Girls best friend...I love my sweet Honey!!!!

Family visits the new digs!! Uncle Gary and Timothy come for a quick visit. Thanks for stopping by!!!!

I'm truly a Californian again!

10 Things I love about being in the Bay Area, California:

1. Sunshine!!
2. Swimming pools, everyone has one.
3. Average speed limit on any freeway is 70 mph, that's frickin awesome!
4. I can buy liquor at a grocery store.
5. Diversity
6. The Philladelphia CheeseSteak Shop.
7. Technology super geeks everywhere.
8. San Jose Sharks, 49er's, Raiders and the Oakland A's, all in our backyard!!!
9. Opportunity.
10. Knowing that even if I have a bad day, its o.k. because is sunny outside!!!!

The view off of my patio is great. And Honey has plenty of room to run and play and pooh!

Dan, Honey and I are new residents in Dublin, California. Dublin is a very cute town smack in the middle of the two busiest freeways in the Bay Area which is great for two young adults looking to get their career on! Dublin is right next to Pleasanton which is where Dan was raised from the 6th grade till he graduated High School. We pass his old stomping grounds everyday. We live in a complex called the Springs which is right on top of a historical site. In 1822, a Mexican Soldier, Jose Maria Amador, began to build the first community in Dublin, also known as the Tri-Valley area. Our physical complex is about 50 feet from where he built his home and raised his family. I believe the swimming pool and hot tub sit where his home sits, so I must be living where the chickens were raised...LOL. Jose Amador has many places named after him, including, Amador High School which is where Dan graduated. Pleasanton is also the sister city of Tulancingo, Mexico. In High School, Dan was sent to Tulancingo, Mexico as a foreign exchange student and represntative of it's sister city, Pleasanton to speak with the Spanish speaking Kiwanis and Key club members in Mexico. I dont have any photos of this enriched history of Dublin, but I thought I would share some photos of our new home. We like it here. It is smaller than our home in Aloha, Oregon, but we are very grateful we have less yard work to do.

Summer fun in Genoa, Nevada with Cousin Aaron. Dan, Honey and I spent a week at cousin Aaron's house. We took a day trip to Lake Tahoe and visited the local setting of Genoa. Genoa is a very cute little town with loads of history. Quaint coffee shops and local stores, along with a visit to the gravesite of Snowshoe Thompson (successful mail carrier who was never paid), Tahoe Ridge winery and the first bar in Nevada. We also took a tour of the Mormon station where many Mormons settled in 1851 before Bringham Young requested all Mormons return to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1857. One of the most unique things to me in Genoa was that the deer are as common around the neighborhood as the residents.

Lake Tahoe is absolutely beautiful as always!

The Pittsburgh, California Seafood Fesitval was in late August. It was one of the last events Dan and I attended before we moved to Oregon in 2001. So upon our return to California in 2006, we had to re-visit the fun. The Seafood Festival is full of crazy seafood and southern dishes like Gumbo, crawdads and shrimp dishes. Aunt Val joined us in the fun!

Ya drishti, Sa srishti meaning, the world is as you see it.

Thanks to the Chrestensen sisters, I discovered blogger.com and thought I would give it a try. I had been thinking of various ways to share photos and messages with family and friends. This seemed to be the most fun and less expesive than getting my own website hosted. I will tinker away so come by often to see any new photos and expressions of life by Alisha!