I Knew There Was A Reason

That I've never set foot inside of Dodgers Stadium aka Chavez Ravine. Have you heard the news about how a SF Giants fan was savagely beaten after the season opener last week? Yep, that's right, once again LA sports fans have proven to the world their idiocy. Now this poor man is fighting for his life in a medically induced coma and may suffer brain damage. Why does this continue to happen in LA? Anyone recall watching the riots break out on TV after the Laker's won their 16th Championship last Spring? I for one do, and it was absolutely nerve wrecking watching those scoundrel's attack random people outside of the Staples Center. Thanks so much for giving reinforcing one of many Los Angeles stereotypes!

The city has hired former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton and his new security consulting company to review security at the stadium and provide recommendations. They get an A for effort, but that doesn't do anything for me as far as enticing me to visit stadium is concerned.

I'll stick with the Anaheim Angeles in a nice little bubble we like to refer to as the OC. Yes, I'm an Angeles fan and this has nothing to do with my disgust for LA sports fans. OC fans know how to have a good time, respect rivalries and enjoy a game. We go to at least a handful every season.

Lisa & I (summer 2010) Shannon and I (summer 2009) I realize that this post doesn't offer any solutions or the like. Perhaps my goal in sharing these thoughts was to prove that my inclimation to stay away from Chavez Ravine proved correct. Anyways, I needed to get that off my chest. Le Sigh.

I'll be back soon with happier thoughts. Thanks for listening.
**Shorty Out**

A Little Bit of This....A Little Bit of That

Hello blogosphere! Lots going on around here lately and I wanted to give everyone a quick update and share some things that are making me happy lately.

My husband seriously rocks my world - handsome, funny, smart and a child of God – I am so blessed. Last weekend we went to a Roaring 20’s party and he was hamming it up all over the place. The photographers couldn’t get enough of him and rightfully so in my opinion.

Taking a day off during the week to go snowboarding. Last Wednesday we took a little impromptu trip to Big Bear for some fun in the snow. I’m so thankful that I have ample PTO at work and can take a mental health day with no qualms.

Making new friends. The hubs and I have always been social butterflies and we really enjoy meeting new people. Weekend before last we met up with a couple that we met in Mammoth. Tamir and Francesca are world travelers and we had some much fun hanging with them at their loft in downtown LA’s art district.

Getting out of our bubble. After hanging with Tamir and Francesca we headed over to West Hollywood to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We hadn’t seen this group of friends for some time and it was really refreshing to change up the scene. The late night dance party was the highlight of my night.

Spending time with family. We celebrated my brother Rory’s birthday last weekend and had so much fun hanging out with him and his fiancée. After church on Sunday we got to chill with our niece Mikayla for a few hours. We put her in the bumbo seat for the first time and it was a blast watching her take in the new experience.

Funny Friends. Our stylist/friend Renee is so stinkin’ funny! We recently paid her a visit and Mike was inquiring whether or not she offers barber services. She was adamantly opposed and later posted these pictures on FB.

Ladies Lunch. I have a very close relationship with two women whom I work with. I first met them about five years ago when we worked for a different company and they have been mentoring and supporting me ever since. I’d like to think that they see me as a younger version of themselves. We don’t all work in the same department but enjoy getting out of the office and treating ourselves to a fancy lunch. Sadly our last lunch was a farewell as Trang is moving on to greener pastures but I will be seeing her again, I’m sure.

The Real Estate game. Mike’s cards are finally finished! I love passing out these bad boys. If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell in the SoCal area let me know and I'll hook you up with the best agent around! ;)

New hairstyles. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not really into styling my hair. I found an online tutorial for this hairdo a couple weeks ago and have worn it twice since. These little mini buns are super easy (even for a hairstyling challenged person like me) and great for day old hair.
Yodlee hee hoo!

One more thing before I go. I've been stressing about our tax situation this year because we don't have school to write off. I thought we'd have to pay a ton because we don't own a home or have a kid. I'm so relived though now that the numbers have been crunched. We're actually getting a teeny tiny refund. Praise the Lord!!

A Mammoth of a Vacation

Our trip in one word - EPIC - and I'm being completely serious. This trip has become easier over the years and like a cozy old sweater it begs for us to come back and get wrapped up in the awesomeness of Mammoth.

There was a total of 8 of us on the trip - Hubs and I plus the inlaws, J-Bone + Tracy, and David and his buddy Dennis. We left Orange County on Sunday morning and made our way to the 15 and eventually the 395 straight up to Mammoth. The drive can be done straight through in about 4.5 hours but we like to take our time and not be rushed. We have two mandatory stops on the way up and back which are Bravo Burger in Adelanto and Erick Schat's Bakkery in Bishop. These are both a must!

We rolled into town at about 5pm on Sunday. After getting settled we headed out to the grocery store to get our food for the week. Later on that evening we went to a local ski shop to get me some new snowboard pants.

