Happy Birthday Doug!

Yesterday was Doug's birthday. At 26, he's practically an old man!

Welcome to my Life

I had a balance of $67.86 on one of my credit cards, which I decided to pay through my banks online bill pay. The payment came out of my account as $6786. Yeah, only off by a few THOUSAND dollars (which, believe it or not, I don't have.) Sweet!

After many hours on the phone today I do not have this resolved. The bank won't do anything about it and the best the card can offer me is they will TRY to get a refund overnighted to me before we leave.

Hmm, and if they don't try hard enough?
Merry Fricking Christmas.

BART Fun

A lady on BART today stopped me to tell me that she loved my boots because they reminded her of home - Canada.  Eh?

Christmas Cookies

So, my first solo attempt at the famous anise cut-out cookies was a success! The recipe is from the 70's and my mom has used it every single year as long as I can remember. You can't mess with a classic!

Yummy!

Of course my beautiful new mixer helped! The old one was broken and a certain retailer exchanged it for us! Oh and yes, this one is PINK!

"Come on mom! I want cookies too!"

Vegas, Baby!

Bellagio at Christmastime

Pig in a Bag

Hash-House-a-Monster Food

People never cease to amaze me.

So I got downtown early today and decided to hit the post office before work instead of at lunch. I had a ton of crap to mail but I couldn't do the APC because some had e-DC pre-printed blah blah I had to go to the counter. So its like 8:34am (all of 4 minutes after they opened) and there's like 4 people in line in front of me. Ok not so bad right? Well there's 2 peope working (slowly, of course) and at one of them there is this Blonde Bitch with like, literally, 50 or 60 Christmas cards. She feels the need to have the worker weigh EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. before she stamps it. NONE of them ended up weighing extra but she did every last one this way. And it took FOREVER. Seriously.

On the plus side i think I made some friends with the folks in line in front of my while we wondered out loud what was wrong with this nitwit and really, if she was that concerned, why she didn't just do this on her own at the APC. Blonde Bitch is lucky because I'm pretty sure everyone was thisclose to rioting as she kept pulling those cards out of her bag.

None of my packages were fragile, they would have survived hitting her head at 60 mph.

Why do I love my fake tree?

Because when we used to do real trees this was ALWAYS us! No. Matter. What.

What's better than an ear infection?

A ruptured eardrum.

Awesome.

Home Sick Part 2

Now I also have an ear infection. Who the frick gets those after the age of 7?!

Me, that's who.

Christmas Decorations and a New TV

Please do enjoy...

Home Sick

I decided to stay home today and keep my germs to myself (and Doug) since I think people were getting annoyed with me at work yesterday.  Sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, etc.  Nice!

Just in time for Vegas.  Boo.

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

So, my first real turkey turned out great with only a few meltdowns the night before!  The menu consisted of - 

Appetizers:

Cranberry Meatballs

Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

Cheese and Crackers

Dinner:

Turkey and Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Corn Casserole

Stuffing

Blue Cheese and Bacon Salad

Cheese Biscuits

Desserts:

Dutch Apple Pie

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Hot Mulled Apple Cider

It was all pretty delicious if I do say so myself!  :-)

The Pretty Table

Anne and Bella, in her new Turkey Day shirt

Sam carving the turkey

Bella relaxing under the tree after we finished decorating on Friday

New Christmas shirt!

Dressed for the Sharffen Berger factory tour.  Doug needed a cover for his facial hair.

Anne and Sam in their hats

Cheesecake Factory

Christmas Tree in Union Square

The Skyline view from the Embarcadero

On Friday we got up at 4am (yes FOUR in the morning) to go shopping.  Here's the thing, in Minneapolis there are Targets and Best Buys every 3 feet so they never had those crazy lines like on TV.  That is not the case here, that's for sure.

Oh and we went to Lark Creek Steakhouse on Sunday night and it was seriously amazing!

It was great having the in-laws in town, but we let them have our bed and I must admit that I can't wait to not sleep on an air mattress tonight!  My back will thank me.

T-minus 4 days until Vegas!  (And probably another air mattress...)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

We were married 3 years ago today! How time flies when you're having fun!

Love you Husband :-)

BART Fun.

I almost never encounter rude people on the BART in the morning. I mean, there are rude in the sense of chatty cell phone talkers or whatever, but never anyone downright nasty. Hey, we are all stuck in this cramped tin can on our way to work together, right? But today... oh today I met the worst of the worst. We shall call him Grumpy Gus. And to paint the picture, he looks like a normal 50 or so year old guy in a sports coat.

