2009: The End of a Decade

I usually do a recap of the year on New Year's Eve. But I realized today that this is the end of a decade. That's a pretty big deal, especially when I think back on all that has happened in 10 years.

For Example,

I got my driver's license. After I failed the first driving test. And I discovered that, No, the world did not end when I failed at something.

I went to Europe. By myself.

I graduated. High School and College. I spoke at both events.

I got my first "real" job. I got 'let go' from my first "real" job.

I bought my first car.

I studied for and passed my engineering exam.

I met someone, fell in love and got married.

I moved. A lot.

A lot of things can happen in a decade. A lot of things can happen in a year.

Instead of recapping events like usual, I thought I'd just list some of my favorite memories from 2009:

Valentine's Day with my Husband and my friend Shelley
Sipping my first Lavender Martini at Fennoil
Visiting Cannon Beach with Steven and picnicking for our first anniversary
Playing Wii and watching my Husband play Wii
Singing Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog songs (also Flight of the Concords) with Steven before we fell asleep
The J.Crew Outlet opening
After receiving a painful tetanus shot, watching Roswell on Hulu and getting addicted
My loving Husband surprising me with all three seasons of Roswell on DVD
Dinners at "Five-0-Three"

A lot of things happen to us in a year. I'd like to remember 2009 for all the good memories and none of the bad ones. For a lot of people it has been a tough year- for us too. But, it's the moments that we share with the ones that we love that make all the dark and gloomy skies turn blue again.

And now, as I'm typing, Steven is cooking a wonderful dinner and soon we'll be eating and drinking, laughing and celebrating... because this is the New Year! And I, for one, am ready and waiting for it.

Happy New Year!

Our Holiday In Photos

Sunday December 20th-

I went to the Heathman Holiday tea with my friend Shelley. It was so lovely and everyone looked so grand and elegant. The food was, of course, amazing and the tea and champagne were too! I had my first Kir Royale and it was very good.The tree is decorated so perfectly. We had to have photos by it.
The table reminded me of when my Mom and I had tea at the Sagamore in New York State. So elegant and it reminded me of reading my Samantha books again. She and her "Grandmary" always did elegant victorian things together. It was so much fun to share this with my good friend. I think we'll make it a Holiday Tradition!

After the tea, I went out to Vancouver to meet up with Steven's family. They had the Howard family Christmas get-together. Steven's cousin Natalie had just celebrated her Sweet 16 on Friday and the entire garage was still decked out for the Disco they'd had to celebrate. Tara and I went to town on the kareoke machine and impressed a lot of people! Sadly, I don't have any photos! :(
Monday December 21st-

I couldn't wait to open our stockings! So we did them and enjoyed our tradition of opening small gifts with each other.
I got Steven "Bro on the go" from How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson. It is SO funny. We have the "Bro code" as well and this is even better!
This is from "Bro on a Road Trip"- "If you find yourselves in Montana, someone screwed up somewhere." After the year we had, we found that particularly funny.
A holiday tradition- Philosopy Gingerbread Man body scrub! Also, lots of chocolate.
Wednesday December 23-

I spent most of the day baking the Bon Appetit December issue Macadamia Caramel tart. My first ever tart using my new tart pan! I was really excited that it came out so well! I also got to have a "girl's lunch" with Tara while Steven helped his Dad outside on the farm.
Thursday December 24th-

We exchanged presents with Steven's Parents and Tara and then had a great dinner before heading home.

Steven opened up the cookbook I've had for him since October! I have to admit that I was the first one to start thumbing through this. I've already got so many pages book marked! It is all about minimal ingrediants, fast prep and fresh food. It is awesome!
I was so excited to get a fabulous new J.Crew sweater.
After presents, we started making the Christmas Eve feast. Steven BBQ'd the Beef Tenderloin to give it lots of yummy flavor. Tara and I both thought it was a little weird to be BBQ'ing on Christmas Eve though...
Marlene took this photo of us. I'm thinking next year's Holiday picture?? It could happen.
Friday December 25th-

I got like three photos before my camera battery died. This is the EPIC Christmas tree, loaded with presents. It was insane. It took so long to open them all too. In our defense, there were seven adults and one child opening presents! It was really special to celebrate at my Sister's new house! We even got an exciting present- next year we'll have another nephew to be buying presents for! On a side note- Colin decided to open almost all of his presents in his underware. So hilarous!
We had an amazing Christmas this year. We were even able to donate some things to charity and spend an entire week together with our families and good friends. It was just the best. However, we are both looking forward to 2010 and hope that this year will be filled with more good things than 2009. Regardless of the feelings about 2009, we came out stronger with more things to be thankful for than ever before. For that we are truely blessed.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy, Safe Holidays!

