Christmas Party '09

It was that time once again to throw a festive Christmas party. Cammie as always was my right hand girl with getting everything prepped. Everyone had a great time and a lot of laughs were had. The countdown for next year is ON.
Pat, Sara, myself, Cammie & Luke taking in some of the libations. Woohoo!!!!! Doesn't everyone look fancy? :)

I love these guys. Don't Chris & Andy look dapper?

Me, Chase & who is that other guy in the picture? Oh my god, it's Steve. No way he let someone take a picture of him.

Jeremy can't get enough & apparantely Randi is blinded by her own magnificent chichi's :). Here we have Jeremy, myself, Randi & Beau.

Look at that skin. Talk about wearing a knock out dress that night. Lisa look fantastic.

Lisa, Steve & I.

Ahh, my buddy Joe and my best girl Cammie. Good times!

Thanksgiving & Christmas 09

Here I am with my baby girl. I got to keep Diva for a few days and it was wonderful seeing her again. She is now 10 & you can sure tell it by all the gray she has. She's still just as sweet & full of spunk as ever.

Mom & Catherine cooking in the kitchen.

My niece Catherine. She is an absolute cutie.

Dominos!!! All have all of you know that I WON. :)

Jeanne & I out one night in Virginia Highlands. Fun karaoke metal bar.

Clark & Jeanne

Carla, Jennifer & myself out New Years Eve.

I got us all tickets to see my favorite play Wicked. Luckily they loved it.

Halloweenie!!!!!

Fun night in Denver at some Halloween parties. So we were leaving the last party & were literally blocked in with about 2 inches to spare on each end. Kevin was like screw it, they blocked me in and will just get hit. He had no choice but to hit the cars. Look closely & you see the guy standing outside the car. He was dressed up as a cop & tapped on Kevin's window. License & registration please!!! I started backing up while I was taking this picture in preparation to RUN FOREST RUN!!!! Luckily he was only kidding. Psyche!!!!!!Scottsman, Hillbilly & Kung Fu Master. Myself, Greg & Kevin.

I must say these guys made the time go by faster while we waited in line for an HOUR to get in the bar. Crazy!!! Brad, me, Kevin & John

BABY GOT BACK!!!! Not sure who this is, but loved the costume.

Oh Randi, how I love thee!!!! Love this girl to death. I don't think I've ever met someone who is so full of positive energy. You're awesome!

Will the real Lady Gaga step forward??? How could anyone simply not love this guy. Pete, you are one in a million.

True Blood anyone? Doesn't my buddy Luke look great???? Awesome costume buddy.

Probably one of the best costumes of the night. Here I am with my buddy Jeff (aka muffin bear). I wish I had gotten a better pic of him as this one doesn't truly show off his great costume. He was walking around on stilts that were about 1 foot off the ground. Awesome buddy!!!!

Luke, please be gentle!! No blood in this body, only vodka laced with tonic.

Museum of Contemporary Art benefit

I attended the MCA benefit with some friends this year. The highlight was watching Steve do some double dutching on the dance floor.

Jose' & Joanne. Jo Jo is great and such a pleasure to be around. She was part of a group that I went with to Maui last year. Good times!
Monica, Natascha & myself.
My good friend Steve on the left & our friend David in the middle.

There's a double dutch bus coming down the street, movin' pretty fast so kinda shuffle yo feet.... Go Stevie Go!!!!!

Halloween snowstorm '09

It wouldn't be the week of Halloween in Denver without a snowstorm. We got 16 inches in Denver. Crazy!!!

Day 2 & still coming down.

My low maintenance backyard is covered. Thank goodness for the quick thaw that came afterwards.

Mat Kearney concert at Gothic Theater

Mat Kearney singing Nothing Left To Lose at the Gothic Theater
Myself, Chase, Dan, Jared & Steve before the concert started. Great concert!!

Rockies Game

My friend Stacy was in town from Auburn along with some of her coworkers and I went with them to a Rockies game. It was so great seeing her as it had been over 10 years since we've seen each other. She hasn't changed a bit and is as funny as ever. I loved how she asked me if I drink. Hilarious!!!!
The Rockies versus the Brewer's in a game that went into extra innings. Luckily the Rockies won in the bottom of the 11th
Here I am with Stacy outside the stadium. I got to spend 2 nights catching up with her and can't wait to see her again towards the end of the football season when I'm back in the southeast for the Iron Bowl. It should be fun.

Labor Day/Florida

I took my buddy Steve with me to visit my family in Florida for Labor Day. As usual Jeanne and I tore it up on the tennis courts and we went out to see the dolphins on dads boat. I had been telling Steve about the dolphins and wanted to be sure we got a chance to see them. Luckily they did not disappoint, but it was a little touch and go to begin with as we had trouble finding them.
Here's the whole crew before we set out to see the dolphins. We get to our destination and there is a family broken down in their boat. We had to tow them in as they were close to rocks and could have possibly overturned their boat.
Carla and I with one of the dolphins that came up to us. They will let you pet them and they are so soft like a sponge. It still kind of freaks me out when I first get in the water and they come up to you for the first time.
Clark and I as we are heading back in towards the marina.

Here's a shot of dimples with Shell Island in the background. The water was beautiful while we were there.
Who is this person with that beautifully coiffed do? Why it is none other than my brother with his Big Green Egg. Thank goodness he was cooking on an egg instead of cutting a rotten one like he is so noted for. If he told us once he told us a million times about this contraption that cooks the perfect Boston Butts.
The 3 siblings minus our sis Cynthia who couldn't make the trip due to her just giving birth to baby Victoria.

