My New Favorite.

AND she's done music with Ingrid Michaelson. Bonus!

Isn't it so fun and peppy? Repeat, please!

New Found Fun!

New Years Eve day I had the best first date I've ever experienced with a guy.  After meeting at Jon's Coffee Shop, we went Geocaching.

It's my new favorite hobby and it's FREE!  It's also outdoors so you get fresh air, gets your mind thinking, and gives you great exercise too!  The first one we went to was called "Mickey's Coffee Shop" and was near enough to the coffee shop for us to walk to.  After entering the coordinates into his GPS device, we walked to the designated spot and the searching began.  It wasn't even a minute before he spotted where he thought the cache (pronounced 'cash') would be.  He lifted up a part of a light post and this is what we found:

(Mickey's Coffee House)

How fun is that?!  After this cache, I was so excited we did 2 more.  It was such a blast!!  It has become my new hobby and I am sharing the experience with anyone who wants to learn.  In fact, Friday, my friend Jenn came over to my parents' and after eating some Chinese food, we walked over to the park nearby and did out own geocaching.  Unfortunately, I didn't quite know how to use the application I downloaded onto my Blackberry so we failed the first one.  Luckily, I knew the area where the second one entitled "Diamond in the Rough" was located.  That one was a success and now she is hooked too!

Today I took my sister Gina out for some geocaching, while getting some exercise at the same time.  We went to "Rabbit's Lair" and after some hunting, found the cache and all the fun stuff inside!

Our second hunt was for the cache called "Shark Slaughter Seriously South of Slater."  This was by far my favorite cache of all time!  I think it's going to be tough to beat because this one was actually hidden inside a toy shark!  Gina found this tough to find one.  Who knew it would be in that weird drain-like thing?!  Gross, but WAY fun!

I am so excited to continue this hobby!  I am going to Maryland in February to meet my newest niece Nixie Rose (due January 28th) as well as celebrate my niece Jaiden's 2nd birthday.  I have already listed new waypoints for some geocaching fun near Tiffer and Seanie's house!  It'll be interesting doing this in the snow...  I can't wait for these new fun mini adventures!

A Cosa Christmas.

(While shopping for stocking stuffers, we came across this gem)

(Gi and I, Christmas Tree decoration success!)

This year, Christmas was pretty small.  It's always a good time, no matter who is there, but we were definitely missing some of our loved ones.

Traci and Chris only made it for Christmas Eve, which was a very heart-wrenching time for Traci since she has never missed out on a Christmas.  VJ and his family stayed in Portland with his in laws.  Plus, with 3 kids it just gets more difficult to travel.  Tiffer and Seanie stayed in Maryland since Tiffer is ready to pop with her baby, Nixie.  They celebrated their own Christmas but were sure to Skype with the parents early in the morning so they can witness Jaiden running with excitement to greet her new gigantic Nemo stuffed animal.

(JK sporting her Christmas fun as well as her obvious request for front teeth)

And so Christmas Eve followed our tradition of reading The Christmas Story out of the old Bible and then going around the room taking turns opening one special gift.  Since Traci and Chris were going to miss out on the big day, we allowed them to open everything, including stockings.  This year was a little different in that we each contributed to the whole stocking event.  Well, there wasn't enough room for my contribution so I did what anyone else would do in this situation; I dropped my piles of stocking stuffers amongst the both of them.

(The Godfather reading The Christmas Story as per tradition)

(Ready with our one present to open Christmas Eve!)

(Ash was spooning that doll all night long.)

(No surprise here.)

(The BEST present of all from Traci and Chris.  This is my parents' song.)

The next morning was a little different than I'm used to.  I woke up first, of course.  After all, having a job where I wake up before sunrise kind of trains me to continue the tradition.  I settles for 9am to go in and wake up the parents.... And then they sent me back to bed...  So around 11, I think it finally was, we all started out Christmas Day.

I think the best part of the whole morning was watching my parents open my gifts to them: cans and cans of food storage, wrapped individually.  Hey, it just makes for more gifts to open!  They were both very excited to receive what they asked for from Santa!

(A few of the 20 cans I wrapped for the parents)

(Total happiness with the new presents!)

We had our typical Christmas dinner which included me making stuffed mushrooms and artichoke dips as appetizers, and honey baked ham, Ash's Cheesecake Factory mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and the works!  My parents invited a family over to help feast and we ended the night playing a ridiculous game called Quelf.

(Nothing is better than Peanut Butter for Gi.)

(My new coif from my stylist, Ash)

Great fun was had by all!  I missed some of my siblings but that's what happens when we grow up.  It sucks, but I know they're having a great time with their own families.  I hope everyone else had a fabulous Christmas like I did!

How To Start Off The Christmas Season Right:

Go to Disneyland and enjoy the Christmas fireworks show!  I get so excited for it every year!  It always brings a tear to my eye and brings me so much joy.  And in the end, it "snows" on Main St.!  It's so much fun seeing everyone's faces as these snow-like bubbles fall from above!  Love it!

Don't mind the waving orange stick.  The Dland employee was working to the beat of the songs. :)

My Favorites This Season:

This one gets me teary eyed for sure.  Just incredible!:


This has been one of my faves since my brother showed it to me.  These guys are so talented!:


If you've seen the original news story for this, you'll laugh your patootie off!  Wait till the Carol of the Bells part!:

Gobble, Gobble.

Man, I am really behind!  Well  just a quick catch up here from Thanksgiving.

I spent the evening before Thanksgiving at my parents' ouse prepping the 22 pound turkey I was cooking.  It put up quite a fight in the beginning while I was removing the giblets, but then I realizes the legs had been tied, creating a very narrow opening to the cavity...  Hey, man, I'd been up before the sun and worked all day to come home to prep a 22 pound turkey.  Go figure!  After I prepped the turkey, I had to set it in a cooler because there was no room for him in the fridge.

Another successful turkey!  Joy!

How adorable is my mom for making gluten free stuffing for me??  Love that woman!

The next morning I drove back down to Huntington to finish prepping the now marinated turkey.  I always love the recipe I used when I made my very first turkey in New York with my sister in law, Trudie.  It's the Coke and maple syrup recipe that never fails!  It makes such a delicious, moist turkey, why change the recipe?

I even curled my hair for the occasion!

After throwing together some artichoke dip and other various appetizers with my mom, the feasting began. The turkey was perfect and was even labeled as the best one yet!  What a huge compliment coming from my wonderful family who would never lie to me to make me feel good, haha!  They tell it like it is and I am so grateful for them in life!

Trials.

Sometimes, all we can do is pray, hope and try our best to be optimistic.

About 2 weeks ago, a friend of mine that I've known since Junior High suddenly collapsed going into cardiac arrest.  They still don't understand why this happened.  She has been healthy all her life and shows no signs of heart disease/problems.  She is my age and is a married mother with 4 children, her youngest only a couple months old.  She is still in the hospital in a drug induced coma, although she got a tracheotomy this afternoon and is resolving her seizures on her own (with the help of an anti-seizure medication).  She's a fighter.  She always has been so tough.

Last night I found out a family friend lost her battle to cancer.  She passed away at home with her husband by her side.  She was always an inspiration to me.  I knew her from church and can remember having to give a talk, or listening to other talks in church on Mother's Day in front of the whole congregation.  She never had any children and I always thought about her on Mother's Day.  She was such an amazing woman and I always looked up to her.

I send my love, prayers and positive vibes to each of these women's families.