Zen and the art of Vacuum Cleaner Maintenance

I am a HUGE "F*R*I*E*N*D*S" Fanatic. Most anyone who knows me will tell you that...

So today I thought while I had some time, I would clean out the Dyson and the Dustbuster because both are totally gnar. Seriously- GNARLY.

While I am working on the Dyson, totally grossed out by how bad I let the canister get, I am thinking, "Why don't I just use the Dustbuster to work on some of this"...

Then I got an episode flash!

In "The One With The Cheap Wedding Dresses" in Season 7, Monica is cleaning the outside of her vacuum cleaner with a Dustbuster and exclaims, "If only I had a smaller one to clean this one!"

I am officially addicted to TV.

But now at least both my vacuum cleaners are clean.

Celebrating.

This post will most likely be short as I have photos to download and post, which I will do soon (hopefully).

We had an amazing past week- Steven was on vacation for the entire week!

I had a Holiday Tea at the Heathman Hotel downtown with my good friend Shelley on the 20th, then we met up at his Mom's side of the family's holiday party. So much fun! They had a karaoke machine and Tara and I rocked that thing!

We spent the 23rd and 24th at his parents house and then the 25th with my family. Last night we went to a Holiday Dinner for my Dad's side of the family.

All in all- a busy week full of family, friends and celebrations... maybe a little drama, certainly some laughs and good times! I will post photos soon...

Getting into the Holiday Spirit...

Subtitled: "Cookie-Face"Here's our tree, all lit up and looking really full with lots of presents underneath it!
Here is one of the two styles of Christmas Cards I made. I wasn't very fond of how the other one turned out and forgot to take a photo- so this is a very bad quality shot- but its here none-the-less.
Our holiday spirit is reflected on the front of our house now too! Larry brought us a tree, wreath and garland. Steven put it up outside (I added the red bow and little mittens to the wreath) because it was SOOOO cold outside and I refused to go out there! I admit it- he took this photo so I could see his handy work!
Other cool shot of our tree, you can kind of see the stockings too. I should have turned the fireplace on!
Putting the first ornament of the year on! This year it was a hand blown glass Prossecco bottle that I received as a gift.
Poor Tiger- he just can't catch a break. He didn't make the cut for the tree this year and is sulking alone!
I made a big batch of cookies since we had a lot of visitors- The tree, a computer to be started up and Colin.Colin eats the cookie while watching cartoons at Auntie Julie's house. :)That's my little cookie-face! Look at all that chocolate!

Holiday decorations...

We spent some time this last weekend digging out our Christmas decorations, putting away the Fall decorations and getting into the Holiday spirit.

Last night while I was waiting for our Monday night shows to start I sat by the fireplace, where the stockings are hung with care! Steven took my picture :)
This is the first place we've lived at where we can really hang the stockings over the fire place! It is really nice to be able to do that...To compensate for not being able to put lights up outside, we put lights up inside! Steven does them each year. This year's are the best ever! Here is the Kitchen area all lit up.This photo came out really well. We thought it would be fun to run the lights down the banister and it worked out really cool!The only outside lights we put up are on our balcony. Steven said when he put them up on Sunday, the little kids that play out front yelled "I like your Christmas Lights!"... We both see that as a sign of approval!And a good shot of them all lit up!

We are still working on the inside decorations, waiting to get our tree for another week or two and put it up. We've also decided to sign another lease, so we'll be here for a while and won't have to worry about not putting too much up since we'll be staying on after the new year!

Black Friday/ Thursday...

This year's Black Friday deals were sort of disappointing. I'll start by saying that I look forward to this EVERY year! It's a tradition to get up before dawn, to make my list, check it twice, read the ads on Thursday and make a plan of attack.

This year was no different, but it was a little bit special... I got to go shopping with my Mom, Aunt Jan and DAD (plus Cruiser)! Which I haven't gotten to do for years. This was the first year that Dad came along and it was awesome.

Dad chauffeured us around- dropping us off at doors and picking us up. We were able to do the shopping for the charities that we will be donating to this year at rock bottom prices, which was amazing to say the least.

