.....My So Called Life...

A Career Change

2012-02-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

In November, I left CK Ent., the clothing manufacturer that I had worked at for almost 7 years and took a job, and career change at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Yes, I doubled my commute (some days triple), but it has been well worth it.
I was able to get in a carpool with Aaron's brother and his coworker who work about Ten minutes from me, which has really paid off, and makes the commute a lot easier to swallow.
The job is, what I like to call, a Glorified Secretary. However, the exact title is Administrative Assistant III. The "III" is important, as there are three levels of Administrative Assistants, and Three is the highest (woo hoo). Anyway, I work at the National level in the Service Quality sector, which oversees all Kaiser hospitals and medical centers. It's a pretty neat thing, to see all of this in action, and the pride that Kaiser takes in the health care industry. I am a "kaiser lifer" as I like to call myself, being as that I have never had another medical plan other than one with Kaiser. To be able to be a part of making a difference within the Kaiser system, is so awesome, as I get to be a part of implementing change, as well as be a receiver of that change.
So enough with the business stuff, here's the important thing- look the view from my desk!

View of San Francisco

Funny!

2012-02-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

So I know this is about two months late, however, it is worth posting.
Each year we go to the Kipperman's DIY White Elephant Exchange. Every year we all seem to get more and more creative. Sometimes we end up with awesome things, sometimes we end up with duds and sometimes we end up with slightly inappropriate things...like we did this year! Aaron won the "boob" scarf set. A his and her's original. Slightly in bad taste, but honestly, I could not resist posting them!

Made by Erin Taylor!

More fun pictures

2012-01-05T20:08:00.001-08:00

Just some cute pictures I took of Elijah on my new iPad!!!

I fixed it!

2011-10-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Well- Do you actually remember me, let a lone the fact that I have my own blog? HAHA After numerous emails about A. a website takeover of my blog and B. threats on my livihood for not posting in, oh two months....I am finally back and the blog is up in pristine condition.

I cannot, however, promise daily, weekly or even every other week updates on here. What I can promise though is, a new posting for today, and, if you are lucky, I will come up with something for next week as well.

Here is the content for today's blog posting:

ERIN KIPPERMAN RINGS THE NASDQ BELL ON WALL STREET!!!!
Last weekend, my best friend, Erin Kipperman was selected from thousands of contestants at her company, Life Technologies, to ring the NASDQ bell. We all turned on the TV bright and early at 6:30 am west coast time to watch it all go down and........were sorely dissappointed when NONE of the local or even CNN or MSNBC carried the NASDQ opening!!!! We found out later that it was on CNBC- the one station that all but one of our friends watched! Erin came over last night however and shared a youtube link with me that shows the whole entire ringing of the bell ceremony. Check her out in the video below. Please more the time thing to about 6 minutes in, otherwise you will be sufficiently bored in all the heady science talk stuff (at least I think that is what the COO was talking about, I didn't watch it, I just fast forwarded to see Erin.). Erin is the short girl in front with the WHITE legs. Don't tell her I said that, she told me she chose the WRONG color of stockings that morning. This is the girl who is always proud of her Italian Tan (no not snookie).

To Vicki's We Go!

2011-08-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Open Road

Last weekend we took a trip up to see Vicki! We had such a great trip!!! I had never been to McCloud so we started out Saturday with lunch in a historical restaurant in the California logging town of McCloud. Then drove about an hour over to Burney Falls which Aaron had never seen. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Aaron thought the falls were magnificent and proclaimed that upon our next visit he would jump in to the freezing cold water! haha!
On our way back to Vicki's we all decided that our next visit will take us to the McCloud River Falls, of which there are three, so we will have to pick one to go to. We are already looking forward to that trip!
Here are some pictures of our outing!

Vicki, Me, E, & Aaron

Pretty Song

2011-08-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

The same wedding I was talking about earlier in the week, the one in North Lake Tahoe this past weekend had some of Aaron's brothers, namely David and James as part of the wedding party. The bride's sister was her maid of honor, and unbeknownest to us, also a song writer. She had written a song her Sarah and Kenny and asked James to play the guitar (he is a VERY good guitarist). I was able to catch the whole thing on video. I didn't test the sound on it, so hopefully you can hear it.

P.S. This was Elijah's first wedding and he did AMAZING! No crying...and no sleeping (dang it!). He was definitely a side-line focal point!

Super Cute Wedding

2011-08-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went up to North Lake Tahoe for a wedding. I have to say this is one of the cutest wedding's I have been to in quite some time. The thought that was put in to all the details was extrodinary! Sarah and Kenny (yes, Kenny had a part in this) such a great job invisioning this wedding, keeping it on a budget and making everything come together in the most amazing way. Here are the details that we got to live, for one wonderful evening!

The Roaring Thunderhead coming over the Mountains...it poured all of two drops of rain. No kidding!

The Groomsmen's getup

The Bouteniers

The cake table made out of old picture frames

The Center Pieces...each one was different, this was my favorite one

Directions! Love this!

Grab a glass...

...And Name It!

The Card Cage (great idea!) and Guest Book Table

And Finally the hanging picture Frames in the wood.! People took pictures in them, it was so neat!

Sleep!

2011-06-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Being a new mom means "no sleep". This is ok until you have to go back to work, like I did last week. Let me just say though, that is wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.- Thank God. I checked in with Aaron once or twice a day, and the rest of the time I was busy getting my feet wet and back in the saddle. I think, in all reality, the transition was a little harder for Aaron than for me. I think he was pretty pooped, and overwhelmed. I think it was Wednesday when I came home and he said "There was so many things I wanted to do today, but I just didn't know when [Elijah] was going to cry, so I did nothing". HAHAHA I just had to laugh. I think he has the hang of it now. Thursday he had a nice full day: They went to coffee in the morning and then the Hardware store (where any respectable father and son would go on an outing together) and then I think we went out to dinner!
Ok back to the sleep thing, because I just have to share with you how proud I am of myself and my son! Of the last 12 nights we have had 7 nights with Elijah "sleeping through the night" Granted this does NOT mean that he slept 10 hours or even eight for that fact, but 5-6 hours! That is an accomplishment! If I can wake up at 4 or 5 am not not 2 or 3 am AND 5 am, I am a happy camper! The real accomplishment though was this weekend when E slept 11-5 two nights in a row without me having to get up to even re-swaddle him!
And just when I thought we had a routine down and this kid would sleep through the night EVERY night....he woke up at 3:15 am this morning- bright eyed and bushy tailed and decided that he was going to stay up and coo to himself until 4:30- UGH!

Back to Work!

2011-06-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well ladies and Gentlemen, it's that time. 10 weeks (8 with Elijah and 2 prior to his arrival) have flown by. I knew it would come fast, but I couldn't fathom just how fast they really would be. The most scary thing is that Elijah is 2 months old (well Thursday he will be, but in weeks he is 2 months today- Friday)! They say when you have kids time seems to fly even faster, well they are right! Now it's only 8 months until he is one year! UGH! Let's not think about that, I am really enjoying him as a baby!

So. Back to Work. This comes with a ton of emotions. Some excitement, for stepping back in to life prior to Elijah, but mostly discontentment. I knew it would be difficult to go back to work and each day leading up to now I have felt that even more. I realize that millions of women do this, but I truly wonder how it is that they do do it?

I am tired, especially in the mornings (and you all know I am not a morning person) and have been dozing off for an hour or two while E sleeps. So how on earth am I going to function at work?! Three shots of Espresso before I go in and at lunch?! It will be as bad or worse than the first trimester of pregnancy when I would go sleep in my car during lunch break and drag my butt back in to work each afternoon wishing for my nice, warm, comfy bed!

Not only am I tired, but I don't want to miss any of Elijah's "firsts". I got to see him smile for the first time back in May and I don't want to miss his first laugh, or crawl, or step or anything!

The best thing though is that Aaron is here to watch him. So I know he is in good hands and that he is bonding with "daddy" which is super special.

So that is that. I am going back to work on Monday. Wish me luck people, I will need it!

I officially feel old...

2011-06-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

I am back on the courts again, playing tennis competitively! I can't tell you how eager I was to get the all clear from the Doctor and was ecstatic when she told me at four weeks post-baby that I could get back out there! So I have played a total of three matches so far; won two and lost one, I'd say that is pretty darn good!
So here is why I feel old...Last night I played against a 22 year old. Once I beat her (HA-HA!), we chatted and she said it was nice to play someone younger (awe :) Then she told me her age and I told her mine. She was like "Oh you don't look that old" (That old?!) She continued "People think I am 16 and I guess that will be a compliment when I am like 30" (WHAT?! I am almost 30, broad!) "but it's not now". Anyway... I guess the thing that really got me was the "30" comment. When you are 22 it seems "SOOOOO OLD" but when you are 28 it seems "SOOOO YOUNG" at least, that is how I feel! haha!
Oh well, just the first of many "old" comments that I am bound to hear....I guess it is just payback for all those times I gave my parents a bad time about "how old" they were. ;)

I needed to add a picture, and this was a cool one our friend took the other night.

