Christmas Eve And Then Some

Our first Christmas Eve alone in Cali... soooooo strange! Despite missing our families we had a blast. We went into S.F. to do some shopping before the Nutcracker. We were both counting down the minutes until it started... me because I couldn't wait, Cameron because he was dreading it.

We didn't spot Santa but we did run into the Grinch

And of course we had to take our annual picture at the Macys tree. I love San Francisco during Christmas... there is nothing like it.

Besides boiling in the nose bleed seats at the Opera House, the Nutcracker was awesome. I only had to nudge Cameron 10-15 times to wake him up. Keep in mind we are making progress. Two years ago he slept through the entire 1st half and woke up at intermission.

And then we headed home on BART... so after taking a bunch of random photos

I started to get a bit queasy... things were not looking good. In fact, I emptied out my recent purchases and got the bag ready. Are you kidding, was I really about to vomit on the BART, on Christmas Eve, in front of a million people? Yes, I was and yes, I did. How embarrassing.

Why do they call it morning sickness when it seems to last ALL DAY LONG. We are pregnant, 14 weeks along, and so excited!!

Nutcracker

I get really hung up on traditions. When I lived in Utah I HAD to go the Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols" every year. I never ever got sick of it and to me, thats part of my Christmas. Since they don't have that here in Cali I've replaced it with The Nutcracker. I LOVE going and it is one of my favorite things to do. Now... let me mention that it is not Cameron's favorite thing to do. It has something to do with men in tights... but then I remind him of the concerts I go to with him. It's a fair trade. So tonight we are headed to San Fransisco to go see The Nutcracker.... I'm so excited. Happy Christmas Eve... I hope Santa finds you! 

A Charlie Brown Tree

Cameron and I weren't going to get a tree this year. I'm not sure why since we aren't going anywhere for the holidays... but I didn't want to deal with buying lights, ornaments, etc. etc. But one night I was working late at good ol' Pottery Barn and Cam was hanging out with our friends. They convinced him to go get a tree and look what I came home to: 

It really was the cutest thing. Brooke gave him lights and he set it all up. How sweet of him... our first Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving... Finally

We spent Thanksgiving in Newport. We had such a fun time seeing Cameron's 2 brothers and my family. We stayed in a condo... which I like to call T.Q... which stands for tight quarters. It was some serious bonding with 11 people in a 2 bedroom condo... sharing beds, air mattresses, towels, maybe even a toothbrush here and there. Anyhow... more to come on that later. But we spent Thanksgiving day with my dad's brother Phil. We hardly ever see them and have never spent a holiday with them so we all had such a great time. 

Pre-dinner preparations... trying to whip the cream in a blender. It seemed to work for awhile until it turned to butter. Oops. 

The favors (idea found via Make and Takes) 

Liz with the ham... let's eat! 

Phil, my dad's brother, loves to crack jokes. Between him and my dad it was a pretty comical dinner. Phil surprised my dad with this hat and had him wear it the whole dinner. Looking hot dad. 

The Neidig's... 

Cute Lucas eating the fence

Teacher Stress

Let me tell you what a teacher's biggest stresses are: 

1. What to give the parents as a Christmas gift 

2. What to give the mothers for Mother's Day

Every year during those 2 times I rack my brain for something cute, original, child made, cheap, yada, yada, yada. It literally stresses me out. Plus, repeats are only allowed every other year. Two years ago we made applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. I won't go into the dirty details but that was the biggest disaster ever. That idea was immediately taken out of rotation. Last year we made a handprint calendar which was probably the cutest thing ever but way too much work. That idea is now also out of rotation. So here we are to this year... and we made these snowman ornaments. I think I love them. The only thing I don't love is that I had to do most of it... and I'm a huge advocate of my students doing all of their own projects. But I'm over it... it's done... and now I can start thinking of mother's day gifts! 

My Man Can Dance

My favorite is when Cameron reels me on in with his fishing pole and I shake it like nobody's business. That's hot. 

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Cameron's Christmas Party

We headed to Newport this last weekend for Cameron's annual Christmas party.  His co-workers are awesome and I love their wives. I'm starting to finally get to know everyone from Northern and Southern California so these get togethers are pretty fun. We stayed at the Island Hotel- I love hotels during Christmas. 

