Christmas Turkey!

I made a turkey for the first time. I was very nervous, but it turned out great!

2008 is almost over

The end of 2008...

Where​ did you begin​ 2008?​​​
In Paris!!

Did you kiss anyon​e at the end of the count​down?​​​
Yes...Casey!

What was your statu​s by Valen​tine'​​​ s Day?
Marri​ed

Did you have to go to the hospi​tal?​​​
Not for myself

Did you have any encou​nters​ with the polic​e?​​​
Only pointing the cops to the halfway house across the street

Where​ did you go on vacat​ion?​​​
We rung in the new year in Paris, went to my cousin's wedding in New Jersey (and went to NYC), I visited my new niece in Florida

What did you purch​ase that was over $​​​100?​​​
Lots of stuff 

Did you know anybo​dy who got marri​ed?​​​
Kristina, Kyle and Jenna

Did you know anybo​dy who passe​d away?​​​
My mom's best friend, Gena...she was an amazing woman and God is lucky to have her with him in Heaven!

Did you move anywh​ere?​​​
Yep! We bought a house in Fullerton!

What sport​ing event​s did you atten​d?​​​
Many Chargers games, Kings, Lakers

What conce​rts/​​​ shows​ did you go to?
I saw New Kids on the Block!!!

Did you get in any fight​s?​​​
Nothing big

What is the one thing​ you thoug​ht you would​n'​​​ t do in 2008 and did?
Bought a house

What have been your favor​ite momen​ts?​​​
Making our 1st house a home.

Any new addit​ions to your famil​y?​​​
Nope

What was your best month​ ?
October (it's always the best because it's my birthday month!)

Did you make new frien​ds?​​​
I always make new friends...my neighbors are great!

Favor​ite night​ out?
There were many favorites.

Other​ than home,​​​ where​ did you spend​ most of your time?​​​
In my classroom

Chang​e your hairs​tyle?​​​
Yeah...I just chopped it off!

How old did you turn this year?​​​
27

Do anyth​ing embar​rassi​ng?​​​
My entire life in embarrassing!

Get marri​ed or divor​ced?​​​
No

Been snowb​oardi​ng?​​​
No

Find a speci​al someo​ne?​​​
No...already have him


Are you happy​ to see 2008 go??
I don't feel a certain way.

Are you gonna​ have a New Years​ Kiss?​​
Totally! After eating German food at my parent's house!

What are you looki​ng for the most in 2009?​​
Hopefully getting pregnant!

Merry Christmas from LT

This is his 'aren't I so sexy?!' pose!

Christmastime at the mall...

I have had my Christmas shopping done for 3 weeks now. Most of it was done before Thanksgiving. I worked 4 Christmases at the mall and refuse to go to the mall during the 2 weeks before Christmas. It is crazy how many people wait until the last minute to finish their shopping. In my opinion, rushing around like a crazy person while trying to search for that 'perfect gift' is not fun. I would rather pick things up here and there (I had 2 gifts in September!) and enjoy my shopping.

That being said, I was incredibly bored at home today. I wanted to take the dog to Fashion Island to wander around and get him a new collar, but the rain prevented that from happening. I was going stir crazy inside, so I decided to go to the mall to return a gift that I had been given and see if I could find something at Nordstrom with my gift cards (I was a very lucky teacher on Friday!). Luckily, my brother discovered a great place to park at the Brea Mall after I stopped working there, but now I can use the 'secret parking lot' for my random mall trips during this insane time of the year. I parked with ease and wandered through the mall like I had nothing important to do (wait...I didn't have anything important to do! I finished my shopping!). It was fun to watch all of the people rushing around the mall carrying heaps of bags while I just strolled from store to store. 

After about 90 minutes, I was pretty tired of the craziness, so I left the mall. I am thankful that I got all of the important shopping done early!

Guest Bathroom

I was looking through my photos in iPhoto and found some pictures of our guest bathroom remodel. It was hideous when we moved in. The entire side wall was a giant mirror, the lenoliam was pulling up, the vanity was hideous, the mirror and light fixture were nasty, and it was covered in gross wallpaper. 

After lots of elbow grease, the wallpaper was removed (along with the drywall paper), the walls were retextured, the flooring was replaced, along with the vanity, mirror, and light fixture, and some nice accents were added. I am very pleased with how the bathroom turned out. I wish it was my master bathroom! Now, if we could only do something with the master bath...that is going to take some work!

           The bathroom before we moved in. YUCK! 

In progress The finished product!

USC/UCLA Game

I was super lucky and got to go to the USC/UCLA game yesterday! It was an away game, so we had to endure the most terrible place ever...the Rose Bowl. Parking is terrible, the stadium is terrible (bench seats for us!), and getting out of the place is terrible. The one un-terrible thing, was that we won! It wasn't very difficult to pull out a 'W', but 2 years ago we thought we would win it easily and they surprised us (that was a horrible game!). We had a blast! The best part was when the USC guys came out onto the field in between a play and started dancing to the music they were playing on the sound system! The UCLA guys followed and it was a big cluster of cross-town rivals dancing in the middle of the game!

