Another Year Closes

It's been a very quick year, hasn't it? I guess that's what happens when you're having fun!

Tonight, we're heading to FND at my parents' and possibly to watch the Terps play Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl.

GO TERPS!

Sunday (New Year's Eve), we're going to a wedding in Aquia, Va. It sounds REALLY far away. We decided not to get a hotel room for the night, but will be carting the parents to the wedding.

Wherever you're spending New Year's Eve, hope it's with the ones you love and that you'll drive responsibly.

HAPPY 2007!!!

Dinner Out

Last night, we had dinner at the Corner Pub and met up with Sean & Val, Freddy and Mark, who was visiting from RI and bunking with S&V while in the DC area. Tonight, we're planning on cashing in the GC Freddy gifted me for my 40th. That's right... we're goin' to The Palm! I've been to the one in Philly before, but not to the one where Freddy and Gus (his ex-brother-in-law) hang out (at Tyson's II). I believe Freddy and friend, Lynn, will be joining us, along with William and his October b-day Palm GC.

When I went to the one in Philly, I had salmon. Even though I was being treated to dinner by my friend, Mike, I ordered one of the more "economical" items on the menu. Didn't want to be a greedy date, you know. It was quite delicious, but not the fancy thing you tend to think of when you hear "The Palm". Mike's sister-in-law ordered a lobster. The last time I inquired about a lobster was at Ruth's Chris. The waiter quoted us a price of $33 per pound and their lobsters are about 3 - 5 pounds each. "O-kaaaay," I said. I ordered a steak instead. One of the best steaks I ever had in my life! So no disappointments there.

I can't imagine it. $100??? For a lobster? John often says, "It's only money, Love. I make more everyday." Maybe tonight. Another 40th celebration. With a lobster gifted to me by Freddy...

UPDATE: We're having a nice homecooked (by Lynn) meal at Freddy's instead of going to the Palm tonight. $100 lobster will have to wait.

More Holiday Stuff

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I can't believe there's only 4 more days left in 2006.

We had a pretty full weekend, starting on Friday night at the Company Party and well into Monday evening. Christmas Eve (day) was spent finishing up on gift wrapping and a quick trip to the grocery store. Later, we stopped over at Nate & Linda's for a quick visit and a bite to eat. It was a really nice time with their family.

We headed to my parents' to drop off gifts. They were out to dinner (I recall my dad saying something last week about a Laotian party at Good Fortune he didn't want to dress up for). Afterwards, We made our way over to Robert & Pokes' for their big family gathering. All the Moreno siblings (except Raymond, who was in the Dominican Republic with his wife and kids) were there. It was a large crowd, but not as rowdy at midnight as in past years. I didn't take many pictures (too busy enjoying Pokey's delicious cheesecake!), but here's one of little Talli:



We learned that BHL and Shaun (aka Jake) got engaged recently. Kevin made a toast to them (you'll be able to see it once I figure out how that tubey site works!!!) and here's how Johnny and Freddy enjoyed their champagne:



Monday, we headed over to my MIL's house for Christmas. The B family sure knows how to spoil one another. I have to say that goes double for how much my husband spoils me! And I'm very lucky to be spoiled by greetings and awesome gifts from friends as well. More than a gal could ask for!



Next stop: New Year's.

Company Party 2006

Where: Bottom Line, Washington, DC
When: Friday, December 22

Oh? Your invite got lost? Everyone's invited, you know!

I love the holiday decorations at the Bottom Line:

Lynn flew in from L.A. to visit family. It took her 13 hours to get here, but we're glad she made it to the party. Here she is flashing bull horn signs with Mike:

There was some dancing going on too. If I figure out how to edit the video to lighten the pic and upload to that tubey site, I'll post the link. Until then, you get to see how much Sean and Val enjoy cuttin' up a rug:

Newlyweds, Joe and Michelle also joined us and brought along their friend, Kathy (not pictured), chatting with Freddy:

A Company Party veteran, Maria, joined us after being absent a few years. She and William (and I!) wore festive red sweaters:

We toasted another great Company Party with a round of Sambuca shots:

Lastly, I wanted to share with you a gift from Freddy that brought tears to my eyes (from laughter):

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Happy Holidays!

As you may know, I grew up in a Buddhist family. Since we live in America and all that, my parents have always celebrated the gift-giving aspect around this time of year. Mostly for New Year's, which I believe is the tradition in Thailand. With a crate of citrus, as it would seem with the boxes of oranges and grapefruit family friends have dropped off at my parents' every year for as long as I can remember.

