Bobby Boss Art

Bobby's art has become our newest adventure. For a few years now, Bobby has been painting and creating art as a hobby, mostly doing commission pieces for friends/family, giving out paintings as wedding gifts to friends, or doing art for our home. It was always a far off dream of ours to launch Bobby's art to reach people around the world but we didn't really know where to start. Last year we would think things like "Well, if only we could make a Facebook fan page for people to follow him", or "Maybe we can figure out how to make prints in the next year..." or "How do we make a website to showcase and sell artwork?"....well, we have done it! It has been such a blast watching Bobby Boss Art grow and to see the tremendous support he has received. His Facebook page has gotten a lot of attention and has led to some new followers and collectors from different parts of the world. We have linked up with a giclee printer in SLO county who does amazing reproductions of the art, and we have a logo!

the 'Boss' is Bobby's artist signature.

One of the latest exciting opportunities to come our way was getting to hang Bobby's art in one of our favorite coffee shops in SLO called Higher Groundz. It is hanging for the entire month of November!

He has received a lot of positive feedback from people in the community!

Another exciting thing to happen was that Bobby was asked to show his art at a Harvest Festival at Kelsey Winery in SLO along with Colleen Gnos, who is a prominent figure in the surf art industry. Bobby was very honored to have been asked to show with her and jumped at the chance to showcase his art. Now, we knew nothing about creating an art booth or doing an art show but we took a leap of faith and went for it...and I must say it turned out pretty good.

we pulled it off with less than a week's notice thanks to my awesome parents who scared the crap out of me surprised us at our doorstep the night before to help us get ready and set up!!! It was a beautiful weekend and Bobby got to network with some new people interested in his art and even sold a few pieces too!

Bobby takes his inspiration from the ocean and loves to capture and recreate memories from our favorite places. He has been able to capture other people's favorite places in paint through his commission pieces and that brings so much joy to him to be able to do that for others. Bobby Boss Art is growing each day and we are excited to see where it takes us!

For more information about the art, visit www.bobbybossart.com!

Enjoy the view!

2 years as a Boss

On June 19th, Bobby and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary! Crazy! What's even crazier is that in total, we have been together for almost 9 years! Now that's awesome. :)

Some highlights from year 2 of married life as a Boss:

-camping in Big Sur & Henry Coe State Park

-moving to our awesome new house in SLO

-both of us getting promotions & raises at work

-running a half-marathon together

-celebrating my 25th birthday in Kauai

-backpacking in Yosemite and climbing Half-Dome

-Bobby finally getting his art studio and selling more paintings

-coaching volleyball at Morro Bay High School

not too shabby if I may say so myself! Life as a Boss is better than I could have ever imagined!

Last year, Bobby planned our anniversary festivities so this year I took the lead and planned a night out for us. I decided to take Bobby out to dinner at the Custom House Restaurant in Avila Beach. It was a perfectly clear evening, warm enough to sit outside and we watched the sunset over the ocean from our table. I got Mahi Mahi and Bobby got Halibut. Delish! 

Here is a Pic-Stitch that Bobby made of our dinner:

We enjoyed a great meal and reflected on the past year together and started dreamin' up adventures for the next year (a Nicaragua surf trip is on the list!)

After dinner, I had reserved a private hot tub at Sycamore Mineral Springs which is nestled in the hills of Avila Beach. This place is super cool. It has a bunch of natural hotspring tubs located on the hillside surrounded by towering oak trees with views of the stars above. I packed a cooler with some sparkling apple cider, grapes, blueberries, and chocolate desserts from Trader Joes (yum!). It was such a nice, relaxing evening together.

and to top off the night, Bobby surprised me with a little gift:

it's an iPhone case made by Heather Brown! She is a Hawaii-based surf artist and I LOVE everything she does!! When we were in Kauai, I was so stoked to find a gallery that sold her art and I bought one of her pieces and it is currently hanging in our living room. I'm obsessed! Check out her website here.

Bobby is always so thoughtful of me and he makes me the happiest wife in the world. I'm lucky to have been married to greatest guy on Earth for the past 2 years and am looking forward to many, many more!

we did it!

