post christmas post

on christmas eve, sam and I went to his parents' house for dinner with his immediate family. it was fun to be with all his siblings and parents. we went back over there in the morning to open gifts. I haven't done christmas morning in so long! it was fun!! sam got me a camera!!!! I love having a little point and shoot digital camera again. amazing.

the afternoon of christmas day, sam and I went up to the bay area to have christmas number 2 with my family. we went up to my sister's house in point richmond for dinner with my immediate family. very fun. the next night we did dinner with the whole extended family in woodside, then the cousins all hung out in the city for the rest of the trip. I had such a great time.

driving around the city

jake, sam and I went and saw my cousin kasey before dinner on the 26th. I love these 2 boys so much!

my mom frosting cookies

it's Albi!

cute mom

this was a "test shot." I cut sam out of it because he hated it of him.

talking with the cousins. this was actually a very serious conversation

macintosh 00001!

sam and me! we're awkward in pictures

abram!

hanging out

surrounded by people I love. it was one of my favorite christmases yet.

last night we went to a punk show. it was so fun! I haven't been to a punk show in so long. it was hilarious watching sam in the mosh pit. I was leaning against a beam and got my head smashed a few times, but it was a punk show! sam left with a busted nose and a charlie horse. all in all successful evening.

this morning I woke up early to go to a meeting for work at 9am. when I got home at 11, I could smell pineapple. yesterday sam and I had gone to costco and got a fresh pineapple that he cut while I was at the meeting, as well as did the dishes. he's a good one.

we went over to sinsheimer park to the baseball field with a frisbee. we had so much fun throwing that thing back and forth. we laughed so hard, talked and ran, made up words and nicknames for each other. such a great morning with the man I love.

now I'm going up to my parents house to take a walk with my mom and her friend in garden farms. lovely weekend. and still another day left! I am SO excited for thanksgiving. one of my very favorite holidays.

I have a lot to be grateful for

all week sam and I have been looking forward to this monday because we finally had the day off together. all week we'd mention it or text something about how we can't wait until monday. I knew I had to go in for about an hour to do payroll, but then I was free. this morning we were making breakfast, hanging out, enjoying the morning together. I began to get ready for the day when I got a call from my boss.

just checking up on things. did you do this. did you do that. what do you think about this. how about that.

"what hours are you working this week?... what if you work today and just work until 5 this week?"

I didn't say anything for a minute.

"well... it's just that... I haven't seen sam for awhile and we were going to spend the day together today......"

she told me that she understood that sometimes we don't feel like working but reminded me of the tight crunch we're in and everything we need to get done and this person's leaving and these people need to get trained and we need a third person to hire and ....

I got off the phone and put my eyes in my towel so my tears wouldn't smear my makeup. I kept telling myself that sometimes I don't always get to do what I want at the moment in order to fulfill my responsibilities. I felt so dumb. I didn't want sam to know I was crying. he walked in a little bit later and asked what was wrong and I lost it.

"I'm just under so much stress and I wanted to spend the day with you and I have to go in to work and I have all these things to do and.... "

the floodgates had opened.

he just held me and let me cry and vent about my frustrations.

he comforted me and told me that we'd have a 3 day weekend next weekend.

I got a grip, put some eye drops in, and continued getting ready. In my frenzy, I flung my blush which went flying, shattering on the bottom of the bathtub.

"nooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no no no no no no no no no! that stuff's expensive!"

sam walked in and said "we can pick up the pieces."

I was furious. "it's too fragile! It'll just crumble when you try to pick it up!"

he gently picked up each piece and put it back in the case and gave me a hug and a kiss as he left the bathroom.

