tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71617816600666832912024-02-19T00:48:21.610-08:00Keenan Family Est 7.9.2010Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-6214975159963027042012-11-10T14:24:00.003-08:002012-11-10T14:24:33.455-08:00We're on the Move!Yes, you read that right... The Keenan's are moving again! No, Conor hasn't joined the military nor are we secretly members of a traveling circus... But after only a year in Seattle, we are packing up our home and moving to Salt Lake City! No, we aren't converting to the Mormon faith either...<br />
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Conor has accepted a position as Material Control Manager with his current company Hexcel. This is a huge promotion for him! I am so proud of him and all his hard work & achievements!!! Unfortunately, this position is in Salt Lake City. Neither of us are thrilled about the move as we love Seattle and our house here, but we both understand that this is the best decision for our family and for advancing Conor's career. <br />
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Everyone wants to know when exactly we'll be making the move, which is still a little bit up in the air. Conor will start commuting weekly to SLC starting next Monday, while Liam & I split our time between Spokane & Seattle. We are planning on putting our house on the market as soon as possible and begin looking for a house in SLC. With the holiday season upon us, I don't want the pending move to inhibit any of my holiday plans! I will certainly be decking the halls regardless of how much actual time either of us will be at our house. As of right now, we think we'll officially be leaving Seattle in early January.<br />
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We shall see where life takes us, but we would love to eventually find our way back to the Pacific Northwest (or Spokane or Montana). Being close to family is important to us. In the mean time, we are looking at this opportunity as another great adventure. Wish us luck and COME VISIT!` :-)<br />
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<br />Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-43859994998126958962012-07-13T18:11:00.001-07:002012-07-13T18:11:41.256-07:00Happy Birthday America!<div style="text-align: center;">
On Monday afternoon, my doctor gave me the okay to travel to Spirit Lake for the 4th of July! Conor has been working long hours lately, so it was a much needed vacation. When we arrived at my parents cabin, my dad had a tentative itinerary written down; oh, I am just like my father. Conor & I helped add to it throughout our week, and then we completely gave up by the end. I thought it would be fun to only post our schedule and some pictures to go along! Things I learned after reviewing the itinerary: we do<em> a lot</em> of welcoming... Enjoy the craziness that is the Simpson Family!</div>
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday - July 3</span></u></strong></div>
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3:00-3:30 Keenan Family Welcome Ceremony (and toasts)<br />
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5:30-6:30 Darts Practice Rounds / Mojitos or Margaritas?</div>
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7:00 Dinner</div>
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8:30 Pregnancy & Birthing Update (Q & A with Conor)</div>
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Wednesday - July 4</span></u></strong></div>
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All day intermittent jigsaw puzzling: Laura's choice</div>
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8:00 Lattes & Miller's Maple Bars / Gin Fizzes?</div>
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11:00-1:00 Spirit Lake 4th of July Parade</div>
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1:00-1:05 Optional Tour of Downtown Spirit Lake</div>
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1:05-2:00 Free Time: bikes, kayaks, badminton, etc.</div>
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2:00-4:00 Party Boat Ride with Ryan, Chelsea, Linnea, Miles, & baby Hadley</div>
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4:00 Uncle Tom's Arrival & Welcome</div>
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4:00-5:30 Spirit Lake Championship Dart Tournament & Beer & Mancave Bratwurst Sampling</div>
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6:30 Dinner</div>
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7:30-8:00 Boat Ride Prep</div>
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<strike>8:00</strike> 9:12 (sharp) Business Casual Boat Ride / Fireworks & Fire on the dock!<br />
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*All times are subject to unexpected visits by Scaper*<br />
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday - July 5</span></u></strong><br />
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9:00 Breakfast at Annie's Country Kitchen<br />
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10:30 Lawn mowing, dock assessment, & puzzling<br />
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12:00 Exercise & Boat Ride Prep<br />
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1:00 Lunch & Booze Cruise<br />
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5:00 Uncle Tom / Courtney & Taylor Arrival for Post 4th of July Party - Conor to explain the circumstances surrounding the mysterious Simpson deck fire of last night<br />
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6:30 Pizza Dinner / Boci Ball (Conor won)<br />
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8:30 Fire in the Pit - S'mores<br />
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Friday - July 6</span></u></strong><br />
7:00 Conor flies with Uncle Tom<br />
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8:30 <strike>Maple Bars</strike> Banana Bread & Lattes<br />
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9:00 <strike>Dump Run</strike> Emergency Dentist Appt<br />
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<strike>9:30</strike> 11:00 4 mile Trail Walk<br />
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12:00 Dump Run for boys / Grocery Store for girls<br />
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12:30 Gin Fizzes<br />
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1:30 Party Boating (boat tour of Spirit Lake)<br />
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4:00 Free Time<br />
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5:30 Tony & Cindy Higley for Cocktail Hour<br />
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7:00 Dinner (Beer Can Chicken)<br />
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8:00 S'mores (again...the pregnant lady is craving them)<br />
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9:00 Game of Scott's Choosing<br />
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Saturday - July 7</span></u></strong><br />
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8:30 Round of Golf at Twin Lakes for the boys<br />
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9:00 Hayden Lake Farmer's Market for the girls<br />
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1:00 Ryan, Chelsea, Stephanie, John, & baby Hadley Welcoming<br />
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2:00 Party Boat Lake Tour<br />
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5:00 Downtown Spirit Lake Pub Crawl with Fried Pickles<br />
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7:30 Dinner (Flank Steak)</div>
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8:30 S'mores...again<br />
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9:00 A sampling of all alcoholic beverages begins<br />
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10:30 Pregnant lady hits the sheets...<br />
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11:00 Chaos (ie. walking on hot coals)<br />
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<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Sunday - July 8</span></u></strong><br />
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9:00 Miller's Maple Bars & Omelet Bar courtesy of Conor<br />
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9:30 Nap Time (for babies & those with a hangover)<br />
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10:00 Shari's Farmer's Market<br />
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11:00 Pack up the Car<br />
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12:00 Keenan Send Off :'(<br />
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</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-71182605755930005832012-05-31T10:10:00.000-07:002012-05-31T12:48:40.126-07:00May Foodie Penpal<div style="text-align: center;">
It's time to share my package of goodies from my May Foodie Penpal! My box was sent to me</div>
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by Toni from <a href="http://runninglovingliving.com/">runninglovingliving.com</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/" target="_blank" title="The Lean Green Bean"><img alt="The Lean Green Bean" src="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/foodiepal_stamp2.jpg" style="border: currentColor;" /></a><br />
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Toni sent me a box filled with snacks ready to eat. Just like last month, I dug in right away. I have no idea how she stayed under the $15 limit...apparently she's quite the savvy grocery shopper! Once again, I was horrible about taking pictures, I have this one of the whole stash.<br />
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First up was a package of farro. It is an Italian wheat, which Toni said was great in soups & salads. She enclosed a recipe as well, so I had an idea of how to use it. I had never even heard of this before! I am so excited to give it a try, but unfortunately haven't had time to make anything with it yet. Conor & I have had a crazy busy schedule lately, so every dinner I made has been quick & simple.<br />
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The next item to catch my eye was whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's. I love couscous and never knew you could buy a whole wheat version, bonus! I used this in a saffron couscous recipe that I make all the time. It went perfectly with some blue cheese & mushroom stuffed burgers I made last week.<br />
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One of my favorite items was the Bear Naked Fit vanilla almond crunch granola. As you all know, I've been a huge oats/granola kick lately, so this was perfect. I really like the Bear Naked brand, but hadn't tried any of their Fit mixes. This granola was very light & healthy. I liked it, but the pregnant woman in me would still prefer a sweeter granola. :-)<br />
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My absolute favorite item was the chocolate cookies from <a href="http://tatesbakeshop.com/" target="_blank">Tate's Bake Shop</a>! These were to die for! Crispy little morsels of goodness. Many of the cookies broke in the shipping process, which was alright by me because this way I had no idea how many cookies I was eating! Conor & I devoured these in two nights, and I haven't stopped thinking about them since.<br />
Ironically, I received another thing of Nutella To Go this month. The people of New York must really love their nutella (Toni is from New York as was last month's penpal)! I ate this treat in about two seconds. Once again delicious and was just what my sweet tooth needed!<br />
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The rest of the box was filled with all sorts of little snacks. Included were Aurora Natural Cranberry Health Mix, Lara Bars, a Kind bar, and Pop Corners (popped corn chips). I loved having a bunch of new snacks on hand, because I am always hungry! Plus they were easy to throw in my gym bag.<br />
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My penpal this month was a reader (not a blogger) so there will be no post from her. Since I had no blog to check out, I had to guess on what I thought she might like. I decided to send a few goodies that are all found in the Northwest, since she lives in New Mexico. From Seattle: Tom Douglas rub with love & Snoqualmie Falls Pancake Mix. From Spokane: Blue Cornbread Mix from <a href="http://www.christkitchen.org/store/shop/" target="_blank">Christs's Kitchen</a>.<br />
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<br />Here's what she said about my box in an email: "Got your box today! I just bought fresh blueberries and strawberries so tomorrow's breakfast might just be waffle n berries! I LOVE cornbread! I have been waiting to make a Paula Dean BBQ chicken and corn bread recipe so this is perfect ;) oh and my husband is from Spokane! We lived there for a bit when we were first married; small world! The salmon rub I think I'll use on fresh cut sweet potato wedges! The hubby doesn't eat ANY seafood at all but the ingredients in this seem to be just what I'd use on the wedges! Thanks again Laura. (I was secretly hoping you'd send chocolate cherries from Pike Street Market!) haha just kidding ;)"<br />
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I love Foodie Penpals, but unfortunately think I might need to take a break for a few months while I wait for Liam to arrive!<br />
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Here's some information about Foodie Penpals if anyone is interested:<br />
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-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.<br />
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! <br />
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!<br />
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)<br />
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.<br />
If you’re interested in participating for June, please <a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #a17244;">CLICK HERE</span></a> to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You will also find contact information on that page for the UK branch of Foodie Penpals if you’re a blogger across the pond. You must submit your information by June 4th as pairings will be emailed on June 5th!</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-64927848573116785282012-04-30T09:13:00.001-07:002012-04-30T09:31:17.593-07:00April Foodie Penpal<div style="text-align: center;">
It's time to share my first treats from my Foodie Penpal! My box was sent to me</div>
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by Jona from<a href="http://zeelemons.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> zee lemons.</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/" target="_blank" title="The Lean Green Bean"><img alt="The Lean Green Bean" src="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/foodiepal_stamp2.jpg" style="border: currentColor;" /></a><br />
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Jona sent me the most amazing stash of snacks; I was very excited to dig in. She sent some orzo, tea, a nutella snack pack, and homemade granola (with the recipe). Yes, homemade. She’s good like that! Along with my box, Jona sent a very nice card. There is something to be said about receiving a handwritten card, and I just love receiving mail in general!<br />
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(I had planned on taking plenty of pictures of all the goodies, but of course failed at that...I need to get better about using my camera more often!)<br />
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The orzo was a local item (Jona is from Troy, New York). It was Bon Vivant Orzo: wild mushroom, saffron, spinach, & cayenne flavored orzo from <a href="http://flourcitypasta.com/" target="_blank">Flour City Pasta</a>. I was so excited to try this since I've only ever used a boring, plain orzo. The flavors were incredible! I could really taste the cayenne flavoring which added a nice kick. Orzo is one of my favorite pastas, but I think it's frequently passed over. Nice to see someone else has an appreciation for it. I made this as part of the first dinner Conor & I had on our deck! Hello warmer weather!<br />
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The tea was lavender earl grey from <a href="http://thewhistlingkettle.com/" target="_blank">The Whistling Kettle.</a> I love all things lavender; it's as if Jona knew me! :-) I have been savoring this tea and am already worried about running out! Jona suggested I try it with steel cut oats if I was feeling adventurous. Yes, please! Does she know how many oats I've been consuming on a regular basis lately?! I can't wait to try the two together here soon.<br />
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The nutella snack pack was was a surprising delight. I know practically everybody loves nutella, but it's never really been my thing. However, my pregnant hormones were raging and as soon as I saw the snack pack I knew that I needed to eat it immediately. I just can't control myself sometimes. I devoured the snack in a few minutes and was left completely satisfied. Since this little treat, I have been thinking that I need a nutella & banana crepe...good thing the coffee shop just down the street will be able to help me with that.<br />
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The granola was probably my favorite item! I loved that it was homemade and that she gave me the recipe. I have always wanted to make my own granola, but never took the time to find a recipe I liked. Well this one was perfect! I was on a blueberry kick for awhile so this fit right in with my cravings. Here is the recipe for those of you who are interested:<br />
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<strong><u>Dried Blueberry Granola</u></strong><br />
2 tbsp honey<br />
2 tbsp coconut oil<br />
1/4 cup maple syrup<br />
2 tsp vanilla extract<br />
3 cups old fashioned oats<br />
1/2 cup shredded coconut<br />
1/2 cup almonds<br />
handful sunflower seeds<br />
3/4 cup dried blueberries<br />
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat wet ingredients on stove. Mix dry (except blueberries) in a bowl. Combine & bake 15-20 minutes. Add blueberries & enjoy!<br />
