holidays

I can’t believe there’s less than a week left before Christmas! Squee! Plus, I only have two and a half days of work this week. Which rocks. After that, I’m flying down to Southern CA to spend the holidays with my family. I just have to figure out how I’m going to pack all the presents I bought! Eeeep. Then on the 27th, I’m going to Las Vegas with Rob for a few days. I’ll be gone on my little Christmas adventure for a week and I. CAN’T. WAIT.

Does anyone else have any fun holiday plans? I’d love to hear all about them!

Some New Year’s memes stolen from Maz

FIVE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN 2004
1. Getting 2 raises at work
2. I started a 401k
3. Dawson’s Creek seasons 3 and 4 came out on DVD
4. Finally moved to another host after the horrible experience with my last one
5. Got my first massage… Mmm.

FIVE MOVIES I REALLY ENJOYED IN 2004
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2. Bend It Like Beckham
3. Mean Girls
4. Ocean’s Twelve
5. 13 Going On 30

FIVE BOOKS I READ IN 2004 (AND SUGGEST YOU READ, TOO)
1. LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring — J.R.R. Tolkien
2. LotR: The Two Towers — J.R.R. Tolkien
3. LotR: The Return of the King — J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Devil Wears Prada — Laura Weisberger
5. The Nanny Diaries — Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
Hey, I *like* chick lit!

FIVE TELEVISION SHOWS I WATCHED ON A REGULAR BASIS IN 2004
1. The OC
2. Everwood< 3. CSI 4. Alias 5. One Tree Hill FIVE THINGS I’M ASHAMED TO HAVE BECOME ADDICTED TO IN 2004
1. Teen Vogue magazine
2. The fashion board at Makeup Alley
3. Smoothies from Jamba Juice (well, I’m not ashamed of this but it is a real addiction)
4. The Apprentice
5. More MTV reality shows — Newlyweds, Pimp My Ride, Ashlee Simpson Show

FIVE SONGS THAT REMAINED ON MY PLAYLIST IN 2004
1. (I Got That) Boom Boom — Britney Spears
2. My Boo — Usher and Alicia Keys
3. Why Can’t I Breathe — Liz Phair
4. She Will Be Loved — Maroon 5
5. Vindicated — Dashboard Confessional

FIVE RESOLUTIONS FOR 2005
1. Learn how to cook
2. Save more money
3. Buy a new cell phone
4. Read more books
5. Make a new layout for my blog — this one has been up since April!

FIVE THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2005
1. Possible trip to New York in April
2. Possible trip to Hawaii in July (for a friend’s wedding)
3. The premieres of Alias and 24
4. Star Wars Episode III in May
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in November

FIVE THINGS I’M NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2005
1. Getting my credit card bill for all the Christmas purchases I’ve made recently
I honestly can’t think of anymore so I’m skipping to the next one…

FIVE MOVIES I WILL SEE IN 2005
1. Garden State
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
3. The Phantom of the Opera
4. Closer
5. Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

FIVE BOOKS I WANT TO READ IN 2005
1. The Five People You Meet in Heaven — Mitch Albom
2. Middlesex — Jeffrey Eugenides
3. A Series of Unfortunate Events — Lemony Snicket
4. His Dark Materials Trilogy — Philip Pullman
5. America (the Book) — Jon Stewart

FIVE THINGS I’M GOING TO TRY TO CUT BACK ON IN 2005
1. Having Starbucks every morning
2. Buying clothes that I can’t wear to work
3. Spending money in general
4. Being lazy
5. Eating fast food

FIVE THINGS I’M GOING TO TRY TO DO MORE OF IN 2005
1. Bringing lunch to work — I spend entirely too much money on lunch each week!
2. Go to the gym
3. Keep in touch with friends
4. Go to the doctor on a more consistent basis
5. Visit my dad/cousins/family/friends in southern CA

And with that, I’m off to bed!

my weekend

Wow, I haven’t blogged in almost a week! I am so lazy. Really.

What have I been up to?

Well, I bought the new Kelly Clarkson CD, which I love. I’ve been listening to it practically non-stop. I particularly recommend Since U Been Gone, Because of You, and Addicted. Kelly has the most amazing voice — it’s so emotional and just rich. Everyone needs to check it out!

I also bought my Christmas tree this weekend! Squee! It smells so great, it’s all decorated and lit, and I can’t stop staring at it! I’m such a Christmas fangirl (if there *is* such a thing). I still have about half of my Christmas shopping to do though and of course, it’s for all the difficult and extremely picky people ie. my aunts, roommate Jimmy, older cousin, and Rob’s brother and wife. Anyone want to inspire me with some suggestions?

I’m so sad that Cal’s not going to the Rose Bowl. I don’t really follow college football, to be honest, but I *am* a proud Golden Bear and would have loved to see the team make it to that bowl game.

