Yesterday was April Fool’s but it was also Diesel’s third birthday!
We celebrated by taking a trip to Dogma and picking out doggie cupcakes and donuts for our favorite little guy.
Where did the time go?!? *sniff* He’s grown up way too fast.
House Update.
The first and second floors have been framed. And the roof trusses installed. I can’t believe the progress in just a few weeks…
Rob and I were supposed to go to Disneyland for breakfast over the weekend but decided to sleep in instead. Hee. 
I still have pics to share, though, because I realized that I never posted any from my 30th birthday trip.
I love Disneyland in October. The resort celebrates “Halloweentime” all month so the park is decorated in various shades of fall colors.
From the entrance gates…
to Town Square…
to Main Street…
to the partner’s statue…
to the flowers planted in the hub…
and even to the balloons being sold throughout the park.
Love it. It looks so festive!
There were only a few (very important!) things I wanted to accomplish in the park…
1. Take advantage of the photopass system and get some fun “magic” shots taken of Rob and me. Like these with Tinkerbell and Stitch! Hehe.
2. Meet Mickey! He can be found on Main Street at various points in the day but I wanted to be sure I would get a picture with him so I dragged Rob over to Towntown to visit Mickey at his very own house. 
And he’s wearing his Sorceror Mickey outfit. MY FAVORITE. I totally need a red velvet robe so I can be Sorceror Mickey for Halloween.
3. Eat at Cafe Orleans. I love sitting outside on the patio and people-watching. I had a cup of gumbo, pommes frites (OMG. THESE ARE SO GOOD), and beignets with raspberry and vanilla sauce for dessert. YUM.
4. Ride Space Mountain. My favorite ride in the park. Notice how Rob totally covered my face in our ride picture?! THANKS A LOT.
…And that’s it! Those were my must-dos. It doesn’t take much for me to enjoy Disneyland.
My friend Robyn met up with us for more rides and then my friend Carmen joined us later that night for dinner at Roy’s.
The following night Rob took me to Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel for dinner.
I know, it sounds weird. Fine dining on Disneyland property?! But it’s true! I had an AMAZING meal. Rob and I shared the tempura lobster and spicy asian beef salad as our appetizer and I had the yummiest beef short ribs over risotto and butternut squash sauce for my entree. Nom nom nom.
My food pictures didn’t turn out so great but I have to share this one of our dessert…
…a S’mores popover with toasted marshmallows, peanut butter ice cream, and chocolate sauce. HEAVEN.
It was a perfect Disney birthday.
I have BIG NEWS. Yes, the kind that requires capital letters.
ROB AND I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! Ok fine. It’s actually a detached condo. But still…
*happy dance*
It’s been a total whirlwind of a week…
- On Wednesday, we turned in our deposit (biggest check we’ve ever written) and signed 2.5 hours worth of disclosure agreements and contracts.
- Yesterday we went to the design studio and were greeted with this …
We spent 4 hours choosing all our options from door hardware, cabinetry, countertops, electrical/security, lighting, appliances, flooring, etc. The biggest thing we splurged on was hardwood floors for the entire first floor. I was not prepared for the cost. I went into serious sticker shock. !!! But we had decided prior to our appointment that upgrading the flooring was our main priority (the standard is a combination of carpet and tile) so we took the plunge. Overall, sitting down and going over all the options for every single area of the house was good for us first-time homebuyers — I mean, who knew that we would have to consider the location of our hose bibs and data/cable/phone jacks? Or that we’d have to make decisions about the edging of our chosen countertops? I DID NOT.
- Then today, we met with the in-house lender to finalize our loan application. This part is not so fun. But we have a great rep who’s taken so much time to go over tons of scenarios for us. It’s definitely been an eye-opening and educational experience.
SO. Would you like to see our house?
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Back on Valentine’s Day, my apartment community was offering a free portrait session and an 8×10 print for all residents. Because I’m a sucker for anything free, I dragged Rob AND Diesel and we took a family portrait. Thought I’d share but I’m much too lazy to clean up the scan…
I’m officially giving up on the 30 Day Meme. The rest of the prompts require way too much thinking… also, L-A-Z-Y.