So I get on the train and its standing room only, as it normally is during rush hour, and walk to the back of the car, set my bag down between my feet and grab on to the post that comes out of the edge of the back of every few seats. Gus is seating in the seat behind the pole I'm holding onto and he says as soon as I grab on "Excuse me Miss, but you're bumping!" As I say sorry, thinking I must have accidently gotten him with my bag as I was setting it down he proceeds to say "Maybe you should not stand so close." Ummmm, where else should I stand? Whatev. So I look around to be sure I'm in no way touchin ghim or anyone else - and I'm not, since its not extremely packed yet. About a minute or 2 later my friend Gus stands up and body checks me into the person next to me as he gets out of his seat. Lets keep in mind I wasn't even intruding in the area next to his seat at this point... not that itshould matter if I was. So, body check and then he storms out into the next car, leaving me and everyone around us going "Seriously? What the hell is wrong with that guy?!" The thing is, apparently Gus can not stand to have anyone standing near him. On public transportation. During rush hour. What a whack job.
But the jokes on him really because the next car was no less crowded, with no seats, but I got to sit in his seat when he left. And hte guy that was sitting next to him looked at me when I sat down and said "What's with him?" (Ya know, I appreciate the validation that I'm not the one losing it here!)

Good old BART, always ready to supply with entertainment at least! But seriously, does anyone know where I can get a teleporter to take me to work?

Cruise Pics

Click here for the full photo library.

The Best Vacation. Ever.

So it is pretty safe to say that a Disney Cruise is the best vacation you will ever go on.  Here's a short breakdown of events followed by a couple of pictures!

Day 1:  Got on the ship at 1 and had lunch at the buffet.  Check out the stateroom and explored the ship.  Ship departed at 5pm.  We had dinner at Triton's and then saw "Dan in Real Life" at the movie theater on the ship.  The seas were a little rough that night due to the tropical storm that was a ways off so I had to buy some Seabands to wear but it was alright.

Day 2: We docked at Nassau early in the morning.  We had breakfast at the buffet and then got off the ship.  We took a cab over to the Atlantis resort and gambled at the casino.  We won $100 and called it a day on the island.  We went back to the ship and spent the day at the pool and around the ship.  That night we had dinner at Animator's Palate. That night was the Pirates in the Caribbean party so we hung out there where there was music and the characters were dressed as pirates and dancing.  Afterwards there were fireworks and a huge buffet.

Day 3: We docked at Castaway Cay at 8am.  We had breakfast at a different buffet and got off the ship and spent the entire day on Disney's private island.  We hung out the adult beach and floated on tubes in the ocean.  There was a bbq lunch as well.  That afternoon we went over to another section of beach were we rented a kayak and paddled around not far from the ship.  It was the plastic kind that you sit on top of so as soon and the guy pushed us off the beach and we stuck our oars in the water we tipped right over!  It was totally hilarious.  After the entire day on the island we went back to the ship and had dinner at Palo and then hung out around the ship.

Day 4: We docked back at Cape Canaveral and left the ship after breakfast.

I have the craziest splotchy sunburn on my legs and knees (!) and I seriously probably gianed 10 lbs from all of the free food EVERYWHERE but it was totally worth.  Hands down the most fun we've had pretty much ever.  We already can't wait until we have to opportunity to go again.

And now on to the picture!

Our bandanas we were given for Pirate Night! Arrgggghhh Matey!

Every night at turn down housekeeping made a towel animal.  This gorilla was our favorite.

The real Flying Dutchman, docked at Castaway Cay.

Disney touches all over the ship/

Kids pool.

Doug all ready for the safety drill before we departed.

The stack with Mickey!

Docked at Nassau with our sister ship.

Super Bella!

Courtesy of my Dad, the dog costume hater!  Ha!

Princess Natasha of Sagamore

So this past Tuesday my parents had to put our dog Tasha to sleep, who we've had since I was 12.  She was 13, which is really old for boxers who usually only live to 9 or 10, and when they took her in she could not even stand up anymore at all.  She was the best, most well behaved dog you'll ever meet.  We are all going to miss her alot.

Bella loved her Aunt Tasha!

PS.  The title of this post is her official name as it is on her pedigree papers.

