Happy Holidays!

I know this is a bit late, but I hope you all had a very happy holiday season!

(PS - Bella isn't normally this attentive - I was holding a meatball in my hand!)

Cosby Christmas Sweater Party!

As you may have noticed, I've been a slacker with my posts, so you will see a "quick recap" of this year's events.

December brought the First Annual Cosby Sweater Christmas Party!  A little history - last year, Jeff and I were working at a Client in Carlsbad, and for some reason we got hooked on the idea of getting a "Cosby Sweater" (you know the type - the crazy sweaters that Bill Cosby is famous for!).  We searched and searched Ebay for the perfect sweaters.

Earlier in the month we gathered at my house for some cocktails and food - dressed in our best sweaters!  It's very funny to see how everyone interpreted it:

Tiffany and Mike got their sweaters from the thrift store and went for the 80's look (although I think Mike looks like Derek Zoolander's twin).

Jeff bought this HILARIOUS sweater off of Ebay - it had jingle bells sewn on and a 12 inch Santa stuffed animal sewn on to the sweater - absolutely hidious!

Kristen found hers in the kids section.

Jennifer is 5 months pregnant and had a fabulous giant santa face on her belly.

Justin found his outfit at Sears (that's scary!)

Eric's sweater is straight from my stepdad's closet.

My sweater is from my Gammy's closet - thanks Gammy!  I always loved your sense of fashion!

Jeff and the sewn-on santa sweater

Tiffany, Me, Jennifer, Kristen

Mike, Jeff, Eric, and Justin

Mike and Justin's stellar outfits.

I think Bill Cosby would be proud!!!

Disneyland!

After SLO, we used our season passes and went to Disneyland for a day with Robin and Greg (Yes, I did get an "It's my birthday" pin.  Hey, it's the happiest place on earth and the only place I can truly act like a kid again!).

Every time we go with them, we go on the "Buzz Lightyear Blasters" ride and play boys vs. girls. There are photos that are taken during the ride, but every time we go it malfunctions and we don't get our photos taken.  FINALLY, the camera worked!  I love looking at the intensity on all of our faces!  

Robin and I

Greg and Eric

It was pretty warm, so we decided it would be a good idea to go on Splash Mountain.  It had been a while since any of us had gone on it, and apparently we forgot how ABSOLUTELY SOAKED you get when you put 4 grown adults (plus the poor other 2 strangers that were in our log!) on a flume ride.  We were pretty much soaked the rest of the day - but had a lot of fun!

Greg, Robin, Me, Eric

Birthday Weekend!

Mike, Tiffany, Eric, Me, Holly, and Jonathan

Holly and I

For my birthday, Eric took me to San Luis Obispo to go wine tasting!  Our friends Tiffany, Mike, my sister Holly, and Jonathan joined us.  There are so many beautiful wineries up there.  I like wine tasting in SLO and Paso Robles better than Temecula - Temecula feels so commercialized after visiting the "mom and pop" wineries in SLO.  It was so fun being the only group tasting!

On Friday night we went to Woodstock's Pizza, which is the same chain that we had in Davis.  It is SUCH YUMMY PIZZA!  I haven't had their pizza since 2001 when I graduated!

Eric and Mike concentrating on a difficult children's puzzle (it was at the last winery so they were feeling SUPER smart)  

New Job!

The big exciting news is that I have a new job!  I am the Group Manager of Accounting at Sole Technology, Inc.  What is that, you ask?  See all of the brands listed above!  It's a great company, close to home, and everybody is so nice.

So that means there will be plenty more time to post on my blog!

Wow, it's been a while

I know it's been a while because when I opened up my blog to post tonight - my whole blog was white!  Where did my cute brown/pink/white blog with the cute swirly thingys go???  I just couldn't stand to look at a white page, so there's a new look to the blog.  I love fleur de lis, it was the official flower of my sorority. But I think the page might be too busy - what are your thoughts?

I have plenty of posting to catch up on over the next few days....I will post each event separately.  Enjoy the postings! 

We Remember....

Lisa, Me, and Jan at Kathryn's wedding in December 2000.  This was the last time I saw Lisa.

I will never forget the morning of 9/11/01.  I had recently graduated college, was unemployed, and received a phone call from my parents at 6:30 in the morning.  "Turn on the TV".  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It seemed like it was a bad dream.  I rubbed my eyes, hoping that the picture would change.

I then heard that the plane that went into the second tower was from Boston to LAX.  I remember thinking to myself, "Okay, I only know 2 people in Boston, Lisa and Jan, and they would have graduated and been home by now."  

