X-Mas Yard Decorations

Just because you don’t own a house with a yard, doesn’t mean you can’t decorate your place with giant inflatable Christmas yard decorations, right?

Czech

So. I’m trying to learn a little Czech in preparation of my December trip. With all that commuting time on the 405 fwy, I can practice with my Pimsleur tutorial a few hours every day. Man, Czech is not an easy language to learn! So far I can say:
“I am American” (not sure if I want to use that yet)
“I speak a little Czech”
“Do you speak English?”
“Are you Czech/American?” And,
“Can you please speak a little slower?”
I have approx. 3 weeks to learn Czech, Hungarian, and brush up on my German…Yikes!

Pablo's Thanksgiving In the Desert

Pablo joined the Crowley family on their yearly Thanksgiving Anza Borrego Desert trip. He made new friends, went off-roading, and had a blast.
A special thanks to the Crowley family for letting Pablo hang out with them during Thanksgiving.

LAX Holiday Traffic

I had to drive my brother to LAX this morning and ran into major traffic due to heightened holiday airport security. I guess people thought the airport wouldn’t be busy if they returned on a Monday. Boy, were they wrong!

Ants At Work

It looks like our ants have started digging their home.

Dyson Rocks!!

Our Dirt Devil just wasn’t cutting it so we decided to cough up the money and get ourselves a Dyson. Wow! Talk about the best investment ever!!! It picks up stuff I didn’t even know was in our carpet..dang!! Now the carpet looks super clean and new. I’m so happy!
For those of you interested, you can get a Dyson for a good price at Linen’s n Things buy using this their 20% off coupon in this weekend’s paper.

Ross After A Sale

Yikes! I feel sorry for the employees that will have to clean this store up! Those Ross customers really get out of hand when there’s a good sale. I’m glad I went by there later on in the day because I was able to avoid the crowds. After seeing this, I can’t even image how bad it got in there.

Score!

Getting up at 1:15 am was worth it this year. Rose and I were at Best Buy at 2 am where we set up “camp.” We watched a movie on my laptop while we waited for the store to open (5 am). The Best Buy employees were kind enough to pass out donuts and flyers explaining the store setup before letting us all in. With our plan of attack ready, Rose and I were in and out of the store within ½ and hour and at Target before it opened up. We were done at Target in no time and managed to get almost everything we wanted. So what did I end up getting you ask?... Well, I got a...

Garmin Nuvi 200 Navigation System
The Office Season 1 & 2 DVDs
Cute winter PJs
A Laptop Optical Wireless Mouse
Bed Sheets
And a winter blanket (down alternative)

Yay, Black Friday! I got all of these things for under $300.
For those of you who are interested, this Monday is the biggest online sales shopping day of the year, a.k.a. Cyber Monday. Happy Online Shopping!

Thanksgiving 2007

This year Thanksgiving didn’t start out too great but it got better. I woke up early and made my way to Marie Callender’s to pick up our turkey feast. When I got there the lines were way passed the parking area. There were 5 lines, unmarked of course, and people where completely lost on where to go. After standing in the line I thought was correct, and standing in the middle of a fight that broke out, I found out I was in the wrong line. I quickly made my way into the correct line where I stood for another hour and 15 minutes. Ugh!


I finally got home and prepared our meal. Ernesto and Rose came by a few hours later in Ernesto’s new car (Toyota Tacoma Truck). After having our meal and sorting out our Black Friday picks, they boys spent some time playing Wii while Rose visited her mom’s for their family Thanksgiving event. Tomorrow is the big day and it looks like Rose and I will be hitting Best Buy at 3am…Yay!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Online Black Friday Ads

For those of you who are as crazy as I am and who are going to be out there at 3 am (or earlier) on Black Friday, here are a few websites that will help you prepare.
http://bfads.net/
http://www.blackfriday.info/
http://www.blackfridayads.com/
http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/
http://www.black-friday.net/
Happy Shopping!

No Traffic Today

On the busiest traffic day of the year, I got to work from home...thank goodness. I got plenty of work done, had time to go pick up some groceries at Trader Joe’s, and got to spend time with my girls.
Rose and Ernesto are coming over for Thanksgiving tomorrow. And since my folks are now living in Texas we are having Marie Callender’s cater our Thanksgiving Dinner, woohoo. After our yummy meal we plan on spending a few hours preparing for the big day….that’s right…BLACK FRIDAY. OH YEAH!!! Man I can’t wait!

Marabunta!

Ok, they’re not Marabunta, but they’re still HUGE…

A couple of weeks ago Manda and I got an ant farm and sent out for a fresh crew of ants. Today I got an envelope from Uncle Milton…yup, our ants were in a small tube inside the envelope. After preparing the ant farm, adding a little food and letting the ants rest in the fridge for 15 minutes, we tossed them into their new home. It took a few minutes before they started to explore, but now that they have, I can’t wait to see the tunnels they create.











Thanks Uncle Milton!

2007 L.A. Auto Show

Marco, Thomas, James, and I went to the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show today. Saw lots of great stuff. Some of my favorites included the Minis, Audis, and Mazdas of course. Click here to see more pictures.

Meet Klaus

Awww…Kevin brought this little guy into work today. He didn’t have a name since Kevin just bought him so Manda and I named him Klaus. He’s so cute!

Trees Hiding in Fog

I know I have mentioned this before, but I LOooVE fog. I love how things look in the fog! So this morning when I saw the fog on my way into work I had to pull out my camera and take some shots of the beautiful trees hiding in the fog.

