End of 2007

Well the year is over and it has been a good one in many ways like getting married :o) but it was also a sad in one, we lost Brenda. We will always remember her though and will continue on in our hearts in 2008. I'm sure she'll be there at my next triathlon :o) more on that later.



Rocky and I are hosting a small gathering with Olivia, Jeanette, Phil, the two of us and of course the puppies. So off I go to enjoy a lot of yummy food and good

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Years 2008.

Christmas here and gone

Christmas came and went and it left me about one size bigger in my pants...haa, haa. We had a wonderful time with Rocky's family although I did miss seeing my parents :o(

Friday Rocky and I had last minute shopping to do for each other so we split up. He went shopping in the Berkely/Emeryville are and I headed out to Walnut Creek. I dropped my car off to get the oil change and then went on a shopping mission. I managed to get it all done, get the oil changed and run one more errand and get the heck out of there before it got any crazier at the mall. I met up with Rocky at the Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley for lunch and then we headed back home to wrap more presents and relax.

Saturday we took the doggies to Pt. Isabel and went on a nice long walk then as we always do we gave the doggies a bath and then headed home. I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and doing laundry. In the evening Rocky and I had dinner at a new Salvadorean restaurant we found in Berkeley, Plantano. It was super yummy.

We spent Sunday afternoon at Rocky's uncle/aunts house in Concord. We had lots of yummy food and great laughs. We did a white elephant gift exchange and Rocky and I came away with Caranium Turbo Edition and I got a bracelet. Not too bad, we love the Cranium game and are hoping to play it on New Year's :o) We got home fairly early since this was a lunch party so we spent the rest of the day relaxing and being in a food coma.

Monday I didn't do much but lounge around til the afternoon and then made my jalapeno thingies for dinner at my brother/sister-in-laws house. We headed out around 5 with the doggies and headed to Daly City. My brother and sister -in-law had made a nice spread of food :o) more food for our bellies. We had another nice evening with family, ate and another white elephant gift exchange. This time we came away with a gift card and a grilling cook book :o)

Tuesday was the major food coma day. I haven't had a chance to take part in the Reyes Family Christmas Day Brunch because usually by the time I get back into town they are done with breakfast this year since I stayed in town I was able to eat all the yummy food. Rocky's mom and dad made steaks, several types of omelets, fried rice, bagels, english muffins, mimosas and bloody mary's....holy smokes...lots of food but all very good. I tried a little of everything and afterwards passed out on the couch with the doggies for a nice long nap. Later in the afternoon we played Turbo Cranium which wasn't so turbo, it seemed like it took forever to finish the game which we actually didn't finish since it was then time for dinner. Yes, dinner. More yummy food and more stuffing of the belly which really really put me in a coma. So we headed home and I passed out feeling a bit icky :o(

Wednesday I wasn't feeling so great so I really did NOTHING. THe doggies and I slept, watched T.V., slept some more and just relaxed. I've had a bad headache for a few days and a few bloody noses :o( I think the heater being on so much and the icky weather is really messing up my sinuses. I'm hoping it goes away soon.

Yesterday and today I've spent the day running errands, hitting the stores for those holiday sales since I had a gift card and some shopping cash :o) I've also been cooking and trying out new recipes. Hubby has been working so the doggies and I have been trying to stay busy til he is off this weekend.

We are hosting New Year's here at our house on Monday which we are looking forward too. There will be 6 of us, so it'll be mellow but I'm sure we'll have a great time.

All in all the Christmas vacation has been good, fun and very relaxing. I really needed the break and will be nice and refreshed to go back to work next week. Now if the weather would just get better I'd be much happier.

Have a great weekend!

1 more day

til Santa arrives :o)

hope everyone is having a great break, boo, hoo for those that had to work today. I am about to go cook up some jalapeno thingies for the Christams Eve dinner at my sister-in-laws house...yummers!

on a happy note..

..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEENU!

