Pictures from Spain

I've got a selection of pictures from Spain posted online (and also to Grandma's picture frame).

This was a tremendous vacation, and hopefully you can see how busy we were, and how much we were able to do in just 4 short days! We took 492 pictures, but we chose the top 100 to share with ChalkBoard Nation. Spain is truly a beautiful place, and the places that we visited (in order--Madrid, Toledo, Escorial, then back in Madrid) were all tremendous. Further, the people there were all very friendly and accommodating of our less-than-fluent Spanish... let's just say that Holly can't make fun of me anymore for not being able to communicate in France.

Below, the pictures should automatically scroll, but if you want the "full size" pictures, click on them and it will bring up the Picasa web site, where you can see them at "full" size.

Home Safe and Sound

All,

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have made it home safely from our trip to Madrid, Spain. It was a crazy weekend, but a lot of fun. We got in late last night, but both made it into work this morning!

Pictures will be coming probably this weekend when we have time to catch our breath!

Happy Holidays!

We've finally got all of our Christmas presents purchased and wrapped, so we are able to share our beautiful Christmas tree with ChalkBoard Nation! If we are attending a Christmas celebration near you, your present is sitting under the tree, waiting. Which one is yours??? Only time will tell!




We're trying a new way of displaying pictures to the Chalkboard. Hopefully the above works, and it looks like a slideshow. If you click on the pictures above, you should still be able to go to Picasa Web Albums (like you were able to before).

Cabinet Project Complete!

Finally, after several weekends of work and phone calls to Dad (the visionary of the project), our garage now has cabinets to store all of our stuff. We are starting to get storage back, and these shelves allowed us to officially empty the very last of our moving boxes before the end of the new year.

Dad was able to scribble out the design for these shelves on a sheet of paper, and every measurement was dead-on... I cut (wishing my measurements were dead-on), and put everything together. In the end they look pretty good, even if I do say so myself. I have the doors cut and ready to go, but that will come when we have a little bit more time.

Holly is freezing, but is now happy that both cars fit into the garage again!

All done! The flecks in the picture that you see is all the sawdust swirling around the garage that reflected the flash off the camera. It was dusty, but we survived.

WELCOME HOME GRANDMA!

It was a long and hard road, but Grandma has finally made it back home! After routine outpatient surgery in September that very quickly became not so routine and very much inpatient, Grandma has recovered to the point that she is back home and looking great! In 12 weeks, Grandma spent time in just about every wing of Parkview Hospital, but she made a recovery that one surgeon key in her recovery (and whose timely surgery ultimately saved her life) termed "a miracle". Despite a very somber early prognosis, everyone knew that if Grandma had a chance that she would do everything she possibly could to pull through. She was able to fight off the infection--something that her infectious disease specialist confided to me that the odds "were not good". Once out of the ICU and in firm control of her recovery (after 4 rough weeks in Intensive Care), she met or exceeded every milestone set ahead of her to arrive home 4 days earlier than expected. Her determination to fight and push herself in recovery is truly a testament to her character, and has been so inspirational to all of us.

Of course, you are all wondering how this impacts The ChalkBoard. The staff at The ChalkBoard were very concerned, you see... because we were at risk of losing somewhere between 20-25% of our readership! This would have had huge implications to our shout-outs to our readers (Moms and Grandma!). Grandma, we definitely cite you as one very significant reason for making these updates!

So, Grandma, make sure you sit back, relax, enjoy Grandpa's fine cooking (uh-oh! -- Maybe Parkview's cafeteria wasn't so bad after all???), and enjoy The ChalkBoard for many years to come! (The future of The ChalkBoard depends on it!)

Happy Birthday Uncle Greg

This past weekend we made a trip up to New York City to celebrate Holly's Uncle Greg's 70th Birthday. The party was as much fun as the view of the city was beautiful. I have pictures of both below. We celebrated at The Chart House, which is right on the Hudson and across from Manhattan.

Uncle Gregs 70th

New Sunny Pictures

Sunny is doing well in his new home. He is set up in the middle of our family room so he is certainly still the center of attention!

Here he is as he stretches his legs in our living room and dining room.

Sunny

All Moved In!

We finally consider ourselves 100% moved into our home, with a place for everything and everything in its place. Motivated by Holly's family joining us for a weekend, we were able to have one last push to get everything inside the house all done, clean, and sparkling for their visit... perfect for taking pictures and sharing with all of our fellow ChalkBoard readers.

So, without further ado, as the French would say: Le maison de Chalk!

Our House

New Job for Jason

It's official. I have accepted a new job with T Rowe Price (click for more info). My first day is on October 17th and will complete a very crazy year for Holly and myself -- both moving onto a new home and new jobs. We are very excited about the very different life we are going to live in Maryland, but also excited for things to start slowing down a bit too!!!

This also means that my days at Accenture are now officially numbered. Accenture was a great company to work for and definitely put me on a fast track in my career to the point where I am today. It also was always hard to explain to family and friends what it was that I actually did when I was there.

Sometimes a joke is the best way to describe to someone what it is that I actually did. Click the following image below to hear a fake commercial that describes (in a joking way) what it is that I actually did. While I believe that Accenture is a great company for young people to get good starts in their careers, this parody is so funny because at times it isn't far from the truth!

(Click the picture below to see what I mean)



Now my family doesn't have to struggle to pronounce Accenture anymore!!!

New Wheels!

It was hard to let go of the Cavalier, but she's finally here! I finally bought another car! No more driving that huge truck! She is a GORGEOUS white Malibu with all of the bells and whistles (even more than Jas's car). Check her out...