It’s Sunday, sunny, and 79 degrees. Tibbs knows just how to spend a day like today… slacking:
Actually, I know he’s on to something. I have spent far longer than I care to admit in front of the laptop, so I’m off to follow his lead. (“Be the kitty!”) I hope you all enjoy your weekend!
Apologies for the pet post. But you knew it was only a matter of time until we blogged about our cat!
In July 2007, Bill and I were honored to attend the wedding of our friends Marc and Shannon in South Lake Tahoe, CA. By popular request, here are some of our favorite photos from the event:
We don’t have any photos of the ceremony, but there was a lot of mingling in the sunshine both before and after:
After the ceremony, the groomsmen presented the newly-married couple, and we all mingled some more:
Eventually, we sat down to dinner and enjoyed good conversation, good wine, and a dazzling and savory assortment of yummy fare:
After dinner, Thomas and others toasted the happy couple as the sun began to set:
After toasting there was much happy dancing, cake, and “cake”:
…followed by more mingling:
At the end of the evening, we gathered to shower the happy couple with (love and) petals of dried lavendar:
All in all, it was a beautiful wedding. And while we missed friends who were unable to attend, we really enjoyed spending time with so many of our Rice friends in one place:
At 2:12 am this morning, I received an enthusiastic text message from my brother:
I win! Call in morning for details.
I knew Chris was in Austin with Shawnacy for a grown-up weekend away from the kiddos. They were going to Elysium to hear New Model Army, an English post-punk/gothic rock band we learned to love in 1987. I figured they must have managed to meet the band. But this is better than that!
Shawn tells me that at the end of the show, the band took a break and then returned for an obligatory encore. Before starting up again, the lead singer said, “Before we get started, there’s something we’re gonna do. Where’s Chris?”, and invited my brother on to the stage.
Chris took the microphone and said to the audience, “I know you don’t want to hear me try to be witty, so I’m just going to get to it.” He turned to Shawn at the foot of the stage and, invoking one of NMA’s rare romantic lyrics said, “You’re the queen of my heart, Shawnacy. Will you marry me?”
Shawn says she was speechless with surprise, but managed to nod, chirp “Yes!”, and accept his proposal. Chris jumped off the stage to kiss her while the band and audience clapped and cheered. Countless other fans pressed forward to clap Chris on the shoulder, congratulate them both, and wish them good luck. What a happy occasion!
Congratulations to Chris and Shawn! I wish you all good things and happiness without end!
OK… I confess… I have been following American Idol. I even admit that I watched the back half of last season, too. It may sound cheesy but there’s something really compelling about getting to watch these talented twenty-somethings hone their performance abilities. I dig it.
Recent weeks have winnowed away weaker contestants, allowing some real talent to emerge. One of these, David Cook, is a 25-year-old rocker from Blue Springs, Missouri. He’s fun to hear/watch on well-known rock standards, but his unconventional rock adaptations of songs like “Hello“, “Eleanor Rigby“, and “Billie Jean” are just phenomenal. I would love to see this guy win the competition.
Check him out on YouTube!
Bill and I spent our anniversary in Las Vegas with Cindy and Paul. Per Cindy’s request, I’m going to post some of my favorite photos from our trip.
When we arrived Friday, Cindy led us to a late lunch at a great little Mexican place called Salsa’s. It’s located in a New Urbanist walkable mixed-use retail development, which let me enjoy thinking about what makes great urban design.
We stopped for groceries at Whole Foods on the way home. Then Cindy and Bill whipped up a yummy dinner of calamari “steak”, salmon, and grilled veggies for us.
Saturday morning, Bill and Paul both did a little work. Bruno helped out by retrieving the “Little Man” whenever they threw it away.
I “worked” to get good photos of Bruno, Ollie, and Bella.
Saturday night we got dolled up to enjoy our anniversary dinner at this fantastic Italian restaurant in the Bellagio called Olive’s. But poor Paul woke up Saturday with a cold and decided to stay home. Cindy was super sweet and brought him back some ravioli. Yummy!
On Sunday, we decided to hike a little in Red Rock Canyon. It was a lot colder when we got up to altitude, and as you can see, I was very, very cold. Cindy had the sense to reconsider and get back in the warm car with Bruno. But the boys were brave.
Paul climbed out on an impressive-and-alarming precipice.
Bill hiked down into the ravine…
… where he found a really pretty pool.
Later on, Bill and Paul encountered a rock which bears a strong resemblance to a bunny:
The whole area is just gorgeous. It’s easy to see why someone had the foresight to set it aside as a National Conservation Area.
It even snowed on us a little (note the snow, note the clouds). Snow. In Vegas. Really.
Sunday night, we watched movies, and Monday we packed up and came home. So these are the best of our Vegas photos. Enjoy!
In January 2008, we spent a delightful (seventh) wedding anniversary in Las Vegas with our friends Cindy and Paul. We hiked a bit in Red Rock Canyon and afterwards, Cindy posted this at Farhake Fam:
Bill and Robin took lots of really great pictures—the camera was never out of Bob’s sight. I kid you not. So, please join me in haranguing her to either send me pictures to post or get her to start her own darn blog. Bob—start a blog. C’mon. It’s easy. You already own billandbob.com or some variation of that domain—please? pretty please? with sugar on top?
So at long last, here we have it. We now introduce Bill & Bob’s blog at billandbob.com.