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Christmas Tree Time!! December 3, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Family,Happy — Kelocity @ 8:47 pm
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Tree, Family, Happy

First of all, I can’t believe that it’s already December. Where did the year go! Regardless, I’m super excited, I love this time of year, especially in Los Angeles. It gets just cold enough to feel like Christmas, but still warm enough that you don’t need a coat.

This year, we went to get our tree at Home Depot (can’t beat the price and the convenience!)
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For some reason, I started to feel a little emotional buying our tree. I just feel so lucky that we are able to afford the tree we want to get. We are so fortunate that we don’t have to choose between a tree or food on the table like so many Americans. The tree is a constant reminder to us to remember what’s really important in life, I am so lucky to have Irving and two great families to celebrate the holidays with.

We brought it home and gave her a new home in the dining room.

We let it settle and open up and we watched an episode of Weeds. And then we dragged out all the ornaments!

We put up two strands of lights and watched her glow.

We were so tired at that point that we went to bed (GASP! Without putting the ornaments on!)

So today, we woke up at 5:30a and decorated her before work. Smile Much better!

We always buy a Christmas ornament from every place we travel to.
This year’s new additions:

Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

Dubai, UAE (It’s ‘gold’ and it’s a camel. how perfect is that?)

Cairo, Egypt (which was actually really hard to find!)

And I know this sounds really bad, but I think I got this last year for Christmas and I really really really love this ornament…. does anyone know who gave this to me? I want to write it on the box!

The rest of the house got decorated as well!

Who says Sunflowers aren’t Christmasy?

I’ll get a picture of us in front of the tree this week to post. Now it’s time to get shopping!

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Earthquake Country! November 30, 2010

Filed under: Family,San Francisco — Kelocity @ 2:00 pm
Tags: Family, Fun, Point Reyes, San Francisco

Sunday, we all wanted to get outside and get some fresh air!

We gathered up the family and headed out on a 1.5 hour road trip to Point Reyes.

What a good lookin’ bunch, yes?

The drive up north was great, so much to look at. This is San Quentin prison! Yikes!

We finally got up to our destination!

Welcome to Earthquake Trail!

This was a half mile educational loop filled with all kinds of info about how Earthquakes work. (All of us nerds loved it!)

EJ proclaimed: “Take a picture of this sign and we can read it later”. lol

The hike itself was more of a stroll, but it was nice.

And then we found this!

Those blue posts mark the San Andreas fault!

All I kept thinking of was Land of the Lost when they fall into the earthquake crack. LOL

The best part was seeing this fence. This was once connected, but in the early 1900s, the plates moved 12 feet in less than a minute!

Here is all four of us demonstrating how far apart the plates moved!
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After our geography lesson, we headed over to a history lesson!

They have an old Indian Village that has been restored to it’s original form.

This used to be how they lived!

And they had Teepees too!

Then we went inside the “Sweat Room” (not quite sure what that was for. lol)

EJ running out of the Sweat Room. HAHA

Then for some reason, I decided to jog back to the car.

It was a fun way to spend the day.

So much of this great state to explore still.

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The Anti-Black Friday… November 29, 2010

Filed under: Family,Food,Thanksgiving — Kelocity @ 10:25 pm
Tags: Costco, Family, Food, Thanksgiving

We didn’t head out to the stores like the rest of America on Black Friday… But we did relax during the day and then ventured to Costco in the afternoon. (We joked that we are a family of Costco Lovers!)

Irving tried out the new 3D TVs (candid shot!)

After, we went to Sports Basement and scored an AMAZING deal on sneakers! The exact shoes I run in were $130 marked down to $75! I tried to buy two pairs, but sadly, they only had one left in my size.

Dinner was another fantastic (and slightly healthier) meal! Roasted Veggies, Salad and Beef.

With Wine of Course!

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Saturday, EJ, Sarah and Mona went down to Monterey and Irving, Julie and I went into a vey rainy San Francisco to see the De Young Museum. It’s such a great museum.

Check out this Church that was built out of guns and bullets!

