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!