The Long Lost Maternity Photos

2011-05-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

I had to wait a while to put these up, as A. I needed the disc and B. I needed to wait for the photographer to get them published on some Maternity/Baby blog. So here are some of our fave's from the Maternity Photoshoot March 3rd 2011. I hope you enjoy them!

P.S. Elijah's First Photo Shoot Coming Soon To http://www.demersclan.blogspot.com/.

DeMers Family Sing Along...Play Along....something like that!

2011-05-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

We ended our fab. mother's day over at the Family's house. All the kids got together and started playing different instruments to fun tunes. Tim decided he would try to play two, then three instruments at one time. Needless to say it was fun and funny!!! Here is a clip!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well I had my first mother's day this past Sunday! How neat! It really didn't feel like I was a mother, but I will come to grips with that! haha!
My Dad and Aunts and Uncles went in on a BEAUTIFUL Floral arrangement to honor me, which was so sweet! I just had to share it, because it was that pretty!!!
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!

Introducing Elijah Jameson

2011-04-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Elijah Jameson on his birthday

Well...it has been quite a while since I have been on to post anything. I am sure you have all given up on me, but I am home now and hope to be able to put a little something up at least every few days.
I know when some of you out there had your kids, I couldn't get enough of new pictures as in a lot of cases I have had to watch your kids grow up through pictures, due to distance. I promised myself that when I had children I would be really diligent about posting pictures. It's definitely not that I don't have the time, it's the motivation- however, I will try my best to stand by my word!
In case you are not all that interested in seeing 50 million pictures of our child, fear not, I will reserve this blog for our family life and I have set up a whole new blog dedicated solely to Elijah- for those of you who care to see new pictures constantly! Click Here to See it: DeMersClan.blogspot.com Make sure you subscribe to the blog so you can be notified via email when a new post goes up, that way you won't have to keep checking back.

So here are the stats on our new arrival:
Elijah Jameson DeMers
April 15th 2011
8:42 am (via C-section)
8 lbs 15 oz
20" long

P.S.- He was posted on the Le Top Blog Today if you care to check him out just click the link. He was 3 days old in the picture on the le top blog.

P.P.S- I write for the Le Top Blog a lot and thought that you all might be interested in seeing some of the articles I have posted there- most are about my pregnancy, but there are some other fun articles in there too! Click Here to read my articles: http://letopusa.wordpress.com/author/kristinatletop/

The Pool

2011-04-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Alrighty Here it is, the official Baby Pool! So far we have two loosers, soon to be three! haha!
No sign of contractions yet...I think it might be a quiet week, which is fine by me since it is my first week off of work! YAY!!!!

What Would Happen If...

2011-04-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

...You Put Kristin and Aaron together and they made a baby.... this would happen!!!!

Our mouth full of teeth, cross eyed child! hahaha!

Just a few more days...weeks?... we soon shall see what the final product really looks like!!

Water.Org

2011-03-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

This weekend I sat down with my friend Joslyn and she shared with me a bit about an organization that is close to her heart called water.org. This organization is backed by actor Matt Damon and raises money to provide clean well water to third world nations. $25 will provide a child with a lifetime supply of clean drinking water. $5,000 will provide an entire village with clean drinking water for life!

In her effort to support this wonderful charity she has decided to make greeting cards, buying the supplies with her own money and selling them for $5 a piece or $25 for a set of 6 cards. They are beuatifully put together and the entire amount of your donation goes to water.org.

Please take a minute to check out www.wellwishes.net, Joslyn's fundraising site, part of the www.water.org organization.

Thank you!!

Kristin

Baby Pool

2011-03-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Thought I would post another link to the Baby Pool here and the Pay Pal link for payment of your guess.

If you would like, just put your guess in the comment field and pay with the pay pal link. I will put your guess down on the master calendar, please make sure to pay as your guess will not win if you have not paid.

Here again are the stipulations:

· $5 per guess.

· Pick the Day and Time. (Put time in 5 minute intervals)

· Send a check to me, or drop off the money or use the PAY PAL link above!

· Pool closes March 22^nd. (My Due Date is April 13th)

· Winner takes all! J

Aaron the model

2011-03-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share this blog that Aaron was featured on. Being laid off has it's benefits as he was available for Erin T's photoshoot for her company this day!

Click here to see all the pictures from that day!
http://ruffledblog.com/galleries/rustic-rehearsal-dinner-photoshoot/

Birthday number 28!

2011-03-08T14:29:00.001-08:00

The best husband in the world brought his very pregnant bride a beautiful orchid on her birthday! Now the question is, can I keep it alive?!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Another picture finally

2011-02-07T17:46:00.001-08:00

Sorry it has been so long sonce I have uploaded a picture. A lot has been going on and with aaron working nights the past five weeks I.thought I would be this diligent blogger sending updates every night but I found myself doing other things around the house such as cooking and cleaning among a multitude of other stuff. Now aaron is off and I finally have time for a quick update. So here is your 30.5 week picture.
Love kristin!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

What She Cooks?

2011-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

I know, you can't believe your eyes right? Indeed I am becoming a good domesticated wife! With Aaron working a really crappy schedule and all the time, I figured I could step it up a knotch and start cooking for him and I. I guess it also helps that cooking saves money and is a much healthier alternative to eating out.

So I thought I would share with you what I have been cooking the past week. Forenote All Meals Have Been FANTASTIC! I haven't screwed up yet....though I guess there is a time for everything- I am sure that is not too far off! haha!

Monday: Burritos
Tuesday: Pizza Bread
Wednesday:....ok we ate out....
Thursday: Chicken Curry and Rice (probably my favorite meal ever)
Friday: .....left overs.....
Saturday:....Ok, left overs again
Sunday: Burgers....but Dad cooked them! haha! I prepared them though!

Ok so I didn't cook every night of the week but three of 7 is good right? So far this week I cooked...ok ok, it's one night, but I have BIG plans for this week, I should be cooking most nights this week...save for tomorrow night, Pizza Take Out.

Oh and guess what? I have a new picture for you! I was in the dressing room at ross and I thought "perfect time to take a picture!"

Free Calendars!

2011-01-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Found this cool site care of Coolmompicks.com and thought I would share it with you! Download the calendars and enjoy!!

http://www.redstamp.com/2011calendars/

Slapped on the Hand by more than one person!

2011-01-04T19:53:00.000-08:00

Alright Already! I know 4 weeks have gone by and nothing- NOTHING- from me (first hand slapping- thank you vicki)! I am terrible. I even took an 11 day vacation, where I spent a good deal of time at home and I still didn't write anything - although, it was on my to-do list. So here's the latest:

A Picture I took myself.
I am 6.5 months along, in technical terms 26 weeks tomorrow. woot woot!
I have gained 23 lbs (second hand slapping- thank you doctor)...of which I am supposed to gain 25-35 of....so I am on the very high end of the weight gain spectrum hence the hand slapping by the doctor
I have been cleared for Gestational Diabetes and Anemia- meaning I DONThave them THANK THE LORD...whatever would I have eaten?!

Now for the details.

1.Picture I took myself. Well, I had one that aaron took, but it was AWFUL, so you will have to live with this one!
2. It is so nice to say that I am 6.5 months along...that means that we are nearing the end! hip hip hooray! 2 more weeks until we enter into the third trimester! The baby is kicking harder and harder every day. It's definitely proving it's gymnastic skills and soccer skills! It's amazing to really feel the body of the baby now. I can feel the bones in a way as it scrapes across my stomach.

3. I had my 25 week check up last week and it turns out that I am up in weight a little more than I should be at this point. The doctor gave me a hand slapping and said that the next visit I should only aim to gain 5 pounds. She said "no ice cream, non fat milk only, no flavored yogurt and excercise more." OOOOOK. The Ice Cream thing I can curb....the flavored yogurt maybe harder, but the non-fat milk ? In the famous words of Mrs. Tim the Tool Man Taylor "I don't think so Tim!" I wil compromise though- 1% milk it will be :)

4. At my last appoitment they tested me for Gestational Diabetes. Honestly I was a little worried. With my sweet tooth, and lately it has been on high volume, I thought there was a chance that I would get it. They made me drink this orange drink in 5 minutes. It was like drinking a sweeter version of Orange Slice Soda. So it wasn't too bad. It all came out good in the end. No Diabetes, and a little bit of a wake up call for a healthier diet....today I had a salad for lunch :)

I am sure that is enough reading for you. If this was my sister's post I would comment to her that it was WAY too long. So I will sign off, and will assure you that I will try to write more...soon.

Kristin-

p.s. Once the baby comes I will start posting things about it on a new blog! Stay Tuned!

