Ringing in the New Year

Tonight I picked up Angie and we met a bunch of our friends for dinner at The Red Onion in Palos Verdes. I was so happy to hear that Jenn and Andy were going to be there. I hadn't seen either of them since they got engaged!

There was a total of 11 of us at dinner! There are two people missing in the picture: Leslie and Heather. It was so nice to celebrate the new year with some friends.
Most everyone went to a church dance and then on to the HT Grill in Redondo Beach, but I ended up going to Angie's for a little bit before heading home. I was so tired, yet here I am fulfilling my need to blog. :) I guess I'm trying to make it to midnight. I had purchased a bottle of Martinelli's to toast the New Year, so I opened the bottle and am doing a little toast on my own. Will you toast with me in spirit?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's to Hoping- A New Start in 2010

The ending of 2009 is bittersweet. I had an amazing year:

• I was able to visit friends and family in Colorado, New Jersey, Boston and Washington and much more
• I completed 5 years at HCP, which had been my goal when I started
• I was in my friends Elan and Dennis's wedding and drew closer to Elan and Christy (her matron of honor) through the process and met Tracy (her other bridesmaid) who has become a good friend
• I met an amazing man, John, who taught me a lot about who I am in relationships and what I really need
• I learned that my relationship with God has been wanting, and that I need to focus on Him more than my own fleshly desires (husband, home, job, etc).
• I've seen my friendships grow as I've gone through adversity (losing my job, losing John).

As I enter 2010, I pray that I can have a closer relationship to God as I look for a new job and lean on Him to guide me through this life, no matter what job offers I get and no matter who I meet along the way.

I pray for all of my friends (including John) for this upcoming year. May God Bless them!

Alice's Garlic Toast

Tonight Alice called me to go run errands with her. I was up for it because all I had done that day was go to my massage/chiropractic appointment and to AAA for my passport picture!

We went to Pep Boys to get some windshield wipers and then to Target. I was planning on getting a Wii Fit Plus but I realized (well Alice pointed it out and we verified it) I had to have the Wii console first. Since I don't have a job I couldn't justify paying that kind of money!

Alice invited me to a spaghetti dinner with her "college" version of garlic toast. We had to get cheap white bread. Alice buttered the bread and sprinkled garlic powder on it. It was delicious! We had spaghetti and salad and the garlic bread. Yum!

After that we watched "Hoarders" which is so sad but even sadder is the show "Intervention" which is about people who are addicts. I am so grateful I never used drugs!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve John drove from San Clemente up to my place to pick me up. We drove up to Monrovia to have dinner with his sister, Erin, her family and John's mom.

Dinner was delicious. John's mom made a traditional Canadian dish called a tourtiere which is a meat pie and very interesting! I love to experience different traditions! They also served this warm rose drink that was also very good and another tradition in the Faries family.

Christmas morning was the Wales tradition of Christmas breakfast out. This year we were able to go to Hot 'n' Tot, which was the original restaurant the family went to 40 years ago.

John and I spent Christmas day together. We just relaxed and I made a sausage salad for lunch (that was not a hit) and then pot roast for dinner (which was a hit!).
John and I exchanged gifts too. He kept saying "Okay, let's get your gift from my car" and I kept thinking "Doesn't make sense for both of us to go." Eventually he went out and got it and I was surprised that it took him so long, but I was busy in the kitchen so I just let that thought pass. Well, when it was time to reveal what it was, I was flabbergasted that it was a piece of furniture in 2 big boxes!
He got me a bookshelf/cubbie cabinet and he put it together for me (without a hammer to boot!). I was his helper by handing him the various components when he needed them. :)

The finished product is now in my living room against the wall adjacent to the kitchen. :) It looks really nice!

Santa Monica Pier and Woods Dinner

My friend, Melissa, had a layover at LAX on her way to Australia so I picked her up and we headed over to Santa Monica Pier to hang out for a few hours.

We ended up going to lunch at Mariasol, a Mexican restaurant right on the water.

Melissa wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel, but I was hesitant since my last Ferris Wheel experience was quite scary. Melissa talked me into it, but Melissa turned out to be the one who was scared. Look at her holding on!

I did alright although there were a few moments going down that I wasn't all that excited.
After the ride, we walked to 3rd Street Promenade, walking the whole length and back. We did a little shopping and stopped in at Coffee Bean for a drink.

