Love the Results...

Back in the Studio...

Early on a Sunday morning in mid-April, Ashlynn headed to Voorburg for a photo shoot at the studio of Vincent Kos Photography for a school project for stylist Cheyenne Leonards entitled Black and White.

Make-up artist Sjaatsy Porier gave Ashlynn a soft look with straightened hair. It still always surprises me to see Ashlynn with full eyebrows.

Ashlynn said that Vincent’s studio was the nicest studio she’d ever shot in. It was also her first shoot that was entirely in Dutch; that is, they spoke to her in Dutch and she answered in English.

Flowers and Fashion...

Arrived a little early for the AWC tour of a fashion exhibit at the Rijksmuseum, which gave me the perfect chance to see the lovely tulips placed in the Museumplein fountain in honor of Tulip Festival, featuring 500,000 tulips planted all around the city.

The exhibit showcased Dutch fashion from 1625 through 1960 in six different galleries. I especially liked the catwalk.

This was definitely the most fascinating outfit: a wedding dress from 1759. Can’t imagine how the bride managed to sit down for dinner wearing this 6.5-feet (2-meter) wide dress which also had a long and wide train.

It was nice to see some flowers in bloom on the train ride home.

Attempting to Recreate a Moment in History...

On  March 25, 1996, Kathy and Phil hosted a farewell party for me and Jimmy. In addition to haring a hash and having a great dinner, we had an incredible photo shoot in their living room including some kooky shots on their staircase.

Twenty years later, we made an attempt to recreate one of our favorite photos. Even without our dear friends Sharon and Brett, we had a difficult time lining ourselves up correctly, but still had fun trying.

Luckily a neighbor came over to capture all of us in our best attempt to recreate that moment in our combined history, which turned out extra special since Ross and Ashlynn joined in. Thanks to Kathy and Phil for a great party, and Dan and Nancy for a great weekend.

Hash Horrors Meet...

To be honest, Ashlynn wasn’t thrilled about the idea of going to Kathy and Phil’s since we thought she’d be the only kid there since their 17-year-old son Ross was supposed to be umpiring a baseball game. Luckily his plans changed and he was home. While I wanted Ashlynn to meet my friends, what she really enjoyed was spending the afternoon with Ross and his sweet dog.

I thought it was very sweet when Ross invited Ashlynn to go along with him to hang out with his friends that evening at a park and offered to drive her back afterwards to Dan and Nancy’s. Ashlynn found the entire experience quite interesting, especially since she’d never actually hung out with a group of American teenagers before.

20-Year Reunion...

Dan, Jimmy, Dick, Mike & Phil

After a morning spent visiting an excellent special exhibit about whales at the San Diego Natural History Museum, we headed to Kathy and Phil’s for a gathering in honor of our visit. We had last seen most of these folks at their house in 2007 and it was so great that we were all able to get together again. It was amazing how little everyone has changed over the years, which is another good sign that hashers tend to age well.

Carolyn, Melissa, Debbie, Kathy, Jennifer & Nancy

Although Carolyn and Debbie were attending a scrapbooking weekend, I was thrilled that they were able to sneak away for a few hours to see us.

It was especially nice having a chance for a nice long chat with Debbie, who used to be my neighbor and was my maid-of-honor...

....and with Kathy, who was my boss in my previous life. As my hash mother and my daughters’ hash grandmother, she was responsible for me meeting Jimmy. It was so great seeing how truly happy she is.

Running in San Diego...

Friday morning Dan led Jimmy and Ashlynn on a wonderful running tour through Balboa Park, downtown and along the harbor. 

That evening, Ashlynn decided to stay behind while we hashed. While I originally assumed that we’d run with San Diego, our mother hash, Dan said we were more likely to know more people at the Iron Rule Hash which was running in nearby Point Loma. It was only a six-kilometer run, but it was shockingly challenging due to all the hills. At least the views were fantastic.

Jimmy had an interesting run on his own, complete with photo bombing a same-sex wedding couple...

...and running into an ex-hasher that he dated before he met me.

We enjoyed a nice dinner and chatting with lots of old hash pals at Manhandler’s house.