I got the phone call from Teresa at 10:30am.  "Lisa was on that plane."  My heart dropped.  We both started crying.  I was in disbelief.  I was glued to the television, waiting for confirmation of Lisa's flight number.  The news reporter was saying a bunch of different flight numbers, so I thought they were wrong.  It wasn't Lisa's plane.  "You're not saying her flight number consistently enough for me to believe you,"  I thought.

Then I started to see the list of names of the passengers on the screen.  And there it was.   

LISA ANN FROST, 22, Rancho Santa Margarita

This was real.  This was really happening.  My dear friend lost her life in a horrible act of terrorism.  She is a hero.

The days that followed were days of grief, sorrow, and remembrance.  There was a makeshift memorial at RSM lake with flowers, candles, etc.  I went every night to light a candle for my dear friend.  One night, as I pulled over to the side of the road, pushed my hazard button, I recognized the couple at the memorial.  It was Tom and Melanie Frost, Lisa's parents.  It had been 4 years since I had seen them.  But they recognized me.  We immediately embraced and started crying.  

Tom called me a couple of days later and asked me to visit.  I went over to their house, the house that I visited many times in high school.  The house where everybody met before carpooling to the beach for a bonfire on a Saturday night.  The house that suddenly seemed so empty without Lisa.

Tom gave me a button that he had made with Lisa's photo on it.  In Loving Memory of Lisa Frost.  Tom's neighbor had a button machine and he was making buttons to hand out.  I thought to myself, "what would Lisa do in this situation?"  She would be raising money for charity.  So I asked Tom to borrow the button machine.  I began making buttons, night after night.  During the day I would sell them in front of Pavillion's (Lisa's job in high school) for $1 and donated the money to the Red Cross.   Although we were only asking $1 per button, there was not a single person that donated less than $5.  We raised thousands for the Red Cross.  Yes, Lisa would be happy.

Lisa and I went to high school together.  We were in all of the same AP and honors classes.  We shared the same group of friends.  There were about 8 of us that were inseparable.  Our weekly routine was to go to the football games and then have a bonfire at Pico Beach in San Clemente.   Lisa lived for bonfires.  Lisa was the all-around girl-next-door.  She was intelligent (was salutorian in high school and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston University).  She was athletic. She was an amazing artist.  She was fun.  She was genuine.  She was beautiful.  She volunteered for every organization that was out there.  She was the person you wanted to be.  She was the person I wanted to be.

Some of my favorite memories with Lisa were laying out in my backyard, studying for the AP European History Exam.  Lisa had the most amazing notes, perfectly outlined and typed.  She quizzed both Jan and I, and helped me when I couldn't remember certain facts.  We worked at a soup kitchen in Orange and although it was hot and dirty, we managed to have so much fun.  We walked a charity walk for the March of Dimes.  Lisa was always giving back to the community.

I still keep in touch with Tom and Melanie quite often.  We share memories of Lisa.  I can't believe it's been 7 years. Seven years without my friend.  A lot has changed.  Friends have started careers, changed careers, gotten married, had babies, yet we all still remember and miss our "Frosty".  It sounds funny, but there will be certain times when I know she's with me, looking down and watching over me (Lisa loved angels - she had angel figurines, drawings, etc.) Lisa, there is no doubt in my mind that you are the most beautiful angel in heaven.  I miss you.

FLY HIGH FROSTY!!!

Rush shoes

I thought this was freaking hilarious - Nicole and I both showed up in our Kappa rush shoes (circa 2000) for the 49er game!  These shoes are 7 years old and we both still wear them!

Go Niners!

Over Labor Day weekend, Eric and I took a trip to the bay area because he wanted to turn me into a "Bay Area Sports Fan."  Courtesy of his father, we had 2 tickets to the Stanford vs. Oregon State football game on Thursday night.  The Cardinal were victorious.

Eric then told me I couldn't be a true fan unless I experienced the cold within Candlestick Park. So again, courtesy of Eric's dad, we went to the 49er football game on Friday night.  This was my first NFL football game, so it was pretty exciting.  We had extra tickets so the Croghans and the Buells joined us as we all froze in the stands together!  Who would have thought that it could be 100 degrees in Redwood City and then in the 50's in Candlestick?!?!?!

Trevor and Nicole

Ted and Michelle

Unfortunately, the 'Niners lost to the Chargers in the last few minutes of the game....but I had a very fun time!

Happy Engagement Robin & Greg!