I dropped Melissa off at about 4:30 and I went home to get changed for dinner with Shelley, Angie and Shelley's family. We originally went to Riviera Mexican Grill but it was so crowded that we decided to go to another restaurant a block away. As we were walking there, I realized I had taken the buzzer with me!

Ornament Exchange 2009

Last night was Angie's annual ornament exchange party. I think this is the 5th or 6th year and I have fun every year!

I decided to make baked brie in puffy pastry, but I modified the recipes by having one filled with raspberry jam and the other with brown sugar and pecans. Unfortunately the puff pastry came apart at the seam on the raspberry one so a big gooey mess resulted. I was able to salvage most of it, but they weren't as attractive, but no less delicious.

The ornament exchange is similar to a white elephant exchange, except the ornaments are generally nice. There was a little bit of "snatching" going on, but not too much. I ended up with 3 santa ornaments that are red and white which will go well with my tree!

Here is Gretchen showing the ornament she took from Angie and then Angie took back!

After the ornament exchange, we played Bunco. We played with two die and you had to get doubles in order to grab one of three bags that were available as prices. If you get doubles after the bags are in play, you have to choose one to grab from someone else. It is a lot of fun!


At the end of the night we badgered a young unsuspecting neighbor to take a group picture and then Tania forced him to take some food with him (we had so much left over!)

Christmas Lights at the Long Beach Marina

In lieu of bible study tonight, we all traveled to Long Beach to have dessert at Nicole's parents house and then to take a trip in the duffy boat to view the Christmas lights in the marina. Above are Gretchen and me.

The Detjen's home is my dream home! They decorated it so beautifully! The desserts were excellent, as was the company. Alice's friend, Mark, was visiting from Oregon and I was so glad that he stayed a little longer to join us! He is a funny guy!

The duffy ride was so much fun, and a lot less cold than we thought it would be. We were all decked out in our winter garb, too! We passed several gondolas along the ride which was fun to see.
Earlier I met up with Dyanelle (pictured below) for a little catch up session! :) She is a cool cat (
"cool cat" is probably something she would say!) :)

Jenn's 30th Birthday

Today was Jenn's 30th birthday party! I was in charge of decorations, which included picking up balloons so I was there early to set up. I was so happy to do it for my friend! I had also gotten her a cute/gaudy necklace that had dangles that said "30" all over them and the main piece said "Why Grow Up?" Of course I had to get the birthday girl tiara as well as a 30th button.

Here is Jenn with her boyfriend, Andy, who happens to be my brother-in-laws brother!

Thanksgiving Weekend

My Thanksgiving weekend was the most unique Thanksgiving I've experienced! It started off with me cooking a turkey at 7 in the morning on Thanksgiving Eve in order for me to be able to have it finished before I had to drop Shelley off to have surgery.

I was able to finish the turkey and get some household errands done on time. I dropped Shelley off at the hospital and went on to run other errands to be ready for John's arrival. I prepped the dinner when I got home and also wrapped some pumpkin bread loafs I had made in saran wrap and a bow.

I was really excited when John arrived at 4:30! We caught up with eachother for a little bit before we had to head out to the hospital to pick up Shelley. I was told she'd most likely be ready by 5:30, but that I should just assume 6pm or they would call me. John and I arrived right at 6pm, but discovered that the surgery started late and Shelley was going to need some time in recovery.

No surprise, Shelley was a bit out of it at first, but once she got some cranberry juice and graham crackers in her, she was starting to get back to her old self! It was so cute to see how attentive John was towards Shelley. He jumped up to help her sit up in bed when she needed to cough and he helped her into the wheelchair and wheeled her out of the hospital. When Shelley thanked him he said he had never wheeled anyone out of the hospital-it was fun!

We met Angie at our apartment. John, Angie and Shelley talked in the living room while I prepared dinner. I made a turkey cranberry wreath and a salad that had cucumbers and yellow and green peppers in it. It turned out pretty well! After dinner I told John I needed to make another wreath so he looked on, trying to figure out the method of my madness. It is sort of surprising how the technique looks like a jumbled mess at first and then it turns into a beautiful display! I didn't take a picture and the pictures online don't exactly look like how I present it, but it is a wreath shaped breaded concoction with a turkey, cranberries and stuffing mixture in the center.

Angie went home and Shelley conked out from all the anestesia and pain meds, which left John and I to enjoy the rest of the evening together.

