Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Catching up: Bachelor Party, ELFA, 2-7
First up the Jim Andrews Bachelor party (narrated by Dominic himself)
The Suite at Caesars palace, 5 bedrooms. Thats the 50 inch TV that rotates 350 degrees for viewing on either side. Home base for the weekend.
The Bar, re-stocked twice during the festivities
Geoff Andrews, party planner extraordinaire posing on the Second floor balcony in the Suite.
Jim Andrews Posing
One of the five bedrooms
Jim asleep on one of the couches
Posing before the big Dinner at Bradley Ogden in Ceasars
Most of the group at Bradley Ogden in the Private dining room
The prime ribeye steak grilled over real wood
The bachelor(center) With Mike Walsh(left), and Kyle Moes(Right) Future Brother in Law
Dominic with Johnny Walsh
Desert (carrot cake with vanilla bean ice cream and pineapple
On the Strip at the Venetian fountains, people watching. From Left to Right Dominic, Bryan Ellis, Zach and Dave.
View from Dominic's room, nicer than the view from the suite
The Andrews boys at PUR in Ceasars, James, John, Geoff, and Nick. 3 private tables on the roof.
Jim Showing his grill
We got the teak oil a while back but the weather wasn't cooperating, ie it was raining. We finally got to it and I'm THRILLED with the results:
Do you remember the before?
It was great to get three days off during the week with my hubby and nothing planned. I think we should do this every year. Love you babe
The Suite at Caesars palace, 5 bedrooms. Thats the 50 inch TV that rotates 350 degrees for viewing on either side. Home base for the weekend.
The Bar, re-stocked twice during the festivities
Geoff Andrews, party planner extraordinaire posing on the Second floor balcony in the Suite. Jim Andrews Posing
One of the five bedrooms
Jim asleep on one of the couches
Posing before the big Dinner at Bradley Ogden in Ceasars
Most of the group at Bradley Ogden in the Private dining room
The prime ribeye steak grilled over real wood
The bachelor(center) With Mike Walsh(left), and Kyle Moes(Right) Future Brother in Law
Dominic with Johnny Walsh
Desert (carrot cake with vanilla bean ice cream and pineapple
On the Strip at the Venetian fountains, people watching. From Left to Right Dominic, Bryan Ellis, Zach and Dave.
View from Dominic's room, nicer than the view from the suite
The Andrews boys at PUR in Ceasars, James, John, Geoff, and Nick. 3 private tables on the roof.
Jim Showing his grillWe got the teak oil a while back but the weather wasn't cooperating, ie it was raining. We finally got to it and I'm THRILLED with the results:
Do you remember the before?In order to hopefully be needing to fit another family member in the house we are redoing our master closet but first, we needed to weed out the ill fitting, out of style clothes:
All of Dominic's 3x shirts that he doesn't need anymore...look at all the $$$ there
Here's his closet AFTER the purge but before adding me in there
Here's my purge, it might not look as impressive but I've been doing this every month or so and he hasn't
My closet before
The best store EVER
Closet system ordered and now we're just waiting for it to be bundled and cut
Lets get this baby home
I cannot wait to put this together, but I certainly wasn't going to make Dominic do it on his birthday, so we'll start on Friday night
Today mar 25 at 9:37pm is Dominic's 27th birthday. I'm certainly glad that we're the same age again so he can stop calling me old :)
All of Dominic's 3x shirts that he doesn't need anymore...look at all the $$$ thereHere's his closet AFTER the purge but before adding me in there
Here's my purge, it might not look as impressive but I've been doing this every month or so and he hasn't My closet beforeThe best store EVERCloset system ordered and now we're just waiting for it to be bundled and cutLets get this baby home I cannot wait to put this together, but I certainly wasn't going to make Dominic do it on his birthday, so we'll start on Friday night
Today mar 25 at 9:37pm is Dominic's 27th birthday. I'm certainly glad that we're the same age again so he can stop calling me old :)A nice celebration at olive garden
The birthday boy himself
The birthday boy himselfIt was great to get three days off during the week with my hubby and nothing planned. I think we should do this every year. Love you babe
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Winchester Mystery House
A saturday with no plans and little housework to accomplish??? VACATION TIME! We packed up for the day and headed to San Jose for the Winchester Mystery House. The drive provided a glimpse of the green hills! Dominic loves the hills when they're green, the windmills are just an added bonus.
Can you see the windmills along the hills?
In less than 90min we reached our destination and realized that it was situated within 5 min of an ENORMOUS mall! BONUS for me and EHHH for dominic. Here's an aerial view of the compound. The house is BIG! Here's the stats:
Check out this mini replica, it comes with stats of it's own!
This ones for dad, it is the WINCHESTER house after all. The MRS. actually began the house after her son and husband passed. She made a visit to a psychic who said to keep the spirits of those killed by the winchester gun away she must begin construction on a house and never stop. Obviously she took this seriously.
She was a little lady, only 4'10" and had arthritis, to help her get around the maze of stairs she used these 'easy risers' can you see the tiny rise of each step? Poor Dominic was battling these and the low ceilings throughout the house.
The 1908 earthquake caused quite a bit of damage to the front portion of the house and she took this to mean the spirits felt she was spending too much time there, she sealed off the front 30 rooms and focused on the back from then on, here you can see the plaster that broke away after the quake. 
This is the most expensive window at the time, $1,500, and it was designed so that as light hit it you would see all the colors projected onto the room within. Only problem, she built a wall very near the outside and light cannot get in!!!!!