We went to Fred's first- which is TRADITION. You have to get there early if you want to get some good socks. Then we headed over to Target and it was a TOTAL MAD HOUSE. I have never seen it quite so crazy in there. They had good door busters- but we nearly missed them! Got the last of the 1.50 towels that we needed! Seriously- only 4 left in the bin and they happened to be all the same color. That's pretty good luck!

Then we went to Ulta and Best Buy for some quick pick ups. Then off to breakfast with everyone at Rose's Deli. It was great to eat with everyone again before they all had to leave and we went out to the Farm to hang with Steven's family.

Even though it makes me really tired (because I can never sleep the night before, then I get up early) the day is always worth it. No matter what! But here are two stories that really hit home for me...

We went shopping on Thursday Night for the FIRST TIME... Mom, Dad, Grandma, Jan and I all hit up Old Navy, Kmart and Michaels. Old Navy had great deals and it was really nice to not be elbow to elbow with people shoving for deals early on Friday morning. We took our time and picked out some nice things from our list.

Then we hit Kmart and we were looking to see if the "Bike Deal" (every year someone has a "Bike Deal" as a door buster) price was good on Thursday. We were shopping for a little girl who wanted a bike for Christmas. Well we found the bikes and the prices weren't listed for the sale yet! So we bring over an employee and ask him "Which bike is on sale?"... He has no idea, Mom goes to look for an ad and we ask him if he will scan one and see how much it rings up. We are all excited and frazzled so we start pointing at random bikes and I can hear him mutter under his breath "I don't have time for this... I have other things to do right now!"

That's great. Helping customers is not your top priority. That's fine, but don't TELL me about it. GOSH! I was getting really frustrated with this guy. We're just trying to find this price and he won't help us. In the end we ended up at customer service and the price was only good on Friday morning. BUMMER!

But here's another story that totally makes up for that guy:

On Friday morning- I'm at Target and we've picked up everything from our list, so I set out to find Flight of the Conchords on DVD. Steven told me that he really wanted the set and at 8.99 for each season, that's a STEAL. I look all over, but this year they've organized the DVD deals into these giant green boxes in RANDOM Places- like Women's Apparel and Children's Apparel and Accessories! What the heck!?! I'm very confused, so I go to the DVD SECTION and ask an employee... He has no idea where they are, but finds the bar code on the shelf and takes it over to scan it- he says what they have out is out and again tells me where the Green Boxes are. Then says sorry. He was actually very helpful, suggesting trying another store, checking customer service to see if any were in the "To Return" bin...

I'm standing at the DVD section and guy about my age pickes up "The Big Bang Theory" Season 1 on DVD, which is on sale fo 12.99 (a good buy!). I tell him the show is hilarious and he should get it. (He's been staring at it for as long as I've been looking for FOTC). He says he thinks he will and I ask him if he's seen my DVDs. He says he hasn't but he will help look for them, because at that price he wants them too!

We give up looking and go our separate ways and I meet back up with Mom and Dad. We check out at the customer service desk (NO LINES!) and I wait at the doors for Jan while they get the car. I'm feeling kind of bummed because I wanted those DVDs for Steven.

While I'm waiting the guy walks up to me after checking out- " I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!" he says. I found the FOTC on DVD and I'll show you where they are!

He takes me over to some completely random Green Box Unit and pulls two DVD sets out of the back. "These were burried and I set them aside for you"...Sure enough- there is season 1 and season 2 and they are marked 8.99!

He hands them to me and says "Have a really Happy Holiday Season!" and walks away to meet his friends.

I hurriedly check out and meet Jan and hop in the car with Mom and Dad. I tell them the story and hold up the DVDs and they are so excited! Nice people do exist at Christmastime! I am happy to get my "deal" of the day and get what Steven wanted and that someone totally random helped out. I shall be looking out for someone to pass the kindness on to!

First Annual Thanksgiving Wii Bowling Tournament!

This is the First Annual Thanksgiving Wii Bowling Tournament! I made a bracket, we drew for slots (I won the coveted "bye" to the next round) and Steven and Dad started things off while we waited for the Turkey to cook. Also- this way we had something to do besides watch the Dog Show :)Steven showing us how it is done!
Steven wins over Dad by three points. Dad drowns his sorrows of being knocked out of the tournament so early with a drink.
Such good sports! And they didn't even get a practice round!
This is my 85 year old Grandmother saying "I don't do bowling... I'm so terrible... I've never played Wii"... right before she kicked Bill's butt in the second game of the day! She also got the first "TURKEY" of the day. Three strikes in a row!

