Sunday Social #1: The Holidays

I decided to participate in the Sunday Social that Ashley from Ashley's Carnival Ride started months ago. She puts up questions every weekend and bloggers just answer and post! Hopefully this will get me to blog more, but I get brain farts, especially on the weekends. They pass by so fast!

Yay to my first one!

1. Favorite Holiday Movies/TV Specials?

It's a Wonderful Life is definitely a favorite. When my sister and I watched it for the first time, we laughed so much when George (Jimmy Stewart's character) was about to jump into the water, but the angel got to it first. It was so unexpected and so funny. It really reminds us that we should always be grateful for what and who we have in our lives. 

2. Do you do any volunteering during the holidays if so what? If not what would you do?

I haven't been able to volunteer during the holidays, but this season I made Christmas cards for our service members through American Red Cross. I used crayons, construction paper and made them myself. They'll probably think kids made it, but I had a great time making them. I also sent some Christmas candy to our service members through Operation Shoebox. For the last 3 years, I buy toys and donate them to ABC 7's Spark of Love  toy drive. I would love to find an organization that need volunteers to wrap toys/presents for people who need it. I love wrapping presents!

3. Favorite toy received as a Child for the Holidays?

I would have to say that my kitchen set was my favorite toy received as a child for the holidays. I was super excited for my mini stove and the tiny food. It was just so cute. 

4. What was your must have item in high school for the Holidays?

Vans!

5. Item you begged for the most and never got?

There were things that I would really want when I was younger and then I'd eventually get over it a few months later. It was because my friends had them, so I wanted them. Roller blades are the only thing that pops into mind. (It's funny because I think back and just see how truly blessed I am to have my awesome parents who didn't spoil me and buy me everything material thing I asked for. They worked hard to give me what I needed, and that's all I could really ask for.) 

6. What do you do on Christmas Eve? If you are Jewish what does your family do for Hanukkah?

Every Christmas Eve, my family and I go to my uncle's house and have a big dinner. Since it's everyone on my mom's side, we have Secret Santa. I always love getting together with my family, especially for the holidays. Then we go home, get into our pajamas, and open the presents we have for one another. It's so much fun. I am truly blessed. 

 2010.

2011.

October 2012

Now that November is coming to an end, I am writing about what an awesome October I had. Yep, I'm pretty behind on my blogging. Better late than never though!

The month started off with a trip to Disneyland for Halloween. I wanted to go as an early birthday outing since I've never been during that time of the year. I absolutely love Halloween, so was super excited. Rudy and I had such an amazing time and got there early enough so that there was no line for It's a Small World. Finally! We had some dee-licious all-you-can-eat BBQ for dinner....holy moly! We ended the night with some fresh beignets. The nice lady behind the counter gave me a large order instead of the small that I ordered since I was celebrating my birthday. So sweet!

 

Forneris Farms is a fall fun outing that I found two years ago. They have a different corn maze every year and I really wanted to go again this year. We headed over there with our comfortable sneakers, bottled water, and light sweaters. Luckily Rudy is great at directions so kept track of where we were going throughout the maze (they have a little map). If we depended on me, we would've gone in circles. They have cute little CORNundrums that you can solve. There are fifteen throughout the whole maze and we found every single one! 

                                       Duck tape.                                               Corn dog.                                            Pumpkin patch.

On another one of the Saturdays, Rudy, my sister and I went to Cal Poly Pomona for a fall festival. It's an agricultural university, so they had a HUGE pumpkin patch. There were so many to choose from, but what usually buys it for us is the pumpkin's stem. We like the thick, curvy ones. We picked two nice pumpkins perfect for carving. They had Spookly the Square Pumpkin stuff there too, which I love! I even got the book, stuffed toy, and DVD. I was so happy to be able to find our perfect pumpkins at the patch!

For Halloween, we usually carve our pumpkins with things like Frankenstein, the Headless Horseman, and a haunted house, but this year I wanted to pick a theme. I looked online for some ideas and decided on a Monsters' Inc. theme with Sulley, Mike Wazowski, and Boo. I was so happy with how they turned out. I traced, my sister took out the seeds and gunk, and Rudy carved. We make a great team! The trick or treaters seemed to like them, too. 

This was probably one of the best Octobers I've ever had. We got to do so much fall-like activities and I had so much fun. I have to take advantage of my favorite season/month while it's here! 

San Francisco Baby!!

During Labor Day weekend  back in September, Rudy and I went to San Francisco to visit our friends. They had a bambino in April and I wanted to meet her really bad! 

We ate soooooooo much and I enjoyed every second of it! Everything was just soooo good! They took us to all the best spots and I knew I'd have to jump a few times to fit into my jeans on Monday. Lol, but seriously....;-)

They told us that they had wild animals that roam around their street....deers, bobcats, turkeys.

That's right....turkeys! Turkeys that I wanted to see so bad. The first early morning, I woke up at about 7ish and keep looking in their backyard, but nothing. Sunday morning, I saw nothing. They told me it was usually super early, between 3-6 and in the front of the house, roaming the streets. I woke up at 5:30 and sat by the front window for 10 minutes, and nothing. I was too sleepy to stay up and wait. Next time, I will set alarm. Yes, that's how serious I am about wanting to see turkeys roaming the streets. What a weirdo! We got to see 2 baby deer/fawns though, so that was awesome. 

Baby Mia is absolutely adorable and one of the happiest baby I have met to date. She only cries when she's hungry and has the cutest laugh. Maybe I'm just biased since she's the daughter of some of my closest friends. But seriously.....cuutie pie!

