Monday, October 27, 2008

a few italy pictures


Venice - Lettie and Richard (and don't forget the birds - icky)



Isle of Capri



Pompeii -- me and Richie

There are a ton more to look at on Facebook if anyone is interested.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

No excuses

So I knew I wouldn't be very good about this blog thing. I am very quick to look at my friends blogs every few days or so but do I update mine? Hell no. I have no excuse as to why I don't write more other than the fact that work is super busy for me now and is looking to continue well thru the summer.
We are hiring for xbox.com, so if anyone has website publishing experience or you know of anyone that does...give me a shout. Speaking of work, I guess I should get back to it.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Kraut Kuchen

For the first time since, well, I can't honestly remember, I made Kraut Kuchen. What is Kraut Kuchen you ask? Kraut Kuchen is a German recipe that my Grandma used to make. It consists of cabbage, onion, and ground beef which is all then stuffed inside dough and then formed into a big wonton for lack of a better image, then baked.

It is yummy.
Or so says Richard at least. I hope he isn't lyiing.
Here is a picture of it.




Wednesday, April 16, 2008



This is a bit late but here are a few pictures from my trip to Palm Springs, which was great.
Spent most of my time laying by the pool, catching up with Emily. It was great to do absolutely nothing for 5 days straight. I really needed it. The top pic is of me and EM at Blue Coyote which is a great Mexican restraurant. Yummy. The pic right below it is of the backyard at the place we stayed at right at dusk. It was amazing at night because of the cool lighting.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Seattle vs Palm Springs

T minus 3 days and I'll be in sunny Palm Springs, CA. Just in case you weren't jealous already, take a look below at the weather: Seattle vs. Palm Springs


Versus


I think the clear winner is Palm Springs!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Happy Birthday to me

Today is a good day. Today is my birthday.
I have many many people that love and care about me. It feels good to be special for a day, I must admit.
I was first surprised when Richard made me a special birthfast, that is breakfast and birthday combined by the way. He made me eggs and toast but the egg was in the middle of the toast. I'm sure this has a name, but I don't know what it is. I should have taken a photo but I didn't.
Then I opened presents, which were the Indiana Jones DVD set - awesome and I can't believe we didn't have that yet and the bestest sweater shaver in the world. I might have accidentally unravelled half my sweather today by using it but damn, it sure got the little balls off.
this is pretty much what it looks like:




Then off to work. When I got into to work, I was surprised again to see a present on my desk from Chris & Gemma. And looky here...inside was a nice ample supply of Crown Royal (my favorite) and a picture of Richard performing stand up comedy at Giggles last week.

Two of my favorite things, together in one box.



The best part of this whole day is yet to come. Tonight, after a great Italian dinner with some friends, Richard will be performing comedy at Giggles as a special birthday present for me. How special is that?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

From my point of view

I feel obligated to post something sometimes but the truth is, my life isn't that exciting. I work, try to go the gym, come home and do the same thing over again 5 days a week. The weekends are definitely more exciting don't get me wrong, but I NEVER take my camera with me so I never have any good pictures. I think the pictures are the best part about these things. I love seeing other people and what they are up to by the pics they post.
So, since I don't have any good pics from the past weekend, I will post what I see right now from my point of view.
Here it is...Richard playing video games as I type and we wait for Nate to get here so we can go to dinner.


Here is the view of my laptop as I get ready to post. A few catalogs to look at and a nice cocktail after a hard day at work. Like I said, not very exciting.


So there you have it. Now I'm off to go get some dinner at La Carta de Oaxaca. It is one of the best mexican places in Seattle so if you haven't tried it, next time you are in Ballard, check it out because it is delicious.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Slogan for Obama's 2nd term

When Obama becomes President and his 1st term whizzes by, I think he should run for a 2nd term and his slogan should be:

Once you go black!
You never go back!

Too much? perhaps I guess but hey, you never know.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Bacon Lover's Ball

Today is President's Day and as I looked up at my corkboard at work, I saw my polaroid from a party I went to last year on this day called the Bacon Lover's Ball. This occasion was in memory of our presidents -- I think -- not sure why our presidents were referred to as pigs, since I thought that was the nickname for cops.



