Wednesday, September 27, 2006

End of Summer Weekend Fun!


Hammertime! Part Deux!
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
This past weekend was a much needed weekend of relaxing with friends. Things have been pretty crazy for me lately. There's been a lot of meetings , work and correspondence with freelance clients in addition to what I typically do with my fulltime job. There's always a never ending stream of chores, repairs and errands with the house. I could've easily shirked off my responsibilities, but the old guy in me kept my focus in check. With the baby coming up close we are constantly planning and preparing things for her arrival - nursery, baby showers, Lamaze classes and doctor's appointments.


Chilly chillin
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
El had to work all weekend so I decided to take advantage of the moment by planning out some decompression for myself. This weekend my buddy Tommy and his wife, Lyndsey, decided to blow some steam by throwing an Endless Mojito / End of Summer Bash.


Lynds entertains
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I can appreciate the amount of work they put into it. The place looked great. The food was presented beautifully and was very tasty. The drinks were plentiful and the company was more than exceptional. They've got some great friends. There was a lot of laughing and jokes to be passed around.


Sea Monkey
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Sunday I had planned to work on my long neglected boat to do maintenance and sort through some of the issues I've had with it recently. Dan decided to ask Kam to get her uncle's boat and meet up at Moss Park for a little boating action and cookout. I got most of my things sorted with the boat after a lunch of burgers and brats.


The Fellas at Moss Park
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Brian doin' the tube
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Later Tommy, Paul and Brian made it out to hang for a while. While hot, the day was still beautiful. We kept the plan relatively simple. Next time we'll make it more of an event and have more people, more activities, more food and drink and more fun. Not that it was bad this time. It's just what the doc ordered.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Angela's Adios!


Angela's Leaving
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Welp another great co-werk has flown the coop. Angela Wheaten, the Director for Affiliate Marketing has decided to jump ship. Her husband took a promotion with GE Healthcare and are moving to the fine state of WISCONSIN. Seems lately alot of people have been making the transition. I'm going to miss working with her - she was one of the best in-house clients I've had the pleasure of designing things for in my 6+ year stay here. Always on time and thorough with her creative briefs she made my job that much easier. She was always sensitive to Print and New Media's endless project list and made sure we had ample time to concept things. I think some of my best stuff went to her department. It's pretty big shoes to fill there. Good luck, Angela! You'll be missed!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Surprise Baby Shower


CareNet Team
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The girls at El's other job decided to throw her a surprise baby shower this past sunday. Linh emailed me a week prior to let me know their game plan. I was to come up with some way to get her out of the house and to the party without her knowing. I decided to come up with a half truth about someone wanting to buy my iMac. I was going to drive to this person's house to collect a down payment of $300. Simple enough and it worked like a charm.

Linh had called that afternoon to confirm that it was still on. An hour later we were there. After we rang the doorbell, someone answered, but didn't want to be seen. Suspicious - El did not want to go in so I had to basically push her into the apartment. SURPRISE!

She was completely thrown by my weak story and thus made the surprise even more of one. Such a fantastically nice gesture by her cowerks. Thanks to Tracy for hosting the party and Linh for organizing it. In addition to the nice baby gifts they also chipped in to get the Pack-n-Play portable playyard and the awesome looking mobile El had registered for. Such nice gals. Thanks again!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

That Damn Flickr.

Why mess with a good thing? When I first subscribed to Flickr we were in Japan and I needed a site that I could blog to and link to our photos quickly. Since that time (2004 I think) they have tried to "improve" the site. Now I constantly run into issues of my photos/blogs failing to upload properly. So freaking frustrating. I've emailed them and even spoken to them on the phone a few times and ended up having to rig it myself to get the damn thing to work. Thanks alot. Something I should consider before I resubscribe to their services. It's the only reason why my blogger hasn't been updated as frequently as it used to. Today I decided to bang out my journal and photos as quick as I could. It wasn't a walk in the park. I noticed it back on Memorial Weekend in May of this year. That's five months ago and still no fix. So again I ask...why mess up a good thing?

Baby Shower for Ellen and Little Isa


DSCN3170
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Labor Day Weekend also happens to be our wedding anniversary. It also happened to be the weekend El's mom and Emily decided to host Ellen's baby shower. After JUST returning from SC two weeks prior we were back on the road to yet another visit to Charleston.

El's family worked hard to make the event happen on such short notice. I was able to supply them with some contact info of our various friend's there. Saturday morning we were at their house.


The GrandParents
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I gotta say despite some last minute shopping and food prep, as well as rainy weather the party turned out great. The place got HOT FAST with a bunch of people in it. A lot of our friends and a good bit of family showed up to make it memorable. Sorry Ricky and Donna, Lalaine and Joe, and Ron couldn't be there. We'll catch up with you guys another time.


Emily
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Emily had researched a bunch of games to play and prizes were awarded for different things.

Baby Bottle Chug Off
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The Bottle Chugging contest (although there was some speculation about Eric CHEATING by chewing off the damn nipple).


DSCN3117
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I really enjoyed participating in the Baby Tossing Contest, although Gabriel didn't seem to. What a crybaby.

Moms Love Diapers
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
The Guess What's In The Diaper contest and the Baby Feeding contest were the highlights. Hilarious!


Lipata Girls
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Rachel and baby poop
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.


Kick!
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I just like this photo.


DSCN3139
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Most of the time the womenfolk stayed in the main room, while the men were forced to chill (or sweat) in the dining room with the children.


Annaleah hugs Landon
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.