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Sometimes I alter a recipe depending on what's in my pantry, and sometimes I add my own little touch. I didn't have maple syrup or honey since I'm an agave nectar kind of girl so I just used 1/4 cup of agave as a substitute for both. I also added 1 tsp of almond extract since I had it on hand, and I think it was an amazing addition! The whole house smelled wonderful while it was baking!<br />
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Overall, I am so happy that I took part in Foodie Penpals, and I plan on doing it again! I definitely lucked out being paired up with Jona. She knows her stuff. Definitely take some time to check out her <a href="http://zeelemons.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>!<br />
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Also check out Adriana’s awesome blog at<a href="http://foodiebefit.com/" target="_blank"> Foodie Be Fit</a>. I sent her a box this month, so hopefully she liked it! I actually sent some similar items to what I received (tea & granola). Too funny!<br />
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Here's some information about Foodie Penpals if anyone is interested:<br />
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-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.<br />
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! <br />
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!<br />
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)<br />
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.<br />
If you’re interested in participating for May, please <a href="http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #a17244;">CLICK HERE</span></a> to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You will also find contact information on that page for the UK branch of Foodie Penpals if you’re a blogger across the pond!<br />
You must submit your information by May 4th as pairings will be emailed on May 5th!</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-46658329544531765722012-03-14T14:31:00.000-07:002012-03-14T14:31:33.647-07:00A tree, hot dog stand, presents, & pickles!In an effort to catch up on this blog, I'm putting all of December into one post. The month absolutely flew by and seemed like a blur...<br />
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As per tradition, Conor & I got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. However, this year there would be not trip to the pub for some cider beforehand. :'( Conor thought I was crazy for decorating our house for Christmas even though our movers were arriving on December 20th! I thought HE was crazy for actually suggesting that I wouldn't be putting up any decorations! However, I did agree to do no outdoor lights as a compromise.<br />
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I got to enjoy our tree and everything else I decorated (which is quite a bit) for a solid three weeks! Well worth the effort. The night we put up our tree I got an early Christmas/Congrats-on-being-pregnant gift...a heart rate monitor! I was very excited to get this so I could continue to work out and not have to worry about my heart rate getting too high.<br />
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The first weekend in December, we flew to Spokane for my good friend Andy's wedding. I have always thought winter weddings were gorgeous, so I was really excited for this one! I took practically no pictures unfortunately. I have been terrible about using my camera lately....I need to get better about this before our baby is here! While being the designated driver isn't my ideal role at a wedding, I still had a wonderful time! We weren't planning on sharing the news of my pregnancy with friends yet, since I was only 7 weeks along, but after Conor had a few drinks in him the cat was out of the bag! The highlight of the night was the hot dog stand right outside of the wedding reception! What a fabulous idea. Who doesn't love a late night hot dog?!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Back in Arizona, we said goodbye to friends and prepared for our big move. Although the movers came before Christmas, Conor & I still had to fly back to AZ after the holidays to drive his car and our cats to Seattle. It was such a busy month, with hardly any time to relax. However, Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year, and I made sure we enjoyed it! This year we went the MT to spend Christmas with the Keenans. It was a short visit, but I had such a great time experiencing all of their traditions with them. Christmas Eve we went to Church and then had oyster stew with the whole family. The next morning was stockings & cinnamon rolls followed up later in the day with more presents and a prime rib dinner. Later into the evening we all had Wii "Just Dance" tournament...and I would just like to say that, yes, I won!!! Not sure if it was my amazing moves or the fact that I was one of the few people that wasn't a couple glasses of wine deep! We will never know...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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The next morning, we got up super early and were on the road to Spokane was our second half of Christmas! Unfortunately, my brother Ryan was really sick and missed out on the festivities this year. It was a fun day filled with brunch (virgin mimosas for the pregnant gals), presents, many competitive games of Foosball & pool, and another delicious prime rib dinner! This year my mom gave all of us girls (Shalan, Chelsea, & I) and Pandora bracelet with a baby carriage charm for all our little ones on the way! Such a special gift that I absolutely love. I have since added to it with a house (when we finally moved in) and a blue glass bead (when we found out Baby K was a boy). This Christmas was all about baby and next year will be crazy when are the three wee ones crawling around!<br />
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New Year's Eve was spent at Spirit Lake. We went to our favorite bar (of the three choices) The White Horse Saloon. I was happy because they have the most amazing fried pickles ever!e!! Seriously, they are the best. I find myself thinking about those pickles all the time. While everyone else was enjoying their drinks, I probably housed a whole order of pickles by myself! Before the bar got too crazy, we headed back to my parents cabin where we played games and watched the ball drop. I even stayed up til midnight, which at this point in my pregnancy was quite the accomplishment!<br />
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Hello 2012! This is going to be such an exciting year. Hopefully I will get better about blogging and taking pictures!Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-7226170792775982082012-02-21T12:57:00.000-08:002012-02-21T12:57:07.854-08:00Eating for TwoThis Thanksgiving was quite a bit different for me, since I didn't get to enjoy my usual mimosa, bloody mary, & wine! However, Conor & I had a lot to be thankful for this year! For me, the holiday starts on Wednesday (Prep Day) when I get all my grocery shopping done with every other woman cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The busyness of the grocery stores is all part of the fun! The rest of the day is spent brining my turkey (makes it so much more moist) and making pumpkin chiffon pie (my absolute favorite). When Conor gets home from work that evening, he helps with the rest of the prep cooking so there's not as much to do the next day!<br />
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We started our morning with the second annual Thanksgiving Day Walk! The weather was nice as usual, and it was great to get some exercising in before the big feast! It's crazy to think that next year, we will be pushing a stroller during our walk...<br />
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Conor is a master in the kitchen; he litterally had the stuffing made and the turkey in the oven all while I was taking a shower and getting ready for the day! We realized we were so prepared this year that we had a ton of down time to relax and watch some football. This isn't nearly as fun without the morning cocktails, but I survived. That afternoon, we went to the movie theater (as per tradition) and saw Arthur Christmas. It was too cute and got me very excited for the holidays!<br />
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Our meal was excellent as always and such a fun evening to kick off the holiday season! I couldn't help but thinking this is our last Thanksgiving as a family of two. Next year, we'll be adding some steamed sweet potatoes to the menu! :-)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Z5Jj6nFMpprhyphenhyphensD4XONRnG4Gyq1FFLNQ_oldOdV_z2LJMaed4dB7vim5gHgZW0DaVvvRWOC_JRuGxO1yC5q2sEraWChV4UCbAN5SBy6_npcP7cQV2yrdp5beT9nUJRZssaIfG4nPrCtW/s1600/IMG_0717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Z5Jj6nFMpprhyphenhyphensD4XONRnG4Gyq1FFLNQ_oldOdV_z2LJMaed4dB7vim5gHgZW0DaVvvRWOC_JRuGxO1yC5q2sEraWChV4UCbAN5SBy6_npcP7cQV2yrdp5beT9nUJRZssaIfG4nPrCtW/s400/IMG_0717.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-72762737715700221112012-02-09T12:43:00.000-08:002012-02-09T12:43:14.205-08:00Let's Buy a House!A week after we returned from Europe, we flew up to Seattle in search of a place to live. Originally, we weren't supposed to move until March, so we were in no hurry to figure out our housing situation until after the holidays. However, right before we left for Europe we got the oh so wonderful news that we could move sooner! I could not been happier but was also a little stressed out about how much we needed to do before the move!<br />
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Conor had business up in Everett during our trip to Seattle, so I got to spend some quality time with my friend Mikael! She took me to Black Bottle, an awesome wine bar in Bellevue! Almost as great as Purple...but let's be honest, nothing is better than Purple! Later that night, we had a blast playing Dance Central and drinking some vodka gimlets. I can't wait for more nights like these! In fact, we had so much fun that I convinced Mikael to call in sick to work that following morning! The next day Conor met up with us for lunch on Capital Hill and then happy hour & dinner in South Lake Union. Our college friend, Jamie, joined us along with Mikael's boyfriend Arza. <br />
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</div>On Friday I met with Shanna, our realtor, to look at some houses while Conor was at work. Conor & I had pretty much decided that we wanted to live in West Seattle. Neither Conor nor I had spent much time in the area, but we liked the proximity to his work (about a 25 minute commute) and to downtown Seattle (10 minutes). It's a great neighborhood and very family friendly! :-) Being so close to Alki beach is another plus. Shanna & I looked at about 15 houses...it was exhausting! There was one house I loved and few others that were okay. I wanted to buy a house so bad, but Conor was still on the fence about the whole thing. I was really just hoping that he was going to fall in love with the same one I did. It was technically an older home but had been completely re-done, updated, and modernized by a really cool local company, Green Canopy Homes, who have a strong focus on energy efficiency and a modern style that just fits Conor and I so well.<br />
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I had the evening to butter Conor up about how wonderful this house was before he would see it the next day. I'm sure I talked his ear off the whole drive to Bellevue where we met up with my friend Gretchen! She moved to Seattle right when I left for Delaware, so I rarely got to see her. It's so nice to be moving back to city where we already have friends! Gretchen took us to the 520 Bar & Grill where we chatted it up over a couple glasses of wine. We might have bored Conor a little bit with all the girl talk, but he was just happy to be done with work for the weekend and to have a beer and a scotch in front of him! <br />
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We spent Saturday looking at more houses, and I finally got to show Conor my favorite! He had really liked what he saw on the MLS listing, and loved it in person. Just as much, if not even more, than I did! While standing in the living room he exclaimed, "Oh man, I'm really going to buy a house aren't I?!..." It was such a big decision, and we had so much of our future up in the air in the coming years, so we decided to call it a day on the house hunting and sleep on it. We drove around West Seattle at night to see the neighborhood more and make sure things looked safe. Then we went to Buddha Ruska, a Thai restaurant very close to our potential future home and had a great meal. By the end of dinner, we were getting closer to sorting out all the details in our head and deciding what our next move would be. We were still strongly considering renting, at least for a short time while we got re-settled in Seattle, but found that the rental market was so strong in Seattle that it was darn near impossible to find a place that we felt we could be comfortable in for anywhere near what we felt was a reasonable price. Not to mention that that there was next to nothing worth checking out in the areas that we wanted to live... You see where this is heading... ;0)<br />
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Sunday we grabbed some bagels and coffee and decided that it was time to meet up with Shanna, put in an offer on the house we loved, and hop on the plane back to Arizona. That next week Conor buried himself in paperwork, the internet, and spreadsheets trying to learn and calculate everything under the sun with respect to buying a house, shopping for home loans, and budgeting out our next few years . We worked through a few rounds of counter offers back and forth before finally coming to an agreement that we were comfortable with. The closing date was set for December 21st, and we were moving to Seattle on January 3rd so, needless to say, our timeline to get this deal done was pretty tight... Fortunately, we had the best realtor and loan officer and they immediately got to work in setting everything up for closing. After flying around like crazy for a couple days getting paperwork signed, notarized, and overnighted back to Seattle, not to mention another week of business in France and Italy for Conor... We finally had a chance to sit down and toast to our new adventures as homeowners! To top everything off, we got the wonderful news that I was pregnant that same week! There's nothing like hitting a couple of milestones all at once!<br />
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We couldn't be happier with the house, the location, the neighbors, and getting to know Seattle again! Although the house was so fresh, new and ready for us to move in when we first arrived, we have made some great progress in making it our own by doing some painting, trading out some of our furniture to better fit the house, and adding some additional features for storage and such. Once we get a little more settled, I will post lots of pictures! For those of you who are in Seattle or close by, we will definitely be throwing a big housewarming party at some point to celebrate...so stay tuned! And then maybe another one... just in case it's too cold or rainy to break in the awesome deck and take in the view! Or we'll surely find some other excuse to party! :-)Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-20822477084755472322012-01-31T18:02:00.000-08:002012-01-31T18:06:20.639-08:00At Least the Wine Was Good<div align="center">Our European Vacation: Part III</div><div align="center"></div><div style="text-align: left;">We arrived in Paris exhausted and hungry for some American food! In<br />
stead of trying to navigate public transportation, we jumped in the first cab that would speak (some) English and drove straight to our hotel. We dropped our bags and went in search of a juicy hamburger. Lunch was outrageously expensive, but worth the comfort of some familiar food. Conor was pretty excited about his double yolk egg!<br />
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</div>Conor was going to be very busy with work most of our time in France, so we took advantage of the little time we had together. Our first night we took a long walk towards the Eiffel Tower and had dinner outside at a cute little restaurant just a block from the tower. Neither Conor nor I spoke any French which made for an interesting Paris experience. We still tried, with the 3 or so words we could say... But many of the people we encountered the first couple of days were unwilling to speak English to us and were quite rude about it. Going out to eat was difficult at times with the language barrier. However, most of the meals were tasty and the wine was always delicious! I can't complain about that! Conor had stories when he returned from a few days on business, of all the crazy foods he had tried. But I stuck to what I felt comfortable with... After dinner, we finished the walk to the Eiffel tower right and arrived right as the lights were twinkling...so pretty!<br />
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The next three days Conor travelled around France for work while I stayed in Paris. I'm embarrassed to say, I did not do much during this time. I was very frustrated with trying to navigate the metro system and was finding it impossible to communicate with anyone French. Each day I would go for a walk and attempt to take in the culture but it was a rainy couple of days so that didn't work out so well. Instead, I caught up on some much needed sleep and anxiously waited for Conor to return. I did find one very friendly crepe stand guy, which was a breath of fresh air....'til I realized that I really don't' like crepes all the much... Needless to say, I ate a lot of frosted flakes those couple of days, oh well!<br />
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My favorite thing in Paris was the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. It is a beautiful church set up on a hill with fantastic views. The neighborhood surrounding the church has lots of character and, from what we were told, is where many of the famous artists from Paris worked and lived. The streets and square were filled with artists painting and displaying their art. We spent quite a bit of time roaming the streets and oogling all the local art. We wanted to purchase a few things;however, we decided it would be so hard to travel back to the states with a large painting. Unfortunately, we walked away empty handed.<br />
