Just a Reminder & some FUN too!

My annual public service announcement and reminder from the Auto Club......

Tipsy Tow Service is Available

Statistics show that traffic-related fatalities increase significantly around the holidays. As such, the Auto Club sponsors a complimentary Tipsy Tow service on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July, which offers free rides to drivers who have been drinking. Avoid becoming a statistic and help guests stay safe by following these tips:

• Ensure all guests have a ride to and from their destination in a car driven by a non-drinking designated driver
• Plan activities that take the focus away from drinking, and make non-alcoholic beverages readily available
• Serve high-protein snacks to slow down alcohol absorption
• Stop serving alcohol at least 90 minutes before a party ends, and serve guests coffee or dessert
• Take car keys from intoxicated guests who plan to drive home

Tipsy Tow service provides a complimentary ride and vehicle tow up to seven miles from the point of pickup to drivers who have consumed alcohol on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July. Tipsy Tow service is available to members and non-members. Ask for a Tipsy Tow by calling....

1-800-400-4222

And if you are looking for a fun safe event for your kiddo's, the City of Rancho Santa Margarita is putting on their 11th Annual Celebrating Family & Friends New Year's Eve Event tonight from 5-9 pm at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center.  The FREE Magic Show starts at 5pm along with games, bouncies, crafts, etc. for $5 per child.  Hope to see you there! Oh, and if you love the event, it was all my doing and if you hate it you can blame my boss! 

Happy New Year Everyone!!! 

What a Hoot!

I ran across a really neat article in the Orange County Register today about some local barn owls who have laid six eggs that are expected to hatch starting January 6th, you can follow them on a live web cam that is located at Starr Ranch in Trabuco Canyon, Ca at http://www.starrranch.org/blog/barn-owl . I thought this was really cool and it might be fun to show school age children and watch the progress of the baby owls hatching.  Apparently the mama owl only leaves her nest for 3 minutes a day, so hopefully they will get some good shots of the little babes while she is away!   

4 years of Mari!

Our little Mari girl turned 4 on Tuesday, where has the time gone? Our sweet little baby is now a full blown kiddo, sniff sniff! Here are a few pics from previous birthdays or close to birthday pictures!  If you look close you can see she still has those chubby cheeks!

And this is the best photo of her that I got on Tuesday, not sure what went wrong.

Happy Birthday Mari!

And, I am back!

I had to take a blogging break due to a dead computer that one of my friends (thank you Danielle) was able to bring back to life and save my 8000 pictures, (note to self external hard drive and snapfish are your friends) and blogging at work is a MAJOR no no, due to the fact that anything done on work computers is public record and the last thing I need is my blog part of the public record.  Then it was Christmas and the stomach flu struck my Mom, so the whole family had to chip in and make Christmas dinner, it was a Christmas miracle that nothing was burnt, everything tasted good, we only forgot to pull one thing out of the frig and we got to enjoy the newly expanded dining room.  Here are a few pictures from Christmas, it was kind of fun to upload these photo's considering that I only took a couple of them, I was so busy in the kitchen that I handed my camera off to my sister and my aunt and this is what they captured!

Anne & Joe

Darrell, Ryan, Caroline & Mike

Melissa & Auntie Janis

Cole

All of us & the mess!

Derek

The feast!

I hope everyone had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Dog & her Walker!

Curtis the dog walker is seriously the best! A little back story, I met Curtis when Gracie was a pup, I would take her everywhere with me to make sure she was well socialized and one of our outings was to Starbucks every morning. I would tie lil Gracie to the garbage can outside the door and she would sit there giving everyone the most pathetic orphan Annie, nobody loves me, I am so lonely looks. Curtis worked at Starbucks and he would come out and pet Gracie and give into her sad woe is me looks. Curtis was/is also a dog walker, he gave me his card and told me to call him if I ever needed a dog walker. Fast forward a year and I got a new job that was farther from home and I was having hip surgery, so I called Curtis and asked him if he was still interested in walking Gracie for me, he said yes, he came over, I gave him the run down on “G”, gave him a key and that was it, he has been walking Gracie for almost three years. My friends and family thought I had lost my mind when I gave him a key to my house, but what was I supposed to do, he needed to get in there for the leash and food and I never was worried about him walking off with any of my stuff and if he ever did he must need it more than I do, plus he brings in all of the junk mail that is left on my gate and packages that are delivered!

