The First Of The Season

So not a huge coffee or Starbucks drinker, but I do love their Gingerbread Latte. So had to note my first one of the 2007 Holiday Season. I save up my Starbucks gift cards that I get throughout the year for these 7 weeks.

It's the one Christmas thing I will partake in before Thanksgiving (I'm a huge believer in waiting until after Thanksgiving for decorations, music, etc.). I admit I do start my shopping early if I see something good, but I can't believe how early stores have started "advertising" Christmas.

I've JINX'd them

Die hard sports followers can relate...I have jinx'd the Colts. Usually its Peyton on the cover of Sports Illustrated that jinx's them as they always seem to lose the Sunday following his face being plastered on the cover. Apparently my words in Frankly Plank have enough influence (I can already hear the comments now - "you really think you have anything to do with them winning or losing" - no I really don't but need to find some reason) to have them lose two straight.

Sorry for the delay in scanning the article. It took me a while to figure out my scanner. I realize you need a magnifying glass to read it, but I couldn't seem to scan it any bigger.

So now they have two losses - Patriots and the Chargers.

Jen and I (and a few others) went to The Underground in Hermosa to watch the Sunday Night Game. Jen just got a new pink Peyton jersey (she LOVES pink so if you see a pink convertible VW bug around the South Bay its probably her) which she has ironically worn the last two games as well (maybe that's the reason for the losses). I sported my pink-ish jersey for the photo and until the Chargers scored 17 unanswered points on the Colts. Then I switched back to my blue jersey (of course in the hopes that I could turn around the game).

Here's Steph strangling herself with her hair. She endured 8 hours of football between Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we supported the Florida Gators with Lauren Rogers (alumni) at Tony P's.

She got so bored (after she finished grading papers with Jen) that she decided to "decorate me". I tried to tell her that my mom used to get really upset when I wrote on myself (its the best way to remember to do things).

Thanks to everyone who called, texted, or emailed their condolences on the losses.

Photoshoot

Brigitte's birthday was this past Sunday so Sam, Sarah and I came up with this idea to take some pics of them and put them into a frame. At first they were pretty adamant that I would get one opportunity to take one picture. After bribing them with McDonald's and Pinkberry, I was able to get them for 20 minutes and about 15 pictures (for those with little ones, you may think it gets easier to capture them in a pose and smiling when they get older, but it was still pretty impossible). Anyways Friday after school, we headed down to the El Segundo beach for the photoshoot. Here are the three shots we put in a floating frame.

Sarah's really into hearts and Sam's a good sport.

The sky looks clearer and bluer, but its the same day. I'm sure there is something I needed to do with the time of day, shutter speed and all that, but I'm not really a photographer so oh well..We were going for the "model" pose here (this one was Brigitte's favorite).

Sam's going to kill me for this one, although he decided to do that funky thing with his shirt. Oh well his friends don't read my blog.

Anyways, Brigitte loved the birthday gift. If you truly want a professional photoshoot, I'm probably not your photographer.

Check It Out

Check it out...I'm quoted in this week's El Segundo Herald (should have hit your doorsteps this morning or if you live in an apartment complex like myself, its a pile of soggy rolls of paper that might resemble flyers because its only 20 pages that the sprinklers have drenched) on page 6 of Frankly Plank.

So how did I come to be quoted...A few weeks ago as I was reading through the El Segundo Herald (I must confess that this is the only newspaper that I read, although I do get the LA Times Thurs - Sun for the ads and coupons), I noticed that there was an article written by Duane Plank, one of my apartment neighbors. You know me...had to read the article so that the next time I saw him, I could say, "hey saw your article, it was great". Anyways turns out, his humor about sports is pretty funny so I've been reading it every week since to support my neighbor. As he mentions in his article this week, I did corner him and ask him why he never writes about my beloved Colts.

Anyways grab the Herald when you get a chance and check it out!!!

For those not of the 16,000 circulation (I found a random website that had this listed, along with the fact that the paper was started in 1911), I'll scan the article and post it later.

Trick or Treat

Not to brag (but in this case I will because I'm actually pretty proud since I'm really not a creative person), but I was voted Most Creative at the Outlet Halloween Party for the past 3 years. Thanks to my friend, Jen Carpenter, for my costume ideas in 2005 and 2007.

Here's my costume for this year.

Here's the back in case you cared how it was all attached. There are slits through the sides and then its pulled in with a bathrobe tie.

Brent won for Most Humorous

John and Heather Shew won for Best Teamwork.

Here are some other fun ones.

Here are my off the wall costumes last year and the year before where I won Most Creative.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Roughin' It In the Rugged Outdoors

This past Friday, I headed a bit north of Santa Barbara to El Capitan Canyon (http://www.elcapitancanyon.com/) with a few friends. Nickki found this place on the internet so we all got away for the night to celebrate her bday. It was great to get away from the wildfire air and hang with the girls. This was my first experience with camping (for those hard core campers - I know that cabins with beds and bathrooms don't really constitute camping).

Each cabin had a firepit and picnic table. Here's Jami, Nickki and Dionne cooking up some chicken, beans and garlic bread for dinner. We had s'mores for dessert.

Here's a shot of the cabin from the loft.

Here's a shot of the loft.

