February Fun

Kicked off February with a trip with friends to visit The Blankenships in Denver. Adam and Angela moved to Denver a few months ago so it was fun to get to spend time with them again.

The Blankenship's neighborhood

We hit the slopes the next day and then conked out for a nap. Just for the record in the first two days that I was there I took 4 naps including one as well at the lodge bar like Allison. Crazy altitude or just a relaxing vacation.

Angela is a true Southern Louisiana girl at heart so we had a festive Mardi Gras decorated dinner.

Prior to Adam and Angela's departure from California, they had hosted the past 3 Super Bowl Parties for our Outlet church group. This year the weekend we visited happened to be the same weekend as the Super Bowl so the guys got to watch it in Adam's man cave with the girls upstairs in the family room.



Gotta love the funny shot. Or the not so funny but sad Shannon who just watched her Colts lose to the New Orleans Saints.

So one of my goals for 2010 (well it kind of started back in September 2009) is to be less fearful? What does that exactly mean? Well it looks like this...

- allowing God to lead me and not questioning, doubting or dragging my feet

- trying new things (don't think I've blogged about it but I've taking up Spinning and Kangoo at the gym, joined a kickball team and see the rock climbing pics below) - this isn't limited to physical activities although it might seem like it

- doing things that are out of my ordinary routine

So the next two things fall into the trying new things and doing things that are out of my ordinary routine. Went rock climbing at this gym in Manhattan Beach and it was pretty cool

I'm holding the rope so my friend, Jenn, doesn't fall. Yeah there is a technical term but I kind of wasn't paying alot of attention during the tutorial.

I'm not a die hard Bachelor fan but I started watching three seasons ago when Jason Mesnick was the Bachelor and have mostly continued because I like hanging out with my friends while we watch it. This past season, one of my friends had weekly Bachelor gatherings so I was pretty excited when one of my die hard Bachelor fans who has watched every season scored tickets to the After The Final Rose taping. I'll have to honestly say that the main drive of excitement was to see all the behind the scenes of the taping of a show (had a little dream at the end of college and beyond that I wanted a career in tv or movie production - behind the scenes so I love to go to tapings or see how movies and shows are made).

Anyways I headed up to Burbank with Jen and two of her friends. Signed a $5 million dollar confidentiality agreement, got fed, stood in the rain, walked into the studio and was then with the rest of the audience told to clap, laugh, clap, look shocked, clap, look like I was thinking, clap while standing up, turn to a neighbor and talk, oh yeah and clap and clap and clap BECAUSE we were going to be filmed and possibly be in the audience when the show was aired. WHAAAAAT????

So I got to see the final episode, find out who Jake chose a week before it was aired and find out who the next Bachelorette would be (yea Ali!!!) - yes it was truly difficult not to say anything but dying to share the experience of going to the taping of the After The Final Rose but I don't have $5M so I kept quiet about who was selected.

During the week before the final episode and After The Final Rose aired, commercials advertising it started to air. One of my friends happen to see this clip of a commercial.

My friend Jen who is sitting on my right (your left) and I were sitting in the optimal or non-optimal location and ended up on camera alot The camera actually caught us tearing up a bit during the final episode. Luckily that ended up on the cutting room flow and not on national television. Check out the episode at the link below.

http://abc.go.com/watch/the-bachelor/93507/252564/after-the-final-rose

Such a fun experience to be a part of. Got to talk to Chris Harrison and Jake and Tenley is just as sweet as she was on camera. I will say that after watching After The Final Rose, I do like Vienna and and can see the chemistry (not just physical) with Jake and Vienna and as cheesy as it was really liked them getting serenaded by Jeffrey Osborne singing On The Wings Of Love.

Wrapped up February with Open The Bottle Night at the Harts. This year I brought a chardonnay from my Auntie Jann's vineyard in the backyard of my grandfather's house in the Oakland Skyline Hills.

So fun to hear all the stories behind each bottle that every person brought.

Zooming through January

Yes we're zooming through January, partly because it was two months ago and also because although I did alot of stuff, I haven't been so good with capturing it in pictures so here goes...

After Sam and Sarah left, I settled back into "single" life. It's a hard transition on one hand because I miss them dearly and the things that they bring to my life and what they bring out in me when they are here and its an easy transition because God has blessed me with great friends and endless amounts of things to do.

Bunch of the Outlet'ers attended the opening night of a mainstream film, To Save A Life, produced by one of my friend's brothers.

Also went to the soft opening of Izaka-ya, part of the chain of high end asian fusion sushi restaurants Katsu-ya, in Manhattan Beach. Pretty random story...One of my friends was trying to make a reservation for Katsu and 411 connected her to Katsu-ya and through the course of the mistaken connection got an invite to the soft opening. Other than heaven there is nothing better than free sushi, appetizers (if you've never had the creamy rock shrimp from this place you've got to try it) and japanese beer (yes a bit of an exaggeration because I'm sure there are many other things that also come close but seriously that is how I was feeling after that evening). Our picture was taken for the Easy Reader but haven't seen the magazine to see if we were in it.

And now onto February...

Three...Two...One...Happy New Year!!!

Yep its only taken 3 months to finally get to the New Year's Post and the only thing that is driving me is all the stuff I want to post about the last couple of weeks.

Anyways left Sam and Sarah with friends (with reliable parents) and headed to my friend, Tim's family cabin in Tahoe to ring in the New Year. I really haven't been to Tahoe since I was 10 years old and first learned to ski. Its worth noting that it was also the last time I was on skis. The whole make a pizza with my skis really wasn't fun and boarding is soooo much better (as are the clothes).

Anyways 15 of us invaded the cabin for a few days of relaxation, hitting the slopes and a food feeding frenzy.

Beautiful shot as we headed up the mountain.

The snowplow that almost ran us off the road.

The food feeding frenzy that ensued - breakfast burritos, Nickki's famous caramel french toast, ebelskivers filled with jam or nutella, calzones, salad, tri-tip and the backyard beverage frig.

First day we boarded at Donner and the second at NorthStar. Few fun shots on our first day.