So every year Gracie likes to get him a little something for Christmas, usually movie tickets or a gift card somewhere and he usually brings us a little something too, well this year I almost died of laughter, I got home the other night and there were two packages on the counter, some treats for “G” and a frying pan for me, lol! Let’s just say that I have a little frying pan that has seen its fair share of use over the years and Curtis sees the same frying pan pretty much every day in the sink, I really do try to keep things neat and tidy, but there are some days when the sink is over flowing with dishes. Anyways this frying pan needs to be thrown away but I need to purchase a new one before I toss the old one and I have not gotten around to it, well problem solved I am now the proud owner of a new frying pan, thanks Curtis.

I could seriously go on and on for days about how great he is to Gracie and I and I have no idea what I would do without him taking care of Gracie for me during the day!  Actually, I know what I would do if he was not around, sneak Gracie into Doggie Daycare like I did today, but that is a whole nother post!

If you look close you can still see breakfast!

Got to take these back, they will kill Gracie.

Let me see those pearly whites!

Do you ever get to this point?

I have seriously been scraping every last drop out of this tube of toothpaste for the last couple of days, not because I am cheap and want to get my money’s worth, oh no, only because I have only been to two different Targets and one CVS in the last few days and I cannot remembered to purchase toothpaste to save my life. I have gagged gone through all of my reserves, you know the gross kind that the dentist sends you home with after you get your teeth cleaned, I was desperate so I fished the tube of toothpaste out of the garbage can and cut the top off so I could have minty fresh breath once again. I will be going to the store for one purpose only (so I don't get distracted by the bright lights and pretty thinngs) tonight….to buy TOOTHPASTE!

Our Own Jimmy Kimmel Experiment!

Have you seen the latest Jimmy Kimmel youtube video circulating the internet?  If not, it is a video of parents letting their children open one gift before Christmas, but it is a joke on the kids when they open their gift and it is not what they want or would ever expect like a half eaten PB & J sandwich or a Hello Kitty shirt for a boy.  So, I thought it would be fun to do this to Cole & Mari, not everyone was in agreement, but I went ahead with it.  Mari received an old shoe and Cole got a bar of soap and a box of Ziploc bags, watch the video (if you get this post via email, you will have to go to my blog to view the video) to see their reaction. 

Not the reaction I had hoped for, the kids were kind of confused, but it was still kind of funny!  Don't worry, I promised them real gifts on Christmas Day! 

Bad Aunt, Good Aunt!

I failed last night in the Aunt department, it was Mari's annual Christmas Show and I did not go, big time fail!  The show was in Pasadena, it was pouring down rain, it took me almost three hours to get there last year and I may or may not have violated the carpool lane laws by crossing the double yellow line once or twice and riding solo in my car!  SHHH, don't tell! So, I chose to save my sanity and go home instead, but I do have a couple photo's to show off our sweet little girl!

But the good news is that there is a good chance I am back to good Aunt status with the purchase of this for my favorite nephew.....

I actually bought two, one for Cole and one for ME!!!  Lol!  I am sooooo excited for Christmas Day to take these babies outside and race them around!

In other Christmas news, I am off to brave the shopping crowds and hit the mall tonight, I am in search of a few Christmas gifts and one of these...

Why do they come in a box of six, I only need one and yes, I know the picture is upside down, my computer is being a jerk right now (can you sense the holiday cheer in my tone?). 

Wish me luck!



Holiday Cheer!

It is holiday party season and you have been invited to several holiday parties, you are tasked with bringing an appetizer, you sit and wonder what you should bring, you fret about if people are going to like what you brought, you try and convince yourself that the host and hostess won't remember you signed up to bring an appetizer when you show up with a dessert and then you find a recipe for Jalapeno Dip that for some odd reason you have been craving for a couple weeks!  Yep, the story of my life! I found this recipe online from someone's blog, I wish I remember where so I could give them credit, anyways I whipped this up today for a work holiday party and it was a huge hit, I went back for more and the bowl was empty, so I am going to take that as everyone loved it and add it to my list of keepers.     

