Hello, family and friends!

Well, we are sitting on the beach in Florida, so we thought it would be a good time to catch everyone up on the past year. It's been a little nutty and a lot of fun. Some of you know all of this, many of you know some of it. So we'll try to be brief. If you'd like more details on any of it, let us know...

2003 started in Raleigh, we guess...that was a long time ago. Don't really remember much but we do know that we were working for the RBC Center/Carolina Hurricanes for about the fifth year, getting restless to move on, try new things, live in a new place. In April, a venue management company flew Niles to Eastern PA to try to get him as Director of Production and Operations for a performing arts center in the Poconos. The buildings (a 10,000 seat amphitheater and a 250 seat cabaret) were not open, but the venue showed promise and, although owned by a non-profit, Niles would be working for the international management company. So after a slew of good-bye parties, he moved.

In June, Niles bought a very cute house, and Amie moved to PA to join Niles and Alex (the now 2½  year-old pooch). Not having a job or a specific schedule, Amie decided it would be a great time to do something she's always wanted to do but never thought she could...so by July, having been accepted by lottery, Amie began training for the New York Marathon. The following months were filled with running, eating and sleeping, and with the few hours she managed to stay awake, helping fix up the house.

The yellow stucco home was built in the 50's, and showed no signs of any renovation or redecorating since. After pulling up nasty carpets to reveal beautiful hardwood, painting, tiling, replacing fixtures, updating electrical and heating parts, fencing in the yard and a bunch of odds and ends, it looks like a new house. A few guests have seen it in person: Niles' parents came early on to help with some big items (painting, fence); Megan Brown came to help with the opening of the building; Andrea Munn stopped by on the way home from Boston. (online house photos here.)

Hundreds of miles, 2 bum knees, one sore hip, three lost toenails, one bear encounter, countless blisters and numerous tracks on the iPod later, it was Marathon day. Niles and Amie spent the weekend in the City with his dad. Four and a half hours after crossing the starting line, Amie crossed the finish line (a good half hour behind P Diddy).

Meanwhile, back at work, the venue was quickly running out of money. And December brought not bonuses and vacation time, but layoffs and...well...that's it. With an apology, Niles was let go along with most of the staff. No more events are scheduled at this time, but we hope that the venue will be able to recover in the future and re-open (without us).

Two weeks before Christmas is normally not an ideal time to find yourself without employment, but it freed us to head home for the Holidays. After two weeks in the Triangle, we prepared to embark on a journey. When again will we both be unemployed, and fairly free of things tying us down? Probably never, so we are headed out West to find ourselves. Or at least, to find some of you friends and family that headed out West and never came back.

Which brings us back to Florida. As all exciting journeys must embark from Florida, here we begin our adventure. We'll spend a week in New Smyrna, relaxing from the stress of the past month, and helping Niles' parents prepare to move out of their one beach house, and into the new one (where eventually they plan to retire). But lucky for us the folks buying this house want the furniture, so it's shaping up to be a pretty lazy week.

Where to next, you ask? After our stops in New Orleans, Houston, Santa Fe, Phoenix, LA, Seattle, and who knows where on the way back, we will head home with clear minds and a solid plan. So we'll be sure to let you know what it is at that time. Right now we are leaning towards looking for work in New York City 'cause if you can make it there...

For those of you on stops along the way, we can't wait to see you. For everyone else, keep in touch. We will! Throughout our journey you can visit this link to see pics.

There aren't really any up right now (just a couple from our first day at the beach), but as we travel, we will add pictures.

Love to all,
Niles, Amie and Alex