Blue Badge Christmas

This year presented me with an awesome opportunity to bless the husbro with a surprise Christmas present that I was so thrilled to pull off successfully! I was able to get his dream vespa - a vintage 1966 Sears Blue Badge Vespa!
I found one for sale from a scooter guy in Vegas,
I negotiated the price down with free delivery,
I talked to Brooks to get all of the "need to know" questions answered - didn't want to buy a lemon ;)
I freaked out that the seller would bail on me when he brought it all the way down to the OC in the pouring rain,
I was pleasantly surprised when the seller and his wife showed up to drop off the bike and I recognized them from scooter rallies we had been to in the past and they were the nicest people ever!
I placed the bike into my mom's garage for safe keeping for the week and a half til Christmas,
I made sure not to tell too many people about the gift for fear the surprise would be blown,
I freaked out that Kirk would be annoyed that I went over our limit for gift giving,
I had the Twin and David go early to my mom's on Christmas day to hide the bike and put a big red bow on it,
I ordered a Blue Badge replica for the front of the bike (that went missing from the vespa over the years) and wrapped that as his gift,
Then came the big reveal!

Right after Kirk opened the replica. Slight smile wondering what it was for.

Note: Kirk has a beat up blue badge vespa already, but it has a messed up frame and is not original when it comes to engine and parts.

Looking at it, not knowing what was going on, trying not to be rude for this random gift I got him. He later told me that he thought I was going to tell him I got him a paint job or something for his existing vespa.
Looking at me for explanation, to which I said "Go look out front." To which he just stared at me. So, I repeated "go look out front," to which he replied with "are you serious?!"

Him realizing that I am serious. Looks at the twin right before he gets up to go outside.

Big smiles as he walks outside to see his surprise.

Him telling me that this is the nicest bike he has ever owned and that he can't believe he has his dream bike.

Wifey of the year...For The Win!!!

One shot together on the vespa...mission accomplished!

Not sure what I am going to do next year to top this reaction...

maybe some cozy footed pajamas.

Winter Good Times

I love Winter...why?
Because I like the cold weather and to build up mucho layers of clothes to stay cozy and to strategically hide my winter muffin top I develop from stuffing my face with goodies around the office.
Because I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin ravioli...and usually Winter ushers me into gourd heaven.
Because I love any excuse to shop and winter brings many excuses for that.
Because I get to see family a lot and my family is pretty much awesome!
And because I had so many good times this in November & December and it's not even Christmas yet. Lot's of Happy Hours with my besties from work, Christmas parties/dinners, trips to visit friends and friends coming to visit us. I love me some good times...

Meeting the twin, Pye & Iz for lunches at In-n-Out! Where I get gifts of apple juice and get to hear Iz tell me how much he likes french fries and "pbunch", and where I have been able to chat with 2 of the closest ladies in my life about everything from prayer to babies.

We took a trip to visit Brooks & Scotti out in Paso Robles.

The guys (Josh, Kirk, Brooks, David) escaped the rain long enough to take a ride.

Brooks & Scotti have 2 little girls. This is Ruby! She has one of the most infectious adorable smiles, which unfortunately I was not able to capture on camera.

This is Cider, who loves her some Harry Potter and in this photo was in the process of turning me into a frog.
I convinced Kirk to cooperate in a little impromptu photo shoot with his vespa in a plan to send out photo Christmas cards...it worked, but I think I have used up my "Kirk, take a picture with me" line until we have kids or something else photo worthy.

Winter also brought mucho happy hours. The best of which was an outing to Flemings to celebrate Erin's birthday. We took over the patio around the fire place and had one of those nights where you leave with your face hurting because you laughed so much.

Dannye, Lesley, Erin & Me

The Culvers came out from AZ for Thanksgiving and the boys started to give them poker lessons. Even Kami (who was also out for the holiday) joined in on the poker fun. Totally something kids that age should be learning right?

Does it Feel Like Christmas?

Christmas is a week away? Huh...it just feels like any other month to me. I can't get myself into the Christmas spirit. Don't get me wrong, I am in the spirit in the sense of knowing the reason for the season and am fully ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord & Savior. What I am missing is that giddy gumdrop feeling of Christmas.
I listened to Christmas music, I ate Christmas cookies, sent out Christmas cards, I have shopped and wrapped presents, I have been to Christmas parties...nothing has pushed me over that hump of the normal hum-drum 'making it through the end of the year' feeling...until tonight.