Jalapeno Dip

2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese

1 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1 - 4 oz can chopped green chilies (drained)

1 - 4 oz can diced jalapeno peppers (drained)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chilies and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into a microwave safe serving dish, and top with Parmesan cheese. Microwave on high until hot, about 3 minutes. Serve with chips, crackers, or toasted

French baguette slices.

To my friends who are drooling over this recipe and we are attending the same holiday parties, steal it and die, cause this is what I am bringing, same goes for my family members, you will be enjoying this on Christmas!



Just another reason why I……

love my iphone, the camera! You can flip the screen around so you can take self-portraits or you can use it as mirror to make sure you don’t have food stuck in your teeth when a mirror is not available for when the super cute skateboard instructor randomly comes into your place of employment and you just finished eating your dinner that had a million things that might get stuck in your teeth, so handy!

Only a face a mother could love! 

These close up, largest nose ever shots are the best!

Dear Santa!

If this is not the cutest thing you have ever seen then I do not know what is....

This is Cole's Christmas List to Santa, it reads.....

Dear Santa,

I have tried to be a good boy all year.  These are a few toys I would really like for Christmas.

1. 4- Heroikas

2.  Bubble Gum

3. wii

4. DS and wii games

5. Phone

6. ipad

This was on the back!  I wish I had the picture of Cole hitting my Dad in the face and knocking his glasses off the year we took him to see Santa at the Laguna Hills Community Center, cause he did not want to hug Santa then!

Peek A Boo Playland

Friday my little niece Mari celebrated her upcoming 4th birthday (where has the time gone?) with all of her little school friends at Peek a Boo Playland, I am not gonna lie, it was crazy busy, a sugar fest and I am very glad that I do not have to go to little kid birthday parties all of the time!  I drove up early to hang out with my sister and the kiddo's, help get all of the stuff into the car and get the kids to the party.  It was hilarious as we drove to the party on a Friday night in Los Angeles (you can only imagine the possible traffic delays), we got stuck in some crazy detour route due to some filming going on (who does movie filming on a Friday night at 5pm?), my sister is asking me to get out of the car and move road closed signs so she can get through, she is gripping the steering wheel like a mad woman and she darn near tries to kill us as we go through a blocked off street, thank goodness erin the safety aunt was in the car and made sure the children were buckled up tightly cause it was a miracle that we made it to the party alive, I am also shocked she is not on a first name basis with the LAPD with those driving skills.  See video for proof.....

Here are some pictures from the chaos party, all of the kids had a blast!

The best picture that I got of her.

Martha Stewart's Mac N Cheese did not disappoint!

How cute are these? They were little center pieces!

I think my closet thinks I am headed to prison!

I am not sure what sparked it, but yesterday evening as I was looking in the mirror at the shirt I was wearing it occurred to me that pretty much every new shirt I have purchased in the last month has been striped and is blue, black or gray, crazy, I KNOW!  I am not sure how to explain it, it seriously looks like I have my prison wardrobe all picked out!  My only guess is the stripes are in style now and I am now stylish! Ha, who am I kidding, stylish, well at least my clothes match most of the time!  Oh, well, I am happy to report that all of my stripes were on sale when purchased and that I do not plan on doing any prison time anytime soon!   

That is a lot of STRIPES, a lot of shirts and a lot of long sleeves at that too, at least I will be warm in prison!

We have Paint!

Just a quick status update of the office and dining room remodel, we have paint!  Everything has been painted, the house is a disaster zone and the new carpet is going in today and tomorrow!  I can't imagine how it is going to all go down, there is so much furniture that needs to be moved, all I have to say is I am so glad I am not the one moving the furniture and I am going to stay far far far away from the house until it is all done!

The office, I love this color!

The Dining Room, another great color!

You Guys are the Best!

To all of my friends and family!

Thank you for all of your support and kind words this past weekend, I was afraid I was going to have a lot of free time on my hands and therefore a lot of time to reflect/grieve/get angry at the situation that unfolded Thursday night.

