december 22nd-31st, 2006...  the holidays...   we started out in lynden with a little skiing, some great food, plenty of wine, and a great time [sponsored by singstar on the PS2]...

on the 26th we headed to dallas for our fill of tex mex, margaritas, a little running [during which i was able to get lost in a neighborhood i'd lived for quite a few years], more singstar, and a wonderful time overall...

despite coming down with a bad case of a mix between e.coli poisoning and mad cow disease, we managed a nice relaxing time with the last sunset of 2006 and a nice bottle of champagne...

december 10th, 2006...
3:07:53 in the [tuscon holualoa marathon]-  boston here we come! 

thanksgiving in paris, 2006...
After a sleepy 10 hour flight, we arrived (somewhat) refreshed to our hotel, Le Hotel Victoria Chatelet (on the Place de Chatelet). Despite having chosen the hotel somewhat randomly, we lucked out on location, and were a stones throw from pretty much everything we wanted to see. We ventured out relatively aimlessly that first night... Our guidebook had recommended a "local" favorite wine bar, Le Baron Rouge. A couple of metro stops and a little wandering later we located the bar. Rather than jump right in to the (very French) scene, we decided to steel ourselves with some vin rouge, and proceeded to the closest restaurant for provisions. We both sampled some pate (delicious, but rich), and Brian went out on a limb by ordering a crazy sausage dish. (Only later to find out from his French friend, that it is a dish even the French avoid). After the meal, we headed out to the little wine bar where Jen tested out her French. We capped the night with the obligatory crème & crepe.

For our first full day, we decided to get the obvious attractions under our belt, and the Louvre & Eiffel Tower were first to be crossed off the list. We saw what we could of the massive museum, and still had enough energy to take the stairs up the Eiffel Tower!  That night, on our way to the show at the Crazy Horse Saloon,  we stumbled onto a delicious French Thai restaurant for dinner, had a couple cappuccino martinis @ the bar next door, then onto the  Saloon for the show!

We started day two off at Sacre Coeur, then hit the Place de la Madeleine for extensive gourmet food shopping, and a delicious meal at Hediard. Laden with treats from Hediard, Fouchon, and La Maison de Truffle...we dropped off our packages and toured Notre Dame Cathedral to top off our day. 

The next morning we arrived early at the catacombs, and toured the underground tunnels. The catacombs of Paris is a famous burial site, consisting of a network of subterranean tunnels and rooms located in what used to be roman-era limestone quarries.  The quarries were converted into a mass tomb near the end of the 18th Century. A bit creepy, but an amazing experience.  Then it was off to marvel at the surreal stained-glass of the Sainte Chappelle Cathedral.  We spent the rest of our afternoon wandering around the bustling Latin Quarter Quarter.  That evening we returned to the Latin Quarter for our last night out, enjoyed a fabulous meal at an Italian restaurant, and then hit one of the many jazz clubs found among the winding streets.

All packed up and ready to leave, we headed out for a final Parisian breakfast of fresh French bread and cafe au lait.  A perfect way to say au revoir to Paris!

mid-november 2006...
to make room for thanksgiving in paris we shifted tree decorating and our thanksgiving feast a bit early this year...

november 10th, etc, 2006...
we had a great time celebrating julia's [and the marine corp. (hence brad using the sword for the cake-cutting)] birthday out in walla walla [eastern washington wine country this weekend.  16 wineries [13 in one day!], and who-knows how many bottles later, here are the pics to prove it [captions, and hopefully a list of all that we visited, to come]...

ps.  thanks to jani for a few of the shots!                        

october, 2006...
an uncharacteristically-slow month for us-  possibly that first since we met, that we didn't have a trip planned, which we intend to make up for in the next few months.  despite our staying in town, highlights included a visit from aaron, zarlacht, & ava and on their way up north, a night of pumpkin carving [with a last-minute mandatory costume policy enforced] with rob & nicole, and jen and my first batch of trick-or-treaters, in our new home, on the 1-year anniversary of our engagement!

october 15th, long beach half marathon...
the course was slow and winding, but i managed a 1:30:21 [a new PR (although...  instead of a 6:54 min./ mile pace, my TRUSTY GPS read a 6:48)] & jen came in @ a solid 2:36:38-  quite impressive for having come off a week with the flu!  we had also run the manhattan beach 10k together the week before, which we took nice and easy-  next stop, tucson!

september 30, 2006 jen's "actual" 30th birthday!...
after a month of presents and celebration, the big day finally arrived.  after a nice long run [10 for jen, 17 for me] in the morning, jen and i headed to "the city" for a couple of hard-earned massages at burke williams, followed by a delicious late lunch @ orso in beverly hills. 

then it was back home to celebrate with felix, and her new best friend, with a tasty little birthday cake, complete with re-lighting candles [which i actually had no idea i'd picked out].  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEEDENCE!  i hope it was a birthday month you'll never forget!...

september, 2006, jen's birthday month!...
while out east for rene and jeff's wedding, we decided to stop in manhattan for a long-overdue visit with jen's [& my new] friends in new york...

