It's been awhile.

So here's the latest and greatest in the Riggs' lives:

- Brandon's 2 epidurals were a SUCCESS! For the last several weeks he has had very minimal to no pain in his back and leg! He can sit in his office chair for 8 hours a day pain free as well as comfortably drive in the car. WOOHOO! What a blessing. Let's just hope and pray that this continues for the rest of his life! He's currently back to physical therapy to keep building his core strength.

- I'm still lovin my job! I'm working on 3 projects right now and am having so much fun! I'm working on River Rock Casino in northern California, Marriott's Canyon Villas time share units in Phoenix, AZ and Hollywood Heights Hotel in Hollywood, CA. Carl Ross Design continues to be a fantastic place of employment. I feel somewhat spoiled. :)

Here are a few of the perks I will brag about: Free massages in the middle of the work day once a month. Free catered lunches every Tuesday and Thursday. Lots and lots of free food constantly being dropped off by vendors. Company field trips for further education. (So far we've been to a lighting factory and the Pacific Design Center. Upcoming field trips: Venetian Plaster factory, AutoCAD camp, maybe SketchUp camp for me, and we're all going to Las Vegas for the HD Design Expo.) And let's not forget half day Fridays! Not to mention, all those things aren't even taking into consideration that I really enjoy the work, love the people, love my boss, etc. Yay, go CRD!

Other fun things we've been up to...

- Awhile back Nate and Laura Ridderman came out for an LA visit! We got to take em around town and enjoy their company for the weekend! Good times.



- We ate Ethopian food for dinner with our small group for a friend's birthday. It was a great experience and pretty good food.



- We went to a Jay-Z and Mary J Blige concert at the Hollywood Bowl. We had a blast.







- We're currently enrolled in a wine tasting class. We are refining our palettes and learning how to judge different wines according to their bottle shape, appearance, color, smell, taste, etc.

- Brandon went to a free Flight of the Conchords concert.

- We went to an event with our church called Yelo where we learned our top 5 strengths and more insight into our personalities through taking the Myers-Briggs and Strengths Finders tests.

And I think that's about it... The last 40 days of our lives in a nutshell.

The weather's really nice these days... 75-85 ish. I think we're going on a hike on Saturday and an LA green building tour on Sunday!

Hope you're doing well and thanks for reading.

the tap

Put these two photos together... and that's what's happening on Monday.

+

Prayers please!

Brandon is going to be put under for a spinal tap on Monday 3/17 as well as Monday 3/31. It's a 2 step process. My poor husband! :( Pray that it is successful and will permanently take his back/leg pain away!

Thanks.

Love,
The Riggs

Sense of smell...

Yesterday it was 75 degrees out and marked the first day of true Spring weather here in Redondo Beach. It was a beautiful, lazy day. Brandon and I decided to make a trip to the park. We grabbed our blankets and magazines and made the 5 minute trek to the nearby destination. It was so relaxing and refreshing. I greatly appreciated the simplicity our afternoon activity. It was so nice to read a magazine and have good conversation on a blanket out in the warm sun with my husband. Several hours later as we were heading back home, we walked by one of the houses in the neighborhood when I was suddenly hit by a very potent smell. I was instantly taken back to Indiana and was filled with nostalgia. It was the smell of charcoal and lighter fluid. My whole life growing up we grilled our meat on a charcoal grill out on our back porch. That unique aroma overwhelmed me with many fond memories and created a longing to grill hamburgers ("Jevne burgers" as we called them) and to be with family back home. I was amazed at how my sense of smell could stir up such strong emotions and memories.

What unusual scent means a lot to you?

Mammoth Trip 2.08

New pictures posted on our Picasa Web Album page! Here's a sneak preview:







For more pictures of our ski/snowboarding trip, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/Lee10383

By the way...

I am working woman these days!!! I've been working for 3 weeks now and have landed the most amazing job. I am a junior designer at Carl Ross Design and seriously couldn't be happier!!! I love love love my firm, my boss, my co-workers, the projects I am working on, etc.