Nickki, Diane and I woke up early the next morning and went for a "mountain bike type of terrain ride" along the beach. Yep those are cruisers (El Capitan Canyon rents them out for free). It was a good workout.

There are a couple of different camping options. You can rent a tent structure or a few different types of cabins.

Happy birthday Nickki!!!! Hope your weekend was the BEST!!!

Cindy & Brian's Baby Bash

This past Saturday, I went to a couples baby shower for my friend from college, Cindy, and dad-to-be, Brian, at their new home in La Cresenta. She's expecting a baby boy on December 4th. His name is still a secret. I'm still whispering Peyton in their ear, but they are Packers and Redskins fans so that's probably not happening.

Heather and Reena (the hosts) with Cindy and Brian

They had Taco Fernandez (that's what was on the business card, although I think I've heard of him referred to as "the guy that sets up in the backyard for parties and has amazing tacos"). The tacos were super good. Definitely get them to cater your next gig.

Here are some cute pics of the decorations. Those four white things on the mantle were actually diapers with #2 in them, and we were supposed to sniff and guess what they were.

Here's a pic of one of the gifts that I got Cindy. Thanks to Stacy for making it for me. She loved it!!!

JibJab

What the heck is JibJab you ask? Well...Sam (expect 15 year old boy humor...) pointed me to this site, and I couldn't resist making some movies. Hope you enjoy them.

This might be posted before the "stars" have seen it...

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1929680


Here's one that is more movie-ish. Math Camp Massacre staring Jen Pawlak (of course) and a few others you might recognize (sorry if you're not in it - its hard to find pics that I can crop and use). Sorry for the blood and violence. The site didn't have any chick flicks. Sorry for the bit of nudity as well (it's a body double).

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/1931185


Since I'm "promoting" websites, here are two others that are kind of cool.
http://www.priceless.com/us/personal/en/extras/peptalks/index.html?GP=ILC-REDpeptalks
http://www.godtube.com/

Running Out of Gas

Had the opportunity this morning to experience "running out of gas". Well sort of... Brigitte was taking Sarah to school this morning and ran out of gas at Grand and Penn. Sarah walked the rest of the way to school and Brigitte walked (in her pajamas) home (luckily we live in the Gundo and everything is within walking distance). Brigitte and I headed over to Chevron and bought the traditional red 1 gal gas holder with an adult proof cap that took us 15 min to get off. Equipped with a gallon of gas, we headed over to Penn. Apparently we didn't put the cap with the spout back on correctly and some of the gas leaked out as we attempted to pour it into the tank. Eventually we figured out how to pour it in (it was actually quite simple and probably worth the $9 she had to pay for it) and she was on her way back to Chevron to fill up her tank. Here's a shot of Brigitte (out of pajamas) proudly putting gas in her car.



Can you tell I'm fishing for things to blog about....

My Trip To Oregon

Just got back from a long weekend in Keizer, Oregon (near Salem) visiting my best friend, Gail, and her family. Although I talk to her every day, it's been over a year since I've seen them (they came down to CA last year in July). Gail and I met sophomore summer of high school when we both worked at Subway, bonded over liking the same boy and Days of Our Lives and have been friends ever since despite not going to the same high school, college or living in the same town since we were 18.

Here's some pics of my trip.

Collin (9) modeling the new sweatshirt I got him.

Courtney (13) and Camie (4)

One of the things I love to do when I'm up there is take the kids to school. Gail is the room mom for Collin's 4th grade class so this year I got to put together the Scholastic Book Sheets (remember those...), sort Jump Rope Club sign up forms and celebrate September birthdays during lunch.

Keizer is a mixture of rural and urban but mostly rural. There are alot of blueberry farms, blackberries growing on the sides of roads, flower gardens and farmhouses like this one that I got a shot of.

We stopped in at the Williamette Valley Winery to sample a few of their wines. Gail has been buying me their Riesling for the past couple of years. It's still my favorite wine there.

All of the kids love were hams so they were very willing to pose for me. Isn't Camie adorable?

Collin and I spent alot of time playing Guitar Hero - Rock of the 80's. I can do some of the songs on medium now (for those of you who play). We're doing Cooperative here which is why I have the controller instead of the guitar. I think Collin and I are ready to go on tour with our band.

So Los Angeles is in the mid 70's still. Thursday was gorgeous when I got there, but I wasn't at all prepared for the 50's or all the rain that ensued for the remainder of the weekend. Good thing I bought this cute beanie when I first got up there (just because I thought it was cute, not because I actually thought I was going to wear it). On Saturday, we bundled up (I have 4 layers on) and went out to watch Collin's football game.

So if you read my blog, you obviously know that I love the Colts and Peyton Manning, but I think after this weekend, Collin might be my favorite football player. His team is the Titans, and he plays fullback on the offense and linebacker on the defense. Yep, he's that good that they have him playing both ways.

Since it rained all weekend and Rainbow flip flops weren't going to work, I got some super cute navy rain boots (Costco $18, I got mine in OR but just saw them in CA too) to protect my feet. I'm ready for the rain in SoCal. They're really navy but the flash makes them look "Colts blue". I was really excited to wear them for Courtney's softball game, but it was rained out.

Here's a shot of the whole family.