angelo's pizza, the flaming lips @ hammerstein ballroom [apologies for the blurry photos], a couple of random bars, "karaoke killed the cat", the met, all while staying at the beautiful hudson hotel, which has some of the most beautiful bars in existence.

september, 2006!..
what will hopefully become a typical relaxing weekend @ the beach, with jen's world-famous baby back ribs...

early september, 2006!..
packing, moving, unpacking, moving, shipments, unpacking, arranging, rearranging, more shipments, etc.

august 29th, 2006!..
finally posted the professional photos in the [wedding section]!

august 26th, 2006!..
just posted the moorea & bora bora photos on the [honeymoon page]-  get 'em while they're hot!  all that's left are the pics taken by our pro. photographer.

august 22th, 2006!..
happy birthday to me!  jen and i decided on a rental house in north hermosa beach today.  2 blocks from the beach, 1 from an awesome running trail, and right in between the hermosa and manhattan piers, chocked full of neat little shops, bars & restaurants.  will post more pics of the actual house, when we get 'em.
to celebrate my birthday, jen treated me to a delicious sushi dinner at the famous [matsuhisa], and the man himself, nobu matsuhisa [arguably the most famous sushi chef in the universe] was in the kitchen!  then it was back to la casa for a scrumptious assortment of birthday cupcakes from a new sweet tooth hotspot, [sprinkles], and a nice bottle o' wine.

august 20th, 2006!..
more home hunting [we think may be zeroing in], packing, preparations for upcoming trips, and more pre [courtesy of jani-  thanks!] & post-wedding photos posted in the [wedding section].

updated: august 21st, 2006

august 13th, 2006!..
jen & i are on the hunt for an apt. in the south bay, just finished our first "long run" of the new marathon training season, have already booked 3 trips since we've been back [with 2 more to go before the end of the year] and are heading to the reggae festival tonight @ the hollywood bowl.

july 22nd through august 6th, 2006!..
the entire week of the wedding turned out more perfectly fun than we ever could have imagined, and french polynesia was the type of beautiful that you can't believe is real.  we'll post plenty of photos, as soon as we can.  until then, our good buddies, rob and nicole have posted quite a few pics of the wedding [here].

july 4th weekend, 2006!..
after a bit of surfing sat. morning, we headed out for the insanity that _is_ vegas.  we arrived at the MGM where we met up with rob & nicole, dropped our bags, and headed out onto the strip.  after hitting the flamingo, new york, new york, the tropicana, the excalibur, the bellagio, and i'm sure a few others lost in the blur, we headed back to the MGM, killed a bit more time with blackjack, and finished up with a nice big breakfast.

While awaiting check in the next day, we killed time by napping and lounging next to the "lazy river" at the MGM pool. After check-in, and a few more naps, we all got gussied up for the evening. We fueled up with some fabulous sushi at shibuya  before heading out to the club.

jen's sister julia, came through once again with VIP tickets for "pure" at caesar's palace. Thanks to Julia, we were able to skip the 1.5 hour (and completely impossible) line, and head straight to the famous pussy cat dolls show inside.  we then randomly met up with jen's friend will, who had secured an even more "VIP" VIP room, complete with open bar and our very own bouncers.  on our way back to the room, we happened upon a thoroughly entertaining table of blackjack, where we spent an hour or so (and some more dough) before heading up to catch a few more zz's.

the next morning, after our 2nd of 3 delicious breakfasts at the studio cafe, we spent the afternoon again at the MGM pool. we then scrubbed up, and headed over to new york, new york for the "sensual" cirque du soliel show, "zumanity".  all of the acts were quite entertaining, but the one that really stole that show was an aerial act performed by a gorgeous blond woman, and the most amazingly buff midget in existence. He was also, coincidently, rob's miniature doppelganger:  alan jones!

the next day rob and nicole hit the road in their new mercedes, while jen and i chilled at the pool for a few more hours, before dropping a few more dollars @ the blackjack tables.  then as always, more exhausted than when we showed up, we left vegas once again preparing for what trouble we'd get into on our next trip out!

ps.  thanks to rob of www.robandnicole.com for quite a few of the photos!

and a few bonus movies to boot!...

june 23rd, etc...
started off with a par dinner chocked fill o' garlic @ the stinking rose friday night. saturday we headed out to santa monica where i hunted for a few surfable waves amidst all the chop [due to the wind], while jen was serenaded for close to an hour by a homeless french drunk.  snapped a few pics of the beautiful bougainvilleas in front of CBS on the way to the delicious mr. pizza later that night, and sunday we had a delicious bbq @ rob & nicole's.

june 17th, LA improv, etc...
after our first morning of packing and cleaning in preparation for our move in a couple month, we headed out with jill to memphis-  a delicious new southern-style restaurant in a beautiful old school house on hollywood blvd.  afterwards we were thoroughly entertained by the hilarious sarah silverman, todd glass, and a slew of other comedians @ the LA improv.