Robin and Greg on their engagement night in Aruba

We went up north last weekend for Robin & Greg's engagement party.  Robin and Greg joined us on the trip to Aruba and Greg proposed on the trip.  The engagement party was at a cute winery called Page Mill Winery.  We had so much fun.  It was a very eventful night - from Robin getting candle wax spilled all over her beautiful dress....

...to Robin's mom hitting a deer on the way home.....to Greg tripping & falling over the ONLY homeless man in Dublin, CA (Greg ended up in the ER and had his forehead super-glued back together).  Congratulations Robin & Greg!

Eric & I at the party

Waterman's Ball

So excited for Waterman's Ball tomorrow night.  It's a huge event in the industry, put on by the Surf Industry Manufacturer's Association (aka SIMA) and it's a giant fundraiser.  All of the big names in the industry are there - from founders of Companies to athletes.  When I was at Billabong, only the really important people got to go to this (like the President and VP's).  It's fun being able to go now!

It's starts with 2 hours of schmoozing at the St. Regis Hotel, drinking cocktails and bidding on silent auction items.  Last year I won a gift certificate to Burke Williams - so relaxing!  I really look forward to seeing all of my Clients and old peeps from my Billabong days.

After the cocktail hour, there's a yummy dinner, awards, and a live auction - last year Eddie Vedder was an award recipient.  This year's big recipient is Occy - what an amazing surfer -and he's a Billabong athlete!!!

It's basically a good excuse for everybody to get together for a good cause and have fun.  I look forward to it every year!

Connor

I mean, isn't Connor just adorable???  He's growing so fast!

Proud Dad and Connor

Bathtime!

Thanks Alison & John for a wonderful visit to Big Sky Country!

Big Sky Country

This post is a little late, but I've been busy cramming for the CPA exam last Friday (and now I'm starting to study the next part tonight....will it ever end?)

Ali and I at the Bulldog Saloon

I had a wonderful visit to Kalispell, Montana.  My best friend, Alison, lives there with her husband, John, and their son, Connor.  Ali and I met John for lunch on Thursday at Tamarack Brewing Company before our day of whitewater rafting.  It was hot, blue skies - perfect rafting weather.

We headed up to Whitefish on Friday for the Huckleberry Festival.  It was a cute, small town festival.  I had never had huckleberries before - I loved them!!!  The locals describe them as "blueberries with an attitude."  After walking around and seeing the local crafts at the festival, Then off to the Lodge where I enjoyed cocktails overlooking the lake.  I had a huck-tini - yes, you guessed it!  A huckleberry martini!  I was officially on vacation.....

Enjoying my hucktini

Saturday was a nice mellow day around the house.  Then we went to Ali's friend's wedding.  It was so much fun!

Ali, me, and Amy at the Garden for a pre-wedding cocktail

Ali and John

Ali and I before the wedding

We headed back up to the Huckleberry Festival with Connor on Sunday and ate at the Bulldog Saloon.  It is known for the ronchy photos in the bathroom - ick!  Then we headed back to the house for a relaxing afternoon while Connor (heck, all of us) took naps.

Of course, my favorite part of the whole trip was playing with Connor.  He is such a cute kid and very well behaved.  The next post will be my brag photos of Connor....

Creepy....

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Seattle and should be studying for my CPA exam. I decided to peruse cnn.com and saw the following creepy headline:

"Anthrax suspect called obsessed with sorority."

I thought - I wonder what sorority? What are the chances that it's my sorority? Unfortunately, it was. Read the story here. What a weirdo....

Congratulations Casey & Bobbie!

Last night I went to my friend's wedding.  Bobbie and I have played soccer for 3 1/2 years .  The wedding was at Pacific Edge in Laguna Beach.  It was a beautiful wedding.  There were dolphins playing in the surf behind the ceremony.  I've never seen Bobbie look happier.  Congratulations Casey & Bobbie!

Bella and a snack

Tonight my sister baked a cake and had everything set out to bake brownies after dinner.  My sister ran out to get some dinner, and settled down to bake the brownies.  I hear her shuffling around and talking to herself.  She can't find the package of Crisco that she had set on the counter. She's looking everywhere, even in the trash.  Well, now I'm involved in this search. Holly casually says, "What if Bella ate it?"  and I told her that Bella would never eat Crisco when there is a perfectly baked cake sitting right next to it on the counter.  Holly then reminded me of the pizza incident.....

Sure enough, I walked into the den and noticed a crumbled empty package of Crisco on her bed. Needless to say, I think Bella has a bit of a tummy ache now...

