Love for Obama

"The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, the God given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. Starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America again." -Barack Obama

The hope in that quote is almost tangible ~

This, That, And The Other Thing

This

Was Christmas Eve

Drinks and appeitizers were had by all while the stocking were hung by the chimney with care, NOT! The kids ran-a-muck, the men watched football, and the fancy dressed up gals were around the tree laughing about Christmas past. Good times and laughter with my older and younger sister is what I treasure most about Christmas Eve! Followed closely by sprinkling reindeer food (uncooked oatmeal and glitter) on the grass with my son, for Rudolph and his crew.

That
Christmas Dinner..... Lobster!

My hubby's family have been having live main lobster since anyone can remember. Every year the men instantly turn into 10 year old boys when the lobster come out.

Impressed??? Don't be, hubby is the true Rock Star in our kitchen. I want to say a special Thank You to the the whole gang, what a team effort! Thanks everyone for bringing your specialty to our table. I couldn't have done it without each one of you.

Here is the proof, I can turn on the oven!

Becky+Entertaining =YES!!! Becky+Cooking= NO!!!

And The Other Thing

New Year's Eve, we had the perfect night.

Cuddling on the couch with my two favorite boys!

Our First Self-Timer Photo of 2009

*Parenting Tip*

(for those of you on the west coast)

Celebrate New Year's Eve with your kids by watching the count down on the east coast at 9pm. And have them tucked tightly in their beds by 10pm!

Blowing through my plastic horn...now that's something to celebrate!!!

Strip and Snow? You Bet!!!

Hubby and I drove to Vegas for another one of our "honeymoon" trips ala no kids, no cares and nobody but us! (Sound good? It is!!! I highly recommend it) The weather was very cold and I repeatedly wished for snow. Being a California girl, I love snow when I'm inside warm and toasty and since there's no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. (sorry I couldn't resist) Detour-My always competent, never let me down hubby planned our alternate routes (Cajon Pass Closed For Snow) while I adjusted my seat heaters and browsed my new Entertaining at Home Catalog.


That magical white stuff was around us. As we drove through the higher elevations we were on our toes watching the road instead of the usual 4 hours of playful banter that usually accompany these road trips. More wishing for snow on the strip prompted hubby to ask me to clarify the snow start after we get there! Let me preface what happened next by sharing it hasn't snowed on the strip of any substance in over 30 years~

We were living our sudo "Las Vegas Lifestyle" lap of luxuary, ultra romantic, you get the idea. Three days into our trip, we heard rumors of snow from the casino floor. We hurried up to our room on the top floor of The Mirage, and opened the window to feel the snow flakes on our hands and face. It was a beautiful sight, I savored every moment. "I want to remember this trip always" I kept saying. Pure magic. The snow had closed the airport and all the roads in and out of Vegas! We called downstairs to let them know we wolud be staying another night. A dream I never knew I had, came true! Watching the snow from our bed with the window open and heater on as high as it would go, made us miss the slot tournament reception which was what prompted this particular trip to begin with. We played in the tournament earlier, but missed the announcement of the winners. The casino automacially deposits any tournament winings into your account, knowing this we weren't worried about hearing the winners announced. Little did we know, they were announcing our names to the tune of $5,000. Yep, we were awarded the second highest payout of the tournment. When we finally did find out, I screamed so loud security was by my side instantly. And what perfect timing, we were going to be staying an extra night!

This is a trip we will always remember in more ways than one!

Confessions of a Holiday Overachiever

For those of you reading this that don't know me, I can get a little Christmas crazy, my house is fully decorated, a tree in every room, you know the type. Christmas music is the only music allowed in my car for 2 months. A highlight of the holidays for me driving through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. We fill the thermos with hot cocoa and turn on the seat heaters (yes, we do use seat heaters in CA) and of course, listen to Christmas music. Someone always ends up begging to go home but I always seem to find "just a few more streets" to go down. Buying gifts and wrapping: I pride myself on finding the perfect gift and wrapping is the perfect mix of presentation and conservation. This year we will be exclusively reusing last year's gift bags. Under our tree is an assortment of Christmas print fabric bags that my Grandma Helen made for us which we have been using to wrap our gifts for years. I plan the holiday school parties and take my son Christmas caroling with the Boy Scouts. We have a speciall family day at Disneyland to see the Christmas snow fall and special holiday parade. I host an Annual Holiday Open House at my home for my clients. We buy and give gifts to families that need extra blessings this time of year. These a few of the many on the to do list for the month of December.

That's when the reindeer sh*t hits the fan. I get sick, like can't get out of bed, sick. The few times I managed to stay well, my whole family felt as though we dodged a bullet.

Now that you have some background, you can truly appreciate my ironic story. I am trying to be more aware of myself these days and change things that aren't working for me and getting sick on or before Christmas does not work!!! I was in a particularly good holiday mood on November 1st when my Mom who was staying with us suggested we "get a jump on Christmas this year". You would indeed be correct if you guessed that we decorated my entire inside of my house that day. The house looked beautiful and what a great feeling to be done with the house.


Thinking I had this all figured out, I had given myself a 30 day head start. My schedule was too much for one person in 30 days so, I thought starting early would prevent any sickness. I mean "It's the most wonderful time of the year", right? (I'll give you a hint: I'm typing from my laptop in bed) The shopping started, the buying began, the wrapping was almost finished when I felt it coming on, I couldn't believe it... The sh*t hit the fan, but this year it was more like turkey sh*t than reindeer sh*t. Yep, I got sick for a week. Although I got sick, the timing was better. It would appear, I changed the timeline of my holiday routine 30 days earlier.

I am grateful to be over my holiday yuck. I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with the family. Not to mention a lengthy trip to Vegas with hubby before Christmas and I will surely be sharing Christmas with family and friends in good health!!!


Wishing you and your family good health now and always~
Cheers!

Good & Plenty

That's right folks, 7.2 pounds of candy. Who knew my 8 year old roaming our neighborhood with his friends and their Dads could come home with such a candy haul?!?

*Please Note: The Moms hung back to pass out candy and catch up gossip about our favorite show Lipstick Jungle while sipping grown up beverages! Now that's Trick-or-Treating "Happy Hour Mom Style"!

Lipstick Jungle is moving to Friday Nights... Set your tivos ladies (ch. 4 @ 10pm)

Cheers!

An Invitation

I don't know about the rest of you but I am still trying to get over my Maya's Mom hangover. This blog is my way of getting back on the blogging band wagon. So, here goes.

Welcome to my new home. I invite you to join me in a toast. Here's to new beginnings!

Cheers!