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Next on our list of sights to see was Notre Dame. I had really been looking forward to seeing it, even though we had visited many churches over the past three weeks at this point. I have to say I was fairly underwhelmed and maybe even a little disappointed. It was still a great experience to be at such a historical site, but it was nothing like I had expected. Maybe that Disney movie gave me the wrong impression....<br />
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Already a bit worn down by the time we got there, we felt very ready to be home by the end of the week in Paris. Our first big trip to Europe was a crazy and amazing adventure. Surely a time that we will always remember with great memories. We can't wait to go back and continue exploring. I think next time we would love to visit Ireland, maybe even bring the golf clubs!<br />
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Next up: A couple holidays, the move to Seattle, and our new house!</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-21694781830084445332012-01-20T18:08:00.000-08:002012-01-20T18:08:10.828-08:00Dinner with BaffettoWow, life got so busy these past two months! The news of Baby K, the holidays, and our move to Seattle have really derailed my blogging. Now that we are somewhat settled in our new house, I'm getting back to the blog. I'm going to do a few quick "catch-up" posts if my pregnancy brain can recall what we've done since October. I'm also starting a seperate blog for Baby K where everyone can follow my ever growing bump and all other things baby. Stay tuned... In the meantime, back to Italy:<br />
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Unfortunately we only had 2 days to spend in Rome, so we were determined to get in as many activites as possible! My friend, Abby Hall, recommended a bed & breakfast to us that we ended up just loving! We stayed at <a href="http://www.gulliverslodge.com/Inglese/Welcome.html">Gulliver's Lodge</a>, which was just a short walk from the train station. The owner was so sweet and provided us with maps, restaurant recommendations, and more! Our first tourist site of the day: The Vatican.<br />
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Since it was late October, the Vatican wasn't too busy and we didn't have to wait in line at all! Here we got super touristy and downloaded some Rick Steve's audio tours! This ended up being an excellent decision since we weren't doing any guided tours. We learned so much more than we ever would have picked up on our own. It was especially helpful in the Sistine Chapel, which was my favorite part of the Vatican. It was also amazing to see the Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica! Inside, we also saw some interesting glass tombs with dead, preserved popes... right before we ate no less...cool & creepy all at the same time! We finished up our audio tour and made our way out, mission acomplished. Thanks for the fun & witty facts Rick Steves!<br />
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After lots of walking, we were more than ready for a big meal! We went to this small restaurant close to our B & B that the owner recommended. It was my favorite meal of the whole trip! The place wasn't expensive so we each ordered a 4 course meal, mmm. Antipasti, tortellini soup, fettucine carbanara, & tiramisu...and every bite was amazing! The 2 liter carafe of wine wasn't as incredible...but for 10 Euro I loved it! Just when things couldn't get better, we informed that the restaurant's credit card machine is broken and they are only accepting cash...we had none. Talk about awkward! So Conor goes on a long trek to find a cash machine while I wait in the restaurant alone...and all the wine was gone! They was some rioting in Rome a few days before we arrived, so the only ATM close by that he could find was completely bashed in and not working. Conor returned with no money and tried to explain that we would have to bring it to them tomorrow. The owner was pretty nice about the whole thing, although quite distrought that his machine wasn't working, and let us leave with our tab unpaid. But of course we returned the next day to pay our debt, for which he was very grateful!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next day we planned on going to the Colosseum and the Forum, but unfortunately the Colosseum was closed for the day. Such a big bummer, I was really looking forward to it. Instead we spent more time with Rick Steves in the Forum. I absolutely loved our time there; the sun was shining and there was so much to see! We found a great vantage point inside the Forum to get a good look at the Colosseum as well. There we listened to more of Mr. Steves' wonderful facts and tried to imagine what it looked like inside. After all the hours we logged listening to Rick, I realize now that I find his voice quite soothing. He could probably put me to sleep!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We continued our sightseeing into the evening as we walked to dinner. Our stop at the Pantheon was perfect timing as it wasn't too crowded. Conor's brother Kyle lived in Rome for three months and had some awesome suggestions! Dinner was at a pizza place called Baffetto's, and it was the best pizza I had while in Italy! Wish I could have some right now... Even though we arrived soon after the restaurant opened, the place was already packed. There is absolutely no place to wait inside, so instead a line forms around the block. We braved the chilly temperatures while waiting for a table. Thirty minutes later, we were seated right next to the pizza oven: a perfect spot to watch all the action! Our wine was served in an old flower pitcher which was massive! While waiting for our pizza, we listened to the head pizza maker yell orders at the others in his, what can only be described as, "Godfather"-esk voice. Pretty authentic, we knew we were in the right place! We also had the privilege of watching Baffetto himself in action. Baffetto is the cutest old man ever, with huge glasses and a sweet platinum white mustache, who was indirectly running the whole show. Even though the place was packed, they left a whole table open for him to sip his wine and occasionally bark out orders to his employees if he saw them slacking. The whole experience was awesome!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Kyle's next suggestion was right across the street, so we walked our full bellies just a few steps and we were at the Abbey Theater, an Irish pub. Apparently they have them everywhere! No complaints here, I'll take a cider (shocker). We had a few drinks while chatting with some friends that Kyle had made during his time in Rome. Our third stop, in the best corner of Italy, was to the Frigidarium: the absolute best gelato in all of Italy! I had a scoop of banana and a scoop of coconut and couldn't have been happier. I have dreams of this gelato still! This is a must stop the next time you're in Rome.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Later we took a night walk through Rome and saw the Trevi Fountain. The site was spectacular at night, absolutely beautiful. It was a very romantic spot, other than the many teenagers roaming around who were probably up to no good! Before we left, I made a wish...and if you've been keeping track with us on Facebook, you'll know it came true! Baby K is on the way! :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After visiting the Spanish steps, we headed back to our room for about 4 hours of sleep before our flight to Paris. Two days was not nearly enough time in Rome; next time, I'll be sure to extend our time there! Next blog is Paris, and then we will be done with Europe. I was not a huge fan of Paris, so maybe I'll be able to convince Conor to blog this time... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-63711759132541758502011-12-11T12:10:00.000-08:002011-12-11T12:10:50.380-08:00Our Friend FirenzeFlorence was the next stop on our European Tour. We spent four days here, so I will try not to bore everyone with the day to day details; instead, I'll just hit the highlights! Conor picked out our hotel, which was absolutely wonderful, but had a couple of quirks! We had a great view of Florence and the Duomo from our patio, where we had many many glasses of wine. The lobby of the hotel had a bar, which we visited frequently! Especially when we needed that extra bottle of wine after dinner. :-) The only real downside to our hotel room: the shower was so tiny, it was nearly impossible to wash your hair in there! Also, we were on on the top floor, so we had to go up six flights of stairs every time...ooh the legs were burning after a long day of sight seeing!<br />
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We had plenty of time to enjoy Florence, so we relaxed a little bit more and weren't in a rush to see everything as quick as possible. We had great weather in Florence (only one day of rain), so we spent as much time outside as possible. Our first night there, we went to dinner at Buca Lapi (a recommendation from my friend Christy Bloom). This meal was such a treat, but you definitely paid for it! It was probably the most expensive meal we had in Europe, but it was so worth it. Not only was every thing absolutely delicious, but the ambiance was enjoyable as well!<br />
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We spent almost an entire day at the street market trying to make some deals, which started out as fun...but then I got a little antsy (read: I needed a glass of wine ASAP if we were going to continue shopping for one item all day!) Conor really wanted to buy a leather bag, but it took a long long time to get the price down as he wasn't buying it without a deal. I get so awkward in these situations; I just don't understand why they can't put a reasonable price on things! To take a break from all the street fair mayhem, we went to the Mercado Central to search for some lunch! This market was incredible, but also a little disturbing as people were selling cuts of meat that I couldn't even look at, let alone imagine eating! However, we avoided all the raw pig & cow and decided on a Rick Steve's recommendation, a great sandwich spot. We then found a wine store, got two plastic cups, and were ready to find some Church steps to enjoy our lunch on!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of my favorite things that we did in Florence was climb the Duomo. Conor's brother, Kyle, told us to do this at sunset (about an hour before they close) to avoid the lines. This was the best piece of advice! Usually there was a huge line to do the climb, and a very slow process as not everyone is in as good of shape as us! ;-) Luckily neither of us are claustrophobic because the staircase was steep and very very narrow! The view at the top was absolutely spectacular! Such a wonderful view of the city; you are really missing out if you don't climb the Duomo.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My parents recommended that we take a day trip to Siena since it's so close to Florence. Siena wasn't quite as busy as Florence, so it was nice to get away from the crowds of people. We walked around for a bit to work up an appetite, and then found a deli that, yet again, Rick Steves recommended. This was the most simple, yet best lunch we had! The shop was very authentic, with an Italian man sporting an awesome handlebar mustache helping us. Unfortunately he is not a fan of tourists, so no cameras are allowed inside. At this deli you pay by the weight of your sandwich, so this guy loaded up some baguettes with salami, prosciutto, and pecorino fresco. That's it! Washed down with some red wine, it was perfect! We enjoyed our lunch in the sunny Piazza del Campo. There was such great people watching we could have spent the whole day there; but alas, there was more exploring to do!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our last day in Florence was the only day of rain. This worked out perfectly, since we planned on spending the day in museums. First, we went to la Academia to see the David. I was moderately excited about this activity, since I think it's absolutely ridiculous to pay a bunch of money to see something that you used to be displayed in public for free! However, it was well worth it; I was completely blown away by how magnificent the statue is in person! There are many other great things to see inside as well, but the David is definitely the highlight. Our next stop was supposed to be the Uffizi Gallery, but we decided that neither of us were actually all that interested in the art...so we skipped it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We had a much better time hiking up to Piazzale Michaelangelo! This is where the original David used to be; there's a replica there now that is just terrible looking once you've seen the real thing! Here you get another great view of the city, which never gets old! We left the square and went to Ponte Vecchio where we strolled with more gelato! I got black cherry this time and it was to-die-for!!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ60GofeX8nO9LLttdmJpw9fH2AIbD3JtwL2OY6xzrDemv6W8s1kZ6w4rzreQtjD4ewac79hvIX-2FAKZI-r8Ea_9Da_MG0VMZcrEIfTXrWev38wDnaYDZu_oJmbSdcCiDovuOCEr-b-Eg/s1600/IMG_0458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ60GofeX8nO9LLttdmJpw9fH2AIbD3JtwL2OY6xzrDemv6W8s1kZ6w4rzreQtjD4ewac79hvIX-2FAKZI-r8Ea_9Da_MG0VMZcrEIfTXrWev38wDnaYDZu_oJmbSdcCiDovuOCEr-b-Eg/s400/IMG_0458.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next day we hauled all our luggage back to the train station and had a little time to kill. So of course we had the last glass of wine from a bottle from the night before. I know what you're thinking: "We had leftover wine?!" This time we couldn't find cups anywhere...oh well! Roma is next!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQCprkbpTacLUxr8Q7cHVLnYOn4PNQ6bAqIT3vr-9R4eEKizps0Lp8W2A2SLLuCaBuqju9EnD2-oXaSzPOt5xfd9x_bmKA9D1CCETSKM1EsE1NV3ycnUnOvMpvX-SWSd_GEEMZ7Duoowa/s1600/IMG_0471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQCprkbpTacLUxr8Q7cHVLnYOn4PNQ6bAqIT3vr-9R4eEKizps0Lp8W2A2SLLuCaBuqju9EnD2-oXaSzPOt5xfd9x_bmKA9D1CCETSKM1EsE1NV3ycnUnOvMpvX-SWSd_GEEMZ7Duoowa/s400/IMG_0471.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-86516471034143043682011-12-01T20:48:00.000-08:002011-12-01T21:04:48.095-08:00Our Introduction to the Spritz<div align="center">Our European Vacation: Part II<br />
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Ah Venice, what a magical place! We arrived around 10am, absolutely exhausted, and with no real plans. First step, finding a water taxi and then our hotel. This was the beginning of numerous wrong turns and many miles of hauling luggage, but we loved every minute of it! With our Rick Steves Italy book in hand, we rather easily bought tickets for the water taxi and were on our way. Venice was more beautiful than I had even imagined! It was a wonderfully sunny day and we were ready to explore...after a brief nap of course. Luckily, Conor's blackberry worked in all of Europe so we could use GPS and not have to rely solely on maps. This made finding our hotel much easier. Although I thought we had packed "rather" light, considering our three week trip in three different countries, I was very wrong. Venice is full of steps! We had plenty of canals to walk over to get to our hotel and my bag was a little too big & heavy for all that lifting! (Just for a mental picture, we each had a shoulder bag and piece of rolling luggage, and then there was an extra duffel bag.) But just so you know, I hauled my monster of a bag all over Europe with no complaints!</div><div align="left"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXdjWi-1VwTjIVE05yxSEXBvSGKNX8uaj6Jwae5mwZPoofsRdQTCOzs0Jx5wca75wBEb9ULCxShngOyu9LTUwEurJ6JAvEUMOt-2Iv67PO0lW-kaMv1dn70Y1gt1JeEb9H1UU-IfCG5WJ/s1600/IMG_0253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkXdjWi-1VwTjIVE05yxSEXBvSGKNX8uaj6Jwae5mwZPoofsRdQTCOzs0Jx5wca75wBEb9ULCxShngOyu9LTUwEurJ6JAvEUMOt-2Iv67PO0lW-kaMv1dn70Y1gt1JeEb9H1UU-IfCG5WJ/s400/IMG_0253.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div align="left">We stayed at a small bed & breakfast which was just perfect for us! The owner was so nice and helpful which made our entire Venice experience wonderful. After touring through Europe, I now have a definite preference for small, boutique hotels. They are just so much more personal! We took a nice long nap, and then finally began exploring the many streets and canals of Venice! First things first, we found the nearest campo to get a glass of vino and make some plans for the day. Refreshed, we made our way to San Marco Square to take in all the action. Wow, there were tons of people...or I should say tourists! </div><div align="left"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBaUpViJoTurMaK-lYuoZxgtDHjLq0masoiic26b5f5ZADAPNi1cnd68VLAiWmvjmF_YHMLoCTN7IOhBFMA_m54DM7suFn9fs_WZ9FHgMZr29qpOVkjk7uMi9XF00Jw9i2XdEONHUZ1aqv/s1600/IMG_0267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBaUpViJoTurMaK-lYuoZxgtDHjLq0masoiic26b5f5ZADAPNi1cnd68VLAiWmvjmF_YHMLoCTN7IOhBFMA_m54DM7suFn9fs_WZ9FHgMZr29qpOVkjk7uMi9XF00Jw9i2XdEONHUZ1aqv/s400/IMG_0267.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Venice was such an incredible place, the pictures don't even do it justice. Sometimes, I even think it looks like we're standing in front of a green screen...you just can't believe it's real! After walking around and getting our bearings, we got ready for dinner with Claire and Alberto who soon became great friends! Claire is (get ready for this): Conor's, sister's, study-abroad-roommate-in-Spain, who visited Conor's family in Montana once years ago... She is from France but currently lives on the mainland near Venice with her boyfriend Alberto who grew up there in the town of Maestra. Conor had met her once before...so we quickly got past introductions and into one of our favorite nights of the entire trip! It was such a fun evening! Claire and her boyfriend, Alberto, picked us up and took us to the mainland for aperitifs and dinner.