Eating Old Cake Part II

Before our one year anniversary I blogged about the tradition of eating the top tier of your wedding cake. I've been meaning to blog about the whole experience for awhile but somehow it took me nearly two months to get to it!

So if you didn't read part one, Mike and Mary saved our top tier of cake for us and shipped it overnight so we could enjoy year old cake for our anniversary. Sweet, right? I didn't realize just how excited I would be to take part in the tradition. And I have good news to report, the cake actually tasted good!

Now it didn't exactly look good.

But really, can you blame it? The poor thing went sat out at the wedding reception for like 6 hours, then traveled with Mike and Mary across the state of Washington, hung out in their freezer for a year, shipped overnight to Sacramento and then rode with Matt and I to Napa.

Other than the yummy old cake, we had an amazing trip to wine country. We arrived late on Friday night and had a lazy Saturday morning and had lunch at the hotel. When we finally got out to wine tasting it was around one. We made our way to three wine tastings and managed to bring a few bottles home! The first stop at V. Sattui Winery was at the busiest of all the tastings we went to, and we spent the most time there. It was a fun social setting and while we really liked the wine, we didn't get any in depth information about the wines.

 

The next stop was Peju Province Winery. It had a very different feel, with small tasting rooms that they call small groups into. The staff took their time to explain each wine and we really got to appreciate what we were tasting.

 

 

Then it got to the point where many of the countryside wineries were closing, but we found one still open, Stonehedge in downtown Napa (look for their black label carried at Trader Joe's). So we wrapped up our tastings there. It was pretty quiet and we got to hear a lot about the wines while we slowly appreciate each variety.

Then we to Cole's Chop House and enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had, including melt-in-your-mouth brussel sprouts (yep, you read that right, it included butter and bacon if that gives you a better idea). That's when we came back to the room to enjoy champagne (in the same glasses we used at our wedding) and eat cake in our PJs.

While we toasted a wonderful first year of marriage, we wanted to include our whole family so Bounce came along! Napa is a pretty dog friendly place with a long list of dog-friendly wineries so Bounce was received with welcome arms everywhere we went! A few people even asked to take his picture, and others complimented us on our well-behaved dog (we fooled them!).

 (How stinkin' cute are my boys!)

One last thing! Napa is only an hour drive from our home in Sacramento. There are many more wineries we want to try (either with or without Bounce) so feel free to come visit and we'll go check them out! Seriously. Visitors more than welcome!

When nice people do good things

This is a story of a lady named Belinda, two named Cara, a lost wallet and social media.

On a rainy Thursday afternoon I got a voicemail on my cell phone from someone in Knoxville named Belinda. Seeing a missed call from Knoxville isn't that odd considering I lived there just six months ago. Bt the message was odd. Belinda found a wallet in the middle of a highway and was trying to find the owner, whose name also happens to be Cara. But Cara with a different last name than me. 

Sweet Belinda was doing everything in her power to track down the wallet's owner. She asked her coworkers, one who happened to be on a rec soccer team I played on. He didn't know my last name but had my phone number so Belinda figured she'd give it a try. It was a long shot, but she went for it.

 I called Belinda to let her know it wasn't me and wish her the best of luck. We hung up the phone and my curiosity got to me. Why wouldn't she just mail the wallet to the address on the driver's license? So I texted her this suggestion. She replied that the driver's license and the checkbook addresses don't match so she didn't want to take the risk mailing it to either.

So what do I turn to next? Google of course! Sure enough, I found this other Cara's LinkedIn profile and quickly sent a her a message explaining the random situation and providing Belinda's number. Just a few minutes later I got another text from Belinda. They found her! And you know how? By searching for her on Facebook. Belinda sent a message via Facebook and returned the other Cara with her wallet. What a great use of social media!

We need more people like Belinda in this world! I'm so glad our paths crossed and that she was the one to find Cara's wallet so this story can end with: And they lived happily ever after.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots to be thankful this year! Matt and I are both so happy to be back on the West coast. We feel extremely blessed to have great jobs that challenge and fulfill us, and give us the funds to live a very comfortable life. We are missing all our wonderful family and friends, especially since this is our first year to have Thanksgiving just the two of us. But there is also something very special about celebrating the holiday as a couple.

This morning we took part in the 17th Annual 5K Run to Feed the Hungry, along with about 30,000 other people. We had so much fun and hope to make it a tradition every year we are in Sacramento for Thanksgiving. So if you want to come visit us for Turkey day, bring your tennis shoes! The starting line was about eight blocks from our house so it really couldn't be more convenient for us. The course runs through the neighborhoods near our house and people hung out in their front yards to cheer people on. Some houses had bonfires, others had bands playing for the runners. Lots of people walked with their kids, pushed strollers, etc. so it was a very casual walk/run. We should have started with the timed 5K but started with the Fun Run group so we spent a lot of the time weaving in and out of walkers. I bet we ran an extra quarter mile from all the weaving we had to do! While we were grateful to burn a few extra calories before we consume a ton, the event was actually focused on raising money to help those less fortunate in our community. What's not to love about that!

Now, on to food! Fortunately making a big feast for two is really pretty easy. Last night I got the orange cranberry sauce, pumpkin ice cream pie and fruit salad out of the way. Now the turkey is in the oven, the green bean casserole is in crock pot and the sweet potato casserole is waiting to go in the oven. The table is set and we're sipping on cold beers, watching football.

