Buffett Countdown!

There's a little bit of FRUITCAKE left in every one of us!

Mrs. Natalie Castellana and Dr. Ryan Kelley!!!

Early Saturday morning we went to the salon to start getting beautiful.
Then it was off to Whitehall to finish getting dressed in the bridal party suite. Natalie quickly discovered that it's hard work being beautiful!

Before the ceremony, we had time for a few pictures on the porch.


Lindsey and Mike

L-R Tara Gregory-sister of the groom, me, Meghan Laskowski-Carnegie Mellon roomate, Rachana Batt-USCD roomate


The newly married couple!

The father-daughter dance.

Everyone loved the photobooth at the reception!

School's out for the summer....

I miss being in college and having that statement really be true. sigh. But the good news is that I've got a lot of fun lined up for the next few months! I've already been to Napa, so you'd think that would be it for my plans....but it turns out my company is in high demand ;)

4th of July weekend will be spent with Natalie for her wedding in Northern Virginia! The ceremony and reception will be at the beautiful Whitehall Manor. I can't wait to see the reverse of this picture :)

July 23rd, we'll be leavin' on a jet plane for Laura Vogric's wedding in Amesbury, Mass, followed by a few days in ACK! Bummy is coming for a day, too!


After a busy July, I'll have to wait patiently for the end of August to come for a week at the beach. I'll be going with the Hilleary clan to Fenwick Island, DE, where they spent family vacations for years.

And to close out the summer, the Brickleys/Hillearys (and the Vogrics!) are going to see Jimmy! Can't wait!

New Landscaping

We added new features to our landscaping on the east side of the house recently. We Like it! Lisa's Dad made a miniature Brant Point Light House. We added some rip rap around it to complete the atmosphere, and stone for the beach.

Next big project will be pulling up and reseating the bricks in the side walk. Then we can put stone under all the plants along that side of the house. The mulch attracts termites, which are a big issue around here.

The pond gives us a little water sound, we just need to add some more rip rap around it for a finishing touch.

Napa Pictures

After arriving at SFO and picking up the fancy rental car--hello Buick!--we caravaned (following a beast....a 1987 Volkswagon Vanagon....to Napa to our hotel, the River Terrace Inn. Meghan, a CA native, took us on a scenic road tour through the Fisherman's Wharf area and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

The River Terrace Inn was across the street from the "downtown" Napa area, and when we got there, we found a care package from Natalie's parents waiting for us!

After we had a celebratory toast with cheap wine in the hotel room, we headed into downtown Napa to do as many tastings as we could before the tasting rooms shut down. The town closes down earlier than you'd expect!

Don't worry, we didn't let the inherent class of the Napa area rub off on us....

The second day, we went to several wineries and generally enjoyed exploring the area and taking in the views...and of course, drinking vino and bubbly!

In the above picture, I learned an important lesson: tiny quantities of 2000 Mumm Napa DVX Brut champagne....

....go right to my head!

Too bad I was the designated driver! The good news is, there were other ladies who did not discover a similar champagne to drunkeness ratio, so we didn't have to miss the tour of the wine caves OR wreck the rental car :)

Napa Trivia

Oak barrels are only used for 15-20 months before they are discarded? The "toasting" on the inside loses its tasty goodness.

Since I'm still jet-lagged, that's all she wrote!