The next day John and I went to breakfast with my dad. John got to see my childhood home and the infamous staircase I told him (and several friends) about. He proclaimed that the stairs are worse than you'd expect when it comes to their steepness! It's true! Anyone who has seen them would agree! The three of us went to good ol' Hot 'n' Tot and we were pleasantly surprised that the decor was back to the old fashioned diner style. Erika and I had gone years ago and they had everything decorated in southwestern style...neither of us wanted to go back because out memories of how it used to be was more like how it is now.

John and I dropped off my dad and headed back to my place before John had to set out for San Luis Obispo to see his mom. Originally I was going to go with him, but I didn't want Shelley to be alone and I also had an interview the next day and I didn't feel I should miss that. Shelley, Angie and I hung out on Thanksgiving evening, eating some more cranberry wreath. Yum!

Friday's interview was so-so. I was late getting there, which has never happened to me! The interview was long, but the job was supposed to start today so I figure I didn't get the position. It would have been nice to have a contract job for 3-5 months, but I don't think it was necessarily a good fit. I guess God has something better planned for me!

Saturday John came back from SLO in time for Saturday evening service at King's Harbor. I was saddened that more of my friends weren't there in order to meet John. :( He was able to meet Jenn Gunn, so at least one of my bible study members knows what he looks like and has a general sense of his personality! ;) After service we went to La Capilla in Old Town Torrance for dinner.

Sunday John and I packed up our lunch and headed to Palos Verdes for a hike. It was a beautiful day for a hike--the sun was shining and it was warm, but there was a nice breeze that would pass at just the right time. John fashioned a water carrier for his belt with the ribbon I used to wrap the pumpkin bread--so ingenious! He claimed that my water was the one with less in it, so I made sure to drink from both water bottles to ensure that they were approximately the same volume! ;)

John and I took a different route than I had ever hiked and we ended up right across the street from the water! There was a fence that was locked and we couldn't get across--we were so deflated that we were so close, yet so far! We hiked back (uphill). John found a nice pepper tree with lots of shade and a soft spot for us to sit on while we had our lunch of (left over) BBQ turkey sandwiches and pumpkin bread. The food was delicious and the company delightful!

That night we (John, Shelley and I) went to Angie's for Sunday Night Amazing Race viewing. Angie made us all paninis which were delicious and J, S and I brought chips and the vanilla ice cream and Virgil's Black Cherry Cream Soda to make floats for dessert.

After dinner, Gretchen, Shelley, John and I played Uno and Angie had the idea that whoever won the next game could choose someone to get up and they would have to write their name with their butt. Of course John was picked first! He was a good sport and was able to emphasize each letter of his name quite well: J-O-H-N! We were in hysterics! I had to go next, but I chose cursive and that didn't work as well. Angie did hers and then Gretchen was last (since Shelley couldn't do it because of her surgery). Gretchen's was by far the best, although John's was quite impressive! We all had a good laugh.

Since neither John or I follow the Amazing Race, we made the black cherry floats while they watched the first part of the show. John and I make a great team, making the perfect floats (in my opinion!).

John had to fly back to Ohio on Monday unfortunately. Thankfully he will be back soon since his boss and he decided that he would be moving to California temporarily for 3-6 months! Yay!

Torrent Falls Climbing and Natural Bridge

Saturday morning, John picked me up early to drive 3 1/2 hours to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. There is an area called the Torrent Falls Climbing Adventure that has a set up called the via ferratta which is system of reebars (large staple-like pieces of metal drilled into the side of a mountain to assist amateur climbers.) This is a great way to climb without knowing much about it! Ahem, I mean, I'm at expert level and I'm sure you can tell! Haha!

Here is Dave, our instructor, showing us the ropes (heehee):

Here I am at the beginning of our climb:

Look at how relaxed John is compared to me. I attribute it partially to his height but mainly to his athletic ability!

Here we are taking a quick break in a little carve out in the rock:

Here are our feet dangling from the edge with the view of the pond below:

This is at the end of the climb for me. My hands were pretty raw from grabbing the reebar without gloves.
After a break, John wanted to climb to the two bridges that were left on the course. This is the birdwire bridge. As you can see he had some fun with it!

Here we are after our climb in all of our wonderful equipment. We had such a great time!

