My Birthday Revisited

This past December 9th was my birthday. I'll be discreet with my age but I'm definitely in my dirty thirties. I took the day off from work and the hubby took me to Disneyland! And with free admission for me I couldn't pass it up. I love Disneyland at Christmas time! It was a chilly day down in Anaheim but we enjoyed it nonetheless.











We had lunch at the Blue Bayou. We had never eaten there before and the food was delicious!
My birthday mousse! But unfortunately it wasn't very good.

One of my favorite parts of Disneyland at Christmas time is seeing the It's a Small World ride decorated for Christmas.




'Twas a fun day!

She's having a baby

So this post is really late but several weeks ago I trekked down to OC for a baby shower for my dear friend Marysa. Marysa and I have been friends since graduate school, i was a bridesmaid in her wedding, she was a bridesmaid in mine, and she's one of my closest friends. Marysa is expecting a girl so we celebrated with some girlie time and tea at The Tea House on Los Rios in San Juan Capistrano.

I was excited to go to see my friend and celebrate with her but also to have tea. I've never been to a tea house and it was a fun experience. Here are some photos from our afternoon celebration:

(i apologize for my crappy photos. i got too lazy to fix them.)


the expectant mama



our cute favors

those sandwiches and scone were delicious!

grandma and grandma

what's a baby shower without presents?!




at the end of our celebration daddy and tyler came over to say hi. i love how tyler is winking for the camera.

Marysa is ready to pop at any moment as I write this post. Can't wait to meet her baby girl!

Thanksgiving - A Family Affair

Since the hubs and I have been together this is the first time we've gone to a family Thanksgiving event. As I mentioned on my previous post Thanksgiving has never been huge a holiday for either of our families so this was a nice change and something different to do for the holiday. But this wasn't your traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was done Filipino style. No turkey, mashed potatoes, or stuffing to be found here. It was a great time to spend with family to eat, catch up, and of course eat some more. :-)




My sister-in-law and my husband's stepmom have birthdays close to Thanksgiving so we got a cake for the birthday girls.

Time with family is always time well spent!

Our mini Pre-Thanksgiving

I know I know a little late but better late than never, right?

Thanksgiving has never been a huge holiday for either my family or the hub's family. Ever since the hubs and I started dating we've spent the holiday together and I usually prepare a smaller version of a Thanksgiving meal for us. This Thanksgiving we spent with the hub's side of the family so last weekend I wanted to keep up with our "tradition" and prepared a mini pre-Thanksgiving feast for the both of us.

We started out with tomato bruschetta as an appetizer.


I made my mom's ham recipe. Although it doesn't look too pretty I loooove this ham recipe and is the best I've had. Even better than Honeybaked.


Twice-baked potatoes as a side.


And green beans to balance out our meal.



Of course a meal isn't complete without dessert so we had apple crisp a la mode.


A smaller version of Thanksgiving but it was nice to keep up with our "tradition".

Blogging hiatus

I just realized it's been well over a month since my last post. I have items to post but my mind has been on other important items as of late. The hubs and I have come across some hurdles that we're dealing with. Not quite ready to share with the blogosphere what those hurdles are, but hopefully once everything is over and settled we'll be much better off.

Looking to get more posts up in the near future.

Our Wedding Venue: Revisited

The hub and I are sentimental about the villa del sol d'oro. Almost a year and a half ago we were married there and it truly was a wonderful and memorable day for the both of us. A few weeks back we had the opportunity to revisit this amazing venue, but this time as wedding guests. I "met" Ann on an on-line message board and we've become friends since meeting in person. When Ann called me on her wedding day asking the hub and I to attend after she received some cancellations I was excited: to see Ann and finally meet her man Craig, be able to return to our wedding venue and experience it from a wedding guest's perspective, and to see all of Ann's visions we'd been talking about for so long come to life. Ann and Craig's wedding was a fabulous day and I couldn't be happier for them both. Here are some of the pics I took during the wedding:

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

I'm a TV addict!

Oh yes I am! I am delighted with this new fall season and all of my favorite shows returning and new ones that have started. So many good shows to watch that my DVR is full all the time. Bummed that my DVR records max 2 shows at one time. Is it sad that nearly every night of the week there is something I must absolutely watch, or at least record on the DVR? This is my weekly line-up:

Sunday: Amazing Race
Desperate Housewives
Army Wives
Drop Dead Diva

Monday: Dancing with the stars
How I Met Your Mother
Big Bang Theory

Tuesday: The Biggest Loser
Dancing with the stars (the results show)
NCIS
NCIS: LA

Wednesday: Glee
Top Chef: Las Vegas

Thursday: Survivor
CSI (the Las Vegas one)
Grey's Anatomy
Fringe
The Office
Private Practice
Project Runway

Friday: Chefs vs. City (on the Food Network)
Say Yes to the Dress

Yes, I know it's A LOT of television but I love all these shows. I can't wait until we upgrade to a larger tv. :-)