Grinch Police

Today is my last day of work and I don't return til next Thursday, woohoo! But this morning the Danville Police were being Grinch's and pulled me over. My vacation starts with nice big fat $321 ticket :o(

I come up Crow Canyon from 680 to Danville and the speed limit is 40mph all they way through except for one SMALL section that is 25mph because of a school there. I am ALWAYS really really careful going through there because I know the cops hang out there just like they do on Sycamore Valley Road because of schools and because a couple of years ago they had a few kids killed there :o( so I totally understand why they are so strict. Sometimes though it's hard to come off that pedal quick enough and drop from 40-25 because in that area you are either going downhill or your just on a steady uphill and then all of a sudden you hit the yellow flashing lights for the school. Well this morning I didn't slow down to 25 which I knew and then I ran the yellow light, cop said it was because I wasn't going the speed limit and if I had been then I would have gotten the red light and had to stop. Anywho, he pulled me over because he said I ran the red light....WHUTTT??? No I didn't! I fully admit to going 35 and not 25 and I fully admit that I ran the yellow light but I DID NOT run a red light :o( I think my tail may not have been all the way in the crosswalk when the light turned red so I'm thinking that's why he said I ran the red. I dunno, gonna have to go back and read the darn driving book. He said that since I do have a clean record I can go to school, YAY, and it won't go on my record. Yeah, cause that's what I want to do, attend driving school :o( I guess the good thing is he only gave me the ticket for the red light and not for speeding but I'm still sad cause I've had no tickets in SO LONG!

I gotta say though that he was a very friendly cop and not a jerk. He told me that they are cracking down in that area and if I drive there everyday that I should be very cautious not only cause they are there but because it is a school zone. Then he wished me a happy Christmas. I'd be a lot happier if you tore up the ticket and gave me a warning :o) no luck!

Punk Rock Pooch

Can you tell that they aren't enjoying this? hee, hee :o)

Last night was a mellow night at home. I made some pasta for dinner and aftewards we just relaxed. It's been crazy at work for both of us and we have a few busy evenings this week so it was nice to just hang out.

It's POURING today so it's a pretty icky day and I'm sure happy I'm not out on the road. People try to be super cautious when it's raining and instead end of driving like morons and almost cause or cause accidents. I hate driving in the raining. This morning on 580 it was raining pretty hard but visibility was still good but some guy driving next to me, in the fast lane, was driving at like 40 mph glued to his steering wheel like he couldn't see and was weaving in and out of the lane :o( I was next to him and had to floor it to drive past him before he ended up hitting me. First of all what the heck are you doing in the fast lane? and second of all if you are that scared to drive maybe you should ride BART. Urrrggghhhhh!

Tex & Rex

Presents, Presents, Presents!

Daisy: I demand my presents now! I am dressed in this gingerbread dress and I want my presents now! Don't I get anything for being such a good girl and dressing in these crazy little but cute dresses which I have made clear I do not enjoy wearing? I guess I'll just sit under this tree for 11 more days :o( GEESH! I tell ya!

Daisy: Give me my toy back! That's my gingerbread toy, it goes with my dress, how rude!Patch: haa, haa, it's MINE now!

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Siesta

Oh how I wish we had nap time at work. I am falling asleep :O( My boss was too so he decided that instead of staring at his screen any longer he'd go wrap presents for his clients. I unfortunately am still staring into some spreadsheets :o(

Yesterday was a very long day but it was a fun day. I even got to do some Christmas shopping during the day :o) My boss's wife own's a gift shop and she has a lot of nice gifty stuff but she closes at 5pm and I can't make it down there after work because I get off at 5 so yesterday after lunch he let me go shopping :O) I picked up a few things to finish off the peeps on my list. Now I really am officially done...YAY! Now I just need to finish wrapping.

My first stop after work was to the Blackhawk Country Club. The homeowners association here in Blackhawk where we work invited us to their holiday party. We had a drink and had some appetizers and laughed our heads off with the lovely ladies from the HOA. We didn't stay long though because I had to go to Stitch-n-Bitch at Amy's. I haven't opened our gift yet but I understand it's a small fire extinguisher....uhhhh, THANKS!

I headed over to Amy Poo's house and got there about 7ish to join the ladies for some pizza, wine and chatting. I did no knitting, I was too pooped. It was a nice evening and once again THANK YOU AMY for having us over. I think this will be our last one til January. I really need to pick up my knitting again. I have lots of projects & yarn that I need to and would like to do.

I made a quick stop by Target, AGAIN and then made it home. Hubby had been out Christmas shopping so I picked up a few special size boxes for wrapping the things he got. By the time we got settled it was midnight, way too late for me.

