Where does the time go???

Today is our 4 year anniversary. CRAZY!!! I'm not sure where the time goes, but I know it goes quickly. We celebrated pretty moderately, because we're looking forward to our trip to Spain and Italy in a couple weeks. I left him a card out this morning, he had one for me when I got home from work. Then, we walked to a new-to-us Mexican food restaurant for dinner. He just got back in town today, so honestly we just felt lucky to be together.

We're adjusting quite nicely to our new apartment and town. I love that stretchy pants are the norm, even if it means everyone else is a work-out-aholic. I also love that we can walk to EVERYTHING. Last night, I walked to Papyrus to get Chris a card (and took Gunnar in, which was weird) and then to the bank. Did I mention I was in my stretchy pants? :) The weather is also fantastic, and we are both loving our new jobs. So far, so good.

At least for the human family members, that is. Gunnar... not quite normal yet. Before I arrived, you know from reading the previous blog, he whined and cried like crazy. Now that I'm here, his new thing is shredding stuff. We have yet to figure out how he manages to get on the kitchen counter to shred the recycle bag and the sponge (each on different days). I'm tempted to webcam him one day to get to the bottom of it. Not to mention, his potty manners are less than polite. As you can see from below, he doesn't understand modesty. I wish he did.

The situation:
I finished my morning run and took Gunnar for his daily morning walk. We turned a corner and there was a group of about 5-6 women gathered for their walking(?) group. Gunnar and I walked about 20 feet past them and then BOOM. He walks off the sidewalk and out into the middle of the street to make a poopy. I was SO embarassed! His business took so long I had time to contemplate my embarassment, get my phone out, open camera app, snap pic, and text to Chris to show him what "his" dog was doing to me. Nice move, Gunnar. Yes... I see who the boss is. Thank you.

The First of Many

Weekends, that is! We had a fantastic first weekend together in sunny California. The weather gave us a nice warm welcome that we appreciated and took full advantage of.

I arrived early Saturday morning, after catching the ridiculously early flight out of Dallas (thanks Hilda and Ed for the airport drop off!). The second car was delivered right after I landed... I mean, RIGHT after. We drove around lost while the poor car delivery guy tried to give us directions to meet him in a Lowe's parking lot to accept delivery. We finally found him after many left turns, so we're once again a two vehicle family! We headed back to the apartment, and Chris was very excited to show off all the work he had done to put things in order. After some organizing, we walked over to a cute little cafe to have breakfast and realized there was a Festival of Arts going on! You know we can't miss a good festival... especially one we can walk to! So a few food tickets and dip mix tastings later, we watched some of the wine-o's work out their best dance moves to the live music and headed home to decide what the next activity would be.

What are two of the Coffee's favorite things? Well, we've already given one away (festivals), so the other should be easy...WINE!!! Chris found that a winery which had been recommended by a couple of my favorite Stryker friends (and taste-test-approved by yours truly) was only .5 miles from our house. He thought it would be fun to walk there for a tasting, and I couldn't turn down the idea. You know what we learned? We learned that the epic failure of Google maps is that it doesn't point out that the .5 miles is an uphill battle!!!! So, we made the trek, Chris in his polo and me in my sundress and flat sandles, and arrived short of breath with a sweaty glisten. Charming. They still accepted us, and we left a member of the wine club and two delicious bottles of wine richer. But you have to know that only one of those survived the evening; RIP Chardonnay.

And then it was Sunday, and Sunday was for food; Farmer's Market, grocery shopping, preparing lunch and then a fantastic dinner. The good news is that the weather was so nice we peppered that with walks and runs. Maybe we won't gain too much weight with all the delicious food options here? TBD.

No idea why this is sideways, but I gave up trying to straighten it...

First of many... wine tastings, that is!

The entry to the winery. Is this real life??? Yes. It is.

Go West Young Man...

Haven't you been told? California's full of whisky, women and gold. Sleeping out all night beneath the desert stars, dream in my eye and a prayer in my heart.

Well, at least those were Toby Keith's words of advice...  but feeling the mix of dreams in our eyes and prayers in our hearts reminds me that we decided to actually take it! But don't worry... Chris and I have seriously discussed the "full of women" comment. :)

Chris headed west on August 3rd and arrived in the beautiful town of Los Gatos two days later to get the keys to our new one bedroom, one bath apartment. But don't you worry family and friends; we splurged on a new sofa bed so that you have a real comfortable place to lay your heads down when you visit. Only the best for you all, of course! The good news is that Chris's journey resulted in a few cool pics to make you all feel included (see below). The bad news is that our dog-child Gunnar wasn't so excited about the road trip. Chris had convinced himself (by default) that Gunnar would make the perfect partner for his adventure. Unfortunately, Gunnar remembered he was canine, rather than human, and stressed out after two full days of 14 hour car rides. Outcome: One weird sketched out dog that whined and whimpered any moment left alone. As bad as he felt, at least it lead to an introduction to our new neighbors, which could have been otherwise tough to come by. 

New neighbor enters stage left. Chris: "Yes, I'm new here; Apt. #41. Nice to meet! Are Y'ALL from around here? ... Me?? No, not so much. Oh.... our dog is torturing you? About that..."

Yes, Los Gatos. We have arrived. Well, at least two of us for now.

Road Trip Partners!

Loving getting out of 115 degrees!

Flagstaff

Flagstaff

Finally out of Chris's lap and onto his own  bed!!!

Heading west!

Welcome to our blog!

Let's get this blogging started! We've been saying for awhile that we're going to start a blog about our journey West, and it has finally materialized! This will make it much easier to get the latest news about our adventures, as I'm sure you're dying to fill your free time reading about us... :)

So, tell your friends and put a reminder in your calendar to check in on your favorite Coffee's over your morning cup o' coffee.