Merry Christmas

Greg and I had a great first Christmas as a married couple. We slept in and then opened gifts. Bella and Lani loved rolling around in the wrapping paper for their first Christmas! It was a nice and relaxing day which was perfect. It's hard to believe that this is our first Christmas in Arizona!

I made 2 of Nana's famous chocolate rolls w/ hot fudge sauce and around 1pm we headed to our friend's Chris and Kelly's house. It wouldn't be Christmas without us showing up in our ugly Christmas sweaters provided by my mom! Kelly couldn't stop laughing as all she saw when opening the door was a blinking Christmas tree on Greg's sweater.

We had an incredible day with good friends, good food and a great football game. It was nice to relax and eat all day!

Greg and I headed over the the Bowen's for pie...our 5th course of the day. It was nice to see all of their family and a perfect ending to our first Christmas as husband and wife! We look forward to many more Merry Christmas'

Cowboy Mania

I was in Dallas last week for a convention at the Gaylord Texan. I'll tell you as the saying goes...everything is BIG in Texas Ya'll. The hotels, Cowboy Mania and Christmas decorations. The convention was good and the best part was that I could stay at home and see all my family before the holidays.

BUSY

Happy Belated Turkey Day to all. I went to Texas and spent the holiday with my grandparents, five nieces and nephew, brothers, sister-in-law and mom. It was a lot of fun just to relax and hang out. Do you know what happens when you drink some good wine and get a little tipsy? The blonde wigs come out...hilarious!!!

Now back in Arizona and finishing up a crazy busy week. It all started on Sunday. I arrived back in Arizona at 10:30 am...got home with about an hour to eat lunch and get ready for work...yes on Sunday. It was my first day at my second...or really third job. I am in training at Morton's Steakhouse as a server. I trained Sunday and Monday watching videos and then Tuesday was my first training day on the floor. It was rather slow in the dining room but this was actually a blessing in disguise because I was able to learn about 90% of the menu presentation that night. Tonight is my second night on the floor training. I'm hoping the training part goes by quickly so I can start making some money. It's been a difficult week fighting sleep, crazy busy work at PING and then working at night....whew. I've been averaging about 12 hour work days this week...I just keep visioning $ to keep me going.

Withdrawls

I'm going thru withdrawls beacuse I was not able to get a basket this week. I'm off to Texas for Turkey day so all my goods would spoil. Can't wait to get back into the swing of things the next few weeks. The highlight of my Saturday was waking up and working at Sam's club sampling wine...baskets are much more fun =)

I samples 4 different types of wine for 3 1/2 hrs Friday evening and Saturday afternoon which paid $18/hr. Not a bad gig and thank goodness I didn't have to wear a hair net like the food sampling Ladies...whew. Everyone was shocked that I was actually sampling wine. Oh...the best part was that on Friday during my sampling, some guy gave me a $2 tip! Whooo. Anything for some extra cash right now.

Guilty Pleasure

I do have to admit that I love getting my eyebrows waxed...so what!? Who doesn't like a little personal maintenance now and then? Its a nice half hour of gossip when you get to just lay there and get pampered. If you considered being pampered having hot wax put on your face a ripped off with a cloth. Man, there must be something seriously wrong with me if that is a pleasure...

The Results Are In

I got the results from the Iron Girl 5K race yesterday and had to share. I'm pretty proud of them considering I've been slacking off on my running...big time.
My time was 28:29, 81st place overall (out of 782) and 12th out of 136 in my age group. If that's not some encouragement and motivation to keep running, I don't know what is.

Iron Girl 2009

For the 2rd year in a row, Erin and I ran in the Iron Girl race this morning at Tempe Town Lake. We both did the 5K with Greg as our cheerleader, jacket holder, picture taker and chauffeur. It is so invigorating to have completed a race before 9am on a Sunday. Much better than waking up with a hang over =). I've been slacking off on my running but pretty happy with my race today...I saw the 3 mile sign and just started hauling butt to the finish line. I love passing people at the end!

Hello Race Fans

Today at work we had two Nascar trailers on our campus for a few hours. The US Army car and the Office Depot/Old Spice car. Check out some cool pics and get a load of the tool box, they don't mess around with their tools.

Ahhh Sunday Afternoon Naps

Who doesn't love the Sunday afternoon nap? Football is playing in the background, sun coming thru the blinds and a nice breeze from outside. I'll tell you our girls just love Sunday naps...we do too!

It's Basket Day

Yeah! Bright and early and I just picked up my basket. Lots of goodies today. I did the conventional and got bananas, cantaloupe, kiwi, oranges, apples, cucumber, tons of corn, spinach, lettuce, avocado, onions and tomatoes, all for $16.50. Getting up at 5:40 on a Saturday...all for an extra cantaloupe.

http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

I'm one of those people

Friday I was walking thru PetSmart getting some food for the girls and was drawn to the large display of pet Halloween costumes in the middle of the store. The cute and colorful costumes were adorable and the 70% off sign was attractive too. The only costume I could find for cats were 3 unattractive collars to go around the neck. Dogs have way better costumes so I decided the girls would wear witches hats with curly green hair.

