Sunday, December 21, 2003

Sail away with me honey...

It has been a pretty wild ride these past two weekends. Both spent in NYC! And let me tell you, I'm freakin' exhausted. Last weekend I dealt with trying to drive home in the blizzard of '03 with the Downeys (appox. travel time: 5 hours one way!) and this past weekend I took the train in from New Haven... I'm very happy to be back home with comfy clothes on while I am moments away from crashing in my bed. But first... there's some blogging to be done...

I have been taking the easy route with this blog by not putting up any new pictures. But never fear... I'm making up for it tonight. Now I know it is a bit outdated, but I wanted to post a picture of my Thanksgiving Experience this year: the Manchester Road Race. I was definitely a bit nervous going into it seeing as the last race I ran was back in 1985 with my family. But since Thanksgiving was going to be small this year and with Kristen as my motivation, I wanted to give it a shot. Let me tell you, it was SO MUCH FUN! The entire race was appox. 4.7 miles. As you ran the course there was so many things going on all around you that you didn't realize that you running so much! People all dressed up from a bride and groom to the Grinch that Stole Xmas. There was live music, bag pipes, house blasting the theme from "Rocky"... Kristen and I ran the whole thing together too so it was nice to have someone to talk to throughout the race. And yes, Kristen DID beat me going over the finish line...


Fast-forward a bit after Thanksgiving until about two weeks ago. Beth and Rob asked me to bring my trumpet to NYC to play a little bit with the band. They had some studio time reserved and also had the crazy notion of including me and my trumpet on a few of their songs. Turned out that we figured out about 4-5 different horn lines for the songs and everything just worked out perfectly. It is a great feeling to alone SEE and HEAR these guys play live in NYC but to have the opportunity to PLAY with them is freakin' surreal. And based on the responses the trumpet added a new element to the band that the listener definitely enjoyed...So many people came out to hear the band @ the Living Room too. So then as this past weekend was coming up, I ended up making yet another trip to NYC and played with them AGAIN! It was awesome. I was accompanied by a buddy of my from work, his friend Ryan, and my old roommate Mike. Good times had by all...(Stay Tuned for pictures!)


The NEW batch of Vino Da Leone will soon be ready at a store near you! Well, not really at a store near you but needless to say some of the wine has been bottled and is ready to (hic) ummmm...it's a...(hic)...he..he..umm..red.... red tea too drink. :) I actually only had a little sample of the white that was made. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of times to taste the other stuff. With the help of a NEW flatbed scanner, my dad and I designed the latest wine label too... It's a old wedding picture of Grandma and Grandpa Leone (my dad parents). Taken around the time of September 4, 1939 - their wedding date.



Alright, I think I've bored you all enough...(most of you probably even stopped reading at this point). So I leave you with this guy who continues to get cuter by the day...(and BIGGER!)


Stay Tuned for pictures of the ESPN Christmas Party that was last week (thank you for an AWESOME time KATE!) and pictures of this past weekend in NYC...

Nite y'all...
We gotta go where we can shine...