Hubs was in charge of booking our lodging this year and he did a great job! The condo association that we stay at (Horizons 4) ranks their condos from A-C. Normally we stay at the C rated places (think 70s cabin) to save some cashola but this year we sprung for an A rated townhouse and I'm so glad we did. Our place was 2 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms and a loft with a King bed and four singles. We scored the master and I was definitely a happy camper!

Monday morning we were up bright and early for our day on the mountain. After scarfing down some breakfast we headed to Eagle Lodge to get our first session in of the trip. We boarded all morning on the Eagle lodge side of the mountain and made our way to the main lodge to get some refreshments aka tall can of Coors Light.



We hung out for a bit then made our way back to Eagle lodge for lunch. Whenever we go snowboarding we bring along our travel BBQ, it's seriously the best. We all had turkey burgers for lunch - healthy, delicious and cheap! We swigged down some margs and then headed back up for a few more hours of shredding the mountain.

Find the Margarita bottle!

That evening we must have hit the sheets at about 8pm! Snowboarding is no joke and we were beat!

Tuesday morning before we left I set up the crock pot for Chicken Tortilla soup and it was a hit! David and Dennis met up with us on Tuesday morning and we started our morning just like Monday with a little shredding on the Eagle/Canyon lodge side of the mountain.

After our little break we decided it was time to hit the top of the mountain. I've been up to the top every time we've been to Mammoth but its always a little intimidating. More pictures to come on this little adventure.

View from inside of the gondola

Adorable kiddos from Mammoth Elementary!

Tuesday night when we got back to our place we hit up the jacuzzi to soothe our sore muscles. Later on that night we enjoyed some Apples to Apples action.

We bought the 3 of 4 day passes from Costco and ended up saving a ton of money. Can you believe that the daily rate is $92 for adults!?!? Expensive but totally worth it in my opinion. With our passes we paid about $60 per day.

Wednesday was our day off from snowboarding and when we woke up it was snowing! It snowed about 4-5 inches on Wednesday.

Hubs & Jeremy putting chains on our whip

We had a lazy morning and decided to go out for breakfast. After looking around on Yelp we headed to The Stove for breakfast and my oh my was it ever delicious!

Group shot (David & Dennis were busy shredding the gnar)

Very nice Mikey!!
After breakfast we drove over to main lodge to check out the gift shop at the main lodge. Sadly nothing was calling my name but I did get a cute hot pink Mammoth sticker for my board. Later that afternoon we hit up the jacuzzi and sauna for some more relaxation.

Thursday was our last day on the mountain and it was a little bittersweet. It snowed about 6 inches Thursday and it was so much fun snowboarding in almost a full foot of powder! I've boarded in the past in fresh pow but never this much, and let me tell you it was glorious. I was definitely testing my limits this day. I even got up the courage to do some tree runs!

Love my face in this picture....I'm so in my happy place :)

Thursday evening we enjoyed the jacuzzi once again and then headed out to dinner at Burgers. I normally don't order the goods like patty melts, etc but I felt like after three days of snowboarding I deserved it! Tracy kept joking the whole time about how she eats so much that she is "eating for two." Thanks for making me feel better about getting my grub on! haha

Very tired but happy! We rounded out our trip with some yummy margaritas Gomez's. We were all so exhausted we couldn't drink more than a couple of margs. Thanks David for the drinks and the good time!

We headed out of town on Friday morning at about 10am and eventually got home at about 4pm. Thanks to everyone for making this such a smooth and enjoyable trip! Can't wait to go back!

Mammoth Vacation Sneak Peak

Happy Friday friends! Man, what a week this has been! My schedule this week at work has been totally overloaded with meetings, so much so that I feel like I haven't had anytime to actually get any work done. Whaaaaaa!!! I'm so thankful that we have an awesome weekend planned. I can't wait to relax, play and not think about work!

Still not quite ready to unleash the vacation recap on you just yet. I'm waiting on a couple of pictures are essential to the recap post. Enjoy this little sneak peak for now.

Happy Weekend!
xoxox

Weekend Love

Last weekend was just what the doctor ordered - lots of relaxing and family time. Friday night we had plans to check out At Last Cafe (featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) but had to skip out on our reservations due to the weather. It was pouring buckets! The cafe is located in a residential area which is notorious for it's lack of parking. We circled the restaurant for over 15 minutes and then decided it just wasn't worth hiking 6+ blocks in the downpour. We then headed to our fav local sushi spot. While we were enjoying our dinner we looked up to see a patio umbrella being blown down the strip mall parking lot like a tumble weed! Us Californian's are total wimps when it comes to weather!!

Saturday morning we were up nice and early and dropped off one of our cars at the body shop. I may or may not have caused an accident that caused said car to visit the shop. :(

Later in the afternoon we headed to Anaheim because husband, brother in law and cousin are in the market for gun permits. Kerilynn, my sister in law, and I were not feeling spending the afternoon in a gun shop so we opted for a ladies lunch instead. I love spending time with Kerilynn and my almost 4 month old niece Mikayla. We visited Mimi's for a late lunch and then hung out at Target for a bit. That evening we had everyone come back to our house for dinner/movie/margaritas and a good time was had by all. Night at the Roxbury is still great!!