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This entire night was quite the experience! First, we went to a bar where Alberto ordered everyone a Spritz...I was a little skeptical of whatever this "Spritz" was going to be, so I opted for a glass of processco instead. However, I really missed out! The Spritz was delicious! Alberto told us it was processco, Aperol (or Campari), and a little bit of club soda. Add an orange slice and an olive, cin cin (cheers)! We have since made many of these at home! Mmm, so delicious and refreshing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We had originally decided to have pizza for dinner, but after they got two drinks in me they pursuaded me into switching to "crudo" (raw) seafood, eek! I had been warned about seafood in Venice, and how everything would come with their heads still on, scary! Conor was super excited. I, of course, did not want to be a downer that evening, so I figured I would give it a try. I had no idea what I was in for. Alberto took us to a restaurant owned by their neighbor. We were greated right away by this neighbor, his mother, and brother the chef. We smiled and waved since no one was speaking English. In fact, they were speaking an Italian dialect that even Claire had a hard time understanding. No menus; Alberto chatted with the mother about what was currently fresh and made selections for the table based on that. I had no idea what I was gonna get and was very nervous about it. Not to mention the fact that I was starving! The Italians eat late, and I was not prepared for this! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Course 1: Polenta with fried baby shrimp...interesting. Conor finished the last third of mine. :-) Course 2: Various unidentifyable pieces of seafood, except for some shrimp (thank the lord ;0) ). Conor's was raw, but I had my plate cooked. I thought this was the main course and only plate of food I would get....so at this point I was a little nervous that I would leave a little hungry... boy was I mistaken! This picture shows my, "I'm not so sure about what I'm about to eat, face!"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2zmgRQswZev5nsmgtZzstobceFgngA9ZR9BKt_oiURYtN6wWpbj6t_vz5UqPi1VlGBj-aDjxTkPOZv_1GhFm8niCw0F8TKT1b6qC8B1ErQPWiTm9A8m2mrsz1Mk_a31YE4qAq9Ur-XOR/s1600/IMG_0274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2zmgRQswZev5nsmgtZzstobceFgngA9ZR9BKt_oiURYtN6wWpbj6t_vz5UqPi1VlGBj-aDjxTkPOZv_1GhFm8niCw0F8TKT1b6qC8B1ErQPWiTm9A8m2mrsz1Mk_a31YE4qAq9Ur-XOR/s400/IMG_0274.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have to say, I really opened my mind to this meal and ate most of what was put on my plate...but no heads :-). I let Conor have those. And lots of it was actually quite delicious. I was pleasantly surprised! Conor loved everything and was in complete heaven. However, he was a little worried about me and not sure how I was handling the food. I think I even surprised him a little. After the first massive plate of seafood was finished they brought another! Course 3: More seafood. This time mostly shellfish. There was lots of razor clams that I had never had before, but I loved them! I finally starting thinking that just maybe, this meal would fill me up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRutag-4b92WX50MDXaD97m0SzENvdUt6G6dq2An0BONlg9nvgYrP47bRQtZwT9JEkLP94509w76r8q3mkQr8wnEooJsgfVNLwyyvYbtFtu3InV6AN2AHMqxRFS6KzCmTLmhmIdiAMOalp/s1600/IMG_0277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRutag-4b92WX50MDXaD97m0SzENvdUt6G6dq2An0BONlg9nvgYrP47bRQtZwT9JEkLP94509w76r8q3mkQr8wnEooJsgfVNLwyyvYbtFtu3InV6AN2AHMqxRFS6KzCmTLmhmIdiAMOalp/s400/IMG_0277.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Course 4 (the best course): Porchini mushroom risotto. Oh my goodness, this was the best thing ever! I was already feeling full, but then they brought out a massive seashell of risotto. And then filled an entire dinner plate with it! Talk about a big dinner! I thoroughly enjoyed this portion of the meal as we dove into our second bottle of wine. By this point, you'd think the four of us were old friends!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next, we were brought sorbetto al limone to cleanse our palates before dessert. The sorbetto was a dessert all on its own. After this dinner, no meal on our trip was complete without sorbetto. And I like how you drink it out of a champagne glass, so fun! Lastly, we had a wonderful chocolate dessert and after dinner drinks. Conor was introduced to grappa, which he loved! The grappa was way to strong for me, so I had some liquor similar to Sambucca. The whole meal lasted about three hours, but felt like it just flew by. We didn't want the night to end. Sadly, we left Claire & Alberto at the train station and began the long walk through Venice, over the Realto Bridge, and back to our hotel. They were both such incredible hosts and we hope they will come visit us in Seattle so we can return the hospitality!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our second (and last day) in Venice was a Sunday, so not much was open. However, we did go to mass at Saint Mark's Basilica. This was one of my favorite experiences in Italy. Obviously, the mass was in Italian...so we didn't understand a word, but it gave us an opportunity to pay closer attention and not just go through the motions. It also gave us plenty of time to really take in the inside of the church. It was incredible and unlike any other church I've been too. I was so happy we took the time to do this.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Afterwards, we sampled our first bit of gelato. I was in love! I wanted gelato at all times of the day, and it was hard to limit myself during our tour through Italy. First flavors sampled: hazelnut & pear. Hazelnut was the best!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rest of the day we ate & explored. What could be better than that?! We never took a gondola ride...they are so expensive, besides we enjoyed walking around just fine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you're a fan on seafood, Venice is for you. If you're looking for pizza and pasta, Florence & Rome probalby have it beat but it was still delicious. In Venice, many of the restaurants really cater to the tourists and you can definitely get ripped off so you have to do a little research and find the good spots. We used recommendations as much as possible to tried and avoid this problem. The vino rosso della casa was never a disppointment however!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Monday morning came, we packed our things, and headed to the train station for our trip to Florence! Another great sunny day in Italy....whoever said it was the rainy season was sorely mistaken this week!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We had some time to kill before our train left, so we bought a few bottles of processco & red wine to enjoy as we sat outside the train station watching people and killing time. Thank you for no open container laws! There's nothing like sitting in the sunshine and enjoying some wine at 10am. :) The train ride sure flew by!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPaxvSLD7yzoeCi48CMSqShPHt8XAYxmi9o8oo9hWC1O1RF_wIK5-4-4pSEd8nc_LNArmYkOEjzrCVTDlaQVxGJm4pZAq9_43QTIpl_EtvPNwE154y_X1yfsbNUlTwrF7gAG7u4Dch3Xo9/s1600/IMG_0334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPaxvSLD7yzoeCi48CMSqShPHt8XAYxmi9o8oo9hWC1O1RF_wIK5-4-4pSEd8nc_LNArmYkOEjzrCVTDlaQVxGJm4pZAq9_43QTIpl_EtvPNwE154y_X1yfsbNUlTwrF7gAG7u4Dch3Xo9/s400/IMG_0334.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next up: Four days in Florence!</div><div align="left"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-55572928737528057772011-11-27T11:11:00.000-08:002011-11-27T13:33:54.140-08:00Trevor Cross is the New Rick StevesMy long time friend Trevor Cross spent this last year living in London, so I called him up to get suggestions on things to do. We talked and talked and talked; he had so many great recommendations, and not just your typical tour-book must-sees... he even mixed in his personal favorite, off the beaten path, recomendations! As if I wasn't excited enough, Trevor got me even more energetic about our trip! If you know Trevor, you know that he could get you excited about dang near anything. I swear he could turn a Cougar fan into a Husky, just give him 15 minutes!<br />
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With Trevor as our "guide," we mapped out our tour of London on the train ride into the city! Conor had to work that morning, so we didn't get into the city til about 4pm. We were determined to see everything on Trevor's list in one night, and we planned on walking everywhere.... Let the madness of London commence!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our first stop was the Borough Market to get a late lunch. This a beautiful outdoor market that Trevor said had a Pike Place Market feel but very London local. Since it was already starting to get dark by the time we arrived, most of the stalls were shutting down. We walked around as quickly as possible, taking in all the smells and delicious looking food. I wish we could have ate about 10 meals there! Our options were limited, so we decided on some "proper" fish and chips...and it did not disappoint!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWdvQD77_OGnkguZp4rdvsXvA8sk1O_2U1HgBiM9J4LCUeViIDcO6LxL1sbhk1AwNrojqyfU1Q5HIPnh49KaJUTL9q6u5w8xqVVQpoZUD16yDbA-smif86qwSwRNf2EgmPT-txyTkyz0h/s1600/IMG_0202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWdvQD77_OGnkguZp4rdvsXvA8sk1O_2U1HgBiM9J4LCUeViIDcO6LxL1sbhk1AwNrojqyfU1Q5HIPnh49KaJUTL9q6u5w8xqVVQpoZUD16yDbA-smif86qwSwRNf2EgmPT-txyTkyz0h/s400/IMG_0202.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We devoured every last bite of the fish....well almost every bite. It came with the skin on...and that got a little gross towards the end of our meal! We walked off our lunch on the way to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Since it was past 5pm on a Friday night, nothing was open. So we began the walking look-from-the-outside tour of many of London's sites. Obviously, you can't see much of the theater from the outside, so we moved on!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next, we saw Big Ben! I was actually really excited about this! I looked for Peter Pan, but unfortunately he was nowhere in sight. ;-) Big Ben wasn't quite as "big" as I was expecting, but a beautiful sight nonetheless.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim2gJf4eneCmhz53q2k9K8ulwo8a73AdAMBxAF6sBh6E6cufGd8q_QEKp9HfctnTabWHPGswnbqZ6PcUDDsuzxMxztqn4Bj-pc7XfeI9OjziL1EPfYjwPPJRwnvHU0CHAEGKBi14Y0y7au/s1600/IMG_0215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim2gJf4eneCmhz53q2k9K8ulwo8a73AdAMBxAF6sBh6E6cufGd8q_QEKp9HfctnTabWHPGswnbqZ6PcUDDsuzxMxztqn4Bj-pc7XfeI9OjziL1EPfYjwPPJRwnvHU0CHAEGKBi14Y0y7au/s400/IMG_0215.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of the highlights of the night was riding the London Eye. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded, so we didn't have to lose any time waiting in line. The views were spectacular, and I'm so glad that we did this at night...not that we had a choice. This Ferris wheel, of sorts, is absolutely massive, and was such a fun experience. I highly recommended it to anyone traveling to London, even though it's a little bit pricey!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnENEMLAxrU6JOf4qjjJkguM_AD23KUXOzED3P_YMLmLxBK30eKIFzyatusDhi4mNzFx6y7uVxoYvtPi5LZQifjz_UBUTUXLGrpp2q698gM0hhIoZg2xgoR8ozB8c5HLePGQipgzalrJQ/s1600/IMG_0229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnENEMLAxrU6JOf4qjjJkguM_AD23KUXOzED3P_YMLmLxBK30eKIFzyatusDhi4mNzFx6y7uVxoYvtPi5LZQifjz_UBUTUXLGrpp2q698gM0hhIoZg2xgoR8ozB8c5HLePGQipgzalrJQ/s400/IMG_0229.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We kept walking through the city and made our way to Parliament, Westminster Abbey, & Buckingham Palace. It's a different experience to explore a city at night, but we really enjoyed it. You never know what you'll run into walking around out there... For example, on the way to the Palace, we were suddenly overtaken by an impromptu rollerblade party! About 150 rollerbladers, some packing back-pack boom-boxes, and bike escorts. Awesome! As the evening went on, the drunks of London leaving the pubs were a sight to see. Our favorite "gentlemen", became the one who stumbled out of pub, gave a huge belch, and then exclaimed while holding his gut: "Arg... pub pain!" Ah, how lovely!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our final stop was The Jerusalem Tavern. This pub came highly recommended by Trevor! He explained it as off the beaten path and something straight out of a Dickens novel. He was absolutely right! With a little difficulty, we finally found the place. The front door was completely blocked by patrons and tables, so we ventured into the alley that led us to a side door. The place was so tiny, but exactly what we were hoping for. We squished our way through the many pub goers to make our way to the bar. It was so wonderful to sit down and enjoy my cider! We had just finished at least 11 miles of walking and were pretty exhausted. We called Trevor to tell him we had made it through London and found our way to the best pub ever! He told Conor he had to try the honey porter, which he did...and it was delicious! Even I had a few sips, so it had to be good! We wanted to stay forever, but the pub was closing down. We figured it was time to get back to the train station anyway, since our flight to Venice was at 6am. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrMHT_K7MB1qM9LhOcxS4C9oREBypTxJNcQBWWltPSSYoGSNpmY7iZlYf5j4OS6pJNgI90yUMarmqhGy1t7uM1rkfFeFiCbbwI76wLMcGLhlmHSvCMtrvCWNfPuGG1_ukXXnmxRKqTz1p/s1600/jersulam+tavern.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRrMHT_K7MB1qM9LhOcxS4C9oREBypTxJNcQBWWltPSSYoGSNpmY7iZlYf5j4OS6pJNgI90yUMarmqhGy1t7uM1rkfFeFiCbbwI76wLMcGLhlmHSvCMtrvCWNfPuGG1_ukXXnmxRKqTz1p/s400/jersulam+tavern.JPG" width="297" /></a></div>We arrived at the station at 11:45pm, perfect timing to catch the midnight train back to our hotel....or so we thought! Apparently, we misread the train schedule, because the last train left at 11:25....big oops! The next train wasn't until 4am, and it's an hour ride, so there was no way we would make our flight! After a little bit of panicing, we went to the ticket booth to try and figure out another way to get back to our hotel. We finally discovered there was a bus that could get us where we needed to go. So we walked outside into the bitter cold, and waited...and waited. Forty minutes later, we thought the bus was never going to arrive and frustration set in again. Finally the bus pulled up to the stop, and we both gave a huge sigh of relief. Little did we know, this bus ride was going to take about 2 1/2 hours. Utterly exhausted, we finally made it to our hotel room. We had a wonderful (or terrible...) hour of sleep, and then packed our bags Ryan-Air style... and walked to the airport to catch our flight. Needless to say, the Keenans were sleepy for the their arrival in Italy!<br />
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Coming up:Venice, Florence, & Rome!Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-64701214126212629522011-11-20T10:21:00.000-08:002011-11-20T10:57:53.484-08:00Absolutely No Nasties!<div style="text-align: center;">Our European Vacation: Part I</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Conor had to travel to England & France for work, so we planned a little vacation around it all! The first week of our trip was in Cambridge, England where Conor was very busy with work all week. For me, however, it was just the beginning of my 3 week vacation! We arrived on Saturday and walked around for awhile to get our bearings and feel for Cambridge. It's actually quite a small town with almost everything within walking distance. Very small curvy streets and people everywhere! We stopped at our first pub which was long, narrow, and absolutely packed. When I ordered a hard cider, the bartender asked if I wanted a pint? I must have given him a strange look because he proceeded to ask if I wanted a half pint or a pint! Who wants a half pint?! "Oh sure, just give me a little splash of beer please!" Silly English.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Although everyone speaks "English", half the time I felt like they were speaking a completely different language. Some of the accents are very thick, and I frequently found myself asking people to repeat themselves. Some of their sayings just crack me up! I noticed the label on a soda I was drinking that read: "Absolutely no nasties!" Nasties? Is this something I should be worried about? Have other things I've drank had nasties?! After trying to forget about "nasties", we went to an Indian place, aptly named The Gandhi, for dinner with a few of Conor's coworkers. It was some of the best Indian food I have ever had! We quickly learned that Indian cuisine is quite popular in England, so we ended up having it more than once!<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Another thing I enjoyed about England: They drink lots of tea here! Tea in the morning, tea at lunch, afternoon tea, tea after dinner. If you're bored....make some tea! To say the least, I drank a lot of tea and cider! On Sunday, Conor had some work stuff, but luckily I got invited to join them! We went to the Imperial War Museum where we had a private tour and got to see many different air craft from World War 1 and on. Some early commercial airliners were there as well, like the Comet 4 and a Concord jet. It was pretty interesting, but... we were there for 5 hours, so I got a little bored. One can only look at parked airplanes for so long. :-)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Day three rolled around, and I still felt jet lagged. Woke up early with Conor. Couldn't go back to sleep. Tried to take a nap at noon, didn't work. Took a nap at 4pm, finally slept til Conor got back from work. Pretty exciting day!... I hoped that the next few days would be better. The food in Cambridge proved to be more and more interesting as the days went on. The hotel had a great hot breakfast so I hit that up every morning. However, I'm pretty sure they put tons of cream in the scrambled eggs because they are waaaay too good! I found a fun place for lunch that wasn't too far from our hotel, but still proved difficult to find. Its hard to find street signs here and the roads are so curvy. I ate at a place called The Cow which is known for their pizza. Thin crust, pretty similar to something you would see in the States except that the ingredients are just a little different. Mine had prosciutto, marscapone, and red onions and it was delicious. It wasn't cut into slices though, they just gave me a fork and steak knife....kinda interesting. This was my first meal alone, and I think I did okay. That glass of wine at noon helped! :-)</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