21 Weeks

2010-12-02T20:21:00.000-08:00

This week I hit the 21 week mark. Just past the half way mark! We had an ultrasound last week, which was really neat. I had a check up today and the doctor said the baby's head was perfect sized, smaller than the belly and the legs, which will be a good thing for me further down the road....I assume she meant at the Big D (that's Delivery to you). Everything looks healthy and it's growing great.

Some of you have been begging for a picture of me. I made aaron take one tonight, but please note, it just started raining and my hair is suffering the consequences...not to mention it's the end of the day and I look like crap and bad lighting doesn't help. Anyway, take it in, because clearly I am bad at this picture taking thing right now.

Love

Kristin

What Did I Miss?

2010-11-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

I am well on my way to getting around the Baby Registry. I am sure this will be fun, but like I said in my last post, I have some research to do. In order to prepare for that research I figured I needed a check list, which again I told you I could barely find. I took the Berkeley ladies' list and made it into a spread sheet- much easier for a Type A like myself. You moms out there- did I miss anything on this list? Let's just call this the Official, Unofficial Baby Registry Check List. Add on in the comments section and I will update the list. Maybe someone out in cyber land will find it useful!

Click the link below to go to the spread sheet:

The Official, Unofficial Baby Registry Check List

Ok Too Funny!

2010-11-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family!

This week we found out the Gender of our forthcoming baby! If you have not heard the news yet, text or call me. I can't publish it here, because I promised my Gram that I would do everything in my power to make sure she did not know what it was....at her request of course! I think this might be a difficult next four months, on the blog, but I will do my best to not reveal the gender on here. And you do the same in the comments section! - Thank you!

Ok so since we found out the gender of the baby, the next step is to complete a registry. Gram, don't look at my registries because I think I will definitely give the gender of the baby away on there. Ahem, back on track- so I started researching for the registry. I HATE research, but ok, this is probably one of the top 5 research projects I will need to do...and hopefully only once.

Being a First-Time-Mom, I have little idea what it is that I am going to need, and how much of the stuff I need to register for. When we registered for the wedding 4.5 years ago all the stores supplied you with a check list, you could find a checklist on almost any wedding website, and it was a breeze....not so in baby land! Do you know I have not found one stinking checklist online? I am floored. So today I googled "what do I need to register for for a baby shower". Amazingly I got a half decent run down on a "mommy blog" based out of Berkeley, CA....not as earthy as I thought, and covered pretty close to everything. Here's the kicker....one link said "Hands-Free Pumping Bra", I thought "novel, I wonder what that looks like?" So I clicked.....

....AND ENDED IN A FIT OF LAUGHTER!!!!!!!!

Hope you got a good laugh out of that too!

Love
Kristin

"Hello John? Yes, how are you doing to day?"
"Great, Thanks Gretta"
"John, I am going to need those TPS reports on my desk by tomorrow"
"Sure Gretta, but can you tell me what that swishing noise is in the back ground? Where are you?"
"Uhhh......"

OOO Pretty!

2010-11-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures I snapped on the road... is that illegal?

Poppin Out

2010-11-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, most have you have seen this picture already, but I thought I would do a little post to log my progression.

I really wanted to continue where my mom had left off in her pregnancy/post pregnancy journal that she started for me and made about 4 months in to my life with. Admirable effort, especially since I haven't written one word in it... My poor children. Anyway, I thought since we are now in the digital era that I would scribble here on the blog instead...and a little differently. Where my mom wrote to me, I will write to you, but it should be fun for them to page through someday, right? I guess if we have boys they won't care, girls on the other hand might take a little interest.

Ok enough with that. The picture posted is at 4.5 months along with, of course, our first.
Today is the 16th of November and in just 8 days we will find out the 50-50 question that has been plaguing us all these past 4.75 months- BOY or GIRL (Gram I will try to spare you the knowledg of this event)...or as Mom, Colleen and my co-worker Brenda think- Twins!
DISCLAIMER: In the initial sonogram there was only one. At the 16 week check up we only heard one heart beat, so my guess is that we will not be surprised by a #2 in there, that there will only be one. BUT Aaron is still holding out for a second.

...more to come

A Very Late Halloween!

2010-11-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, yes, this is very delayed. My laptop went down, which is where I have been contucting these blog postings from. Tonight, with a wish and a prayer, I turned it on and lo and behold it started it up without a glitch. It is running a little slow, but I will take slow over not working at all.

My dad called the day of Halloween and asked me to pick up some pumpkins for the house....have you ever gone pumpkin hunting on the day of Halloween? My advice, DON'T! I went to five grocery stores and found two Cinderella pumpkins and three miniture organic pumpkins, and that was it! I felt lucky at that!

Also, a note on Cinderella pumpkins, they don't smell like a regular pumpkin inside. It's more like a typical gord or squash smell. Not unpleasant, but not the nostalgic pumpkin smell. They are also really soft, so on the upside, easier to clean out. Lastly, they are so squatty that you really don't have too many choice on design. Hence why mine look like this!

After it was all said and done, it was super fun to carve 5 pumpkins. They looked so neat all lit up...once it got dark. We had about 30 trick-or-treaters, not too many, but enough to feel satisfied. All in all a great Halloween....I just miss getting to be the trick-or-treater...maybe next year we will take the baby out- hahaha just kidding!

Having a Little Fun Figuring Things Out.

2010-10-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up and decided there were some things that needed cleaned, organized and put together around the house. I have only been up for an hour and a half and I have- cleaned the shower, taken a shower, done two loads of laundry, picked up the office, organized (well half organized) the finance book, cleaned up the coffee table, and my favorite....put the clean padding on the carseat!

I was having a little trouble with the harnesses on the carseat, one was a bit looser than the other. So I decided "I need a body in this thing". I have my three favorite dolls from growing up, stuffed away in the guest closet: Baby, Kathryn That Can Walk (don't ask), and Rainbow Brite. Since baby is about the size of a 3lb preemie I immediately knocked her out, Rainbow Brite is about the size of a 3 month old, so I thought she was too big. It turns out that Kathryn That Can Walk is pretty close to a newborn size (probably about a 6 or 7 lb size (at least that is what I guessed).

I took K.T.C.W. and put her in the car seat. With some menuevering and a lot of yanking and pulling I finally got the dang thing even and taught on both sides. K.T.C.W looks so cute in the seat now! I think I might just have to keep her in there for a while! hahaha! Aaron will probably think this is creepy when he wakes up. oh well! hahaha

I'm BAAAACCCCKK!!!!

2010-10-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Wow...after a VERY long hiatus (sorry vicki), I am finally back, and hope to be (fingers crossed) a good blogger, staying consistant in my posts!

The last time I posted was in July and little did Aaron and I know, but we had a big surprise waiting for us that month. On August fifth we found I was/am PREGNANT! What an exciting event! This, ladies and gentlemen, is one main reason why I have been so bad! No I don't have an excuse like "I was vomiting left and right and good barely drag my butt out of bed" becuase I had a great first trimester, with no sickness (enter all the women of the world who struggled with this, letting out a loud "DANG THAT WOMAN!!!"). Honestly though, there is a reason why I wasn't sick and I am sure it's because God knew that I would have been the most miserable person to deal with. I don't throw up...well at least not in recent history and so to think about that being a daily occurance frightens me, and then I let out a big sigh of relief and thank God that I did not have to deal with that. Whew!

Onward- we are approaching week 16 here (yes I know time is flying...yeah right I wish!) which means another check up on Tuesday morning and hopefully the scheduling of the sonogram that will (fingers crossed again) determine the sex of the baby! !!!!! !!!! !!!!! AHH! I am so excited! I have been a lot more pacient about this coming event than I thought I would be however, it still sits in the back of my mind...or the front, as everyone is starting to ask "what are you having?" - 'I don't know yet' - "Do you have a prefernce as to what you want?" - 'Nope, neither of us do, we see great characteristics in either gender, so we are equally excited for both!' Is my typical answer.... then of course the very next question is "When are you going to find out?" Well people, we are hoping that we will know right around Thanksgiving! Isn't that perfect?!!! I am thinking that we are going to be hush on it until our traditional "what are your thankful for this year", table rounding on that Thursday. I think I will make everyone else say something first and demand that we are last! MOOHAHHAHA MOOHAHAHAH! (enter Dr. Evil) hahah!

Ok that is way too much for you to read, so I will sign off for now.

Peace Out!

Inception

2010-07-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Gstatic.com

Last night Aaron and my dad and I went to see Inception, the new Leo DiCaprio flick. Can I just say it was AMAZING! Definitely a movie that you need to see, and in the theatre for that matter. Christopher Nolan directed the film and did a fantastic job of keeping us on the edge of our seat through out the movie. This is definitly a "thinking" movie, something that keeps your mind active throoughout. Aaron said the ending was the best ending that he has seen in a long time as well. After we left the theatre I kept thinking about the movie, that is when you know you saw a great film, when you are still thinking about it after you have left, and on in to the next day. I give 5 flaming redheads! woo hoo!!!