I was reading a few blog posts about "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays". I'm not at all offended if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. I really enjoy "Christmas", even though the religious aspect is lost on me. It's about family and friends celebrating (not about the gift giving, although I do enjoy making little gifties for my family and friends).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS (whichever one you celebrate) to you and yours and don't eat too much fruitcake (or stollen)!

Hello, Winter!

So, today's the shortest day of the year, you know. I thought of something witty to say about that on my drive to work today, but now I can't think of what it was.

I have another funny (actually ODD) thing to show you. Remember last Friday, when I was stuck in traffic forever and I saw that trucker dude with the Chihuahua? On my way home from work yesterday, I was stuck at a traffic light about 3 miles from the office. I saw this...



Today is my office's holiday lunch. Fast Eddie's Pit Beef (and ham) is on the menu. The rest is pot luck. I made brownies topped with chocolate chips and marshmallows. Hope they're delish! Too bad I can't stick the aluminum pan into the microwave and reheat the whole thing. Imagine warm brownies topped with ice cream. YUM.

Tis the Season

I think in past years, I've been much busier than this year. Not that life is any less frantic, just that it seems like we have fewer events to attend.

Last week, we had 12:12 at Freddy's and the weekend was fairly busy too. FND at my parents and then we met up with Sean, William and Mike afterwards at Quarry House. I'm glad to see they have a bigger selection on their food menu -- and dessert too! John and I just had some soft pretzels.

Saturday, we ran errands all over town and attended Mike & Diane's Holiday Open House later in the evening. Lots of great snacks! For once, we went to a party empty-handed. John thinks I can't go to a party without bringing some type of food item. (Proved you wrong, Love!) I felt like I was missing a limb or something when I walked into the party.

I took very few pictures. It's funny how our group doesn't tend to mingle much when we're at parties with strangers. We rarely go out of our way to converse with unfamiliar folks. It was nice to see high school friends of John's we don't see very often.

Sunday, we went to the grocery store so I could get all my ingredients for cookie baking. I mixed up one batch of dough to bake tonight and made a batch of Mexican Wedding Cookies. I still need to get some peanut butter chips for Haystacks. If I think if it, I'll post my favorite cookie recipes on the food blog. I plan on making regular chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cups. These are the 5 kinds I normally make every year, with a new cookie sometimes. I may not make anything else this year. There's only a few more days left!!!

This Friday, we're having our annual "Company Party" at the Bottom Line. I look forward to this event more than my actual work party. It's the normal group of friends, but I love the way the Bottom Line has the bar decorated with garland, gigantic globe ornaments, and lights. Other than the Christmas Eve gift frenzy (midnight at Robert's), we're just planning on a nice family gathering Christmas Day at my MIL's.

One of the things I do miss is shopping with William, Freddy, Nate and Linda. We used to go to the mall together for a day of X-mas shopping and play the "Don't Get Recognized" game. If someone recognizes you at the mall and you acknowledge them, you have to buy a drink for everyone in the shopping group. We spend our time scared of being spotted more than concentrating on gift buying. It's funny to hear stories of people who were dissed because of the game though.

Hope you all are having fun this holiday season! 7 more shopping days left!

Fog and Traffic

It's been very foggy here in the DC area the past few days. Here was my drive home last night... a very foggy I-895:

This morning, I left out at 6:45, gassed up the car and got a diet Mt. Dew and headed towards work. Just about a mile from the White Marsh exit, I ran into traffic. They had all 4 lanes shut down. It was about 7:30. 15 minutes later, I called my boss and left her a voice mail (on her office phone) telling her I was stuck in traffic but wasn't sure when I'd arrive at work.

I spotted this trucker with a Chihuahua. I tried not to be too obvious about taking this picture, so I had to zoom in. He had the dog's head out the window a few times when I was closer.

While waiting, I knitted. All I needed was a snack! I normally eat breakfast at 8:00 when I get in the office. It was approaching 9:00. They diverted traffic off towards Rt. 40 at the White Marsh exit:

Once off I-95, I called my boss on her cell to see where she was and to tell her I was still stuck in traffic. She was meeting another co-worker for breakfast at Panera until the traffic cleared up. Being that I was very close by and hungry (and needing to pee from the Mt. Dew!), I made a U-turn and met the girls for breakfast. We could see the traffic from Panera and decided to run into AC Moore so my boss could get a GC for her Secret Santa recipient.

At 10:45, we were finally on the road again. I-95 was still shut down, so we took Rt. 7 to work. It's a scenic 2-lane road and at first, it looked as if traffic was still backed up pretty bad. But once we got past this one light, it moved along. We got stopped again by tree pruning road crews. I saw this as a sign to just turn around, call it a day and go shopping. But I did the right thing and went to work.