I got invited to one of Conor's work dinners at the Cambridge Chop House. It was a very nice restaurant in quite an old building. The main room was tiny with a bar and a few tables, then you took a wooden spiral staircase downstairs to a much larger room, and then down another half floor to the room where we ate. So our room was more than an entire story below ground...little bit creepy. The menu was fixed since we had such a large group and was definitely interesting. I believe the choices for the main course were: a rump roast steak, sausage and mushroom pudding, fisherman's pie, some type of vegetable and cheese pasty, and "coil" which is pretty much a coiled up little sausage on a plate... Where's the chicken?! I am starting to get more adventurous with my eating habits, but this was a little much. I took the safe route and ordered the steak.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCJSUu9vxs5ESpJjUeFzoXQ7Es8AppCENN4fefAlYD4I9G_rm3oPte_FOfIt7kGLM7pGpLnHhRJohwQjqZwWZeWR7i28ZR0gAuJuXgXPVR3QnUb8SlrjgAhVchAhPMtLAsVqhUZz1BUy1/s1600/IMG_0178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCJSUu9vxs5ESpJjUeFzoXQ7Es8AppCENN4fefAlYD4I9G_rm3oPte_FOfIt7kGLM7pGpLnHhRJohwQjqZwWZeWR7i28ZR0gAuJuXgXPVR3QnUb8SlrjgAhVchAhPMtLAsVqhUZz1BUy1/s400/IMG_0178.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conor and his coworkers</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">After dinner we went to the oldest pub in Cambridge called The Eagle. This is supposedly where DNA was discovered as the men who discovered it frequently visited and talked over pints. Exciting stuff! Also, World War I soldiers took lighters and burned things into the ceiling which was very interesting to see. Once again, I had my fill of cider while Conor got to work tasting every kind of warm beer he could find. There are plenty of cask ales over here, some of which Conor thought were very different but good.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwIbPVwtLGVeyvqN3miq3FMELeyvZvjEpY2EkjmFz2MBJfakk5nxFOuuOqv9M_iK78Ce63SigJWVMFuwO1M6hyX0U__y7N4eqOV1I6sIhVIpPesiLG9aok7I-hR76bdIfySJtLBZXdd7v/s1600/IMG_0182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwIbPVwtLGVeyvqN3miq3FMELeyvZvjEpY2EkjmFz2MBJfakk5nxFOuuOqv9M_iK78Ce63SigJWVMFuwO1M6hyX0U__y7N4eqOV1I6sIhVIpPesiLG9aok7I-hR76bdIfySJtLBZXdd7v/s200/IMG_0182.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Z5MYp19iFHC1MADAvPkvhSUcVs4t2c8-5tA3-E50mbHRJYpW7c09V_Wm9I0SmB-I3iFNApZ89jAFHbEwVonX3tmi6ykakcfPYfvnlzIMg6UJfPKSDgLABgdoy7yEdpZbnvVra0Qz7fu8/s1600/IMG_0184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Z5MYp19iFHC1MADAvPkvhSUcVs4t2c8-5tA3-E50mbHRJYpW7c09V_Wm9I0SmB-I3iFNApZ89jAFHbEwVonX3tmi6ykakcfPYfvnlzIMg6UJfPKSDgLABgdoy7yEdpZbnvVra0Qz7fu8/s200/IMG_0184.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
While Conor was working, I spent most of the days walking around, figuring out where I was going, and taking in everything around me. Such a fun and fascinating place to be. The weather had been sunny and clear skies most days, which is so rare for the London area. I enjoyed being out in the Fall weather and seeing all the old buildings at many colleges and universities. My days pretty much centered around my meals, and I spent time in-between out exploring. :-) The streets are packed here everyday since it is a college town. Everybody rides a bike and has these massive wicker baskets on the front. Even the manliest guy out there has this cute little basket on his bike. But there is nothing cute about these cyclists! They are crazier than the cars on the road and stop for no one. One day I even saw a bike wreck!</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
One evening when Conor had to work particularly late, I had dinner by myself at a sit down Thai restaurant (I had to get away from all the English food for a night). I have to say this is the very first time I have gone out to dinner alone. I sat at a table in the corner by myself. I had a glass of wine while waiting for my food, and I have to say it was pretty awkward. Finally, I pulled my kindle out of my bag and just started reading. I had become the person that I always feel bad for at restaurants. The old maid reading alone in the corner with her wine... :-) I survived though and my meal was delicious.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Eventually Friday afternoon arrived and after our driver dropped us off at our airport hotel, Conor & I took a train into London for one crazy night of sightseeing!</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-60148816283692914702011-11-08T13:59:00.000-08:002011-11-13T11:12:41.805-08:00Back to Back: Part IIConor went into work really early that Friday, so that we could get on the road to San Diego a little earlier than usual. I drove the first half, making excellent time...even though Conor had his eye on my speedometer constantly! After a brief bathroom stop and the purchase of a couple "travelers," we continued the drive. The radio stations driving through the dessert are always a little interesting. But lucky for us we heard Party Rock at least 6 times during our drive. Nonetheless, when we arrived we were ready to party!<br />
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As I reached my hand over the fence to open the gate to The Hanson's house, I found an unwanted surprise. Curt had artfully placed two Smirnoff Ice's on the ledge....very sneaky Curt! A stomach ache later, I decided the icing needs to stop! We'll see if that really happens or not. That night we all went to El Camino for drinks and the hopes of some good music. Well, the drinks were delicious as always, but the DJ was absolutely awful! Such a disappointment. But that didn't stop us from having fun. Here is just a small sampling of all the crazy pictures we took that night.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next day we walked to the local street market just a couple blocks from their house and then spent the next 2 hours talking about what we should do.... No big decision makers in the group...! Finally,we decided on one my now favorite activities of the summer: paddle boarding! Conor & I had never done it before and were very excited to try it out! It was a beautiful sunny day in San Diego, just perfect weather to be out on the water. I've heard from many people that paddle boarding is a really good workout...but not for this group! We took the more leisurly approach, just casually paddling along and then stopping for mini naps on our boards. It was incredible....but next time, I'd bring a cooler! ;-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That night, it was TJ & Erin's turn to take us to their favorite Thai spot! We ordered a ridiculous amount of food, so as to be able to try as many things as possible. It was all so delicious, albeit a little spicy! Erin ordered a glass of reisling with dinner which seemed odd at first, until I realized what a perfect match the sweetness of the wine with the spiciness of the food is! How did I not know this?! Since then, no Thai meal is complete without that glass of Riesling. Thank you Erin!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>After dinner, we turned on the Wii for some Family Feud! I can;t believe I never knew about this game before, it is awesome! I highly recommed that every household purchase it! Such a fun time full of many laughs....Survey says: "Laura & Erin win....again!"<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sunday morning, chef TJ got up early and made everyone some delicious crepes. Since I have now been to France and had crepes there, I can say with confidence that TJ made the best crepes I've ever had. Paris crepe stands have nothing on him! I enjoyed every little bite. Afterwards, the boys played some whiffle ball to work off their breakfast. It was a beautiful morning and felt like fall was in the air! I was dreading the drive back to Arizona where our temperatures were still in the upper 90s.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before we left San Diego, Curt wanted to show us his place...and I was really excited to see his cat, Leo, who is a maine coon (one big cat)! He was just adorable and of course I now really want one. However, we are not crazy cat people and cannot become a 3 cat household. Someday I suppose...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next few blogs: Our Euro Trip!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-55924816407273263232011-10-25T05:24:00.000-07:002011-10-26T04:07:05.240-07:00Back to Back: Part IStill playing catch up on the blog.... <br />
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Anyways, Conor & I have been trying to get our San Diego friends to come to Arizona all summer, but with 115 degree temps it was a little difficult. Finally, at the end up of September things cooled off (temperatures only in the 90s), so they made the trip over. Our friend Curt recently moved to San Diego, so he joined TJ & Erin for the trip. Unfortunately, his wife currently lives in San Francisco so she wasn't able to join. But we skyped her as much as possible!<br />
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The first of night of their visit, Erin & I sat outside enjoying the nice weather and a few cocktails. The boys were up to no good and spent most of the evening cruising the neighborhood on our new tandem bike! Conor & I are very excited about it. She needs a paint job (we're thinking candy red) and few other things done, but she runs just fine!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TJ looks like the happiest boy in the whole wide world!</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Saturday started off with breakfast, and what else....gin fizzes, mmm! Just a normal Saturday morning prefunk before our float down the Salt River. After breakfast, Curt finally found the Smirnoff Ice I left on the shelf in his bedroom the night before. Gotta love a nice, warm icing first thing in the morning!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Conor & I had floated the Salt River once before and had a blast, so I was really excited to do it again! The whole thing is organized so well: a bus drops you off and picks you up, they provide the tubs, and you can bring whatever you want to eat or drink, just no glass! And you get to listen to some pretty awesome music while on the bus...usually oldies courtesy of Rhonda! I have no pictures because we didn't want the camera to get wet. There were some pretty strong rapids, and people were flipping out of there tubes all the time! But not me of course ;-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That night we took everyone out to our favorite Thai restaurant. The place was quite busy, and we didn't get the great service that we normally do...but the food was still delicious! The three of them love Thai food, so we were hoping this place would be up to their standards. I'm pretty sure our guests were very happy since everyone was making yummy noises while eating, and we licked the plates clean! Plus the extra round of drinks the owner bought us at the end of our meal helped a little too!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Once back at the house, everyone was pretty wiped out from being in the sun all day, so we just relaxed on the couch playing some Catch Phrase. Except when you're as competitive as us, it's actually not that relaxing. Erin & I kicked the boys butts as usual...we're just THAT good!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sunday morning showed its face way too soon, as it always does. We have such a fun time together, we never want the weekend to end! So it was decided...Conor & I had no plans for the following weekend, so we were gonna road trip to San Diego! At least we had the week to recover for more fun with T, E, & C!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next up: Part II</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div align="center"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-41167714056141408312011-09-30T12:44:00.000-07:002011-10-01T10:03:43.110-07:00Glacier VacationMy family hasn't been on vacation together in years, so Labor Day weekend in Glacier Park was bound to be epic! The trip had been planned for almost a year, so it was exciting when it finally arrived! Since we were going to be in Montana, my parents joined Conor & I at the Keenan's house for some lunch on the way to Glacier. We rarely have an opportunity to get the in-laws together, so this was a real treat! The only mishap...my dad knocking my mom's entire lunch all over the kitchen floor! Can't take him anywhere ;-) With full bellies, thanks to Suzie, we started the drive to <a href="http://lonelklodge.com/">Lone Elk Lodge</a>.<br />
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My dad found this cabin for us, and it was perfect! Three bedrooms with their own bathrooms, and one beautiful kitchen. It was much better than staying at one of the hotels in the park where the accommodations are quite a bit more "rustic". The Simpson's aren't exactly known for "roughing it!" The cabin was decorated for Fall, a pumpkin candle burning, and fresh baked huckleberry scones waiting for us. It was so inviting; I couldn't wait to put on my cozies and pour a glass of wine!<br />
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The owners of the lodge told us about a short walk to a pond where we might be able to see beavers at sunset. However, to see beavers you need to be very quite and sneak up on them...two things Simpsons aren't very good at. Therefore, we saw no beavers! But it was a fun walk to some railroad tracks and a great place to see a pretty sunset every night!<br />
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The first night we played Mexican Train, a family favorite, and yours-truly won! This is no surprise, I win a lot! And, spoiler alert....I won almost every game played over the course of the weekend! Winning! Although we stayed up til the wee hours of the night, we still woke up early to get in a long hike before my brothers and their girlfriends arrived. That morning we bundled up 'cause unfortunately it was quite cold & rainy outside. The rain didn't last long though and the sun poked out to warm us up from time to time. We chose a hike close to our lodge in East Glacier at Two Medicine Lake. We were feeling pretty good, so we decided on an 11 1/2 mile hike, oh my! Along the trail there were tons of huckleberry bushes which slowed us down a little, because you can't just eat one. They were so delicious, mmm. The trail traced along the lake, giving us some very pretty views, and then climbed up through the woods and prairies to Upper Two Medicine Lake . We sidetracked a little bit and hiked in to Twin Falls which was just spectacular. There weren't many people on the trail that day (probably because of the morning rain) which was great but a little unnerving, because we were in an area with recently spotted bears! Of course, we left the bear spray at the cabin... Oops! This was our rookie hike, the next day we would be more prepared. We found a great spot for lunch, which also included beers...only the Simpsons pack beers in for a long hike!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After our hike, we were pretty exhausted and couldn't wait to be back at the cabin. While driving out of the park we noticed about a dozen cars pulled over, so we stopped to see what was going on. Good thing we did, because right in the far side of the river were two grizzly bears feasting away on a moose they had taken down. It was quite a sight to see! I have never been that close to a grizzly bear, let alone two, and hopefully never will be. They were ginormous! Such a cool thing to see at the end of the day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That evening Jon & Shalan arrived just in time for dinner! My incredible mom had spent the entire week before our trip planning out all our meals. She brought so much food with us that we filled the entire fridge! Again, no roughing it here...we ate amazing food all weekend. That night we had baby back ribs along with plenty of wine. This led to another late night full of games. This time we played Apples to Apples which can get really loud with everyone at the table yelling out their opinions! Hopefully we didn't wake the neighbors.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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The next morning we woke up to the smell of homemade cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. I'll get out of bed for that! They were so tasty; I am inspired to make them myself one of these weekends! They went perfectly with a batch of gin fizzes which energized us for the day's hike. We drove up to St. Mary's where Ryan & Chelsea met up with us. We had planned on doing a hike to Iceberg Lake in Many Glacier, but when we got to the trail head we realized it was closed due to Grizzly activity. We were all a little disappointed but really liked the area so we picked a different hike at the same trail head. I don't know why the park rangers think the bears know to stay off the open trails, but at least we were prepared with bear spray this time!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Everyone was pretty beat after another long hike and ready for drinks! We went to the <a href="http://www.glacierparkinc.com/many_glacier_hotel.php">Many Glacier Hotel</a> which sits on a lake and has an absolutely breathtaking view. The hotel itself is beautiful and very rustic. It took us awhile to find the bar, but of course we availed. It was a sunny afternoon so we took our drinks out on the deck, with everyone else at the lodge, and made some new friends while recuperating from the hike. Nobody wanted to leave, but we had another fabulous dinner waiting for us back at the cabin.<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div><br />
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Since this was the first night the eight of us were together at the cabin, Conor & I brought out our surprise for everyone... My dad loves Tommy Bahama shirts (or the Costco brand Jamaica Jaxx). They have became his signature look at the lake or on vacation. So, Conor & I thought all the boys should have matching shirts for this vacation! Half the fun came from buying the shirts. We were at Costco scouring all the shirts looking for the right sizes and deciding what colors looked best. We just destroyed the Jamaica Jaxx display. Then at checkout, the clerk is wearing one of the shirts and comments to Conor, "These shirts are awesome huh? Gotta have em in every color!" At this point Conor is pretty mortified that this guy thinks he needs this shirt in four different colors! Just as the pink is fading from his cheeks, the lady who checks your receipt before you leave also has to comment on our purchase: "Oh wow, when you like something you have to get it in every color!" I was almost rolling on the floor laughing at this point! Good times.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">The drinks were flowing when we handed out this great gift, which made the whole experience just a bit more awesome. The pictures are priceless!</div><br />
