Monterey Jazz Festival

[Jared]: Wednesday night Beth and I headed downtown to the Balboa Theatre for the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour. The concert featured Kenny Barron (piano), Johnathan Blake (drums), Regina Carter (violin), Kurt Elling (vocals), Kiyoshi Kitagawa (bass), and Russell Malone (guitar). For us, though, the draw was simply Kurt Elling. Kurt is one of my absolute favorite musicians. I first learned of him during college and made a few trips to the Green Mill to hear him live. At that point I was hooked. Beth got hooked after she got hooked on me. :-) We were even lucky enough to hear Kurt play at the Kennedy Center in DC awhile back. So once we found out he'd be in San Diego, we got tickets.

As usual, Kurt was fantastic and it was a delight hearing him sing. Particular highlights of his were the hilarious and playful "Soul Food" and his always impressive rendition of "Nature Boy". That song cooks every time. I'm also ridiculously excited to announce that Beth and I actually got to meet Mr. Elling after the show! This was probably more exciting than I care to admit. We even shared with Kurt that we danced to his version of "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" at our wedding reception as our first dance (hence the name of our blog).

All that said, the real treat that evening was an entirely unexpected one. Regina Carter's performance was truly breath-taking. The concert began with an uninspired tune where the group really appeared off, and I wondered whether things just might not click tonight. That thought was obliterated when I heard the second song, "When I Grow Too Old To Dream." Regina Carter's solo was utterly magical. And just when I thought she couldn't make a bigger impression on the audience, the second set brought a rendition of "Georgia On My Mind" as a duet between Kenny Barron on piano and Miss Carter on violin. I can not find the words to express how moving this piece was. And when they transitioned into "Amazing Grace," there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The piece earned an impromptu standing ovation.

I can't say enough about how amazing Regina Carter is. Her solos ranged from sweet and lyrical, to aggressive, to playful. Her instrument was at once a string instrument, then a wind instrument, a percussive one, a vocal one. Simply put, her music was soul stirring, and Beth and I both felt fortunate to have been in the audience that evening.

Back in the Saddle Again

[Beth]: Today marked exactly nine months of us living in San Diego. And, coincidentally, today also marked my first day of employment in California! I will be working for a small, traffic consulting firm here in town. And when I say small, I mean I am employee #2. One of the primary perks of this job is that I will be working from home. I can already tell I will enjoy working in jeans and a t-shirt most days. The work is similar to my last job, but I will be doing more design work. On the very nerdy side, I will get to learn to program traffic signals, which is something I've always wanted to do!

This occasion serves as the perfect opportunity for me to thank everyone who supported me over the last nine months. Although it was, at times, enjoyable to be a "woman of leisure", it was also discouraging, frustrating, boring, and emotionally challenging. But I couldn't have made it through without such wonderful family and friends! There aren't thanks big or eloquent enough for my husband. Having gone through long-term unemployment himself, he was uniquely positioned to support me on my emotional roller coaster. He was even thoughtful enough to have flowers delivered to "my office" today:

And so, I am once again an engineer. It's good to be back.

Love is Burning Fossil Fuel

[Jared]: For several months now, I have been anticipating a very important milestone in the life of my car, Tracy. For those of you who have not met her, she is a light blue '94 Toyota Tercel. She gets 40mpg on the highway and has been with me for almost 8 years now. She's taken me from St. Louis, to Chicago, to Virginia, DC, and NYC, and even survived a cross country drive from Richmond, VA to San Diego, CA. It's fair to say I love my car. As such, I've been eagerly looking forward to her turning 200,000 miles old.

