Playa del Carmen

A week ago Saturday, Ryan and I left for vacation in Playa!  We've never been on a trip out of the country with just the two of us (no, not even on a honeymoon) so we were very excited for the trip.  Here we are in the shuttle bus leaving the Cancun airport.

The trip from the airport took us about an hour and the drive was so pretty.  The area is so lush and green!  When we arrived at Secrets Capri, we were welcomed with cool towels, cold drinks, and a concierge to educate us on all the resort and surrounding area had to offer.  By the time we were finished it was fairly late in the evening so we got settled into our room and headed straight for dinner.  The all-inclusive resort had four restaurants to choose from for dinner so the first night we chose seafood.  The food was delicious, the setting was amazing as we were sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean, and the service was wonderful.  I was already impressed!

Later we explored the grounds a little bit and it didn't take long before I injured my clumsy self.  I managed to stub my toe on a rock on the beach and also almost wipe out when I was wading in the pool.  Ryan was doubled over laughing while informing me I wasn't supposed to be wading in the pool anyway because it was closed.  Then we decided to grab some cocktails in one of the many on site bars before we turned in for the evening.

The next morning we were better able to explore the resort in the light and it was amazing!  We had an ocean/pool view from our room and it was gorgeous!

We headed straight to the beach, which was just a short walk from our room.

Then we had drinks at the beach bar and then lunch right on the beach at one of the restaurants that specialized in ceviche.  Yummy!  We sampled a couple of the ceviches and then enjoyed delicious fish tacos.  I was just as impressed with this casual beach side restaurant as I had been with the seafood restaurant the night before.  Everything was so fresh and tasty and you couldn't beat the setting.  

We spent some time later at the pool and found this little friend laying out.

It was a perfect, relaxing day and the weather was exactly what we needed!  Fun in the sun!  Later we got ready for dinner and chose to go to the hibachi.  We had a great chef, the food was amazing (again) and we met some nice people around the teppanyaki grill.

We discovered that the water feature inside the main lobby area of the resort had turtles!  I love turtles.

The next day we signed up for the Extreme Tulum adventure tour.  I have tons of pictures of that so I'll write about it in my next post.

David

I took a little break from blogging this week because I felt I needed to digest and reflect before I wrote. Ryan and I received some difficult news early this week and I have never been the best at handling any emotions that don't involve smiling and laughing.  It's not that we didn't have a fabulous weekend, so I will start there.

On Saturday we were able to watch the K-State/Texas A&M football game.  It was an amazing game that the Cats finally won after four overtimes!!!  Talk about exciting!  Ryan couldn't contain his anxiety as you can tell by the various positions he assumed throughout the game.  I couldn't keep from laughing at him (which didn't go over well, I believe at one point he called me a butthole).

Then, on Sunday after church we went over to our friend David's for a potluck "brunch".  There were 9 of us there and there was so much food!  Some people brought more than one item and of course David had the wine out already.  I thought we were just going to have the hors d'oeuvres that everyone brought but after we'd all enjoyed some snacks and a couple glasses of wine, David started cooking a giant pork loin and a few sides!  We ended up spending most of the day enjoying our friends and eating and drinking way too much.  We had such a great time and all the food was delicious!

Roy, Hannah, Matt, Jodi

Marlene, Sue, David

Then on Tuesday, we received the news that David had passed away that morning.  I was utterly shocked.  We had just spent the entire day on Sunday with David and had made plans on when we'd see each other next.  It was so difficult for me because we had formed such a special bond with David.  We met him the first time we attended the 8 am service at our church and he immediately welcomed us.  He took us to Starbucks and bought our coffee and from that day on he opened his heart and home to us.  In just 7 short months we really got to know and enjoy David and it feels like it wasn't nearly enough time.  He was such a caring and kind person.  I struggled all week with this news as this is the first time I've lost a friend that was a part of my daily life.  After the initial shock and sadness, I opted to look at this in the most positive light as possible and here are a few of my thoughts:  David is in a better place now with his beloved wife he lost to disease a few years ago; we are so lucky we had the chance to know him at all, even if it was for such a short time; he was able to enjoy friends and family during his last days and had even expressed how happy he was last weekend; and I will always have great memories of our time at his cabin, at his home, at restaurants, and our weekly trips to Starbucks.  I will miss David greatly and Sundays are definitely never going to feel the same.  Witnessing the speed at which things can change and the fragility of life has solidified my belief that I have only thanks to give for all the blessings in my life and that I should take time to smell the roses and cherish the joyful moments with family and friends.  I love you all and greatly miss those of you that live far away. 

Napa Valley

We got to Napa fairly late last Friday as we were driving up in rush hour traffic.  We got to drive in style though!  Originally Hertz assigned Ryan a minivan but he asked nicely if there was another option.  The Hertz representative said that he was so nice about it that she gave him this!

Once we got there we found out the hotel was hosting a happy hour so we enjoyed our first glass of wine there.

Then we  headed to a wonderful Italian restaurant, Oenotri, in the quaint little downtown of Napa.  It prints a new menu everyday and has a large selection of wines.  Of course we enjoyed some wine and shared a few of the dishes on the menu.  It was so delicious!

