Scott & Anna Take Over the West

Summer Paintings by Anna Lee

2006-08-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

In Memory of Ray Pellegrini

2006-05-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Just in case you haven't heard, my dad passed away suddenly on Sunday May 7. For those who never had the pleasure of knowing him, you truly missed out. He was not only my dad, but really my hero, and a great friend to all. Our family and the Vermont Principal's Association have started a scholarship in his name for individuals destined to be the first in their family to go on to college, and to do so here in Vermont. It's called the Ray Pellegrini Reach For The Stars Scholarship. I know, a little corny, but if you knew my dad you know that's the way he likes it. Thank you to everyone for your support; we truly feel blessed to be surrounded by such love. Anna and I will be postponing our western travels indefinitely, and staying in Vermont.

The pictures are from last Thursday night, when we entertained the family at our home in Bristol before heading to the funeral home for private calling hours. And wouldn't you know, a magnificant rainbow blessed our gathering from above. I love you, dad.

Livin' La Vida Loca

2006-04-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Alright.. we're feeling a little guilty for our lack of updates since coming to Sunny San Diego, so here's a little sumtin'-sumtin' for y'all. Quite little actually (photo-wise at least). The first snapshot is looking westward down our street toward the downtown skyline and the second is eastbound from in front of our place. We're living in Golden Hills neighborhood, just south of Balboa Park. It's not the most exciting neighborhood in the world, but it's treating us pretty well nonetheless. There's a relatively strong Mexican showing within and particularly surrounding our neighborhood... Shocking, I know. We frequent the local Mexican market, but I (Scott) will not be trying their salsa again anytime soon. Oh mama!! The employees warned me too, "Mui Caliente, yes?" Naturally, never one to turn down free samples, I was already a few chips deep before my tongue realized it was time to call the fire department. I'm pretty sure the nearby folks enjoyed a hearty laugh at my expense though I was too busy sweating my face off to know for certain.

Hot salsa aside, Anna and I have quickly reaffirmed just how good we had it working together at Pauline's (MISS YOU GUYS - Hoene, you think you could braise something up for us and ship it out. Your choice, boss.. I'm sure you could make a dirty boot taste good). The jobs we've checked out so far haven't been great fits for us, but we're hanging in there as one must when in desperate need of income. We've also completely caved to the realization that we are indeed 'foodies,' or at least aspire to be one day (I think the term implies great knowledge to go along with the passion.. we're halfway there). We are without TV, and now spend plenty of time cuddled up to "The Food Lover's Companion," "Wine For Dummies," and "The Wine Bible." Though neither of us intend to serve fine wine and food for the rest of our lives, we do intend to consume it as frequently as possible. However, learning more about wine is a dangerous proposition when you don't have much disposable income to work with (as evidenced by this morning's trip to the Wine Sellar for their Spring Warehouse Sales Event.. it's like Christmas).

Anyway, much love to all. We hope to be much better bloggers in the near future.

Happy Rabbit Stew

2006-04-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

We heard that a few special people (yes, that's you Grandma, Grandpa, and Granny) are celebrating Easter in Bristol on Sunday (and might even get a chance to look at our blog), so we thought we'd take a moment to say "hi." We miss you very much and wish we could join you... Big hugs to y'all, and everyone else who's reading along.

PS ~ Be sure to check out the first link on the left (under our profile)... It's a commercial from Japan starring none other than Chris Pell... isn't he precious?