We're supposed to get our turkeys today and our company gift. I hear it's a set of glasses with the company logo on them. Last year, we got a really nice thermos. It may not be a monetary bonus, but it's nice to work for a company that gives you annual gifts like this!

A Little Distraught

I was lucky to be working for a company that received (nearly) daily shipments of computer-related peripherals at the time I was boxing my stuff up to move back to MD from DE. I had access to boxes of all shapes and sizes. I generally tried to choose ones that weren't too big. I knew if I got really big boxes, they'd be filled to the max and no one would be able to lift them. This meant I had a lot of boxes to move, but they weren't too unmanagable in terms of weight.

I spent weeks carefully packing 10 years of "stuff" I accumulated living in DE. Organized by room or function. Labeled every box with the contents. Even though I had packed everything so carefully, I failed to protect the contents further than the corrogated cardboard housing.

Over the weekend, about a dozen boxes were brought home from where they were generously being stored for the past two and a half years. This morning, I grabbed an address book out of one of the boxes. I happened to look a little further into the box (like I had time... I was heading out for work!). I found my most favorite little red leather wallet. I retired it a few years ago from everyday use because it was getting a little beat up. I have a weird love of red leather accessories. Purses, checkbook covers, wallets. I don't have an extensive collection. I just covet cute little red leather things (from afar).

So my soft, cute little red leather wallet... was stuck to the cardboard Fossil box that held a look-alike black wallet I use today. It was moldy. And crunched when I opened it. Little black mold spores fell out. Merrrrrrrrrr.

I know it's just a piece of leather. It got me thinking about what other little favorite things are moldy and crunchy though. I should have protected it better. I'm sorry, Little Red.

I'm afraid to open up the box that holds about 95% of my CD collection, which was on the bottom tier and sustained water damage. Luckily, the photo boxes weren't on that tier. In the big picture, this turn of events will force me to toss out stuff I really don't need. And it really is just "stuff".

Another Year of Good Luck

Freddy's 12:12 bash was a success and we had more than 12 people at the party, so 12 months of good luck!

Sean and Val wore matching 12-12 jerseys which happened to be on sale at Modell's for $12.00! Brilliant!

Gabrielle enjoyed playing with the Burgundy and Gold balloons:



Freddy thought some of his door prizes were just "gag gifts" but Linda really loved her new George Foreman grill! Jake won the grand prize, a case of Natural Light. I won the 12-pack of Natural Light last year (official drink of 12-12 Founding Father, Henry).

From L to R: Tracy with a Natty Bo sticker, Jake with a case of Natural Light, Njevin with a free Papa John's pizza, Linda and her new GF grill, BHL and her flask in a bible (the perfect prize for the girl who dressed up as a pregnant nun on Halloween!).

Our Most Illustrious Holiday

HAPPY

TWELVE

TWELVE

!!!

(Need I say more?)

Happy Birthday, Little Bro!

My (not so little) brother is 39 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JIM!

Nov 22nd Revisited

As promised (how long ago???), here are some pics from Thanksgiving Eve, when Joey & Michelle tied the knot. John and I were invited to join them, along with a small group of friends and family, to celebrate. The very happy couple rented a limo (bus) and we headed down to Blue Gin in Georgetown. It was a very trendy club... the kind I imagine Britney or Paris might go if they were in DC. Kinda loungey, techno.

It was a late night (later than we'd normally stay out) but a really fun time and I'm glad we were able to celebrate with Joey and Michelle.

One Wrong Turn

I met Linda at Columbia Mall last night to do a little X-mas shopping, have some dinner and catch up on all the latest events in our lives. I really only had one thing to get, which by no means indicates I'm done with my shopping, but the remainder of stuff on my list doesn't require the mall.

After we got our shopping done, we bid our goodbyes and headed home. Normally, I park by the Sears. I know how to get home from that side of the mall. This time, I was leaving out of the Nordstroms area. Not that I've never left from that side of the mall... just not in the dark. I thought I knew where I was going... I took a right into the mall, so I figured I'd take a left to get out. I ran into a familiar road (Little Patuxent Pkwy) and this is where things went awry. I took a right where I should have taken a left. Next thing I knew, I was in an unfamiliar part of Columbia. Not like the badlands or anything, as Columbia is fairly affluent (IMO).

Dial, dial. (second call... already called John to tell him I was on my way home)

Jal: Uh... I'm lost. In Columbia.
John: (Laughing on the inside, I'm sure)

So, is everyone done with their shopping? Any goofy shopping stories?