Below are a few pics from that night, exactly one year ago. Too bad no one decided to host the 2nd annual Bacon Lover's Ball. Enjoy!


You can see by the theme, everything was very pink and piggy.

These were the Bacon House Rules

Party attendees were asked to wear pink to celebrate. Above are The Aronchick's proud and pink.



Bacon favors


The Mancino contribution was bacon ice cream which was better than it sounds actually. It had real bacon bits in it, with carmelized pecans in a maple flavored ice cream.









Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Roaming gnome

In true roaming gnome fashion, I have made even more travel plans. Next month I will head out to Palm Springs with my best friend Emily and her family for almost a week. It is going to be awesome. We will be staying in this great house in the hills. Its going to be great not to have to bundle up before going outside, although I will admit the weather in Seattle hasn't been that bad lately, but still...the sun is always a great thing to look forward to. I will make sure I take plenty of sunscreen since I don't tan per say, more of a burn when I'm in the direct sunlight.
Say goodbye to winter Mr. Gnome and get ready to travel!


Monday, February 4, 2008

Italy - here we come!

This weekend we booked our 3 week vacation to Italy. I don't think it has really sunk in yet. I'm so freakin' excited I can't even believe it. We will be leaving 7/27 and coming home 8/15.
Here is the tour we are doing for the first half of the trip.



We will be finishing up the rest of the trip in Prisciotta, Italy. My Mother in law, Lettie, grew up there and has family there so it is going to be such an awesome experience to see her hometown. Can't wait!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Meow!

I heart Cat Power in general and now that I got my hands on her new album, Jukebos, I heart her even more. Listening to her makes me feel good. I definitely go thru spurts when it comes to music, in and out of certain people, but this is one artist that I consistently love all the time.
I don't think too many folks are out there reading this but if you are -- and you want to comment, tell me who some of your favorite musical artists are right now.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Smile

Sometimes you just have to smile. This picture makes me smile everytime I see it. Hope it makes you smile too.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Carmel 2007

On this very cold night in January, as I try my hardest to keep my core body temperature above freezing, I am reminded of how nice and warm it was on our trip to Carmel, CA this past summer. It was great. Perfect temperatures both day and night. Here are a few great pics from that long weekend getaway.


This is us at sunset down at the beach

The Mystery Spot was very cool. I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself driving from the San Jose Airport to Carmel on highway 101.

Again, stopping along the way to Carmel on the coast. Amazed as we watch kite surfers.

Here is a video of this really cool rainbow jellyfish we saw at the Monterey Aquarium




Monday, January 21, 2008

It was a good weekend



This weekend was great. I saw a bunch of movies, some good and some not so good - Cloverfield, I'm talking to you.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the weekend
The Good
-3:10 to Yuma
-spending time at the SAM sculpture park (pictured)
-beating Zuma again
-having a loss at fat camp (aka weight watchers)
-finally seeing Juno
The Bad
-the fact that I watched these many movies this weekend
-Richie not doing so well at poker
The Ugly
-Cloverfield
-Residen Evil: Extinction
Overall, good to see I have more things under the good list so that makes for a good weekend I reckon.







Friday, January 18, 2008

The Tube

I was fortunate enough to boondoggle on a trip to London with my best friends Emily and Nathan about a year ago. We had a great time. We saw tons of stuff. Not nearly everything, but still, tons for only being there 5 days.

On one of our adventures on the subway, or as the local limies say, "The Tube", I found myself smashed like a sardine at the back of the train.

Next to me was this guy that wasn't the most friendly of guys. This picture cracks me up because I was the one that was so not wanting to be there, and here is this guy that has the balls to give me a dirty look for being so close to him. Jeez.

As I always do, I powered thru it with a smile as seen below in this picture.


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Not sure about this blogging thing


Okay, so here I am posting my first blog and I'm not quite sure about this.

Probably won't post much.

Probably will loose interest too.

I'm not that exciting of a person to warrant a daily blog posting so we'll see.