So what have I been doing? Mmm… watching WAY too much Olympics coverage. I’m an Olympics junkie. I’ll watch anything that NBC “packages” up in primetime — speed skating, alpine skiing, luge, etc. And of course, I’m following figure skating! I follow individual men’s and women’s skating more closely than I do the other disciplines but I’m really happy that Shen/Zhao won pairs despite the almost-spill on their lift in the free skate. They’re the total package — they have the tricks and the artistry. Which brings me to the men. I can’t believe Plushenko is the leader going into the free skate. He is ALL jumps and no artistry. There’s no real choreography or footwork between jumps — he’s just skating around doing as little as possible until the next jump. I much prefer Evan Lysacek (despite the questionable arm-flailing he does in his programs), Daisuke Takahashi, Stephane Lambiel (his spins!), and Jeffrey Abbott (too bad he imploded in the short program). I hope they all have amazing free skates on Thursday and overtake Plushenko. A girl can dream.
This past weekend was Valentine’s Day and Rob and I celebrated by…
1. Going to Starbucks. LOVE their Valentine’s Day cups.
2. Taking Diesel to the park. He’s in desperate need of a haircut, LOL.
3. Watching the NBA All-Star festivities (the slam dunk contest, which I normally enjoy, was laaaame) and the Olympics (again, figure skating!).
4. Renewing our Disneyland annual passes. We decided that this would be our annual Valentine’s Day present to each other. YAY!
5. Looking at model homes and going back and forth (and back and forth) about the pros and cons of buying a townhouse versus single family, new versus resale, now versus later, etc. It’s kinda stressing me out. Seriously, the home buying process is not fun.
Off to watch more Olympics. Speed skating tonight!
I’m one of *those* people that make New Year’s resolutions. Since I’m human, I inevitably forget all about them by the time February rolls around. But this year will be different! Let’s hope.
So here are my resolutions/wishes for 2010 (that’s twenty ten not two thousand ten)…
1. Buy a house. Rob and I are on 2 waiting lists and both communities are scheduled to sell this month. Cross your fingers for us!
2. Save more money. You know, for a rainy day. Or for another vacation.
3. Blog more. I’ve gotten so lazy when it comes to blogging. I used to write 10+ entries a month and now I’m lucky if I write 5. Every once in awhile I go back and read old entries and I love getting a glimpse of my thoughts from the past.
4. Exercise (and hopefully lose a little weight). Ah yes. Probably the most popular New Year’s resolution ever. I realize it’s such a cliché. It’s on my list this year because I pretty much took last year off from exercising. No joke. I need to be more active or I’m in danger of not fitting into any of my clothes. Horrors.
5. Drink more water. I fail at this. I need to keep a bottle of water next to me during the day. Otherwise I totally forget.
6. Drive. I have to conquer this fear. HAVE. TO.
7. Start scrapbooking again. I haven’t scrapbooked since we moved! I threw all my supplies into a huge plastic box and promptly forgot all about it. I finally opened it up today and realized that I have an incredible amount of scrapbook paper, ribbon, rubber stamps, embellishments, etc. Scrapping has been such a good creative outlet and stress reliever for me and I need that in my life.
I think my New Year’s resolutions are all very doable. Wish me luck! And I’d love to hear what everyone else’s resolutions are if you make them.
I took down the Christmas tree and decorations today. Always makes me sad. I can’t believe how quickly the days go by now. I still have a few hours of vacation left so I thought I’d do a quick recap of my Christmas…
Christmas festivities began early when Rob and I got together with friends at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott’s Berry Farm for an all-you-can-eat champagne brunch. The food was ok but the company was great. I can’t believe I have friends who are parents now. !!!
I wanted to see the holiday decorations at Disneyland before our annual passes were blocked out for the year so we made it to the park on the very last day. I love Disneyland every time we go but there’s something extra special about the holiday season…
From the snow-capped turrets of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in the daylight…
…to the huge Christmas tree on Main Street (we tried to take a picture in front of it but the Disney employee obviously didn’t know how to use our camera)…
…to the colorful lights on It’s A Small World…
…and back to the night-time sparkly lights on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. It’s truly magical.
Diesel got into the Christmas spirit too.
And we took a quick family picture before heading out for Christmas Eve dinner at my cousin’s house. Yes, I’m wearing a candy cane headband. And yes, I did wear the same dress a few days later for a baptism and a birthday party.
My family gets together on Christmas Eve, which is great because it leaves us free to spend Christmas day with Rob’s family. I would hate to shuttle back and forth between families.