As you may remember, one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 was to complete a half-marathon. Well....I did it!!! Bobby, my dad and I ran the Inaugural San Luis Obispo Half-Marathon today! 13.1 miles! Now we can say we were part of the first ever SLO Half-Marathon! It was such a great experience! It started at 6:30 this morning and provided a great tour of the city as it started at SLO Highschool, wound around downtown, through some historical neighborhoods, out to the countryside/vineyards, and ended up at the famous Madonna Inn. It attracted many people from out of town and some even from other countries (a full marathon was offered as well). A total of 5,000 runners between both races participated. My dad was nice enough to run with me the whole way (Bobby smoked us runs at a faster pace) and it was so awesome having an encouraging running partner for the race! My dad is a stud.

this is at about mile 1.5. mom & Tracy braved the early morning to stand on the corner and cheer for us because this segment of the race was very close to our house.

I was so happy with all the training I did for this race because it made it way more enjoyable to not have to struggle through it. There was quite a few challenging hills on the course but we chugged through and made it.

dad and I after just crossing the finish line!!

 

 finished!

sweaty much? note to self: wear a dri-fit shirt next race.

Bobby came in at 1:52:38, and my dad beat me by 1 second! He got 2:10:57 and I got 2:10:58. We all did better than our goals (mine was to beat 2:15) so I'm 100% happy!

and considering we burned off more than 1,300 calories in the race, we treated ourselves to gigantic sandwiches at Gus' Deli and then we got some dessert....

I love that Foster's Freeze is 2 blocks from our house. Dangerous?

Overall, it was a great day and I feel very proud of myself. We are already looking at doing another one in a couple months! Overambitious? Nahh. Gotta run 'em while we are in shape! 

And the best part is we are flying out tomorrow morning (my 25th birthday!) to go to Kauai for 9 days! Can't think of a better place to rest my legs than on a white sand beach in the sun! 

ALOHA!

see canyon

Bobby and I needed a day off running today (11.8 mile run yesterday!) so we decided to go on a bike ride in See Canyon which is out in Avila Beach, just south of SLO. It was a perfectly sunny, crisp day and the scenery was unbeatable. We decided to caravan both of our cars down there and parked one at the end of the road and one at the top where we would start riding from so we could just enjoy the downhill and not have to go back up (lazy?). See Canyon is lined with apple orchards and vineyards and everything is starting to bloom so it was very peaceful and beautiful.

 helmet head me at the top!

 perfect spot for a picnic or nap in the sun in the future.

love the towering trees.

this guy has mad skills taking pictures while flying down the hill

it was a great way to spend our Sunday together in the sunshine!

few exciting things coming up:

SLO Half-Marathon is coming up in 3 weeks on April 22. Our training has been going great. I have been learning so much about my body and what it means to be mentally strong as well as physically strong. I have been amazed at the way it constantly adapts and gets stronger and enables me to run great distances I never thought I could.

Birthday trip to KAUAI: Bobby surprised me and is taking us to Kauai on April 23rd for my 25th birthday!! We are going to be there for 8 days and are staying with some of our good friends who live there. We are looking forward to endless sunshine, warm water, surfing, hiking, and maybe even some beach camping and lots of relaxation. Needless to say, Bobby is amazing and we are counting down the days until we arrive on the island!

I also wanted to share something that God has been teaching me lately. He has taught me (many times) that my worrying is useless and doesn't accomplish anything. When things come up in life that are unexpected or challenging, I need to rest in the fact that God has placed that challenge in my life for a purpose and for me to learn from...not to worry and stress out about. I want to encourage anyone who feels burdened, stressed or is worrying about something that has come up recently in your life to know that God is in control and "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him". (Romans 8:28). God will always come through! 

Have a great week everyone!

a rainy day adventure

Who says you have to stay inside when it rains? I see it as a chance for an adventure!! Well, we had friends in town last weekend so we thought it would be a fun adventure to go on a hike despite the rainy and cold weather. So we geared up with rain jackets and grubby clothes and set out for hike up Bishop's Peak. At the start of the hike it was lightly raining and it was actually enjoyable as we walked through the trees.