Hiatus

2010-06-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

My storage space on this blogging platform has been maximized, which means I can blog but I can't include pictures (unless I link them)....how boring! So the 10 other blogs that I have all written up, but with no pictures won't be posted until i can figure out a way to get more space or link my pictures from a picture server. Anyway, that is a lot of technical stuff, but just wanted to let you know why you aren't seeing more posts.

To Space hold for today I have put in a little offer from Travel Zoo that is really tugging at me... I WANT TO GO TO GREECE TOO!!!! (My sister just got back from a week's holiday in Greece, so I am a bit jealous...not to mention on top of that she gets to live in Europe- ugh!).

$1249 -- Greek Islands & Athens Vacation incl. Cruise & Air*

She's Back!!!!

2010-06-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

About four months ago our dear friend Davina left to go home for an undisclosed amount of time. Most of you think "home? so that's like down the street, or across the state right?" WRONG! D is from Germany! SHE LEFT US HERE 5K (errr...whatever) MILES AWAY!

Davina called me about a month ago and planned surprise return! Here was the best reaction to her surprise return: my future sister in law (wedding number three this summer...)- awesome!

Sailing...

2010-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I was running behind, trying to get our weekly ultimate frisbee pick up match. I took the standard marina drive to the field and on the way I saw a million sailboats going by! So I had to take th opportunity to capture them on film. I sailed right past the freeway on ramp and took the high road up to the look out where I could take a few more pics (oh yeah I stopped and took a few pictures at the marina too...) needless to say i was a tad...ok 20 minutes late to our frisbee pick up game...however I got these great pics!!!!

And So It Begins....

2010-06-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

...This was the first of the Pre-Wedding celebrations- Kristin G.'s Bachelorette Party!

We had a blast at the A's baseball game which was definitely Kris's cup-of-tea! She loved being able to root on her team and celebrate her pre-nuptuals with us girls. And to boot, the A's won! woot woot...Now if only we had been at the game the next day, we would have got to witness the 19th ever no hitter ever. Oh well we made our own memories that are lasting a la the obnoxious guys you can hear in the background of the "baseball anthem".

vick- ;) thanks for spurring me on to keep writing these! - Love you

Coming Soon...

2010-06-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

A new Post coming tonight, and hopefully a whole lot more to follow. Check back tonight or tomorrow morning... woo hoo!

I know Vicki is jumping up and down!

Erin's Shower

2010-05-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

So I am the MOH of Erin S. wedding (I told her I don't want to be called the Matron of Honour because it sounds too old! So we are just going with MOH). Sunday was my dutiful day to throw her a shower. Let me tell you, leading up to Sunday was a whirlwind...especially EVERYDAY last week. Today I woke up and thought, I need the weekend back!
Never the less, we had a TON of F-U-N! What a shower it was! The color scheme was Purple Green and Pink (see invitation). Jos put together AMAZING floral arrangements (no I don't have a picture) and we had a fantastic spread of food and drink! Let me mention the most important part (no not Erin) THE DRINKS! This was a "Cocktails in the Garden" kind of shower and so our list included (from weakest to strongest) Water infused with cucumber and strawberries (no, not alcoholic vodka infused ones), Lavender Lemonade (straight lemonade, no alcohol again you alchies!), Coppola Family Rosso and Bianco wines (YES! THERE IT IS, THE A-A-A-Alcohol....look it up it's a song- probably not a good one, so forget about looking it up!), and The Signiture drink Erin's Signiture Chambord-Grey Lemon Drop. Here's the recipe cuz I know you are dying to know it!
3 parts Lemonade (we used country time)
1 part Vodka (Grey Goose- nothing but the best- YEAH MAMA C!)
1 splash Chambord (MMMMMM!)
Anyway the party was a hit. Here some pics of Mama C, Erin and I. Nate's video is coming maybe later this week if I get to it! This is the first night I have had nothing to do...it's kind of nice. BUT tomorrow is the continuation of the Shoe Saga for the Brides Maid Dresses...hey I am not complaining, any shopping is good shopping!

For Vicki....

2010-05-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

....So this is not about me, however, my coworker sent me this video today and I thought "Oh my gosh I have to share this with everyone I know!" Ladies and Gentlemen you are looking at a star in the making. This boy sings the song better than the performing artist Lady Gaga. Hands down I would much rather listen to him than her! (Make sure to watch the related videos too!)

Introducing Greyson Chance:

Tennis Anyone?

2010-04-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

I played my first two tennis matches since high schoool on Sunday and Monday. Like my doubles partner said "there is only one direction you can go when you start, and thats up". So I took her adage and went with it. We won our first match on Sunday morning 6-4, 6-1....only to be overcome last night at Vacaville in a match that we lost 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Ugh! As my tennis coach in high school said to me, when i played for him "Play your game. Don't let them get in you head." Those words i repeated over and over to myself as i dug myself deeper and deeper into our opponents head game....WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! I just couldn't manage to brush them off as well as the mistakes I was making. So now we are back to my partners wise words "the only place to go is up, from here!"

Give up your toaster, coffee maker and pants- the ipad is here.

2010-04-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Anothe Fabulous Article (or blurp as last posted) by the Satirical Simon Dumenco (taken from AdAge.com). Thought I don't agree with him, I do think this is one of the funniest pieces of I have read in a while. Eat it up you Mac lovers!

Why the IPad Has Inspired Me to Give Up My Toaster, My Coffeemaker, My Pants

Want to Be a Pathetic, Passive, Compliant Consumer? There's an App for That

By Simon Dumenco

Published: April 12, 2010

I feel like such an idiot. Here I thought I understood consumer satisfaction -- especially my own consumer satisfaction -- but I was wrong.

It all started with the iPad. On April 3, I bought one and fell in love with it. Or thought I fell in love with it.

Among the iPad's cruel seductions: It's incredibly easy to use. The 10-plus-hour battery life and the fact that there's no boot-up lag from its idle mode make a huge difference. And though it's primarily a media-consumption device (as advertised), I've had no trouble sending the same sort of basic content out of my iPad (e.g., e-mails, tweets and documents) that I pump out of my lumpen laptop.

But it turns out I was duped. Last week, iPad in hand, I got around to reading an essay by Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow titled "Why I Won't Buy An iPad (and Think You Shouldn't, Either)," which was actually published the day before the iPad's release. Doctorow, in slamming the iPad's "infantilizing hardware" and tightly controlled apps ecosystem, wrote that "The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a 'consumer,' what William Gibson memorably described as 'something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide. ... It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth ... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote.'"

Doctorow's anti-iPad manifesto was a throwing down of the gauntlet -- which plenty of other media types have since picked up. Like Jeff "BuzzMachine" Jarvis, who, in a Business Insider post titled "I'm Really Worried About What Apple Is Trying To Do With The iPad," wrote, "I see danger in moving from the web to apps. The iPad is retrograde. It tries to turn us back into an audience again." And he hates that the iPad has no USB ports. (To get stuff in or out of an iPad, you have to do it wirelessly or via cable.)

Reading more and more criticism of the iPad, tears began to drip out of my eyes. I looked around my double-wide (OK, actually my fifth-floor walk-up in Manhattan's East Village) with disgust -- mostly directed at myself. What a pathetic, passive, compliant consumer I've become! Like, over there, in the kitchen: my incredibly easy-to-use Senseo coffeemaker, which I thought I loved. But it only accepts certain kinds of coffee pods. How devious! And my sleek Braun toaster: Sure, it can accommodate sliced bread and bagels, but could I cook a pot roast with it? No! Does it have a camera? No!

I knew I would have to continue inventorying all the other sad little self-defeating choices I've made as a consumer, but I was so filled with rage that I resolved to first get my toaster and coffeemaker out of my life immediately. So, with the intent of bringing them, along with my iPad, down to the trash, I reached to pull some clothes onto my dickless, boiled-potato body. But then, jeans in hand, it struck me: only two ports for limbs! How ridiculously limiting!

Death to Levi's! Death to Senseo! Death to Braun! Death to Apple!

And don't get me started on the whole indoor-plumbing racket, what with those fixed pipe sizes and condescendingly simple handles and faucets and such.

Death to Kohler, too!

~ ~ ~
Simon Dumenco is the "Media Guy" media columnist for Advertising Age. You can follow him on Twitter @simondumenco. The latest Ad Age Insights white paper -- "Dumenco's State of the Media Report: From Social Media to Search, Print, Broadcast and Beyond, Where Ad-Supported Media Stands Now and Where It's Going" -- is available right here.