92102

2006-04-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, my apologies for the layout of these things...I just can't figure it out! Anyway, we drove down to San Diego on Monday, April 2 and within a few days had a great, although small, studio apartment and jobs lined up at a revamped restaurant downtown! Our apartment is a perfect month-to-month situation, with lots of natural sunlight, a kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom/dining room/living room all in one! What more could you want?? I could probably think of a few things...but for right now, nothing. It's private, quiet, close to everything and convenient because it's fully furnished. Very fun to move our carload of stuff into a new place, the first since VT!
The restaurant where we got serving jobs has potential to be quite scary. In our on-the-spot, dual interview, the new owner/manager asked frankly if he had scared us away yet and when we said "no," he said "good." Not sure how we felt about that but we have both worked for scary people before (no names mentioned here for a reason) and figured we could do it again. I will probably do a lot of smiling, giggling and nodding around management, while Scott feels he'll get some good practice at not being a smart-you-know-what. The restaurant is currently being revamped and is due to open next week with press events and benefits for MS, Red Cross, Easter Seals all while simultaneously opening to the public. Are we ready for this? We'll see. We're taking our menu print-outs and the "Food Lover's Companion" to the beach with us today to do some "serious" studying. Wish us luck and we'll keep you posted/blogged.

90210 Yo

2006-04-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

After Vegas and Havasu, we booked it straight to Los Angeles to visit the beautiful, the wonderful, the charming Miss Emily Schonberg (Em-You made the blog!) and had a great weekend learning that LA really isn't so LA as we thought. We hit up Vermont St near Hollywood for dinner (weird, huh? We make it all the way to California, and still can't get away from VT!) with Emily and her sister, Anna 2, at this very cool diner that serves up very original food and shared a couple bottles of wine at a little French bakery/bistro. The next day, we took a drive that left us bewildered. First through Hollywood, straight-up 90210-style area, then Santa Monica beach, complete with an outdoor gymnastics practice course (thought of you, Marta), stopped for lunch in Malibu and afterward drove up into the hills where the roads wind up and around houses and yards that are literally sliding off the hill! It was a great weekend, and will definitely be back to LA to explore some more. And once again, Em, thanks so much for having us!

Phatigued Photo Phinger

2006-04-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

So we got a little tired of snapping photos somewhere along the way, which is not a rflection of the great time we had on our trip. Utah is absolutely stunning; it totally blew our minds. These shots are all from Zion NP. From here we headed to Vegas. We had a nice room at the Tropicanna which is on the southern part of the strip closest to NY NY, MGM Grand, and the Luxor (the big pyramid one). It was Anna's first time to Sin City, and after much convincing from you-know-who (and the help of a coupon) she actually won about $60 at the blackjack table, making her the first person in mondern history to come out of the casinos ahead on their first trip. Even better, Scott went to work at the poker table and Christmas came early... a few well timed bluffs by night, followed by the "mac-daddy" straight by day, and life is good. Now if we could only figure out what we were doing staying up until 7am. When in Vegas... We thought maybe we could make up for lost rest on our stay in Lake Havasu the next night. But then we remembered we were staying with spring breakers (Loyal and his C-Springs pals, great crew) and a few games of pong/quarters later we were back where we started. All in all, an amazing week on the road.

We've settled in San Diego now.... More to come...

Rainy Day Road Warriors

2006-03-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature intervened today, so we took to the road... epic drive from Moab heading south down the east side of Utah, on through the Navajo Nation in Arizona, and back into Utah via the Glen Canyon Damn (containing Lake Powell and setting up the mighty Colorado River's run through the Grand Canyon... the first photo is of us overlooking the lake). Then it was on to Zion National Park (via fundamentalist Mormon country) just in time for sunset. The second photo is of Weeping Rock Waterfall as the sun said goodnight to Zion. As Anna so eloquently put it from underneath the cascading water, "This is like, where ferries live." Though adorable, I'm not sure the turkies agreed, at least not the one in the third photo. His excreted excitement can be seen just behind him on the road. Oh yes, the smell of freshness. Anyway, we're looking forward to our day in Zion tomorrow, and then Vegas, baby, Vegas. 'Til next time, be good.

Some More Moab

2006-03-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

A little more Kibbles n' Bits for y'all, to stop the salivating.. all these shots are from Canyonlands and Arches NP.

Moab: Not Half Bad

2006-03-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a little nibble of our travels for our loyal viewers (thanks Chris and Moms, we love you!). Leaving Moab for Zion on this rainy morning after a couple of days spent touring the area: we thought deserts were dry...to be continued...

On The Road Again

2006-03-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

That's right y'all, we're off to sunny San Diego... we leave tomorrow and slowly wind our way to So Cal via Aspen, Arches/Canyonlands/Zion National Parks, Vegas (of course), Lake Havasu (maybe), and L.A. Should be a fun trip, assuming we don't go broke in Vegas :) Thinking about making So Cal home for a couple months, cuz frankly we need jobs. Hope this finds eveyrone well.

PS - March Madness Freakin' Rules!! Have you been watching these games???

Stairway to Hell

2006-03-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

So Scott was too lazy to do this one with me...it's this crazy hike just outside of Colorado Springs called the "Incline" and the locals go nuts over it. Essentially, it's an old cog railway, but the physically phenatic of this part of the country decided it'd be a great workout after the railway stopped running. So now it's a steep one-mile hike to the top (with a nice 4-mile winding trail to the bottom), but it will leave you winded and dizzy before the first twenty steps! I'm exaggerating a bit, but seriously, I made it to the two-thirds drop-out point and couldn't imagine taking another step up. My brother-in-law (one of the physically-phenatic) runs up it and makes it to the top in 25 minutes. I wish I had brought my camera up with me because the view was something I'd never experienced before (the mountain practically dropped out from under you when you looked down). This photo doesn't do it justice and I'm sorry it's so unclear, guess I was still a little shaky afterwards. The other photo is from the bottom of the Incline when the moon was coming out looking like a giant Muppet baby head over the city!

VT Painting

2006-03-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

This is the "completed" painting I was working on in one of the previous blogs (even though I want to believe it's finished, I think it still needs some work).

Approaching One Year Together...

2006-03-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our love was truly tested. Anna and I have agreed to some temporary work through "Colorado's Premier Talent Agency," which I imagine is not a tough claim to make. Mostly we're in it for some promotional work that pays well and is relatively flexible (though Anna will be attempting to get in on a hair show this weekend in Denver). Anyway, our first job was located at the Cortez WalMart (I know, I know, working for Satan, so sue us). Cortez is located in the southwest corner of Colorado, near Durango and Mesa Verde National Park. We intended to make a nice little weekend out of the trip, but Mother Nature had other intentions. Let's just say we took our life into our own hands going over Wolf's Creek Pass just after they reopened it Friday afternoon. After doing our job Saturday, we were forced to reroute through New Mexico on our way back, as the only safe and viable option. All told, a 13 hour 700 mile roundtrip became a 26 hour 1100 mile white-knuckle journey from Hell. The only halfway enjoyable part of the trip was our stop in Santa Fe on the way back to Colorado Springs, a place we definitely intend to return to. It seems to be a very interesting town in addition to the home of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, which was really quite amazing. The picture is of her Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur (1930) which was one of our favorite pieces. Sorry there aren't any really fun pictures to post this time around, but that certainly reflects the mood of the weekend as a whole. Anyway, I'd like to thank the Lord that Anna still claims to love me.

"FORE!!"

2006-02-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Anna and I hit the links today, for a little fun in the sun. Not usually a post-worthy event, except that Anna's swing looks so damn good already we just had to show it off. Also, I've gotta do a little bragging. I hit a drive 370 yards today.. alright, perhaps some thanks is due to the thinner air, the firm early season fairways (making for a nice, long roll), the friendly tailwind, and the slight downhill slope of the hole. But, hey, it's def the longest drive I've ever hit, so shut up :)

Steamboat Springs

2006-02-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

We spent this past weekend in Steamboat Springs, which is in northern Colorado pretty close to Wyoming. We were visiting Scott's college friend 'Goldschlagger' (aka Mike) and ended up staying in a 2 bedroom apartment ('the dirty dog') with 5 other guys... Anna was pumped. But it was a good time, despite the lack of photos. We spent the majority of the weekend partying in ski-bum style, although we avoided the slopes again (they were $75 for a day). We did snap a few photos at Strawberry Park Hot Springs where we spent a wonderful sun-filled afternoon on Saturday. They have a few different warm pools neighbored by a much colder river which was remarkably refreshing and unfortunately managed to hog most of the space in our photos of the layout. If you look just past the icey water in the last photo, you can just barely make out the main pool area. All in all a pretty sweet place.

