Take A Chance On Me

I just finished watching Mamma Mia and now realize exactly why my mom loves it so. I think it has a lot less to do with the quality of the film as it does with the fact that in a parallel universe, this would probably have been her life. An old hippy, living in Greece, reuniting with her band mates. But that's another story...

I waited all movie to hear this song, and it finally came at the end, bringing with it lovely little memories of me playing my mom's ABBA record on her windup record player in the basement of our cabin. To tell you the truth, I thought this video was much more entertaining than the movie. Perhaps because Pierce Brosnan isn't singing in it. (Who was the casting director for this film, anyway? Just because he's easy on the eyes does not mean he's easy on the ears.) Enjoy!

PS: Who knew crimping was born before the 80's?!

Theme Song

B: Whenever we figure out where we'll go for your internship, we'll need to find a theme song. (He's referring to the fact that we had a theme song in coming out to Pasadena - California by Phantom Planet. Yes, the same song for the opening credits of The O.C., snicker all you want - the first season was awesome.)
R: Oooh! If it's Colorado, I've already got one in mind.
B: What?
R: It's a song by the Dixie Chicks.
B: Hmmm....I was thinking if it was Colorado, we'd use Elton John.
R: giving Ben a confused look, then rolling eyes as as she realizes what he means
R: Yeah. That would be John Denver, not Elton John.
B: looking sheepish, but only momentarily thrown off: Nah-ah! We'll drive in singing Benny and the Jets!
R: And you're surprised that I blog about our conversations. How can I resist when you give me this kind of material!?
B: There should be some kind of release involved with your blog!
R: There was. It's called marriage. And you said, "I do."

I think I've created a monster.

Instead of battling the crowds at Target for after-Christmas sales, Ben and I headed north to the Carmarillo outlets to battle crowds there so I could make the most of my Banana Republic gift card. I was smack dab in the middle of the second book of the Twilight series and really, REALLY wanted to read it in the car on the way. So, to get my way, I offered to read it aloud so Ben would not feel so lonely. He agreed, and between the trip up, the trip to Ventura to have lunch with my good friend, Natalie (which accidentally turned into a trip to Santa Barbara), and the trip back to Pasadena, we read about 250 pages. When we got home, there was only 80 pages left and he refused to let me read it to myself, so I continued narrating until we finished the book.

Today, as I was making my way through the third book of the series while soaking in the tub (don't you just LOVE reading in the tub? I do.), I heard my phone ring, but was too warm and comfy to get out. When I finally checked my messages, I realized the call had been from Ben, who was down in Huntington, playing ball with some friends. This is what his message said:

So, I was just thinking that Jacob has a bad rap. He's just in a no-win situation. And I've got a feeling that he's going to turn into a bad guy soon. Just wanted you to prepare yourself for that. Okay. See you soon. Bye.

He's totally sucked in. Pun intended. I'll give you three guesses as to what movie we're going to go see tonight. And the first two don't count.

From our house to yours...

Last Night:

Wait! Did you hear that?! I think it's him!

Nope. Just the cats. I'll keep waiting.
Man, this waiting makes me tired.

There it was again! Santa?!

Today:

Merry, merry Christmas and a blessed new year to you all.

A Christmas Miracle!

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you're probably well aware of the latest craze that has swept the nation: Twilight. A couple of people recommended it to me while I was home, so I thought I'd give the series a try. Okay. So maybe one of those persons happened to be my eleven-year-old cousin. BUT the other person was a very well read professional. Besides, since when am I above reading young adult fiction? I was a fan of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books long before the movies came out.

Anways, there I was, wishing I had a copy of the first book while I was unpacking from our trip and putting some other books away when, what to my wondering eyes would appear?! That's right! The first book of the series was sitting right there on my bookshelf! My first thought was, "Santa?" Followed by, "It's a Christmas miracle!"

Later I found out that one of Ben's work buddies had loaned it to him, thinking he would like it. I'm pretty sure his friend is smoking crack. Ben? Be interested in a vampire love story? But that's besides the point. Because, in the timeless words of Alabama, "Santa Clause, I still believe in you." And that's all that matters.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

...a beautiful day for a neighbor. Because if you happened to be mine yesterday, you got:

and:

and:

and:

presented in:

There were a few other goodies that weren't as photogenic, including a disaster batch of butterscotch fudge (Ben claims this is an oxymoron) that refused to become any consistency other than that which would require a spoon to ingest. The bad news is that the whole affair began with this:
And ended with this:
But all's well that ends well...especially when it doesn't include me doing dishes!

10 Years Ago...

...yesterday. Precious Moments' Fountain of Angels. Our first date. Outside, in December. He wore a fuzzy, soft sweater. Smart man.

Only in Hollywood...

...does your pastor's wife make an appearance on Ellen. She's the cute scarf girl.

Fake Thanksgiving and Fake Christmas...