Check out this blog:

http://claudiasroom.blogspot.com/

I found this today at work. I did about 1 hour of work today and spent the other 7 reading this blog. Love it!

Adventures in Bella Land

So this morning me and Doug are in the bedroom getting ready and I realize that Bella has been awfully quiet. I go out into the kitchen to see what she's getting into and I see that she has grabbed my peanut butter and jelly sandwich off the counter and was trying to eat it through the sandwich baggie. I caught her before she made it through the plastic however I now have a smashed snadwich with holey bread. As if PBJ isn't bad enough already!

Call me Suzie Homemaker

Two (count 'em TWO) culinary delights in one day!

Funfetti Cookies (from the side of the box) are AMAZING! Doug said they might be the best cookies I've ever made... which doesn't say much for the from scratch cookies.

Homemade Enchiladas which I pretty much had to wing. I used beef, taco seasoning, cheese, and tomatoes for the filling with canned sauce and cheese on top.

I rock, what else can I say?

Bella Loves Donuts

What to post, what to post?

So clearly I have been very boring lately... hopefully there will be something exciting to post about soon, huh? In non-exciting news (exciting for me) the cruise is in 2 and a half weeks and we have reservations at Emeril's in Orlando with my grandparents for the night before. Yay!

Cruise Countdown

4 weeks!

Breakfast of Champions

Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love fall, if only for the pumpkins.

A Day at the Beach

We took Bella down to Crissy Field this weekend because it was so nice outside. Dogs can be off leash there, but I'm not comfortable with that yet since its not enclosed so poor Bella had to stay on the leash. Plus I didn't want her running up to unsuspecting sun bathers and licking them to death.

Neat Bow and Arrow Sculpture Nearby

What is this stuff and why am I sinking?!

Alright guys, I guess this isn't too bad.

The beach is exhausting!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love pumpkin - let's just get that out of the way. I can not take credit for this recipe, I got it from a message board online, but they are amazing! The only thing I did differently is I used wax paper on the cookie sheet instead of greasing it, and it worked perfect. Make these now!

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (if you choose, I don’t use them)

Add sugar, pumpkin, oil and egg together. Then mix in flour, salt, cinnamon, baking power, soda, milk, vanilla. Add chocolate chips last (I use the chips that are mixed with white and dark chocolate) add nuts if desired.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake approximately 10 to 12 minutes. NOTE: Careful not to overcook. Cookies will be soft and moist. Leave on cookie sheet until cool to transfer to wax paper. Store your cookies in Tupperware with a piece of bread in it to keep them moist.

No brother for Bella

Well, we decided not to get the dog. It just isn't the right time right now. I know that its the right decision, but it makes me really sad. Boo.

Big News

So it looks like we are most likely getting another doggie...


Here's the story, he is coming from a family who has decided that they don't have the time to take care of him properly anymore. We were listed on puggle.org from when we got Bella and the woman contacted us about taking him. She said he is about 18 months old so that makes him almost the exact same age as Bella, and they sure do look alike. Here's the thing... his name is Beedo. I do not know why they named him that, but I'm really not a big fan. I'm not sure if you can re-name an adult dog though? Would he get it? Or will that terrible name grow on me? (Probably not...) We are still thinking it over, as the one downside is how expensive it would be to board them or travel with them, but as of right now we planning on meeting them on Saturday to see if he and Bella get along. So we will see!

It might be a Starbucks day...

So a little background... we got a letter from the apt complex yesterday saying that from Wed-Fri this week they would be testing fire alarms from 10a-4p.  Ok, I'm not happy about it because its like the 4th time, but whatev.

So last night at 1am the fire alarms go off.  And these are no ordinary alarms... I'm convinced that they are built to make your ears bleed!  So we decide to wait it out to see if fire trucks come due to said testing the next day, thinking it could be a fluke.  Well the fire trucks came so we hauled it outside to wait for them to figure out why they went off (which had nothing to do with fire, incidentally.)  A half hour later the trucks leave so we go back to bed. 

Now, just as I am finally falling back to sleep the alarm goes off again for about 10 or 15 seconds... and this continued happening aver minute or 2 for the next half hour at least.

That's why it might be a Starbuck's day.

Justin Timberlake

Yes, we went to the Justin Timberlake concert in San Jose on Sunday and it was awesome! Its definitely a show worth seeing, even if your not a super fan or anything.  We had quite the adventure before the show, but we made it and it was very cool.