And the dogs are keeping each other busy. Yes, you read that right, dogS. We are puppy sitting Cali, my coworker Jessica's dog. She and Bounce are about a month apart in age and very similar in size. They played together a few weekends ago and really couldn't get along any better. Don't be fooled by the picture, they are a lot of energy and can't figure out how to calm down while the other one is around. Hopefully they figure it out soon, as Cali is staying with us until Saturday afternoon!

So that's our Thanksgiving so far! Hopefully all the food turns out. (You never know with me, I have plenty of failed attempts at cooking...just last weekend I butchered pecan pie and had to throw the whole thing away. But I gave it a second try and got it right.)

We are thankful for all the loved ones in our life (That's you!).

Doing what I do best...

Lounging and watching for squirrels!

Life is good, if only I didn't have kennel cough and a parasite. Fortunately it isn't anything some good drugs (and extra snuggling) can't cure!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Down and Dirty Mud Run

Some accused us of being crazy (cough, Dad, cough) for voluntarily running and crawling through mud pits. And yes, maybe it is a little crazy. But really, so much fun! It isn't very often in our adult lives that we just let loose and jump in mud puddles, go into lakes fully clothed, etc.

The 5K Mud Run was sponsored by Merrell and held at Folsom Lake, just outside of Sacramento. The location was perfect! It's gorgeous, especially early in the morning.

How early? We had to get up at 5:45 am and let's just say that was not the highlight of the day. We were TIRED! And thankfully they had heaters out because it was also cold (at least we were still clean).

We finally hit the trail after waiting what felt like forever. It was a much harder course than Matt and I anticipated. Perhaps if we trained it wouldn't have been as bad. But the hills were just killer. One in particular had just about everyone walking (except Matt!).

The obstacles were the big unknown factor and fortunately they weren't too hard. There were six in total. I had visions of a big wall to climb, that I just couldn't get over so Matt had to shove me over. That didn't happen, but there was one obstacle that I kind of wish he could have hoisted me up a little! There were three subsequent wooden bars you had to jump up to and pull yourself over. They were no big deal for Matt with his 6'1" stature but with my 5'3" stature, it was significantly more difficult.

So after running maybe 2 miles we had our first small mud pit to cross through. Then ran roughly 3/4 mile more and we came to the biggest surprise of an obstacle. Walking through the lake! We had to walk around the perimeter of the swimming area. It was slow moving for sure, with the water getting to about my chest at it's deepest point. Then we ran another 200 yards with our shoes slooshing to a soapy incline obstacle.

Then came the fun part! The big mud pit! We crawled and crawled and made it through to cross the finish line. No records were broke, with a slow time of 45 minutes. The fastest time was 26 minutes I think so even those speedy runners were slowed down with the obstacles and lake detour!

I am glad we did it. It's a fun thing to do at least once in your life.

Probably not something you want to do on a regular basis considering we both threw out our shoes and I had to wash our clothes 4 times before the mud came out and my white sports bra will forever be a shade of light brown.

These are our shoes after washing off, I should have captured them beforehand!

Zags are Back!!

Zag basketball is back and I couldn't be more excited! The team is ranked #12 to start the season and the non-conference schedule delivers lots of tasty match-ups against the nation's best. I'm excited to see how the Zags stack up! If the 117-72 season opening victory is any indication, it could be a special year. Here are three thoughts stemming from the big opening win:

- It looks like the 2010-11 edition of the Zags will be able to score from the perimeter. The post scoring was never in doubt heading into the season, but the Zags drained 13 threes led by Gray and freshman, Monninghoff. If the Zags can keep teams honest on "d" with a decent perimeter game, the offense could be one of the nation's best...easily.

- To sandwich in a complaint amongst all the superlatives from tonight's blowout: the Zags played lousy perimeter defense, in my opinion. Too much collapsing into the paint and giving up open looks, and way, way too much fouls on three point attempts (I think we had four)! Against a stronger shooting opponent, that could be an achilles heel. I do have to point out: all our crashing the paint did was yield a 57-16 rebounding margin (in a word....domination).

- Dower is amazing. I can't believe he's a redshirt freshman. That he comes off the bench only serves to reinforce my excitement about our dominant frontcourt. Wow.

Portland VisionWalk 2010

My brother, mother and I have been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a genetic eye condition that causes limited peripheral and night vision (read more about my RP experience here and here). On October 23rd, Cara and I returned to Portland to participate in the 2010 Oregon VisionWalk, a fundraiser for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Here are some of the highlights:

(1) The walk was held under typical Northwest grey skies, but the forecasted rain held off. In fact, we were even blessed with an occasional sun-break - perfect walking weather! Cara and I are claiming responsibility for bringing the sunny Sacramento weather with us to the Rose City.

(2) Our team, Believing is Seeing was 15 members strong and we were all looking quite fashionable in our bright yellow team t-shirts (which my dad and brother designed together).

(3) Thanks to all our friends and family for supporting us in this worthwhile cause. Our team raised $4,075 and as a whole, Oregon VisionWalk raised nearly $35,000!

Here are a few more photos to tell the story (in no particular order). Can't wait until next year!

Becca and Mark getting geared up for the walk


About one-third of our AWESOME team:


Cara and her sister, Megan, making sure we all walk our three miles


James and his wife, Ada, before the walk


The extended Hoag family before the walk


Poppy + Becca (and her balloon dog)


Trent was able to snag a lap-long piggy back ride!


Matt and his brother, James, hamming it up for the camera