LION!

Steve and I spent Christmas Eve in Las Vegas. I surprised Steve with a bottle of champagne waiting in our room when we arrived. After we finished the bottle, we took a shuttle to the MGM and wandered around. This was the first time Steve had been inside the MGM so I took him straight to the LION exhibit. Here is what we did at the exhibit:

Steve really wanted a cigar to enjoy while sipping on his Bud and meandering around the casinos and of course there was an entire cigar shop right in front of us. Only in Vegas. We walked around New York New York and the Excaliber, and ate dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. After a few dollars wasted in the slots, and several $7 beers, we called it a night and took a taxi back to the good ol' Doubletree to get some sleep for our early flight to Bozeman on Christmas morning.

We decided that we need to go back to Vegas for a whole weekend. It's only about $60 round trip from Santa Maria and less than an hour flight. Why didn't we think of this before?!

Twenty Six

My twenty-sixth birthday was a perfect day. I slept in until about 11:00. Steve went downstairs to get me some coffee, but instead surprised me with strawberries and raspberries with Nutella chocolate dip and a lovey card. I opened presents from my mom (which I stared at for over a week - I have so much self control, don't I?), and let me just say - I have A LOT of shopping to do! Wahoo! :) Then we took a bike ride downtown and walked around, shopped a little, and went home for lunch. Napped, relaxed on the couch, and got ready for dinner.

We made a reservation for a seafood place on the water in Morro Bay. When we arrived, the entire place was empty and the host informed us that the kitchen was closing down. WTF?! It was 8:00 on a Saturday night! We walked out and the host came running after us saying we could stay if we wanted to and the kitchen would wait. Wahoo! So, we had the entire restaurent to ourselves, with a view of festive boats, all lit up for Christmas. I got filet mignon (had to!) and enjoyed the meal by fireside.

After dinner we went out for a drink at Vienni Vai. Steve told Giovanni it was my birthday, and he came out with a big piece of Tirimisu and a candle and sang happy birthday to me :) It was soo cute. It was the perfect night to go with a great day. Thank you all for the birthday love. You made me feel so special.

Steve and I will be flying to Las Vegas on Christmas Eve, spending one night and then flying to Bozeman early Christmas morning for a few days. We are SO excited! (and a little nervous about flying in this weather!!) But, really - Christmas is about spending time with family and loved ones, so no matter how hard it is to get there, you should try because the holidays don't mean much without love.

For New Years I am making time to see my Heather bug in Santa Cruz. We've tried every year to get together and I refuse to meet at the In-and-Out Burger parking lot for 5 minutes in the rain again like last year. I mean, how pathetic and rude am I to even suggest such a thing?! So this year, we decided we are going to SPEND time TOGETHER. When there are hundreds of miles between friends, it is easy to just forget about how meaningful that relationship is. But, Heather is one person I could never forget about. :) Sometimes you have to decide who is most important in your life, and keep those relationships alive. It's always difficult to share time between families, boyfriends, girlfriends, relatives, and friends, especially with limited time off work. It is impossible to go everywhere and see everyone, but if you do it right, and most importantly, you do what makes you happy, then no one will get their feelings hurt.

Happy Holidays!!

Liter Beers and Holiday Cheers

I don't want to say too much about work on here, but we had a great time at the Christmas party, including COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET! Yes, we did it!! After almost two years :) And no one cared. Duh!

Oh, and I won a Nintendo Wii!! :)

Peace on Earth

A birthday gift from my aunt

PEACE ON EARTH

make a wish and put on this necklace

let it be a reminder that peace is within our reach.

the time has come to spread harmony throughout the world.

if we all work together, we can make it happen!

 Dogeared jewelry. 

(also, I need to dust?!)

MANhair

Steve has the best hair of any man I've ever known. It can do anything you want it to do, and it even does fun things all on its own. See?

Thanksgiving Used to be Easy

This year, I cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 4, on my own! It was quite the challenge trying to figure out how much to make, what to make, and how to make it! Thanks to my mom for all of her patience and help...I probably called her about 500 times during the week with questions and she saved me when I nearly had a panic attack at Vons scouring the aisles for water chesnuts and Knorr Vegetable Mix. Anyway, the dinner came together perfectly and my guests were very happy.

Since Steve doesn't like very many veggie dishes, I had to be creative coming up with something to serve besides a salad. So I put together a fruit and veggie appetizer spread with fresh veggies, dip, guacamole and tortilla chips, cut up apples, pears, and raspberries, and spinach dip served with a warm baguette.

The main course was a 12 pound turkey stuffed with my mom's homemade stuffing (with apples!), garlic mashed potatoes, gravy (made by Steve's mom), cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. We had TONS of left overs which was good because one of my favorite things of all time is warm leftover turkey sandwiches smothered in gravy.

For dessert, Steve's mom baked a homemade berry pie. I usually don't like pie, especially the crust (unless of course, the crust is made from crushed Oreos), but this crust was amazing. It tasted like cookies. So, the pie was incredible, and Steve and I were left with 3/4 of it for leftovers :)

So there you have it - little me, hosting my very first Thanksgiving Feast. I actually had a blast preparing everything and I learned a ton! Hopefully next year I can cook Thanksgiving for my family! :)

Thanksgiving Used to be Easy

This year, I cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 4, on my own! It was quite the challenge trying to figure out how much to make, what to make, and how to make it! Thanks to my mom for all of her patience and help...I probably called her about 500 times during the week with questions and she saved me when I nearly had a panic attack at Vons scouring the aisles for water chesnuts and Knorr Vegetable Mix. Anyway, the dinner came together perfectly and my guests were very happy.

Since Steve doesn't like very many veggie dishes, I had to be creative coming up with something to serve besides a salad. So I put together a fruit and veggie appetizer spread with fresh veggies, dip, guacamole and tortilla chips, cut up apples, pears, and raspberries, and spinach dip served with a warm baguette.

The main course was a 12 pound turkey stuffed with my mom's homemade stuffing (with apples!), garlic mashed potatoes, gravy (made by Steve's mom), cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. We had TONS of left overs which was good because one of my favorite things of all time is warm leftover turkey sandwiches smothered in gravy.

For dessert, Steve's mom baked a homemade berry pie. I usually don't like pie, especially the crust (unless of course, the crust is made from crushed Oreos), but this crust was amazing. It tasted like cookies. So, the pie was incredible, and Steve and I were left with 3/4 of it for leftovers :)

So there you have it - little me, hosting my very first Thanksgiving Feast. I actually had a blast preparing everything and I learned a ton! Hopefully next year I can cook Thanksgiving for my family! :)