Procrastinating like crazy!

I am busy studying for another part of the CPA exam using the Becker software.  I am taking the practice questions, which are mostly math-based for this section.  Well, the software won't show me the answer.  It will highlight it if I get it wrong, but for some reason it isn't working and it won't let me see how to get to the right answer.  It's very frustrating!!!

So how do I cope?  A yummy Golden Spoon frozen yogurt!  I am obsessed with Golden Spoon.  It's right across the street from my house.  At $1.99 for a small and 22 calories per ounce, what's not to love???

(Don't be deceived by the photo - the one I got DEFINITELY has lots of chocolate - no fruit on my yogurt!!!)  How come it seems that chocolate makes everything better???

Movin' and a Shakin'

So it's about 11:45 am, my tummy is growling for lunch, and I'm plugging away at the computer, doing some fun auditing.  Next thing I know, the ground is moving.  "Okay, it's an earthquake.  I'll just sit here 'til it's over"...and I keep sitting....and I keep sitting....and the earth keeps moving...and I hear people yelling "earthquake!"....and I see the wall of glass windows about 2 feet from me....and I decide to move to the door jam. 

For those of you who don't live in Southern CA, we had an earthquake this morning - and it was the strongest one I've ever felt.  It was a 5.8 magnitude centered in Chino Hills - the closest one ever to my home.  Luckily, no damage here in south county, but north county got quite a stir.   

Eric and I keep talking that we need to put an "emergency kit" together at each of our houses...maybe this will be the little boost we need to finally do it.

Where were you when the quake hit?

Will Ferrell credits my dad!

Many of you may not know, but my dad was Will Ferrell's 1st and 6th grade teacher.  Well, the Orange County Register did had an article today that was an interview with Will Ferrell (because he grew up in Irvine).  I was reading along, and then noticed that he mentions my dad!  Check out the article here.

Bella and the Roomba

Don't think I'm mean.  If you look, Bella's tail is wagging the whole time...she just can't figure out what this crazy thing is in her house.  I think she was mad that Holly and I were laughing at her, because she pouted the rest of the night.

Does this make me the Queen of Lazy???

So, I upgraded my place and got this beautiful new floor.  Unfortunately, I threw a playful golden retriever into the mix and the next thing I knew I had dog hair all over my floor.  It wasn't just a couple here or there.  We're talking clumps & layers of hair.  I brush out Bella pretty regularly and she is groomed every 6 weeks, but we're still talking a ridiculous amount of hair.

How do I solve this problem?  I treated myself to a ROOMBA.  Before I went out and spent the money (by the way, thank you to Bed Bath & Beyond for the wonderful 20% off coupons that I get in the mail every week), I asked friends if they had ever heard of a Roomba.  Well, apparently everybody has them and I am the last to jump on the band wagon.

I took it home last night, charged it up, and decided to give it a test run tonight in my den. Bella wasn't quite sure what to think about it.  I took a video, but am having trouble uploading it.  Stay tuned for the video and my review of the ROOMBA (as it is cleaning my great room right now...)

A visit with my nephews!

Tristan in the spa "modeling" my Kaenon sunglasses.

Nicholas flashing his cute grin.

I had a fun Saturday afternoon - my nephews were in town!  It was a fun-filled day of swimming, bbq, and games around the fire pit.  My nephews live in Colorado, so I don't get a chance to see them often.  Tyler was busy playing football in the pool, so I didn't get a picture of him.

I am in love with Sprinkles Cupcakes!

I was introduced to Sprinkles Cupcakes this last week.  My Client was right across the street in Fashion Island.  I wanted to see what all the hype was about (yes, watch the Girls Next Door and hear how obsessed they are with them).  I must admit I visited Sprinkles a couple of times during the week.  Don't judge me - I had to taste different flavors to decide which one I thought was the best!!!  My favorite?  The Red Velvet cupcake.  This shouldn't be a surprise, as it is the cupcake that has made them famous.  It is such a cute little store and I love the packaging for the cupcakes - what an added touch!

I visited my friend, Sandra, after work on Friday.  I brought her little girl, Sofia, a cupcake, and boy did she love it!  She kept taking the frosting off with her finger and laughing as she showed me the yummy frosting.  I think the photos will show how excited she was for the cupcake.

I've never laughed so hard reading

My friend Elizabeth introduced me to this series of books.  I didn't quite know what to expect.  I must preface this story with....I am not a big reader.  (A big joke between Eric and I is that when we first started dating, he gave me a book to read...it took me 5 months.  In my defense - it was about 800 pages.  Eric reads about a book a day and constantly has 5 books in progress).