Sunday morning we went to church and heard one of our pastors give a prophecy update on Egypt. Interesting stuff people. I'm not here to preach but I will say if you haven't yet given your life to God and invited Jesus into your heart, now is the time! If you are interested in learning more about Christianity, please don't hesitate to contact me. After church we did a little Mammoth vacation planning and hung out with the baby.

How cute is my mother in law? :)

Kerilynn + Mikayla

In the afternoon we visited with our friends Aaron and Lisa which was awesome as usual. When we were at their place we were all joking about how it feels weird if we don't see them at least once a week! Later that evening we enjoyed a show at the Irvine Improv.
Great comedy + good friends = can't ask for anything better!

Weekend Love + Hollywood Hike

Soooo, the weekend is officially over, but I don't want it to be!! After a long week at work I always struggle with going out on Friday nights. This past Friday was no exception. I rushed home from work though and we headed to Anaheim to celebrate my brother in law Matt's birthday. We went out to eat with his friends and a couple of our cousins at Oggi's Pizza. Hubs and I tried a couple of their "heart healthy" meals - the tilapia and wheat pasta. They were both delicious and I highly recommend them!

Saturday was a day reserved just for me and the hubby, well almost. We haven't spent much one on one time lately other than weeknights, so we wanted to do something fun alone. Mid morning we headed back up to the Hollywood sign for some more hiking action. It was much warmer than when we went last month so we explored some additional trails and got in a great workout!

After the hike we went to church with our cousin Jenn and her daughter Ashley. This church outing wasn't planned but it was most enjoyable. After church we grabbed some Yoshinoya before heading to Disneyland. We've never eaten there before and I don't think we'll be back. It wasn't horrible or anything, just not quite my cup of tea.

Our main reason for going to Disneyland was to see The World of Color. We've been pass holders for about 6 months but wanted to wait until the crowds subsided before attempting to see the show. We weren't able to get fastpass tickets but a cast member informed us we could seek out standby seating a few minutes before the show started. Awesome. We hit up Soarin' Over California before heading to the show area. As we were hanging out a gentlemen offered us his "dining tickets" because he wasn't going to use them. Apparently these tickets are given out at the nicer restaurants throughout the park for the shows later in the evening. These tickets gave us the best seats ever!! Front and center baby!

Let me tell you, this show did not disappoint. If you've seen the Bellagio fountain show but not this one it can be described as the Bellagio fountains on crack but with fire. Literally. Put daft punk, Disney, pixie dust, Pink Floyd and fire in a martini shaker and this is what you'll get. I wish I would have taken more pics but if you haven't seen this show yet go now!!!

Sunday we went to watch the Superbowl with our hommies. I had this grand plan of going for a bike ride around the back bay before the game so I wouldn't feel bad about pigging out. Too bad my feet were sore from the hike and walking around Disneyland on Saturday. Good times all around though. Thanks to Jbone for hosting once again!

We also watched The Kings Speech this weekend. Great movie...go see it now. You'll thank me later.

Shorty Out.

Christmas Party

Yes, that's right I am posting about a Christmas party in mid January. In my defense I didn't have a blog way back then! As I was going through my pictures for this post I realized that I've got to improve my photography skills STAT! Taking pictures for memories vs. blogging is a whole new ballgame. This realization has resulted in only a couple pictures that I felt are worthy of sharing. I'm like a fine wine and I get better with age so please hold tight as I work on my skills. K? thanks!

This party was thrown together at the last minute and was super casual. Friends of ours usually host this annual party but weren't able to this year, so we to held the party at our place. Our place is a one bedroom condo and we had about 25 people over for the party. It was a little cramped but I don't think anyone cared. Lots of people showed up in Christmas sweaters and pjs! In addition to eating and drinking too much we played the always enjoyable White Elephant gift exchange.

Signature drinks were Dirty Shirley, Blue Lady, Mimosas and Mustache Mike's Famous Margarita Jello Shots We had an array of yummy appetizers that I picked up from the downtown Farmers Market.

The infamous penguins made an appearance

This was my first time hosting so many people for a home cooked meal so I kept it simple with the menu. If you haven't made a spiral cut ham yet I highly recommend that you do soon. Easter is just around the corner folks! Seriously though it was easier than I'd imagined and tasted wonderful to boot! I didn't take any pictures of the food other than the one above but here is what we served.

Dinner Menu
(served buffet style)
Spiral Cut Ham with glaze and pineapples
Kings Hawaiian Rolls and assorted mustards
Green Bean Casserole
Scalloped Potatoes
Green Salad

Jenn was feeling under the weather that day but by stopped by for a visit before everyone came over.

Hubs and I in our "ugly" Christmas sweaters before another party the previous weekend.