Friday was a rough day as I had only a couple hours of sleep and had to be at work way to early that morning, I looked like hell, had bags under my eyes but thankfully my eyes were not puffy, red or swollen, I am still not sure how I dodged that bullet. My friend Melisa met me for lunch so I could vent/cry, it was a really nice/needed get away from work, everyone was great and respected my wishes and waited till I was home from work before calling and I so appreciate that, I received many emails, texts and facebook messages and your words of encouragement were just what I needed, I was so emotionally exhausted that I think I was in bed around 7:30pm that night.

Saturday I met up with my cousins Katie, Darrell and Derek in San Diego (thank you mom & dad for watching the wild beast) for the December Nights Festival in Balboa Park, it was great to get away for the afternoon/evening for a scenery change and good company. We met up with some of their friends and Darrell’s family and wondered around Balboa Park and through some of the museums, food courts and carnival games, it was crazy crowded but a lot of fun.

Sunday morning I got up, went and picked Gracie up from my parent’s house, taught my weekly swim lesson and took Gracie for a walk, but I was having a rough morning, I was feeling really down and just could not shake the feelings of sadness, thank goodness for my neighbor/friend Kris, she sent me a text message at just the right time asking if I was free for a bike ride. We went for a bike ride it was great, the weather was perfect and it was just what I needed to clear my head, after the bike ride I hit Mission Mall for some necessary retail therapy and to make some returns, I scored while I was there, a couple of my favorite stores where having good sales so I picked myself up a couple things and went home a much more relaxed person!

Now it is Monday and I have to say I have not looked forward to a Monday as much as I have looked forward to this one, it is a start to a new week and to a new future for me! Don’t get me wrong, I am not some cold hearted person who has put all of this behind her, I am still really sad and just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes, but I know life will go on and that things could be a lot worse than they are and that I need and can push through this! Thanks again everyone for your thoughts, prayers and support, it means a lot!

erin :)

Breaking Up is Hard to do! :(

Mr. Pilot-Man and I broke up last night, it was horrible but it happened.  Most of you do not know that a few weeks ago he got an interview with an airline in Dubai, I knew it was a possibility that he might get an interview as he has applied for this job months before we met but we were not expecting it so soon (at least I wasn’t).  This interview in my eyes is a huge honor for him and I am really proud of him considering that there are pilots all over the world applying for a position like this, just to get interview is amazing and as long as everything goes well (I know he will do great) he will be on his way to Dubai for the next few years in just a matter of weeks.  However, along with this great opportunity there really is no room for me in his life, so I knew that when he boarded that plane that would be the end of our relationship.  Well, in the last few weeks I have been in a weird spot in my life trying to figure out what to do, I know my relationship was going to end with him, I just did not know when, so part of me went into what’s the point in continuing to date/break-up mode but I never said anything to him, I guess I thought it would be easier to deal with all of this now vs. watching walk away from me a month or so from now.  Well, he is a smart cookie and figured it out and that is when things came to a head last night.  It was ugly and not my best moments, there was a lot of talking, a lot of crying, a lot of apologizing, but the thing is we are also two completely different people who really liked, cared and loved each other but just saw things and expected things to be different in our relationship.  It was amazing to hear what each other had to say and thinking were we talking about the same relationship our views were polar opposite.  I have no bad feelings towards him even though I showed the opposite last night, I was just bummed, disappointed and frustrated with the whole situation, not to mention I feel like a complete jerk that this happened basically on his birthday, today’s post was going to be a Happy Birthday to a guy I really cared about and wishing him a great day and happiness, not a downer like it is.  Leo if you are reading this I will miss you A LOT, I am really proud of you and I wish you the best at your new job/adventure, I know you will do great!

To my family and friends, please do not contact me until I get home tonight the day is going to rough enough and I do not want to talk about this while I am at work.

Really Scary!

My sister just sent me a picture of a limb of a tree that fell last night in their backyard that just missed my niece and nephews bedroom by a couple feet.  Had the limb hit the house it would of most likely gone through the roof and on top of the kiddo's.  Last night the winds in their neighborhood were clocked at over 100mph and they currently do not have any power.  Here is an article form the Los Angeles Times about this latest storm http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/california-windstorm-traiff.html, so glad the kids are safe and sound, those large trees are really scary during wind storms.

Aren't they cute, looking out the window, love them soooo much!

Glad the tree fell this way and not the other way!

Crunch!