Anywho, I opened the first in the seried, Bitter is the New Black by the fabulous author Jen Lancaster, and finished it in 4 days.  I have never laughed so hard reading a book.  In case you can't read the rest of the title, "Confessions of a condescending, egotistical, self-centered smartass, or, why you should never carry a Prada bag to the unemployment office."  I think the title says it all.

I have now loaned out this book to my friend Robin, and she loves it too!  I am almost done with the second book in the series, Bright Lights, Big Ass:  A self-indulgent, surly, ex-sorority girl's guide to why it often sucks in the city, or Who are these idiots and why do they all live next door to me?  Seriously - this one is even funnier! 

I HIGHLY recommend this series of books.  You can buy them here and here.

Can I tell you the best part?  Since it's a memoir, and the author is a big fan of blogging, I can follow her daily blog and laugh constantly!  Okay, don't think I'm a stalker.  Just very very entertained.

I love my Gammy

I love my Gammy.  At 81 years young, she is fun and BEAUTIFUL!  We all went out for Taco Tuesday last night at Rose Canyon Cantina (which I will always refer to as Senior Lico's since I'm old school like that).  Margaritas were flowing and I had to videotape the party howl (sorry for the poor quality of the video, it's from my phone).

My cousins and I taught Gammy the "party howl."  It's basically a fist pump into the air and a big "whoop!"  Gammy has her own version of the party howl - which I love!!!

The new floor

So it's been a while, but here is the new floor installed.  I've included the "before" pictures - just please note that this is the carpet "pre-Bella" and there are virtually no spots or stains.  Things change quickly when you have a 75 lb. beast on your hands!  I really think that the new floor warms the place up - and it's virtually indestructible by Bella (why do I have a feeling that I'll take those words back in a few months?.....)  Overall, I had such a good experience, from order to installation, thanks to the folks at Lowes.

Time to have a life again!

Another busy season has come and gone - yippee!!!  Sorry for the lack of posts, but I don't really have time when I'm working crazy hours.  So what has happened the last 4 months....

Eric bought a townhouse in RSM.  It's a really nice place.  It's been a lot of fun helping him decorate and get organized (that's really sad, huh?)

Our new favorite activity is going to Lowes.  It's amazing how much money you can spend there!

I've finally decided to re-do the carpet in my house.  The front part of my house is ceramic tile and the back part is carpet.  The carpet was already stained when I moved in 4 years ago (wow, 4 years already???), but then you throw a 75 lb. golden retreiver into the mix and the carpet is absolutely shot!

I tried my hardest to find matching tile, but with no success.  

So I've decided to go with Pergo (Dolce Mahogany to be exact). I've done my research, and real wood won't hold up to a dog, but the Pergo will.  I got a sample and tried to scratch it with a butcher knife - no scratches!  Below is a picture of what it looks like (please note this is NOT my house - I took the photo from somebody else's blog)

The nice man from Lowe's came out and measured today.  I hope I can get this taken care of in the next week!

Yummy HEALTHY soup

One of my new year's resolutions is to lose weight (I think it's everybody's resolution).  Another resolution is to eat out less.  So, in the spirit of keeping traditions on the 6th day of 2008, Eric and I went to the gym this morning and then went grocery shopping.  I went prepared, list in hand.  I had already looked up recipes of what I wanted to cook.

This recipe is a weight watchers recipe.  

Zero Point Slow-Cooker Soup

Serves 8, 1 cup servings

2 pieces bay leaf

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

10 oz. baby spinach leaves

28 oz. canned diced tomatoes

1 tbsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

4 cups vegetable broth

Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high power for 5 hours.

I must say, it is quite a yummy, filling recipe.  You can throw all the veggies you want into it.  I also added 2 chopped zucchinis to the recipe.  This recipe also freezes well (hint:  freezing flat in a freezer-proof ziploc bag defrosts faster and takes up less space).

Enjoy!

I'm going to Disneyland!

On a recent trip to Disneyland with Eric, Robin, and Greg, I convinced Eric to get a season pass.  It's the So Cal pass, which means we can't go on Saturdays or during the month of July (not that I would want to go at that crowded time of year anyway!!!)

The park was beautifully decorated for Christmas - the lights on the castle were breathtaking and the photos don't do it justice.

I hadn't been to Disneyland in 4 years, and it was amazing how much it had changed.  I felt like a rookie b/c I was new to the "Fast Pass" concept and there were so many new rides and attractions!