We set up camp and then went to the Lodge for dinner. I had the Kentucky Hot Brown, a traditional Kentucky dish made of Texas toast, cured ham and turkey, lots of cheese, a tomato and two strips of bacon and then smothered in country gravy. It was delicious, but I was glad that John helped me out with it because it was a heart attack waiting to happen!
The next day John and I hiked to the Natural Bridge. This was only 3/4 of a mile long but I was having hypoglycemia and I'm still recovering from a cold so it took so long to get to the top. I had to stop quite frequently!

Here is Natural Bridge taken from Battleship Rock:

Here are John and I during our trip back to the Lodge. See how pale I look from the hypoglycemia? Not good! John was wonderful because he really helped me in the difficult parts of the hike down. He is so good to me. :)

Here is the start of Devil's Gulch. It is a series of 87 steps made of rock heading down the hill. After the 87 steps there are another 1,000 or so the rest of the way.

After arriving at the Lodge we had lunch before heading back to Oxford. We had a wonderful time communing with nature!

Trip to Oxford, Ohio Part 2

During the week while John had to work, Elan and I drove to various cities in Ohio. Elan now lives in Ohio since marrying Dennis and she wanted to use my time there as a way to get to know her new home state. The first day, we drove to Columbus. We ate a Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch (common place in Ohio) and then we drove to downtown, parked and walked around the city.

Tuesday, Elan and I stayed close to Oxford, running errands, including taking me to the dentist to get my stitches out because they were bugging me! Then Elan and I went to You're Fired, a ceramics place in town. I took longer than I figured I would but it was a good time!
Wednesday, Elan and I went to Cincinnati. We kept commenting how there weren't very many people in town. I found out later that it was because it was Veteran's Day! No wonder! We went to lunch at Izzy's, which is famous for corned beef and their famous side of potato pancakes. That's exactly what I ordered and it was delicious!
Wednesday night John and I went over to the Kidd's (Don and Corinne) for dinner. Their friend, Paul, was there as well. We had a nice dinner and then we played Wii Fit. We had such a blast playing and I figured out that John is a bit competitive, but mostly he's competitive with himself. The only game we played that I did the best at was the counting game-figures! I would love a Wii Fit for Christmas. It's a great and fun way to keep moving!

Thursday Elan and I were allowed at the men's lunch that occurs every Thursday at Haines Dining Hall on the Miami University campus (no girls allowed usually). While I was ordering my lunch on the other side of the lunch room from John, a woman who worked for the cafeteria commented on a man who was ordering a Mad Max (it's a spicy chicken fillet, a couple pieces of pizza in between toast) and asked for wheat toast because "he's kind of a health nut". Haha! The woman was flabbergasted! I laughed and thought "that's John!"

John and I went to Cincinnati on Thursday night and had a fabulous time. We had dinner at a grill restaurant and then we mosied over to the arcade where we played about 5 games of pool (I only won one by default-John scratched) and then we played several "driving" games that made me a bit dizzy and we ended with pinball games.

Elan and I drove to Dayton on Friday morning. We went to the Oregon District which was advertised as a Victorian style area, but it really wasn't Victorian given the tattoo parlor on the main strip. We went to the Oregon Express restaurant for lunch and had their famous pizza, which was pretty good! From there, we went to the Patterson Homestead which was really interesting. We learned about the history of cash registers and how much opposition there was to installing them. Patterson was also an innovator in employee welfare. We then walked around the neighborhood before heading back home.

John came over and we had dinner with Dennis and Elan. It was delicious-both dinner and dessert! We ended up playing Apples to Apples! Fun times!

Trip to Oxford, Ohio Part 1

I arrived in Dayton, Ohio on Friday, November 6th on time, but I stopped off at the bathroom to freshen up and brush my hair because I had straightened it the day before. I took one last look in the mirror and didn't recognize myself due to the gum surgery I had undergone a few days before.

I wasn't the only one who didn't recognize me. Because I didn't walk into the baggage claim area with a group, John was caught off guard. I had told him that my hair would be different and that he wouldn't recognize me, but I don't think he expected for me to look as puffy as I was and he definitely wasn't expecting straight hair!

When I walked up to him I saw that he was dressed up in a suit and he had a beautifully crafted winter green sign with white cursive letters that read "Wales - Redondo Beach." When he got over the shock he pulled a bouquet of star-gazer lillies from behind his back! They were beautiful and lasted the entire week because there were a few buds that opened during my stay. I wish I had thought to snap a picture of John looking so handsome, but you'll have to settle for the picture of the bouquet:

The next morning, John picked me up for breakfast. We had to go to a few places because Patterson's Cafe was too crowded and the Oxford Cafe was closed down, so we ended up at Bob Evan's, which is like Denny's. John ended up asking an older couple to sit at the 6-person table we were seated at because they too had gone to Patterson's to find it crowded just like we had. Wow, the woman of the couple was quite a talker!