Unfortunately, about a week ago it became clear that I was going to be out of the country for this milestone. I am (theoretically) going to be in Warsaw, Poland, next week for the European Wind Energy Conference (EWEC). Assuming the Icelandic volcano does not interrupt my travel, I'll be flying out tomorrow. Anyway, needless to say, I have been a little sad that I wasn't going to get to see Tracy roll over to 200K. What I forgot to account for was that I have a thoughtful wife who loves me a lot! Yesterday Beth ran some extra errands (and took the very long way to get there) to purposefully run up Tracy's mileage so that she would flip this morning on my way to work. It was sweet of her and made for a fun morning:

Make-up Reuben Night

[Jared]: A couple weeks ago, on St. Patrick's Day, we decided to celebrate by heading to one of our favorite San Diego eateries, The Linkery. This particular restaurant is heavily farm-driven, relying on local farmers, artisans, and brewers in their cuisine. They cure their own meats and make their own sausage (hence the "linkery"). They also have an impressive craft beer list including a few cask-conditioned ales. For St. Patrick's Day, they have a tradition of serving some delicious Irish beers alongside house made Reubens. As the Reubens are legendary, we decided to make the trip down to check them out only to find out that they were sold out... at 6:30pm. Obviously we were none-too-pleased, but we had a ridiculously delicious meal none-the-less.

During dinner, one of my co-workers - who had tipped us off to the magical Reubens - emailed the owner of the restaurant expressing disappointment that they ran out so quickly. The next thing we knew, a St. Patty's Day Do-Over had been planned. Beth and I headed down tonight to finally get our fill.

I am pleased to report: the sandwich totally and completely lived up to the hype. House cured/corned, grassfed brisket, house made Russian dressing, house cured sauerkraut (yes Belleville, I ate sauerkraut), Winchester Gouda cheese, on house baked beer bread. Delicious.

The Flower Fields

[Beth]: Despite our action-packed date night on Friday, we followed it up with a full Saturday. First, we went to a birthday party for the son of one of Jared's coworkers. The kid was turning one, and there was lots of good food, company, and entertainment. The best part, of course, being the ten minutes after the one-year-old got his very own cake. There is no joy like watching a baby bury his face (and hands and torso) in cake and icing. And then watching not one but three dogs lick the baby clean.

In the late afternoon, we headed for The Flower Fields in Carlsbad. Right near the ocean, the place has 50 acres of Ranunculus (redonkulous?) flowers in a rainbow of colors. It was a beautiful sight and provided a scenic stroll. Thanks to my husband and our newly acquired tripod, we have some amazing (if I may say so, since I didn't take most of them) pictures!

Warning: The following images may induce diabetes. We may have been married for almost two years now, but forgive us if we still enjoy some PG PDA.

Date Night

[Jared]: Friday night was Date Night. Wow, is this a married couple's blog or what! Yes, Date Night. We decided to obey our Hollywood overlords and have an evening out together for dinner and a movie. Specifically, Date Night. Bet you didn't see that coming. Also, did you know that in Germany the movie was called Gangster For A Night? But I digress. Dinner was at The Barrel Room here in Rancho Bernardo. It was our second visit to the restaurant and we were delighted once again.

A quick aside. Beth and I are by most estimations, confirmed foodies. So, forgive us (especially me) if we go on too much about minor details like what we ate or what we cooked, etc. You've been warned.

Friday night we had:

• Bacon-wrapped dates (always one of our favorites)
• Fried ravioli with a creamy leek sauce (St. Louisans, are you ready for this? It was the best fried ravioli I've ever had)
• Fettuccini alfredo with shrimp [Beth]
• Bacon-wrapped filet mignon with a whiskey peppercorn sauce [Jared] (one of the best steaks I've had in a while - sorry Tuckers)
• Mocha mud pie [Beth]
• Dulce de leche cheescake [Jared]

Man, I'm getting fatter just reading that list. Everything was quite delicious and enjoyed with a couple of flights of wine. We departed with a delightful food coma.

Date Night the movie was honestly a lot of fun. We are pretty big Carrell and Fey fans in this household and found their pairing to be as endearing as hilarious. It was a sweet and funny film.

All in all, it was a great date. Oh, also, while waiting for our table at The Barrel Room, we went to Radio Shack and bought a tripod. Next up, the tripod gets inaugurated at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad.

DINKs at last!

I am pleased to announce that after two long years of unemployment between the two of us, Beth and I officially both have jobs! Now that we are embarking on the glamorous, adventuresome, jet-setting, DINK lifestyle, we decided it was the perfect time to begin a blog to share our stories with our friends and family. Stay tuned for details from Beth regarding her new job, pictures from our weekend trip to the Flower Fields, pictures of various meats which I will grill this summer, and more!