Check it out at: www.carlrossdesign.com

I should be posted under the "our team" tab shortly. I just sent in my photo today, so hopefully I'll be up on the website soon.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I love you all!

Not everybody can get it right the first time...

Despite my greatest efforts, my job offer at Inovus Design officially fell through yesterday. Thankfully, I can say I wasn't fired; just unhired. Ha.

It was a combination of things that turned the deal sour. The company's explanation and what I know to be true, interestingly enough, contradict each other. My best explanation is that my trip to England with Brandon delayed starting at their company... and the gap in time was just too much for them to handle. A lot can change in a few months. The worst part of the whole situation is that so much time was wasted in hearing back from the company (I've been waiting since mid October) and in the end I walked away empty handed. I must say, I'm a bit disappointed.

It's too bad Inovus Design let a really hard worker and a really good interior designer slip through their fingers. Honestly, what were they thinking?

Sadly, I continue to be unemployed and am back to the job searching. I know the right company is out there, I just need to find it... and I need to be patient in the meantime.

I'm dreaming of a warm Christmas.

The Riggs have been up to some fun over the past couple weeks. Check it out on our Picasa web albums:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Lee10383/HolidayFestivities

Love you.

Greece, Part II

On October 17th, we departed the beautiful island of Santorini and took a ferry to Naxos. This island was much more laid back and quiet. It was a nice break compared to the craziness of some of the other islands. We started our activities by going to a famous landmark, the temple of Apollo aka Ariadne's Arch. The temple is mostly in ruins and the arch is the only part remaining. Brandon, being the die-hard tourist that he is, had to take the famous photograph of standing inside the arch. This all took place despite the fact that the area was roped off... meaning do not enter. Little did they know, no chains or ropes could stop my husband from getting his photo! Our tour book said it was a must do. We also went to an archaeological museum and then concluded our evening by attending a traditional Greek music and dancing event. It was very entertaining. Our second day on Naxos consisted of renting a moped and driving through the countryside. So pretty! Our final destination was another temple... I don't remember the name, but it was fairly preserved and had a neat history. We then putted our way to the beaches, and eventually had to turn in the moped and catch our ferry to the next island.

Mykonos is the crazy island. It's where the cruise ships dock and the tourists pour out. During certain seasons there's probably more Americans than Greeks! The first day there we rented another moped and made it to the beach for a couple hours. The rest of the time was spent wandering the island, window shopping, going to the windmill museum, etc. Our second day on Mykonos we took a 45 minute ferry ride to the island Delos, one of the most important historical and archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. The island was abandoned during the Roman era which allowed it to remain "unspoiled." Since 1873 the French School of Athens have been excavating the island and an entire beautiful, preserved city was uncovered. The 2001 Greek census reported a population of only 14 inhabitants on the island of Delos. In other words, it's really only good as a day trip with a return ticket back to Mykonos. And that's exactly what we did. Not a whole lot of other activities occurred during our time on Mykonos; just relaxing and soaking in our final time in Greece.

The last portion of our trip was one final day in Athens. We went to the National Archaeological Museum which is supposedly "the best archeology museusm in the world." It had some very fascinating things in it such as ancient pottery, jewelry, weapons, utensils, an amazing Zeus statue, and some famous wall frescoes (paintings done on plaster or walls)... but my museum excitement level was dwindling at this point in our trip so we only spent 1.5-2 hours there. With only hours left, we did a little walking around, some shopping, some gelato (Italian ice cream) consuming, and then headed to the airport.

At this point the rest is history... a few minor complications occurred such as a one hour delayed flight for the 3rd time in a row, some lost luggage, the closed airport storage place where our other bags were being held, etc. But before we knew it, those annoyances were sorted out and we were back home in LA. Home sweet home!

Hope you enjoyed reading about our trip and maybe something exciting will happen in the next few days or weeks ahead and I'll write more then. :)

Welcome to Naxos.



Brandon illegally in the arch.

The traditional Greek dancing.

