Happy Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving Day, we chilled out & relaxed all morning. We watched the Macy's Parade, of course. We had dinner reservations in downtown LA so we decided to head to Hollywood first. We brought the fam to the Walk of Fame to see the fun sidewalk & crazy costumes.



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Michael Jackson, alive & well

Erik & his Mom

Me & Erik near a giant macaroni & cheese noodle

We then went to the Millenium Biltmore Hotel for dinner. This is an old & historic hotel. It had beautiful architecture which was very detailed, including the ceilings. This hotel opened in 1923 and has hosted grand events, celebrities, & parties. It was even home to the Oscars in the 30's & 40's! JFK was here in 1960 for the Democratic National Convention.

The hotel is still used for movie & TV shoots.



Here's a photo from the hotel's history hall of Shirley Temple & Walt Disney at the Oscars.

We had a great dinner at the hotel. They had a fixed menu with a couple of choices for appetizer, main meal, & dessert. We started the dinner with a glass of champagne. Then, I had the Butternut Squash Soup. For dinner, I had the Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, & vegetables. For dessert, I had the apple tart. We also all split a bottle of wine. It was delicious! Eating holiday dinner out at a restaurant is great - no preparation or clean up!


We tried to take a picture after dinner but we were just totally exhausted. haha. You can definitely tell we are fading in this pic. After dinner, we definitely went home & crashed. Of course, we put on Home Alone but I think I only made it to where Kevin goes runs around the house after realizing he is home by himself. hahaha.

Thanksgiving Vacation: Day 1

Last Wednesday AM, we drove down to Long Beach. We took I-5 all the way down which basically runs down the center of the state. We had a pretty, mountainous view.





Co-Pilot, Evie. She loves to stand with her paws on the center console although it's really not safe. For most of the trip, she sat in the back seat however, she loves to sit in the front seat. With about an hour or two left in our ride down, I sat in the back and gave Evie the front. She will curl up in the front seat to nap which is great. Plus, I got to stretch out in the back seat!

After 7 long hours, we finally saw our destination!

We rented this adorable house in Long Beach. It was just blocks from the beach & easy to get to any freeway. It had a fenced in back yard, 3 bedrooms, and an open floor plan. We loved it! Our neighborhood was called Bluff Heights & is considered a historic part of town.


We immediately walked down to the beach with Erik's Dad, Brother Jaime, & Evie.



Evie dragggged me to the water and was running around like crazy.

Evie loooooves the beach.

Happy Girl!

After the beach, we showered and relaxed. Erik's Mom made us rice & beans for dinner which was soooo good. I think we were all asleep on the couch around 930pm. haha. We had to rest up for the next day.....Thanksgiving!

Long Beach

We are here in sunny, Long Beach, CA! We left SF around 6am on Wednesday and drove down to Long Beach. It took about 7 hours which included a stop for gas and two bathroom breaks. Luckily, one of them was at Wendy's so we could get Frosties! Yum.

We arrived in Long Beach around 1pm. Erik's family was already here since they arrived on Tuesday. Our house we rented is super cute and just a few blocks from the beach! We brought out stuff in the house & went down to the beach for a walk. Evie looooved running in the water & sand.

Yesterday, we stopped in Hollywood on our way to Thanksgiving dinner in LA. It was great.

Today, we are off to DISNEYLAND! So excited.

Full recaps & photos to come :-)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Ants in my Pants

I am super antsy today at work. It's a two day week and Thanksgiving week!! Today, we went to Starbucks in the mid-afternoon. Their holiday drinks are out & I definitely have to recommend the Caramel Brulee Latte! Yum.


Tonight, I have Bingo & am going to try to pack some stuff for the trip. We decided we are going to leave on Wednesday AM, really early, rather than try to drive down on Tuesday night. I told Evie she gets to go on vacation with us & she is excited! haha

"I'm going to the beach!"

Movie Review: Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban

After finishing the book, I wanted to watch the movie of Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban. Yes, I skipped watching Movie Two before watching Three. I liked movie #3 better than the first one, for sure. This one was pretty good throughout and I liked seeing this book come to life since I thought the book dragged a little.

It's also nice to see Hermione with better hair. haha.

Rain, Rain

It has been such a rainy weekend. Friday night, rain. Saturday, it was nice all day. Then, rain. This morning, on & off rain. Yesterday, Erik went surfing and I did some cleaning, then went downtown. I had a few things I wanted to get for Christmas gifts. I'd rather make the downtown trip before the madness begins but I prefer to do everything else online.