I couldn't help but to notice the metaphor.

today has been such a delightful saturday. I naturally woke up bright and early, cleaned up my house a little. I went grocery shopping to stock my fridge since my brother's coming to town today for my dad's birthday.

today is my dad's 60th birthday! I was in charge of cake. I got him this amazing, enormous carrot cake from the cakery. I'm so excited about it. It looks so great! I also made a white cake with chocolate frosting for the babies and the non carrot cake lovers. I just finished frosting it.

this may not look impressive to you, but even though I'm a decent cook, I generally cannot bake to save my life. it always turns out slightly (or terribly) wrong and tastes bad.. this one turned out okay! granted, I did use a mix... but STILL, I didn't do anything dumb like burn it or try frosting it before it was done cooling, etc etc. anyway, it was fun. I just don't know how I'm going to get it to santa margarita.

picture update:

I used to have brown hair

I took this minutes before leaving my house to get my hair done blonde. it kind of makes me sad that my brown hair is gone... but after probably close to 20 hours total of excruciating pain to all who helped in the blonding process...

I am blonde. this was taken the night that I went blonde. it's been through a lot since then.. turning yellow, breaking (thankfully, no one can tell besides the broken little hairs all over my clothes), bleaching, conditioning, and the list goes on.

one of our estheticians at work.. we look less than thrilled because we took about 5 pictures that were awful before this one haha

is this not the cutest little button you've ever seen?????

oh halloween..

karie and marissa had a halloween party. the 2 on the left are bartenders at frog and peach that marissa did their makeup (rocky horror trannys), karie is lady gaga and todd (her boyfriend) is hunter thompson

marissa was an awkward robot

baby shaved his beard.. we're kind of under cover these days.

now, clean myself up a little and up to my parents I go for birthday celebrations!

oh, blog, it's been so long.

to begin with.. I am so in love.

secondly, after years of searching, I finally found the perfect red lipstick.

and finally, I'm going platinum blonde tomorrow.

life is so great.

10 things I love about now

1. when I was 13, I had a best friend named Allie. we've been many years out of touch, but last night she sent me a text: "random... do you remember when we were riding the bus in slo or something and you said the best way to die would be flying like superman through a bus in a crash?" what a weird 13 year old I was... it made me laugh out loud

2. I went through an exceptionally rough patch with work. thankfully, things are getting better. I had two great conversations with two separate stylists today. it felt good.

3. I always envy the coffee shop dwellers outside my work during the week. so today, on my day off, I sat outside peet's coffee eating frozen yogurt and reading the new times for hours until my handsome boyfriend joined me for a bit.

4. FINALLY got back to the gym today. endorphins.

5. just discovered an unreturned movie rental in my dvd player. on my way out the door to return it. I love nighttime errands and driving.

6. I'm sad I couldn't afford to go to my brother's going away dinner tonight in san francisco, but I just got a sweet message from my sister-in-law saying they missed me tonight and they love me. and my mom wants to photoshop me into the pictures...

7. my house smells delicious with the things I'm cooking to eat this week.

8. tahoe this weekend!

9. a much needed paycheck is coming my way on friday

10. I'm really happy

yesterday kirsten and kate came over to drop a picture off that my mom got me for my birthday. they told me that they were going to go out to pozo, so I went with!

we drank beer and ate some chips

driving home pictures from the car

moo

meet kai

my brother had a son named kai on july 22. these are the first photos I've seen of him and he's even more amazing than I imagined. I can't even wait to cuddle this cute baby.

bbq theme weekend

I like the beginning phase of dating where everything is fresh and fun. we are constantly looking for new places to go and new things to do. some of the most fun new places are the ones we see daily, but have never experienced. the BBQ place across the street from my gym on foothill was our latest newbie. I can't remember what it's called. my expectations were low (frighteningly so, in fact) when we got there at 7pm on friday night and the only other souls in the place were on their way out and the cashier was about 11 year old. Everything was just a teensy bit sticky and the napkins were paper towel rolls on each table.

redeeming aspect number 1: quarter operated moving horse.

redeeming aspect number 2: the food ended up being AMAZING. and you can make paper towel ties with your "napkin."

yesterday we went to a BBQ at sam's friend, hank's house. It was so fun! I met this adorable couple who were expecting a baby. The girl reminded me so much of Ashley Thalman. I instantly fell in love with her.

Hank owns a shop on marsh street, a few doors down from 711. His dad gave him this bike so he can ride it to McLintock's for lunch.

I was looking through other blogs today. I realized that I should really be more creative with this. so I'll work on that for next time. maybe.

