Killer Concert Almost Killed Us

OK- maybe I am being a bit dramatic- but for anyone who knows the band we saw in concert, it will probably produce a chuckle and for everyone else, you can get clued in by listening here.

So on Tuesday night (sorry we had to miss your birthday dad- promise to celebrate soon!) this week after work we headed to Asheville for The Hold Steady (http://theholdsteady.net/) concert at the Orange Peel.

(Quality not so great- but it is the best David's phone camera could do)

We had never been to a show there, and this particular band never seems to make a stop in Charlotte. In fact a few years ago, David and a friend drove to Chapel Hill on a week night without tickets to try and see the band. They were able to buy some in the parking lot and seriously enjoyed the show. Well they must have, seeing as we set out on another week night adventure to Asheville. Luckily this time, we planned ahead and got tickets in advance. We grabbed a yummy dinner at The Noodle Shop (I recommend the Mongolian beef) before heading to the show and sipping on some local brews (I do not recommend Abita Satsuma).

Show ended at around midnight- got back home just after 2:30am. Sometimes I think we are a bit crazy- but it was definitely fun. I wasn't feeling so fun the next morning when I headed to work for an all day meeting with two physicians that had flown in for a work day. Somehow I survived and I am staring Friday in the face! Excited for a weekend at home for the first time in a very long time.

Catching up...

In case anyone was wondering, I haven't given up on the blog, we Willis have just been on the move so much that I just now have gotten the chance to work in an update on our whereabouts. There is a lot of catching up to do, so I think I will work backwards on how we have spent our time since this summer and end up at the present day. Don't worry - there are pictures and I promise not to make it too boring.

After a whirlwind summer full of beach trips and family time, we thought life would settle down, and here I sit at the end of September, wondering if summer is actually over?!? Is this settled down? I will only back up to the end of August so you can follow along...

My August ended with a weekend work trip to Nassau, yes, it really was for work. I went down there with a camera crew to film the HIFU patient experience. It was actually a long weekend full of filming and interviews but it helps that it was taking place at the Atlantis Resort.

The hospital that we worked at Doctors Hospital- held a press conference on Friday, which attracted local media- I got to coordinate a doctor and a patient for interviews.

The majority of my time was spent capturing physician interviews about HIFU and talking with patients who had the procedure in the Bahamas that weekend. We were lucky enough to get to set up our interviews down in the Dig, which if you haven't been to Atlantis is surrounded by an massive aquarium.  

Sadly, this was a solo trip I made, but I promised that the next time I make a trip to Paradise Island, I promise to take David with me.

Labor Day weekend both David and I set off on separate pre-wedding celebration trips with a bride and groom. I headed to Isle of Palms with Sarah and he bridesmaids and buddies, and Dave set off with Matt and friends to a post hurricane Earl Outer Banks. Don't have any pics of the boys weekend of fun- but I can tell you that the ladies had a blast. We were really happy to get to hang out before the wedding!

Believe it or not, the weekend after Labor day, David and I were actually both in town at the same time and we got to spend the entire weekend in Charlotte! We started off the weekend by BOTH running in a 5k at the Blues & BBQ festival, it was called the Hog Jog and it was a ton of fun. David finished 3rd in his age group and 9th overall! I was not at the front of the pack, but considering it was the very first 5k I had run since high school- I was just thrilled to break 30 minutes.

This was actually the 3rd race that David has run in since he picked up running again. He is really loving it and has been doing really well. Its so great to see him so happy and working toward a goal. As you can see from the photo above, it only took 2 races of me watching him before I decided to register to run in a race too!  Here are some highlights of him from other races.

Yes, Lila likes to come to the races too, she is her daddy's biggest fan from the sidelines!

 I couldn't resist taking a proud wife shot of David with his trophy for coming in second overall in the NC Music Factory Rock n Run 5K back in August. and yes, he is proudly wearing his el Salchichon party tshirt!

I didn't mean to skip over the El Salchichon party- which we hosted with friends in early August, here are some highlights....and yes, I was the repeat "Wiener"!

 Besides having a backyard blast- we got a good mini reunion with some Livingston cousins. Gotta love them.