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The next day, a few members of the family woke up really sore and didn't think they could do another long hike (amateurs!). So instead, we decided to go white water rafting! It took quite a bit of convincing to get my Mom on board for this activity, but eventually she caved into the pressure. This was the warmest day of our trip (upper 70s), so it worked out nicely. We had a boat to ourselves, and our guide was awesome! It was a fun experience, although a little more leisurely than I was expecting. However, this made my mom happy and provided us with a good opportunity to take in the scenery and relax! No big wildlife sightings on this leg of our journeys, but we did see all sorts of fish in the crystal clear water heading down the river. After our float, we bought some awesome life jacket coozies and hit the West Glacier bar that was right across the street! This bar sure had some character to it...and some characters in it! My favorite part: a guy with a mullet wearing a "White Trash" cut off t-shirt! <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That night Conor & I kicked my mom out of the kitchen so she could relax! We made everyone a "Montana" dinner which included stuffed buffalo burgers, baked potatoes, and asparagus! Everything was a big hit! This night Conor & I were sharing a room with Ryan & Chelsea, which is only problematic because of Ryan's snoring problem!!! I made him wear a breathe-right strip to bed, but it did not work. His snoring was so loud! I could barely contain myself i was laughing so hard, I'm not sure how I didn't wake him. Conor & I eventually decided that if we wanted to sleep we were gonna have to take the hide-a-bed! Not ideal, but at least we got some peace & quite. I love Ryan to death, but don't think I'll ever be able to sleep in the same room as him. I don't know how Chelsea does it! If Conor even thinks about snoring, or makes a sound that is close to snoring, I just hit him til he wakes up. It may be tough love, but it works! ;-)</div><br />
Sadly, Monday came all too soon and it was time to leave Glacier. I had such a wonderful time that I could have stayed all week! We got up early so we had time to have one last breakfast with my family before driving to Bigfork to spend a little more time with the Keenans. Suzie put together a nice lunchtime BBQ for us, so we had a chance to see some of the family before we flew back to Phoenix. Unfortunately, we probably won't be back til Christmas, which is just way too far away!<br />
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I cannot wait until the next time I'm back in Glacier Park, and would recommend a trip here to anyone! Especially if you've never been! It is beautiful!Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-51673038348173078102011-09-21T15:32:00.000-07:002011-09-21T15:32:05.772-07:00Two Weddings and a Whole Lot of DancingI absolutely love weddings and was lucky to have two of my friends get married this summer on back to back weekends! Add a week at the lake in between, and I was one happy girl! Conor was busy with work, so I flew to Spokane by myself for a week and half of fun! As usual, I packed as many activities into this visit as possible!<br />
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The first weekend my parents and I attended my friend Gretchen's wedding. It was a perfectly sunny day and at a beautiful venue on Lake CDA! The bride was stunning! Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me, so I have no pictures of this lovely event. I enjoyed the view while sipping on a huckleberry vodka lemonade, mmm. You don't find any of those in AZ! It was great seeing so many old friends that I don't get to see very often! Lucky for me, my good friend Dan was at this wedding, and he also happens to be my old prom date, so I had someone to hit the dance floor with! I had such a wonderful time and did not want to leave at the end of the night!<br />
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I was up early the next day for my drive to Montana to spend a few days with my bestie Amanda. I powered through the drive without my ipod, but some pretty awesome MT radio stations kept me entertained. Thank you Hank FM! Amanda, her boyfriend Sean, our friend Chris, and I took their boat out on Whitefish Lake for a day of fun in the sun! This was my first time on the lake and I was loving it. It's just big enough and not too busy. The tiki bar made the day spectacular!<br />
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As the sun was setting, we decided it was time to get off the boat and hit the bars! At the Red Room, we met back up with Chris for some tasty cocktails. Amanda refers to Chris as a "cougar snack" and Red Room was crawling with them! Always fun to see. As soon as he closed up, we all headed to the Northern for a fun little dance party! There was a DJ playing that night and we all took full advantage of it. We shut the place down and continued our fun back at Amanda's house. A very successful first night in Whitefish!<br />
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The rest of my trip was very relaxing. It was so nice being able to catch up with Amanda because I don't see her nearly as much as I would like! Amanda had tend bar my second night there, so while she was getting ready for work I went to the river with Chris. A nice little walk turned into some bridge jumping! Just a normal Monday activity I suppose! I used to love this sort of thing, but the older I get, it seems that my fear factor isn't quite what it used to be. I wasn't going to do it, but also gave in to peer pressure. I survived, but don't anticipate any more bridges in my near future.<br />
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That night, I had a blast hanging out with Amanda at work. Spending an evening bellied up to the bar is an excellent spot for people watching. I saw everything from first dates, to angry lovers, to a few creepy guys! Quite an evening. I loved my time in Whitefish and can't wait to go back! I used to think that I could never live in Montana, but Whitefish is really growing on me and has a special little spot in my heart right now. We will see.... On my drive back home, I stopped by Bigfork to see the in-laws. It was so nice to catch up with them, although it was a brief visit. I can't wait til Conor & I are back in Northwest and can take visits home much more frequently. <br />
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Next on my busy agenda, was a night at Spirit Lake with some of my extended family from Texas. They come up to Spokane every summer, and lucky for me, this year it was the same time I was in town. Both of my brothers came out to the lake for the day as well, so we got lots of family time in! And later in the week we were all at Tonicx together (which is rare), but unfortunately we were missing Conor.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next day I was back at the lake after a fun dinner with my friend Kyra. She stayed with me for a night at the lake cabin which was a real treat! It's hard to fit in months of catching up over one dinner. The weather cooperated all week, so we were out on all the water for the entire day! The weekend finally arrived at it was time for my good friend Erik's wedding! The party was at Schweitzer which is one of my favorite mountains. I have been to one other wedding here, and it was absolutely gorgeous so I was really looking forward to this one. My friend Mikael was in town for the occasion and our friend Elyse joined us as well. We were running a little late, but made it onto the chairlift just before the bride. Good thing, because otherwise it would have been a little awkward...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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Next Post: Glacier Vacation (and finally lots of pictures!)Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-7362618473625157232011-09-07T22:44:00.000-07:002011-09-07T22:44:01.691-07:00July in the RockiesI am finally trying to get back on track with our blog! This post is going to take us all the way to back to early July. Conor & I took a nice ten day vacation up to WA, ID, & MT! During our visit, we celebrated America's birthday, a lovely engaged couple, and our 1st anniversary! It was quite a week! Unfortunately, it then came a rather bitter end...but more on that later. So much to talk about, better get right to it.<br />
First stop of our visit was Spirit Lake for a day of party boat cruising. Coming from Arizona, the 80 degrees temps felt amazing to us, but the lake was a tad on the chilly side. We slowly motored around the lake, catching up, and enjoying a few ice cold beverages.<br />
The next morning I taught my Dad how to make a deliciously fluffy Ramos gin fizz. After two batches (and one for the road....only for the passenger of course), Conor & I headed to Montana! His parents had recently furnished an apartment that they own right on the main street through town, Electric Avenue, so Conor & I had the luxury of staying there for the week. Being just down the block from the Garden Bar does have its advantages! We also had a great spot to watch the 4th of July parade. Bigfork gets really excited about Independence Day which works out just perfect for Conor and I!<br />
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After the parade, we all got together at the Keenan house for a fun BBQ and some firework watching. Their neighbors put on quite a show every year, so we just sit back and relax in the back yard as the sky lights up all around us. That's exactly how I like it! Bob made a big fire pit that we all gathered around with our wine glasses in hand. A wonderful day! Most of Keenan clan were exhausted after the day's festivities and hit the sheets early, but Conor & I ventured into the Garden Bar that night for a night-cap. Erik Fingers Ray was playing there that night, so we were not going to miss an opportunity to see him. A great Montana one-man-band, he performed at Marissa's wedding the summer before, and I couldn't get enough. We grabbed a drink, and quickly hit the dance floor! A perfect end to the evening!<br />
The next day Conor & I did a little sailing on the hobie cat down off his parents' property. There was just enough wind that day to rip around the lake a bit. We did a lot of this on our honeymoon so it was fun to be sailing together almost exactly one year later!<br />
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Later that evening, we celebrated Sara's birthday down on the property. Take-out food from the Bigfork Inn, a few bottles of wine, and one big bonfire! It was a beautiful evening. Some friends and extended family even stopped by, so I had a chance to catch up with my new best friend Jim!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVthM8C7sPlndBGHIV7bYRHamls4AwOz7v_04csSpy9_dNMNXu-Jnblj7aQIL2qss_bVFnA_BxeJa4MkIXTM3OEDfCtcsuNJd1dC5SXIHm7NY3_jTtCUl6KN-XFX16vtUiof0sZGjzwxIG/s1600/l+%2526+j.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVthM8C7sPlndBGHIV7bYRHamls4AwOz7v_04csSpy9_dNMNXu-Jnblj7aQIL2qss_bVFnA_BxeJa4MkIXTM3OEDfCtcsuNJd1dC5SXIHm7NY3_jTtCUl6KN-XFX16vtUiof0sZGjzwxIG/s400/l+%2526+j.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Me & my niece Aria!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-GTHSY3ccgFLYUpSU-swNgsYnR4VXm0A8-upuYUrnH4ojDc4uG2xyrcxVC8SnrEKAiZFkXQghusFNtRFxVqYSj3OqXp5nY1yvwzk0qH7hEqA9RhQoZ7K1vkKjUhyp8Fp9r5J40tXDTqR/s1600/l+%2526+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn-GTHSY3ccgFLYUpSU-swNgsYnR4VXm0A8-upuYUrnH4ojDc4uG2xyrcxVC8SnrEKAiZFkXQghusFNtRFxVqYSj3OqXp5nY1yvwzk0qH7hEqA9RhQoZ7K1vkKjUhyp8Fp9r5J40tXDTqR/s400/l+%2526+a.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br />
Our time in Montana was flying by, but of course I had to see my best friend Amanda! We went to the <a href="http://www.redroombasementbar.com/red-room.php">Red Room</a> with Conor's parents to see Amanda in action behind the bar. This basement bar is awesome. Small and cozy..."practically perfect in every way"! But I needed more of an Amanda fix, so she also came down to Bigfork one day to meet us for lunch and some champagne on the party boat! Where you find Amanda & I, champagne is always soon to follow!<br />
Before we left Montana, we loaded up the truck with some ice-cream from Sweet Peaks on dry ice and headed to Spokane. We picked up the ice cream to serve at a couple's shower that my family was throwing for our good friend Andy Bloom and his fiance Karina. Their ice-cream is delicious and I was excited to share it with everyone in Spokane! Conor & I also made the invites for this shower and I was quite pleased with how they turned out!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQiyhg-mCiMQORqk7ndMvKxgeHkLldisf_ftab2tBOwZHVzh6v33FNudLUEVUUPQbHUAEzZfkTFAZ9cslZKID6NzcLrSn5UI00CDGDW06i-vRnrsXqIvUybrGKkmM6vOert9PNpMSByQL/s1600/invite.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQiyhg-mCiMQORqk7ndMvKxgeHkLldisf_ftab2tBOwZHVzh6v33FNudLUEVUUPQbHUAEzZfkTFAZ9cslZKID6NzcLrSn5UI00CDGDW06i-vRnrsXqIvUybrGKkmM6vOert9PNpMSByQL/s400/invite.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>The shower went wonderfully, and it was a great party! The ice-cream, Hokey Pokey and Scout Mint, was a big hit ...people were even coming back for seconds. It was great to spend time with the entire Bloom family! Andy has practically been a member of our family for years, so we were all excited to be able to celebrate with him and his lovely fiance for an evening. I can't wait for their wedding in December!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcpKGr3nDx0dFBB2Tymr08-5hetW5E70aVpOidp1OwSLc_rZP0J9TAqFZhOCR4Dv0qK2RCfGkLtvbcMFNCzdJJkdOYu0IkdPcGnGQ3bJXnaNLrAGsXm1H4HwKUE2B8mHsmolDxJlcMm1r/s1600/a+%2526+k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcpKGr3nDx0dFBB2Tymr08-5hetW5E70aVpOidp1OwSLc_rZP0J9TAqFZhOCR4Dv0qK2RCfGkLtvbcMFNCzdJJkdOYu0IkdPcGnGQ3bJXnaNLrAGsXm1H4HwKUE2B8mHsmolDxJlcMm1r/s400/a+%2526+k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQThuXETVZNbLNi5C-Yf3VjAsDcKNhBBFTu_oqmntf2fiDjkJXMrNMzMx-HCqn2GGfCmP_JKtgdJWhyphenhyphenERHK-Ehv2k5VLYt1rzLnOqH5dcG_Zv1_MYyo6CwUNUOW1JOgZHvkuB_SEq9Md/s1600/the+four.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YQThuXETVZNbLNi5C-Yf3VjAsDcKNhBBFTu_oqmntf2fiDjkJXMrNMzMx-HCqn2GGfCmP_JKtgdJWhyphenhyphenERHK-Ehv2k5VLYt1rzLnOqH5dcG_Zv1_MYyo6CwUNUOW1JOgZHvkuB_SEq9Md/s400/the+four.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSd8OdJI6IiXnriKpFhloup5kQf8zuL7ADm75a7Ht_V5_s_vOuvmIQfX5OIMJXZtSi78GpLGKvlPvmuuwLHu20Lje3tTSsxzoRWOz0y_l655w-BJHBbmZxMTz2DJUd7Hu69GPEHxCYXSvd/s1600/ice+cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSd8OdJI6IiXnriKpFhloup5kQf8zuL7ADm75a7Ht_V5_s_vOuvmIQfX5OIMJXZtSi78GpLGKvlPvmuuwLHu20Lje3tTSsxzoRWOz0y_l655w-BJHBbmZxMTz2DJUd7Hu69GPEHxCYXSvd/s400/ice+cream.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The day after the shower was our 1st anniversary! We had a fun filled day which started with a round of golf at Circling Raven. This course is just down the road from where we were married, and Conor golfed there the day before, so it only seemed fitting that we head back down for a round together. It was a beautiful day, and luckily, I was having one of my better rounds! We even had a surprise visit from a moose during our round....exciting and scary all at the same time (he got really close to us)!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5UBz4POh-mJaUbeqTVub-bznQ069CypntM1RFT_5dL7HYAZ8k93gGDYrZ9hrIl4qkgYC8WNvWwnGkbfml_96-Ix1hLCPV_2W5oQF3UKCrG0xvAH7m8Saq-RGhSEJ15cJ2CY0duNskBZiE/s1600/conor+golf.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5UBz4POh-mJaUbeqTVub-bznQ069CypntM1RFT_5dL7HYAZ8k93gGDYrZ9hrIl4qkgYC8WNvWwnGkbfml_96-Ix1hLCPV_2W5oQF3UKCrG0xvAH7m8Saq-RGhSEJ15cJ2CY0duNskBZiE/s400/conor+golf.JPG" width="298" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After our round, we cleaned up and then drove to Luna for a wonderfully romantic dinner. Luna is one of my favorite restaurants in Spokane and where we had our rehearsal dinner so that made it extra special! The food was incredible as always and made even better by an awesome bottle of Barrister wine. The restaurant was relatively quiet for a Saturday night, which made for a great anniversary date. Our first year of marriage has sure flown by! It has been an exciting year with many many fun memories.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LMGwHOctv_eV-d2e2dAISdRa7E-0_PkpUCZJNV2VFowUTss2WrerOA3S2xFDHiwas_rW5NjiKV11Ay1mdf1CRxyOF62kMqdKwMtF8tbOEZPmOKAOFjmuTs05Eqb7eSzgubYC-asRCJx2/s1600/anniversary+dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LMGwHOctv_eV-d2e2dAISdRa7E-0_PkpUCZJNV2VFowUTss2WrerOA3S2xFDHiwas_rW5NjiKV11Ay1mdf1CRxyOF62kMqdKwMtF8tbOEZPmOKAOFjmuTs05Eqb7eSzgubYC-asRCJx2/s400/anniversary+dinner.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We stopped by Rain downtown for an after dinner drink. This used to be one of my favorite small bars, but I have been a little disappointed lately as it feels like it changed and attracts quite a different crowd than it used to. However, I still ordered my usual (plum lemonade on the rocks) which was just as delicious as ever. Finally, we headed home for dessert! Yes, we froze the top tier of our wedding cake.... Neither of us are big cake people, but it was so tasty at our wedding that I had been looking forward to eating more of it all year! It was actually just as good the second time around too! Kudos to my mom for doing such a good job with the freezing process. We ended the evening with a bottle of champagne and are looking forward to many more wonderful anniversaries just like this one!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before we flew back to Phoenix the next evening, we made another trip out to my parent's lake cabin for some more party boating. I try to squeeze in all the lake time I can while I'm home! My parents surprised us with our first Euros for our Italy trip (which is our anniversary gift to each other) left over from their own Italy trip. Very fitting for the "paper" anniversary! Inspired by the gift of paper, I got a little crafty and made this for Conor:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRxIOwLdKofqGnIMI60y-k3-pVsBJ3gZF1pzNRtBa7ITDZu0bGGCwxiL81UFzVmz2vV5Sl239VD0nNbjv-KDL7JHFuFMazHPBy97NN2Uj8LTQoy0UnzI1Ynry0twQ7spGKRKvZZ6iSz7p/s1600/wa+%252B+mt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRxIOwLdKofqGnIMI60y-k3-pVsBJ3gZF1pzNRtBa7ITDZu0bGGCwxiL81UFzVmz2vV5Sl239VD0nNbjv-KDL7JHFuFMazHPBy97NN2Uj8LTQoy0UnzI1Ynry0twQ7spGKRKvZZ6iSz7p/s400/wa+%252B+mt.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