I really really would like a nap.

Chug Chug, w00T w00T

Nothing exciting to write about other than interesting stuff on the news. I've got a holiday party at 5:30 and then Stitch-n-Bitch at 7pm, busy girl. I'm looking forward to seeing the ladies and getting some knitting done. Hubby is off to do some christmas shopping :o) hope I'm on the good list :o)

w00T w00T

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - English-language dictionary Merriam-Webster said Wednesday that an expression popular with people that play online computer games was voted its word of the year for 2007.

The word "w00t," spelled using the number zero in place of the letter "o," placed first in a Top Ten list based on votes by visitors to Merriam-Webster's website.

The word is described as an exclamation "expressing joy, possibly after a triumph or for no reason at all" and is similar to the word "yay."

An example given by the dictionary is "w00t! I won the contest."

The word is also considered an acronym in the online gaming world for "We owned the other team," according to US-based Merriam-Webster.

Merriam-Webster said "w00t" hasn't made it into the dictionary but being chosen as word of the year "just might improve its chances."

The word is part of computer hacker vernacular referred to as "l33t," or "elite," speak used in competitive online computer game forums.

The customized language combines letters and numbers used in their stead, such as a number three for the letter "E" or a number four for the letter "A."

Second-place in the word-of-the-year contest went to "facebook," making an unofficial verb of the name of the popular social networking website.

The meaning given to "facebook" is to post a picture, party news or other information to profile pages at the website.

Also finishing in the top ten of the competition were yet-to-be-sanctioned words "blamestorm" and "sardoodledom," according to Merriam-Webster.

A blamestorm is a verb described as a group discussion of why a deadline was missed or a project botched and whose fault it was.

Sardoodledom is derived from English playwright George B. Shaw's criticism of French peer Victorien Sardou and is used to mean contrived plots or stereotypical characters in dramatic works.

Chug Chug Chug (people are moron's is all I have to say about this article)

BERLIN - A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing two pints of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new rules about carrying liquids aboard a plane, police said Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday at the Nuremberg airport, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a vacation in Egypt.

New airport rules prohibit passengers from carrying larger quantities of liquid onto planes, and he was told at a security check he would have to either throw out the bottle of vodka or pay a fee to have his carry-on bag checked.

Instead, he chugged the vodka — and was quickly unable to stand or otherwise function, police said.

A doctor called to the scene determined he had possibly life-threatening alcohol poisoning, and he was sent to a Nuremberg clinic for treatment. The man, whose name was not released, is expected to be able to go home in a few days.

WINDY!

It's feels like we are in the windy city of Chicago around here. It's SUPER windy and the high for today is going to be 50 degrees. YIKES it's getting cold. It's so cold that my doggies, well Patch, doesn't even want to get out of bed in the morning.

See him behind Daisy? Oh and No, I did not teach my dog to do this, he somehow I guess watched the humans and figured out how to sleep like us and that it's nice and comfy and cozy if he crawls under the covers, puts his head on the pillow and cocoons himself. This is how he sleeps when he is in the bed with us. Funny Dog!

Last night was a mellow night for us. I had to do some grocery shopping so I did that on my way home from work, got some gas and the headed home for a nice dinner with my hubby. After dinner I got started on wrapping some of the presents we've bought. I have to go to Target, AGAIN, because I realized I don't have bows and ribbons but that's okay cause those have to go on at the very last minute. Patchie Poo likes to play with the ribbons so by the time Christmas rolls around my presents are ribbonless. Funny Dog!

Under a Rock

Sometimes I find that being a TiVo watcher isn't such a good thing because you miss the "happenings" of the day. Like commercials for the 10pm news because I'm watching shows on my TiVo which means I don't watch commercials. I often don't find out the major news headlines of the weekend until I log on at work on Monday's and see them on yahoo. I had NO IDEA that the weather in Oklahoma was so terrible :o( oopsy, my brother lives in Oklahoma. I was swamped at work yesterday so it wasn't til later in the day that I read about the ice storm. I'll have to call them and make sure they are okay.

The weekend was super busy for me but I got a lot done.

