District of Columbia

Just returned from an amazing weekend in DC with Eric and my parents. I loved the city; the architecture was beautiful, the historical landmarks were inspiring and the memorials were moving. We traveled there on the BoltBus and stayed at the Marriott Courtyard. The hotel was perfect because it was located right next to the New York Ave-Florida Ave Metro Station.

Eric and I riding the Double Decker Tour Bus

Washington Monument

National Air and Space Museum

The Capitol Dome: George Washington seated next to two female figures representing Liberty and Victory

Library of Congress

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Travels

It's been quite the hiatus, but I'm back. My travels in February + March consisted of a quick trip to Miami, FL for the Miami Boat Show, a week long escapade in South America, a chilly afternoon in Cold Spring, NY and a gorgeous weekend in Clearwater, FL.

Here are the highlights:
Sailing in Miami.

Liz, my awesome tour guide in Argentina!

Beautiful trees in Buenos Aires.

Dolphins were swimming around our boat during a tour of the Gaviota, Choros and Damas Islands in Chile. The tour was booked through Turismo Aventura Delfines in La Serena.

Here I am with Michelle my awesome tour guide in Chile!

Eric and I took the train to Cold Spring. Eric's loving our hike through Nelsonville Trail and Nature Preserve.

Eric and his brother Ryan took an early morning fishing trip. Here's Ryan with a huge redfish. Dunedin, FL

Spring Training in Sarasota. Rays beat the Reds 3-1.

12 Days until Opening Day!

To check out the full photo tour of each trip, click on the following links:
Miami
Argentina
Chile
Cold Spring
Clearwater

Movie watch

One of favorite things to do besides watching movies is researching upcoming movies. Didn't realize I loved movies so much? Here are some fun facts about this obsession:

*I have an extensive collection of movie tickets - starting in '91
*I saw each Lord of the Rings, in the theater, 6+ times
*Watching midnight screenings is my secret passion
*I worked at the Camino Real Cinemas in Santa Barbara for the better part of 5 years

The new James Bond movie will be released this November. Here's a short video with an inside look at Quantum of Solace.

Eric and I are planning a quick getaway to NYC this week. Some items on the agenda are seeing friends, visiting New School, touring The Cloisters, and watching The Bands Visit. This movie is currently playing in NY and LA and, as far as I know, hasn't been scheduled for a wide release yet. Should be interesting!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for a lot of wonderful things this year
My loving family, my amazing boyfriend Eric, my supportive friends, my lovely home in Orlando, my exciting job, and frequent flyer miles. This is the second year in a row that I'm flying home for Thanksgiving on miles. Considering how expensive flights are during Thanksgiving and the fact that my family has the best Thanksgiving meal in the world this is a good thing.

I love The Sugar Oaks
Eric posted the demo, artwork, and lyrics on his band's myspace (myspace.com/thesugaroaks) of a new tune called Near Easter. Check it out on myspace, and we encourage you to download it. Hopefully it can soundtrack something great for you.

Some trivia:
- Our good man and frequent collaborator Brett Walsh played the accordion.
- Jon Kraft recorded it.
- The song was supposed to be used in the end credits of an independent film called Feast of Flowers, starring Eric as a young William Bartram type during WWII, and set amongst local orange groves, the Kennedy Space Center, and the Econlockhatchee River.
- The film was aborted during the editing process.
- The song is written in "Raise E" tuning. Instead of dropping the E string to a D, you raise the D string to an E.

Navigation, Yachts, and more...
If you haven't had the opportunity to attend the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show, you are missing out. Our camera crew visited the show this year and got some great footage of the event. Our pre-roll shows a quick second of our boat show party-careful if you blink you'll miss it.

John Muir

Eric and I spent last week in California. We had the best time in Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco, Mill Valley, and Berkeley. It rocked. I'm so glad we went. It was an awesome, awesome week! We have some super photos to show for it too!! Flickr Cali Album

The video above was taken in Muir Woods. Here's a great quote by John Muir, the explorer/conservationist/naturalist - "Who publishes the sheet-music of the winds or the music of water written in river-lines?"

So, I'm officially a facebook newbie. Obviously Rachel's been raving about it for years, but why would I jump on a bandwagon like that?? Ha! Truth be told, I tried to sign up a long time ago before they opened it up to non-college kids. I didn't have a valid college email address when I tried to join (hmmm, does that show my age?) so I couldn't sign up. Since then they've opened it up to the public. Today I became a Facebook Pirate! Arrrrr! :) You get to find treasure, upgrade your ship, recruit pirates, and sail the seas. Sounds like a great time, right?

Anyway, it's so much better than myspace.

Viajando

I've actually been doing some traveling! I recently spent some time in Islamorada and St. Augustine. Plus, in 9 days Eric and I will be heading to California!!!

Islamorada was a lot of fun. The water was awesome and it was great bonding with my colleagues from work. The highlight was definitely snorkeling! There are some beautiful fish in the Keys!

During labor day weekend Eric and I spent a couple of days in St. Augustine. Highlights were cooling off at The Milltop Tavern, getting drenched in the craziest weather ever (this could also fall into the "things we should have avoided" category - depending on your frame of mind), eating at the fabulous Columbia Restaurant and enjoying our balcony with wine and a Nicaraguan cigar. Wow, what a weekend!

In baseball news, this week each team announced their nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. I was super impressed after reading the article on Nick Swisher-the A's candidate for the award. He's an excellent role model, donates his time and energy to women with cancer, tirelessly works with charities and even started his own called "Swish's Wishes".

Roberto Clemente was an extraordinary athlete and humanitarian. In December of 1972, Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, suffered two powerful earthquakes that leveled the city. Clemente decided to fly to Nicaragua shortly after the disaster to aid the earthquake survivors. Tragically, he perished on the way to Nicaragua. His plane crashed into the ocean on December 31st.

The Roberto Clemente Award was originally known as The Commissioner's Award but was renamed in 1973 in Clemente's honor. This is the first year that baseball fans will vote on the recipient of the award. You can vote here until Oct. 5th.

New adventures, daring mermaids, cuban treats, and a shooting star

In my absence, I've replaced my old computer, visited Cooperstown, caught a bass in upstate NY, and renewed my love for writing.

My mom, Eric, and I saw Stardust last night. It pretty much had everything you could possibly need in a movie: witches, princesses, magic, pirates, a sexy love triangle, flying, murder, secret kingdoms, princes rivaling for the throne, falling stars, unicorns, families reunited, and beautiful young love. What are you waiting for? Take your beautiful wench/hot captain to see this tonight!

Intermittent cheesiness may provoke nauseousness.

Tomorrow I leave for sunny Islamorada. I've never been so far south. It's going to be a long drive and I'm missing the coolest party this month. But, at least I'll be traveling for work again. I've been wanting this since March.

This week in history: August 26, 1939 First televised Major League Baseball game - Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Dodgers.