Stressless chairs...Yeah Right!

Marco and I have started to look around for new furniture because we both agree our Ikea stuff just doesn’t cut it anymore. We found the perfect living room chairs….too bad they cost an arm and a leg! Oh well, looks like we’ll have to keep looking. LoL!

Lily Behind the Blinds

Lily was being so silly I had to take a picture. I love when she hides behind the blinds and plays peek-a-boo.

Hangin' w/ Susana & Chris

We hung out with Susana and Chris today while they were in town. We’re getting things sorted out to see if we move closer to work and rent their place. After talking about house “stuff,” we had a nice dinner at Mimi’s Café. Yumm….

Pablo Returns from Pompeii & Naples

Today Pablo came home after traveling to Italy again with Terry. This time they visited Pompeii and Naples.

Seen Above is a picture of Pablo at the Villa Rufolo. Click here to see more pictures from their trip.

Happy Birthday Angel-A

Today we gave Angela a real nice fluffy robe for her B-day and she loved it, yay! Then for lunch a group of us celebrated her B-day by taking her to Rubio’s Baja Grill. It was fun. Happy 28th Birthday Angel-A!!

X-mas Pet Costumes

LoL, it looks like Target has X-mas costumes for pets now. Don’t worry, I’ll never do that to my kitties again! I’m just saying…

Craig's B-day Lunch @ Wahoo's

Amanda and I spent lunch with Craig to celebrate his birthday. We were a little late in celebrating it, but better late than never. We went by Wahoo’s (Craig’s favorite place to eat). I love hanging out with Craig because he always has the best stories. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Craig!

Day 5: I'm Going Back To Cali

Today Marco and I spent the last day of our trip to Texas resting a little more. Before we said goodbye to my folks, we gave them a little gift (a navigation system) to help them get started in their new city. After driving around Dallas and Fort Worth a bit more I realized that my first impression of Texan drivers was completely wrong. We found that when in their big trucks and SUVs they are EXTREMLY pushy drivers and sometimes just straight out rude. Strange tho, because when they’re not driving they are the sweetest and most helpful people. Anyway, we enjoyed our stay in Texas and hope to return soon. It sucks that my folks are living so far away now, but I feel better knowing they are in a nice, safe area.

To see the pictures of our entire trip click here.

Day 4: Fort Worth & Dallas

Marco and I went exploring all day today. We started off by visiting two of the stores he’s wanted to go to in ages. Our first stop was Bass Pro Shops followed by Cabela’s (in Fort Worth). We had a great time checking out each store for a couple hours. After that, we drove to downtown Dallas and walked around the city. When we got back to my folks house, my uncle (who I have not seen in 10 years) was there with dinner. Today was a great day!

Day 3: Dallas TX at last

Today was a very long day. We were up before 4 am and out the door by 5:30. After a very long and exhausting drive, we arrived to Dallas and checked into my folk’s temp apartment. My uncle, who also lives near Dallas, was already there ready to help. Between 6 of us we were done unloading everything out of the moving truck in a few hours. Tonight my parents are having dinner with my uncle and Marco and I are going to get some rest and explore the city a little more.
Here are my first impressions of Texans:
-The residents are SUPER proud of their state and show it by marking almost everything with a star, the state image, or the name of the state.
-People here are much friendlier drivers than those in L.A.
-People here are less health conscious than people in L.A.
-Some small town folks have not gotten the news that the 80s are over ‘cause they’re still sporting the huge AquaNet hair look. And,
-People here are much more religious than those in L.A., which still puzzles me because they don’t have a problem with carrying guns around. Huh.

Day 2: Driving to Texas

Today was A LOT better than yesterday! We were up real early and started driving by 7am. We only stopped a few times for food, gas, and bathroom stops but with the time change we got to our hotel by 9 pm. We drove from Arizona, went through New Mexico, and are now staying in Amarillo Texas. Tomorrow we have to get up early again so we could be in Dallas before 4 pm.

Day 1: Driving to Tx

We left L.A. kind of late and took several stops along the way. Things started a little rocky but it only got worse as the day progressed. We got to Flagstaff a little late without hotel reservations. While trying to find a hotel we lost each other in the city. It took us over an hour before regrouping. We finally got a hotel and were ready to have a late dinner. It was passed 8 before we found a Denny’s that turned out to be the worst food experience ever. Here’s how it played out.
Got a seat. Waited FOREVER for our server to get our order. He accidentally threw away the paper he wrote our order on and asked what we wanted, again. After 15 minutes we finally got our drinks. Our food took forever but arrived with the soups we ordered. They guy who brought the soups put his fingers in my dad’s soup, shook them off and pretended it never happened. Most of the food we got was cold and to top it all off, my food order was wrong. I sent it back for hash browns instead of mashed potatoes, and I didn’t get it back until a ½ hour to later. When I did get it back the steak was cold, dry, and tough, and the order was still wrong! After having our bill adjusted, we went to Sizzlers across the street to get a real meal.
End of Day 1. LoL! Today was so ridiculous all one can really do about it is laugh. It’s late. I’m off to bed (still laughing).

Route to Dallas TX

Tomorrow is the big day. My parents will be moving to Texas, so all 4 of us will be driving 1,437 miles for the big move. It’ll be a long drive, but I’m looking forward to it. I was just mentioning to someone that I had not seen enough of the US and hoped I would get the chance some day. I guess someone was listening. As expected, I will be carrying a camera and uploading pictures and posting to my blog as often as I can. Stay tuned.
Ciao for now Cali!