Other December Events

I thought I would go ahead and post a few other pictures from this last month since I finally go them loaded onto the computer yesterday. Here is our little tree we bought our first year out here. We have acquired many more ornaments since then so it doesn't look quite as bare as it did three years ago. You can't see all of them, but our tree topper is a pair of gingerbread men with our names on it that we got as a gift from Kevin's mom last year. We thought it worked perfectly.


Before Christmas we had Brian and Moria over for a ham dinner and I experimented with a new dessert. I thought the presentation was pretty good so I thought I'd show it off. It tasted decent, but there is room for improvement.



We exchanged gifts and our gift was "Ticket to Ride-Europe". Brian and Moria own the U.S. one and we really enjoy playing it with them so they thought we'd enjoy this one too. It was a blast!! We definitely recommend this game. It is great because it can be played with just two people but up to five if friends are over!


Moria came over the Saturday before Christmas so that we could make cookies. We decided on gingerbread cookies and spent a lot of time decorating. Here are some of our favorites....







At work, the IPT folks (Inventory Processing Team) and a few other booksellers decided to draw names for a secret santa. We meet at Round Table Pizza for food and drinks before opening gifts. Here are a few of us that didn't have to work that night.

One of the girls gave all of us on IPT mini box cutters and that was probably my favorite thing of the night. We open so many boxes at work and have to break down so many boxes that we are constantly looking for scissors or one of the few box cutters we have in the back room. Since then it has been extremely useful!! I am going to work this Friday and then I start my new job next week. I am really going to miss everyone at work!

Christmas in Newport Beach

As I mentioned in my last blog, Kevin and I headed down to Newport Beach for Christmas. We left early on Christmas Eve and checked into our hotel. We pretty much just hung out and napped in the afternoon and enjoyed the fact that we weren't at work. That night we got on speaker phone with Kevin's Mom and brothers to open gifts. Not the ideal way to do it, but we still had fun.
We went out to dinner that night and enjoyed a walk along the beach in the dark. It was fun looking at all the lights on the houses as they were pretty much the only light along the beach. It was pretty chilly, but I guess I shouldn't complain to those living in real cold weather.


On Christmas we headed down to the pier to check out the water. It was cold and windy, but the view was still AMAZING! I had to buy a stocking cap to keep my hair from flying all over and driving me crazy. This is my favorite picture from that day.


Kevin next to the pier.

We also drove down a little later to an area called "The Wedge". During certain times there are amazing waves which attracts surfers and body surfers. A little cold to see any that day, but it was fun to check out. We are out on a jetty in this picture and you can see in the distance the rain coming in. Shortly after this photo we decided to head back to the car to not get caught in the rain. It started sprinkling about half way back and then we started running. We barely made it to the car when it down poured for about 5 minutes. We felt a little sorry for the people out at the end of the jetty fishing!!!


The skies were clearer on Friday so we took a Ferry to Balboa Island. It is a really short ride so there wasn't much to take pictures of. We heard there was a lot to do on the island, but we were a little disappointed. We ended up just heading back to the beach to walk around. Here is another gorgeous view from that walk.

We stayed to watch the sunset over Catalina Island. We couldn't help but take tons of pictures. It was absolutely amazing to watch. That night we went out to a restaurant called the Crab Cooker. Kevin ordered local lobster and I had the King Crab Claws. The meat was sooo tasty and there is a really good chance we will be headed back.
Saturday we checked out of our hotel and of course since it was our last day it was warmer, less windy and beautiful. We went back to the Wedge. We thought we would head to the end of the jetty which was quite a climb over the rocks.

We stayed for awhile and just watched the pelicans dive for food and even saw a seal coming to the surface to play. We really want to come back in May when it is warmer and try surfing, maybe take a ferry to Catalina island to explore, and just swimming in the ocean. It was a great trip and it made being away from our families a little easier during the holiday.
We hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!!

Last Couple Weeks

The last couple weeks have been busy. I will load pictures later when I have a little time, but I thought I'd give a quick run down of what is going on.

I've been working at Borders Bookstore while applying for jobs and I have had several interviews. I have one job offer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and I have a second interview with Genomic Health in just a few hours. I am leaning towards the PAMF job, but we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and take the other interview. If things go as planned I will be starting on Jan. 5th! It is such a relief to finally be entering the career world!

Kevin has been keeping himself busy with research and classes as well. He just finished his last required class so that is a relief. He is taking a tutoring job over Christmas break. It isn't a ton of hours so the extra cash will definitely be nice!