I don't want to go to the gym.

I want to eat icecream instead.

I think I'll get in my pajamas and watch tv and eat icecream.

instead of working out.

fatty.

but I just can't get myself to care.

right now.

today we went to Avila Beach for the day. It started off a little cloudy but quickly cleared up to be a beautiful day. We were lying in the sun for awhile and decided to take a swim. As we were getting in, Sam dove head first and hit the bottom of the ocean. When he came up, he was really dazed and kept saying "I think I really hurt myself." His eyes were a different color than normal and all milky and washed over. It freaked me out. I'm pretty sure he got a small concussion. His back hurt the rest of the day. It was sad and scary. So I bought him an icecream cone when we got back to San Luis since he got hurt at the beach.

Things have been crazy with work lately. today is my first full day off since I got back from my "staycation." I took today off since I had worked 10 extra hours by thursday this week. We called an emergency meeting for the angry hairstylists to express their discontent. They were like rabid animals. They were in full blown attack mode... both towards Christine and me, as well as each other. I sobbed like a little baby, gasping for air, for a good portion of the meeting. Even Christine's chin was quivering. I think I would've gone completely insane, had it not been for Sam. Whenever he was around, I didn't think about the stress I had to go back to at work. I appreciate him a lot. But I'm not good with the mushy stuff, so I'll just put it down here.

Today is my last day of vacation. I'm a little sad, but trying to trick myself into being excited and refreshed to go back to work.

sam drawing on my toe

our toes...

sam said "this is really weird of us"

we went up on this girl's roof to watch fireworks on 4th of July. I've always hated fireworks. they bore me. but I loved them this year!

pink poodle farm

I give myself a mustache with my hair ALL the time. but I was bored, driving home from SF and took a picture.

This morning Sam came over and we went to breakfast. when he got here, I was getting ready in the bathroom and he said "I got you something" and pulled out a bouquet of flowers. I had the best time with him over the weekend. He got along well with my family and my dad even high fived him within 5 minutes of meeting each other. haha I loved it.

things are good

I'm really excited about going up north for 4th of July. It's my favorite holiday and my favorite family gathering.

I'm so happy lately. I just got a raise at work that I've been wanting for over a year. I'm in a relationship that I really enjoy. It's so natural and easy. My fridge is stocked with healthy food. Last night Sam came over and I surprised him by making dinner. This morning I made muffins and put them on my neighbors' doorsteps with a "good morning" note on each one before heading off to the gym. Now I'm preparing food to take up to San Francisco with us this afternoon.

I need to take a shower.

stay-cation

I'm in the middle of 10 days off work. I love taking time of work, but not going anywhere. on Saturday, Sam and I went to see The Brothers Bloom. it was SO GOOD. After the movie, we were going to get some pizza and stopped in to try on some masks...

I love how my nose is sticking out the eye hole.

On Sunday, we went to the water park in Paso. We spent the day on water slides, in the wave pool, floating in inner tubes on the "moat," and laying in the sun. So fun.

Monday was my birthday. I spent most of the day lounging around the house. I had a sushi lunch with my parents. sushi sounds amazing right now.

Last night we went to the drive in. They were playing Transformers and Star Trek. I fell asleep about half way through Transformers, so we left after one movie :(

I've been waking up early (for me) every day and going to the gym. it's felt so good. I want sushi now.

it's been awhile

Jake and I went to seattle to surprise boone for his birthday! it was really fun and it felt so good to be back there again. our friend alex came with us, too. we sat at this restaurant and had the hostess seat boone and his girlfriend holly with us. he was so surprised! 

boone showed us this house that he's helped with and this was the view from the balcony outside the kitchen. amazing. 

downtown, from the airplane

I was SO happy in seattle

siblings

my friend jenny just  moved to seattle about a month ago. it was fun hanging out with her

jake and I had lunch before I left san francisco. this place was down the street from his house and it was SO good. it was all buffet style, then they weigh your plate when you've chosen everything you want. the food was incredible. it was about 100 degrees in the city and the power was out. I had the best time.