You Know You Do Too

Last weekend when John and I went to Gus’ we parked behind a bright yellow Audi with the following license plate:

We were laughing so hard that I had to get a photo of to share with all of you! We didn’t see who the owners of this car were though. Who do you think owns it? Is there a retired porn star that lives in the area? Maybe it’s a sex therapist. I mean seriously! Who would have enough guts to have that on their car? Maybe it’s some single middle aged man lookin’ for a good time. I can't believe the DMV approved it! I bet they didn't get it. I doubt they would have accepted it if they did. For all these years I thought SLO was such a pure town…tisk…tisk. Oh how wrong I was!

Fight Like you Live

Our thanksgiving really went off without a hitch…except that our house was a mad house! I'm just not used to A) big families, and B) being around a lot of kids. John told me that is how his household was growing up…always people over, always something going on.

I actually got off work early on Wednesday, can you believe it? I was in such shock that I almost had a coronary. It's the first day ALL year that I got off early. Granted it was at 3:30pm, but I'm not complaining! When I got home John and his dad were the only ones there. (Everyone else was at the hotel). John and I were able to make a few dishes in the quiet house and it was really nice and stressless. Having the family stay in a hotel was already showing its benefits! In less than 24 hours!

My plan for this Thanksgiving was to have as many dishes as possible already cooked BEFORE Thursday. Two years ago I had MAJOR stress in trying to use one oven for 4 dishes that needed to be baked. I was just hoping that my reheating theory would pay off.

The rest of the family, (John's mom, sister, bro-in-law, the 3 nieces, and one nephew), showed up around dinnertime. John's sister informed us that she HAD to eat by 5:30pm or her head would explode. We did not want to take that risk so we immediately headed to Bon Temps, (the local Creole restaurant in town). Dinner went ok, but the twins were awfully fussy. Big Guy told John and I that they normally aren't that fussy, and right after he said that I thought 'yeah right.' Then a split second later John said the same thing. We did learn however that the Big Guy WAS right, because that was the only fussy night the twins had.

Let me just tell you that I do not know how John's sister and bro-in-law do it! You all know how hard one baby is right? Imagine two!! At the same age!! It worked out well though because there was enough family to take over the kid duties. However the twins are in a very positive stage. Allie only wants to be held by John's mom and Chloe only wants to be held by her mom. So needless to say John and I didn't get to do too much holding. Do you think they might be over this phase by Christmas? I hope so!

On Thanksgiving morning John, Sarah, Maddy, Bow and myself headed to a near by park to participate in a fun run/walk! (It was either a two mile walk or an 8 mile run.) We met up with Sam, who ran the 8 miles, and also met up with Jen and her family.

Here is the crew before the start:

Our initial plan was to walk the two miles…but what happens when we start? Maddy and bow take off and decide to run! So John and Sarah ran with them, and I stayed and walked w/ Jen and her family. It kind of stunk that I couldn't walk with everyone, but I was not prepared to run! Let me tell you that it is something that I need to mentally prepare to do.

Here's an action shot of Maddy:

Jen and her family:

After we finished we decided to wait for Sam to come in. She did a really great job!

There was also this one runner who looked totally slim from the backside…but when he turned he had a HUGE beer belly! I had to get a photo because I had never seen a man with a belly like that in such great shape!

I had put the turkey in the oven before we left for the run/walk so it didn't have much time when we got back home. All I had to cook was the ham, turkey and gravy. It was GREAT! I could actually enjoy the day. Once the turkey was done we took it out and then put all the other dishes in the oven to warm up. I still can't believe how perfectly it worked out!

Here is a photo of the spread…along with some crazy man's eyeball.

This photo was actually taken BEFORE we ate.

It's quite similar to a photo I took two years ago. At least this one was AFTER we ate.

As you can tell the meal was a success:

I didn't really plan on any games or activities for the adults since I knew the kids would be entertaining…however the wii totally came in handy!

Here is a video of Maddy and bow boxing:


Here is a video of Auntie Jane and Maddy boxing:

Here's a family photo of the Cox's:

We didn't get any other family/group shots this year. I'm pretty bummed. I should have taken the initiative and done it. I'll have to do it at Christmas.