After breakfast, we headed over to his house for a tour. John introduced me to Griffin, his upstairs neighbor's dog that he shares custody of in a manner of speaking. Here is John playing Bite Club with Griffin:

After John showed me his house and we played with Griffin in the backyard, he and I went to Miami University to play disc golf. Disc golf is a combination of golf, in that it has 18 holes, but you use a type of frisbee. John is really good, while I suck big time! :) The exercise involved was great, however, and we walked around most of the beautiful campus while playing!

For dinner, John and I went to a Thai restaurant with Don and Corinne, good friend's of John's. This was the first solid food I ate since Tuesday and it was delicious! From there we went to Jungle Jim's, an international market that John really likes because they sell the micro-brew rootbeer he loves so much. We mainly just perused, but Don and Corinne seemed to do some major shopping!

Sunday I got to experience John's church, Oxford Baptist Fellowship. The service was great and lunch afterwards was fun as well. There were 10 of us at Fiesta Charro! After lunch, Don, Corinne, John and I went to Iggy's Gelato and sat in the warm sun outside while we ate our gelato.

John and I went back to his house to rake the pile of leaves he had in his backyard onto a tarp and we moved the leaves to the curb outside so that the city can come by and suck up the leaves. We had a fun time playing in the leaves!


After our "hard" work, I convinced John to brave laying in his hammock. Looking at the picture I now realize why John was making sure I look at the camera lense instead of the preview screen on his camera after looking at these pictures. I haven't told him about my lovely lazy eye! My right eye is looking in the correct direction but the left one doesn't like to focus all too much! In any case, we had a great time!

Totally 80s, dude!

Halloween night I convinced Shelley to dress up in 80s style clothing with me and go to the Lighthouse on Pier Ave. in Hermosa Beach where they were having an 80s band play. Okay, originally it was her idea, but since she's been sick, she was feeling like she shouldn't go, but I told her that given her outgoing personality she needed to go out and recharge.

So we did and had a great time! Dressing up was a lot of fun and then seeing the other 80s outfits were awesome--totally tubular! There was one guy dressed as an 80s rocker who was awesome. He really got into his character while dancing. His pants were so freakin' tight!

We stayed at the Lighthouse several hours until I was getting tired and I knew Shelley was but she's the type that would push herself because she hadn't been out in a month! We stopped at Pisano's for some pizza before heading back home.


I had to drop Shelley off and gather a few things before heading out to Palos Verdes where I was house-sitting for the night for the Steips while they were at Hume Lake. I arrived at about 1:30am. Angel (the cat) was outside meowing and when I let her in she went straight for her food bowl. Hannah (the dog) was sleeping soundly.

I was still wide awake when I noticed an email from John so I decided to write him back before heading to bed. :) I finally went to sleep at a little past 2am and I slept like a log. I woke up to a beautifully quiet house. I really like the Steip's house, especially the wonderfully arranged adirondack chairs in their back yard.


Here is the view from their back yard. On clear days it is breath-taking!



Not a bad gig, huh?

I was able to wake up in time for church (thank you Daylight's Savings Time). It was a wonderful sermon on "Bearing Fruit That Lasts". The thing I got most out of the sermon was that sometimes there are things in our lives that might be morally neutral that God wants us to lay down because although the thing we are laying down might not be evil, it may not be good for us at that moment. This is a lesson I am learning this year!

In the afternoon, Alice and I went to get manis and pedis and then we had dessert at Creme de la Crepe in Riviera Village. Alice is fun to hang out with!

Fall'oween Party

Tonight was the B.A.S.I.C. Fall'oween Party at Jazz Thompson's house. I arrived early to set up with Jazz and Nicole. We made the place festive!

A ton of people came and had a great time from what I could tell! I know I did.

We also had a great spread of food (this is not even all of it!):
Some people dressed up, including Jazz! His Starbuck's employee costume was so authentic. He even included a sharpie for writing people's names down on the cups!Taylor (on the left)came with her very creative "no-cost" costume. Can you guess what she is? My friend Julie came to the party too! I haven't seen her in ages so it was nice to see her again!