New Year's Meme

I'm not big on the meme's but this one struck a cord with me. I haven't written out New Year's resolutions in a very long time, but this year, I am all over it. Some of the questions here I am taking a pass on, but I found this one to be fun, reflecting on the past year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? A half marathon with my friend, Lisa. We're planning to do it again in 2009.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any for 2008, and yes, I am making some for 2009.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit? I didn't leave the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More friends near to me.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? October 5th, the day of the half marathon. December 17th, the kids first trip to Disneyland.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I see a repeating pattern happening here. The 1/2 marathon. No way I can forget those 13.1 miles.

9. What was your biggest failure? There will be no negativity here.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Injury from the half marathon for about six weeks.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I absolutely love the wallet I got for my birthday in which I used a Macy's gift card for, along with a matching coin purse that I found at Anthropologie.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Obama.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Passing on this one...

14. Where did most of your money go? As usual, mortgage and daycare.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The olympics and the presidential election. And also our trip down south this month.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? There are a lot that come to mind...

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Less work, more time with the family.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Work, work, work.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With Josh and the girls, and some of it with Josh's family. This year's Christmas was present overload.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Always in love...

22. What was your favorite TV program? LOST

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Not answering this one, either...

24. What was the best book you read? I didn't read as much as I would have liked to, but I did read a series of books by Emily Giffin (Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof) which I loved. I just couldn't get on the Twilight bandwagon.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? A number of new artists that people sent me for music to train for the 1/2 marathon. My favorite being the Ting Tings.

26. What did you want and get? Oh, a new flat panel TV with built in DVD for our bedroom, which I've wanted for so long!

27. What did you want and not get? Well, I still want this damn Bulova watch, which is way too expensive, but I am so infatuated with it.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I saw a bunch of movies that I rented and weren't produced this year because I was so far behind on any movie watching - many which I loved including The Notebook and The Holiday. I went to the movies only twice and saw the SATC movie, which I loved, and Madagascar 2, with the kids.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 29 once again this year, he he. Josh took me to my favorite Mexican eatery, Sinaloa, among many other things.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More improvements to the house, but at least we're getting somewhere now.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? More fashionable than year's past, that's for sure. I'm a skirt girl, with high heel sandals in the summer and boots in the winter. And I've added more accessories this year. I'd like to say there has been imnprovement.

32. What kept you sane? My husband by far...and coming home from work to two happy girls.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Obama.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? California's prop 8 by far. I thought California was more accepting of equality, but it appears that wasn't the case at all.

35. Who did you miss? A lot of people and too many to name...all those family and friends that are dear to me and who are not within 30 miles of me.

36. Who was the best new person you met? My east coast work counterpart by far...

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. It is wrong to let your kids pee freely, whether in the parking lot of a zoo or your own backyard.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

Listen to the music of the moment people, dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved

--Jason Mraz, I'm Yours

Happy New Year to all....

The Trip Down South...

We're back...

I don't think I had anything to worry about as far as how long we would be in the car driving down to Los Angeles. It took us eight hours to get there (damn that LA traffic, not to mention that the grapevine had been closed up until a half hour before we got there due to snow). I thought that we were going to be out of our minds on the way down when Bea asked "are we there yet" a half hour into the drive. But, I didn't really have much to worry about. The girls watched movies and slept, and the ride back was just over five hours and was quite a breeze.

So, what wasn't such a breeze? Well, remember how I recently lost my iPod (and then found it)? And then remember how I recently lost my camera (and didn't find it)? Well, if there ever was a case of things happening in 3's, then this was it. And it was my most valued possession...my precious engagement ring. It was lost for 3 days. I swore I had it on my hand while we were at Disneyland, and then on the drive home I discovered that I was not wearing it. I panicked. And then we were sure it was gone forever if I really did truly lose it at Disneyland. My brother looked through his photos and it appeared to be missing from one of the first rides. Then, my mom said to dump out my purse. It wasn't there. Upon returning home and cleaning out my suitcase, there it sat, all by itself near my makeup bag. If only I had cleaned out my suitcase that night, I could have been relieved a lot quicker. I snatched up that ring as soon as I spotted it and threw it back on my finger. So the third missing item is now found...and there shall be no more missing items. I've had my three, and that's final. No more.

The visit was more than a good time. I saw family that I hadn't seen in a while, and we took the girls to Disneyland, along with my brother and his wife, V. I think we might have called it wrong when we took the girls on to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride for their first ride. After that experience, one where you hear a child screaming and crying when the ride comes to a halt, was a first hand experience for me. Olivia wanted to ride with me and was so excited to sit in the car and pretend to steer, but things turned ugly real fast when explosions happened and things flashed, and oh, it was just so noisy. Every indoor ride after that was the same, even the Winnie the Pooh ride, which I had never been on before and deemed it surely had to be mellow, was not her cup of tea. And neither was It's A Small World. Bea did just a step above her, but didn't like a lot of the indoor rides either. I really wanted to take Bea on Splash Mountain, and she even saw the people coming down the huge, main drop, and she was just tall enough. She begged to go on. But, we did pass in the end. I think their favorites were the Dumbo ride and Nemo submarine, and they always like carousels. We also did the teacups, with me and Bea spinning super fast, and Josh and Olivia taking it easy. Bea loved it, and so did I. The big thing we wanted to do was see the princesses, and the only princess that they were most interested in seeing was Ariel. Unfortunately, after waiting a good half hour to forty-five minutes, they switched out the princesses. We were nearly ten people away from the entrance when we saw Ariel saunter off, and then it was just a disaster when they let us in to see Mulan, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. I just can't tell that story.