New Amazing Find

I got this Diane Von Fursetburg (sp?) bag yesterday from Ross, a TJ Maxx type store, for 30 bucks!  The originall price tag is marked $200.  Score!

It is big enough to hold my lunch and my shoes and all the other crap I take to work.

Halloween Preview

Franken-Bella!

Long time, no post.

It is so cold in my office that I just went to the bathroom for the sole purpose of washing my hands in really hot water so I could get warm.

Its fall, even here in SF, so we can turn the air conditioning down now!

My Big Dilemma

So here's the thing. I really am not into my new job. At all. Enough said. So I haven't brought any personal stuff to work yet for me desk (which is by the way shared with the night shift CSR, but we wont go there.) It's been 3 weeks though, with ZERO prospects of anything better on the horizon. Doug was trying to find me something at his company but they are trying to hire from within. So I have no options. So I'm stuck here. So do I bring all my shiz to the new job? That would make it feel permanent though, like throwing in the towel for at least the next year. But realistically, there isn't anything else... So do I throw in the towel and bring my stuff, or do I sit at an empty desk (except for the pic of the other person's kids) just in case something magically appears?

I suppose its a rhetorical question isn't it...

::sigh::

Goodbye Beetle

For real this time, the Beetle is going bye bye. Since I take BART to work everyday we sold it and its going away tonight. I'll miss it, but I think I've driven it twice since I started work, and both times I very well could have taken the Jetta.

I love that we paid $1500 to get it here a month ago and now we're selling it. Ha.

Stuff

Californians love their avacados, and quite frankly, I love that. I even had pizza with avacado on it the other day. That was new to me.

Between all the hills walking to and from work, and the up and down 3 flights of stairs in heels all day at work, I should have calves of steal. Instead, I just get winded. That's hot.

Maybe some pictures to come later of last weekend depending on the lazy factor tonight...

Attention BART Users:

THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ESCALATOR IS FOR WALKING, NOT STANDING.

NO MATTER WHAT!

Jealous much?

We just booked a Disney Cruise for the first weekend in November for our combined Anniversary and Christmas gifts to each other.

Hell yeah!

I always look both ways

when crossing the street. Even if it's one way.

Mom should be proud.

My new pet peeve

is people talking obnoxiously on their cell phones while on public transportation. Or while waiting for public transportation. Or while you're anywhere where I don't have a choice about being near you and I can't get away. And what's worse, is when you hang up and then immediately call someone else!

I hope your ghetto phone gives you cancer.

Thank god BART goes underground.

Dear Stef:

We need to have a talk. You walk at least 2 miles a day now between going to and from work and going out at lunch. You can not wear heels there. We beg you - wear flats and bring your heels! We are in serious trouble if you don't.

Love,
Your Feet

PS. Wedges are considered heels. Seriously.

First Day of Work

So today I finally started my new job as a CSR at a prep house downtown. The afternoon was good because the girl I worked with was cool and good at her job so that was good. The I went to lunch (at 1! So late here!) and ate here:

You can't really argue with that. So the morning was good, but then it was all downhill after lunch. The girl I was working with in the AM leaves at 2, so I spent an hour with my boss doing nothing, the spent the rest of the afternoon with another CSR doing even less.

And I found out that I will probably share a computer / work space with the night shift CSR. Even though all the other CSR's have their own spaces and don't have to share. And I didn't even get this set up today.

And that computer is an eMac, even though all the other CSR's have iMacs.

::sigh::

On the plus side I walk about 2/3 mile to and from the Bart station twice a day so I'll be skinny.

Joe Dimaggio has a restaurant

Last night we had a little pre-work celebration so me Doug and R went to Joe Dimaggio's Italian Chophouse. I was skeptical at first, but it was AMAZING. Hands down, it was the best dinner I have had in a long time, maybe even ever.

We started with an appetizer of baked comozola (?) cheese that you spread onto like a grilled flat bread, then you spread a tomato pastey thing on that and then you spread roasted garlic on the top. I literally could have eaten it for days.

Next were salads and I has a caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and balsamic - awesome.

For the main course I had scampi - always great, and Doug had a ginormous 22oz ribeye with a pile of potatoes au gratin. Always great! And R had Skate. (hmmm, I'm still skepitcal about eating sting ray.)

Desserts were the best chocolate souffle ever, the best cobbler ever may with blackberries, strawberries, and nectarines, and some donuty goodness that Doug had.

Seriously, eat there.

Now.