2009 In Review

The year is ending, and oh what a year we've had dear readers. We started with Ms. Carolina turning one, I remember baking a gazillion cupcakes for her party. On her actual birthday, the Epiphany, we ate Rosca de Reyes (did I spell it right Mom?) and I found the little plastic baby Jesus inside. Happy day! Whoever finds the little plastic baby Jesus has to throw a party so I had everyone over the next month to watch the Super Bowl, naturally.

There was a very memorable Valentine's Day Dinner Club with my besties. We exchanged valentines and Betsy gave us all scratch tickets. I was really excited until I realized they were romantic scratch tickets that she bought by accident at Target, they weren't real. So I'm still waiting for my candlelit dinner and backrub that she owes me but I will forgive her the debt if she buys me a real scratch ticket this year.

In March I conquered 1311 steps to the top of the Columbia Tower. You all contributed to my fundraising efforts and for that I am eternally grateful. So grateful in fact that I will not ask you for money next year.

I can't remeber anything that happened in April except that I forgot to wish my friend Adam a happy birthday on the 29th. Sorry Big Herm, let me know what the plans are for this year and happy very belated birthday to you dear friend. Oh wait, my friend Ally had little baby Carson and her daughter Ava turned 3. I get to see them this weekend (hooray!) How could I forget that?!

It was a quiet May with just a few dinners and one memorable Mariner's game.

In June I threw my sister a bachelorette party and danced the robot. We also spent a weekend camping at Alta Lake, one of my favorite yearly traditions. It says here on my calendar there was a half marathon on the 27th. Clearly I did not participate but found it necessary to pencil it in under the delusion that I would actually go. Sometimes I surprise myself with absurd ambition.

July saw my 28th year vanish and my sister got married again (to the same man), it can be confusing, I know.
Dan's neice Chloe had a bone marrow transplant and she is doing very well now, thank goodness.

In August we celebrated Cynthia's pending nuptuals with a bachelorette party in Desert Aire. It was very fun.

September brought said nuptuals in the beautiful city of Santa Fe. I would be happy never eating green chile sauce again.

In October we saw U2 in Canada and my friends Amy and Kristi turned 30.

Don't worry, there are only two more months and I'll wrap it up.

November brought a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at our friends Tim and Michele's place. This is where I brought the ill fated Williams Sonoma Oreo Cookie cake. Nobody ate it, just as I suspected they wouldn't.
The real Thanksgiving in Bellingham was delicious sans dessert catastrophe. Just how Thanksgiving should be.

Finally here we are in December. The month of good tidings and getting showered with gifts. So I present to you my new car. I just got it yesterday and I'm super excited to drive it everywhere. I hope you have pleasant memories of 2009, that you leave it satisfied and with very few regrets. May your 2010 be prosperous and wonderful and may you be showered with roses and kisses by magical fairy unicorn hybrids. I had to add that last bit because the whole thing was getting a bit cheesy, don't you think?
Have a great New Year's and I will return in 2010 with a list of resolutions to get my ass and bank account in shape.

KitchenAid Users Rejoice

You know when you're mixing something in your KitchenAid and you have to stop every few minutes to scrape the bowl down? It's annoying, right? You will be happy to know that some genius has invented a paddle attachment with silicone wings that scrapes the bowl down for you. Brilliant! It's called the Beater Blade and you can read about it here. I bought mine at Crate and Barrel and I can't wait to try it out when I make a tasty Christmas dessert. I'm thinking about making my award winning* mocha cheesecake, I'll let you know how it goes.

*"award winning" refers to award given at Topline Corp/Report Footwear Inc.'s annual Valentine's Day baking contest 2008. Award was given to my mocha cheesecake in the category of best tasting. I did not rig the votes or pay people to vote for me although there weren't a ton of entries that year and I may or may not have voted for myself.

Holidays and Hooch

Holidays and Hooch was the official name of the cocktail party we went to on Saturday. It was graciously hosted by the soon-to-be Hermans and the Mastans. They asked everybody to bring a bottle of booze (hooch, if you will) and hired a bartender for the evening. You know what happens when somebody else is mixing your drinks. You know, you drink just as much as you would otherwise. Just sayin', we all had our fair share. Here are some pics of the lovely ladies in attendance*. I had to post the pic of new mom Keri and her twin for the evening Betsy. Gotta love showing up in the same dress! Luckily there is no catiness here, just a lot of laughs.

Although I act the Grinch/Scrooge around the holidays I do really love get-togethers like this. This time of the year is a great time to reflect on the special people in your life. I am lucky to have such great friends.

*Pictures courtesy of Marissa via Facebook. I am such a picture thief.

Opinions Welcome

I bought this dress today, cute, no? I don't love the way they've styled it for the website; I'm not into those tights. What do you think?

It might also be the strange look on the model's face or her hair that's throwing me off, not sure. But I'll tell you this: for our only cocktail party of the season I invested in some rollers, super crazy volume hair spray and a decorative hair accessory. If it turns out ok I'll post pics. I hope you all have a fun weekend!

Good Catch Anonymous!

In my haste to tell you about Num Nums I made a big mistake; one that drives me crazy when other people do it. Tsk, tsk, never let your emotions sidetrack you from the laws of grammar. Thank you Mr. or Ms. Anonymous for pointing it out. I appreciate it.
In my post below it should say, "Dan and I" not, "Me and Dan". Shame!
I guess since we're talking grammar I should mention I am confounded by punctutaion when using quotation marks. I never get it right. Does anyone have a quick summary of how this is done?

Found!

Captured: Elusive Num Nums
Found at Fred Meyer 12/1/09, snagged by my new hero, the savior of a child's Christmas dreams, the one and only #1 Dunner (aka Josh).
He really came through for me today and threw some elbows at a few parents that were foaming at the mouth. He dove in and snagged this beautiful thing:

I owe him huge time. I'll have to think of the perfect thank you gift, I did offer a reward after all. Maybe a year's worth of movie tickets, hmm, I'll really have to think about this one. Chloe is going to be so happy. Me and Dan win best aunt and uncle this year, yesssssss.