It was fine down there except for when I came out of the mall and it was pouring rain. I didn't even have a jacket with me! Oh well, I ran across the street and hopped on the bus to come home. I got SOAKED as I sprinted one block from the bus to the house. Then, it started to thunder & lighten! It was crazy. That never happens here.

Despite the rain, we had plans to go out & celebrate our friend Kelsey's birthday! First stop was Medjool in the Mission. Then, we went next door to Lazlo.

Kelsey & her husband, Sean

Me, Betsy, & Erik

Erik & the birthday girl!

Betsy, Kelsey, Tiffany, & Me

Getting Excited...

I'm getting so excited for next week. Erik's family is coming to down & we are going to spend the week in Long Beach, CA! We rented a house down there, near the beach. We are going to relax, explore, and try to go to DisneyLand and San Diego!

I'm super excited for Disney. I can't wait to see everyone dressed up for Thanksgiving!!


This will be our fourth Thanksgiving out here. Our first year, we had been here about two weeks and spent it together in our apartment. The 2nd year, Kimmy came out and we tried to cook a turkey but cooked it UPSIDE DOWN. Last year, My Dad came out to spend the holiday with us.

Doesn't it feel like Thanksgiving came really quickly this year? And Christmas is really quickly after Thankgiving!? When we get back from LB, it will almost be December!

Book Review: Harry Potter 3

I finished Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday. This book was just OK for me. I felt there were a lot of unanswered questions throughout the whole book (like Hermione's schedule!) and it sort of dragged. Then, everything wrapped up in a few pages. It was a long story for a quick payoff.

I thought it was pretty cool when we figured out what was going on with Hermione and how it helped everyone in the end. I like the books because in each one, we learn more about Harry's parents & what happened to them.

I'm going to watch the movie of this one today. I also have Book 4 to read! I couldn't believe all of the people that were dressed up the other day for the premiere of Harry Potter 7. I knew people dressed up as the characters but I also saw grown men dressed in clothes that were subtely HP. A guy had on a soccer jacket that said Hogwarts on the back!

I do think it is really cool how this series of books has brought, basically, The entire world together. I was reading on the bus & a girl asked me what book I was on, if I had read these before, etc. It's something that millions of people have read & can connect through. That theme park at Disney has to be awesome, as well. Out of all of the make believe stuff out there, theme parks like that rarely get made. That has to be so fun for people to go to. And yes, Im sure I will end up there one day, too. (Kimmy, TL - Trip to Disney???) :-)

Singin' In The Rain

Caught up on GLEE last night & totally loved it! Singing in the Rain/Umbrella is my favorite song & dance of the season so far!



I really love Gwyneth Paltrow. I think she's so pretty plus, she's a Mom & a successful actress. I also love Reese Witherspoon for the same reasons.

Busy Week

This week has been pretty busy at work! But, then I remind myself that we are ENGAGED and feel happy! It has been such a fun & happy week! This is such a fun and exciting time for us and we are really enjoying it.

In other news, last night was Girls Movie Night. I picked out the theatre & time for us all to go to. We went to the theatre for a 7:25 movie of Morning Glory but it wasn't playing at that time! Woops!! I don't know how I made up that movie time. We checked another theatre I had been looking at and it wasn't playing there either. I don't know where I made that up. Oh well! We ended up at the Irish Bank for a beer, instead.

I'm so glad it's Friday. It is supposed to rain allll weekend. We are staying home tonight with ravioli, red wine & TV. I can't wait. We don't really have big plans all weekend, either.

I'm getting super excited because it's almost Thanksgiving! Erik's family is coming out next Tuesday. It's going to be fun!

Look at these funny pics from the last time his fam came out in July 2009

On Cloud 9

Well, I still can't believe we are engaged. I look at my engagement ring & think, "Is this really mine? Do I get to wear it every day!" It has been so much fun telling people we are engaged. Of course, everyone is asking me two things 1)When is the wedding? and 2)Is Evie excited? haha


"I'm Excited!"

What is even better is that this is such a fun time of year. We are going to see Erik's family next week. Then, we go home for Christmas in December. Party time!

Beer Fest

Today, we went to a Beer Festival in SF. We paid one price & then were able to sample beers, all you can drink. The festival was only from 1-4.

We each got one of these little plastic mugs. There were a bunch of different breweries to choose from. I stuck to the wheat beers & Hefewizens.