Family time was awesome, and we enjoyed seeing everyone and spending some time enjoying the holiday season, too....

The beautiful castle...the girls are in the bottom left corner. Yes, Olivia wore her princess dress to Disneyland:


Aunt V and Bea in the monkey cage (as were the rest of us) on the Casey Jr. train:


The girls kept themselves occupied while we stood in line:


She saw something cool and let the world know it:


With dad in line at Roger Rabbit (yet, another mistake on our part):


The best damn corndogs in the world are at Disneyland (who knew??) and can throw you into a tizzy:


Fortunately, we didn't need to make any stops here:


Before the Pooh ride...can you tell?


My bro, V, Josh and the girls waiting for the submarine to take them to find Nemo:


Todd and O on the carousel - our last ride:


And my favorite pic from the happiest place on earth (for most):



I have to include some family photos in here...so you have to believe me when I said I took close to 200 photos on our trip, and I'm just picking a few notables:

Four generations:


O kissing the newest member of the family, Tanner:


Bea was grumpy, so in order for her to oblige with a family photo I yelled "Oh MY GOSH...I SEE WALL-E OVER THERE!" Hence, the look on O's face as she tries to see where exactly Wall-e is, and Bea is so happy he is there, for just a second:


Mom and Dad really liked their present:


O lights a candle on the menorah for the first time:


The magnificent seven:


The Hannukah pinata was a new addition to the festivities this year, but was a hit and will continue for years to come:


She loved my aunt's holiday village, and continued to rearrange it every chance she got:


My brother is bound to post more photos (and he is a much better photographer than myself) sometime soon. If you're lucky, you might see some pretty funny ones of me...I tend to mess up a lot of photos with funny faces. He's at www.thalimer.com.

Now we're just getting ready for Christmas around here...

I Should be Packing...

And I'm thinking, holy bejeesus, when was the last time I did two posts in two days. However, I have to share this year's Santa photo. I took the girls over to the mall after work today and we ate dinner there and stood in line to see Santa. I thought for sure I was going to have to be in the photo with them, because as soon as we got to the front of the line, Olivia clung to me for dear life and said she didn't want to see Santa or talk to him. Then, wonder of wonders, when the kid that was up there hopped off Santa's lap, she surprised me and ran up to him. Did she hit him? I kind of thought that could possibly happen. But, it didn't. She gave him the biggest bear hug I have ever seen and then whispered in his ear. It was the most adorable thing I have seen her do. And Bea just took it all in stride, but with extra excitement. Here's the captured photo (and mama - yes, me - laid down the law with Santa's helpers by making them take 5 photos so I'd get a good one. Mama doesn't pay good money to have one kid smiling and the other not. Well, that's the Mama I've now become.):

Breaking Away

In a couple of days, we will be headed down to southern California to visit a great number of family peeps and hit up Disneyland with the girls for the very first time. I'm hoping to have a lot of photos to post after our trip (Did I mention that I lost my camera on our big tree chop down event a couple of weekends ago? Well, I now have a new Nikon digital that I absolutely LOVE. Though, I will never see those photos of the tree chopping EVER. Boo.).

Anyway, we're all very excited over here for the big trip. Wish us luck, cause I think we might need it for the 5 - 6+ hour drive, there and back. It's kind of the least of my worries because of all the fun we are going to have...

Good people to visit. Fun times to be had. The happiest place on earth for a whole entire day. I couldn't ask for more, especially this time of year.

Why I Do It

Me: Bea, I really don’t want to go to work today.

Bea: You have to, mama. Because you make stuff for doctors to use so that they can make people get better faster. And then you get money because you do that so that you can buy me and Olivia toys and food so that we can be happy. So you have to go.

Me: Are you really only three years old?

Bea: I’m almost four, mama.

And there you have it.

Chicago

Chicago was....COLD. I'm not really going to state on the record that this was the trip from hell, but some things - like O'Hare airport - made it that way.

I absolutely LOVED Chicago. Maybe it was the time of year, or just going somewhere different, but it was absolutely beautiful. I saw the snow fall just enough so that the holiday lights that decorated the city made it a winter wonderland. It was gorgeous. I didn't even mind the cold too much, and I even went outside in front of my hotel to watch the snow fall for a while and take in the briskness of the city. I even obtained 5 cab rides in a single day - a personal record for me. It was a quick trip, however, and most of it was spent on an airplane or at the airport. Both of my flights were delayed a couple of hours, only telling us passengers AFTER we were all sitting on the plane. All of this due to snow, fog, and circuit breakers breaking where the word "engine" was said and people freaked out on our plane (you know, it was like that Friends episode where there was something wrong with the PHILANGE).

Anyway, being away is always hard without my family. I say a little prayer over and over before the plane takes off and everytime there is turbulence. I wanted them there with me, to experience it with me. When I got into Chicago and used the restroom, I was absolutely amazed at the toilet seat covers that are automatic. I immediately thought of Bea and how much she would freak out over them and not dare use the toilet in that airport. It was quite interesting. I'm glad to be home, needless to say, where things are somewhat normal and we are getting ready for the holidays.

And I was so happy to at least have my iPod. I hate to bring up the iPod again, but about 30 minutes into my flight there, it froze up. Then it died when the battery ran out. And I am scared to plug it in to recharge to only find out that the iPod died a slow death on the way to Chicago...Another update will be necessary.