Tahoe Weekend

As promised here are some more ski pictures from our Tahoe weekends. Above is a group of us from this past weekend at the base of the mountain waiting to hear the free Gym Class Heroes concert. From left to right Tom and Pam (who just recently got engaged!!), George, me, Mike, Jordan, and P.J.

Here are George and I about to go down part of the mountain. It was really icy this past weekend but bumps and bruises aside, I finally feel like I'm starting to make some progress. Thanks to my good ski instructor that is! :)

Back at the cabin, the boys got to work on shoveling off our porch. I'm not sure how it all got started, but once there was a goal set in place, it didn't long for all those type A personalities

to jump on board. In fact, it was pretty hilarious to watch them develop strategies for the most efficient methods of shoveling.

The girls on the other hand went for a nice relaxing walk to enjoy the view of Lake Tahoe. Can you blame us? Amazing!

My Famous Little Bro

My little brother, James Cary, (shown above with his girlfriend, Maddie) is a senior animations major this year at the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. I am so excited and proud to announce that one of his animations was accepted at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival!!! Of course, we've known for years that he's a talented artistic genius, and so it is so thrilling to see him start to get recognized! The detailed elements in James' animation, entitled "All Gone", are amazing....very abstract, but incredible. I encourage everyone to check it out and cheer with us! Congratulations James!!!

Sausalito, CA

To celebrate President's Day, or rather the day we got off for President's Day, George and I took a day trip to Sausalito, CA which is in the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. We had heard wonderful things about this area and ended up having an amazing day! The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining - which has been rare around here lately - and the town just felt romantic.

George picked this little place on the water for lunch and above is the view from where we sat. If you look closely, in front of the ship, you can see the buildings of San Francisco. The first picture is us at lunch too. Ahhh....it was so peaceful and relaxing to have a great meal and watch the sailboats go by. Plus, one of the restaurant's specialities is their Bloody Mary's, so in honor of our Dad's, George and I both had one! Cheers to you Dad and Bailey!

Since the area is ideal for sailing, there was a great harbor full of beautiful boats. It was the perfect place to walk around and dream. We tried, but couldn't come up with any good boat names besides Cinco, ie. George Bailey Peyton V, so I guess we'll have to hold off on getting a boat for a while! (haha!)




On the way home, we tried desperately to get that perfect iconic San Francisco shot of us in front of the Golden Gate bridge. I say desperately because it is a lot harder than one would think. The bridge columns either look like they are coming out of your head or you can't tell that there is a bridge behind you at all. So, below is the best we got...random people, metal fence, and everything!


I'll leave you all with that and lots of love from the West coast! Take care!

White Party

On Saturday, George and I went to the White Party, which was an auction fundraiser for the MBA Challenge for Charity (C4C), a non-profit organization that pulls the talent and resources of MBAs from eight West Coast business schools to support Special Olympics and family-related local charities, and to develop business leaders with a lifelong commitment to community involvement and social responsibility. The auction included things such as dance lessons, authentic ethnic dinners, yachting on the Bay, and big ticket items like lunch with Phil Knight (CEO of Nike)..... and it, as the name suggests, came with the added bonus that you had to wear white!

See mine and George's attire above. Yes, I am wearing white house slippers and yes, he is wearing a white sheet with some safety pins, but trust me, we had company! See the girls below at the pre-party...

Back row: Michelle, Katherine, Alisa, Moey, Ginny, Caitlin Front row: me, Ellie

And the boys... (notice the two mummies and the tennis shorts in the front row!)

Back row: P.J., Jeremy, George, Coley. Front row: Grant, Peter, Mike D., Mike H., Eric

All-in-all the event ended up raising $84,000 for local organizations, so needless to say, George and I enjoyed our evening, but were very quickly outbid! :)

God and the Genome

"One of the great tragedies of our time is

the impression that has been created that

science and religion have to be at war."

-Francis Collins

On Tuesday, George and I had the amazing opportunity to hear Dr. Francis Collins speak on his view of the interplay between faith and science. For those of you who aren't aware (and again, I was with you until Tuesday) Francis Collins led the international team of scientists who in June of 2000 made history when they announced that they had decoded the entire human genome. He is also an evangelical Christian and the author of the book "The Language of God" which during his speech was how he referred to reading the human genome; reading the language of God. Throughout his speech he tackled tough questions of how science and religion don't have to be mutually exclusive, but rather that they work together to create a complete life and world view.

Above is a promo clip to give you an idea of what his speech was all about. A full video of his speech will be posted to this website on Feb 10th and I encourage everyone to check it out. http://franciscollinstalk.stanford.edu/ It is a bit long, but totally worth it! His speaking style is upbeat and intriguing and won't leave you wanting. Enjoy!

Ski House

One of the many perks of being in a place where you are never far from the beauty and excitement of nature and where everyone around you is basically in the same phase of their life are ski houses! We were fortunate enough to stumble into a great group of Stanford couples, who like us love to ski (or snow board) and wanted to take full advantage of living so close to Lake Tahoe and some of the nation's best powder (or so they claim). We all chipped in and rented an amazing house for the season and have had a blast getting to know each other and the slopes a little better! Our house is shown above buried in snow.

Below is the view of Lake Tahoe from the back balcony of the cabin. Waking up to this view with a cup of coffee in hand, wool socks, fire in the fire place - sigh - I'm a happy camper!

Here's a few of us girls out to lunch in the Tahoe City, the quaint little mountain village where our cabin is located. Lake Tahoe is behind us. (Left to right, me, Ginny, Caitlin, Ellie)

And of course no ski house would be complete without the video game Rock Band! For those of you who aren't aware of this game, and don't worry I was right there with you a month ago, Rock Band is a video game/karaoke where you create a band with a guitar player, a drummer, and a singer and then you play songs that are shown on the screen. You are then ranked on your accuracy. I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first, but it is awesome and so much fun to play in a group. Below George is rocking the vocals and Mike is working the drums! So hilarious!

More ski pictures to come in later posts....until then, happy winter!

Wine + Jerky = Yum!

This past Wednesday we were blessed by a visit from my older brother, Matthew, and his wife, Meaghan.....and a little wine! Matthew and Meaghan were in northern CA for the holidays visiting Meaghan's parents in Petaluma and they flagged us for a wine country trip before they left town. It was so great to see them and for you, Mom, we made sure to document everything with pictures! Above from left to right, enjoying our wine at Buena Vista winery: George, me, Matthew, and Meaghan.

After we picked up Matthew and Meaghan, the first stop of the day was Angelo's, where we were treated to some of the best beef jerky and turkey jerky I have ever had. Not sure how well it complimented the wine later in the day, but it was a stop that we couldn't have done without.

Next we headed to Ravenswood, where Matthew and I jazzed it up in front of the entrance sign. Dorky - but what can you do.

Then we went to Buena Vista, shown below, which was the first winery in Sonoma.

Matthew and Meaghan, both feeling pretty wined, at our third and final stop.

Exhausted by the end of the day, we picked up pizza and came back to our place. We had such a good time, it was sad to take them to the airport so they could catch their red eye flight back to Boston.....but I hope for similar trips in the future. We love you guys!!