Erik tried more adventurous beers!

Drinking my beer like it's a cup o' tea

Gretsy

It was a fun afternoon. We had amazing weather today - sunny & in the 70's. That is pretty awesome for November!

A special trip to Napa

On Saturday, Erik & I went up to Napa. We were going to go to a winery event but we got up there a little late so we didn't go. We ended up going to a winery that we've been to before, Rutherford Grove. I love this winery - it is a small winery, small distribution, grapes grown on the property(rare for most wines), and family owned.



When we went into the winery, and it was empty. We had the same server that we had almost a year ago to the day when Erik & Tara visited!

Here is a shot from our 2009 visit to this winery.

Gorgeous grounds! In wine country, the vine leaves turn colors!

After doing the tasting, we went out to the grounds next to the winery. They have a huge yard & it's just beautiful out there.

We had the whole yard to ourselves so why not whip out a few cartwheels?



After flipping around, we were going to go get something to eat. And then....ERIK PROPOSED!!! Yes, we are engaged. I couldn't believe it. Well, I could but I was still shocked. haha. We are so excited & happy!


Ironically, here is a photo of us in 2009 at this same winery. This place definitely has a special place in our hearts now!

So, we are super excited & still in a little bit of shock! :-)

Movie Review: Harry Potter

After finishing the HP book, I decided to watch the movie. I have to say, I didn't love it. I enjoyed the book but the movie was annoying. That Hermione is a pain, just like Ron says! Plus, she could use a flat iron on that messy mane of hers. ha. It seems very low budget to me, too. Maybe the rest of them get more fast paced & interesting but this one was kind of boring & slow.

I also think I have an attention problem, so that could also be why I thought it was slow. ha.

Anyway, might give the rest of them a try. I am half way through Book 3 already.

Book Review: Harry Potter 2

I finished another Harry Potter book last night. That is two books in about a week. These are such quick reads. They are very cute & I just want to see what is going to happen to Harry and his friends. It's so funny to me how I wasn't interested in these books for so long but then I pick one up & can't stop reading!

My coworker and I are reading them. She has read some & seen some of the movies so we are reading all of the books now. I finish one & pass it off to her. I went out and bought the 3rd book yesterday and she has the 4th one that I'll get afterwards. haha.

I have the first movie on my Netflix list and was mad when it was a Long Wait. Then, I found out you can rent movies thru Amazon. I had no idea! If you look up a movie, you have the option to buy it or rent it(like an On Demand movie) for about $3. How cool!

Well, onto the 3rd book - Prisoner of Azkaban!

Walking The May

Well, I've been doing something different this week. I've been going home at lunch to walk Evie. It seems a little crazy but it's working out.

Ever since our schedule change, I have been feeling so bad that Evie is home alone for so long. I tried to contact a dog walker that was recommended to me but this girl is not very responsive. If she can't be responsible with calling me, how will she be with my dog?

So, I have been going home at lunch. I'm not sure I can do it every day but when I can, I will. It's a quick trip but I take the bus home(20 min), walk Evie(20min), then hop on the bus back to work(2omin). Essentially, I am actually taking a lunch break. That seems like something that people look down upon but I don't care. I'm happy to come in early or leave late if it means Evie doesn't have to hold it alllllll day.

Plus, it's nice to get out mid-day, see the dog, & stop home!

Garden Update

Well, Erik put some of the tomato plant to rest last night. This rat, or whatever, was gnawing on stalks off the plant so he had to pull them off. It was a sad night. All of that hard work & effort and not a lot of produce out of the plant. We did get a few small, green tomatoes, and fried them up. They were pretty good!

They also got to the cucumber plant which is also sad. What's gross about the whole thing is that some animal is coming thisclose to our window to eat. What if he got IN the house. I would DIE. Die!!!

Oh well, looks like we are a flower garden only household for next spring :-(

Erik's Garden

Well Erik is finally getting some food from his garden. He had a couple of snap peas & peppers so far. He made guacamole with one of the peppers which was yummy!

The tomatoes are not faring well, unfortunately. He thinks an animal is eating the tomatoes! He has gone out a few times and seen little, green tomatoes on the ground or branches broken. We've also seen nibbles on the tomatoes. So sad! All of that hard work & energy only to serve some mouse or worse, a rat!

My cucumbers and scallions are also growing. I threw out one plant of flowers and moved the mint to a different pot. I really have only used the mint a few times. We really like having the garden on the porch though. It brings some greenery to the apartment.