I hate Twitter

2010-04-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from Simon Dumenco's latest Trender Chart on AdAge.... I just love this!

"But I'm most entertained by Twitter itself trending once again, largely because of a brief service outage April 5, which caused Twitter addicts to go nuts -- and then tweet about how they coped with Twitter withdrawal, using the hashtag #whentwitterwasdown, once Twitter was back up. Sample tweets:

* I don't know what to do. One word: bored
* I was hoping they were busy clearing out the Beliebers. Sadly I was wrong.
* I cried
* I almost had a stroke
* I realized my phone did this other shit they call "Texting" a strange more primitive form of tweeting!
* I complained about it on facebook
* Wait...hold on... twitter was down?? Damn didn't notice... guess cuz I have a life"

And IIIIII,.....IIIIII....IIIIII....Will Always Love YOUUUUUU!!

2010-04-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ok this YOU HAVE TO SEE! Talk about a Male Susan Boyle:

Home School

2010-04-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know a lot of random stuff has been appearing on here lately, but you gotta take what you can get!

Today's feature home school for your little fishies!

April Fool's Week Post 3

2010-04-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ok you Tech Geeks, here is a good fool for the new iPad.
See the Website HERE

April Fool's Week Post 2

2010-04-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Starbizzle- ERRR Starbucks, got a little creative with thier new cup sizes:
Yes, I will have a Plenta Soy Latte no whip.

April Fool's WEEK!!!!

2010-04-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

A Week fool of April Full's!!! ERRR A Week FULL of April FOOL'S!

Being from California all I can do is sit back and laugh at those poor, gullible people in New York:
Check out the article HERE

Rediculous....

2010-03-26T08:47:00.001-07:00

ok, this is a little too stupid. It's right up there with UGG boots and mini skirts in the middle of a snowy winter:

DUMB!

2010-03-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Need I say Anything At All?
This stupid idea brought to you by Thrillist.com & by Thingstobuy

Parking Coo

2010-03-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Dont' you feel this way sometimes?
Click on the linke below and print this out for all those people who piss you off.

http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/give.html

Happy Friday!

March Madness

2010-03-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so in lieu of posting things about my life that have been happening for the past month, I keep finding these cool things that EVERYONE would be interested in, and not just those of you who are interested in the monotony of my every day life. In an Ode to March Madness starting this week, I have linked below to a different kind of madness, namely that of the muppets! Can you guess who I picked to take it all home?

Is it possible?

2010-03-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

OK SOMEONE TRY THIS AND LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS AND HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU:

HA-LARIOUS!

2010-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ok You gotta Watch this!

Valentines Note Cards

2010-02-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

Just found this on another Daily Candy email! I LOVE this! What a great idea. I love that they are in a basic typewriter font and their sayings are so cute!

Erin T. want to make some for me ;) Even better- this would be a great give-a-way for your site!!

The Toilet

2010-02-02T08:22:00.001-08:00

I was just reading Daily Candy this morning and saw this come across in one of their emails.

This is a Toilet Noise Maker, that Makes the sound of a toilet flushing for 25 seconds. Basically they say that if you are making some unmentionable noises you can block them out by pressing the button so the simulated sound of a flushing toilet is heard by those outside the bathroom door.

On the other hand what would people think if they heard two flushes instead of one?

Just shy of thirty

2010-01-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Erin T is 29 next year so she's got one more year before we get throw her an over the hill bash and the last year that she gets a normal birthday party. This year we took to the city for some kick'n food at beetlenut. If you know me you know I hate greens but I will scarf a whole plate of string beans from beetlenut ther ain't nothin greater! We ate so much and even tried (the over rated) punch bowl - next time we'll stick with our own drinks... Never the less we had a blast.
That weekend Aaron and his brothers and dad headed up to Reno to celebrate James' 21st birthday though they ALL lost their money, forfeited their hotel room, and came home the same say they left. I wouldn't exactly say they had fun, but a good time bonding on the 3 hour ride up and back.
Super fun... But I can't wait until next year when we get to celebrate the big 3-0... Rumor is we may be celebrating in the big apple!!!!

Click Here to see More Pictures from our Night Out!
Muah Muah - kristin

A Christmas tradition kipperman style

2010-01-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas season mike and jos throw a homemade gift white elephant party. Since they started this 8 years ago the gifts have gotten more and more creative. Last year Aaron and I decided what we would do for this years gift and for once we rembered what we were going to do when the time came around. Aaron and I love watching 30 rock on NBC, there's this guy in there that wears a hat that has an ever changing phrase on it so Aaron made his own version of that hat, it ended up being one of the most sought after gifts. Mine didn't do too bad either. I made a version of my late grandmother's half aprons, one I even sewed panties in to ha ha ha ha!
Jos made a movie poster from the Halloween Broke Back Mountain picture that Aaron and Paul took , to say the least it was hilarious!!!
Here's a look at some of the gifts - I ended up with the beer bong made by erin .

Click Here To View The Pictures!

Benefit Beauty Bash!

2010-01-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

Back in the fall, I entered my first facebook contest. It was for Benefit cosmetics. Well believe it or not, I won! The prize was a private party for me and 8 of my friends at the Benefit store in Berkeley. So I rounded up the troops from Nor Cal and So Cal and we all marched in for a fabulous time this weekend!

We were each given a service of our choice- eyelash tinting, eyebrow tinting or eye brow waxing/threading. I was a bit overzealous and went for both the eye lash tinting (I now have eye lashed that you can see!!!! I don't really have to wear mascara! woo hoo!) and eyebrow tinting (yay! no more eyebrow pencils!!!). We then got a full makeover along with enjoying wine (haha heather!!) and hors d' ouerves (spelling?). We had such a blast! (see pictures by clicking here)

Afterwards we headed out to dinner at a cute little american bistro called Venus and then on to a Dance Club in Walnut Creek called Vice.

Heather and Shauna took off after dinner to get home as heather was a little under the weather ;), but didn't end up getting home so quickly because they ran out of gas about a mile from my house!!! After numerous calls to only a handful of people they knew in the area, they finally tracked down Aaron, who came out and "saved them". Quite a night and one that we all remember for a very long time!

Muah Muah, Kristin

Here we come a caroling among the boys so tone def?

2010-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

The boys performed their annual caroling, mostly intoxicated, but I need not say anymore as this video will do it more than justice....

Merry Christmas ... A little late

2010-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our Christmas!

Muah Muah -kristin

And a little video of some family singing....

Reconnecting with Friends!

2010-01-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back our great friend growing up came back to town for a quick visit. Christine moved to Mexico to help out in an orphanage about 4 years ago. The result was her meeting the love of her life, a native Mexican- Antonio, and getting married to him. They now pastor a start up church in southern Mexico, about 10 hours from Cabo San Lucas. Christine and Antonio also had a baby girl about 18 months ago named Katherine and Christine is pregnant with baby #2, due early to mid March. We were so excited to get to host the Torre's once again, play with little Katherine who is just a hoot, and learn that they will be staying up here starting this month through April so Christine can have the baby here! SWEET!!!! We just love this family, and can't wait for more time with them!

Muah, Muah- Kristin

The Best News of the Month

2010-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

So my best friend got engaged this past weekend. It's been almost six years of waiting for the most important question to come up in Erin's life... Nate asked and Erin said YES!!!!! We are so so so excited...that makes four weddings for us for 2010 and we couldn't be happier. Congrats to our friends and family- Erin and Nate, Kaitlin and Paul, Amanda and Bill and Kris ad Derek!!!!

Muah, Muah- Kristin

A Full New Home!

2010-01-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

After Thanksgiving day, Aaron and I headed up to the Temecula Area to visit some of the girls from APU. Sara had brought Isabella down from Canada, and the day we arrived, so did her husband Matt. We had such a good time with everyone! Matt and Aaron took off one day, to hang at a local brewery (Aaron is brewing his own beer, and take a great interest in how other places do all that stuff) and Shauna, Sara, Isabella and I took to a little pre-Christmas shopping! Spending time with each other was so wonderful, and continues to remind of us of why we are all friends, and have stayed friends almost 5 years after college graduation.

The other reason we took a detour up to the Temecula area was becuse Shauna had just bought a new house!!! How exciting!! She has worked so hard these past 5 years and it has finally paid off. She is now the owner of a beautiful two story- four bedroom- two & a half bath- home, and has it fully outfitted!!! What a joy it was to get to share in the new step of her life, and her totally blessed home!

Muah, Muah- Kristin

The night before it's back to work

2009-12-27T20:19:00.001-08:00

broken promises again ...I am sorry. I really do have enough content to get us through 2 solid weeks and hopefully this coming week I will be able to schedule all of those for you. Keep staying tuned I will get them up...I promise...

Posting!!!

2009-12-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

Well no pictures, because my wednesday was consumed with wrapping and today was consumed with cooking (yes I cooked!!! and it tasted good!!). So by writing this, I have A. Kept my promise and B. promise to write another on Saturday, definitely.