On Saturday, we went on a winery bus tour.  The bus took six couples and the tour guide pretty much chose the four wineries we visited.  She specialized in boutique wineries so the four we visited were smaller and not as widely distributed as others.  The first stop was Grgich Hills.  The tasting host was Adam Lambert's uncle!  He was so much fun and really helped start the day off right.

Next we went to Paoletti Vineyards.  First we tasted several wines in the tasting room and then we headed to the caves for lunch (and more wine). 

The caves were crazy.  The walls were stained in red wine and the owner had marble busts made of friends and people he admired.  You can see Ronald Reagan above.  He was alongside the likes of the Pope, DaVinci, and the vineyard owner's attorney.

The next stop was Dominari.  The tasting host was the CEO and winemaker of the vineyard.  Her story is so cute.  Her husband moved her out to the "country" after she'd always been a city girl.  She eventually started making wine out of the grapes they were growing and started winning awards!  

The last stop was Laird Family Estate.  I'd had enough wine by that point that I don't know whether the wine I tasted was good or not.  HA!  But we still brought a couple bottles home! 

 

After having 5-7 tastes/glasses at each stop, we probably should have gone straight back to the hotel to drink some water and rest.  Instead, we had the tour guide drop our whole bus off at a bar so we could all have a few more drinks together and watch football.  Then Ryan and I headed to Celadon for dinner.  It was really delicious but I think I was a bit too tipsy to fully appreciate it.

Sunday...I realized what a bad idea it was to go out for drinks after an entire day of wine tasting.  Even so, we got up and headed to Oakville Grocery, which is a super cute little store in Napa.  I could just envision picking up some deli items and a bottle of wine there and having a picnic.  There were a lot of people that were doing that but we were headed to Sonoma so we didn't get anything.  Sonoma was such a cute little town but we didn't feel like tasting any wine so we didn't bring any Sonoma wines home.  I do know from prior experience that I LOVE the Schug pinot noir that is from Sonoma.  While we were in town Ryan drove me by the 2009 HGTV Dream Home that I had tried to win by entering the sweepstakes every day until they closed.  It was just my luck that the home is on the market right now!  So if I can just come up with a cool $2 million I could probably still own it!  Ryan suggested we could put a leg lamp (a la The Christmas Story) in the front window if we had a nice house like that.

We enjoyed a late lunch at Cafe 522 and then headed back toward San Francisco to catch our late evening flight.  We took a different way back than we took up so we got to go over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Napa and Sonoma were both so lovely and I'm sure there are so many other things to do in both places!  It is beautiful country and I'm so glad we got to go!

Taxation of Mining Conference

Ernst & Young's 20th Annual Taxation of Mining Conference - sounds exciting doesn't it?  Would it sound more exciting if I told you it was held in San Francisco at the Four Seasons in the Financial District?  That was exciting to me!  I flew out last Tuesday to attend classes Wednesday through Friday.  They were all about, you guessed it - Taxation of Mining.  Just like in college I secured a seat front and center.  It's not like it was really that hard because no one else wanted to sit there (notice all the empty seats).  I guess once a nerd always a nerd...

Classes that first day were great and afterward one of the vendors sponsored a happy hour.  I got to try Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon and it was delicious.  It's a Napa Valley wine and I had heard it was wonderful but had never had it before.  When I asked the bartender for it he said "Ah, you know your wine."  Actually, I know very little about wine but his response assured me that I was picking a good one.  Upon further investigation I determined that Silver Oak is a rather expensive wine. 

Ryan's territory happens to include San Francisco so he flew out Wednesday to work and I got to meet him for dinner that night.  We went to Chinatown!  As I grew up on Chinese cooking, I crave it all the time.  I love being places where I can get really good authentic food. 

Then I decided we needed to get a sundae at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop in Ghirardelli Square.  Ghirardelli Square really is not very close to Chinatown or the Financial District but the walk was worth it.  The Ghirardelli chocolate sauce is delicious!

The next evening Ryan declined my invitation to join me for dinner with other conference sponsors and attendees.  I tried to convince him that the food would be amazing because all the Four Seasons lunches were delicious but I can imagine it might have been a bit boring for him to listen to a bunch of accounting acronyms and jokes.  So, instead we went to Super Duper Burgers and it was really good.  The ice cream is made at the restaurant from locally sourced organic cream.  You could tell they made it from scratch.  Ryan with chipmunk cheeks:

On Friday, the conference ended at one so I was on my own for lunch.  I, of course, went back to Chinatown and had some pho, which is actually Vietnamese food. 

Then, Ernst & Young provided a San Francisco trolley tour.  I had already seen a lot of what they showed us but it was fun to listen to all the little facts and to drive through several of the neighborhoods. 

The view from across Golden Gate Bridge.  Alcatraz is kind of in the middle of the picture.

Another picture from Golden Gate bridge.

When I was done with the tour and Ryan was done with work, he picked me up and we headed to Napa Valley!  I will write about our time in Napa later.  I had a great time in San Francisco and the conference was very good.  It was icing on the cake that Ryan could also be there at the same time and we could enjoy the evenings together.

Under the Weather

I was sick over the weekend so I didn't take a single picture.  I spent most of my time sleeping and eating soup and ice cream.  I did make some homemade spicy pork green chili that was super delicious.  And it made enough for leftovers!