving range in Paso and hit a bucket or two. The great dinner party we had the night before in honor of Marcela‘s departure didn't have us up that early on Sunday (I blame the wine), and we really needed to scrub the kitchen and clean up since it was left untouched the night before (again due to the wine). So we decided to go late in the afternoon and were lucky to have the driving range at Hunter Ranch Golf Course completely to ourselves. I am no where near good enough to play a round, but after the hour I did have improvement and Ben is ready for the round he is going to play today!

The Emotional (Wedding) Rollercoaster

It was one of those days...

Driving to work yesterday, I got pulled over by a cop for running a stop sign (I did a “Hollywood Stop”) and he mentioned speeding (not really sure on that one...). Luckily he only gave me a very stern lecture and warning (whew!).

I settle into work and check my email and see one from Ben with the words “Uh-Oh...” and my heart immediately sank. It was from one of the venues in Scotland that we were considering and they were informing us they had become booked up. I frantically began to email our last remaining location, Ben starts searching any locations as a desperate Plan B, and because of the time difference I stay in frantic mode all day just wondering. Luckily this morning, many of Ben’s locations responded back with availability and our last selected venue looks open (although it is still kinda iffy, we will get the final conformation on Monday).

This is all coming off of the complete and total high I had on Wednesday after finding “the dress”, which I then immediately ordered yesterday afternoon as I figured it would be just my luck that it would become unavailable as well. I am crossing my fingers that my mom and sister love it as much as I do when they get to see it for the first time tomorrow afternoon!

The pieces are very quickly coming together and I am focused on staying positive - that after Monday afternoon it will just be the easy little things!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Just like last year, Ben has to be out-of-town in not the most desirable of locations (Texas) on his birthday. He is busy with meetings but is doing some field work, so I am posting a picture of the very first time he worked on a rig (Bakersfield, September 2003).And since I miss him so much and can't wait to see him in a week, here are two more pictures of him out on location over the past 4 years (Holland, January 2005 and Santa Rosa, October 2005).I love you and Happy 27th Birthday!

Weekend Summary

The Genetic Analyzer is failing. The laser is slowly dying, which makes my life at work very, very difficult. (One benefit is that I always smile when I talk about the laser because I think of Dr. Evil’s sharks with laser beams attached.) So this weekend I decided to take a break from trying to solve the broken laser problem (*smile*) and work on my writing in the library. Honestly spending such a nice weekend locked away in front of my laptop with a pile of books next to me didn’t sound very good either, so on Friday morning when I got a surprised text from my sister Heather stating that she was coming down to visit for the weekend with her boyfriend Matt, I was excited!

After work I went over to Emily’s place and helped her make dinner for everyone. When Heather and Matt arrived along with Emily’s boyfriend Scott, we sat around and ate and gossiped until 1am (some things never change). I did get some work done as Heather and Matt went to LA on Saturday to hang out at a skate park. Sunday afternoon we all met up for lunch at the Natural Café (yep it is becoming a regular place for us), I showed Scott, Heather, and Matt the cows at the Dairy, and then we played Life Twists and Turns. After two rounds we are all now obsessed with this game, and are going ensure it’s at our parents’ home before Christmas so we can play it straight for 4 days!

Next plan for the sisters and significant others - Veteran's Day weekend in So. Cal with Rachel & Nik exploring the Getty Museum!