Towards the middle of the hike, it was like the heavens opened up and the sun came out illuminating some awesome clouds. We knew it wouldn't last too long because we could see more rain coming in the distance...

We enjoyed the sunshine (while it lasted) and made it up to the top and climbed up to some boulders and stood atop the peak. It was super windy and freeeezing but worth the view.

Bobby politely told me that I looked like a raisin head.

Group shot at the top!

With a storm lurking in the distance, we decided to start hiking back so we could make it down before the clouds reached us again.....didn't work out so well... 

 As we started the decent, the clouds came in faster than we anticipated....

and we started getting pelted by rain and hail. Yes hail. and at that point we decided to put the camera away and run down the mountain. By this point we were soaking wet but we were all smiles embracing the adventure that we were on. Getting caught in a rain/hailstorm is definitely fun once in a while and made for good memories!

With the hike behind us, we didn't feel so bad about spending the rest of the day relaxing and sitting in a warm coffee shop playing cards :)

I think there is more rain coming this weekend so who knows what kind of adventure will present itself! Especially when I have an awesome husband to explore with!

lately

yes, yes, I know I have not blogged for a month but before you yell at me I have had lots going on. First off, Bobby and I moved into an AWESOME new place in the middle of January in downtown SLO. We now live in a 2 bedroom with an extra office/loft, 1 1/2 bath townhouse 2 blocks from the restaurants and shops of downtown. There have been many nights where we just walk downtown and grab dinner or coffee just because we can and it's so fun! We feel so blessed to have found this place and have a nice, bigger place to call home. A super awesome extra perk is that is comes with a detached 1 car garage which Bobby promptly claimed as his art studio. It is totally a man cave and is decked out in Bobby's past and current art projects, an easel, many canvases and supplies and most recently, 2 retro armchairs that used to be Bobby's grandparents from 1958. It's such a great space for him to be creative and produce amazing art that only Bobby can do. One of my favorite parts of the house is that is has an extra office/loft third room that I've turned into my music room. For Christmas, I bought myself a weighted, full length electric piano keyboard and put that in there along with my guitar and sheet music. It is my happy place in the house for sure :). So over this past month we have been working hard to get it all organized and set up and are finishing up buying some new furniture for the place. When it is all finished, I will post some pictures!

So moving/decorating has been a blast but takes up a lot of time and of course we have kept up with our weekend adventures most recently to Malibu, Orange County, and Big Bear Mountain. We have also been keeping up with our half-marathon training schedule which takes up a lot of our time. I am up to 8.5 miles and Bobby is at 10.5. We are well on our way!

Well our recent adventure came this weekend when Bobby's grandparents came up to SLO to visit us and deliver the armchairs for Bobby's art studio. They are amazing people and we had such a blast showing them around SLO, walking by the beach, and antique shop browsing. One of the places we took them to see was the Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo State Beach. From about November to February, thousands of monarch butterflies migrate to the coast and one of their hot spots is in Pismo Beach in a large grove of eucalyptus trees right by the beach. It is so amazing to see clusters of beautiful butterflies in the trees and flying all around you. Here are some of the shots we took:

All I know is that God must have had fun making butterflies because their coloring and patterns are just amazing and so intricate. It's so fun to experience different parts of nature. We had a great weekend with Bobby's grandparents and look forward to sharing more of our lives with them in SLO.

I promise I will try and be more diligent about blogging! guess that means we'll just have to go on some more adventures...oh, darn.

Have a great week!

happy hiking

Last weekend, Bobby and I were looking for an adventure so we teamed up with our friend Cortney and decided to go hiking. And this was no ordinary hike. We decided to spend the whole day out exploring, starting at 8 am and ending at 5 pm. We combined a couple of trails to make a loop of 16 miles!! I can't even tell you exactly where we went other than that it was about 30 minutes outside of SLO in the Santa Lucia Wilderness and we started out on the Rincondada Trail, but thanks to Bobby, the human compass, we made it back in one piece. There is nothing like spending an entire day out enjoying God's beautiful creation and getting a lot of exercise in the process :). It was such a peaceful day and a great way to spend a Sunday.

 this tree was one of the highlights of the hike. it stood atop a lookout of the whole valley.

 love the bright green moss.

 these succulent-looking things were growing wild right out of the side of the mountains. so beautiful. I was thinking how great they would look as a center piece.

 going for it.

 there were many streams that we  Bobby had to cross and when my husband offers to carry me across, how can I say no?

 hello mr. banana slug

 back at The Tree nearing the end of our journey after a 2.5 mile straight uphill climb. just about died. so happy to rest here at the top.