Merry Christmas!!!!

What... You Don't Believe Me?

2009-12-21T08:08:00.001-08:00

I know I know. I promised you many many blogs. And I will renew my promise on Wednesday. From Wednesday night through Dec. 31st (that's an estimate), there will be a new blog up every day- I promise!

This time of year, things are so hectic...ok the past three months have been so hectic, I am sorry I am being a bad blogger!!!! I have lots of pictures and lots to share with you, so STAY TUNED!

A Sweet Suite!

2009-12-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend was a whirlwind to say the least (see the two posts ago about the 18.75 hour drive!). Aaron and I headed to LA on a two leg trip. We left Wednesday night at 8:00 pm to miss the traffic, which was very successful. We slept over in Bakersfield, and then got up Thursday morning to make the second leg of the trip to Palm Springs. My cousin Matt is a manager at The Riviera Resort & Spa and hooked us up with a room we would have had to be king's to have had in any other life!!!! It was absolutely shocking and wonderful. Matt gave us the royal treatment for sure, complete with a bottle of Champagne and Fruit Plate!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Of course we almost immediately opened the champagne and had a glass! Matt showed us all around the resort, and gave us the first class service. His Belllman was outstanding, a really neat and grateful guy, who raved about Matt, which is not hard to do (definitely a hard worker- 4 days in a row Matt worked a 12 hour shift including that day).

Anyway, I proceeded run around the room taking pictures and begging Aaron to get in them, because I know how much mom likes "people in pictures". But I lost the battle....

We had such a fantastic time. We worked out in there gym, Aaron ate breakfast at their fabulous restaurant, and we watched (ok I fell asleep) a movie bed....oh yeah! And I took a bath awwwwhhhhh- the life!!! THANKS MATT! WE HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME!!!!!

A Lot to be Thankful for

2009-12-07T18:13:00.001-08:00

This past Thanksgiving Aaron and I headed down to LA to spend some time with my Dad's side of the family (we also had an alterior motive to see the APU girls as well- but more to come on that subject). We had such a great time with them as always, and to make our time down there even better, my cousin who is a Manager of The Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, hooked us up with a totally huge pad (see posting "A Sweet Suite"). The food was great and the company even better. Here are a few pictures from our fabulous Thanksgiving:

Tea for Two...

2009-12-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

Finally, after almost a year, I took Erin for her 2008 Christmas present- Tea in the City! We went to lovejoys, which was quaint and delicious. Though our waitress was a little abrupt we still made the best of it. Erin and I don't venture out too much, so we started with regular English Breakfast tea, a drop of milk and two lumps of sugar. Our High tea consisted of four sandwich- Chicken Curry, Chicken Salad, Roast Beef with Horseradish, and finally hummus and ....oh dear... I think ham? Not sure. Erin did I miss something? Shoot! Oh well, close enough!

It also included a salad, two sugar cookies, and two raisin scones, served with "Strawberry Preserves" (smuckers strawberry jam Erin noticed while peeking into the kitchen on her way to the bathroom) and Double Devon Cream (also from a jar). If you wanted extra preserves or cream they charged you like 2.00 or something ridiculous. HAHA!

We finished the luncheon off with Afternoon Darjeeling tea, which was light and lovely. We had such a good time!!

Before we took tea we did a little shopping in the City. It was supposd to be some Christmas shopping, but quickly turned selfish as we both pretty much cleaned up. Erin bought a great coat and something else at H&M which was premiering the one time, exclusive release of Jimmy Choo designed clothing, foot wear, hand bags and accessories. We watched like patrons at a circus as the people went crazy for the stuff and like it was a food drop in a Somali village. I mean seriously these people were crazy! We were like "it's still too expensive for us too buy". $300.00 for a handbag, $60 for a belt.... I don't think so. Some girls let us look through the things they didn't want. Somehow I got stuck holding a hand bag and a belt. I looked at two girls going through their treasures and asked if they wanted either of the items in my hand, they declined but some guy took the belt. Then I took the 300.00 bag up to the counter and decided to ask one more time to another group of people if they wanted it. They also declined, but some other girl at the check out overheard me, whipped around (seriously) and litterally without looking at the bag screamed at me "I WANT IT, I WANT IT!!!!!!!!" I was like "ooookkkk it's yours" Erin and I had good laugh over that one! hahahahahaah!

After shopping and tea, we got a call from Erin's parents who happened to be volunteering with the Eagle Scouts in the city and invited us to dinner at Bucca Di Beppos. Great family style Italian food and HUGE beers! I was driving so I wasn't able to finish mine, but Erin gulped hers down, sucking dry the bottom....just kidding!! hahah!

All in all we had a really great day together. A much needed day together!!! It's amazing how old fartish we are all getting. Working takes a lot out of you, and the weekends aren't much better. Is there anywhere that believes in 3 day weekends every weekend, cuz I could really use that extra day to stay up with Friends like Erin, and get my other stuff done too!!!!!

Pooped!

2009-11-30T15:44:00.001-08:00

19- Number of hours we spent in the car this weekend

3- Number of places we spent the night this weekend

9- Number of people out our Thanksgiving table

6- Number of people Staying in Shauna’s new house

2- Number of completely pooped people from a long “vacation”

….More to come

Oh Baby!

2009-11-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

I would like to officially declare this a Baby Boom!

One of my best friends from college, who was married to one gorgeous hunk last October, has just informed me that she is pregnant~!!!! Megan is 8 weeks along and is due in early July (right around her Own Brithday!) We are all so excited for her and Aaron (Yes, another aaron!!!)

In most people's books , I was next on the list for an upcoming pregnancy, but like I have told you all, Don't hold your breath!
Thanks Meg for taking the spotlight off me for a while, I am so excited to celebrate YOUR pregnancy!

Love Kristin

The Blind Side

2009-11-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Just got back from seeing this movie! WOW!!!!! What a fabulous movie. If you have the chance to go see it, you must! I loved everything about this movie, but most of all I love that it is about real people. I identify a lot with Sandra Bullock's role, and only hope that my heart could be half as big as both Michael's and Leigh Ann's.

This is must see- Two unequivocal Thumbs Up!

Play by Play While You Pee - Advertising Age - MediaWorks Idea of the Week

2009-11-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Play by Play While You Pee - Advertising Age - MediaWorks Idea of the Week

For a more in-depth look at this Idea of the Week and other case studies, visit Ad Age and CMDglobal's Inspiration site.

Canadian sports radio station AM640 wanted to promote its live commentary of ice hockey games. To show fans how exciting audio can be, it installed a poster over a urinal that provides commentary of the person doing their business.

The radio station targeted a toilet it knew would be full of ice hockey fans -- the one at Air Canada Bowl. When a fan approached, an excitable commentary lifted from an ice hockey game -- but one equally applicable to taking a pee -- began to play. Lines such as "He's approaching the bowl" played in an audio clip culminating with an ecstatic cry of satisfaction from the commentator.

~ ~ ~
CMDglobal.com is the world's only creative-media resource. In addition to a searchable archive of the best media campaigns from across the globe, it includes articles and analysis on trends and best practices for media strategists.

Thank you to Adage for always impressive articles!!!

Aweeee.... Isn't He Cute!

2009-11-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had dinner at Pop's house with Davina, David and Kenny....and of course, Pop! Yummy flank steak, German garlic potato chips, Salad and Guac set our table! For desert we had warm apple pie A-La-Mode and Kenny made Eggnog Ice cream Cookie sandwich. MMMMMMM It was so yummy and filling that Aaron had to take nap on Davina's Floor, so she tucked him in with the stuffed puppy, and bunny and a nice warm blanky! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Revisiting Halloween

2009-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the Halloween that you haven't seen yet!

Our work put out a call to dress up, and though not too

many of our employees did, a few of us heard the call loud and clear! I was having a hard time figuring out what I was going to wear, so Thursday my coworker sent me home with two bags of costumes that her daughter (about my size and age) had kindly leant out to me. I found a great greek costume for both aaron and I to wear, but for a "work" atmostphere, I felt it was a little too revealing, so I was back to square one.

I dove in to our spare closet to see what I could find from my past halloweens and one by one I tried on every costume and stretch of a costume I could come up with from Army Chick to Indian Girl to Go Go dancer, and one by one I elimated the outfits as ei

ther too risque or too tight that I could not fit my self into it (gogo dancer, can-can girl, fairy- each more and more depressing as I realized just how much weight I have gained and how sickening'ly skinny I once was- dang I wish I had that body again!). So what did I end up with? Well the only thing that Really fit me....my Grandmother's Authentic 1984 L.A. Olympics Staff Jog Suit, by Levi's! If you couldn't already pick me out of a crowd, you sure wouldn't miss me now in this BRIGHT ORANGE & YELLOW Outfit. Hey, I made it work, and everyone loved it....not to mention it was totally comfortable, so there!

