Our Place

A Little Bit Of Goth

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:29:50 -0700

On Saturday Mike and I were honored to be a part of a wedding celebration. Our good friends Julie and John tied the knot at The Little Chapel of The Roses in Bonita. Let us tell you about Julie and John and maybe you will get a good view of our evening.

Julie and John personify Goth. The Chapel is in a cemetery where the Best Man and Julie’s brother was laid to rest earlier in the year. They wanted a timeless feel so those of us in the wedding party dressed in clothes more applicable to the renaissance. It was a great time. Mike had a reading, I was Matron of Honor and they were a very beautiful couple.

We ended up down at the House of Blues for the reception. Believe it or not, they have a great party room. Plasma Tvs, fireplace, velvet couches and an open bar. Got to love it. I was great to see old coworkers and catch up. However I was a bit nervous about my toast. It turned out okay from what I heard, but nothing seems to stick in my mind except for hundreds of eyes watching me and the microphone feeling heavy. :)

After we closed out the reception and got the bride and groom packed off the for the night, Mike and I checked into our hotel down town. We were all set to head out till i realized I forgot to pack pants. So out we go me in a leather jacket and the underdress of my bridesmaid outfit. Thank god we just ended up staying at a friends for a few, or more drinks. Finally got to chat privately with some old coworkers and realize how much I missed them all.

Morning came early and we headed out. I hear they went on for a few hours, but I was glad to be tucked into my bed at the Westin. :)

We definitely had hang overs the next day, but what kind of wedding would it be if some of the wine didn’t make you regret celebrating with Baccus.

To John and Julie.. we love you.

Dawn and Mike

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(here was my toast, and mike’s reading from the ceremony is up there next to the picture of the chapel)

I'd like to offer my thanks to Julie and John for allowing me to be part of their special day. I would like to say thanks to Puzon's for all that you've done to make this day so memorable. And, of course, the Churchwell's for traveling far to be here to share within the festivities. Julie and John also celebrate their friends and those who are here as family. Therefore I thank you all for joining in and making this by all accounts a perfect day for them.

I've had the pleasure of knowing Julie for years. A true friendship emerged over coffee, unbelievably tight deadlines and an insane number of instant messages. Within her soul is a fighting spirit that defies convention, dedication to whatever she puts her mind to, and immense loyalty to those she considers friends. Her heart is so full. Julie I am honored to call you my friend. Even happier to see you've met your soul-mate in a man such as John.

John is in every sense a true southern gentleman. His soft spoken nature, complete dedication to those he loves shows what type of man he is. I knew I would like him as I watched how just the mention of his name made Julie glow. He definitely lived up to my first impressions. Ask John about his girls. Ask about how proud he is of his son... Ask him about Nicholas and Emily... Ask him about Julie and you can see his heart in his eyes.

In our lifetimes, we are gifted with a small number of truly "landmark moments". They start small enough, say, learning to ride a bike, throwing your graduation cap high into the air or finding the perfect pair of shoes. ;) Those moments grow in power and significance; some of you have seen the moment when a doctor tells you, "it's a girl," or, "it's a boy," and then hands you that perfect little life that you created.

And it is another perfect moment when you look into the eyes of the most loving, caring, giving, individual that you've ever known and realize you've found true love. A moment like this and the commitment which follows should be celebrated to its fullest. And so, I say to all present here today that it is our duty to ensure that this moment in the lives of Julie and John does not pass unrecognized. And in celebrating their happiness we might just make this one of the remarkable memories of our own lives.

I raise this glass and this toast, not just with my own thoughts but on behalf of those members of John and Julie's family that can no longer be here with us. They are missed and are loved, but their spirits and love fills this room and shares today with us all.

On that note, It is with great pleasure that I say congratulations to Julie and John ... in times when you are together in the same room, across town or even across the world, remember the love that you feel today and I know you will always be happy.

To the Bride and Groom!

And I’m out of marshmallows dammit

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 00:20:17 -0700

So as you may have heard, if you’ve been near a tv, radio, satellite, or computer, we have a couple fires going here in San Diego. The Harris fire is the one closest to us. And by close, I mean 2 miles. On the plus side, it’s on the other side of the lake. On the down side, there’s wind and this thing jumps like crazy. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out. My brother and his family got forcibly evacuated early this afternoon and they’re all over at his in-laws place. If we get the call, that’s where we’re headed too. Hopefully it won’t be necessary, but it’s best to be prepared. It looks like it’s going to miss us to the north. But with the wind you can’t be sure and even if it misses us there are alot of people who aren’t going to be that lucky.

You’d think the fire department would have learned something since the fires here in SD 4 years ago. But alas, no. They tried to light a backfire on the other side of the lake to stop this one. But everything is so dry and the winds are so crazy that the backfire got out of control too and now it’s adding to the problems. Genius!