Stairs, anyone?

You can barely see the arch on the piece of land in the background.

Riding through the countryside on our moped.

Enjoying the beach on our first day on Mykonos.





At the windmill museum. In reality, we were just inside the top of a windmill and that was the extent of the "museum."

An overall view of Delos, with Mykonos in the background.

A house from a long time ago.



The guardian lions dedicated to Apollo. It's estimated that there were originall a row of 9-12 of them.

Greece, Part I

Saturday, October 13th: We departed Harrogate at 10 am; 16 hours later we arrived at our hotel in Athens. Seeing as how it was 2 am, we crashed. Sunday: We saw the Greek version of the changing of the guard, ate our first authentic gyros, and spent the remainder of the day at the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is located, as well as 4-5 other sites around the city. The architecture and history there = AMAZING! Monday: We caught the 7:30 am 5 hour long ferry ride to the island of Santorini. We explored the city of Oia, took lots of pictures, watched a beautiful sunset, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday was the most eventful day: We caught a bus in attempt to see an archaeological excavation, but when we reached the destination we discovered it was closed. Boo! (A British guy was killed at the site 2 years ago and it hasn't reopened to the public since.) So instead, we walked to the red sand beach and made some American friends on the way, Vanessa and Paul. After the beach, we went back to their hotel for lunch. Several hours later, we had reservations for a sailboat cruise and headed to the "old port" where we were supposed to meet. The tricky part was that the old port was waaaay down at the water level compared to the entire city which was built up on the top of tall cliffs. So in order to get down to the port, you had to either walk down 600 stairs, catch a cable car, or ride a donkey down. As usual, the Riggs had budgeted JUST BARELY enough time to make our boat's departure. We were aiming for the cable car ride, but the forever long line forced us to do otherwise. This is where the fun comes in. Our trusty tour book said the 600 ankle-breaking cobblestone stairs (where you have to avoid heaps of donkey dung) take approximately 20 minutes to get down and well, we only had 10. So the running began. I couldn't keep up with Brandon so he told me to go at the fastest pace I could and he would sprint down and hold the boat for me. He took off and was immediately out of sight. I was flying by the normal, walking people and was probably at the 400th stair mark when I heard a voice say, "And there she goes!" I looked back and saw our friend Paul. He and his wife were going on the same boat cruise and seeing him was enough of an excuse to stop running and catch my breath. I walked down the rest of the way and we made the boat just in time. :) Somehow, amazingly, Brandon ran down all 600 steps in 8 minutes. Wow. What a way to start our activity! The boat took us to a nearby active volcano where we got out and hiked to the top. In certain spots, you could see yellow smoke oozing out of the ground, which was cool, but other than that it just looked like a mountain made of black rock. Next, we motored over to some natural hot springs created by the volcano in the Aegean Sea. We had to jump off the boat (or dive if you're Brandon and lower yourself down if you're Lisa) and swim through freezing cold water to get to the hot springs. It was definitely worth it though. Shortly afterwards, we arrived back at the port and had to go back up. This time we opted for the donkey ride. It was crazy. These donkeys were very aggressive and literally raced each other to get to the top first. They rammed each other so as to not get passed, and with a pack of donkeys going down and a pack of donkeys going up at the same time there was a lot of traffic jams and road rage. It was so insane! My donkey was really fast and passed a whole group of people. We ended up being the head of the pack and were the first ones at the top. First place for me! :) We have some great footage on the whole experience that I will be sure to post. After we showered and cleaned up we met Vanessa and Paul at their place for some appetizers, wine, and a stunning sunset. We all went out to eat together and then made our way to bed.

Well, this concludes the first portion of our trip. Up next, Naxos, Mykonos, Delos, and a final day in Athens.

Changing of the guard in Athens. They wear silly puff ball shoes.



We've arrived! The grandiose Parthenon.

Name this capital style... (Answer: Ionic.)

Caryatids, female statues that act as columns.

Another ruins site.

Looking out our hotel window... the Acropolis lit up at night.