Spring Break Part III

We had a busy first weekend - here - and a relaxing first part to the week - here - then we headed to Oregon.

Rich's grandparents are in Washington and we had been planning this visit for about a month now - so needless to say, we were very excited to be on our way!

We arrived in Oregon on Thursday night just in time for dinner at Huber's Cafe in SW Portland.

They are known for their Spanish coffees - Rich had one this trip and enjoyed it (I didn't get a picture because Rich was being a party-pooper :-))

I had their Seafood Penne - it was very good!

On Friday morning, the boys headed to the shooting range and G-Pat and I walked through downtown Camas and walked through their many antique stores.

For lunch I got to see my beautiful Alpha Gamm Big Sister!

We hadn't seen each other in too long

We ate at Dorio and had gyros and champagne. The food was light and delicious and perfect for lunch.

After lunch we walked around the Alphabet District and then headed to Deschutes Brewery where we met up with Rich and his grandparents.

After a few beers, my Big Sis headed on her way and the rest of us went to Henry's for Dinner. Their Signature Gorgonzola Fries were recommended to us, A.Freaking.Mazing! And I had the mac & cheese.

Saturday morning we woke up early so I could meet a high school friend of mine for brunch at Tasty n Sons. The menu is meant to be shared - we didn't realize this at first, so we ordered separately and then we got the hang of it and ordered a dessert! We ordered the Chocolate Potato Donut, Cast Iron Fritata, Boudin Blanc Omelette and Auntie Paula's French Toast Sundae. Everything was amazing, especially the company! :-)

After brunch Rich, the Grandparents and I headed to Newport, Oregon.

We made it to Newport and, of course, stopped at Mo's for lunch.

After lunch we headed to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I would definitely recommend the aquarium - it is outdoors and there are so many exhibits to see.

The weather was absolutely perfect. We drove around to different view points and over the Yaquina Bay Bridge & the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport. Rich and I walked along the beach and enjoyed the sunshine.

By this time it was dinner time so we headed over to The Rogue Alehouse. This restaurant is right on the water and has amazing views. Sadly the alehouse only has tours once per day, sadly, we missed it. The food was good and the beer was tasty.

We were pooped after dinner so we check in to the hotel, rested and relax and then Rich and I went for a moonlight stroll along the beach. It was so peaceful. We had to turn back and head back to the hotel because the wind picked up..a lot!

Sunday morning we had a hotel Easter Egg hunt, had breakfast in the hotel, checkout of the hotel, went to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, the Depoe Bridge and headed back to Portland for lunch at the Newport Seafood Grill and then to the airport.

We are in the season for Whale watching, so when we were at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and at the Depoe Bridge we were able to see some whales spouting and the first sighting we saw we saw the whale come out of the water! It was such and amazing sight! 

We were both sad to leave because that meant that our vacation was over and Rich had to get back to school!

Spring Break Part II

After our first busy weekend - here - we spent the first part of the break relaxing!

We relaxed on the beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu.

We drank iced coffees, went for long walks and read for leisure.

It was so relaxing.

uno. santa monica

dos. malibu pier

tres - sies. malibu beach

siete & diez. library alehouse (beer with fish & chips - yummm) - and that fun fact is hilarious!

ocho & nueve. bearded papa cream puff bakery

The water in malibu is so clear and beautiful! We were able to find perfect parking and the beach was not too busy, which was so nice.

Loving: My Husband!

As always, I am loving my husband.

It is so hard to describe how happy I am when I am around this man.

A friend said to me, this past week, that love is a choice. We choose to love each other. This statement resonated with me. Rich and I choose to love each other, every day, to and to take care of each other and to work through the tough conversations and enjoy the amazing memories we make with each other every day.

He is truly my partner. We work together, strive to communicate well and, above all else, push each other to be the best we can be. He is my biggest cheer leader, and I his. We know when to take life seriously, when to take moments with a grain of salt and when to roll with the punches.

We know how to laugh together and love each other.

All I can say is thank you.

linked with wilw

Spring Break Part I

The little over a week of Spring Break was absolutely amazing!

We drove all over California - literally.

We saw Family and Friends.

We spent the long Easter Weekend in Oregon

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Thursday morning, we drove up north for less than 24 hours...

Yes...it was a long day, but it was beautiful weather and great to see my parents and brothers - we even squeezed in a high school JV baseball game against our rival high school - I am so proud of my little broski!

Rich's parents visited for the night, on Friday, and we made delicious deep dish pizza!

deep dish pizza

family time

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On Saturday we headed to San Diego for some friend, baby and cousin time! :-)

On Saturday night we went out in the Gaslamp District with Rich's cousin.

I think we had a little too much fun..

We decided to do our own little "bar crawl"

Ra

Barleymash - where we met two sad Gonzaga fans...

Searsucker - where I got stepped on by a giant

The Tipsy Crow - where we were invited to a wedding by a bride at her bachellorette party

The Field - where we drank Irish Coffees (and lots of water)

and we ended at Dennys - haha

The first weekend was a whirlwind, but it was so much fun!

This was only the beginning of our great week ahead!

Happy April

Happy April!!