Grandma with NO Wii experience beats Bill by 31 points. Bill drowns his sorrows of being knocked out of the tournament so early by shouting that the Wii is rigged. :)Bill called for a Wii sensor bar test, but as the Thanksgiving Bowling Tournament Comissioner, I let Grandma's win stand.

Next up- Jan vs. Mom. The sibling rivalry continues in a fight to the death. With a three point lead- Jan takes the round and the second "TURKEY" of the day!
Mom has a lot of fun playing the Wii. I love how excited she gets. Jan was the same way, it worked out well that they'd play each other- it was a great match up and a CLOSE game!

This concluded round 1 of the tournament! The advancing brackets show Grandma will play Steven and Jan will play Me!

This is also where we took a break to eat some real turkey!Grandma makes an impressive showing while Jan, Mom and I do dishes. She beats Steven in the biggest upset of the day! This was also the lowest scoring game...
At this point we are all saying "She could go all the way!"... Steven is slightly upset at losing his pro status, but he graciously shakes Grandma's hand.
I make a decent showing for myself, but get blown out of the water by the highest score all day!
She's got some talent in there! She'll take on Grandma in the finals!
These two are gearing up for the competition's close. Who will be the winner??
In the end, Grandma edges out with a victory over Jan!
And she shows just how excited she is in her victory photo!
Jan giving the winner some nice bunny ears.
Grandma proudly shows off her accomplishment for the day- the final bracket with her name in the CHAMPION slot.

Love to Grandma- the woman who thought she couldn't do it- beat us all at Wii Bowling!!

Thanksgiving 2009!

Steven and I hosted our FIRST EVER Thanksgiving Supper at our house last week. It was a total blast and thanks to our years of Easter Dinner preparation, we were seasoned veterans at getting the table ready and prepping the food to come out at the same time.

Steven did his second turkey ever and used a Bon Appetit recipe that he says he will totally use again. The turkey was so moist and flavorful. He did a great job- it was the star of the table.

This is the before photo, getting it basted with sage butter before going into the oven.
Here is the after photo, it is golden and delicious. It was also done 30 minutes before we'd planned, so after this, Mom and I scurried into the kitchen to do the veggies, mashed taters and gravy so we could eat on time...which we did! It ended up being a wonderful dinner and I think everyone had a great time.I am a cook's best friend- here I am doing dishes so the sink will be clean for other uses! Dad took this photo of me because he was "supervising"! :)Mom dutifully helped us make gravy- when two people don't like gravy- they tend to not know how to make it! Grandma Rose came in too and helped out. Sorry I didn't have the fat separator thingy! We made do with some sieves and ingenuity.

Thanks for making our Turkey Day great!

Stay tuned for the entertainment recap- Our First Annual Thanksgiving Wii Bowling Tournament!

A Very Special Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my friend Shelley!

Here is the photo story of the gift basket I made for Shelley's Birthday:

It started off with a theme, "Things that make your birthday special"...

"Some Light Reading"= A memoir about a woman who worked at Tiffany's Flagship store in the 40's. "Summer at Tiffany"

"Something Pretty"= A collection of five hand stamped (by me) "Fall themed" note cards, holiday red paper with metallic leaves and fruit and bronze ribbon. No photos :("Toffee, Chocolate, Caramel"= These little guys are an inside joke- this is "Emergency Chocolate Material", but they are so good that I had to put them in.This is beer for Kevin (they share the same birthday!)- it is "TOTAL DOMINATION IPA"- seriously, how could I not buy it? Additionally, there are three boxes of homemade goodies-

"Polka Dots?" is circle shaped sugar cookies with pink icing and green polka dots piped on to them. ( All the ribbon accents have polka dots too! I love coordination!)

"Something Decadent" is a box of dark chocolate brownies!

"Birthday Cupcakes?" is a box of cupcake shaped sugar cookies with pink bottoms and fluffy white tops with white sanding sugar.Opening the goodies over lunch! This is a great shot!!Finally, I made myself a badge that said "A fabulous friend"! We had a great birthday lunch at one of our favorite spots. A nice lady took our photo in front of St. Honore.
This is the baking aftermath. Talk about a sugar high!