We flew in Thursday afternoon and met everyone for a welcome dinner. Cameron had meetings all day Friday while I ordered room service, took naps, watched t.v., and took more naps. It's the best day I've had in a long time!! 

Friday night was the party... these are the best because once a year I get to dance with Cameron. I love it! We had such a fun time... thanks Generations Healthcare!  

Cameron and his cute D.O.N., Maria

Getting ready to get our dance on... 

Oasis

Before I met Cameron I think I had been to 3 concerts in my life: sweet red-headed Reba, Garth Brooks, and Sarah McLachlan (which is still the best concert I have attended in my life). Anyhow, Cameron loves music, loves his favorite artists, and loves to support his favorite artists. So... that means we go to their concerts  every time they come to the bay area. Once we even drove to So. Cal to go see Toad the Wet Sprocket (oh the dedication).  I really try to be a good sport every time these concerts roll around... I even dutifully listen to the concert prep c.d that Cameron burns for me before each concert.

Last Wednesday night was Oasis, on the ninth row. Cameron was soooo excited. I'm excited too, look at my smile

I'm not so familiar with Oasis so I wasn't sure what to expect. Now after attending the concert I can tell you: 

Seats on the floor

 

definitely require ear plugs.

Oasis fans like to pass around their joints as they watch their band, in front of the security guards. Apparently this is legal. 

Cameron sings and claps to every song

especially when Liam, the lead singer, poses during and after every song. I have never seen an artist do this, he is like a statue. I thought it was very strange... everyone else thought this was awesome. He even held a tambourine in his mouth for about 45 seconds without moving after one song. I'm just mad I didn't get a picture of it. Here's to another concert!! 

Where To Begin??

Going out of town for 2 weeks really dampens the blogging spirit.... you get so behind and really unmotivated!! So instead of trying to download all my photos, I'd figure I'd shop for Christmas movies. I'm obsessed with Christmas movies and I add to my collection every year.  I love the classics and I love the ones I grew to love as a kid. Since we are staying here for Christmas this year I figured I couldn't watch my mom's copy like I do every Christmas so I just ordered my copy of:

The Muppet Christmas Carol is my MOST favorite Christmas movie and no season is complete without watching it (although everyone I know begs to differ). I'm going to tempt Cameron with fondue on Christmas and then make him watch this with me. 

Next up: 

I think my sister and I watched One Magic Christmas about 800 times while growing up. We recorded it from TV and rewound that VHS tape over and over. I love how Ginny finds the Christmas spirit and I can't believe I can actually still buy this movie. 

And just because I needed one more movie to get free shipping I ordered: 

I really hate black and white movies so I loved when Miracle On 34th Street came out with this new version.  Susan is a cutie and I love how Susan's mom falls in love with the hottie Dylan McDermott. 

Warm On My Couch

I hope all you Twilight crazies had a great time at the midnight showing... was it worth it? Let me tell you what was worth it... sitting on my comfy couch, in my warm house, with my warm new blanket, watching the best ever Grey's. Thank goodness Dr. Han (how do you spell that?) got the boot and that Grey's is back on track. Did I mention I was asleep at 11:00 pm?

Nicole Hoxie Photography

Nicole posted some of our photos from our day in the city. She did an awesome job... check out her photo blog here. 

A Day Trip

Nicki took some photos of us today  in the city. Not sure why because I probably won't send Christmas cards... but it was a great excuse to get to the city, enjoy the beautiful weather, and hang out with friends. 

The hubby was looking super cute today. Let me mention how much he loved taking these photos... if only I had a penny for every sarcastic comment he shared with us. 

After hanging out at Chrissy Field for a bit we headed to Sausilito... one of my most favorite places. It's such a quaint little town with a great view and great shops. And let me not forget to mention the best burger place in the world. If you haven't been here you must really take a day trip to check out the water, shops, and Hamburgers.

You order your food in a single file line that usually goes out to the curb

Then you watch your burger cook on the rotating grill in the front window,

Finally your burger is cooked to perfection and you head over to the water,

And eat. Perfect Saturday. 

Seriously?

How could this happen? These 2 love birds broke up. DeAnna is lame and I still love Jesse. 