Of course, we went to Fisherman's Wharf and had the Clam Chowder bread bowl. It's just so good! I got a little starstruck when we saw UFC's Josh Koscheck there too! I almost wanted to go up to him, but he was with his family having lunch, so I didn't want to be one of those people. Now if it was Georges St. Pierre, that'd be another story. 

We also went to the Disney Museum, which was so interesting. I enjoyed looking at all the memorabilia and listening to the major events. They had the old school Disney books with the gold spine that I remembered having when I was little. I pretty much bought all of them for my own little book collection. 

We ate at Fenton's Creamery right before our flight home, which was in the movie "UP." I, of course, had to get some ice cream after. 

It was such an amazing weekend and I didn't want it to end. It was great seeing the little family and parts of the San Francisco. While we were in the car, Nach had mentioned that we've known each other for 10 years. 10 years! I can't believe that much time has passed. 

Sea lions.

Clam Chowder bowls.

Disney Museum.

One of my dearest friends. 

Yummy seafood.

Rudy with his Red Velvet Chicken and Waffles.

It was definitely one of the best weekends/trips I've had! And yes, I promise not to take so long to visit again. :)

 Love you guys!

Fall Friendship Swap

I participated in a Fall Friendship Swap and was partnered up with Stephanie. It was really fun getting to know her and she seems like such a sweet person!

I came home to the package waiting for me in the living room. I was so excited to open it up, but heard some clinking, kinda like broken glass. My goodies was wrapped in newspaper, but luckily most of them made it in one piece. We unfortunately lost a plate, salt shaker, and candle holder. I love everything that did make it.

When I came home from work the next day, I loved how my room smelled like the pumpkin and harvest candles. I absolutely love fall, and the smell makes me feel warm inside. 

Thanks Stephanie! :)

Rudy's 27th

Two weeks ago, we celebrated Rudy's 27th birthday at none other than...

Speed Zone. 

He's a big fan of Formula One (and this is about as close as he's going to get to it). 

Our good friends Lorenzo and Brian joined us in the fun. 

 Cute little speed racers.

 Cheers!

I, of course, came in last at just about every track. When I saw Rudy in his Ferrari shirt and checkered Vans, I knew I was dunzo. 

The guys had so much fun and it really meant a lot to him that they came along for the ride (yes, I really did put ride). 

Yummy goodies.

Happy birthday to my love. <3

Stress Relieving

With any job, there is stress. During my long term assignment, I definitely had my fair share. So what did I turn to?

Baking.

Yup, baking. I follow some awesome pages through Facebook and email, so baked whatever I thought looked yummy. I found it to be such a stress reliever. I felt stressed, and while whipping up the ingredients, it gave me such a calming feeling. When I felt stressed and I didn't have enough time to bake, I kept thinking about baking. What to bake, when I would have time to do it....no joke.

Luckily I didn't have the urge to eat it all after it was done. I enjoy baking, but didn't care to really eat too much of it. I'd have others try it and eat one or two. 

What did I do with it all? I brought them to work the next day to share with my co workers. Everything I baked, I made sure to bake enough for them, especially with my grade level colleagues (because they were so awesome and I felt a whole lotta gratitude towards them for helping me so much). During the last 2 months of work, I baked every week. Yup, it got pretty intense, but I was glad to find something that helped me and my co workers seemed to enjoy all the goodies they got. I mean, who wouldn't love to get some treats in their box Monday morning? To thank them for everything at the end of the year, I baked my 3 favs. That was a loooong weekend. :)

What I find funny is that I haven't baked all summer. Only twice did I bake, but using good ol' Betty Crocker. I'm starting to find recipes that I'd love to try, so I think I'm gonna start again soon!

Here were some of my favs:

 Banana bread.

 Thumbprint cookies with jam.

These last two are my absolutely favorite. It was really hard not to eat all of these.

 Chess cakes.

 Oatmeal-cranberry cookies with white chocolate chips.

Thank goodness for baking!

Breanna & Antonio's Wedding

Rudy and I went to a wedding in Riverside over the weekend. It was definitely hot. When we got there, it was actually raining! Raining! What the heck man?? We got their early, so waited in the car. Luckily it stopped right before the ceremony started. 

They had buckets like this with all of the bottled/canned beverages. Such a cute idea!

Everything about the wedding was absolutely beautiful. I must have said, "I love (fill in the blank)" a million times. I loved the bridesmaids' dresses and their hair, the idea of the beverages, the mason jars, signs....pretty much everything. 

The flower girls were so adorable. One of them wanted to make sure that the petals were actually on the aisle, so she picked up ones that were outside of the aisle and placed them where they belonged. They were a bit restless waiting though. Luckily the maid of honor, Tarren,  watched over them. 

 Here comes the bride! She looked beautiful!

Mr. and Mrs. Guerrero!

They had games that guests could play. Rudy was excited for the horseshoes. Later we found out from one of the other guests, that we were playing it wrong. Lol, oh but of course! They even had an area where you could build a tent!

 Cupcakes and ice cream. Yup, they had an ice cream stand!

I'm thinking of keeping the beard. Rudy's not too fond of the idea.

est. 2002

I met Breanna through her sister, Tarren when we were dorm mates about 10 years ago. Breanna was 16 when I met her and I've seen her grow into a beautiful young woman, who is now married! I am so proud of her and love her very much. 

 I love these girls!

What a wonderful night it was!

Congratulations Breanna & Antonio!! <3