june 9th+, last trip [to parents'] home before the wedding...
jen headed up to up north to washington for a wonderful bridal shower and to wrap up a few details before the wedding, while i headed down to the "dirty south" to visited friends, family, meet my new niece ava, and check out chris and angie's beautiful new house.

june 3rd & 4th, 2006, san diego y tijuana...
headed down to san diego where we stayed in the beautiful gaslamp district hilton, hopped across the border for a sampling of tijuana [complete with 65$ tip for a cab ride:(], visited over an ENORMOUS breakfast with jen's aunt, uncle, & cousin @ hash house a-gogo, then checked out sea world all before all in one little weekend!...

may 25th- 28th, memorial day weekend, 2006!...  what a weekend!  Six flags magic mountain, santa monica beach, lala’s [Argentinean restaurant on melrose], and plenty o’ shopping on Saturday, surfing @ Hermosa to work up an appetite for jen’s now-famous delicious baby back ribs [that took 2 days, and about 50 ingredients to make], and a nice 7.5 mile hike in la jolla canyon in northern Malibu, complete with an attempted honest-to-goodness rattlesnake attack [narrowly escaped with a backwards flintstone run for the escape, which actually ended up charming the deadly serpent] on Sunday afternoon, followed by a nice meal at duke’s in Malibu to close out our wonderful four-day memorial day weekend.  note:  the 1st one in the 8th row, is where that dastardly snake had set up camp, after it's attempted attack.

may 20th, 2006!...
after gearing jen up with some brand-new hiking boots, and special hiking hot pants, we headed out west for a hike in escondido canyon, near malibu.  afterwards we stopped by the gladstone's for some delicious seafood, took a few minutes to watch the surfers take advantage of the waves in malibu, before heading back on sunset who's snaking turns always make for a great drive...

may [2nd week] e3 2006!...
well...  after all the hard work [on our game trailer [here]]and anticipation, e3 has come and gone, leaving me a bit hung over, but excited about quite a bit going on in video games these days.  here are a few pics from the week including a few from the convention, a pre-party dinner @ "cobras and matadors", parties thrown by both nintendo [who had the blackeyed peas playing @ hollywood & highland-   thanks, julia!], and sony @ dodger stadium with incubus entertaining away with the help of a security guard armed with a heinous stink eye;)

may [1st week]...
jen spent a week in boca raton mixed with business meetings, free food & drink, sessions @ the hotel pool, and from what it sounds, plenty o' good old-fashioned tom foolery with her co-workers.
meanwhile, in vancouver, after checking out the aquarium in stanely park, i geared up for my 5th marathon [where i disappointingly missed boston qualification once again with a 3:18:31, but learned plenty in the process], where i got to hang out with half of the stephan clan-  jani running the half marathon, brad and i took on the full 26.2, while kim and julia cheered us on.  good times!

NOTE!  sorry!  the LAST 3 images don't have larger versions-  wasn't able to rip them off the web site.

march 25th & 26th 2006...
we met julie [from dallas, formerly LA;)] out in park city for some fun in the snow.

march 19th, 2006...
As we've mentioned before, Brian and I have both been training for the marathon (or marathonS in Brian's case), for the past few months.  Brian's training has been geared toward qualifying for the very-exclusive Boston Marathon, and my training has been in an effort to simply FINISH the San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon on June 4th. This training includes (but is not limited to) a weekly "long run" every Sunday.  This past Sunday, our 18 mile long runs coincided with the LA Marathon, and we decided (somewhat reluctantly on my part) at the last minute to just run it. Competing with street closures and crowds posed a big problem, so we thought...what's 8.2 more miles? Plus, we get a t-shirt and a medal!! In a tremendous show of support, Brian gave up his chance for a new PR and ran the entire race (slowly) with me. He helped me push through several big walls as I confronted more self-inflicted pain then I ever thought possible.  Turns out, that 8.2 extra miles isn't so insignificant after all. But...I finished, and I feel great, despite the swollen toe and sore muscles.  (Brian on the other hand, was a little less affected by the run, and was back in training the very next day.  Show-off!) We can't wait 'til the next one!

march 4th - 6th, 2006...
we had such a great time in napa valley with the marathon and winery tours, it's earned a [whole page]!  click on any of the images below for the full run down with pics!

feb. 25th etc./font>, 2006...
we started saturday morning off with a nice hike up @ mt. hollywood that made us truly appreciate what a beautiful, varied city we live in, and on the way home we stopped @ ralphs's to set a new record on just how many groceries were possible to fit in a miata.
sunday, we trekked down to hermosa beach to take care of our long runs along the beautiful chip trail and strand-  the highlight being jen's first 15-miler of her marathon training, a new personal distance record!

feb. 17th etc., 2006...
Julia was in town for business, so we met up Friday night, with her friend allison, for some serious bowling action at lucky strike, along with piles of food.  The next day we drove up the coast past Malibu to “neptune’s net”, where we ordered an even bigger pile of fresh seafood, which caused quite a shock when it was all crammed onto the table.  The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful with a few movies, and long run, and a trip to the grove.

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