Thanks to everyone who's been bothering to read through our self-indulging posts. We do enjoy doing it (so far). And for those of you who tried to leave comments, but were denied, I think we fixed the problem, so hopefully it works for you now.

So Little To Do, So Much Time To Do It

2006-02-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Although we've been fairly busy since arriving, only 10 days ago, we often find ourselves searching for a purpose. Though unemployment does have it's benefits, we sometimes have trouble filling the day with meaningful activity. Luckily, Anna's dinosaur of a laptop makes surfing the net almost a day long event (especially when simultaneously logged on to Poker Stars). Though she didn't pack snowpants or boots, Anna did remember her acrylics which had been collecting dust for the last copule years. Hopefully she can sell the painting she's working on here to buy herself some winter gear.

Frisco

2006-02-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

We spent this past weekend in Frisco, about 60 miles west of Denver (near Breckenridge, Keystone, and several other ski resorts). Being President's Day weekend, we decided it probably wouldn't be the best time to reintroduce ourselves to the slopes. We did however do some amazing cross country skiing not far from Copper Mountain. We did a 2 mile loop in some of the most gorgeous surroundings you can possibly imagine. I know, I know, only 2 miles??? Sounds easy, right? WRONG!! Okay, maybe it is for the locals, but breathing at 11,000+ feet does not come naturally to either of us(yet). Lucky for all of you, I (Anna) decided to post a few pictures taken after the all-uphill half-way point had been reached when standing had become a challenge. But the photos are integral to our trip and I laugh everytime I look at them, so how could I keep them from all of you! Enjoy!

Nuggets vs. Suns

2006-02-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

The weather turned a little more winter-like, so we headed to Denver for an evening. We had a couple drinks at the oldest bar in town, where Jack Kerrouac once worked (conveniently located next to the REI flagship store). Then it was off to the Pepsi Center for an NBA game. The Phoenix Suns won by about 20, thanks mostly to the exhibition put on by Steve Nash (he is a basketball god). He is truly amazing. Our seats were $10 each (aka "nosebleed seats"), but we prefer to just take good seats from the morons that don't show up. It never fails to please.

Waldo Canyon

2006-02-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

We were blessed with some great weather our first few days here, which turned out to be somewhat of a tease... luckily, we capitalized on the sunshine while we could, going on our first hike around Waldo Canyon. It was only about 7 miles in length, without a great deal of elevation change, but we managed to struggle a little nonetheless. Colorado Springs sits at about 6,500 feet, which takes some getting used to. Pikes Peak, a massive 'fourteener' (in Colorado terms, a mountain reaching over 14,000 feet), overlooks Colorado Springs and greets us every morning when we step out in front of Amanda and Dave's home. Anyway, here are some photos from the hike; the 'glamor' greyhound with us is Stella.

Day One

2006-02-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Feb 11, the day after our arrival, Amanda and Dave took us on a little driving tour of Colorado Springs to help us get acclemated to the area. One stop was at the much heralded Garden of the Gods which is situated on the west side of the city. Can you see the 'Kissing Camels?'

Fantastic Voyage

2006-02-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of driving from Vermont to Colorado, you really don't know what you're missing... for those of you who have, you know what the others are missing... not much. It was (fortunately for us) a pretty uneventful 3 day trek, save a nice stay in Cleveland to visit Scott's friend Carl. Unfortunately though, the combination of high winds and speed through Nebraska (thank God for 75 MPH speed limits) would not allow us to roll down the windows. After repetitive stops at fast food establishments, breathing became somewhat hazardous to one's health :) This probably contributed to our excitement rolling across the state line into Colorado. So thrilling in fact, we took 100 pictures of the sun setting through the car window (where this shot came from). But we arrived safe and sound to a welcoming dinner in Colorado Springs where we are staying with Amanda (Anna's older sis) and Dave (Amanda's husband).