Friday night I went home, changed clothes and then the hubby and I headed out to do some christmas tree and gift shopping. We hit a yummy mexican restaurant in Castro Valley and then went to the tree lot. We found our tree within a few second of walking into the lot which was nice cause not too much time was spent out in the FREEZING cold. We decided to go with the Charlie Brown looking tree and it's about 5ft tall. I like the trees with more spacing in the branches because you ca really see thew ornaments and they don't seem to be as messy. We had them cut off a bit of the bottom to straighten it out, they put a net on it and then the little man from the lot stuck the tree in the car. Next stop, Target.

We needed to pick up ornaments, lights and some gifts. I think we were there for maybe an hour and we managed to get quite a few things off our shopping list. We went PetsMart for some doggie litter and then we made our way back home. We were very productive if I say so myself. Hubby and I are a good team :o)

Patch, being the center of attention decided to sit on the tree skirt

Daisy wasn't too sure about this whole Christmas tree thing, so she hid behind the couch

:o) aren't they cute? Our two little helpers

We decided to decorate the tree so by the time we hit the sack it was a little past midnight. We were short a string of lights so I had to go by Target one more time over the weekend but it wasn't too bad and I managed to pick up a few more things we needed to decorate. I love the way our tree and other decorations in the house turned out. It all looks very cute.

Saturday Rocky and the band boy were at the studio all day and into the evening. They are finishing recording their CD. Olivia and I decided to head up to Livermore because I found out last week that the winery I am a member of had a little reception and release of the wines. I wasn't expecting to pick up wine til January but I guess they decided to release wines now I'm guessing for the holiday. Anyway, we spent a nice day up in Livermore tasting some new wines and finished up at the reception at Tamas and picking up my wine. The gentlemen that poured our wine at Concannon was telling us that because of the type of soil in Livermore the wines, especially the white wines, tend to be A LOT sweeter. I finding that I'm not liking many of the whites in that area. I much rather have the reds and then even at some wineries I didn't like those. I think there were two wineries we went to that I poured out all my tastings because I didn't like them. It's all very interesting although I still don't know as much as there is to know about wine but I think each time we go we find out a little more.


I dropped off Olivia back home, she a party to go to in SF with Ms. Brandy so I decided that since my hubby still wasn't home and since I was in Walnut Creek that I would try to get more of my shopping done. Mission accomplished. I managed to find parking right away, hit quite a few stores without being trampled by all the crazy shoppers, I had a slice of pizza and then I was on my way home, sort of, I hit some bad Saturday night traffic :o( I got a lot more stuff off our list though and now I can breathe a little easier. I think I just have my parents and Rocky and I am DONE Christmas shopping :o) YAY!


I got home about 7ish, put my pj's on and watched TV with the doggies til Rocky finally made it home. We were both pooped so off to bed we went. Sunday was going to be another long day.


Rocky had Kali as he usually does on Sunday's and I got up and went back to Target. I came home and did a little cleaning and then our TNT friend Belinda came over so we could help her out with my bike she is buying and also to go on a ride with her.


Rocky switched out the pedals that I was using on the bike for different ones and then he showed her how to clip in and out. She only fell once :o) YAY Belinda. I had a flat tire on my bike so Rocky showed us how to change it. I swear I've been shown numerious times and I still can't do it :o( We then headed out to Berkeley for a nice 11 mile bike ride. Belinda did a great job considering it was her first time out with the clipless pedals. A few more rides and she'll be doing really great. I am still getting used to mine aswell but I felt much better this time and the nice thing about our ride, it was FLAT :o) It felt good to be out although it was quite chilly.


We went home and I had to jump in the shower because I had been invited to a holiday dinner with the ladies at the pet store I shop at. They had a invited a few of their loyal customers/friends for a gift exchange/dinner. We had dinner at the chinese restaurant next door to the store. We laughed a lot and had a great time. I really like those ladies they are great doggie store owners. By the time I made it home it was kind of late for a Sunday so we just watched a little tv and went to bed. My Sunday shows are gone :o( because of the darn writers strike so I don't have much to watch now. It seems like it's going to happen to all my shows though. At this point Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives or Brothers & Sisters are all on a break for a long time, maybe even til next year :o(

4 Course Meal

I'm so sleepy right now. 4 course meals should not be allowed for lunch. We had our Oakland office holiday lunch today and my boss and I were invited because technically that's the office we work for. We have an office in Danville which is a project office and we are here full time but our official Kleinfelder office is Oakland. Anywho, we had a great time and the food was super yummy but now I need a serious nap...zzzzzzz!!!