Here is one last shot. I thought it was too cute not to post!

The next morning everyone came over and it seemed like John's parents dog, Zip, had an accident in the back of the truck due to the ham carcass the Big Guy threw out in the back yard from the day before. Molly was hoping that Bonnie and Clyde didn't eat too much of it as well, since she normally doesn't feed them meat. We all then headed to the beach, (sans John and the Big Guy who stayed home to work on house projects). It was really fun at the beach, and I actually got a few good photos too.

Here is Sarah and Chloe:

Here is Molly and one of her babies Clyde:

Maddy was told to role up her pants so they didn't get wet. She listened really well!

Here's the whole family on the beach.

Here's a cute video of Chloe. She didn't realize I was filming her, and she kind of stops in her tracks when she realizes it.


I should have gone in front of them to get their faces, but I didn't want to get my shoes wet. Lame I know. I did get this portrait though:

Here is Sarah on the way back up the beach:

This has to be my favorite photo of them all. It was one of the few times I got to see Allie smile as well. I think I got 3 good shots of this too!! What a cutie! I think she takes after her Godmother.
We stopped off at the outlets in Pismo to do a little shopping while some of the kids took a nap. Before we headed home Molly decided to let her dogs out and Clyde totally had a diarrhea attack right on the sidewalk! I missed it, thank god, and only saw the aftermath. Molly was totally cursing out the Big Guy for throwing that ham out in the back yard.

That night we went out to Tahoe Joe's for dinner. My table was me, John, Molly, Maddy and Bow. I was a little hesitant about keeping the kids manageable, but the restaurant gave them each an etch-a-sketch and it kept them busy the WHOLE TIME! It was amazing! So if you have a kid(s) from 4-6 years old, get them an etch-a-sketch! The next morning Clyde had more issues in our garage due to the ham…but Molly tried to clean it, so that was nice. When Sarah and the kids came over she said that the Big Guy had a great story to tell from last night, and that we wouldn't believe it.

I guess Allison heard Zip barking in the middle of the night. (She was sleeping in the back of their truck). So Big Guy goes outside around 2:30am. He sees the bed of his truck is open and some guy standing next to Zip. The guy asks him if this was his dog, and he said yes, and then big guy got his dog. When he turned around the guy was gone! So Big Guy decides to put Zip in the front of the truck since she can now let herself out of the back. He goes back to the hotel and hits the hay.

The next morning he goes out to check on Zip. When he opened the door he almost got knocked out by a rancid smell. That is right...poor Zippy had another accident. So Big Guy had to spend the morning cleaning up the mess. Let me just say that I was really glad I did not have to ride in that car!


Right before the Cox's left I got two more cute videos of the twins. They were jumping off our coffee table. Here is Chloe first...she's a bit adventurous.



Here is Allie. She doesn't really jump, but does it matter? She's still super cute!

Merry Christmas from the In-laws!

So I originally posted this photo BEFORE the niner game was over. I knew it would look lame to have it on here if they lost, but I was hoping that they would win... AND THEY DID!! IN OVER TIME!! It really was a miracle as Arizona had many chances to twin and blew it every time. All I have to say is that game was WAY too stressful! It brought me back in to the day of when the niners were good, and were always have crucial close games. I must have aged at least a couple of years today, and there was nothing riding on the game for them! However... 5 people in my work football pool got out, and the one person who didn't have any losses finally got her first one. So I am so excited! Now there are only 7 people left. I really hope I can win again!

Hope you all had a great holiday! My Thanksgiving entry is coming soon!

Football and Dogs

This past weekend my parents came into town for the holiday…well sort of. They are staying here until Wednesday and then heading up to San Jose to spend the actually holiday with my sister. Needless to say our weekend was pretty packed.

On Saturday we had planned to meet my parents at Cal Poly when they got into town. We had tickets to the last home football game and to the pre-game BBQ. We knew that the BBQ filled up fast and that we needed to get there early to guarantee a table. We call them to find out where they are and they tell us Soledad. So we figure they will get into town around 11:30am. So we head to VONS to get our turkey day shopping out of the way. At about 10:45 we get a call from them that they are in Paso. So to make a long story short, John and I had to start shopping like crazy people since our schedule had just been thrown off! I totally felt like I was on Supermarket Sweep! Although we weren’t going for any cash prizes.

