9/11/2012 - it has been too long

It has been way too long since I updated the blog.  My main excuse for this is that we haven't really had any photos together lately. I know this is a LAME excuse. Well, this weekend, since James is in Macau, I thoroughly cleaned and neatened my house. Immediately after that, I ransacked it looking for something (that was never found, by the way). I looked around at the mess I had just created and decided it would be a perfect time to organize some things, which is when I found the photos, below. And a perfect excuse to update the blog.

My last check in was in February. Since then, we attended our friends' wedding in Vegas (Dan and Brigid Arcari), I went to a Bachelorette party in Vegas, then we went to another friends' wedding in Vancouver (Steve and Simone Scaia).  All wonderful trips and some good time together. We also had family visits - my sister Stephanie and her boyfriend Dave, my dad came to visit, then James' mom was here. All of the visits were so wonderful, its a great excuse to tour our city as tourists!

Work is good. Keeping busy and active. I am way too busy with my alumni board and homeowners Association Board - I will likely quit the HOA when my term is up for renewal in February. We are keeping active and James has taught me to golf and I am really enjoying that!! I am still going to the gym and am now doing Zumba, and James just completed and passed a Sailing Certification course. Now I have no excuse not to get on the boat with him. :)

So here are the photos. The first is from my company Christmas party, so December 2004, and about 4 months after we starting dating.

I've never known what to do with my hands in photos - help me Tyra.

These are some Polaroids from our first Valentines Day - so, February 2005. We would have both been 27 years young, and dating for 6 months. These were starting to really fade, and make it look like we started dating in the 70s. I'm glad I found them when I did and could scan them before any more damage.

I'll admit to some "what's happening" anxiety when this photo was taken. 

Not sure what is happening here -
but the Langoliers (nerdy Stephen King reference) are attacking this photo

The next set is from a photo booth at Kenchy and Melinda's wedding in September 2008. So we had been married for 3 months.

Lots of Vampire style biting...

The next set are from a website launch party I think in 2009.

In the coming months, I hope to get some more pictures of us together! We will be heading to Maui, Hawaii for our wonderful friends Dan and Jil's wedding!  We are going to stay an extra few days and make it our annual trip, as well. We have some fun things planned  -  maybe too many things, thanks to Yelp and Tripadvisor and my anxiety about having to do all of the "Must Do" activities, ha ha.  We are really looking forward to it!

Enjoy and as always, keep in touch!
Roxanne & James

Happy Valentines Day!

James will be on his way back from a long work trip tomorrow - he has been in Panama and Chile. This has probably been for the best because in the meantime, I have been working with the partner at my firm on my first ever jury trial. We have been fully immersed in this endeavor now for about 10 days, and we expect closing arguments to take place this coming Friday. Thank goodness the courts are closed tomorrow for Lincoln's birthday, it is giving us some much needed time in the office to catch up on everything else! James and I are both looking forward to being home and enjoying some stress free relaxing (maybe next weekend!)

We had a wonderful Christmas back east in Connecticut. Santa really spoiled everyone and the time off was great - very relaxing. It was fantastic to spend some time with Barbara and Eric and the Connecticut family.

January was a fun month - We really enjoyed Patrick and Maureen's new year's eve wedding.  James made a wonderful best man and made a very touching speech that had me in tears.  Thanks to New Years Day falling on a Sunday, which we used as our travel day, we were able to be back in Los Angeles in time for the Rose Bowl game! We joined our friends Dan and Jil for some tailgating about 6 hours after we landed at LAX. We wore our crazy hats that Becky got us for Christmas (meant for sledding, but there was no snow!).

Later in January I celebrated my 35th birthday - a little early (it is actually the 23rd of February) but my friend Missy K and I decided to join forces and rented an awesome box suite at Staples Center to watch a hockey game. The suite was more than I could ask for and I had an awesome time.

We are looking forward to some quieter months ahead - not too much on the calendar for March and April - thank goodness!

xoxoxo Roxanne and James

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy and safe American Thanksgiving! :)

Update from the West! 11/10/11

I am hoping to get a bit better about updating, and I am hoping that having these updates in one place so I can see when the last time I sent one was will help!


Welcome to the blog! I posted the last update in here, and hope to find the rest and add them. 

Snorkeling

The last few months have been fabulous. In July, James and I went on our honeymoon to Aruba. I really recommend waiting to go on a honeymoon because it was so wonderful to have the uninterrupted time to check in with one another. I loved every moment of it, and have even almost forgotten how scared I was when we were saling on the hobie cat (we capsized and I hurt myself pretty bad). I had so much fun learning to windsurf, snorkeling (I never thought I would enjoy that, since I have an aversion to fish), laying in the warm waters and sun bathing. The food was also delicious. 