Yes, I am one of those people who will dress my pets up for Halloween. I just couldn't resist how cute and funny they look. Lani was actually enjoying it...I think it's because she always sits in my sink when I get ready and watches me do my hair and makeup...everyday. Bella just wanted to rip the darn thing off her head and eat the hair the second I put it on. At least the girls cooperated for a minute so I could snap a few photos.

Halloween

Halloween is one of the greatest holidays. Whats not to like about dressing up in a silly costume and playing the part? I love it. This year being on a big budget, I traveled to Savers and Goodwill in search for the perfect costume. I was first inspired by this awesome "Afro" wig. It was a Princess Lea style do only Afro style! Perfect...now for the costume. Being inspired by the wig I was thinking 70's disco girl until....this short blue dress gave me a whole other idea. As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to be a flight attendant right out of Catch Me If You Can. I went to a fabulous house party to celebrate one of the greatest holidays....HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm a dork

No really, I am a dork and I will tell you why. Every other Saturday morning I wake up at 5:45am, put on my working clothes and head to a nearby park. I volunteer at Bountiful Baskets...check it out at http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ . Bountiful Baskets is a coop that allows you to get fresh fruit and vegetables either regular or organic at a very reasonable price. Seasonal fruits and vegetables are also offered in large quantities through out the year.

Volunteering means filling the baskets with the items and the best part is that you get "extras" for being a volunteer. Saturday mornings are one of my most favorite parts of the weekend when I get my basket. It feels like Christmas morning when I fill my reusable grocery bags with all the goodies. I love getting new and interesting fruits and veggies then going home to learn how to cook with them or find new recipes for the usual items. This week my organic basket was filled with a huge watermelon, apples, grapes, persimmons, limes, pineapple, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, lettuce, swiss chard and butternut squash. I also got the mexican pack filled with limes, garlic, onion, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers and many other types of peppers, corn tortillas and avacados...mmm...already made some delicious guacamole today.

We have been getting a ton of acorn squash lately and it seems that every time I use one or two...it multiplies to three or four more. I've cooked and mashed them with cinnamon and butter...yummy. Roasted acorn squash is delicious...I cut it up with onions and sweet potatoes. Then drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over the veggies place the roasting pan in the oven and 20 to 30 minutes later....I have a wonderful side dish.

Bountiful Baskets has expanded to other states so check it out and see if there is one near you. I love it and I'm sure you would too.

U2 and BEP

When I grow up....

I want to be Fergie!! Greg and I went to the U2 concert on Tuesday and the Black Eyed Peas opened for them. Fergie is just so cool...the girl can sing, rap, shake her ass and tour around with the BEP...plus she is gorgeous. The Black Eyed Peas ROCKED!!! I sure was thinking I was Fergie dancing around when they played Boom Boom Pow!!


There was about an hour break after BEP and then U2 came on. I must say they are INCREDIBLE. This was by far the best concert I have ever been to. It was not just a concert but a full on production. The stage was monstrous, there was an insane light show and a 360 video screen that made us think we were right next to Bono. I was stoked when Beautiful Day was the 3rd song...my favorite =) They played for 2 hours which included 2 encores...the first was 2 songs. Bono started singing Amazing Grace which then flowed into Streets Have No Name...it was AMAZING. They came back after that encore for another with 3 more songs. This seriously was the best concert ever. Good Times!

Bella and Lani

Here is the story of how we got our cute little kittens. It was about 3 weeks after we got married and Greg was out of town for work. I was at a work Happy Hour to listen to a friend play some music when a coworker showed me a picture of the cutest black cat. She asked if I wanted her...I said yes but Greg will probably say no. I sent Greg the photo of the cat in a text. To my surprise, he said yes but you have to get two...WHAT!

I immediately called Greg and said please put my husband on the phone...who sent that text?! He said yes we can get a cat but we have to get two so they can have a friend. That night I took Bella home with me. She layed curled in my lap..the cuttest little furball!

Two days later we found Lani on Craigslist...you can get just about anything on Craigslist. Greg went and bought a cute pink cat carrier then went to pick out Bella's sister. Lani screamed in the carrier the entire way home...we should have know from then on that she would be the fiesty one. We love them both so since we have no babies yet...more to come on the great adventures of Bella and Lani.

AZ Sunset

Diving to the gym last night, looking at the beautiful sunset, I realized this is why we live in AZ. The weather is now great...in the 80's, at least for the next few days. I can't believe this weekend it's going to be 100. Enjoy the picture of a beautiful AZ Sunset =) I always do!

Tour de Fat

Saturday was Tour de Fat in Tempe. It's a crazy fun carnival like bike parade thru Tempe...followed by a beer gardern with delicious Fat Tire beverages and bands. We began the trek Saturday morning to the event just in time to get towards the front of the pack for the parade. It was a nice slow paced ride through the neighborhoods of Tempe. What a beautiful day for bike riding!!

Day One of Blog

Well having so much fun reading my friend's and families blogs, I've decided to do one myself. This is officially day one. With Greg and I doing so much stuff, it's a perfect way to share our lives with friends and family. I hope you enjoy all the craziness of the two of us...oh and our rascal kitties too!!