So now that I've walked a half-marathon, it's just a matter of running one. BIG difference.

Happy Hiking! :)

bring it on 2012

It's 2012! Crazy! Time flies when you are having fun and I sure had a lot of fun this past year. Looking back over the year, I can't complain about a thing. I live in SLO, have a wonderful husband, have a great job of serving people every day, and got to go on many adventures and fun trips. I have felt so overwhelmed with blessings and look forward to what's in store for Bobby and I this year. 

So last year, Bobby and I made some goals/resolutions and I'm happy to report we accomplished most of them. There are two that I'm really proud of: the first one is that we went on 3 backpacking trips (Big Sur, Santa Cruz Island, and Yosemite). The other one is that we both read 15 books! Now, that might not sound like a lot to some of you but before 2011, I averaged 1-3 books a year so I'm pretty darn proud! All but 3 of the books I read last year were true stories about people's lives. I like to read books about how people have overcome hardships, struggles, or experienced extraordinary things in their life. I am drawn to these books because the people I work with at my job have mental illness and have dealt with many, many setbacks and hardships so I like to learn as much as I can and learn from other people's stories so I can better understand where they are coming from which enables me to better serve them. Here are a few of my favorites:

1) "Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall & Denver Moore
2) "Unbearable Lightness" by Portia de Rossi
3) "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness" by Brianna Karp
4) "The Soloist" by Steve Lopez
5) "Heaven is For Real" by Todd Burpo


I'm going to try and read 15 more books this year so let me know if you know of any good ones!

Our big goal for 2012 is......to run a half-marathon! We're so excited because SLO is hosting their first ever marathon and half-marathon on Earth Day (April 22) this year! Bobby and I are already training for it and are very excited to run it. It's good motivation to start the year off in shape! You can find more information about the race here.

Another exciting thing we are looking forward to this year is moving into our new place in SLO next weekend! It's 2 blocks from downtown, walking distance to all the shops and restaurants, biking distance to work, and across the street from a park and community garden. I cannot wait to decorate and make it home for us. We have extra rooms so we welcome any and all visitors!

these are the gardens in the park by our new place.

Good luck on all your goals this year!

                

happy holidays from slo

This past weekend, Bobby and I headed into downtown SLO to watch the annual holiday parade! This is one of those times when it is fun to live in a small town when the main streets are blocked off and everyone comes out and watches floats, bands, and other lit-up things roll down Higuera Street. Bobby and I brought some of our clients from work downtown with us so that they could enjoy the festivities as well. They don't get to get out very much so we thought this would be a fun opportunity for them. Besides the fact that it was FREEZING cold and we were sitting on concrete, it was so fun to see the town come alive and be part of the action.

 what's with the "ie's"? either way, i don't think hot chocolate with whip has ever tasted so good :)

 love the VW buses!

....and then on the way home, I spotted this insanely lit house...

kinda reminds me of the house in the movie Christmas Vacation! I'd hate to see the electric bill on that one.

It was a really fun night and gave me yet another reason to love SLO.

Happy Holidays :)

snapshots of slo

I am loving this crisp air in SLO and the fall colors. Every day I wake up and am so grateful to live here and enjoy all the beauty it has to offer! Here are some snapshots from our adventure this past weekend:

 colorful vineyards

 they were delicious!

just the red.

 bike ride in Shell Beach.

 our new hobby for the winter: crocheting!!

sunset view of SLO.

...just another day in paradise!!

Bobby and I are off to Mission Viejo tomorrow to spend 4 days with our families!! can't wait!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)