...at least, that's what my 4 year old nephew called it. Ben and I had a belated Thanksgiving with his family on Wednesday, followed by an early Christmas on Friday. I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in cheese in that 72 hour period. It was so fun opening gifts this year - squeals and cheers galore. And that was just from tif. The kids were excited, too.

Avyn's bows got us in the mood for fake Thanksgiving.

tif's table was beautifully set...and Jax gave Ben and me extra decorations (red sequins).

The girls love their grandpa.

Christmas Fondue!
Ben and I showed the girls where Santa left all the gifts...they weren't sold yet.
But all the parents were ready for reactions...which soon came.

ELMO!!!!
BABY!!!
I have a slight compulsion to take pictures of teeny feet when I'm home.

Like I said...a compulsion.

Jaxon was pretty stoked.

A box!

A puppy!
More bows. Little girls are fun.
And Ninja Turtles are back, in case you didn't know.
Uncle Baby.
This is gonna be good!

Mia also got a gift from grandma. The cats didn't. And the hot chocolate mix that Mary gave us had our names on it, along with Mia's. Not the cats. Hmmm...

These are a few of my favorite things:

The latest additions to my Christmas music collection, plus a mix a friend made, called A Very Hipster Christmas. Running total: 21 albums. It's not an addiction. It's the happiest time of the year!

Thankful

- that we made it out of SoCal in one piece, albeit on much less sleep than I would have preferred
- that I don't work at the airport
- that I don't live in Minneapolis (I had a brain freeze just walking from the gate to the plane - AND WE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO GO OUTSIDE.)
- that we have loving family members who drive through somewhat perilous weather conditions to pick us up in K.C.
- that I'm having a quasi-white early Christmas
- that we got to take Jaxon to preschool this morning
- that Panera has free wi-fi so I can work on a final paper, submitting grades for APU, and reports for City of Hope.
- that I'm HOME.

All I want for Christmas...

...is a friggin' break.

6:00 am: alarm goes off, I get up, shoot off some emails, get ready for the day
7:00: Laundromat; try to avoid the chatty retired truck driver from Minnesota
9:01: Therapy...didn't even fold the socks and underwear and I was still late
9:50: Unload laundry and hang up clothes to dry; resist flipping off my neighbor when he incessantly honks his horn so I'll move my car
10:00: grocery
10:35: fry onion and prepare meatloaf for tonight's dinner, fix hair and makeup again after laundromat and therapy adventures
11:05: show up late to lab meeting at Fuller, find out dissertation is finally moving forward (yessss!)
12:20: bang trim; try to decipher stylist's comment, "Wow! Have you always been this creative with your hair? You're not a bit afraid to work those curls, are you?!"
12:30: back home to fix hair again (crazy stylist) and grab a sandwich
12:33: pick up kitchen trash that Mia has strewn across the living room. Awesome.
1:00: return to Fuller to finish meeting re: dissertation
1:20: work on reports at City of Hope
3:15: supervision at C.O.H., reschedule research meeting because supervision went an extra hour
5:15: head home, narrowly avoid rear ending someone, realize I'm really an adult when my first reaction was, "Great. That probably just took a year off my tires' lives."
5:45: clean up house, do dishes, put meatloaf in the oven
6:30: walk Mia, bake cookies
7:00: host prayer group dinner
10:30: blog
11:00: go to bed (fingers crossed!)

How soon until Christmas?

Some food for thought...

I saw this on my friend, Sarah's blog. My church is having an alternative Christmas market this Sunday. You should come. Give gifts that give back.

A Big Bear Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time up in the mountains with some of our good friends. The weekend consisted of a lot of sleeping, eating, football watching and playing, hot tubbing, and card/game playing. I learned a new one - Dutch. It's the craze sweeping the nation, in case you didn't know. I'll teach it to you next time we see each other. Which might be in a week, if you're reading this blog from Missouri! Ahhh...I love the holidays.

I was very thankful for the view!

We had 13 at our table and I was incredibly impressed with how all the food turned out.

We all got dressed up for the Big Meal. I was kind of looking foward to sweat pants...

On one of our hikes.

Yoga by the lake, anyone?

Sentiments from our neighbor...

Hot chocolate in a hot tub?! Bliss.

One more picture before we hit the road.

Pecan Pie

My, oh my.
Pretty is as pretty does (translation: it might not look like much, but it was DELICIOUS.)

Giving Thanks

I'm sitting next to the fire, watching football in fuzzy socks, laughing with friends as something else gets broken in the kitchen, and salivating to the smells coming from the oven. What's NOT to be thankful for?! I have many blessings to count these days. I pray you feel wrapped in love, friendship, and the sweet, sweet smells of tryptophan. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy some pictures from Paige's shower.

Notice the "chocolate" diaper cake.

Keri adding to her stack of "J"s for one of the games.

So many cute gifts!

Getting excited about one of the games.

J for Jair.

Memory Game
Paige and her momma. Notice the pumpkin buggy!

Thank you gifts for the guests - so everyone can have their own bun in the oven!
Don't get any ideas from this picture!
And he's finally here!