Heads up! I read on TV Shows on DVD that select HBO/Warner DVD sets are 50% off at Amazon. The highlights (to me, anyway) are: Gilmore Girls s1 ($29.99), Smallville s2 ($29.99), and The West Wing s1 and 2 ($29.99). I’m thinking of getting the SMVL and WW sets but I feel bad spending money on myself when I should be saving it for the presents I still have to buy… decisions, decisions.

Now for the Fannish Five

Name the five scenes that make you melt in True Fannish Love. Every. Single. Time.
1. Pacey and Joey (Dawson’s Creek) leaving Capeside for a summer together on the True Love (in season 3’s finale). The header image above is from this scene. *So* squee-worthy.
2. Ephram and Amy (Everwood) saying “I love you” to one another in Staking Claim. Just perfect.
3. Gilbert’s marriage proposal to Anne in the final scene of Anne of Avonlea (the movie). I just love it when Anne says “I don’t want sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you.” Awww.
4. Michael letting Maria (Roswell) “see” him in The Departure.
5. Nathan going to see Haley (One Tree Hill) after being released from the hospital in With Arms Outstretched. I just melt when he says “Then I saw you.. I promised myself that if I could just get up, and walk over to you, and tell you how much I need you, how much I want you, then nothing else matters.”

And an extra one for good measure…
6. Joe running to the airport to see Jess in Bend It Like Beckham. “I can’t let you go without knowing… we might still have something.” Guh.

thanksgiving and other stuff

I’m so, so sad the loooong weekend is winding down. It was a good one! And I hope everyone who celebrates had a great Thanksgiving as well.

So… what have I been up to?

Last Tuesday, I flew back to southern CA to stay with my best friends for the night. I got to catch up and hang out with them (something I don’t do often cause you know, the distance and cause I’m a bad friend) and also see their apartment (that they’ve been living in for almost a year now but I haven’t seen cause of the whole bad friend thing). It was a really short visit but I had fun! Thanks guys! I hope I’ll get the chance to visit again soon.

😀

I spent the rest of the week at my dad’s house and had Thanksgiving with the usual suspects — my aunt, cousins, their significant others. My cousin hosted the dinner at his condo and he even cooked! Which is something he never used to do. His girlfriend seems to be domesticating him, hee. He made/bought a TON of food (not really your “typical” Thanksgiving fare but yummy all the same) — salad, corn chowder, 2(!) whole chickens, roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes , grilled salmon, baked macaroni, fruit salad, and apple pie. OMG. YUM. I ate so much. The whole dinner made me rethink the whole “I don’t like to cook” thing that I have. I even went so far as to pick up an issue of Everyday Food, which was recommended to me by the lovely Keenai. The worst thing about cooking to me is that it can take so long. I hate coming home from work and having to spend another few hours in the kitchen but a lot of the recipes in the magazine seem to require minimal prep time. So yeah, my very first New Year’s resolution (I realize it’s early but what the heck) is to learn how to cook and do it more often. We’ll see how long it lasts.

I also braved the crazy crowds on Black Friday to do a little shopping. Didn’t buy anything though. Well, my dad bought me a new suitcase but that doesn’t count cause I didn’t pay for it. I flew back home on Friday night (I just needed some time for myself plus the fare was a lot less expensive) and when I got home, I was browsing the Target website and saw that BtVS s7 and Dawson’s Creek s4 were on sale for $17.77. !!! I called the boyfriend (who was still in LA) and managed to get him to hunt them down. He went to 3 different stores but finally managed to snag a few copies. I already have DC s4 but I’m sure I can find someone to give it to for Christmas! Or maybe I can sell it on eBay. Hee.

Anyway, thanks everybody for the great comments in my entry below. I guess I had some momentary lapse of insanity when I said I would close my blog down. This is my home and I won’t be moving over to LJ. So, yay and all that.

Extending this entry a bit more by doing the Fannish Friday 5

What are your five favorite relationships in your fandom(s)?
1. Pacey and Joey, Dawson’s Creek. Like you all didn’t know that one! They’re just *it* for me. I lurve them.
2. Ephram and Amy, Everwood. They weren’t the ‘ship that I was originally drawn to on this show (that would be Colin and Amy) but in the past 2 seasons, I’ve really enjoyed watching them fumble through their friendship first and now their relationship. They just make me go “Aww.”
3. Harry and Hermione, Harry Potter. They work. They just do.
4. Anne and Gilbert, Anne of Green Gables. Probably my first ship ever.
5. Ryan and Seth, The OC. Disregarding the sexual tension these two seem to have in their scenes, I just feel like they have a really good friendship. Plus, they’re OMGSOCUTE!