That's right...28-7!

Mark Sanchez directed the band at the end of the game...I love when they do that!

           Dance, Dance, Dance!

FIGHT ON TROJANS!

This would be so cool!

How sweet would it be to have a pug this size?!?! I want one!

Turkey Trot 2008

We ran in the 5K Turkey Trot in Dana Point on Thanksgiving morning with John and Michelle. It was a blast! When we got there, it was raining torrentially. The 10K runners were so drenched! We were very lucky that the rain stopped and blue skies appeared as our race began. 

I did much better than I thought that I would! Michelle and I stuck together and finished as a team. I am sore today, but it was a blast. Hopefully I can keep up my running and do another one soon!
               

2 Year Anniversary

I can't believe how quickly time flies. Casey and I got married 2 years ago today! I am been truly blessed to be married to such an amazing man. God had a man out there for me and I am thrilled with the man he is!

In honor of our anniversary, I thought I would share the story of how we met. Some may not know, but it is a funny story. 

I went to a tennis match and had a few glasses of wine (I was pretty chatty!). We sat down after the match had already begun and 2 women were in our seats. No problem...we'll sit in the seats next to them! I started chatting with the woman next to me and she randomly mentioned her son in the conversation (not trying to set us up, he was just part of whatever she was telling me). I interrupted her and asked about her son...where does he live, how old is he, what does he do, is he single, what's his number? She quickly gave me his number, I called him and left a message. He returned my call the next day, we met up, and the rest is history! 

Casey...I look forward to many more happy years together! I love you!

Halloween

Halloween was great in our new house! We had quite a few trick-or-treaters (we both grew up where no one decorated for Halloween because no trick-or-treaters came!) and went to a party. I dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and Casey was the Mad Hatter. Casey's costume turned out great (it was all different shades of green, but you can't tell in the picture) thanks to Goodwill and a vintage shop! All we needed was a pair of bunny ears for LT and he could have been the white rabbit!

Seriously?!?!

How freaking adorable is this picture?!?!?! I hope we have a baby as cute as my niece!

Date Night - 10/28

Tonight's date night was focused on the letter P. We went to the pumpkin patch, ate Pepe's, drank pumpkin beer, carved pumpkins, and ate pumpkin bread! Casey was even involved in this week's date night!

Extraordinary Desserts

We went to Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego last night and it truly was extraordinary! I had the most delicious raspberry chocolate cake and Casey had some sort of passion fruit goodness. Each dessert cost $8.50, but well worth it! If you are in San Diego, you must visit Extraordinary Desserts! There are two locations. One in Little Italy and one in Banker's Hill.

Note to Self: Don't wear matching dresses to weddings.

We went to a wedding today and there were 2 women wearing the same dress! To make it worse, they were sitting at tables that were right next to each other!

Kids say the funniest things!

My students were writing in their journals today and this is what one of my kids brought to me. She was trying to sound of 'swimming' and came up with 'semen'!!!!!! I almost died laughing!

Date Night - 10/22

Janine and I met for coffee for our date night. We ended up getting chips and guac (from Baja Fresh) and a cupcake! 

We finished our night with a fun trip through Michael's.

I love date night!

Great Pugtoberfest Pics!

These photos were taken at Pugtoberfest a couple weeks ago and I just love them! There was a photographer at the event taking portraits...their company is called PugDography!

Chargers vs. Patriots

It was a good day. We left Fallbrook at 10:30 rather than our normal 6:00 (got to sleep a little longer!). 

Drove to Old Town SD for lunch (no tailgating today) and massive margaritas. I made the mistake of ordering a large cadillac margarita...hello alcohol! I was a bit tipsy after that. 

We then met up with Casey's coworkers at Seau's for another beverage and got to see Junior Seau with Robert Kraft (the owner of the NE Patriots). 

Then we headed to the stadium. It was headband day! Sweet!!! We looked amazing in our sexy headbands!

New Kids on the Block Concert

My mom was given 4 suite tickets to the NKOTB concert last night! My coworkers and I had wanted to go, but it was going to be too expensive. We randomly got these tickets the day of the show! The box wasn't good, but we grabbed a bunch of beers out of the suite fridge to take to our premium level seats. They were amazing seats!

My mom neglected me 15 years ago by not allowing me to go to a NKOTB concert, so this was perfect! They sang a bunch of their new songs which are awesome, and a bunch of old school songs. The best part was that they even did the old school dances! They're getting old, but they've still got some good moves! 

The cheesiest point of the evening. Jordan with an unbuttoned shirt and fan blowing on him!

Esther had 3 beers! It was her first concert! (Don't mind the not-so-cute picture!)

Hannah ate everyone's leftovers!