We spent the day exploring the "sailboat capital of the world", downtown Annapolis with Kirk and Lisa. We strolled through the local shops, made our way past "Ego Alley" and they treated us to lunch at McGarvey's along the city dock. We lounged on deck this evening with a stack of "TravelTopics" questions, learned more about each other, enjoyed the conversation and read as the sun set.
Another glorious day of sailing The Chesapeake Bay! We have so much respect and appreciation for Kirk and Lisa "showing us the ropes" (pun intended).
Tonight, we anchored up in the Chester River. We took this pic of the moon looking up through the windows of our state room. A day and eve well spent!
An amazing beginning to our sailing excursion of the Chesapeake Bay! We started the day with a fun breakfast at Chick & Ruth's Delly in downtown Annapolis before meeting up with Lisa & Kirk at Weems Creek. We dingied out to tour the beautiful "Thalia" and put away our small amount of gear.
We then all dingied back to shore & headed into town for lunch & to Trader Joe's to stock up on "provisions". Once we returned to the boat & settled in, we set the sails & headed out past Thomas Point lighthouse toward our first night's anchoring near near High Island up the Hrode River.
I particularly enjoyed settling into our "state room" aboard "Thalia", sharing great conversation and a restful dinner in the salon, and lounging in the cockpit and deck taking in two spectacular shooting stars and seeing the orbiting satellites blazing across the clear night's sky.
Aerial view of Annapolis, Maryland
Today was b-u-s-y. Every second was productive at work and we'll spend tonight packing for sailing Chesapeake Bay tomorrow. One highlight of the day was the Cosmic Stir lunch at Cosmic Cafe.
"Fasting is redirecting our attention normally spent on food to focus our hearts and minds on Christ and his plan for our lives." For more on Week 1 of One Prayer, click here.
We enjoyed a Mexican feast and fellowship at FC's Summer Patio Party this eve after Fusion Service. Today begins a new global series, One Prayer, that will last one month. Each week we'll be challenged as a whole church body to do what it takes to focus on this One Prayer.
Do you miss the days of Big Wheels races, scavenger hunts, and Slippin' Slide parties? A great group of us are returning to Austin to take on our second annual Urban Assault Ride! To rally our teams, we hosted a Bike & BBQ Kick-off this morning at White Rock. Can't wait for race day!
Mom snapped this pic of Skagon Valley's sea of tulips during her gal pal trip to Seattle. I can only imagine standing in awe of them so they're now on my '09 destination list.
Delish team lunch at Cochon (Cajun, Southern cooking)
Heading home through the NOLA airport.
Loved the Chihuly chandeliers in the entrance of our hotel. Spent most the day in BP meetings.
In NOLA for a few days, thinking about hot sauce. Here are some agency colleagues that work on the brand before heading out to dinner at Pat O's. (Yeah, Bill was pretty much our body guard during the trip ;o)
If you've lost your pet bunny (or released it from an Easter gift captivity ;o), someone is caring for it in the White Rock area and awaiting your call.
They're like nature's sparklers! During our bike ride around White Rock this evening, the fields were filled with twinkly fireflies. I could have watched them for hours and it would've been an ideal night for camping within them.
Candace, Steve, Trisha and I catching up at Sangria to celebrate how small the advertising world is becoming.
It's a great day for celebrating! Today is Matt's birthday and when asked how he'd like to spend it, I wasn't surprised when we headed to the water. We met up with Tim and Diane to sail on their incredible, Coquette, at the Catalina 22 National Regatta Championship on Lake Grapevine.
We spent most of the day at Fellowship Church. Started off with teaching K-5th kiddos that "To play on God's team, we must never give up on praying" and got in a bike ride during the afternoon before picking up Matt's BBBS little brother, Giovanni, for Fusion Service. Afterward, we hung out at the Italian-themed FC Partio for some fellowship and delish gelato.
Allaso Ranch dining hall and worship center
Mountain bike trails
Horseback riding on the Ranch
We spent the day at the almost-ready-for-campers, FC Allaso Ranch. This place is amazing! Not only is it equipped with anything and everything kiddos and like-minded adults would ever want from their dream summer camp, but it's certainly a place where incredible, positive change will happen in their lives. I couldn't be more proud and excited for what's to come here.
Matt and I headed a couple hours east today to spend the weekend testing out the brand new FC Allaso Ranch! Allaso (which in Greek means Change) is the new home of our incredible FC Kids camp. We'll join other FC members to turn the knobs, flip the switches, bike the trails, swim the swim center, sleep in the cabins, try out the state-of-the art dining hall and worship center, and more for the upcoming inaugural summer camp season. I'm beyond excited about being a 2nd-5th grade girls camp counselor for a week this summer!
