Well Hello 1/1/11!

2011 began just as good as 2010 ended. This was Ashley's first Christmas away from home but we were lucky enough to have great friends out here (Rox & Brad) to spend it with. We piled all of our Christmas presents under their gorgeous tree (real of course unlike ours) and then proceeded to play some obligatory Christmas Eve drinking games (A**hole in case you are wondering). Then it was time to get some zzzzz's while Santa went from chimney to chimney. Everyone slept in a little bit but we were all anxious to see what was inside all the wrapping paper. Since all of us must have been good boys and girls this year it took some time to open everything up. Afterward we decided to go see "Little Fockers" to get some laughs in before the rest of the festivities.

Roxanne prepared an amazing prime rib dinner (from Whole Foods where even raw meat looks tasty!) that was washed down with some equally amazing beverages. The Samuel Adams/Weihenstephan "Infinium" beer was a hit as was the Fat Bastard Cabernet (very good for a low priced French wine). Keeping with the theme we even had some tasty wine for dessert. "Wine Spectator" magazine had an article about port wine recently and one that had good reviews was a 10 year old Dow Tawny Port. It had been 11 years since I had a port wine (first type of wine I remember trying actually...outside of Adelaide, Australia wrapping up a six month deployment the ship was nice enough to arrange a wine tour) so I figured it was time to give it a shot again. Being around 20% alcohol it might not be a wine for everyone, but even Ashley was willing to give it a try.

There is never a dull moment when spending a couple of days with Rox & Brad and we would not have it any other way. So much fun was had that we decided to have a more relaxed New Year's Eve. Ashley had to work that day (booo!) so I had planned a Whole Food's dinner of my own (remember the beautiful raw meat!). Flank steak, rice pilaf, salad, Bordeaux for me, Riesling for Ashley was on the menu. Ever since going to Paris (France that is...not Rox's hometown of Paris, IL) we have been spoiled by REALLY good champagne so we found a deal on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut. This was the perfect occasion as we were able to utilize our champagne flutes that Ashley's Aunt Debby and Uncle Al got us prior to our wedding in October. It was a tasty, easy drinking champagne that we wanted to get the most out of hence the reason we toasted 3 times zones!

Both of us are very thankful for the 2010 we had (new job and married) and can only hope that 2011 brings as much joy to our lives!

Read more...

2010 Year In Review

We hope everyone had a Happy New Year! Hope 2011 is just as great as last year, if not better! We put together a year in review photo slide of 2010, enjoy!

Free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Read more...

Ten Months Later!

It has only been 10 very quick months since our last post and OH MY has a lot happened (for one, we got hitched in October!!)! I'm not sure where to start but with Christmas tomorrow we both want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe Holiday. Unfortunately we will not be able to make it home to spend Christmas with our families (Ashley's in Tampa, mine in Illinois near St. Louis), but luckily we have some great friends here in Denver (Rox and Brad) that have invited us to spend the weekend celebrating with them.

On the Christmas Dinner menu is prime rib from Whole Foods which Rox claims looks delicious even in its raw state. We will be toasting the meal with a new champagne beer brewed by Samuel Adams and Weihenstehpan (one of our favorite German breweries) called "Infinium" and I am sure that will not be the only beverage enjoyed throughout the day! Thanks to our loving families we have plenty of gifts to open before the main meal later in the day. Ashley will no doubt be taking lots of pictures to share with everyone so stay tuned!

So what is in store for future posts?? There is never a dull moment in our lives and we hope you all will enjoy what we have to share. Look for updates on Ashley's constant job search (she's been working at Dick's Sporting Goods since we moved to Colorado, but still wants to find something in marketing), wine reviews for the budget conscious wine lover (Ashley only drinks whites and I prefer reds so there will be something for everyone), adventure updates (we've already been snowboarding once this winter and have a half-marathon planned for the end of February), and anything and everything in between!!

Read more...

Colorado Here We Come!!

Saturday February 6th will be the next journey in our lives. We will be hopping in the car to head out to Denver, Colorado for Andrew to start working with the US Handcycling Federation. His official title is the Fund Development Coordinator. We are both very excited about the new opportunities and can't wait to see what the city has to offer us. I will begin to look for a job as well and hope to find something quickly! Keep your fingers crossed!

Well I will try to update this blog whenever we do something fun... so check back from time to time for pictures and good stories!

Read more...

Last days in Bonn...

Well the time has come to pack up our bags and head south for Frankfurt for a few days. Our train leaves Bonn tomorrow (Tuesday 8th) at 12:30 and we will stay a few days with the parents of one of Andrew's classmates in Mainz, Germany.

This past weekend was interesting because the International Paralympic Committee celebrated their 10 years of being located in Bonn and 20 years since forming. There was a big event at the Bonn World Conference Center where people from all around the world came to listen to speakers talk about their history with the committee and the future for the Paralympics. All turned out well and was nice being able to be around the IPC crew all together one last time.

I know we are anxious to get back to the States to start the next chapter in our lives, but are nervous about the job situation. We are definitely going to miss the people we have met while over in Germany and only hope we will get to see them again soon! Europe has treated us well since being over here and it will be sad leaving what we called home for 3 months. So thanks Bonn, Brussels, Zurich, Vienna, Paris, and Venice for the great memories... along with all the cities we visited in Germany (Berlin, Meppen, Cologne, and soon to be Mainz). And we will miss you Kim (and everyone at IPC), Sven (and all the Bonn Capital players), Jamie, Paul, Susan and Steven!!!

We will make sure to post our last journey on here as well when we get back home! We are excited because as soon as we get back to Chicago we get to see Roxy and Brad (Andrew's good friends who are getting married this weekend) that we haven't seen in 1 1/2 years. So, sadly this will be my last post from Germany and hopefully everyone enjoyed reading our adventures for the past 3 months!!!

Read more...

Last Baseball Game in Germany

Andrew played his last baseball game in Germany yesterday. It ended up being a happy ending though because the Bonn Capitals won 13-12 on their 5th game of the playoff series, so they will move onto the second round in the playoffs. Even though I know Andrew wishes he will get to play more, at least he ended on a good note with the team. He even scored the winning run to help win the game in the 10th inning!

I took a few pics and figured I would post them on here! Enjoy!

Read more...

2 1/2 hour bike ride!

The Monday after we got back from Italy, Andrew had the day off and it was a super nice day out so we decided to take our bikes out to explore the Bonn area. I really wasn't expecting to go as far as we did, but it was fun.

We ended up riding about 2 1/2 hours... and went a distance of about 15 miles. I of course did some picture taking along the way and it was nice because we rode on the East side of the Rhine River, so we got to see different views (we live on the West side). I know Andrew could have went on forever down the River path, but I only the other hand was beginning to break down.

As we made our journey back North towards our flat, we had to cross the Koenigswinter ferry which costs 1.40 euro to hop on with a bike. Not too bad considering if there was not ferries it would have take far longer and further to get back to our place. It was definitely a great time because it's the first time we have been able to explore so much and we will soon be selling our bikes, so we need to ride them as much as possible! Enjoy the pics!!

Read more...