We weren't able to find affordable flights home for Christmas this year so we will be staying in California. We have decided to take a road trip down to Newport Beach over Christmas though. Gas is at a great price right now and we found a really affordable hotel a block from the beach. The water may be a little cold even that far south, but we are excited to get into some 70 degree weather for a few days. Won't be the same as family...but it should be pretty fun!!!

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving

The last two Thanksgivings, Kevin and I have spent the Holiday cooking a big feast and just spending time with one another. While we had an amazing time we decided that this year we would have friends over that were not going home for the Holiday either.

Here are a few pictures from our day.

Our appetizers included turkey meatballs, pumpkin cookies, and turkey sushi (made with stuffing, cranberry, sliced turkey, carrots, and mashed potatoes) courtesy of Scott. We were excited to finally get to use the 3 tier buffet server we got as a wedding present that has never been opened.We decided to brine the turkey this year and I think it turned out great. We will probably let it brine a little longer next time, but we were happy with the results.

This is our friend Jean (from Indiana) who took a lot of the pictures. She had a brand new fancy camera and was excited to use it.

There were eight of us in total. Going around the table starting on the left with the people you can see is Guiseppe (our Italian who has been here almost a year. He leaves in 2 weeks and this was his first Thanksgiving), Jason (St. Louis), Scott (New York), Jonathan (Indiana), Sarah (Vermont).

We had so many deserts that we were all stuffed by the end of the night. Sarah brought Pecan pie, we made Cherry pie, Scott made Rum cake, Jean made a Pumpkin Cake Roll, and Scott made Sweet Potato pie. We are still working on the leftovers.


Jean took this picture and I absolutely loved it. I couldn't believe we were all looking at the camera and the same time and that Kevin wasn't making a stupid face.
Later in the evening a couple more people came over including Dave (New York) on the couch, and Colin (Canada) in the round chair. We ate more desert and enjoyed some California wine. Besides the fact that we weren't with family, I could not have asked for a better day. Spending the day with friends was wonderful!

We hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!!!

Choir Concert and Big Game

My friend Moria has been in a choir at Stanford the last year or so and this fall they were short an alto so she invited me to join. Our Holiday concert was last week at Stanford Memorial Church. We sang songs from Benjamin Brittan's Ceremony of Carols as well as songs from a Festival of Carols by Frank Ferko. Frank Ferko was actually at our concert so we felt a little extra pressure to do a fantastic job.

Here is Memorial Church the night of the concert.



There was no flash photography allowed so this is the best picture Kevin could get of us during the concert. Moria is just to the right of the harp and I'm right next to her.
Us after the concert.

Last Saturday was the Big Game against Cal Berkeley. Kevin and I drove our car to Castro Valley and then took the Bart up to Berkeley. There is absolutely no parking so it was just easier this way.


Stanford didn't play too badly during the first half, but the second half was a disaster. Nevertheless, going to a Big Game is still an experience and we had a blast.

We would have liked to have been the ones rushing the field after the game, but instead Cal fans got that privilege. Maybe next year....
After the game we explored Downtown Berkeley for awhile, grabbed some dinner and some gelato before catching the Bart back. I had a blast!!!

Stanford vs USC

None of us wanted to miss this game after the big upset last year when Stanford beat USC by 1 point. We were hoping for a repeat, but unfortunately Stanford just couldn't hold them off in the 2nd half. Oh, well....we still have the BIG GAME next week against Cal which we are all going up to Berkeley for! Here are some pictures from our usual pre-game tailgate.

Jonathan is our grillmaster this year and I must say he does a great job. The Chemistry Dept. sponsored this tailgate so we had a lot more meat options than usual and it was awesome!!!



I have to take a minute to rub in the fact that it was 75 degrees last weekend. We all were looking for shade which is a bit different than what K-Staters went threw last Saturday. I talked to my friend Heather who commented on how FREEZING it was! It has cooled down a bit since then, but it is still suppossed to be pretty nice this weekend! (It gets cold at night...but not as cold as it is during the day in Kansas...sorry :) )This is Haley and David. They are expecting their first baby in April and then David is graduating and they are moving back to Washington to be closer to family!! They will be missed, but we are SOOOOO happy for them!!

Flash Back Friday

A couple of weekends ago we all headed up to San Fran to check out a club called The Cellar. They were having Flash Back Friday where they were playing almost all 80's music so we thought it would be a blast.

At first we weren't sure about the club, but a little later into the evening things picked up and me danced like crazy!! I had such a great time. We were all sweating...but it was worth it. Gotta love those 80's tunes!!!


This is our friend Bettina who is in Kevin's lab group.





Once the club closed we headed to a Chinese restaurant that is open late. The food was delicious and we all had an awesome time. We will definitely be heading back again!