The game was lots of fun! It was really nice that the Mustangs were leading 44 to 0 in the 3^rd quarter when we left. They played IONA who came out from NY to play them. Before you start to think it’s a pretty long trip out here just for a football game, we heard that CP paid them $90K to come out there. So I’m sure it was worth their while. There were actually a lot of NY fans there too! You could totally tell they were from NY. Well they kind of looked like New Jersey dudes…wife beaters, gold chains, HUGE muscles, tan, and spiky hair.

When John was in the restroom one of the IONA fans was in the complaining that he almost got arrested for smoking and having an open beer container in the stands. John decides to tell him ‘that’s how we do it in California.’ I could just see John starting a brawl in the bathroom!

I also must say that my mom was a really good sport throughout the game since she is really not a football fan…any sports fan actually.

On Sunday my dad and John played golf while my mom and I headed up to Paso for the dog show. One of my co-workers has an Airedale terrier that is ranked the #2 terrier in all of the US. John and I went and saw him last year where he won Best of Show! It was very exciting.

This year we got there just in time to see the terrier group. Max (the Airedale terrier) did a GREAT job and got first in the group and actually got first. We then watched the herding group (to see the corgis of course), and then the toy group (to see the Papillion and pom pom). I took a few videos but I don’t think the quality would do their cuteness justice.

My mom fizzed out after the toy group so we left. I found out today from my co-worker that Max did not win Best in Show. I was really shocked, because you can tell that he is way more experienced than the other dogs shown. The judging is just too subjective for my liking. My co-worker said the judge doesn’t normally judge terriers as well. It would be hard for me not to be biased if I was a judge. I mean how can you say no to this face?

In other news…I’m almost done with my Christmas stocking! I really did not believe I would finish it before Christmas, but I am! I am really thankful for that! I mean how sad would it be for John to have a nice homemade stocking on the mantel, and there being a generic store bought one for me! No thank you! Next I just need to tackle my other Christmas gift sewing projects!

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve added a few new blogs to my side bar. I’ve had a few friends start them, so check them out if you have time! My friend Brianne just got married at the end of last month and has just started her blog. Actually she started out as John’s friend as she was one of his loan officers. She moved to the central coast w/ her then boyfriend, but had to move back a few months ago. We really miss them both, but are so excited that they started a blog. (I will post wedding photos soon).

My friend Jalene also started a new blog honoring her daughter that she had in August. She is a super cutie. I worked with Jalene a few years ago when I worked at the local PR firm.

Stephanie has one again attempted a blog. I talked her into one last January, but she never made it past 2 entries. Now that little Lucas has been born, we will see if she is more motivated. I’m a little concerned though because so far there is only three entries! Come on Steph! I know you can do it!

Are you 'In' or 'Out'?

Well? What did you think? Did you love it like I did? I am SO excited Project Runway is back! There was so much to take in that I don’t even know where to start!

(PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST EPISODE)

I really love and hate the first few episodes…love it because you get to see so many designs…hate it because there isn’t enough time within the hour to learn about all of the designers. As of now I only know one contestant by his name, and it’s Christian. (The youngest dude). All I have to say is that he reminds me of a young version of Santino! Although he seems he could be a bit funnier. However… what was that crap that he created?? That was one of the worst looking tops/skirts I have ever seen! And the judges LIKED it? Are you kidding me?

Let me say that I am SO glad he didn’t win. If he had won the first challenge, (like Santino), he would become totally unbearable! I was starting to doubt my fashion sense, (when they were bragging about his doggie-esqe jacket,) but I was relived when they awarded bald contestant #1 the winner. I loved that draping he did! He is definitely going to be one of the best designers. I mean he’s already designing for Hollywood peeps…you know he knows what he is doing.

I was totally surprised that Mrs. Earth Wind and Fire did not get the boot. What was that bushel of crap on the back of her dress? Maybe if she was designing for Bjork it would be ok, but not for Heidi!

I think the only reason she didn’t get alphfetweswianed was because the dress was made out of one piece of fabric…that impressed the judges. (Ok that was John’s 2 cents, and he was right).

So I must comment on bald contestant #2. did you notice that he was wearing a boring collared polo shirt? When they first showed him (for a split second), I really didn’t think I saw what I thought I saw. So I was going to give him another chance. Maybe that was his traveling attire? Second shot (a total of 3 seconds), he was wearing ANOTHER plain collared shirt! This guy looks more like a golfer than a fashion designer! Then John reminded me that he works in a museum! Where did they find this guy? Now I know why he didn’t get any air time!

I was totally surprised that this dress was one of the top ones:

That flower totally kills it for me, and the judges liked it! It looked tome like she was worried about making a plain black dress and decided to add the flower at the last minute to give it some flare.

How did this dress not rank low? It fits the model like a sac of potatoes! Totally unflattering! It looked a lot worse on the runway, because the main material was very stiff. I did like how she matched the red shoes though.

Most of the time I don’t notice the models, (that’s John’s job), and he pointed out to me how some of them were SO bad! There were a few that looked like they had never been on a runway before! John swore that one of them was even a man.

Tonight is the Night

You all know what is on tonight don’t you?? PROJECT RUNWAY 4!!! After months, and months of waiting this glorious day has finally arrived! I really hope the casting was done well and got some genuine people on the show. A couple of crazies never hurt…I just don’t want a whole cast of Santinos. So tune in on BRAVO tonight at 10pm. Yes, unfortunately it's on at 10pm, so we will be taping it. So please don't tell me anything that happened. I might be able to watch some when I work out tomorrow morning, but it's not a guarantee. But PLEASE watch/tape it. You won't be sorry!

Note: I’ll do my best in blogging this next week in a half, but I can’t guarantee anything. Ofoto is having a 20% of sale that ends on Thanksgiving, so I’m frantically working on trying to get projects completed…and we will have guests for the next week starting on Sat. as well.

Rock On!

This past weekend John and I cruised Best Buy to look for ‘Christmas gifts.’ (John used the Christmas gift M.O. to get me to go there…which worked…I’m such a sucka!) Well we were kind of going in there for that, but we were really looking to see if they are selling the guitar hero guitars by themselves (not with the game).

So we enter the store and the ‘greeter’ says hello/welcome to us. Do all of your Best Buys employ this position?? I can’t believe they actually PAY someone to greet you! I must say it is the WORST position EVER! I don’t even want to go into their store because I know that greeter is going to be there and force me to interact with them. It takes all that I have to not scream at the top of my lungs ‘STOP SAYING HI TO ME! I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU! And by the way…YELLOW IS SO NOT YOUR COLOR!’

It took me a little while to cool down from my interaction with the greeter, and while I was taking nice deep breaths I noticed a small crowd over near the video game area. John and I decide to take a look to see what the excitement is, and what do you know? There is a guitar Hero battle in progress! There is this little dude playing EXPERT level on the game and totally rocking! John and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open. We have just entered the medium level on our game and could not believe the pace of the expert level. All I could think is that this kid played the game A LOT and had to have had the song memorized. We totally did not blend into the crowd as well. It mostly consisted of teenagers, some punk, some rockers, and then us…and old, white, conservative looking married couple. Generation gap? What generation gap? We’re still cool aren’t we?

So this little rocker totally kicks this other chicks butt, and this new longhaired older kid takes the seat. One kids yells out ‘Do you think you can beat him?’ Longhaired older kids grunts and gets into position. They pick the song ‘One’ by Metallica and the battle begins.

Notes just stared flying by and their fingers were moving at a Kirk Hammet pace (real guitarist for Metallica)! The longhaired rocker was totally giving the little rocker a run for his money…but then the little rocker started coming back, but it was no use. Longhaired rocker totally dominated. By the end of the song little rocker’s mom was there and he had to leave. Such a sad walk of shame. (As you know longhaired rocker probably rode his bike there).

Then, this past week South Park’s episode was based on guitar hero!! (It rang a little to close to home since we had just gotten our game that same week!) The plot was that Stan and Kyle were awesome at the game and were going to perform in front of a live crowd (at a video game store), to try to get 1 million points. It was a very cleaver story, but I didn’t really buy it. Would kids really gather to watch other kids play the game? I guess so, as I was one of those kids at Best Buy 3 days later.