30 days hath september...

wouldn't you know, leap year brought up a great conversation in our home. everyone seems to have learned some song when they were a kid about how many days are in each month. however, we were shocked to learn that we each sang a different ending. i sang my version to dave, he sang his version to me, then we googled it to prove who was right (something we do all the time)

we were surprised to find numerous alternative variations!

most of them start like this:

30 days hath september
april, june, and november
all the rest have 31...

and then that's where it changes. what ending did you learn? we're super curious. do tell!

It's a Dani

...and now she's a real adult! :) Happy Birthday Dani.

Baby sings Hey Jude

Can you see Mt. Rainier peeking out?

Green Lake at sunset

We love this city

Happy Birthday Brother!

Stanford here we come!

I've just been given the "green light" to make this announcement official... Dave was offered funding from the National Science Foundation to do a postdoc at Stanford starting in July of this year! This is pretty big (and awesome) news not only because securing a postdoc at Stanford as your first move right after you've finished your PhD at UC Berkeley is not too shabby, but also because the battle for NSF funding is quite competitive.

Congrats to my amazing soon-to-be husband! Now we just need to get excited about moving to the Peninsula.

It's Friday... celebrate

Happy belated birthday Lindsay!

In honor of my good friend (and buddy bride of '08) who loves celebrating on the "not" birthday day... HAPPY BIRTHDAY a couple days late.


Thanks for the pedi date. You know how I love my feet AND how I love hanging out with you. What a combo. :)

Missing Pink Berry no longer...

Now Berkeley has Yogurt Harmony. Ahhhhh. :)

Thanks for making me smile Mon!!! Miss you. :)

Our little baby girl is ONE!

It was on my birthday last year that we brought our little baby kitten home. Her name was Gracie but she soon became Emerson Grace. Em has many nicknames like pea brain and little baby, and she is best known for holding up one paw like a princess, making baby kitty noises, snuggling under the covers, and following her big brother around.

Happy first birthday to our t-shirt wearing...


Toilet paper shreadding...


Sink Lounging...


and, newspaper sitting little girl.

Saturday morning at our house

I am going to miss this Eastern view of the hills during breakfast.

Do I have the best guy, or what?

Ok, I don't want to brag, I just want to make sure my man gets some props on this "day of love" that is named after some random saint.

So, not only did I get flowers last night (you don't want to risk having your lady wake up on V-day with the fear that there might be nothing). I also found a mysterious pink bag on my desk when I got to work today (ok, not so mysterious, it said Miette on it). Do you know what was inside?

THREE CUPCAKES from my favorite cupcake place in San Francisco that I hope will make the cupcakes for our wedding this Fall. YUM!

Sooooooooooo sweet, right? I'm so lucky to be marrying this man. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're home. We missed our cats.

Your food dish is a fine place to keep your favorite froggy toy.

i mean, it is MONday!

One plus One makes THREE!

Yes, that's right, my best friend Monica, is HAVING A BABY! I can't wait to be an Auntie Tor! Congrats to both of the soon-to-be-parents.

How do you show "cold" in a photograph?

It's COLD

the high today in chicago is 2 degrees.

Having fun with the family

Dave and Torrey

Mark and Jon

Aviva and Alisa

Ruby and Rhea

Lily, Janet, Dawn and Lynae

Beau and Max

On our way to Chicago... hopefully without cats

Did you guys hear about this cat? I could totally see how this could happen. As we're packing for Chicago this morning our cats keep hiding in our suitcases and attacking our clothes. It's pretty cute, but it would be pretty dangerous if one of them was a stowaway!

Here it is... THE ring!

It's finally here... my diamond engagement ring! Since we had the ring made with a diamond given to us by my Mom, it took a little longer than we had hoped it would... but it was worth the wait!

My family :)

Make sure to vote, California!

Getting psyched about the election!

My dear friend Jenny is getting ready for the big election tomorrow... and she's doing it right! There's nothing like revving up some good 'ole USA spirit than with some red, white and blue cupcakes. You know who's office I'll be visiting during my lunch hour!

We made it!

So, the weather and traffic gods were not smiling down on us today. It took over 6 hours to get home from Tahoe where it only took us just over 3 hours to get there. But, thanks to the help of our friends who shoveled snow with us, and helped us get our tire chains on, we made it home. Is another weekend gone already?

A Day Cross Country Skiing in Tahoe

Happy Birthday to the Crunchiest Crunch!

New month post

it feels like it's been awhile since there has been a new month post. did i forget in january? i think the new years resolution post can suffice. anyway, i'm so glad it's february, not because i didn't love january... the gorgeous grey skies, the two chill weeks before the students returned... i got engaged for pete's sake! it was a good month. :)

however, things are starting to happen so fast over here with the wedding planning and our life. dave is starting to hear back about post doc positions and we're going to have to be making huge decisions soon. it feels really nice to be moving forward with him and making decisions about "our" life these days.

stay tuned for exciting news!!!