At the pier bar

Happy Hour!

Disneyland Half Marathon

As the summer came to an end, I started on my "half marathon trifecta." This began with the Disneyland Half that we try to run every year. The next was a Disney World half, in Orlando, which helped me and my three girlfriends cinch the "coast to coast" medal Disney Sports offers competitors who run a race on each coast. The third was the Los Angeles Half which I regret to say I did not participate in due to a pretty bad sinus infection (I was able to run the 3 mile mini marathon and still get a medal). 






In the meantime, James spent the time globetrotting: Mexico, Brazil, Atlanta, Vegas..He is back now with only some short travel through the next few months. 


This month, my mom and aunties are coming to visit Los Angeles - we have some fun things planned, including a hockey game and wine tasting.  While I am at work, they will be taking the town by storm on a TMZ tour, The Price is Right and Disneyland. 


At the same time, James will be hosting some friends for a bachelor party, our dear friend Patrick Lamb will be getting married this New Years Eve! Patrick was the best man at our wedding, and James will be serving as his best man. I am looking forward to celebrating their marriage! And having a date in a tux on new years :) 


We will be spending the holidays in Connecticut this year, then making our way to Massachusetts (Hingham) for the New Years wedding.  


Looking at the calendar, it doesn't seem like the dust will be settling any time soon, though life really is better that way. And, once back from the holidays, I will start training for the Los Angeles FULL Marathon!! I think I have finally convinced Becky to join me on that adventure, and our goal will simply be to cross the finish line. 


Keep in touch and we hope to hear from everyone really soon!
Love
Roxanne and James

More pictures from Aruba!

Sunset on our first night in Aruba

Little shops across from our hotel

Enjoying Pina Coladas

The Jolly Pirate ships, used for snorkel tours

On the Jolly Pirate ship

James Snorkeling. We learned quickly to wear our rash guards
to avoid turning as red as the rest of the tourists. 

Getting drinks at the pool bar after racing on the water slide

Watching a sunset, we tried to do this every night. 

Pasta made in a giant cheese round. Delicious!

Disgusting local beer! In the city checking out
the shopping and museums (Sparse!)

Ancient trash dump - emptied shells left behind after dinner

Trip to Aruba!

Snorkeling

Snorkeling! James

Snorkeling! Roxanne

Jumping off the pirate ship snorkel tour!

The beach front with Palapas in the background. 

Getting ready for happy hour and a beautiful nightly sunset. 

Happy Hour - of course!

More enjoyment of Happy Hour!

Our amazing dinner at the Flying Fish - watching the sun set,
and toes in the sand.

Late night drinks and cigars on the pier

Our fabulous view - from our room. 

James was awesome at sailing!

The Hobie Cat he sailed - did an amazing job!

Amazing blue warm waters - my favorite place to be!

Pool side after a long day of paradise!

Sail boats and the gorgeous sunset

My FAVORITE activity! floating in the warm clear blue waters!
Our last day there. 

Wake boarding past the resorts!
Our last day there. 

At LAX during "carmagedon" before our trip started.

At LAX during "carmagedon"

Update from the West! 4/12/2011

Well it has been too long since I've sent one of these, hasn't it?

Just a quick update of the last quarter:

In January, James and I went to Argentina - well he was going there for work, anyway, and I tagged along. It was very last minute but very exciting! We got to spend some quality time together at some great restaurants and did some site seeing. I can't recommend Buenos Aires enough - gorgeous city. Here is a link to some pictures from that trip

In February we celebrated my birthday by heading to dinner at a fantastic restaurant on the Sunset Strip with friends. It was the night before the Academy Awards, so reservations were hard to come by and we ended up eating at 6 p.m. but that just gave us and our friends some more time to have fun after dinner with bar hopping and a giant cotton candy

I was also able to go see my favorite hockey team (Washington Capitals) play against the Ducks - Becky got me fourth row tickets! It was fantastic! My favorite player scored an awesome goal only feet away from where we were sitting!

In March I got to spend another week in the hotel with James, this time in downtown Los Angeles - it was really fun to be cosmopolitan for the week!

We have otherwise been keeping ourselves busy with our Disneyland passes, James has been spending his time wake boarding and we have been trying to spend time with friends. I have been trying to keep up with a running schedule, I have quite a few 1/2 marathons this year - May, September and two in October already planned. I am also now on my HOA board, AND my alumni board which both keep me incredibly busy.

Last week we attended our friends' fabulous wedding and we got to dance the night away together, it was theperfect ending to the first quarter of the year.

Hope all is well with everyone and as always we hope for updates really soon!

Celebrating our friend Tim's birthday at Disneyland!