Lots to catch up on ...

My goodness, we have been bloggin' slackers! As always, things are busy with lots of travel, lots of work, lots of fun, and not a lot of time for blogging. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Here's our quick catch-up post to at least get us closer to date. In the past 2 months, we've ...

Seen an amazing Prince concert in Greensboro. That man can sure wear some sequins and puts on an amazing show - hit after hit, I love Prince!


We also saw Yes at DPAC


I spent 2 weeks in India for work ... my 4th trip to India.




While I was gone, Brad got to go to a Hurricane's game with a bunch of friends. He also went to a Gala Charity Ball but somehow there are no pics of him in his tux!


JBJ!! Reaffirmed my crush on Jon Bon Jovi - he's so cute! :)


Sitting/standing in the student section for Duke vs Georgia Tech


Great Sam Bush concert in Raleigh


One of my favorite people in the whole world, Julie comes to visit!! We had a blast and some debauchery ensued. ;)

Our buddy Jenn also came to visit on another weekend, but somehow we missed taking pics the whole weekend!

And the recap ends with an amazing weekend in DC back in January. Spending an awesome weekend with two of my best buddies from Duke and the newest lady to add to the crew - little miss Emily Carmen, so adorable!!

Plus work trips and lots of other fun over the last few weeks. And now we're almost caught up with the blog!

Violence and reflection

Reflecting on the horrific shooting the just happened in Tucson, AZ...

It saddens me to think of the violence and hatred that we are constantly hearing about on the news. Scares me to think about the people that were innocently going about their lives, and suddenly, in a senseless act of violence, families were ripped apart and lives ended way too early.

Not much good can come out of a situation like that, but I do think Obama's remarks were inspired tonight. Regardless of your political persuasion, words to reflect on and strive to live by ...

After all, that's what most of us do when we lose somebody in our family -- especially if the loss is unexpected. We're shaken out of our routines. We're forced to look inward. We reflect on the past: Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices that they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in a while but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look backward -- but it also forces us to look forward; to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us.

We may ask ourselves if we've shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we're doing right by our children, or our community, whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -- but rather, how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.

Sitting in the student section

As we were driving back from Virginia, we got a call from our buddy Billy saying that he had extra tickets to the Duke-Maryland basketball game that night. I have to admit that we hesitated ... totally exhausted from all the traveling for the holidays and then the baptism, and we were just looking forward to relaxing for a few hours on Sunday night before heading back to work the next morning.

But how can you call yourself a Dukie if you say no to bball tix??? So, of course, we went! We got to sit (or rather, stand) in the student section which was really fun.


The game was closer than I would have liked it to be, but Duke eventually pulled it out and got the W.


Spear the turtle!


Long live the Blue Devils!

Blake's Baptism

Right after the holidays were over, we were headed right back to VA for our nephew Blake's baptism.

Blake is the cutest, smiliest, lil' 8 and a 1/2 month old ever! He actually enjoyed the baptism - not only didn't he mind getting blessed with the holy water, he looked like he wanted to jump right in to the baptismal font the whole time!

We had fun hanging out with the fam again and celebrating with Blake!

Happy New Years!

After Christmas was over, we spent New Year's Eve (and Alex's birthday) in Texas with the Worshams. We had SUCH a fun night! We spent the night in Austin (even got hotel rooms for the night - clearly we were committed to party hard!), had a ridiculously delicious dinner, followed by a show at Esther's Follies, and then spent the rest of the night at a dueling piano bar.

We had a blast and rang in the New Year in style. A couple pics from the debauchery :) ...

Ringing in the New Year with my favorite guy:

And doing shots with my in-laws .. hee hee ;)


Happy 2011 to all!