Jumping back to September, after our weekend at home, we headed back out of town, this time together, to celebrate at Matt & Sarah's wedding! It was quite a party, and an absolute blast of a weekend. We got beach time, we floated on a lazy river and danced the night away. Did I mention we were quite a good looking group?

The wedding was at Pawly's Island, so before we left town, we were able to have brunch with Nana and Pop Pop which was a treat! There was no time to relax when we got back to Charlotte, on Sunday night I am afraid poor little Lila Pearl got sick and Monday morning when David took her to the vet, she was diagnosed with pancreatitis. No fun for anyone, especially her. She got the spend the week at the vet and we picked her up to bring her home for good Thursday night. The good news is she is doing great and feeling much better. 

David really took the lead on this, because on Tuesday I flew out for Little Rock, AR for work. I was only there one night- but got the royal treatment at the Capital Hotel and did squeeze in a run on the River Walk and swung by the Clinton Presidential Library.

From Little Rock, I drove to Memphis for some meetings and managed to make it back to Charlotte at the same time that Lila was going home. So we were one big happy family again! For one day....then I headed back to the airport to fly up to Toronto for the weekend to meet with some physicians.Sometimes its hard to remember where you parked so I started to just take pictures to remind me where I can find my car.

I checked into my hotel in Toronto as the International Film Festival was wrapping up and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon was gearing up. A wedding had taken over the hotel, but I still managed to get checked into an executive suite at the Sutton Place hotel- not sure why one person needs an entire suite, but I wasn't complaining!

I head home from Toronto later this afternoon and will be staying put for a while. David and I are looking forward to it! Will do a much better job of keeping the whereabouts more accurate but until then....you are all caught up!

US Airways Flight 301

I know its probably more exciting for me than anyone else. But I am currently on a flight from Charlotte to Phoenix (approximately 4.5 hour flight - which is deceptively long) and I have been able to catch up on all my emails from the past week (which were terribly ignored while on holiday in Barcelona) thanks to the FREE wifi that US Airways made available on my flight. It is very strange to be 30,000 feet in the air and be able to connect to the internet, but I am certainly not complaining.

We are halfway through the flight and my stress level is already significantly diminished. I went into the office this morning and ended up spending the greater part of my day doing my expense report so that I could pay my credit card down so I could actually afford the trip out west without maxing out the card. I do not like expense reports and I do not like that it kept me from being able to even check email from the past week.

OK- enough of the dorky pity party. After I land in Phoenix, we head on to Monterrey for a hotel check in of about 10 pm west coast time, which will make it  about 1am in Charlotte and about 7am in Barcelona...wow, I have got to stop doing that kind of conversion or I might get very depressed. I have just come to terms with the fact that I am going to be completely confused as to where I am and what time it is- I just hope I can remember to set my alarm!

No cool pics to post from the air- thanks for enduring my mid-air blog, I couldn't resist- afterall it is all about where the Willis' are....oh, by the way, as I sit high in the skys, my other half is heading downtown for the Bobcats playoff game with about 8 of our friends...not fair, but I do hope he is having fun! Go Bobcats!

Feliz Dia de Sant Jordi

We found out very quickly today that it was a holiday in Catalunya. Before I get into that I have to brag about the totally indulgent breakfast we had. The pictures say a lot, but what they don't show is the cup of pure chocolate we ordered - literally melted chocolate, with an optional side of hot cream to pour in. Can we say totally indulgent?

 Before we got out of the hotel lobby I was given a red rose and David and I were given a story about the legend of Sant Jordi (Saint George). 

Here is the Cliff Notes version: Its an old Catalunya legend that a long time ago there was a a vicious dragon that was killing many a men and beast, therefore the village decided to select a man, Jordi,  to offer up as a sacrifice to pacify the dragon. Not exactly sure of the connection, but I think everyone gives their favorite lady a rose, which symbolizes the blood shed in celebration of the offering of the patron saint of Catalunya. Then somehow, tradition says that you should also buy a book and take a stroll. In other words today was absolute madness- there were people everywhere, there were book stands everywhere and people selling roses on every corner. Catalunya flag was everywhere and it there were couples strolling hand in hand all over the place. 