I'm glad it's Friday, I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit. We've got a little bit of a busy weekend but not too bad.

GOOD LUCK AMY at the Rocket City Marathon!

Tis the Season to be RAINY

Yesterday I had one of many holiday parties to attend. We held a open house/holiday party in our office. We invited our contractors, consultants and clients. We catered with Draeger's and it was super yummy. We had a good turnout and everyone had a great time. Tomorrow I get to attend the holiday lunch for my Oakland office.

Tonight Rocky and I are going to head out in the rain :o( to buy our Christmas tree. We had hoped to bring the doggies but since it'll probably be very wet and muddy they will be staying at home. I doubt we'll get it all decorated but at least we'll get it bought and into our house. I realized last night that I need to go buy some lights, I have decorations but no lights. If there's time then I think I'll sit down and start making my shopping list. I REALLY need to start christmas shopping...eeeekkkk!

Tis the Season

I've been so busy the last few days I haven't even had a chance to update about our weekend.

Saturday we headed to Pyreneese Pet's for our holiday pictures which turned out a little more challenging than last year but we still got some cute pictures and got a great family one for our Christmas cards this year. Ms. Daisy was dressed in a pink dress and Mr. Patch in holiday sweater. Of course it was FREEZING that day and this year they decided to set up the picture booth outside :o( poor little Daisy was shivering the whole time. Daisy is a bit of a wiggle worm so getting her to pose wasn't as easy as Patch. Santa also wasn't quite sure how to hold them both so in some pictures you can tell Patch isn't to certain about what is happening. It was funny.





We were short on time so we headed home after pictures. The doggies were pooped which was a good thing because we needed to drop them off at home to head to the city. Olivia met us at the house and then we headed into SF for the Kathy Griffin show. We headed out kind of early because we weren't sure how bad the traffic would be and good thing we did because we did hit some traffic. We had dinner at a pretty good sushi restaurant in San Francisco with free parking, yay! By the time we left the restaurant and got to the Nob Hill Masonic Center it was 6:30 and we thought we had plenty of time before the 7pm show...WRONG!!! Every parking lot in the area was FULL and no street parking to be found so Rocky just dumped us off and went to look for parking, far away :o(

The show was great although there were some bad sounds issues and we could barely hear her at first. Eventually it all got worked out and we were able to enjoy the show until some darn women behind us kept talking loud and Rocky had to say something to them, how rude!

I LOVE Kathy Griffin, she is hilarious. She made quite a few references to things that had been on the Oprah Winfrey show which of course I TiVo so it made things really funny since I had watched them.

We were out of there fairly early so we hit the Holy Cow in SF and then eventually made our way home. It was a fun evening.

Sunday was spent vegging out with the hubby and the doggie. We had intended on going to get a Christmas tree but it was cold, windy and looked icky out. We chose to put it off til tomorrow.

The holiday spirit is slowly making it's way into our home. I've had a few functions to plan for my work and I've been swamped with work work that I haven't had a chance to really think about our own holiday stuff but last night I put up a few things and it's looking cute.

Olivia and I had dinner at her house since my hubby had band practice and seeing all her stuff up really got me in the mood to decorate our place. By the way if anyone is wondering how the local crabs are doing....OMG...they are meaty and taste yummy. Olivia and I had crab for dinner last night and it was delicious. She also made a salad, rice, rolls and for desert we had peppermint bark.

Okay, back to Christmas.......I can't wait to get our Christmas tree and get it all decorated. It'll be our first Christmas in our new place and married :o) We've also gotta start making our shopping lists and actually get out there into the madness and shop.

BOSTON QUALIFIER!

CONGRATULATIONS to our friend Cindy Short, she qualified to run the Boston Marathon next year :o) WOOHOOO, way to go Cindy.

In order to be able to do the Boston Marathon you must qualify and qualify with a darn fast time. My best marathon time is 5 hours and to qualify for Boston I'd have to run a 3:40...haa, haa, that's never happening.

Anyway, Cindy's qualifying time for her age group is 4:15, she finished in 4:12 :o) She has kicked butt all year getting faster and faster. YAY Cindy!