Bremas, New Years, and 11 Days Off

You may or may not have noticed I took a little break from blogging over the holidays. What's new, right? Always taking breaks, this one. I had 11 glorious days off work in which I planned to do all kinds of things around the house in addition to the annual Christmas tour, but I'm sure you're surprised to hear absolutely nothing got done.

I take that back...

I drank a whole lot of vodka and ate a whole lot of crappy food. Not one of my prouder weeks in the past year, but hey, can't do anything about it now but try to work it all off.

As usual I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy living in the moment, and the few I did take are from the trusty old iphone. We started out the Christmas tour with dinner at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. After dinner and socializing with the family, we gather everyone into one room for The Christmas Story. My uncle used to read this every year, but has since passed the torch. This year, my cousin Drew read it with some help from his youngest daughter.

My bro and Monkey, loving the story

After The Christmas Story, everyone plays a white elephant gift game, but JB and I take off and head to my dad's house for their annual Christmas Eve party that my stepmom hosts for her side of the family. It was a smaller group this year than last, but my stepsister from LA was up visiting with her family, so we had most of the stepsisters together.

Just missing Stephers

My dad found this little gem, which is a book full of different pages with different topics that you fill in the blanks on such as favorite color and actor and your best friends at the time. I'm pretty sure this was actually my stepsister's book first and I found it when I was 9 1/2 and erased all of her answers and added my own. This was the last page of the book and what a grand finale it was...

Say what?  I posted this on Instagram and got some great comments.

We took our mandatory birthday shots for me (not Jesus) at midnight, had a little more family time, and then went to bed. We headed home the next morning after we opened our stockings (stalkings??) and had JB's parents and brother over to our house for dinner. We hung out in our PJ's all day and played with his mom's iPad mini since mine hadn't arrived yet and looked up all the cool stuff we want to do in Greece and all the food we are going to eat...

See, still in our jammies, no showers.  Hot.

My favorite in-laws!

He's available ladies, he and the tree parted ways that night

Love her so much!

Hubs and I haven't gotten each other gifts since our first Christmas together due to the buying of the house and getting married and going to Europe and all that jazz, so even though they were little things, I was excited to have a couple of gifts under the tree this year.

A couple.  As in, literally two whole presents.

My Bremas present was a collaboration from a few different people (JB, in-laws, mom & stepdad). It was scheduled to arrive the day after Christmas and actually came on Christmas Eve while we were at the movies, so I had to wait until the day after Christmas for my iPad to arrive. We stayed put all day to make sure we were around when it arrived.

The next day, I went up to spend the day with my mom who is recovering from major back surgery. She is doing so great! The doctor and all the nurses kept saying how well she was doing and even the physical therapist didn't know why he was there because she was moving around so well. I'm very proud of her and excited for her to have a better quality of life once she is completely healed.

My dad took me, my brother, and JB to the last regular season Niners game on the 30th, which was a pretty big game because they clinched the NFC West!! And wouldn't you know it, I didn't get one single picture of the four of us decked out in Niners gear (probably cuz I'm a Pats fan...). I did get this pic from our lower reserved seats though:

We were in traffic longer than we were at the game, but it was totally worth it.

For New Year's Eve we went to my friend's house downtown. She and her friend live on either side of the same duplex, so they took out the middle fence in the back yard and had a joint gathering. It was fun to dress up, but still go somewhere low-key and be with friends. Lots of beer pong was played. I seriously played the games of my lifetime! I usually suck at beer pong, but that night, I was magical.

Since there's not a single pic of me in the dress...

Me and the Hostess

Before heading out

All bundled up for beer pong!

So, none of the items on my staycation to-do list got done, but I did stay up late, sleep in late, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy every minute of it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful new year! Here's to wonderful things for all of us in 2013!!!

Happy Endings & A Merry Bremas

If you've been around for at least a year, you might be familiar with the fact that I am a Christmas baby.  All my life I have been unhappy with this.  Winter birthday parties are boring and lame.  My brother is 2 1/2 years older than me, almost to the day, so he always got the cool June birthday parties around a pool or slip n slide or water park, etc.  Not to mention so many people are obsessed with this Jesus guy and apparently we have the same birthday, so he is constantly stealing my thunder.

Anywho...

I have mentioned before on Twitter that I am so in love with the show Happy Endings.  I honestly laugh so hard during episodes of this show that I don't recognize the sound that comes out of me because it's no laugh I've laughed before.  This week's episode was nothing short of amazing and I have provided some clips below to illustrate why.  They are all short, watch them in the order posted :)







In the words of Penny, this episode was A-MAH-ZING!!!  Captures the story of my life pretty well.  Seriously you guys, this show + New Girl has made Tuesday my new favorite night of the week.  LOVE! 