Ohhhhhhhhhhh...... You want to see Aaron and I in our Toga's? Well....... fine! Here you go!

(*Top Picture From Left to Right:

Diana- 80's Girl, Me- LA Olympic Staff, TC- Gypsy, Sarah- Sailor, Cxeng W/Charmie Dog- Clown, Robyn-Flapper Girl, Becky-Alice in Wonderland, Elena- The Travelocity Roaming Nomb!)

Happy Birthday Sean-Tay!

2009-11-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago we celebrated Sean T's 28th Birthday (man we are getting old!!!) He only had two requests. One was that we go to this brewing store and look into some brewing stuff so that he could brew his own beer like Aaron. We all walked out of there with one Honda Civic Trunk load of stuff! Aaron got a Pony Keg (google it if you don't know what it is), and Sean got a whole brewing kit and a Blonde Ale recipe. He and Aaron are going to set a date to brew another batch of beer (Aaron has completed one full batch and is waiting on a CO2 system to keg his second batch). I think Nate is now going to get in on this ....looks like we have our selves a regular Cheers! in the works!!!!
After we left the Brew Store, we met up with Erin & Nate, Andrew & Cassandra and Adam & Nicole at Speiskammer, and authentic german restaurant in Alameda. The food was DELISH! The staff was totally nice and accommodating and there was even a live band there! We had such a good time, eating good German food and drinking Great German Beer! This is definitely a place we will have to go back to, and next time take Davina (our German friend/family member)!

Nate & Erin...............................Adam & Nicole

Me & Aaron................................Erin & Sean

Erin & Sean.............................Andrew & Cassandra

A Dinner with the Kippermans

2009-11-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

So Now we are going to head back a week and touch on the great night we had the Kipperman's! Mike and Jos had us over for a great dinner (as always) and Aaron held the Baby practically the whole time....sounds like someone has the baby itch....good thing it is not me ! hahahaha!

Here are some great pictures of the night a great video of Justice showing off his Darth Vader (sorry I couldn't get it to flip) costume for us! Hilarious!

A Video to Laugh at...

2009-11-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

So, I will admit that some in this video were slightly intoxicated (not me), but for the most part we were all sober (not Nate or Mikey) and just feelin' the music! Enjoy this great 3 minute or so video....

2 weeks of posts coming!

2009-11-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well...at the very least I suck at this blogging thing. When I first started this over a year ago, I was really good at posting everyday, now you are lucky if you get something every couple of weeks. But you have to admit that when I get some content I stretch it out right!? So we have had two VERY full, consecutive weekends, and this week you will hear all about them, starting with Halloween. SWEET!

Every year, I host a halloween party at Mikey's house. Really it's his party, but I run it cuz he is not too good at planning....and needless to say, that is one of my strengths. So this saturday marked the Third Annual Halloween Party, and it wouldn't have been complete without a Costume Contest and a NEW trophy! Though Aaron and I dressed up in cute Roman Outfits, we weren't the winners... (no real big surprise when you see what we were up against!). The winner's were our four friends Mikey (Host), Eliot, Gene & Eric. The fantastic four dressed as the crew from the movie The Hangover. There costume was hilarious and right on! Mikey even drove around with the baby (a CPR baby from Eliot's work) all day and had a couple of Cops give him some double takes.

The runner up was Nate, dressed as a cop from Reno 911 a hilarious show on Comedy Central. He and Erin made his costume, we all thought he bought it from a party store, but it was not so.

All in all the costumes were a hit with the Taylors being Mormons, Erin S. a vampire, Jill as Tinkerbell, and much much more! I can't wait until next year to see the great costumes that everyone comes up with!

P.S. Stay Tuned for a GREAT video tomorrow, from the party!

A New Addtion!

2009-10-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

WOW! It is hard to believe that two years ago Jessi had Sienna and now she has given birth to a new little boy! Introducing Jonah Anthony Shaefer! What a cutie! Jonah and Mommy are healthy and happy, and Big sis and Dad are taking good care of them too! Hooray!

Kings Cup Rules....

2009-10-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

The other night we all went over to Kaitlin's place (Paul's Fiancee) to hang out and meet one of her best friends from college. I got freakin sucked in to Kortney & Khole Do Miami (Erin S.'s fault- completely) while everyone else played a friendly (haha) game of Kings Cup (a card game). I am not sure who it was, but one of the girls (I believe) was the King (???- Dear god I really don't know what I am talking about!). Anyway they got to make a "Rule" and the rule was the last person out had to wear a Tecate Beer Box on their head for the whole turn or until someone else was the last person out (Erin is this game actually called A$$ hole?). So the box went around the table, but I think that Erin S wore it the most...and did we hear about it! I was in the other room and I could hear her frustrated outbursts! hahahaha!!!! Anyway, here are some great pictures from that night!

Nate.........................................Matt

Erin S.

Watching Emma Grow Up

2009-10-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend when we were in Stockton at Joanie and Robinson's for the 5K Tiger Dash we were playing with Emma and watching her grow up and move on to her next stage. She is REALLY close to crawling! We were teasing Erin T. that she would be crawling in the next week. She "Army Crawls" as Erin calls it, on her stomach. It is so cute! She can ALMOST get her legs under her but hasn't quite figured that out yet. Here is a video we captured. Joanie is so bad! She kept putting Emmas legs under her trying to coax her into a full crawl! HAHAH!!

The Taylors & The Kippermans

2009-10-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

We had dinner with the Taylor's and the Kipperman's a few weeks ago. It was a regular day care center in our house! It was such a surreal and weird experience to have all these little kids/babies around the house, and us being the only ones with out them! HAHA! Kind of funny, but definitely a sign of the changing times and our changing lives....I am really starting to feel "old".

Here are some fun photos of them all, over the past couple of weeks. We do have so much fun hanging out with the "families"!

This Just in...

2009-10-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from the 5K run we did with a picture or Aaron and Sean making a hard finish. I seriously was dying laughing because Aaron looked like he just did a cake walk and Sean looks like he is about to die!!!

Two Weddings WOW Lucky Bride!

2009-10-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weekends Aaron's friend Jason got married, talk about dragging it out! Way to go Lindsay (the bride) for working it! But here's the real story. Jason is Vietnamese/Italian/American (what a combo right?). So his Vietnamese mother insisted that they have a traditional wedding and so it was. It was really neat to experience a traditional wedding of another cultural. I love new things like this it's so interesting. The man performing the wedding was one of Jason's Uncles and he explained each step of the process, from the blessing of the marriage, to the blessings from the family and thankfulness of the Bride and Groom to their respective and new families. They serve tea to each immediate member and a form of grattitude. Some incence was lit and some other things went on that we weren't quite clear on, but all and all it was neat.
The following weekend brought the American Wedding at the Coration/American Cultural Center. The place was beautiful and the wedding was lovely, as any wedding. Lindsay did all the decorations her self I heard, and a knock up job she did! Every detail was thought out in excruciating detail. Some said they call her a regular martha stewart, lucky Jason! We had a good time and were really thankful to be there on time, thanks to mom being our "Phone a Friend" when we got lost! whew!

Aaron's Crew of Friends from High School @ The Wedding

Sneaking a photo

A Long Unspoken Silence

2009-10-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

WOW! I can't say how sorry I am that there has not been a post in two weeks! GEESH! We have been busy, and it's not always on my top five things to do, to sit down and write....but finally I have found a little bit of time.
Just to keep the most current things on the forefront I will recap our FAB weekend!
Friday we had a wonderful dinner with our friends Alli and Marco! It's been a couple of months since we have seen them and we missed one of their brithday's so it was necessary to see them again.
Saturday we were up at 5AM!!!!!!! (ps you KNOW I'm not a morning person!) Erin T., Sean and Emma picked us up at 6am and we all headed to Stockton for the Tiger Dash 5K run. A benefit run for Robinson's PhD program at UOP (univ. of the pacific). Joanie, Erin and I walked and traded off pushing Emma in the stroller, while Aaron and Sean ran the whole thing! We were so proud of them, especially Sean who is leaner than a toothpick, but hasn't excersiced in a year! hahah! They came in somewhere between 17-20th place, about 26 minutes and were passed up, no that's an understatment, they were SCHOOLED by an 11 year old girl! hahahah! We had such a fun day with them and didn't end up getting home until 9:30 pm! We were BEAT!
Sunday was typical, church, In-laws, frisbee, and then back the in-laws for Bridget's birthday dinner! YUM Steak! And the best thing of all, a nice Jacuz in the hot tub for my achy body...Ahhhhh Bliss.....