Please take note of that doorway, I'll show you just where it leads later on ;)
The daisy room and Dominic
One of the original fireplaces.
Here we are after the completion of the house tour, awaiting the behind the scenes tour.
The stable.
Do you notice the 13 horseshoes? Mrs. Winchester had a thing with the number 13, there were TONS of sets of 13 throughout the house
The fruit box from the estate, this was actually a busy fruit farm back in the day and there were still many fruit trees around the estate.
A view of the back of the house.
One of the grapefruit trees, look at all that fruit. They said that they don't harvest but wait for the fruit to fall and then give it to staff or tourists
Check out the split trunk. The whole crop of trees were neglected from her death until 1970 and there was quite a bit of damage to alot of the trees, this one didn't seem to mind given the amount of fruit it bore this season.
Coming around the front now, do you see that back area covered with vines? That's where the chiminey was before the earthquake. All the areas that were repaired or finished were painted black to delineate that.
Moving toward the front, see the 2 statues? The one on the left currently was broke for years, it took 50 years to find someone able to make repairs and while it was off for repairs someone moved the remaining statue to the opposite stand and the mistake wasn't ever corrected. That meant that the statues which used to face each other now appear to be arguing.
Hi there
The front door, rumor is only the two men who put it in and Mrs. Winchester have used the door, everyone went through the staff enterance
Do you see that door on the side there? that's the door to nowhere.
The hedges trimmed into a 13
Some of the interior of the walls, this place was a MESS inside. Nothing was well thoughtout
The original boiler
All the ORIGINAL ash from the estate, why would anyone keep this?
Then we explored the mall and stopped at a cupcake place...YUMMY
Dominic's still doing his competition with Bryan so he snacked on his apple. Lets be honest, he had a bite.
Some delicious bath goodies I got from Lush. This place is a lovely little shop that makes real products that are perishable. They started the bath fizzies that are all the rage now.
That covers the day, we had a great time and were thoroughly exhausted when we got home.
Can you see the windmills along the hills?
In less than 90min we reached our destination and realized that it was situated within 5 min of an ENORMOUS mall! BONUS for me and EHHH for dominic. Here's an aerial view of the compound. The house is BIG! Here's the stats:Construction Starts: 1884
Construction ends: 1922
Cost of construction: 5,000,000
Length of construction: 38yrs
Size of original estate:161 acres
number of rooms: 160
number of doors: 2000
number of windows: 10,000, that's more than the empire state building with only 6,000
number of stairways: 40
number of fireplaces: 47
number of chimineys: 17
number of bathrooms: 13
number of kitchens: 6
gallons of paint needed for exterior: 20,000
number of showers: 1
Check out this mini replica, it comes with stats of it's own!
This ones for dad, it is the WINCHESTER house after all. The MRS. actually began the house after her son and husband passed. She made a visit to a psychic who said to keep the spirits of those killed by the winchester gun away she must begin construction on a house and never stop. Obviously she took this seriously.
She was a little lady, only 4'10" and had arthritis, to help her get around the maze of stairs she used these 'easy risers' can you see the tiny rise of each step? Poor Dominic was battling these and the low ceilings throughout the house.The 1908 earthquake caused quite a bit of damage to the front portion of the house and she took this to mean the spirits felt she was spending too much time there, she sealed off the front 30 rooms and focused on the back from then on, here you can see the plaster that broke away after the quake. This is the most expensive window at the time, $1,500, and it was designed so that as light hit it you would see all the colors projected onto the room within. Only problem, she built a wall very near the outside and light cannot get in!!!!! Please take note of that doorway, I'll show you just where it leads later on ;)The daisy room and DominicOne of the original fireplaces.Here we are after the completion of the house tour, awaiting the behind the scenes tour. The stable.Do you notice the 13 horseshoes? Mrs. Winchester had a thing with the number 13, there were TONS of sets of 13 throughout the houseThe fruit box from the estate, this was actually a busy fruit farm back in the day and there were still many fruit trees around the estate.
A view of the back of the house.
One of the grapefruit trees, look at all that fruit. They said that they don't harvest but wait for the fruit to fall and then give it to staff or tourists Check out the split trunk. The whole crop of trees were neglected from her death until 1970 and there was quite a bit of damage to alot of the trees, this one didn't seem to mind given the amount of fruit it bore this season.Coming around the front now, do you see that back area covered with vines? That's where the chiminey was before the earthquake. All the areas that were repaired or finished were painted black to delineate that.Moving toward the front, see the 2 statues? The one on the left currently was broke for years, it took 50 years to find someone able to make repairs and while it was off for repairs someone moved the remaining statue to the opposite stand and the mistake wasn't ever corrected. That meant that the statues which used to face each other now appear to be arguing. Hi there
The front door, rumor is only the two men who put it in and Mrs. Winchester have used the door, everyone went through the staff enterance
Do you see that door on the side there? that's the door to nowhere.The hedges trimmed into a 13
Some of the interior of the walls, this place was a MESS inside. Nothing was well thoughtout
The original boiler
All the ORIGINAL ash from the estate, why would anyone keep this?Then we explored the mall and stopped at a cupcake place...YUMMYDominic's still doing his competition with Bryan so he snacked on his apple. Lets be honest, he had a bite.
Some delicious bath goodies I got from Lush. This place is a lovely little shop that makes real products that are perishable. They started the bath fizzies that are all the rage now. That covers the day, we had a great time and were thoroughly exhausted when we got home.
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