The Top Ten

reasons why we let the other team win the 1st game in the double header kickball championship game: 

10. We didn't want to win without April and Matt there. How they planned a trip to Hawaii during playoffs I will never know. 

9. How could we let our dug out down?? Every game we won we were in the right dug out. And then for playoffs they switch it up and put us in the left... winning happens in the right dugout. 

8. The other team was playing the most annoying music. There was no way we could tolerate another game with that music in the background. 

7. We didn't want to keep getting stalked by the nosy catcher anymore. He already knew our names somehow and we didn't want him digging up personal dirt on each of us by game 2. 

6. If it wasn't Taleo in the chamionships then it definitely just wasn't worth playing. 

5. We were tired of saying "That's What She Said."

4. Our team didn't have time for the state playoffs... we are approaching the holidays. 

3. We wanted out post game pics to look good- we look a lot more relaxed and not sweaty here at the Hopyard. 

2. Who really wants another oversized t-shirt... even if it does say "Kickball Champs."

**DRUMROLL**

1. Even when you win, you're still a loser. It is kickball league. 

Glad

Glad... 

-to have had this sign up

-that the election is over

-we won

-this sign is coming down. 

Raw Meat = Gag Reflex

As I watched my mom cook when I was younger I remember being slightly repulsed as she handled all the raw meat. She literally would cut every piece of fat off the chicken breast (I knew I got it from somewhere) so quick and fast. I will never be that fast... mostly because I have to take small breaks because I think it is so gross to try and saw off  fat of a dead animal. And then there was meat balls and meat loaf. It is such a weird food... meat, eggs, and other random things all mixed together... with your hands. Sick. I think I promised myself as a child that I would never ever make meatballs and never eat meatloaf. I just don't know what it is about meatloaf. Anyhow... to the point of my story. 

I bought a new book, Positively Ageless, which I love. It's chalked full of good for you information with some great recipes (except for the Pesto Speghetti Squash, don't make that one). I really wanted to try the Spanish Meatball Soup but I knew that went against my belief system. What to do, what to do. 

So I just broke down and made it. I was simmering the base ingredients and then I had to make the turkey meatballs. I put all the ingredients in a bowl and I practiced saying, "I'm going to mix raw turkey and raw egg together with my bare hands." I put my hand in and it was so cold and so gross and I just started mixing. Then I thought to myself I should capture this momentous moment on film. I took the bowl in one hand, walked across the kitchen to grab my camera, and took a photo with my left hand. I mean, we must document the moments in our life where we grow up, but are still grossed out. {The soup was to die for}.

The Black Widow

I was wandering around our itsy bitsy front yard last week and I saw a web in the flowers, with a giant spider in it. It literally looked like one of those Halloween spider rings so I thought someone had created this disgusting sight. I take a closer look. Pretty sure this was real. 

I freak out, take a picture, and call Cameron. I'm frantically telling him about the black widow and all he can say is "There is no way there is a black widow in our front yard, you have no idea what they look like." I say, "Um, I'm pretty sure I do." 

Cameron gets home from work and says, "Huh, I guess that is a black widow." Men. Here is the massacre of the black widow. 

Bittersweet

I don't know what to do today. For the past 5 years I have driven to Lafayette to teach pilates to my awesome clients. Last Tuesday was my last day. I've decided to relax, not work a million jobs, and just be. That is very hard for me, but I did it after months of thinking about it. Saying good bye to the people who I have known since I moved out to Cali, who have been through everything with me, and who I consider family was really hard!! But hopefully it is not goodbye and I'll see them at fun places like restaurants! Now I'm going to go vote {let's PLEASE get this election over with}. 

Halloween Recap

This was exciting as our Halloween got... witnessing one doctor perform CPR on another. It was very dramatic. 

Brooke reserved the game room at their condo so we all had fun  

eating pizza and salad,

socializing,

watching the boys play an intense game of fussball,

watching the winners rub it in everyone's faces,

reenacting make believe Halloween scenarios, 

and making out.
What a great Halloween. Hope yours was happy! 

Welcome To The Fam Al

My sister got engaged engaged last night! I'm so sad I can't be there to see the ring, hear the details in person, and give you and Alan a hug! But Congratulations and we love you guys!!! Alan planned such a cute engagement and what's not fun about a carriage ride in the rain?? Congrats!!