Photography Phriday

- -COSTA RICAN FLORA - -

WEEKEND UPDATE

WEEKEND UPDATE

Friday -

Dani and I were invited to eat Indian food with Neha and Astik. Ever since we got a taste of authentic Indain food at Neha's wedding, she had been promising to take us to their favorite Indian food restaurant in all of LA/OC. So we're thinking that its going to be some amazing authentic atmosphere/experience, and I asked Neha what it was called, thinking it would be something like "Bombay Palace" or "The Taj", but no, its called "The India Restaurant". So the atmosphere wasn't exactly all that amazing, although it was different. But the food held up to the promises, it was really good! The garlic naan was great, and I had some spicy ground lamb something, and it was delicious. As we went home we realized we stunk like we'd be slaving over some sizzlin curry all day, and the next day my car still smelled like it! But it was worth it, and we're already talking about the next time...

Saturday -

We decided that we had a lot to take care of around the house this weekend in order to feel comfotable going backpacking last weekend and camping next weekend. So saturday morning, we set to work on the house, Dani working on the kitchen and usual wifely domestic things, and I working on equally husbandly domestic things, in the garage. I got a hankerin to organize and organize I did. I was a mounting, hanging, cargo stowing fool.

Saturday night we invited friends to go to the gun range and then back to our place for dinner. The gun range was alot of fun b/c we had several girls who were either completely inexperienced with shooting or had not shot in a very long time. There were definetlely some interesting (near death) experiences, but everyone made it out alive. Then it was back to the beachhouse for grillin up some ground dead meat on the balcony whatching the sunset into the ocean. The girls sat around talking about whatever it is that girls talk about when the guys aren't around and the guys sat on the balcony drank some port wine and had some cigars. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.

Sunday -

Dani and I got up pre-crack o' dawn and made our way over to Steed Memorial Park in San Clemente for the EasterTogether.com sunrise Easter service that 8 south OC churches got together to put on. Dani's been to sunrise services before and enjoyed them, but I've never been to a one. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a very cool service overlooking the sun rising over the Ortega mountain range. It definetely had tradition potential.

After that we enjoyed the morning at the house, before heading over to my cousin's in-laws house for Easter dinner/lunch/big meal in a wierd afternoon hour. Randomly, one of my coworkers and his wife's family was there when I arrived, and we were both like, "What are you doing here?" Turns out his wife's family is old friends with the Strombacks, and have been coming to their Easter celebrations since she was little. I'm always amazed at the small world we live in. It was good times and good competitions to be had, as always at the Stromback's. 

We had some a rousing bocce ball tournament, a chipping comeption, and even some ladderball. 

It was a great day celebrating with great family and friends!

Weekend Update

WEEKEND UPDATE

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This weekend Dani and I finally got to get our feet wet and go on a backpacking trip, just the two of us. We wanted to just do a quick overnight trip to get us back in the swing of things, and we got more than we bargained for. We went to hike the Piedra Blanca Trail (named after the amazing White Cliffs you hike through) in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai, CA. We attempted to hike up the Pine Mountain Lodge campground at about 6400' but we stopped about 2 miles short and decided to bed down at a small campground we had passed about a quarter mile back. Which turned out to be great, because we were the only people for miles around, and there was nobody playing Tom Petty on their iPhones next to us (as we experienced last camp out), or disturbing us whatsoever. Just us, God, and nature, it was great. We have resolved however to go back and with a slightly earlier start to the day, complete the climb up to Pine Mountain Lodge, can't wait.

One armed action shot!

... carry the 1... yeah, this way.

Look at my amazing leg on fire trick!

... and now for fire breathing!
That little spot on that rock on the bottom is my wife.

For the full album click here.

WEEKEND UPDATE

This weekend while most of you were celebrating Valentine's day we had a wedding to attend and it was quite a doosy... 

My boss, Neha Patel, got married on Saturday to Astik Patel (no relation) on Saturday.  It was a traditional Indian wedding and we felt lucky to get to be a part and witness this grand event.  

  There are too many great pictures to only show a few so here's a slideshow:

  

It was so much fun to experience the Indian culture and people that I had heard so much about from Neha.  They are such a fun loving relaxed people that the entire day was just fun.  At the end of the reception I realized that I must have some Indian roots, because I think that is where I got some of my dance moves.  Dani got some video that I will try and post later.  It really was an  amazing experience that I will not soon forget. Then on Sunday, Dani and I decided to go for a hike so we went out to the Ortega Highway, bought ourselves an Adventure Pass (for access to the local National Forests) picked up a map and took off down a one lane road toward a trail that sounded intriguing; 15 miles and too many bumps for Dani to not be sick later... and we were at the Teneja Falls Trailhead.  It was definetely worth the curvy drive, as it has been raining in the area last week, so we got to see a rare SoCal waterfall!  And this was a big one, 5 tiers, pools at each level, and tons of rocks to scramble around on.

We rounded out the weekend going to the Sunday Night Service at Mariner's and Kenton's message delivered the goods as always, as we are learning to be wiser through Proverbs. We then came home and I put Dani to shame at Chess once again, and all is right with the world.

PHOTOGRAPHY PHRIDAY

Just a few images, taken from our PENTHOUSE in Costa Rica! More to come soon....