Casper was a bit tired- and slept most of the day- except of course for the 1.5 hours we tried to sit and have a proper lunch- but what are you gonna do when he is this darn cute?

Kind of a cool thing to be a part of, aside from fighting the crowds everywhere, we had fun visiting both the market, the Picasso Museum and the Fundacion de Joan Miro.

We even had time to pause and have Casper take our photo.

Me and Uncle David volunteered to spend our last night in Barcelona hanging out with our precious nephew so mom and papa Ryan could go have a romantic night out. We kind of feel like we are the lucky ones.

Heading home tomorrow- can't wait to see you. XOXO-Man & Dave

Willis-Ryan Crew take on Priorat

Today was a good day. On the Willis scale, I think it ranked in the top 10 best days ever. An amazing adventure through the mountains of Catalunya, we visited two vineyards and had an unforgettable 2 plus hour lunch which consisted of 5 courses. I could spend all day writing about the day, but instead I will share pictures to let you see just a glimpse what what we got to experience. 

This first picture was actually taken at the first vineyard, Mas Martinet. What you don't is the 4-wheel drive pick up truck that we all piled into in order to drive to the tip top of a mountain where they keep a lot of their vines. 

Next came a tasting, where we got to try out the wine made from the grapes of the vines we had just visited. I  was driving so I spit my wine out, but Jess, Kalle and Dave got a nice mid afternoon sampling of some of the vineyards best!

These bottles where directly behind me during the sampling, they were aging in the bottles before being shipped out. Mas Martinet has several different labels or brands and exports wine to more than 13 different countries.

Next was lunch at a place called Irreductibles in Gratallops, a very small town just up the road from Mas Martinet. We were the only ones there and they spoke very little English, so when the chef came out from the kitchen to tell us the tasting menu he was preparing, I had to translate to the best of my ability! Didn't matter at that point because they didn't bring us any menus and we were prepared to eat whatever he brought. Wasn't a tough sell, check out some of the dishes...

Casper was very well behaved and got in some cuddle time with all of us.

Then we headed to another vineyard that was literally on the other side of the mountain, roads weaved in and out and around and down but we managed to stay on them and found more great views and got another tour of a local family owned vineyard called Mas Doix. 

We picked up some great wine, to age for special occasions and perhaps for Casper when he is of age one day! We got back to Barcelona just in time to return the car. Didn't get lost once, no back tracking and an impressive lack of bickering- I know, hard to believe, right? We seriously had a day like no other and hope the pictures do it justice. Can't wait to share more with you when we are home. 

Perfect Timing

We got another excellent night sleep last night and decided to venture out of town a bit to Montserrat, the home of a Benedictine Monastery about an hour train ride outside of Barcelona. To save our legs and knees a bit we decided yesterday to rely solely on public transportation from this point out. Walking is great, but you also don't want to perish completely mid day. Thus our mission was to find the metro to take us to the train station to take us to the cable car to take us to Montserrat. Oh- I forgot to mention that David forgot to bring the guidebook with him from home, so we were pretty much at the mercy of signs and maps. Believe it or not things could not have gone smoother- as we walked into the metro, there it was waiting for us. When we walked into the train station, there the train was waiting for us. You guessed it, we walked directly onto the cable car- no waiting. it was kind of amazing.

Montserrat was absolutely beautiful- like nothing we had seen before. We missed the choir singing in the  by like 2 minutes, but we still got to go in and take a peak around and then we hiked around a bit. It was crowded with tourists, but we were able to find a quiet place overlooking the mountains to have a bocadillo for lunch.

On the way back on the metro, we stopped off to find a wine shop that sold tons of different kinds of Spanish wines - but not before we stumbled upon a Burberry Outlet Store. They practically gave David a new suit...he is a little bit more than excited to say the least- about the suit AND the wine. We even bought a bottle to share with Jess and Kalle tonight- just got word that they are ACTUALLY ON THE PLANE to Barcelona!

Muah-  Amanda & David