May April bring lots of showers for all of our May Flowers!

Awesome Article

There has been so much on our minds about our future.

What to do?

Can we do it?

This article really puts everything into perspective..or it makes the decisions all the more difficult...

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Do you have a 5 year career plan?

If so, there’s one thing you can plan on – very little will go as planned.

I never planned on being in the Entertainment business. I was singularly focused on becoming a 
teacher. I was a student at New York University pursuing an MBA. I already had my Juris 
Doctorate, my BA, and Master of Laws degrees, when an Executive Vice President from 
Columbia Pictures came to recruit what they thought would be “the best and the brightest.” 

While I absolutely wasn’t interested in a career in Entertainment, the business school felt it was 
a necessity to take interviews with these large companies who often endowed them. During 
our meeting, I was completely transparent about my passion for teaching and a lack of interest 
in the movie industry. She respected my candor and our conversation moved to hockey – a 
topic I was very passionate about.

It just so happened the Executive Vice President had a spare ticket to a professional hockey 
game at Madison Square Garden and invited me to go. As a student with financial constraints 
who couldn’t otherwise afford such a ticket, this opportunity was not to be missed. Her 
conversation continued. Remembering my interest in teaching, she exhorted that teaching in a 
classroom wasn’t the only way to teach. You could reach, touch and open the minds of an 
audience of millions more people through filmed entertainment than you could ever do within 
the walls of a single classroom. I was curious. They asked me several days later to interview and 
have lunch with the President of the company whose offices were on 5 Avenue uptown. Heck, 
that sounded like a cool lunch and I save money. That led to their invitation to fly to California, 
a location I had not been, but I reminded them that I really wasn’t interested in the movie 
business. They said that was alright, come anyway. I hadn’t been to California so that was an 
offer I could hardly refuse.

The trip to California ended up to be a stay for the next 35 years. If I hadn’t been open to the 
interview and the serendipity of a hockey game, my incredible journey in the Entertainment 
and Sports industries, which continues today, would never have happened.

Is there an icing on this cake? Yes! Within six months of my new start in Hollywood, I became a 
guest lecturer at UCLA which led to a professorship at both UCLA’s Anderson School of 
Management and its School of Theater, Film and Television. It’s during the courses that I teach 
in these schools where I often invite highly accomplished executives to converse with me and 
engage with the students and myself, that I discovered many of these folks also had very 
circuitous career paths.

In one of my current graduate courses on winning in the business of sports, Emmy-winning and 
Oscar-nominated producer-director-writer Mike Tollin, whose credits include Radio, Coach 
Carter, Varsity Blues and the documentary Hank Aaron: Chasing The Dream, admitted to never 
laying out a career path. His advice to our graduate students was that everything leads to 
everything and that you have to trust that the “dots will connect,” even though you may not see the connection at the moment. He shared that they must take every opportunity they get 
as “make or break” and leave nothing on the table.

Pacific 12 Conference Commissioner, Larry Scott, thought he’d follow his Harvard education 
with a career as a CEO of some large company, never anticipating he’d end up in the sports 
business. He told our UCLA MBA students that he never had a five year plan and later 
recognized that luck and believing that he was always at the right place at the right time 
factored into where he is today.

Bob Bowman, President & CEO of the hugely successful Major League Baseball Advanced 
Media, encouraged students to always work for the best person rather than focus solely on the 
right career path. He advised if you’re given the choice between a great, great job for a less 
than great person and what appears to be just an ok job for a magnificent and talented person, 
bet on the stellar person every time, even if the money or job is not as good as it will pay off for 
the rest of your life.

So what does all this mean for you and your career plans?

*Opportunity is always lurking. Don’t be an ostrich with your head in the ground! You 
must do your job, but you must manage your career which means being constantly 
vigilant for opportunities. This doesn’t mean you’re an opportunist, but that your career 
is in your hands. There may not be a straight line to what you believe is your ultimate 
goal. By being flexible, however, often you discover new avenues that may lead you to 
your final destination. Or you may end up somewhere totally unexpected, but find this 
new experience highly rewarding.

*You don’t always need experience, but experiences. While relevant experience is 
desirable, having an employee with a background of diverse experiences demonstrates 
that they’re not only well-rounded, but they may offer a unique lens based on these 
experiences that gives a fresh perspective on innovation, problem solving and 
management – all areas critical to driving competitive advantage. In this world, 
interdisciplinary experiences can provide a bouquet of resources and a larger 
opportunity horizon to demonstrate your talents.

*You never know who knows who. Relationships are critical to your career path to success. 
Everyone you meet is an opportunity to demonstrate your passions and your personality – two 
critical components that are often the deciding factors in people recommending you or sharing 
their enthusiasm about you. You never know if and when they, or someone they know, may be 
asked about you. During these encounters, be generous in offering your help to them. As they 
say, “what goes around comes around. ”

Posted by: Peter Guber
CEO, Mandalay Entertainment, Owner Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Dodgers

Loving: Family Time!

Linking with WILW

My handsome teenage brother playing baseball for the high school team against their rival high school

Hanging with my mom

Santa Monica with my husband and his parents!

Life is great!

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