As usual, we were super spoiled… a few of our treasured presents are pictured here — an acoustic guitar (!!!), Blu-ray DVD player, and DJ Hero for Rob and a pretty pink carry-on luggage, Cal tee, Starbucks mugs (I started collecting them — I have 9 so far), and an Anthropologie gift card for me. *love*
Rob and I no longer “surprise” each other with presents because let’s face it, I’m not the easiest person to buy presents for (read: I’m picky 
). So instead, we normally set a budget and give each other a list. But this year I found a cute ruffle-front coat from JCrew that I wanted and ordered my own Christmas present from Rob. Using his credit card, of course. I guess this is what happens when you’ve been together 10+ years.
And it’s back to work tomorrow (nooooooo). I’m not looking forward to it but I *am* excited for 2010 and what lies ahead (gotta do a New Year’s resolution post next time)…
It’s Christmas Eve and I’m taking care of some last minute errands before launching into the next few days of festivities. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!
I always seem to get hit with the lazy stick during the week. After work, I’m online reading various blogs or shopping but rarely feel like putting coherent thoughts together for the blog. Fail. So here’s another list because I don’t want to deal with paragraphs.
1. I am SO SICK of Tiger Woods news. I was scrolling through news sites the other day and there were articles that detailed some of the “sex-t” messages he exchanged with his mistresses. I mean, really. Is this necessary? And is it really a surprise that he is a cheating athlete?!
2. I finally started my holiday cards! I sent the first batch out last week. Cards going internationally are going to be late (again)… sorry guys. I went to the post office on Saturday but the line was 30 people deep so I’ll need to try again this week. I didn’t do an official request this year but if there’s anyone else that wants a card, leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll get in touch with you.
3. Speaking of holiday cards, the first one I received this year was from Sarah. Thank you! You’re always so good at getting them out before Christmas.
4. Went to a funeral this past Saturday for Rob’s godmother. I’ve only met her twice so I didn’t anticipate getting emotional. But at the very beginning of the mass, when her family was processing up the aisle with the casket, I totally lost it. Like I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face. I think what set me off was the choir singing “Eagle’s Wings,” which was played at my mom’s funeral too. It’s not really a sad song; just more a haunting one that really sticks with you.
5. But on to happier things! Like Christmas! Rob’s been wanting DJ Hero and when I saw that it went on sale for $88 at Target, I went ahead and bought it as part of his Christmas present. Of course, he couldn’t wait and played with it right away. So much that he already has a callous on his finger.
6. If you look at the bigger version of the above pic (just click on it), you’ll see that Diesel’s wearing clothes. It’s a Snuggie! Bwahahahaha. So cute. We picked up a few more to give as presents to all the doggies in our family. No nieces or nephews yet… just doggies.
7. We’re still house hunting and went to another Open House yesterday to take a look at some model homes nearby. There was a *ridiculous* amount of people there. Seriously. You would have no idea that we are in a down economy with the insanity. We ended up not liking any so that was a bust. We’re on the waiting list for a few other communities so hopefully we’ll get one of those (the homes don’t go on sale until early 2010 and there’s a limited quantity and a looooong list of potential buyers).
8. Not a lot of TV to watch right now. Most of my shows had “fall finales” and then aren’t coming back until March/April. Is this a new trend? I actually really like it. I much prefer having back-to-back new episodes in chunks of time over what used to happen before when there would only be a month of new episodes, then 2-3 weeks of reruns, and I never knew when the heck a new episode was going to air.
9. This season of So You Think You Can Dance has been really disappointing. Not because of the dancers; they’re all great. Mostly because I feel like there’s a lot of behind the scenes “stuff” that is killing my enjoyment of the show. First off, I *know* that none of the partnerships or dance styles are “random” so why do they keep billing it as such? Bugs me. Also, the judges need to think about what they’re saying before they say it. I was really upset last week when Adam basically blamed Nathan for Mollee’s lack of “growth” in the first few weeks. WHAT.EVER. I don’t see how that is anyone else’s “fault” but Mollee’s own. I used to think Adam had a lot of constructive criticism for the dancers but now his comments are just like Nigel and Mary’s (ie. useless). I kinda wish they would go back to a rotating third judge because I think the panel desperately needs a non-contemporary voice. Finally, I really really REALLY hate that the final performance show is TOP SIX. Not top 4. WTF. AND it’s only an hour show not 2. 
I know FOX had a wonky fall schedule with the World Series but maybe they could have done 1 less audition show and then been able to do a proper Top 4? And maybe pushed the Gordon Ramsay special to next week so the final performance show would be 2 hours? The dancers really got the short end of the stick this year. I really hope SYTYCD goes back to being a summer show… along with the old stage.
10. Only 7 more days of work until Christmas vacation! WOOT.