Last week we had turned our FNP into a Saturday night party. The theme was red; the menu included borsch, Thai red curry w/ vegetables (and chicken), red wine, and creme brulee. I think I may have usurped Leah's position of dessert chef, as evidenced by the ravenous devouring of the creme brulee!

I just returned from a week in Hong Kong! The week was long due to the couple days of jet lag, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight! I was there for work, but I had a day to enjoy the city & take some photos.

I've posted some of my photos: Hong Kong photos

Last Sunday I returned from a few days of snowboarding at California's Mammoth Mountain. My uncle Tom has a place there, so it was a logical place to visit when I was talking with my dad & Josh about a snowboarding trip this season. I met both of them in Reno, and we drove 3 hours south to Mammoth.

We couldn't have had better weather. Every day was between 40 - 50F, with full-on California sunshine. My eyes were permanently dilated at first, as they were used to the gray, overcast skies of Wisconsin. The best part of the trip was all of the tree skiing that we did - Lil B & I found that the trees were the best parts to play in. There was still some packed powder left, and the chaos of bombing down a hill avoiding the trees adds an element of fun. Besides being outside playing in the snow, this was the last time in recent history that I've spent more than a day with my father & brother.

I haven't had any time to post photos, as I've been busy this week catching up with friends & tending to chores around the house. I'll post some to my Flickr account soon.

Update - here are the pics.

I'm headed to Hong Kong for the week - I'll be sure to post a story & some photos when I get back!

I wanted to post this a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to it. To all my friends living in warmer climates (who cannot believe the temps), here's some proof:

I tried googling myself today - it seems as though I'm not quite as inconspicuous as I had originally thought. It seems my tenure at MKE has made me well known to the entire internet. Of course, someone has to be interested enough to type 'jeremy irwin' into the google search, but I won't get into that... ; )

I had the FNP (Friday Night Party) crew over for dinner & drinks last night. I hadn't been to an FNP since November, so we were well overdue for a dinner party. We had originally decided on an Indian theme, but changed our minds. Carrie & Noel didn't get the updates until late, so dinner was more of a fusion. The menu included samosas, dal, sauteed veggie sandwiches with fresh mozzerella & pesto, Meyer Secret Family Recipe salad, caramel/apple cake, pisco sours, beer, and vodka.

I had a bottle of pisco (bought in Peru in 2005) that was never opened, so we made drinks. For anyone that hasn't had one, I can recommend it. If you like mojitos, margaritas, caipirinhas you will enjoy a pisco sour. Here's a good recipe: http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink7497.html

After dinner, we busted out some guitar hero. I'm not certain how loud we were, but I'm guessing it was fairly noisy. We captured some awesome pics - the best are highlighted below.

Jason plays air guitar while Syd & Carrie rip it up

Looks like Ryan is concentrating too much

My blog from my recent holiday in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos is finally completed! After 30+ hours of turning my journal into the blog, editing photos, and putting everything online, I can finally take a break from Blogger & Flickr for a bit. Here are the links - they are also to the right -->

Blog: http://jeremyinlaos.blogspot.com
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmirwin

I'm happy to report that I'm going snowboarding this weekend at Granite Peak with Lil Buddy - hopefully I'll have some photos to post.

Things have been crazy lately, and I'm sitting at home enjoying the first day of being at home in awhile.

Andy & Holly were married this weekend - the ceremony & party went off really well. The reception was @ Delafield Brewhaus, so we had plenty of good food & drinks. It was a very convivial evening (convivial is one of my new words). A few of the better photos are posted @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmirwin

Last week I was working in Switzerland; I didn't have much time for leisure, but I managed to spend a few hours in the central portion of the country. It wasn't exactly the heart of the alps, but the scenery was fantastic. I learned a few german words, that I'm certain to forget. I can now ask for the bill (recnung bitte), so I'm basically on the path to speaking as well as a native...

On the weekend of 11/3, Corey & Leanne were married as well. Standing up in two weddings within three weeks has kept my weekends extremely short. Congrats to you lovebirds - the wedding was fantastic!

Two weeks prior to their wedding, I was working in the Netherlands for a week. I posted some photos onto my Flickr account, but (once again) I didn't have a lot of time for leisure activities, as I was busy bringing home the bread.

James & I are headed to Myanmar on Thanksgiving, assuming that his visa arrives before Thursday. If things don't work out, I figured that we could head to northeastern India for a bit, visit Athith & Phouvieng in Laos, be awed by Angkor Wat, and spend a few days in Thailand. My mission for the next several days will be to get all of my things in order, and my bag packed so that we can head out on 11/22. I'll be back on Dec. 23, just in time to do some last minute Christmas shopping & spend some quality time with my family & friends. I'll be sending a few emails once I'm in SE Asia, but I expect internet access to be fairly non-existent inside of Myanmar, so I'll have to post when in Thailand & Cambodia.

For everyone that I haven't seen in awhile - I hope that your holiday season is filled with happy times & contentment. It's one of the only times of the year when I think that everyone around me is in good spirits, and happy to be alive.

Photos

I've just posted some photos from the Netherlands & Halloween.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmirwin/