hello, december!

Wowzas, November was gone in the blink of an eye!

We spent last week with my family in Cabo, narrowly escaping the blizzard 4" of snow that shut down Seattle.

Seriously... schools closed, cars abandoned on the freeway, city on lock down. Yeah, we don't get a lot of snow in these parts...

When we touched down in Seattle on Monday night, sun burnt and clad in shorts and flip-flops, I was greeted by freezing rain. To offset this major kick in the ass, I had to immediately do a switcharoo to Christmas mode.

So I was very productive Christmas shopping online at work on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then yesterday my computer got a nasty virus, requiring me to take the day off.

So while my computer was being poked and prodded by the computer doctor, I was playing domestic diva, shopping for Christmas decorations, tidying up the house, and even shaving my legs!!

Oh, and Bondi and Homie and I picked out our very own Christmas tree!!! (This certainly beats last year, when Joe tried to pass off a Rosemary Bush as a Douglas Fir... Now, I'm no Martha Stewart, but when after dinner half our "Christmas Tree" was gone, I started to wonder...)

Once we got the tree into the house, though, the pups and I had to have a little discussion. I told them:

IF you lift your leg on mama's tree, 
you're getting COAL in your stockings.

Good talk.

Today, the pups were very sweet to me...They obviously must know it's my birthday (woohoo... more grey hairs) because they got me the BEST PRESENT EVER.


The gift of humiliation.

Oh, pups. You made my (birth)day!!!

Before I go back to refreshing my Facebook wall every 2 minutes to see if anyone else has left me a birthday message work, I want to leave you with something I heard on the radio this morning:

• 25% of women say their dog is a better listener than their spouse
• 13% of women would rather talk to their dog than their spouse

Thoughts? :-)

oh, brother.

Well, heRRo!!

Bloggy world, meet my family. Minus my sister. Plus Joe.

Please excuse my holey dress.. I really don't know what I was thinking. Anywayy, on the right is my awesome little brother. Officially a teenager now, but still cool. It's amazing.

SIDENOTE: There are 12 years between my sister and I, and my lil bro. People tend to ask if he was a "mistake". Nope, negativo. Apparently my sister and I were.. but Gabe.. he was planned. In fact, I distinctly remember my mom giving my dad her IUD in a ring box for Christmas one year. Special :-) But I digress...

So Gabe's a cool kid. My sister and I take full some responsibility for this (mom- if you're reading.. I kid!) because, well, what 13 year old doesn't like to hang out with his awesome older sisters?

And so I try to "hang out" with Gabe as often as possible.. and in the winter that often means heading to the slopes.

Well, it's officially winter now. We have a season passes to Snoqualmie/Alpental - a pretty decent mountain about an hour from Seattle - and have yet to go. Shame on me!

I kinda sorta planted this seed in my brother's head that I was going to take him up night skiing slash snowboarding with Joe and I this week, and it kinda sorta hasn't happened yet. And it's Thursday.

Monday - 7" of new snow but Joe and I were exhausted from the holiday weekend. Gabe, not so much. But what are ya gonna do?
Tuesday - it rained. Me no likey rain.
Wednesday - more rain. 'Nuff said.

Today... brother texts me.

"Is today snowboarding"
"Sure if you want. Currently 21* and hard ice pack. Better than rain."
"Do you want to or are u being sarcastic"
(Brother apparently knows me well, or else 13 year olds 'get' sarcasm)
"No I'm not being sarcastic, icy is excellent! Better than rain anyway. I just wish it would freakin snow already haha"
"Alright :-) ill go if u want"
(Don't twist his arm, right?)
"Okayy then joe and I will leave when he gets off work at 5... pick u up @545 and be up there by 630 or so. It'll be cold so remember dress warm"
(Brother checks weather report - see below - online)
"K but also sunburning conditions!!"
"WTF Gabe... nightskiing. Really??"

Oh, brother!!

Too harsh? :-) Anywayyyy... so I guess we're going skiing, or I should say.. slip slidin' away.. tonight.

Looking forward to it. Seriously. No, really. I am.

omg new ski boots please?

'I wish' .... 

Santa would have remembered
New Ski Boots were on my list!

Well actually, I didn't tell any of my Santas this really... but I think it should be obvious by the fact that my feet bleed every time I go skiing. Seriously.

However, in all fairness no one can really pick out ski boots for someone else. Heck, I don't even think I can pick them out for myself!

They really should have trial periods for ski boots.. not just, like, put your foot in and walk around the store. A full day of skiing trial, I think, is mandatory to determine if a boot is gonna work or not. Just sayin'

In all seriousness, though, Santa didn't miss anything this year... I was quite spoiled.

image source.

image source.

To get in on the Wishful Wednesday fun, go check out Miss Kelsey's blog. You won't regret it :-)

I must be a good girl...

... because Santa spoiled me this year.

Seriously, Joe and my family (and even my secret santa) went wayyy overboard and spoiled.me.rotten. except really, I'm a sweetheart. So it's okay :-) But umm, just some of my loot:

AND... in case you missed it, we're going to Whistler on Thursday!! Sooo excited :-) And clearly Mister Joe is excited too, because he is waxing our skis right now. Oh yeahhhhh!!!

what is this, work??

So it's Tuesday at 4:45 PM and I have done pretty much nothing this week at work. Yesterday I didn't get in until 2:30 because I spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon at the Dentist office getting my teeth bleached (Christmas present from my mom) with this Brite Smile stuff...

Just FYI - they call it a "gentle and relaxing" procedure. Umm, no. I do not call three hours of having your mouth stuck open with sunscreen lathered on your lips and face, bleach applied to your teeth and gums, and then microwaved (or something) either "gentle" or "relaxing" ... and that's not even discussing the major pain for the 24 hours following... the fact that my teeth physically hurt, and that I couldn't smoke... both painful.

Yes, I smoke. And drink red wine. And coffee. I guess that's a lot of drugs for one sentence? But I digress.. clearly, these vices are why I needed my teeth bleached (or so my mom thinks). I will say, they look quite nice!! I mean, seriously. It worked well.

Was it worth it? I don't know... for one I didn't pay for it, and I hear it's pretty spendy. But I will say I definitely wasn't a happy camper with the dental assistant during the procedure, as she kept repeating "Beauty is pain" ... seriously... and I couldn't even tell her to shut the f*ck up please be quiet because I had a dental dam in my mouth.

Moving on....

Kind of, but not really. Because it feels like time stands still between Christmas and New Years. Is there really any reason anyone goes to work this week? I have done very little.. and that is putting it... optimistically. I can't help it... I'm counting down ... to.....WHISTLER!!!!

Yup, going to Whistler to celebrate New Years and I.CAN'T.WAIT. I did spend a good portion of my day researching New Year's Eve parties and sending out e-mails to our crew to gauge pre-reservation-making level of interest. (I'm the planner of the group, if my Type-A personality hasn't clearly shone through in my blogging.)

Anyway, I am not going to be too hard on myself about this whole lack-of-working thing, because after all ... it's Christmas Break!! Or at least it was for the first 23 years of my life, so I'm going to go with, umm yeah! I don't have to do a damn thing. 

Except wait... until....

2010!!!!

i *heart* secret santa

Prep In The Big Apple at Whale Flip Flops planned a Secret Santa Blogger gift exchange... which was quite fun! I *love* getting stuff in the mail, and since all my family lives in the area, it doesn't happen very often, except for stuff I order online for other people, and that's not quite as fun :-)

So I was super excited several days ago when I had two packages waiting for me with no return address on them! One included a gift card to LUSH which sells fresh handmade cosmetics. LUSH believes:

• Use Fresh Ingredients
• Protect the Planet
• Make Products By Hand
• Responsible Packaging
• Greener Living
• No Animal Testing
• Greener Catalogs

I've never shopped at LUSH before, so I headed to Westlake Center downtown to check out their stuff. They have the coolest handmade cosmetics and soaps, all so pretty!! I picked out a couple different handmade organic soaps, made from real fruits and vegetables. At LUSH, they cut the soap off the block for you according to how much you want, and charge by the quarter pound. It's quite something!!! So here's what I came home with:

Sexy Peel - delectable lemon and lime marmelade soap with just a touch of sex appeal.

I Should CoCo - the creme de la creme of coconut soaps with dried coconut to gently exfoliate.

Honey I Washed the Kids - Carmel and honey scented soap to clean up the whole family.

I'm so excited to try these delicious looking new soaps :-)

But WAIT... there's more!!!

My lovely Secret Santa also sent me 3 reusable eco-friendly bags from enVbags.com - yayy!!! OMG I totally collect these reusable bags and have about 87 of them and counting!!! The ones I got are oh-so-pretty and so cute!!!

 

Seriously, I am usually all over the place and rarely carry a purse, so these bags are perfect for me to throw all my stuff, or groceries, or Bondi's food in when I'm on the go.

Plus... since I'm a major procrastinator and didn't get my Secret Santa's gift out until after mine arrived, I was able to use one of the three lovely bags to package her gift in. It's not that I don't love mine... it's just that since I learned she is a huge fan of pink and green, I know she will appreciate one of these just as much as I will!!!! So Miss Sara, if you're reading this... yes, I re-gifted the bag your gifts came in with one from my Secret Santa. But... I hope you will like it just the same!!

Well, I'm off to drink twelve a couple Emergen-C beverages and try to get better in time for Christmas Eve with the folks. But to my Secret Santa if you are reading this... Thank you oh so much and Merry Christmas!!!!

wishful wednesday - bleh

Sorry. I'm incredbly annoyed and upset and possibly tipsy right now... and you know what??? It's not even Wendesday anymore. So here's my effing WISHFUL WEDESNEDAY *("WISHFUL"  looks wrong?? did I spell it right?? or is it just one of those words that looks wrong sometimes?)

anyway... ugggh. here it is.

Best holiday I can remember, besides the obvious that Kelsey already did, is Thanksgiving in Cabo. It was my mom and dad and my sis and my lil bro and I.

My sis and I are older and only 15 months apart. My lil' bro is only 13 now, and everyone always asks us if he was a mistake. The funny thing is me and my sister were apparenly both 'mistakes'... however; I distinctly remember my mom giving her IUD to my dad in a ring box about, umm... 14 years back or so. My dad wanted a boy. My mom was 36. She gave him her IUD for X-MAS.

So he was the only planned one. Anywayyy... back to Cabo Thanksgiving. No more words. Here's some pics:

We found a Christmas tree in our hotel.

My dad and my lil bro.

They made my sis and I take

walkie-talkies out cuz its MEXICO...

My lil bro and mi mama!

Our whole family, pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
Gbae is anti-sressing up :-)

Oh 12-year olds hehe

On the van ride ride to dinner!

In a golf cart. The whole fam!!

Kenzie introduce me to the BEST.BOOK.EVER.

Why Men Marry Bitches.

They have Corn Pops in Mexico :-)

Looks like CHRISTMAS!!!

Apparently I'm not happy.

It was cold.

It's a teepee.
Thanksgiving theme?

good news!

Good News!!!

We finally have a Christmas Tree* in our apartment. Yuppers, folks. I came home last night and there was a little Christmas Tree in the window by the dog bed... it even had lights and some ornaments random stuff hung on it! Yay :-) Good job, Joe!

Bad News...

1. Upon closer inspection, this *Christmas Tree (besides being TINY) is actually not a tree at all, but rather just a large Rosemary Bush from Whole Foods. Not complaining... just sayin.... Coincidence that Joe likes to cook with rosemary? I think not.
   
2. I'm pretty sure Joe only gave in and got this Christmas Tree bush because he was in.the.doghouse. and not because he hadn't gotten a tree yet. But that's another story...
3. I actually beat Joe to it because I.just.wanted.a.damn.tree. so I came home with an 8" tall (Seriously!) lil' guy from QFC. I splurged on it - $5.99 - but I figured, heck! It came with 3 ornaments ;-)
   

Moving on, I'm gonna go head and call this lil rosemary. bush. slash. christmas. tree a WIN anyway... in the spirit of the Holidays!!!! meh... and my mini Christmas tree is now chilling on my desk at work:

Don't judge me. I'm messy.

In Other News...
Good: Happy Friday!!!
Bad: I spilled coffee all over my jeans this morning :-(
Good: Said coffee spill matches my apparently coffee-colored Uggs-of-the-Day.

Yes, I took this pic while driving. So what? :-)

Lastly... I Am Soooo Flipping SORE!!!

I mean, kudos to me for actually going to Crossfit Wednesday AND Thursday... I guess. But Wednesday was a brutal leg workout with crazy lunges and squats and "wall balls" (google video Crossfit Wall Ball!) and then yesterday was a "benchmark" Angie:

   100 pullups

   100 pushups

   100 situps

   100 squats

And today I can't sit. Or stand. Or lift my arms above my head. Or turn my body. Seriously... it's awkward! The bad kind. I mean, really... I should have a handicapped parking sticker for days like this because it's so painful even to get in/out of my car, let alone walk!!!

Please just picture this.. it literally takes me about 30 seconds to get in or out of my car. No kidding.  I think I'm dying.


It can't be that bad, you say? Ummm... It's so bad that last night - just an hour or so after the workout, read: before soreness even really set in - my 89 year old grandpa (who I'm pretty sure is almost blind) asked me if I was limping!!!!

So yeah. That's all I got. A rosemary bush for a Christmas Tree and a body apparently saturated with lactic acid. Good times. But TGIF, or whatever ;-)

happy holidays. ditto.

Two years ago I had a Christmas Tree in my apartment. It was just a lil' guy, and it was fake. But it was festive!! I decorated it with red and green strings from Bondi's rope chew toys... they were falling out all over the apartment so I figured, what the heck?? They look like ornaments!! I know, right? WTF. My roommate and I left it up until March... maybe April. And then one day I came home and it was gone. I think Jamie must have decided "Enough is enough."

I had a Christmas tree in college once too... My friends and I picked out a "Charlie Brown" tree.

image source.

It was only $20. That was about all we could afford. We decorated it with empty Busch Light cans. Seriously. It was beautiful and I loved it!!!

Joe and I don't have a Christmas tree this year. It's not that I haven't asked nicely.... I have. It just hasn't happened. Currently, all of our presents have taken over Bondi's dog purple dog bed, next to his big ol' basket of dog toys and the purple stockings hanging from our faux-fireplace. It is what it is.

Anyway, I'm kind of sad about the whole.. no Christmas tree thing. But when I saw this "Holiday Lighting Win" in my Fail Blog RSS Feed, it made me smile. Sooo I'm sharing with y'all!

image source.

There are some copy cat (or who knows, maybe the originals?) Holiday Light Fail Win images floating around the InterWebs too... I found the ones below here.

Anyway.... HaPpY HoLiDaYs!!! :-)

blog bling!!!

Soooo yay!!! My first "blog bling" - at least, that is what I will be calling Blogger Awards from now on.

I received two blog awards in the week or so, but I feel like I've been soooo slammed so here goes (and I'm going to do a little combining action, since they're pretty similar.. oh and I don't have enough "blog buddies" to link to yet!)

First up, thank you Abby!!! Abby over at Keeping Up With The Krecks gave me the Kreativ Blog Award :-) This is my first award ever, and apparently all I had to do it was follow Miss Abby - such. a. hardship. to. follow. someone. so. ridiculously. awesome! But seriously, go check her out. She rocks!!

 

So here are the rules for the Kreativ Blogger award:

*1*  Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
*2*  Grab the button and place it on your blog.
*3*  Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
*4*  Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
*5*  Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
*6*  Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
*7*  Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they've been nominated.

Next up, thank you Ashley!!! Ashley over at Kiwis and Cocktails gave me the Sugar Doll Blogger Award :-) Ashley, her Kiwi husband, and adorable pup Piri have quite the life - so go check it out... You're sure to be entertained!!!

The rules for the Sugar Doll Blogger Award are the exact same except you name 10 things (or "tid-bits") about yourself... so that's what I'm gonna do now.

And as a side note: I'm not gonna lie I think these blog award names are pretty silly... maybe I'll make one like the "Most ridiculous story" award, but I'll play along!! I love.Love the idea of them anyway :-)

OK, moving on...

*1*  I did competitive gymnastics for many years as a girl. I saw the Goodwill games in 1990 when I was 7 years old and decided I wanted to be one of those girls. Never really looked back. I was never the best or anything like that, but I busted my butt. And it sure did keep me out of trouble!! When other girls were at the mall, I was in the gym. In Middle School training was about 4-5 hours a day 4-5 days a week with meets on most weekends. I miss those days, and when I'm drunk tipsy I like to do handstands, back hand-springs, etc.

*2*  I have had lots of surgeries... the first after I snapped (audibly) three ligaments in my ankle tumbling during my freshman year. It.hurt.like.hell. Then again about a year later when I broke too many bones to count in the same ankle vaulting. That was officially the end of my gymnastics "career". Then again I had ACL reconstruction from a basketball injury my senior year of highschool. Then again (same knee) I had ACL reconstruction from a wakeboarding injury the summer before my sophomore year of college. I think over those 5 years I may have spent about 1/3 of my life on crutches. Fun times.

*3*  Purple is my favorite color. I know, I know... "When I'm old I shall wear purple." But whatevs. I like it.

*4*  I volunteer as often as I can at Sarvey Wildlife - it's a wildlife rehabilitation center in Arlington, WA. They operate soley on donations and take in all injured or orphaned wildlife... everything from bears and cougars to raccoons and starlings. I've learned sooo much working there over the last 8 or so years. It's not glamorous work, but I've had some incredible experiences there. Like... bathing baby river otters; stitching a fawns head; tube feeding a bald eagle; "pottying" baby raccoons (that's a post in and of itself); and much, much more! Here's two pics of my lil' bro Gabe first with a Bald Eagle (look closely!) and second with with a baby river otter after bath time. This past summer I finally brought him up and he LOVED IT!!! Yay :-)

*5*  I love Christmas and everything about it. I have purple stockings hanging from my fireplace right now (see #3). I  love cheesy Christmas music. I love finding the *perfect* present(s) for my close friends and family.

*6*  I never almost never splurge on full price "brand name" items (I do, however *heart* Nordstrom Rack) but I have an unhealthy obsession with Marc Jacobs. I feel like everything Marc Jacobs is so adorable, even if it totally.is.not. Anywayyy, one day I will have a really expensive Marc Jacobs purse. And I will never lose it. I swear.

*7*  Speaking of purses, I almost NEVER carry a purse. When I go to work, I pack all my shit in one of those reusable plastic bags... my current ones I got from Word Wildlife Fund and they have adorable pics of endangered animals on them. Why do I not carry a purse? I find them annoying... I can never find what I need. Oh, and the one time I bring a "nice" purse out... like the nice little white Marc Jacobs clutch my mom got me for xmas 2 years ago, it gets fucking.stolen.  (Or lost, I've done that once a few times too...) So usually I go out with my ID and debit card in my back pocket and stash my phone, etc. in my coat pocket or with a friend. That way, if I lose something, I can generally minimize the damage. HA.

*8*  TV Obsessions: Almost everything Animal Planet (except those shows where the animals turn on you, don't like those ones); Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice; Law & Order SVU; Daily Show & Colbert Report; South Park; Entourage & Dog Whisperer (even though I no longer get HBO); and occasionally AI/SYTYCD.

*9*  Bondi. My almost 4 year old half-papered Doberman / half- whatever dog knocked his mama up dog is my LOVE. I would do anything for him. Oh, and he's tested me on this!!! Remember the whole 'almost dying' thing here? Well, if know me, or heck, even if you follow my blog, you've probably gathered that by now. NUFF said.

*10*  I am in love with my boyfriend Joe. Like, totally in love. Even when I'm more.than.annoyed with him... like right meow!! But we won't discuss.. because that would be, what do you call it????.. airing dirty laundry.. and I'm not gonna go there. So I'm sitting here doing this "Blogger Award" thingy I've been procrastinating, with a bottle of [yellow tail] SHIRAZ, and I'm starting to feel a little better.

OK, and now for nominations (in no particular order)... Please just disregard if you've already done this shiznit:

* B is for Brown

* burlap condoms
* CURIOSITY
* Everyday Delights
* Float On...
* Oh Lord!!
* Saving the Best for Last...(fingers crossed)
* Simply Smithwick
* The Bobby Pin
* the future mrs. smith

 Much love peeps!! On to better days, like Tuesday:-)