We sadly said our goodbyes to my parents and then made a quick stop at Deaconess hospital to see our friends Jason & Audrey and their brand new baby boy! He was so cute and tiny...especially his little fingers...awww! We left the hospital and drove to my Grandpa's house to drop off his truck and my brother was going to pick us up there and take us to the airport. On the drive to Grandpa's we were chatting about what a wonderful vacation we had and soaking in every minute of our time home and...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then things went bad. Really bad. I opened the camper door to the bed of my grandpa's truck (not realizing that the locks were sticking out) and noticed that my golf club case was the only thing in the back! I immediately think: "I can't believe Conor forgot to load the car before we left the lake!" But instead I politely ask Conor: "Where is all our stuff?" I can still picture the look on his face as he dropped to his knees and told me our stuff must have been stolen! At the hospital? In the middle of a Sunday afternoon?! Oh yes, we had been robbed. Someone had broken into the truck! I will spare you all the scattered details of the next hour as we tried to figure out what to do. I still get angry even talking (or writing about it). Conor's golf clubs were stolen, as well as both of our packed suitcases; which we just happened to have bought brand new for Italy. To make things worse, I had just hit the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale a few days before and had so many brand-new clothes, all with the tags still on! Ugh! We felt so violated. Many of our things had deep sentimental value, which still makes it hard to think about what has been lost. If I ever see someone walking around Spokane with my clothes on they will see the wrath of Laura! Especially the white dress I wore to my rehearsal dinner and our anniversary! :'( Needless to say, the flight home and the days that followed were long as we couldn't stop thinking about all the things we had lost and tried to piece ourselves back together. It was even more depressing to walk into our home and have nothing to unpack. Unfortunately, we did not get any help from the Spokane Police as they apparently cut their property theft division and didn't see anything turn up on craigslist or the surprising number of pawn shops around the area. We really felt hopeless for a few weeks with nothing seeming to happen with our case. But, with the support of our great families and some digging deep to realize that we were lucky to have only lost "things", we were able to pull ourselves together and start the long process of building back our losses. It is still tough sometimes to walk into our closet and not find that thing you really wanted to wear, but it gets easier as it becomes more and more of a distant memory.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was good to get back to our little monsters (Macy and Charlie) after a crazy busy 9 days away, but the heat sure hit us like a ton of bricks immediately upon arrival! And we were quite surprised to see the aftermath of the massive dust storm that rolled through the greater Phoenix area while we were gone... What a mess! We are not going to miss those when we move up to Seattle...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's all to report for this leg of our journeys, more exciting adventures to come in the next few posts! It seems as though we always have lots to catch up on!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-31497674855634032952011-08-12T18:19:00.000-07:002011-08-12T18:19:22.550-07:00Kindle LoveOkay, I know that my blogging has really been lacking lately, considering my last post was in June. It's just that we've had quite the busy summer. Over the next week, I'm hoping to get caught up on all of our Summer fun, including our 1st anniversary! But before I sit down and really map out our last two months, I thought I'd share my recent reading list.<br />
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With Summer reading in full swing, I have been asking everyone I talk to for book recommendations. And I have been doing plenty of recommending myself, because the second I finish a good book, I just want to tell everyone about it! The problem is....I always give way too much of the plot away in what I think is a "simple" description of the book. So I'm only gonna share my list and my favorites:<br />
<br />
Great House by Nicole Krauss<br />
Wicked by Gregory Maguire<br />
The Thorn Birds by Colleen Mccullough (an old classic)<br />
Room by Emma Donoghue (this was one of my favorites because the writing style is so unique)<br />
The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain<br />
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (an absolute must read)<br />
Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls<br />
In the Woods by Tana French<br />
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (really enjoyed it)<br />
Still Alice by Lisa Genova (amazing read, but also sad...deals with early onset Alzheimer's)<br />
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (another good one)<br />
Wench by Dolen Perkinds-Valdez (enjoyed this one too)<br />
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Now if only someone could tell me how to share books from Kindle to Kindle because my amazon bill is getting up there on books alone! Happy reading!Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-62238505918123961382011-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:002011-06-19T10:03:23.520-07:00Jim & The Gin Fizz<div style="text-align: center;">I sit here on this sunny Saturday morning, sipping on a Ramos gin fizz, here to tell you all about it! The most neglected morning cocktail; yet, the most delicious!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It all began on a Thursday evening at the grocery store. Conor got a phone call from a mysterious number, which turned out to be a good Keenan family friend, Jim Mitchell. He was at his place in Indian Wells (right next to Palm Desert) by himself for the weekend, and wanted to know if we would join him for a weekend of golf and fun! Conor & I are always up for last minute adventures, so of course we said we would love too and went straight home to pack for our road trip the next day!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It was supposed to get into the upper 100s in Phoenix that weekend, so I was more than happy to get out of the state! When am I not?! ;-) We arrived that Friday evening to a beautiful and welcoming house. Everything was beautiful! You enter into an interior courtyard with a small table and chairs and comfy bench (perfect for reading in the morning). It all felt so relaxing immediately. Jim showed us the casita where we would be staying, and it was the nicest guest house I've ever stayed in. This weekend was quickly turning into a little getaway, not just an average road trip! After we unloaded our bags, we stepped into the main house which was even more beautiful, only enhanced by Johnny Pizzarelli meets the Beatles playing in the background. Conor & I love this music now, and it has become a dinner & game time staple. Thank you Pandora!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That night we sat on the deck enjoying a cool breeze and many bottles of red wine! With a start like that, Jim and the two of us got along just fine! He is quite the comedian, and I could listen to his stories for hours! However, we had a 7am tee time the next morning, so around midnight we all hit the sheets. Jim sent us to bed with individual water carafes and cups per wife Pam's direct instructions...nice touch from our wonderful host!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">My 5 am alarm clock went off way too soon, but once in the main house, the coffee and bagels already made and put out, brought me to my senses. I was ready for some golf! I still struggle on the golf course ( I see some lessons in my future), but love playing nonetheless. The Indian Wells Course is on the Top 100 list, so we were in for a treat! My game really suffered, but it was still such a fun time! Beautiful course...and no road runners to avoid! ;-)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUWbwxCAcpWGscvR75t6zM8g30f55tP1VoNEfKbqpxbNvddiptNkeSCB4YD0dMPhYg5wzFkdVqbt4-x12l4BW3v3j8zpnsvpmpdhy_9BmTsYXajpqZFb7kI1VkbwIMmbEJI3Nv2brCX6R/s1600/IMAG0588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUWbwxCAcpWGscvR75t6zM8g30f55tP1VoNEfKbqpxbNvddiptNkeSCB4YD0dMPhYg5wzFkdVqbt4-x12l4BW3v3j8zpnsvpmpdhy_9BmTsYXajpqZFb7kI1VkbwIMmbEJI3Nv2brCX6R/s400/IMAG0588.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After our round, we hit the brand new, multi-million dollar clubhouse (which was the nicest public clubhouse I have ever seen!) for some lunch and a beverage. My bloody mary came with a shrimp in it...nice touch! Back at the house we all took a much needed nap to rest up for the evening. When I went to take a shower, I noticed a friend was already in there!!! I saw my very first cockroach, ick! Of course I screamed like a little girl (who wouldn't) and woke up Conor up so he could come take care of the situation. I heard some rustling about in the bathroom....and then 5 minutes later he emerged telling me the situation had been taken care of. Still a little weary, I took my shower.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That night, Conor & I cooked Jim dinner as a way to say "thank you" for being a great host! We all enjoyed the caprese and big bowl of salmon pasta, and then made our way to the deck for more wine and great conversation! Another wonderful, yet late evening. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sunday morning we woke up early and made our way to the main house. The coffee was brewing and Jim had already prepped an omelet bar. I was so impressed! I was feeling a little "fuzzy" that morning, and eggs sounded perfect. But first Jim whipped up a batch of Ramos gin fizzes! He had been telling us about them all weekend, and how he made the perfect batch! I was a bit skeptical after hearing the ingredients (raw egg?) and of the gin...since this is something I've just started to enjoy. But my first sip was heavenly. The best way I can describe it is to compare it to angel food cake batter: light, fluffy, and just sweet enough! I don't know how I've been missing out on this Sunday brunch cocktail! And it's great for a hangover because of the egg...added bonus! Since this trip, Conor & I have made a batch every weekend. I got the recipe straight from Jim, so you will have to come visit to get a taste of this treat!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rest of our Sunday was lazy, yet relaxing. There was a beautiful marble backgammon board in the house, so Conor took the opportunity to finally teach me how to play. Apparently, the Keenans are all avid backgammon players so it was necessary that I learn to play! I'm a quick learner and after only a few practice rounds, I even kicked Conor's butt a couple times! We have since bought our own backgammon board (although not nearly as nice...maybe one day we'll get a marble one), and now play almost every night. We're quite competitive!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sunday afternoon rolled around, and Jim decided it was cocktail hour! On the menu this time: beer margaritas! Once again I was a little nervous to try this concoction...I DO NOT like beer. First sip: delicious. Second sip: I was in love. Who knew beer was tequila's perfect mate. I have been making margaritas this way ever since! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">We finished the day off with an early dinner and then a movie. We got on the road early the next morning as I had to work that Monday afternoon. We were both sad to leave and can't wait for more fun next time we see Jim! </div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-238054271853886072011-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:002011-06-04T17:45:46.037-07:00The City of Fountains<div style="text-align: center;">Get ready for some serious cuteness!!!</div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">A few weeks ago I traveled to Kansas City (The City of Fountains...who knew), to visit my great friend Christina! She has a 4 month old little boy named Tommy, and I am in love! :-) I will get straight to the pictures because everyone loves baby pictures:<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdzSTRkN784OzkO7BxooEy3UacTkDeLE2zplF70P6xWuPaMV6yDI-ViRz-N_nhbNmClKkuTCPDHki4liUcaRUuWp298VLbpQrsguSgAyuAlrwgyY6HQo6jq4awk2Kv4WaHCqT03JUvPCg/s1600/DSCN1613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdzSTRkN784OzkO7BxooEy3UacTkDeLE2zplF70P6xWuPaMV6yDI-ViRz-N_nhbNmClKkuTCPDHki4liUcaRUuWp298VLbpQrsguSgAyuAlrwgyY6HQo6jq4awk2Kv4WaHCqT03JUvPCg/s400/DSCN1613.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>I loved Kansas from the minute I arrived! As we were driving from the airport to the Scribner household, I couldn't get over how lush and green everything was! I have definitely been in the desert much too long, because I get pretty darn excited about green trees now! Freshly mowed green lawns, pretty flowers, wooded areas....I miss it all. So Kansas was just what I needed! Throw in my oldest friend and a baby, and I was in heaven!<br />
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The Scribners were wonderful hosts; I had such a fun and relaxing trip! While Donnie (her husband) was at work all day, Teeny & I spent our time chatting and playing with little Tommy. It was so nice to be with a good girlfriend and just talk the day away. It was just like our sleepovers from many years past! I'm thinking that I need to move to Kansas, so that days like these can happen much more often.<br />
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One day, Teeny took me to downtown Kansas City for a little afternoon adventure. It was such a beautiful city with lots of great shopping and food, two of my favorite things! Later, we had a picnic lunch in this huge park which reminded me of Manito (for those of you Spokane people). I could have stayed for months!<br />
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Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the baby bunny that Teeny & I rescued (read: trapped in a box)! He could barely walk and had no mom, so we took it upon ourselves to help him. Although it was so precious, Teeny was terrified of the bunny every time it tried to jump out of the box and get loose! So alas, we let the baby bunny go....and we are positive that it found its mom and its home and is going to live a very long life! Thanks to us, of course. ;-)<br />
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I was so sad to leave, but Conor & I are going to make sure The Scribner Family make a visit to Arizona sometime this fall. I need some more Tommy time soon....<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-17699265301736138942011-05-24T21:30:00.000-07:002011-05-25T10:25:12.719-07:00Bunnies, Lambs, & Chicks<div align="center"> Happy Easter!<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">I love celebrating holidays, and Easter is no exception! Conor & I have been traveling like crazy, so it was quite refreshing to have a weekend at home. Saturday afternoon was spent dying Easter eggs...one of my favorite parts of this holiday! I feel like my 1st grade self, scouring the house for a box of crayons while dreaming up the many amazing designs that will cover this year's batch of eggs! While I was busy hunting down some crayons, I put Conor in charge of boiling the eggs....this proved to be a terrible decision... I returned to the kitchen to find Conor peeling hard boiled eggs!!! I very patiently (read: furiously) asked him why he was peeling the eggs...he calmly responded, "They are so much easier to peel while they are still hot." He took one look at my face and realized his oops! Apparently he was so excited about making egg salad sandwiches that he completely forgot we were going to dye the eggs first! Silly Conor! Luckily he had only peeled about 4, so there was still plenty of eggs left to make a dip into cups of vinegar & dye.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEtLkFU5Sa6QgEG2GrrzPVpszEx5kJ0f6Im031aK-oaaxLVULfl-A3Yxfe_RMumQj4LC_1dYU0gQyl3DVnAjd7DbdflMSZqOGkALUu7jLbos1JFyKwFS-3OeixZd9DPhdxIEQzORXh8Nm/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEtLkFU5Sa6QgEG2GrrzPVpszEx5kJ0f6Im031aK-oaaxLVULfl-A3Yxfe_RMumQj4LC_1dYU0gQyl3DVnAjd7DbdflMSZqOGkALUu7jLbos1JFyKwFS-3OeixZd9DPhdxIEQzORXh8Nm/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-g0032MZ2Njt-97dGi01G-nWMqzAOpJLKq21i9vwQY57POfJXZ5XnbuSEm269tLiuDr9bn75iHvxbfzg7EA4y2J4WjNGeOZU0wOslE6PKLRHB25bjp2FIUCYlzSrvWzDhVC4MV8v6v8e/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-g0032MZ2Njt-97dGi01G-nWMqzAOpJLKq21i9vwQY57POfJXZ5XnbuSEm269tLiuDr9bn75iHvxbfzg7EA4y2J4WjNGeOZU0wOslE6PKLRHB25bjp2FIUCYlzSrvWzDhVC4MV8v6v8e/s1600/photo.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To my surprise, I woke up to a visit from the Easter Bunny! There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table right next to a basket full of treats! Cadbury mini eggs are my favorite Easter candy, and I enjoy a Peep now & than too because I feel like it is a must. After giving my husband lots of hugs and kisses because he is the best ever, he told me there were more surprises outside...I peeked my head out the door and spotted a few plastic eggs! Let the Easter egg hunt begin!!! Some of you may be thinking that I'm a little old for all these holiday shenanigans, but you would be oh so wrong. I consider these years to be practice for when Conor & I will be playing Easter bunny for our own kids. ;-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our Easter morning continued with a delicious breakfast of Champagne (of course) and bagels with lox, yummers! With full bellies, we headed to Ocotillo Golf Course to play a round. This was my best round of golf yet! Conor & I had such a fun time together and hope I keep my game up, we'll see... Maybe this will become a new Easter tradition, depending on where we live in the future. I had full intentions of having an Easter morning walk, but by the time we got moving it was already to hot...shucks!