The Souther's came down to hang out in the Viejo Village and we decided to go on a drive to look at Christmas lights. We started off in our own village with the Twin's house, pic below.
Then we headed out to a few houses that a coworker of mine told me about in our vicinity. They did not disappoint. They had their front lawns covered with scenes like this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

I loved seeing people go all out with their decorations. There were kids running from house to house in a trick-or-treat like manner getting so excited with so much to look at. I got to thinking...how come I had to hit up other people's houses to get in the Christmas spirit???

Oh - because this is our house...nice effort! Santa would skip right over this one...and Rudolf would probably drop a nice little load on it. That would teach us to step up our game.

Here's one more neighbor of ours who set his lights to a local Christmas radio station. I just asked the husbro to get some lights at the bottom of our tree so you could see the ornaments...nope. Maybe next year, he said. I can't get some lights and homeboy over here has a light show spectacular. Go figure!

What gets you in the Christmas spirit?

Hockey Time

My boss is a huge hockey fan - particularly a Kings fan - which I find weird because he lives in Vegas and has a place in Denver (is a die hard Broncos fan)??? Anyway, for the second year in a row he has taken our F&B team out to dinner followed by a Kings game in a suite at the Staples Center. This year's festivities did not disappoint!

We started out at Yard House where I had a few ciders and the best Porcini Crusted Halibut - it was AMAZETASTIC! Here is a pic from dinner.

Note to viewers: Yes, this photo has been altered...yes, there is a strange (rather large) 1/4 of a person cut from this photo...yes, I cropped said person out...yes, this person works my last nerve on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis...no, I don't feel guilty about it one bit. Said person is not blog-worthy - well, at least not worthy enough for a photo.

This was only my 3rd Hockey Game I have ever been to and I still have mixed feelings about the sport in general. (View from our suite below).My thoughts on Hockey:
- Much better in person than to watch on TV
- Did not realize how cold it is (cosy in a suite though)
- The fighting makes me nauseous, just like boxing...ugh
- The fans are NUTS - in good ways and in scary ones
- Most of the players are missing teeth and seem to wear it as a badge of honor

What else did I discover at this particular game???

• I picked out a player during the 1st period on the Kings who seemed a little scrappy and decided he was my favorite. I looked him up in the program and found out his name is Simmons and that he is the only black player on the team. I liked him even more. I figure he has to be scrappy considering he is probably one of the FEW black players in the league with a whole bunch o' whitey - probably not easy.
• Personal Opinion Only - Hockey Fans = Nascar Fans??? Not the same fans but similar in behavior.
• I am not a fan of what I am assuming is Hockey's solution for a lack of cheerleaders. Scantly clad women, covered in caked on make-up, skating out on the ice during timeouts to scoop up ice shaving with their huge shovels. It's not pretty people.

Here are some other moments we memorexed from the night...

GOALLL!!!!!!

Brian, Roy & Paul went and bought Lesley Pants and I Kings scarfs and pucks with our favorite players faces and signatures on them. Yeah Simmons!!!

F&B Ladies

Mulling Around in There

Here are a few things I have mulling around in my head. To give context...All are things that have been discussed during a sermon from church or church Q&A's over the past few months.

• Jesus surprisingly gives people what they want…and what some people want, is that they don’t want to be with God.
• God’s judgment is found precisely in those moments where he doesn’t intervene.
• I know there are 3 things that the Bible affirms – 1. The utter goodness of God, 2. The utter evilness of evil, and 3. God’s sovereign commitment to bring good out of evil.
• The bible doesn’t tell us how to be a good person, it tells us how to know God.
• The Christian community has elevated homosexuality to an issue and not a person and made it an issue that is somehow worse than any other. I will lead with apology.
• Paul says, we don’t judge those outside the church. We judge those inside the church, meaning fundamentally we expect Christians to act like Christians and non-Christians to act like non-Christians…what a novel concept.
• What is it in people that makes them feel like they can’t love somebody until they know they don’t approve of their behavior? What is that?
• I will spend the rest of my life learning to be what I already am.

Any thoughts???