I am so depressed at the thought of going back to work tomorrow.

random non-bloggy things

I’m so excited for this upcoming week — new Everwood and One Tree Hill!!! It’s been, what? Like two whole months since we had a new episode for these shows? Crazy. The WB should be glad I’m an obsessive fan and I check the TV guide every single day to make sure I don’t miss the new episodes. *g*

Huh. I still have to take down my Christmas tree. OMG. I can be so lazy. Will definitely do that today along with a million other things…

have a great holiday!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to wish you all a happy holidays before I head off on my little vacation. I’m at my dad’s house in Southern California right now and I’m about to head off to the airport for my holiday trip to the Philippines and Thailand. I’ve been quite rushed these past few days with work so I apologize for not sending out holiday fansigns and such. I hope you all know how much I love all of you! 😀

I’ll be back on January 2nd — talk to you all then!

$4 million dollars?!?

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to NIK and SHIRLEY!

Did anyone watch Trista and Ryan’s Wedding on ABC?!? OMG. I can’t believe the wedding cost $4 million dollars! Holy crap. And it was ALL PINK. EVERYTHING. I like pink and all but geesh, she went overboard.

Anyway, I still can’t believe how close it is to Christmas! I still have so much Christmas shopping to do! *sigh* And I have to do my cards. I only have another week and a half to get all this done before I go on my mini-vacation. I don’t think I mentioned it here but my family and I are going to the Philippines and Thailand to spend the holidays with my grandma. I’m pretty excited — it’ll be nice to get away from work. 😀

Doing the Sunday Brunch because it goes along with the whole Christmas/holiday thing…

How many Christmas parties will you be attending between now and Christmas?
Just 1. I work with a small team of people so we’re going to have a Champagne Brunch at The Palace Hotel this coming Sunday.

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? If so, have you finished, or when do you expect to finish?
I’ve started but I’m definitely not finished yet. I think I’ve only gotten through a third of my list. Oy. I really wanted to avoid all the crowds that are sure to be at the mall in the next week or so. Guess not.

Who is your favorite person to shop for?
All the people on my list are difficult and time-consuming! hehe.

Have you decorated your house yet? (inside or outside)
I live in an apartment so we don’t do exterior decorations. Inside the apartment, the Christmas tree dominates the living room so that’s pretty much the scope of the interior decorations.

When did/do you put up your Christmas tree?
We put it up last Saturday. So much fun. I love trimming the tree.

oh christmas tree

The rain finally let up a little bit today so we were able to get our Christmas tree! 😀 It’s all pretty and decorated now. I love looking at it. So soothing. I love Christmas. I really need to get a holiday layout going here… I’m just so lazy. Plus my laptop is being crappy right now. It seems that some kind of evil adware/spyware crap has hijacked Internet Explorer and I don’t know how to fix it. ^%$#@!* Grrr.

A few days ago I received a DVD from Netflix and open it to find From Justin to Kelly: A Tale of Two American Idols. OMG. I *completely* forgot this movie was on our Netflix queue. Hee. So I decide to watch it…

WOW. The movie (can it actually be called that? This was an atrocity.) is SO. BAD. The main Justin/Kelly storyline made me roll my eyes numerous times. It’s just *so* silly. And I normally enjoy over-the-top cheesy movies. Don’t even get me started on all the “extra” storylines (like the geeky guy and his internet date and Kelly’s best friend going out with the local). Ack. There simply are no words. I have no clue why Justin, Kelly or their management thought this movie was a good idea. I mean, I seriously think it was a waste of their time. I’m sure they must have spent at least a couple of months shooting, right? Months that they could have spent on their actual musical careers.

Ugh. I am currently trying to download some of Clay Aiken’s CD (What?!? :P) and all the songs have been DUDS. Sometimes I hate Kazaa. Now is one of those times.

short week

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAT!

Yay for short work weeks!

I only have 1 and a half more days of work and then… 4 day Thanksgiving weekend! Woohoo. I’m really looking forward to this holiday because I’m going to Las Vegas with the boyfriend! FUN. We’ll only be there for a few days but I’m just so excited to have a break from the monotony of my life. 😛

Then when we get back on Sunday, we’re going to go get our Christmas tree!!! I can’t wait to get started on the decorations. 😀 The holidays always make me so happy… EXCEPT it means no new episodes of my TV shows. Suck. First One Tree Hill and now Everwood too. *sob*

OMG! Rob is currently watching Varsity Blues. Heh. JVDB just said “I don’t want yer life.” LOVE. IT. This movie is highly entertaining.

Sadly, seeing a former Creeker, even if it is JVDB, makes me miss Dawson’s Creek. Season 2 DVDs in a few weeks! So yay for that. I’m ordering everyone who reads my blog to buy a copy so that TPTB will release Season 3. I *need* Season 3. Pacey&Joey4eva!!! *g*

Um. Yes. I’m a little hyper.