We’ve got a week’s worth of clothes packed, some canned goods prepped, blankets, pillows, and all our important stuff videotaped for insurance. If something happens, we’ll keep everyone in the loop. For now, we’re in a holding pattern, so who’s up for smores?

-Mike and Dawn

Pumpkin Picking

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:52:07 -0700

My work decided we all needed a day with our families. So they had us all schlep up to an iconic tradition in San Diego. The Bates Nut Farm for a little pumpkin picking and picnic.

We ended up stopping by on the way back from LA and made our way to a little hidden valley. Well not so hidden based on the amount of cars and people. I’m not kidding if I said thousands.

After about 30 minutes of tracking down our crew, we helped setup the tent and waited for Bryan and the kids to arrive. We figured we didn’t have any kids to partake, so we’d borrow our nephews and see the event through their eyes. Let me just say those kids are adorable.

After an interesting lunch on corn on the cob with parmesan and line, we chatted with friends and then made our way to end all be all of the Bounce House. We’d try to hide that from Logan to no avail. Mike even told him it was broken. To which Logan hit him, and didn’t talk to him for 10 minutes. :)

Lucas danced around to the music and stole everyone’s hearts. There’s this great picture actually of Logan hugging Lucas, but it looks like he’s throttling him. Alas everyone survived outside of a few particles of dust in the eye.

On the way home, we ran into smoke so thick that it reminded us of the Cedar fire from 4 years ago. We even had to turn on the filter in the car, the smoke was so bad. Heck that was 6 hours ago, and on the news we hear that the fire has grown with some mandatory evacuations. Today it was so dry and the wind was so high, I hope that this dies down quickly.

Dawn and MIke

Halloween Horror Nights

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:26:25 -0700

Mike and I make our way up to LA on Saturday. Dealing with LA traffic is not our normal idea of fun. However when you have tickets to the best halloween event of the year, then you deal with the traffic.

We ended up checking into our hotel around 3, and had a few drinks in the lobby. Got changed and headed over to Universal City Walk.

Lets just say INSANE. Imagine the park, lights out, ghouls jumping out at every corner dressed in ripped clothes, blood and fangs. Don’t forget the smoke. You have a start of a great time. Throw in 4 kick ass mazes, a theme park full of rides and shows, then you have a great evening.

On our way through the Tram ride, I ran into an old friend. One that followed me around for 5 minutes. That didn’t freak me out as much as a ghoul who came up from behind saying my name in a sinister voice. That did make me jump. This is what happens when you have a friend working there, and she conspires with your husband. It was a blast! The people around me had no idea what the heck was happening or who the heck I was. Priceless.

So if you ever make your way up to this extravaganza, let me give you some pointers. Wear comfortable shoes, get a bit loopy with a few drinks, have friend in the know, wear clothes you don’t mind getting wet, and get front of the line passes. :)

Another night of fun had with the Smiths. Take a look at the gallery to the right of our freaky images.

Happpy spoooky halloween... a bit early....

Dawn and Mike

Yoda...yo yo yo.. yoda

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:43:02 -0700

Mike and I had a full weekend planned. It started off with a charity concert called Concert of Hope to end youth homelessness in San Diego. I ended up getting tickets for Mike a few weeks ago as a surprise. He missed seeing BB King when we went to Napa for Bryan and Yvonne’s wedding.

On Friday Mike picked me up from work and we headed to San Diego State to watch several Blues stars honor BB King and his dedication to youth homelessness. Talk about a big heart and using your power and fame for good. My mouth dropped when I heard he had already raised 5 million over the years. It was an amazing concert and a very very worthy charity. For more information www.photocharity.com.

Tommy Castro opened, followed by Taj Mahal, the Blind Boys of Alabama, George Thorogood, Paul Rodgers, Eve Selis and BB King. We had seats right up front about 3 rows back. Insanely good music but being right in front of the speakers, I’m really glad we brought earplugs.

There is one moment that made it all worth while. BB introduced his “other” son Kenny Wayne Shepherd. You can feel the love and the history between them. It amazes me knowing the history of their relationship, and how BB has guided KWS from a young child into the star he is today. Side by side they sat and jammed. From one legend to his protege, it was a window in time. With BB’s age, it's also one that we possibly won’t see that often. Too soon the music was over and we were off into moonlight on our way home.

Saturday came and the next concert was right around the corner. This one I wasn’t looking that forward to. Weird. Al. Yankovic.

Well let me say, it didn’t suck. I actually had a lot more fun than I expected. I even sang along to Weird Al Classics like “Amish Paradise”, “Yoda”, “White and Nerdy”, and the best of course “The Saga Begins”. I don’t ever think I’ve seen Vader get down with his dark self in just that way before, Other than the encore which was 15 minutes of a crappy song stretched into endless torture, it was a blast.

However shhhhhh, don’t tell Mike or he might think the concert wasn't revenge enough for Il Divo. If that’s the case I’ll be stuck having to live through another “punishment”. And we really don’t want that do we?

Dawn