Weekend Update

So I realize I have been a bit MIA from the blog world for a few months now, but I do have an excuse. I got married!!! So me and my new WIFE have been a bit busy for a while now, but now after being able to come home and actually just relax with my WIFE, and after many requests and much anticipation, I've decided to give the blog another go, so here's the update...

--- WEEKEND UPDATE ---

- SUPER BOWL EDITION -

FRIDAY

Seeing as how we just got married 2 weeks ago, and a week of that was spent on our Honeymoon in Costa Rica (more on that later) this Friday was our first Friday night as a married couple. So what do we do with it? We could have had a super nice date, just us and something special, we could have seen a movie to just escape for a bit, we could have rented a movie and snuggled up on the couch and had popcorn. All of that sounds like normal first newlywed Friday nights right? Aparently we're on the express train to oldywedville because we did none of that. We actually had 'big' plans to go shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but then as the evening got later and later (around 6:30) we decided we really didn't want to leave the house. So we decided we would watch some TV together and eat in. So we did that watched 2 TV shows and we both thought it was late and time to get in bed (AT 9:00!). So Dani got in bed, grabbed her book, and I opened up my newly purchased dresser and proceeded to organize my sock and t-shirt drawers. We were both out by 10. so as relaxing as it was, hopefully we'll have some more exciting Friday nights to share with you in future updates...

SATURDAY

I had to be on call and do some work so we had to stick close to the house over the weekend, but Dani and I got up and did some major cleaning on the beachhouse and cleared out a ton of boxes and trash that had accumulated from wedding presents and such. So it was good to actually see the house start looking like we live here and don't stockpile cardboard in case of a global shortage. Then Scott and Amy came down to have some lunch and hang out. We grilled some of the biggest and best homeade bugers (from Costco of course) on our new grill that I got just before the wedding! They were delicious, and then after dinner we got to take a nice walk down to the pier, where Scott found some delicious baitfood and went all Gollum on it. Then Dani and I hit up the Saturday night service at Mariner's, great as always. Afterward, Dani and I hit up a housewarming party with all of her ex-work peeps, who were able to commiserate the woes of unemployment together.

SUNDAY

Another quiet morning spent working, while Dani was away at the Flea Market with Holli, but midday Dani and I got to go lay on the beach for a while and soak up a few rays desperately trying to keep our Costa Rican tans alive. Then it was off to our fiance-lovin', Jesus-freakin, football-fanatic friend Rocky's house for the SuperBowl, great times, and great to catch up with all of our friends that we had seen little of lately. Then about 30 seconds after the game was over Dani and I, and the only other married couple there, Phil and Kirsten, were out of there and on our way home... hmmm... sensing a trend... and I like it, just together time, with me and my WIFE!

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Can't wait to share the many wedded adventures of me and my WIFE to come with you!

Weekend Update

"Here's the fake news!" ...err ...update.

**Special 4 Day Edition!**

FRIDAY

Brent invited me to play Glowball Golf, but before that we met up at Frudruckers for dinner with Dani, Kim, Jill, and my friend Ryan. When Brent suggested Frudruckers he said "Random, I know." And I was like, random? Not at all! I was excited, come to find out, NONE of our group had eaten there before except for Brent. It is totally my kind of place, the have all different sizes of burgers up to the 1 pounder! Ready for complete customization to your liking. And to top it off they have vats of hot melted cheese ready for dipping.... for FREE!

Anyway, back to Glowball, it was a blast, they turn off all the lights and you're out playing golf with a glowing ball on a completely dark course. It was the most unique golfing experience I've ever had. The crowd was not your average golf crowd, it was definetely an 'after hours' type crowd. It was a 72 player 9-hole shotgun start tournament. We ended up playing 11 holes, and played on one green for about 15 minutes having some sand shot contests. SO much fun, we'll definetely be back next time!

SATURDAY

We went to the Orange Street Fair on Saturday night. It was my third time attending the street fair, I can't believe I've lived here long enough to have attended an annual event 3 times. It was good food and fun as always. I had a veal brat on Switzeland Street, a Carlsberg beer in Denmark, a Souvlaki Beef Gyro on Greek Street, and Ableskivers for dessert in Norway.

SUNDAY

I came home from the street fair to a surprise, my roommate had moved out 15 days earlier than I expected. When I came home all of his stuff was gone, and he was too, with out a trace, with out a note, and with the money that he owed me. Oh well... as Dani said, its the end of the era of roommates! So we spent Sunday cleaning the beach house from top to bottom, now that it will be just me staying there untill Dani moves in after the wedding. We rewarded our cleaning efforts with a delicious meal at our new favorite hole in the wall, Taco Mesa, with Phil and Kirsten, before we hit up night Church at Mariners.


MONDAY

Dani and I made the most of having a whole extra day to spend together, and decided to go for a long paddle on the kayaks. We finally did what we've been talking about doing for months. We kayaked from Dana Point Harbor to Calafia Beach, where I live. About 7.5 miles on the water, and took about 2.5 hours, it was a great paddle, we felt such a sense of accomplishment afterward. It was definetely an exercize in strength building, in all senses of the word, mentally, physically, relationally, and spiritually.