So Interesting!

We really enjoyed the traveling Post-Impressionist exhibit, but you couldn’t take pictures in there. We saw lots of Van Gogh, Cezzane and Renoir paintings including Van Gogh’s The Bedroom. He actually made three of these paintings and I saw one of them in Amsterdam in 2003!
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When we got out of the Museum, the rain had cleared and the city was gorgeous!

We stopped for lunch at Picante in Berkeley! It was SO yummy! The Watermelon juice was the highlight for sure!

Northern California is so pretty. It really reminds me of New England!

Stay Tuned for more later as we take a side trip to Point Reyes!

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A Year to be Thankful for…

Filed under: Family,San Francisco,Thanksgiving — Kelocity @ 10:13 pm
Tags: Family, Museum, Point Reyes, San Francisco, Thanksgiving, Travel

Thanksgiving was a blast this year. It’s always fun when families from all over the country can get together to celebrate family. This time around, we headed up to San Francisco to Irving’s mom’s house.

We left late on Wednesday night to ‘beat’ the traffic rush. We hit a little bit on the grapevine heading out of Los Angeles…

But after that, it opened up and it was actually a really nice drive. Per usual, we stopped at Harris Ranch for dinner. I love that place. One of these days, we’re going to spend the night there, it’s just so cute.

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On Thanksgiving Day, we woke up, and the cooking began!

I made my favorite Sweet Potato Casserole (the recipe from my Aunt Donna that I make for Thanksgiving every year). It’s so good!

Awe!

Before we knew it, EJ (Irving’s sister) and her wife Sarah had arrived…and jumped straight into the kitchen!

Sarah’s mom Mona and Nini struck up a conversation and entertained the cooks.

Irving also helped prepare our Thanksgiving meal…

Don’t worry…we woke him up to carve the Turkey!

Sarah made a fantastic Pecan Pie!

All the siblings-in-laws (is that a word?)

Our Turkey was AWESOME! I am not a huge turkey eater, but I really enjoyed this one.

Ok.. ready for the menu?

Wine & Rolls

Cranberry Sauce with Cream Cheese and Pecans

Sweet Potato Casserole

Peas with Pearl Onions

Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Pineapple and Cheese (I need to get this recipe, it was sugary goodness!)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My Plate:

Cheers to a great family, all together!

And if that wasn’t enough food… perhaps we should have dessert? We had a whole bunch of treats including the Peacn Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake and these chocolate covered dates we brought back from Dubai!

We finished off the night with a fun game of ‘Apples to Apples’. Even Nini played, it was so fun!

And then I think we all fell asleep with food comas. What a fun day!

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In Anticipation of Christmas! November 16, 2010

Filed under: Family,Happy — Kelocity @ 1:30 pm
Tags: Christmas, Family, Food, Happy

Whew! That was two full weeks of travel, exploring and adventure, but I am definitely happy to be home. Here’s a round up of what we’ve been doing since we got back.

This week, Irving and I geared up for our annual Christmas present game (we like games). A few years back, I came up with an idea to make Christmas shopping more fun and meaningful. We came up with about 100 adjectives (things like ‘Something Red’, ‘Starts with an R’, ‘Batteries not included’, etc.) And we put each thing in a bag and randomly pull out five cards. Then we have to buy gifts using three of the five cards for the other person.

This year, we flipped a coin (from Dubai) to find out who got to pick first…

Ready for the coin toss..

Tails! I go first!

Have to make sure you pick a good one!

Yes! That one is a winner! (But the cards are top secret, so I can’t reveal to you just yet which ones I picked since Irving reads the blog!)

Irving’s turn…

I think I got good ones… stay tuned after Christmas to see how it all turned out!

On Sunday, I went over to see Ashley’s new baby, Hudson! He’s adorable, I can’t believe he’s here!

Then Erika and Timmy and Irving and I went to Honey Kettle for lunch.

Dipping sauces required.

Last night, my friend Janet came over to teach me how to make real tea. I picked up this amazing tea from the Dubai Spice Market and I was dying to brew a cup.