Do you/have you watched?  What do you think?

7th of July!

Some friends of ours always do a 4th of July party, but since it was on a Wednesday this year, they moved it to the following Saturday. This was actually the first year we were able to attend. They always have tons of booze, a vat of nacho cheese, lots of other yummy food, and a slip n slide...

Smitty Slide

Smash Slide

Two whole people braved the slip n slide. My favorite was Smitty who even went in with his socks on.

Later in the evening we ordered the UFC fights. I'm so glad Sonnen got his a$$ beat. I hope he keeps his word and retires, I'm so sick of hearing him run his mouth.

After the fights we kept on keepin on and started a dance party in the living room...





I can only assume that gigantic bruise is the aftermath of my attempt at the worm. I'll have to keep working on that one.

Just Another Manic Monday...

Whoooooaaaaa Whooooooaaaaaa!

First off, I want to say hello to all the new faces around here!  It is still crazy to me that people I don't know care so much about what I have to ramble about, but I love you all the same!  Apologies in advance for the less than riveting post you are about to read.  I hope you'll stick around after this...

I have been in a serious blogging funk lately.  In case you haven't noticed I get this super amped up motivation and post every day for a WHOLE WEEK and then nothing for like 2 weeks....or a month...

Whateva, whateva, I do what I want!

To be honest, I am just not feelin' it right now.  I finally let happen what I swore I wouldn't.  I got sucked in and let another blogger get me down.  I have also spent the past couple of weeks reading Christmas recaps and New Year's Resolutions and I barely had the energy to read them, let alone recap my own.  I'm just not feelin' it folks.  I love you all and want to read about your holidays, but since I only get to read like once a week, a thousand recaps and resolutions posts in a row were a bit redundant and overwhelming.  It's pretty obvious why I follow the blogs I do though, because they are all very similar :)

Tax season has begun so I worked all weekend.  Seriously ALL WEEKEND.  7 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday.  So today doesn't even really feel like a Monday.  I have the next couple of weekends off for various reasons, but I am pretty much working all but one weekend in February.  The good thing about a seasonal job is that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel so it doesn't really seem so bad.  Plus, I'm making that money, YA HEARD?  If you know anyone in the Sacramento, CA area that is looking for a tax professional, send them my way!

I know we only had our honeymoon 6 months ago, but I am seriously having vacation withdrawals.  I think it's because we did Europe instead of sitting on the beach with a drink in our hand getting couples massages.  I'm not really complaining about going to Europe, but I am itching for a paradise fix in a bad way!  It doesn't really help that everyone is posting about their winter vacations to tropical destinations and cruises.  It also doesn't help that I don't see anything like that in our near or distant future.  Booooooo!

I have worked out a handful of times since the end of October.  I went from working out 6 days a week, to working out like 6 times in 2 months.  I don't know what it is, but I need to get my mojo back.  I really enjoy being able to head straight home after work, but I don't like feeling like a fitness slacker.  I keep saying I am going to get up and go in the morning, but my get up and go won't get out of bed.  Bitch.

I don't do resolutions, but I do to-do lists, so here's mine:

• Finish wedding and honeymoon recaps before June.  If we have a year to get Thank You cards out, we should have a year to get the recap posts up too.
• Get my fitness mojo back.  Before I know it, it will be bathing suit season.  Luckily my eating habits haven't changed from when I was working out, so I am not packing on the pounds that winter usually brings.
• Remember why I started blogging in the first place, which was to keep friends and family updated on my life and keep a log of memories and milestones.
• Work harder to avoid comparing myself to others.  I can only control myself and my situation, so none of the other stuff matters.

I hope your year is off to a stellar start!!!  Maybe I should use it as a reset button for the ol' bloggy blog.  Let's see what 2012 brings!!

Oh What Fun!!!

So I might have jumped the gun a bit by sharing my story on Tuesday about my family's tradition with Christmas tree decorating, but I decided to link it up today over at I Love You More Than Carrots anyway.  Head on over there and see what kind of traditions she has in her family and link yours up if you want to play along!

Oh Christmas Tree

We decorated our tree on the 4th, but as usual, I am a total slacker and didn't get anything up about it.  When I lived at home, and even after both my brother and I had moved out, my mom always wanted to go up to Apple Hill and find our tree and cut it down/decorate it as a family.  This usually required getting up really early on a weekend and sacrificing spending a whole day with the fam.  My brother would make chili and we would decorate the tree in the evening.

Over the years my parents moved closer to Apple Hill, but farther from me and my brother and it became more of a hassle to keep this tradition going with our busy schedules.  Last year JB and I bought a fake tree (I am not a fan of sap, bugs, or fire hazards) and I decided to have everyone over here and make chili and decorate the tree, once again reviving our tradition somewhat.  So they came over again on the 4th and we decorated the tree:

We don't have a tree skirt and it was off-balance so we had to stick some folded cardboard under one of the feet, which is why I cut off the bottom of the pic.  LOL!  This what we call Christmas Corner.  What do you think?

Weekend Wrap-Up & A Recipe

Friday night I went to a Christmas dinner party that my friends host each year.  JB and I made sure to reserve a room at their house since we knew there would be drinking involved.  We ate too much, drank waaaaaaay too much, had some Dance Central 2 battles (which I dominated, BTW), and made some great memories with great friends.  Of course I don't have any pictures to show for it.  FAIL.

Saturday morning I woke up pretty much hating life.  We had breakfast and I tried to choke down a bloody mary in hopes that it would make me feel better, but my headache would not go away.  Four hours, six ibuprofen, one bloody mary, one cup of coffee, and a water bottle later, I still felt like crap.  I knew I had to rally though because I still had my mani/pedi date with Mrs. Monologues.  She came and picked me up around 3:15 and I had managed to shower and make myself look somewhat presentable.  I felt better, but was still pretty tired and I'm sure I wasn't very good company.  Pictures, you ask?  Nope.  Not one.  FAIL.

Later that evening JB and I went over to his coworker's apartment to watch the UFC fights.  My headache had started creeping back in and my stomach was in no shape to be away from home, but I powered through it.  I took some Excedrin Migraine and had a few beers and managed to have a good time despite my condition.  The fights were AMAZING!  Bones Jones is a gangster and I was so glad to see Frank Mir get a W.  Hoping to see the Jones/Silva fight in 2012!

Sunday I woke up with my throat full of gunk, but I felt okay otherwise.  I laid in bed and caught up on Private Practice on the DVR and JB brought me Starbucks for breakfast.  I was excited to find out that they decided to switch to showing the Patriots game and got to watch the last half of the game and see the Pats get a W!  After the game ended I retreated back to the bedroom for some more DVR and didn't emerge until 3pm.

I decided to use the rest of the afternoon/evening wisely and prep some of my food for the week.  I cleaned/chopped/packaged a bunch of veggies to take for snacks:

I made some of Jamie Eason's Chicken Meatloaf Muffins and a pot of brown rice to take for lunches:

I also decided to make a new recipe for dinner, Butternut Squash Soup.  I have never made this before because I was not excited about peeling and cubing the squash, but I found a package of it pre-peeled and cubed at Costco for only $4.99 and it was the exact amount of squash that the recipe called for!  I had everything set out to take a before pic and totally forgot.  And then I was too hungry to remember to take a pic of the finished product, so the only pic I got was a during:

It was soooooooo yummy!  Here is the recipe I got from a friend of ours:
6 Tbsp chopped onion
3 Tbsp butter
6 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1/2 tsp dried marjoram or parsley (I used parsley)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz. cream cheese (I used Horizon reduced fat)
3 cans (42 oz.) chicken broth (I used lower sodium, organic)
Salt to taste (I used a teaspoon)

• Saute onions in butter until tender
• Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT cream cheese
• Boil 20 minutes or until squash is tender
• Puree squash and cream cheese in batches until smooth (I used the blender)
• Return to pot and heat through, but do not boil.

Since there isn't much substance to the soup, JB and I added some brown rice to it and had a couple of the chicken meatloaf muffins with it to add some protein.  I really like what the brown rice added to the soup.  JB actually put his chicken muffins into the soup, but I just dipped my pieces in there.  I can't wait to have it again for lunch!

How was your weekend?

Happy New Year!

I am unwinding from the most awesome weekend and just wanted to get my feelings out while reflecting on it.

JB and I packed up the car on Thursday and headed down to spend the weekend with some friends for the new year. Three of the friends were waiting for us when we arrived, but another couple would be joining us the next day. We ordered some pizza, had some drinks, listened to some tunes and played a whole lot of XBOX 360 Kinect.

First of all, I have to admit that I am completely and utterly in love with that gaming system. I tried the Dance Central game and was addicted immediately. I was really working up a sweat after just a couple of songs. After dinner we played the sports game that has tons of different activities like soccer, bowling, track and field, ping pong, and volleyball. It's great because you are being entertained and active at the same time. It kept us busy pretty much all weekend.

Friday morning we walked a couple of blocks to Harbor Cafe for some amazing breakfast. I chose to pass on the yummy looking bloody marys because we were planning on going for a run later. After breakfast we rested and digested for a while before gearing up for our run. My friend Melissa and I were going to run over to the beach house I am looking into renting for my bachelorette bash. It was 1.2 miles away, so there and back was a nice way to burn some calories.

The other couple we were waiting for was just showing up as we were heading out for our run and JB had taken off to the nearby 24 Hour Fitness to get in a workout since his knee has been bothering him and he couldn't do the run. On the run to the beach house we encountered some treacherous curves and since we were running in the bike lane on a two-lane road, we were both a little nervous. We made it there alive and the beach house was exactly like it was in the pictures online and the location was awesome! I sent a text to one of my bridesmaids to give her the go ahead on sending out the info to all the girls. YAY!

We decided to find a safer route for running back, which turned into a dead end with an entrance to the beach. After assessing the situation, we figured that we could just run on the beach back over near the place we were staying. It.Was.Awesome. Running along with the cool air and the sound of the waves with a soft, yet solid ground beneath me was pure heaven. If I could do that every day, I would be logging some serious miles. I was really trying to take it all in as I ran along and cherish the moment.

After we returned to the house we showered and got ready to walk to a restaurant down on the water for some dinner. One of my friends owns a tequila company with his brothers and they just happen to carry it there since it was his brother's beach house nearby that we were staying at for the weekend. We had 4 pitchers of margaritas (between the 7 of us) and some food before heading to the beach to make a fire and toast marshmallows for s'mores. We could not have asked for better weather. There was no wind, no rain, and we were able to hang out on the beach for about an hour before we headed back to the house.

The rest of the evening was spent playing board games, more kinect, drinking and tunes. We toasted with champagne at midnight and then played some beer pong for good measure. It was simple and fun, and a great way to ring in the last year of my second decade of life. I called both of my parents at midnight and although they probably couldn't hear it on their end, I felt very emotional. I had to sit outside for a few minutes after making the calls just to pull it together.

Yesterday was spent recovering for most of the folks in the house, which is understandable for the amount of tequila we went through. Amazingly enough, I didn't feel too bad. JB and I almost got in a workout too, but in the end it never happened. We watched 4 movies throughout the day and made a delicious dinner. I would look around at several times throughout the weekend and just feel so lucky to be in this house with these people laughing and enjoying each other's company.

I feel so blessed and so grateful for all that I have. With the way the end of this year has gone, it has made me really see the importance of spending time with my family and being thankful that I have so many people to spend the holidays with. I am thankful that I have such great friends in all different areas of my life. I am thankful that I am able-bodied and have gained the information over the past few years to make it easier to make healthy decisions every day and to know the consequences of the unhealthy decisions.

The year ahead is going to be a pretty big one. My niece will be born next month. I will be married in less than six months, and traveling to Europe shortly thereafter. I will also be the Maid of Honor for the wedding of two amazing friends. Oh, and did I mention I will also turn 30? I have no idea what else this next year has in store, but I am ready for it.

I read a lot of facebook statuses and blogs about 2010 being a generally crappy year for most folks. Here's to an amazing 2011 to you all!

Birthday Week and Christmas Parts II and III

Last Saturday's Christmas with my mom's fam kicked off the start of my birthday week! On Monday, my coworker (aka Nugget's mom) took me to Red Robin for a birthday lunch. We passed on the singing and free dessert there and headed to Icing on the Cupcake for yummy treats! I got the pumpkin with cream cheese frosting shown below and she got the classic carrot cake cupcake:



I had a different birthday lunch every day. Tuesday I went with Lou to Chili's and then we walked over and got her measured for her bridesmaid dress (yay!). Wendesday I had lunch with GF at Cafe Roma since I was working downtown. Thursday I had "Christmas Curry" with a coworker. We went to the amazing Thai place near our work. Since we didn't have work on Friday, Thursday was casual day. I wore this hot little number with my jeans:




It has bells on it! So basically I wanted to tell everyone I would be there with bells on, because I really was. LOL! I also had to stop myself from asking people if they liked my ornaments. I am the HR Manager and all.

Since Heather (Nugget's mom) was gone on Thursday, I came into my office and there was a note on my desk cupboard door that said "open me" and inside was this:



She's too sweet!

I decided on Tuesday that I wanted to do an impromptu birthday celebration, but obviously no one was available on Thursday by Tuesday night, so JB and I went to dinner by ourselves. Afterwards we went out to the casino for some drinks and penny slots. First things first, we had to get our Players Club cards. LOL! Some of JB's friends were in town for the holidays so they met up with us, along with some other local friends. I was glad they could at least come and have a drink with me and witness the horrendous karaoke that was happening inside the bar area. Even Mr. and Mrs. Awesome came by on their way home from the Kings game to buy me a birthday drink!

Friday we lounged around all morning and then got ready to head to the bay area to see my aunts/uncles/cousins from my dad's side of the family. It was great to see everyone and talk about holidays past and our childhood. I sat next to my SIL and apparently the little cupcake likes hummus because she was doing all sorts of stuff in there. I got to feel her move a lot and was so excited!! I can't wait until she gets here! Two more months!

After dinner and story time with everyone, we headed to my Dad's house in Vacaville. My stepmom hosts Christmas Eve and this was the 30 year anniversary of the tradition! She put together an amazing scrapbook of pictures from when she first started doing this through last year along with quotes that people submitted to her. It was really special. We ate, drank, and were merry with all of the friends and family that were present. My dad had this ridiculous reindeer hat that had moving, lit-up antlers and sang "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer". Why did I not get a pic of that?

Every year I usually stick around until midnight so we can celebrate my birthday. Right after the clock struck 12:00am, everyone sang happy birthday to me and then my parents gave me my gifts. After I was done opening, my stepmom suggested shots, to which we all obliged. Except poor JB who was stuck being DD. Hey, it's MY birthday. I did feel kind of bad that we didn't get home until 2am, but we were having so much fun!

Saturday morning I awoke to JB smooching my face off. This is annoying, but cute and sweet at the same time. He brought me coffee in bed and said "Merry Christmas!" to which I responded, "It's my birthday." We chatted for a few minutes and then he said he had to go get his coffee so it didn't get cold. When he came back he had a little pink bag with this inside (sorry it's upside down):



It's a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com so I can buy a new book for my Kindle. There were a lot of things I wanted this year, but we are financially handicapped right now. I really wasn't expecting anything, so I thought it was sweet that he still wanted to give me something for my birthday even though he couldn't get me what he really wanted to. The best part was the bag he used was one of the ones I have stored in the hall closet! I save gift bags and tissue paper for re-use. Smart, no? I laughed really hard at the whole thing and thought it was pretty awesome.

We headed off to spend the afternoon with my step-dad's family and then had dinner with JB's bro and parents that night. I gave JB and Rich their gifts together since they were related. Pic of JB's gift below:

And I got one for me :)

If you remember this post about The Pigeons, this might make sense to you. If not, you should go read it now. The same day I posted that blog, I had a friend send me the link to a bunch of pigeon related shirts on CafePress.com. I immediately emailed all of the wives and suggested the gift idea. Everyone loved the thought of getting shirts for the guys and some of us decided to get shirts for ourselves and for their children as well. A few of the guys have the same shirt, but there are several others thrown in the mix too. Here are some of the sayings on the shirts:

"I Speak Pigeon"
"I'm the crazy pigeon man your momma warned you about"
"Don't mess with the pigeons"
"Evil" with a pic of a pigeon
A pigeon with a fedora hat
A pigeon DJ
"When I grow up I want to be a pigeon" kids
"Pigeon Hugger" kids/wives

Those are the only ones I can remember right now. From what I have heard, the guys loved them. Maybe they will even wear them for next year's Christmas card. Who knows? Here is a pic of one of the other guys and his kids with their shirts (don't worry, I asked permission first):

It was a wonderful Christmas season. I really tried to stay in the moment and appreciate the time I got to spend with my family and friends. I am so grateful for everything and everyone we have in our lives.

I hope you all had an amazing holiday season!!!

Family Christmas Part I

We had Christmas with my mom's side of the family on Saturday. The following is a picture story of what went down:

(Brother is bored. Wants to open presents)

(JB got tickets to a Giants game from my parents!)

(Gma got a book from her sister)

(I was uber excited about my kindle!)

(Unc Jim's shirt didn't come in on time so I gave him a pic of it)

(Cuz likes her sweatshirt)

(My bro couldn't figure out why Gma got him creepy talking M&M ornaments)

(We skyped my aunt and cousin who couldn't make it)

(Showing them my set of 4 Patriots Shotglasses)

(Gma got me my first wedding related gift - a picture frame)

(She also got us a holiday decoration "la la la")

(JB got my SIL some cupcake hooks for the little cupcake's room)

(Guys' Table)

(Girls' Table)

(Trying to feel cupcake moving around after dinner)

(Cutting my birthday cake that SIL made me)

Wonderful time with family. My step-dad had to work so he wasn't able to join us, and my cousin got really sick so she and my aunt stayed home. It would have been much better if everyone could have been there, but what can you do? So grateful to have them there and for the wonderful gifts we got.

Family Christmas Parts II and III coming up this weekend.