Stay Tuned for The Wedding Series

I guess a true sign of growing up is when your friends are all engaged, getting married, and setting out on lives and adventures of their own. Up until now there has not been much of this "gowing up". But now, I have TEN weddings to attend in the next year! Yikes!

Just want to set up what's coming...

Here is a recap of the weddings that have already occurred. Pictures will hopefully follow at a later date.

• September 2008 - Benjamin Enbysk & Krystal Kehr; Petaluma, CA
• Krystal was my roommate, teammate, and close friend at LMU
• Samantha and I were bridesmaids
• August 2009 - Isaiah Valdez & Krystal Linscott; Lake Elsinore, CA
• Isaiah was John's roommate and close friend
• John was a groomsman
• August 2009 - Nate Togia & Amanda Martinez; San Marcos, CA
• Amanda played softball with either Kylie and I since I was 10 years old
• Kylie was a bridesmaid
• January 2010 - Ryan Gunderson & Jill Hayes; Newport Beach, CA
• Ryan is John's close friend
• September 2010 - Oscar Gonzalez & Stephanie Kolbeck; Mission Viejo, CA
• Stephanie is John's cousin

So I just realized that I've already attended quite a few weddings. The list of weddings yet to come is even longer...

• October 2010 - Jacob Ritchie & Rachel Escovedo; Claremont, CA
• Jacob is John's friend
• November 2010 - Nicolas Belt & Carrie Duguid; Pomona, CA
• Carrie is John's friend
• November 2010 - Sean Smith & Lauren Hiramoto; Honolulu, Hawaii
• Lauren is my friend and teammate from LMU
• I will be doing a reading at the wedding along with Tara and Tiffany; Samantha is the Maid of Honor and Casie is a bridesmaid
• December 2010 - Donny Tucker & Marissa Giannone; TBD
• Marissa is John's friend
• March 2011 - Vance Lynch & Jeni Eckenrode; TBD
• Vance & Jeni are John's friends
• July 2011 - Scott Bagala & Tiffany Lawson; Santa Rosa, CA
• Tiffany is my friend and teammate from LMU
• August 2011 - Mustafa Pourtemour & Margo Pineda; TBD
• Margo is my friend, teammate, and roommate from LMU
• September 2011 - Danny Harper & Lauren Maracek; Carlsbad, CA
• Danny is my friend from LMU
• September 2011 - Darren ?? & Hilary McHugh; Del Mar, CA
• Hilary is my good friend and teammate from Vista High School
• September 2011 - Rob Kowsaluk & Tara Sheehan; Los Angeles, CA
• Tara is my close friend, roommate and teammate from LMU
• I am a bridesmaid

Year in Review - July 2009

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
"Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day."

Ok, so I know that parents sometimes get tired of the Summer months because it means their kids are around all the time always needing to be entertained. And as I've gotten older, I've found myself loving the weeks where Summer's heat fades away into Fall's cool weather and rain. My point is that Summer is a carefree time for pure and simple fun. It's the Summer months that we should take advantage of because once they are gone, we can say hello to new responsiblities at school and a busier time at work.

In true Emerson fashion, July 2009 was packed with Summer fun.

First, Camille and I hit up the Del Mar Fair.

We traveled back in time and saw some really cool exhibits based on different eras...

Punchbuggy - Tie dye?

...Enjoyed the Southern California views while listening to a random band perform...

...And visited some smelly friends.

I'll be lucky if Camille ever goes back to the fair with me because I absolutely despise the rides! Not only do I tend to get sick on most of them to the point where I cannot thoroughly enjoy the fair food, but I am also scared of the high, fast, crazy ones. This is what most of the rides looked like for us...

My favorite part about the day was the Zucchini Weenies! If you haven't had one, you're missing out. It's a hot dog stuffed inside a zucchini, then deep fried like a corn dog. They are deeeelicious! I tried to find them at this year's LA County Fair and was so sad to find that most people hadn't heard of them before. Instead, I had a yummy crepe, chocolate covered bacon, tri-tip sandwich, and ranch fries, so I think I made up for it.

Next on the calendar was a 4th of July trip to Newport with John and his friends. The 4th gets pretty crazy in Newport. A good number of streets are shut down so that pedestrians can mingle, people are decked out in their best red, white and blue, and the law enforcement is kept busy. We chose to take the quieter route. Vance's parents live in the harbor and have a great house that they open up to everyone. This house exudes Cape Cod and Pottery Barn, but that's for another blog. We spent the weekend playing football on the beach, kayaking, taking the Duffy boat into the ocean, BBQing, and watching fireworks from the rooftop deck. I didn't do a very good job of documenting the weekend but the views are nice.

What do Anjelica Huston, Courtney Love, Donald Rumsfeld, Fred Savage, OJ Simpson, Tom Hanks, and John Kolbeck all have in common??

They were all born on July 9th! 2009 marked John's 25th birthday so we celebrated in style in Las Vegas. On Night 1, I took the birthday boy to Fix at the Bellagio for dinner. The entire meal was great but my favorite was the Kobe Chili Cheese Fries that we got as an appetizer. Does this surprise anyone?! After dinner we walked the strip, enjoyed the sights, and met up with some of John's friends.

Some more people made it into town for Night #2, including John's sister and friends, and Tara & Rob. We all went to a club called Jet.



Devin, Ambe
r, Britt, John



The next day was HOT so we spent some time by the pool before taking a limo to dinner at Mandalay Bay's Rum Jungle. We ended the evening walking the strip and enjoying the lights of such a fun city. All in all, I think the birthday weekend was a great success.