The Last of Costa Mesa

2009-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Costa Mesa was quick but nice. Kristi, Erin and I got up early and went with Mac toe the Orange County Swap Meet that was about 10minutes from their house. We walked the ENTIRE thing! I think it is something like 20 Rows that are probably an 1/8 of a mile long, maybe more! We all took out cash and I think we all pretty much spent it all (not too much though)! The find of the day was this hair thingy- which is too hard to really explain, but easy to use.

On our ride home Erin Made me take a picture of her with all the snack we had brought. It was pretty funny, and so was she. Kristi even joined in on the fun! What you won't see is the two containers of cream cheese-pesto-sun dried tomato Dip that we went through on the Ride up! YUM!!!! We LOVE Trader Joes!

We made one stop in Santa Nella for a potty break (when you ride with Erin you count on at least 3 p0tty breaks) so I made the girls take pictures in front of Pea Soup Andersen's As seen Above. What a great ending to a wonderful trip. Thanks for letting Erin and I tag along Kristi and Kaitlin! We had a good time with you and your family!!!!

The Food of Costa Mesa

2009-10-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

JD (Uncle as you will recall) is an amazing cook. I don't know how I got away from dinner on Friday night without taking pictures! The man made us three unique pizza's that were unlike any other! My favorite was the Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza with ground beef, mustard, ketchup, bacon and lots of cheese! It was the most amazing thing in the world! The other two were great too. One was Carne Asada Fajita Pizza with the most tender carne asada, and the other was Chicken Pesto Zucchini Pizza....of course I picked off the Zucchini- but it was still amazing!!!

Saturday Night Mike, JD's best man from his wedding came over and cooked us Mac & Cheese Two Ways, Grilled Chicken and Steak, Spinach Salad and a Killer banana Cake! Oh My GOSH! I was in Seventh heaven! Check out this food!!!!!!

Still More From Newport!

2009-09-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

After we left Newport we drove back up the coast to the house. We decided that we didn't have enough of the water in Newport and Jumped in the pool! Woo Hoo! Or at least that is what I think we did? I could be wrong. Never the less we got in the pool at some point and found that little Rupert (the stolen dog) LOVES the water but won't get in unless he is on his boogie board! So we pushed him around the pool for a while and lazed about ourselves! It turns out that Kristi is a HUGE dog lover, and barely left Rupert's side the whole trip....don't tell her about this picture it is horrible I know, but it was the only one I had with her and the dog! hahahah! Erin too loves dogs, though she was a bit more reserved in her affection towards them, until the end when she was like "take my picture with the doggy!" I said ok and that is how the picture below got snapped! hahah! Anyway, good times in the water and with the dogs!

OH! I almost forgot! Mac & JD ( the aunt and uncle we were staying with), loaned Erin a towel for the beach. It was hilarious and she was all over it! We stopped by the grocery store on our way in from the beach and Erin went in in her towel, and we posed it perfectly on her butt! Check this out!!!

Newport in the Sun....errrr Marine Layer?

2009-09-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been directed to tell you about the Seagull Incident at Newport Beach, why does it always seem like there is a seagull incident when we go to the beach? Well the four of braved leaving our stuff on the sand and all ran into the water (see below pictures). Kristi thought she would go back and check on our stuff soooooo, she did and we had INTRUDERS on our towels! The Seagulls found our BURIED Brown bag of champagne ripped it open and poured out our half bottle of champagne! WTF! We were like "How on Earth did they get to the bag and then know to tear it apart?" There was champagne, not food, in there! Dang! Oh well, it's a good story.

The Girls in the Water

Erin Doin' Some Hair- Just kind of a cool shot

The Bombshell Kristi in doin' a little Bay Watch

San Clemente- Home Sweet Home

2009-09-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

The three of girls decided that our first order of business on Friday was to get our selves to the beach, but we had to make a quick stop off in San Clemente first (though there is a beach there it is not where we ended up). The rainbow sandals outlet is located in San Clemente so we knew that since we were so close we would have to make a detour down there. We all picked out sandals for ourselves and our men, and lucky Erin and her small feet got to get herself two pair and a re-pair (her regulars broke so they said they would fix them) because she could fit the kids size which is about $15 cheaper than the regular people's size- LUCKYYYYYYY!

Since San Clemente is like a second home to me, or rather I would like it to be and while in high school/college I spent a few weekends there I wanted to show them around....we never got to where I really wanted to- this old neighborhood where any jo shmo could live- we did make it to the hoyty toyty neighborhood where we took the above picture. It was picturesque to say the least.

From there we drove up the coast to Newport and finally settled at Newport Beach, where we had a blast of a time!

The Drive to Costa Mesa- WOOt wOOt!

2009-09-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

This will be a four or so part blog. So check back each day for a new event from the weekend since that is the only time I can seem to do anything interesting and I HAVE to go to W-O-R-K during the week!

Kaitlin, Kristy (her cousin), Erin S. and I all headed down to a weekend in Costa Mesa spent with Kaitlin's family! We were sooo stoked to go down there that instead of leaving Friday morning we took off after work on Thursday. Our 6:30 departure turned into 7:00...turned in to 8:00... OH WELL! Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow and we were in NO hurry! We made sure to stop off at In-N-Out and get a new found "secret menu" item thanks to Kristi- Double Cooked Fries....talk about a grease bath, but the grils loved them- animal style and all! I had of course the plainest of plain fries and cheesburger! Yum!

We headed out of In N Out about 9:00 and made the long drive down to Costa Mesa in about 5 hours! Woo Hoo! We got in at 2AM to a very welcoming Uncle JD! What a sweet heart he was. He came out and greeted us at our car... I am just glad he found us in the car and not in the middle of the cul-de-sac.....but that is another story......

Geeny Weeny!!!!

2009-09-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday Night Aaron and I met in the city and had a great dinner with our friends Gina (who used to be my roommate) and her man Jason. We always have such a good time together and we never can figure out why it takes us so long to get together! We LOVE Gina and Jason and are really looking forward to spending more time with them soon. We ate at Houstons and had some fab American food, good drinks and mostly great fellowship together. I love how we can be apart for so long and then come together like we saw each other yesterday!

MOAH! Lots of Love- K

Our Friend David!

2009-09-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Recently our friend David came in to town for S.C. We wer so excited to see him! We spent one evening at the Rellik with him and Sunday morning breakfast at First Street Cafe with him too! It was so nice to cathc up with an old friend and to be reminded of all the things you miss so much about them! We all had some great laughs, shared some fabulous pictures, and just had an overall nice time catching up. It turns out that David is trying to make his way back to us! We can't wait for his return to California, more good times and great memories ahead!!!!!

Put on your dorkiest face so I can take a nice picture!

Keep Em' Coming

2009-09-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

This post is merely to embarrass Erin and Sean, as I took the two worst pictures of them ever last weekend while we were hanging out! What fun we are having!!!! I fully intended to receive pay back in a major way, but don't wish it on myself at all!

Final Farwell

2009-09-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Dad, Davina and Katie picked me up from work for the drive to the airport where we dropped off katie, kicked her to the curb and said good luck in England! ....Well that is not exactly how it went down, but close? Not really. I dared Katie to try to handle all her bags on the walk in to the airport- 2 rolling duffle bags, a back pack and a sholder bag.... let's just say I didn't follow up on that dare, and when she got to the London Airport where she really did have to lugg all her bags she wasn't a happy camper....at least she wasn't thinking about it all the way there! Anyway we a really nice farewell free of tears and full of excitement, at least on my part! I wish I could have traded places with her at that minute and I think she wished the same thing! hahaha! Here as our "photo session" from that last hour together in the states- now she is a regular English girl, flat and all!

Going....Going.... Gone....

Fashion Show

2009-09-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

Two days before we said our final goodbyes (check tomorrow for the final goodbye) to Katie, we headed once again back down to The Rellik Tavern for a good ol' fashion show. One of the women's clothing stores in town sponsored the clothing, while Bombshell Hair and Tattoo did the hair and some of the make up. It was a fun little fashion show staring our favorite, Davina! The other girl in the picture is a coworker of Davina's, Courtney, who looked stunning, so I JUST had to take a photo. HOW FUN! Jos and I were even asked if we wanted to walk in it next month, I thought it would be fun, but I think Jos thought otherwise! We will see!

Pretty Please

2009-09-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

I Promise at least two more postings are coming this week. I have more great things to share with you! Stay tuned....sometime wednesday night!

Family Breakfast

2009-09-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

To revist the end of the last post, the day after Katie's going away party at The Rellik we got up early to go to breakfast with my Dad's brother and his lovely bride (almost 20 years of marriage!!!). We went to our favorite breakfast spot in town, First Street Cafe who have the best waffles, scramblers and scones ever! Every time we go Aaron and I share our breakfast, he orders the special and I order a waffle, it's the perfect combo (of course with a scone!).

After breakfast we went down to the water to take some pictures, and like I said before, there is nothing like the back drop of water for great family photos. Enjoy these!