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvYMQ71_ajSsw1_BsQMoV6Y8BUeMSoJIN7VustrhJvy0HE_RCsQZYE582pTHk7INggYlpzXBVvpC4EOL6ujccjWQnN-lMo5c9FtrV6c4wKpywotTGlLtoLkP36KhHA55sbRoo6bFxgPxR/s1600/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvYMQ71_ajSsw1_BsQMoV6Y8BUeMSoJIN7VustrhJvy0HE_RCsQZYE582pTHk7INggYlpzXBVvpC4EOL6ujccjWQnN-lMo5c9FtrV6c4wKpywotTGlLtoLkP36KhHA55sbRoo6bFxgPxR/s400/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We ended our wonderful day with a big Easter ham! This is one of my absolute favorite meals; I think about it months before April even arrives! The recipe is my Mom's and I'm pretty sure I've had it for every Easter. The recipe calls for lots & lots of cloves to be poked in the ham and than you cover it with a glaze half way through the baking process. Last, you serve it with a raisin sauce...tons of ooey gooey goodness! For a side dish, I decided to make an onion tart. This month I had found an onion tart recipe in both my Bon Appetit and Cooking Light magazine. After looking them both over, I went with the Bon Appetit recipe which actually appeared to be healthier...interesting. It was absolutely to die for!!! It was so flavorful & rich that it seemed more like dessert than just a side. I cannot wait to make this little drop of heaven again!</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3SIIcp_7qaRK-OW0Zp1yJ3UqEnEUXszpnYaFli6G7647IEOCZEDnzfgZZOxgtyiHbnmR5SK3DjUkeaIl9onSA6v6OGg2cSy4VDwirZy4gtpsfPTAMaACn5EYEkSqJIntz_yP_vx5pNi3/s1600/photo+%25284%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit3SIIcp_7qaRK-OW0Zp1yJ3UqEnEUXszpnYaFli6G7647IEOCZEDnzfgZZOxgtyiHbnmR5SK3DjUkeaIl9onSA6v6OGg2cSy4VDwirZy4gtpsfPTAMaACn5EYEkSqJIntz_yP_vx5pNi3/s400/photo+%25284%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div align="center" style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next post: Pictures of an adorable 4 month old named Tommy and my trip to Kansas!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-91221575164293901612011-05-08T11:40:00.000-07:002011-05-08T11:40:55.674-07:00I Hate That Shirt...<div style="text-align: center;">Okay, so I have definitely been slacking on my blogging lately.... oops! And I really have no good excuses. So here I am, finally catching up on April when we're already a good part of the way into May.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The weekend after our Spokane trip, Conor & I took a road trip to San Diego! We always seem to have it in our minds that the trip only takes 4 1/2 hours (just like the Seattle to Spokane trip), but oh no, it's more like 5 to 5 1/2 hours of driving with two border control stops! It's a bit of a jont for one weekend, but well worth all the fun we have with TJ & Erin. And this weekend was extra special because Conor's brother, Kyle, was in town as well!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Our first night in SD, we went out in the Gas Lamp district to a bar called Maloney's. It was a really fun bar, with great music! And since we didn't get into town untile pretty late...we closed it down! I can't remember the last time I was actually standing on a dance floor when the lights came on (maybe at Belltown Billiards)....great night! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtv9EuQ9v2Y9vKDaJzvwEpEMQWw7_RJ3mscHqbWvluPhGsBlpAcd1yy1h5xXPEFTe8ioj4Zuu2UKVrPm0LO08w745cDAktdcmyOTBXZtmmqxWOrCZCSK9PevkiVYkZ1xM3vjlv-LXGjzF/s1600/maloney%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtv9EuQ9v2Y9vKDaJzvwEpEMQWw7_RJ3mscHqbWvluPhGsBlpAcd1yy1h5xXPEFTe8ioj4Zuu2UKVrPm0LO08w745cDAktdcmyOTBXZtmmqxWOrCZCSK9PevkiVYkZ1xM3vjlv-LXGjzF/s400/maloney%2527s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The weather in San Diego was perfect, mid 70s and sunny! This was a nice relief from AZ, where the temps were in the upper 90s. The next morning, while I was getting ready for the day, Conor got dressed and informed everyone that he knows me soooo well and can predict exactly what I'll say when I see him. #1. "I hate that shirt!" #2. "Stripes with plaid? Really?" Unbeknownst to me, I walk out of the bathroom and see Conor is his absolutely hideous striped polo, so of course I remind him how much "I hate that shirt!" Everyone laughs, and I don't get it. About 5 minutes later, I still hated his shirt and felt the need to tell him it looks even worse with his plaid shorts: "Stripes with Plaid? It looks awful!" Once again laughter, and I finally realized Conor had told everyone how supposedly predictable I am. Only 9 months of marriage and he knows me that well....scary! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We all had a lazy Saturday morning, enjoying breakfast and some sunshine, before heading out to <a href="http://www.stonebrew.com/">Stone Brewery</a>. This place was incredible! There was tons of outdoor seating among beautiful landscaping! You would think you were at a vineyard instead of a brewery. We stayed here for a few hours, enjoying the scenery, the food, and some wonderful beverages. I'm sure you're thinking: "But Laura, you don't drink beer?" Of course, I made sure I was going to be able to get my hands on some hard cider before I even stepped foot in this joint! And those big bottles of cider were delicious! After a quick stop in the gift shop, so that Conor, TJ and Paul could get matching shirts to wear on their way out, we piled in the car and headed back to SD proper. Such a fun afternoon with friends!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeDD9Br6wCzUVPL18SuS4Xo5_qlZvMb7viSGNClwZ9HwpZF__56bFHbVSqLm-tG0fag5gvWCDDfg6Cd17w4HHZrQWxhLm10XfzbHuCdpYJO9GKgSk4Vcnn9eHXlKklBQBaQES2c-KQRtx/s1600/4+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYeDD9Br6wCzUVPL18SuS4Xo5_qlZvMb7viSGNClwZ9HwpZF__56bFHbVSqLm-tG0fag5gvWCDDfg6Cd17w4HHZrQWxhLm10XfzbHuCdpYJO9GKgSk4Vcnn9eHXlKklBQBaQES2c-KQRtx/s320/4+stone.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4eD9t6lfWkko-ncgb0vs4ZVn9DZL_Fc9czGbp9ERhNGS0eWZpCNShZbfDpqVAOBwRwdy7qKgDxtQ1sgi2sj3qDf_1R_uG998RHuQNU1d-Geu3zvO3FQcnsewaz9QOdTiGW082FsJHjTBP/s1600/stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4eD9t6lfWkko-ncgb0vs4ZVn9DZL_Fc9czGbp9ERhNGS0eWZpCNShZbfDpqVAOBwRwdy7qKgDxtQ1sgi2sj3qDf_1R_uG998RHuQNU1d-Geu3zvO3FQcnsewaz9QOdTiGW082FsJHjTBP/s320/stone.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">After being out in the sun for hours, we were all ready to hit the pool. Luckily, Kyle was staying at a really nice hotel right in the Gas Lamp district with a rooftop pool. Conor & I were feeling patriotic!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4r1M87XBuONLFgkEQ0f5ZrmaQZFEh_VZ4iIZv_47wFRL0XNl0zSjikHTXcmWjh-eNO2agiZyfru1ElrWbX9qOSGcTBKEmM3LiJLFxJ-hjHa4UHY9vZ7goRm4-zP5NvUqnJJq_ygTNOQE/s1600/pool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4r1M87XBuONLFgkEQ0f5ZrmaQZFEh_VZ4iIZv_47wFRL0XNl0zSjikHTXcmWjh-eNO2agiZyfru1ElrWbX9qOSGcTBKEmM3LiJLFxJ-hjHa4UHY9vZ7goRm4-zP5NvUqnJJq_ygTNOQE/s400/pool.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sunday morning came all too quickly. After sleeping in, Conor & I walked down to the street to get some much needed coffee. TJ & Erin live in a fun little neighborhood near balboa park and I love how their house is in walking distance of a couple stores, restaurants, bars, etc. I have always wanted to live somewhere similar to this...maybe when we move to Seattle. With coffee in hand, we went with Erin to a family owned bakery close to their place to pick up some pastries for everyone. This bakery was an awesome little "dive-bar-esque" pastry place with so many great choices. When you walk in the door, you grab a tray and tongs and just start choosing whatever delectable treats you want. And these weren't your standard doughnuts and pastries (no maple bars), but rather delicious looking things I'd never seen before. Unless it had a filling, there were no labels telling you what they were, so we had to cross our fingers we made good picks. I felt like a kid in a candy store! And, they had my very favorite pastry in the whole wide world, a crispy, flakey, sugary, thing that I unfortunately have no idea what its called. (I have heard it referred to as a dog ear, but I don't think that's right). Back at TJ & Erin's house, we enjoyed our treats along with some mimosas. Mmmm, what a perfect combination! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On our way out of town, we went to the beach to get in a little more sun and some blongo. While it was pretty chilly (especially since I've only been in the Atlantic Ocean the past two years), Conor, Kyle & I braved the waters to "cool down" a bit from the hot sun. A nice end to another fabulous weekend with the Hansons!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">During our drive back to AZ, Conor & I made a pit stop at <a href="http://www.littleitaliapizza.com/">Little Italy</a> in Gila Bend. An unexpected place for a Little Italy if you ask me...but it was surprisingly good and just what we needed. There aren't many non-fast-food places to stop and eat on the drive, but this place really hit the spot!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next up on the blog reel: Easter! </div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-57307044216662747862011-04-20T13:21:00.000-07:002011-04-20T14:30:22.962-07:00Cheers to 30 Years<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Conor & I recently made a trip to Spokane to help my parents celebrate their 30th anniversary! Since this is a big milestone, I decided to throw a cocktail party in their honor. We invited a few of my parents close friends and asked if they would send us some pictures from the last 30 years to contribute to a surprise slide show that Conor & I were putting together. Wow did we get some great pictures!!! Conor and I were hysterically laughing as we pieced together all the photos! Let's just say, my mom has had some awesome hairdos and dresses with shoulder pads, while my dad has apparently been known to wear some of the shortest shorts I have ever seen, my closet included!<br />
</div>The party went wonderfully, and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves! The old fashions were flying off the bar, wine corks popping around every corner, and people trying not to stab each other with skewers as they really got after the delicious snacks! The food was particularly a big hit, which made Conor & I happy since we made it all ourselves. We make quite a good team! I picked the menu, but Conor made almost everything. I was just the chef's assistant and mostly did prep work. In case your curious, here's what we served: chicken, steak, and shrimp skewers with three sauces (chipotle mayo, mango herb, and thai peanut), bruschetta, better cheddar (a cheese dip), guacamole, and lots of fresh fruit and veggies. We did our best to keep my mom out of the kitchen, but of course she just can't stay away! Normally, she'll switch into her sneakers, even while she's all dressed up, to get work done in the kitchen. When I decided to throw the party at their house, it became Conor & my main objective to make sure her sneakers stayed in the closet! We were at least successful at that!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Here are some of my favorite pics from the party:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="left" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;">the happy couple<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rest of the visit was fun and relaxing. Conor had to leave on Sunday for business in Alabama, but before his flight, we met up with Ryan, Chelsea, and my parents at Press for their famous (and absolutely delicious!) bloody mary bar. Since Conor and I have really been lovin the bloody marys lately, this was a hot sauce, vodka, and pickled vegi heaven! To use a tried and true Simpson Family catch phrase: It was just a "reeeeal nice" little Sunday morning together. With how busy everyone seems these last few years, it seems rare that we get to spend quality time together like this. After dropping Conor of at good ol' GEG, I spent the rest of the day with my brother, Ryan. We took the Costco samples by storm as we worked through our list and then headed out to Tonicx for my new favorite cocktail, the creamsicle: whipped cream vodka and orange San Peligrino! It's even better than an actual creamsicle, but that may be on account of the vodka! I plan to add this great find to the Keenan bar repertoire back in AZ very soon, yummers! Later that night I tagged along with Ryan, Chelsea, & Linnea to their friends' (Jon & Shelby) house for a BBQ. This is where I had my first experience with the X-Box Kinect 360! We had a blast playing dance central (or at least I think that's what it was called...). And I don't mean to toot my own horn... but SOMEbody ended up beng pretty darn good (Toot! Toot!). It so much fun playing with Ryan and all the kids. What a great night!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">As always, I was sad to leave Spokane. But lucky for me, Conor & I decided to head to San Diego the following weekend after he got back from Alabama to see TJ, Erin, and Conor's brother, Kyle, who was planning on being in town for an architecture conference. I'm sure we'll have a post up soon about that trip.</div>Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7161781660066683291.post-12019957692462021782011-04-14T16:57:00.000-07:002011-04-14T16:57:18.498-07:00Top Bunk is KittyApril arrived with very hot temperatures: 99 degrees on the 1st! That's a little hot for April in my book! I'm sure Conor is thinking..."let the whining begin," but I will try and keep my complaining to a minimum through these upcoming summer months! Anyways, I was wanting to get out of Arizona, and Conor had been wanting to visit a friend in Palm Desert, so we made an impromptu trip to California.<br />
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We went to visit Conor's childhood friend, Kelly, who he hasn't seen in years. Kelly and her husband Matt have three kids, one of which is only 3 months old. I was really looking forward to getting my baby fix in! Kelly told us that we would be sleeping in the kids room which has two bunks bed...I quickly claimed top bunk! Kelly's response: "Top bunk is kitty!" I thought this was her way of saying, "Top bunk is really cool," but oh no...top bunk is really kitty...as in kitty bedding! I was instantly 8 years old again and reliving my kitty pajamas days!<br />
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The first morning of our visit everyone was up early, except me, until Conor told me Monte (the 3 month old) was having bath time in the kitchen! This was enough motivation, so I quickly got out of bed to see the cutest little boy ever get cleaned up. Our morning only got better when we played a few games of freeze tag and red rover outside with the girls. Oh my are kids fun, I forgot all about these games! Then we headed to downtown Palm Springs since Conor and I had never been before. It was nice to walk outside and enjoy the sun. Here are some fun pics of us and Sophia (the almost 3 year old).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQCrO4Usdg66-uvlUd-dJDjpKRo31S2VMvu8-M0TcmRwuvSUK0HVNJeEuDCYdnRHYulMuM9DMylVJLp5lsJMAbETkVcnLjkImOqJmIqLUDBUdQNEVUfb98E-EM4KFfxnC2_wjAMCIxa_O/s1600/DSCN1559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQCrO4Usdg66-uvlUd-dJDjpKRo31S2VMvu8-M0TcmRwuvSUK0HVNJeEuDCYdnRHYulMuM9DMylVJLp5lsJMAbETkVcnLjkImOqJmIqLUDBUdQNEVUfb98E-EM4KFfxnC2_wjAMCIxa_O/s320/DSCN1559.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RWMqCLaefyMKcmbwLIOerqoJZ_imPrupOkEQIBijJckFRR_i7rE1Aysk7ZZxVk7seVpZ3BsD3kTuEyA_aukWibTbDWEx5nxIGFOx5SNRK23nWE-V4L0VbSGNLGOTsuJFWR5n0T2r2m6W/s1600/DSCN1557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4RWMqCLaefyMKcmbwLIOerqoJZ_imPrupOkEQIBijJckFRR_i7rE1Aysk7ZZxVk7seVpZ3BsD3kTuEyA_aukWibTbDWEx5nxIGFOx5SNRK23nWE-V4L0VbSGNLGOTsuJFWR5n0T2r2m6W/s320/DSCN1557.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Next up was a delicious lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Armando's. The place was packed and the margaritas were stiff...even for me! Once our bellies were full, Conor & Matt went to buy catch phrase and a kiddie pool, while the rest of us made cookies at the house. Well Kelly & Sophia made cookies, while I got some quality Monte time!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had promised Olivia (the 5 1/2 year old) that we could go swimming, so we improvised with the kiddie pool. They are definitely not built for adults, 'cause once I got in it....all the water practically poured out! However, it was an exciting 10 minute activity!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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The rest of the night was full of a little game Olivia called Hair Stylist, catch phrase (of course), and Despicable Me. The movie put the kids right to bed, so the adults had a late night dinner of flank steak and chatted over some red wine.<br />
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In the morning, the two little girls got up early to watch Despicable Me again. Conor got up as well and spent some time with just the two of them. I was enjoying the top bunk and kitty blanket so much that I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed yet. For the next hour, I could hear Olivia & Sophia coming in and out of the room frequently to see if I was awake. Finally I hear one of them ask Conor: "Does she know it's 8 o'clock?!" Apparently my still sleeping at 8am was unacceptable so I quickly joined them for some more fun before we had to leave. <br />
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Before saying our goodbyes, Kelly loaded me up with about six baby books! Guess I have some reading to do. She was worried that after our visit, Conor & I would never want kids. But her little ones were too cute, and we loved playing with them. I may have a bit of baby fever, but...we are going to wait for a little while...<br />
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Next baby fix: a trip to Kansas in May to see my great friend Christina and her 3 month old Tommy!Laura Marie Keenanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16284571727310318210noreply@blogger.com0