The following weekend we saw Camille off to Camp Sugar Pine. It sounds like she had a great time. Here are a few "before" pics.

Even though LMU doesn't have a football team for alumni to be avid followers of, they do a pretty good job of throwing some fun alumni events. In June it was the Dodger game and in July it was a Beer Tasting event in Hermosa Beach. I've been to several of these events now and it's a great way to learn about different types of beers while socializing with friends and eating some good food. My friend Danny is usually responsible for throwing these events and we all do our best to attend and support the cause!

That same weekend, Rob threw a BBQ at his boss' house which is up in the Hollywood Hills. It was a perfect Summer day for a BBQ.

You probably remember that last summer I spent most of my time working from home. John and I still like to joke about the "good ole days" where we went to Angel games on my lunch break. I hope to someday get back to that sort of flexible work arrangement. For now it is just a fond memory of how we said goodbye to July 2009...

Rainy Day Blogging

As you all know, football season has begun! We are a family full of football fans. Some of us are diehard Chargers fans, hoping that the Bolts don't build us up only to let us fall flat on our faces at the end of the season...yet again; some of us are Broncos fans, who are waiting for their team to get out of the Chargers shadow; some of us still stand behind USC despite the fact that their team has been plagued with scandal, talent is looking weaker than in past seasons, and there's no hope for post-season play for several years; some of us prefer to follow college football with no real team loyalty, just a love of college sports and the young, promising athletes who (hopefully) haven't yet fallen prey to the "thug life"; others, still, just like to have an excuse to sit on the couch doing nothing all weekend long.

If you participate in any sort of football pools or fantasy leagues, you know that these "friendly" competitions are quite time consuming. In fact, a Fox News article from 2006 claimed that fantasy football costs businesses $1.1 billion a year and that nearly 37 million people spend about 50 minutes a week managing their fantasy football teams! I don't want to sound like I'm bragging here, but since I'm currently 4-0 in the Kolbeck Fantasy League, and in the Top 5 of the Redfield Picks Pool, I'm pretty sure I know how to optimize my league management time.

Here are a few pointers for those of you who have been less fortunate so far this year:
1. Always go with your gut. Even if your pick seems totally ridiculous but that gut feeling is telling you it's a good one, do it. Men, beware, these gut feelings are based on intuition rather than rationality so the women will probably come out on top on this one every time. :)
2. Do your homework. For weekly picks, I like to surf the net, read the experts' opinions on upcoming games, understand who is hurt, etc. For fantasy football, be sure you know who is hurt and who has a bye. This will ensure you are, at the very least, making educated guesses.
3. If all else fails, make sure you're having a good time watching the games. Even if you're picks and players are failing miserably, you can still enjoy football season. Make a side bet with a friend (Broncos won't beat the Chargers this year!). Participate in "Jersey Sunday" where everyone wears their favorite jerseys. Invite others over for your favorite bean dip and beverages. Watch the games at your favorite local hangout which just happens to have the complete NFL Package.

Hope this helps!

For those of you...

• Tim Tebow fans - Check out Tebow Zone.
• Still focused on baseball season - Let the MLB Playoff Race Begin.
• Who love watching Camille play soccer - Visit the Surf Soccer website.
• Who are curious what Kylie's up to these days - Here's some info about the complex she's working with.

Year in Review - June 2009

June was a busy month. Again, traveling to DC a bit, birthdays, and lots of sports.

1. John's sister, Amber, graduated from Cal State Fullerton in May so the Kolbeck's were hosting a graduation party. The Kolbecks are a HUGE family...like 20+ first cousins alone...and this would be my first experience with them. I'm sure Mom remembers how I was freaking out about what to wear. Just like every time I freak out, it turned out perfectly fine and, since John's still around, I'm pretty sure I made a good impression. Unfortunately, there aren't any good pics of the final outfit. :(

John's toast to his Sister.

2. That same weekend we went down to San Clemente to hang out at Chris' family's beach house. It was a great day to hang out at the beach. This was also my first experience with Pedro's Tacos!! It was delicious and I remember how excited Dad was that someone else had the same appreciation for that tiny little taco stand.

View from the Beach.

Sunset from the Beach House.

3. Since John's family has season tickets for the Angels, we have been lucky enough to go to a TON of games with great seats. The first time I got to go was when the Padres played the Angels...which John had been planning since we met and he'd found out I was a Padres fan.

Here are some pictures from another game later on in the month.

4. The Saturday before Father's Day, John's friend Jeff had a birthday party with a "Jersey" theme where everyone had to wear a sports jersey. It was a fun time with a great turnout.

5. I drove home on Sunday to spend Father's Day with the fam. We had dinner at Aunt Julie, Uncle Dave, and Ben's house. From what I can recall, Mama B and Daddy Doodle Dog dominated in lawn golf. Here are some pictures of us goofing around. Look how young Camille looks!!

6. The month of June was seen out with LMU Alumni Night @ Dodger Stadium. Since my friend Danny works for LMU, he usually tries to get all of us out to the events. This one included a reception and BBQ prior to the game (Mariners @ Dodgers). We had nosebleed seats so it was really about enjoying each other's company. Rob, Tara's fiancee isn't a huge sports guy but really enjoyed the Dodger dogs...

June was the perfect start to a great summer. From here on out, it's been one crazy, fun, happy event after another!!