Boston/Paul McCartney

I met Clark, Jeanne & Mitchell in Boston for the Paul McCartney concert at Fenway Park. I've never been a huge fan of McCartney's, but must say that he put on one helluva show. I fell in love with this city too. Absolutely beautiful & so much of our nations history.
Here is one of the streets in Beacon Hill. Very cool neighborhood of Boston as they have the gas street lamps.Fenway Park where the Red Sox play. They should NEVER tear this down. It is a beautiful piece of Americana. McCartney put on quite the show.
McCartney on the big screen. Favorite song he sang was from his time with Wings, "Band on the Run". Awesome!!



This is Paul Revere's house in the North End of Boston. Obviously you all know the story of his ride, but did you know there were 2 other riders named Dawes & Prescott? It is kind of hard to make words rhyme with Dawes & Prescott and that is how the poem of Paul Revere came to be & this is why he is the better known of the three.
So I walked the whole Freedom Trail while I was in Boston and it was pretty cool. Here I am at the last stop of the day which is atop Bunker Hill Monument overlooking Boston in the distance.

Chicago

I traveled to Chicago with my buddy Pendergraft for the weekend. It was a fun trip, but the weather wasn't the greatest. This is absolutely one of the prettiest cities in America in my opinion.
We took a riverboat cruise which was the highlight of the trip for me. Pretty cool to learn about the whole construction of the river & how it all came to fruition.
Here is a pic of "the bean" as they call it in Chicago. If you look closely you can see Steve and I in the middle of the pic. This is a pretty cool piece of artwork.
Steve and Jim out one night. It was crazy how packed all the bars were this particular weekend since it was Market Days. Market Days is a big street fair with live music. This festival was definitely not for me.

Peru

Carla, Jeanne & I traveled to Peru for one very unique adventure. None of us had ever been to South America and it was truly a beautiful place. It had been several years since the 3 of us had been able to take a trip together & I must admit that it was a lot of fun hanging out with my sister & sister-in-law.
Destination Lima, Peru.
Let's get this trip started. Here are Carla & I before leaving outbound from Atlanta.
Carla & Jeanne getting ready to board the bus that would take us to our river boat in Puerto Maldonado.
On the boat ride over to our resort. Do you notice who that is in the background? None other than Julia Louis Dreyfus (Elaine) from Seinfeld. She and her family were staying at the same resort as us. Absolutely beautiful in person.
Cool shot aye? Two butterflies in the butterfly house at our resort.This is what the inside of our cabana looked like. It was awesome.
After a long day of traveling these hammocks came in handy. Jeanne enjoying the simple comforts of our trip.
This is the outside of our cabana. The name of the resort was Inkaterra & it was unbelievable. Notice the ginger growing right outside our door.
The infamous tree that Carla couldn't get enough of. haha.
Me Tarzan!!!! On our hike through the rain forest.
Here we are above the rain forest. We climbed 200 feet & were amazed at the beautiful views.
Here I am crossing one of the suspended bridges that connected us to multiple platforms in the forest.

Crossing the canopy.
Carla & Jeanne before we took our LONG hike in the forest to Lake Sandoval.
Dang girl, lose some weight. So we get to Lake Sandoval and all of these Rickshaws are there in the middle of no where.
One of my favorite pics from the trip. Carla hates it because she looks like death warmed over, but it is beautiful with the sunset overlooking the rain forest.
Another shot overlooking the rain forest.
Here I am at Sacsayhuaman. Carla called this "sexy woman". :)
Carla & Jeanne after their Peruvian makeovers.
We had a blast white water rafting while we were there as you can tell by this shot.
Man overboard! We thought we were going to lose Carla. Dang Cletus, get a grip!
The Apple Dumpling gang before our horseback riding through the Sacred Valley.
I think Carla & Jeanne are actually bigger than their plugs :)
Giddy up cowboy!
Overlooking the Olay tambo River in the Sacred Valley.
Fun night in Cusco enjoying our Pisco Sours.
What is that on the plate you might ask? Why it is Cuy otherwise known as fried Guinea Pig.
Tastes like chicken. The guinea pig actually tasted quite good minus a few hairballs.

Actual video of the experience.
Later in the evening after enjoying too many Pisco Sours. As Jennifer said, "nice cavity".
Market in the Sacred Valley
Here is a picture of our resort in the Sacred Valley called Sol y Luna. Ron Howard was actually staying at this same resort while we were there.
All aboard the Orient Express which takes you to Machu Picdhu. A beautiful train ride that takes you through some amazing scenery in Peru.
Some of the native Inca dancers as we are boarding the train.

Cool video of the dancers. Bless the far little guys heart in the back. Poor guy just doesn't have rythym.
Jeanne & I enjoying the views from the train.
I just want to say that Ron Howard could not have been a more gracious person. He took countless pictures for all his fans. Here we are as we arrived in Aguas Calientes. He stayed at the same hotels that we did for the next several days.

The back of the car they had entertainment adjoining the bar. Hmm, go figure :). Here are some of the musicians getting the passengers involved.
This is what I wanted to see most on this trip. Machu Picchu is truly a sight to behold.
This IS my favorite picture of the trip. We made it! Yay!!!
Another shot of Machu Picchu in the background.
Carla & Jeanne at the gate of Machu Picchu.
What's the password to get in?

The Inti Ramey festival.
Carla & Jeanne with some of the native dancers that were participating in the Inti Ramey festival which is the shortest day of the year in Peru.


Go Carla Go! Dancing through the streets of Cusco.
Here I am with 2 cute little girls & their goat in Cusco.