LAE

Well, it has just been one of those weeks. I have not been in the mood to do anything. Everything at work annoyed me and there really was no rhyme or reason why. Now I realize I can probably blame most of it on PMS but probably not all of it.
Due to cutbacks at work, instead of each department having individual holiday lunches it has been decided that we are going to have a potluck on the 19th. I got volunteered to be on the comittee to help set it up and so forth. We were told during the meeting that the exec's are going to let us go home early after the lunch. Which is great because I am driving down to my parents place in Ocotillo and I am going to knock all of my holiday baking out in one weekend. The comittee wants to play games and try and keep people to stay longer and socialize, but really, if we get to leave afterwards I just want to leave as soon as possible.

I had a funeral on Thursday that I was late to because of work. My dad's cousin passed away, He was only 48 but he suffered a massive heart attack. I did not know him very well but it was hard to see family members upset. Then again, it was nice to visit with some family afterwards when some of us went out to eat. My dad's side of the family is not very close with a few exceptions, so most of the time you only see some of them in these circimstances, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is.
I went out and finished all Christmas shopping today, I managed to get home right before the rain started. Now I am messing around on the computer before I meet Holly and Trevor at Fuddruckers, hopefully this rain will calm down.
Oh and did I mention that my car smells a tad like a skunk. There was a dead one in the road yesterday AM on my way to work and apparently I drove too close to it. I just bought some febreeze and a car air freshenor so hopefully this will do the trick.
All right, enough of my negativity. I just know that this will be a better week :)

SO I have been reading about everyone putting up their Christmas decorations so I decided to put my tree up this weekend and I even put a tree in my office. The one I use at home is a ceramic tree that my grandma Cathy made about 20 plus years ago, it even lights up. The one I use at work is a purple tree that I ordered for $7 out of an ABC catalog a few years ago. See photos below........

So on Friday morning, David, Sierra and I volunteer to go into El Centro to get groceries (we had 5 extra people staying with us at the last minute) so after leaving the crazy Super Walmart an officer decides to pull me over. Now I have never been pulled over or had received a ticket until this year. In February I got a speeding ticket on the freeway while driving to Pheonix, that one I can understand, I knew the risks. This one took me by surprise. he got me for merging left when I should have turned right or gone straight - huh - that is what I said. Apparently I could not merge left. he told me I should have went into Starbucks, I did not want Starbucks. the lines were clearly worn off on the road. But whatever, i do not want to go back to El Centro to fight it. It took 5 minutes to write the ticket and he did not have much to say excpet that "people do it all the time and it causes accidents". really, well I do not live there and obviously I did not cause an accident.

the rest of the weekend went smoothly. There was a lot of mud from the storm earlier in the week so all off road vehicles received a mud paint job. We had a camp fire each night which was fun.










David and his first shot of tequila.




Sierra "kissing" Edward. ok, this one showed up 2x and i cannot delete it 0 oh well

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
AS soon as I can leave work this afternoon I will be driving out to the dry dusty flat area in Imperial Valley known as Ocotillo. My parents decided that this is where they want to retire someday. It is literly in the middle of no where. The closest town is about 25 miles east and that is El Centro so it is not really much of a town. Ocotillo does not have a gas station or grocery store but it does have The Lazy Lizard which is a small bar with 2 dart machines and a pool table - so what does that tell you about the area. Actually it is not that bad but you have to like the dry desert. My parents bought a house there about 4 years ago and they go down there practicly every weekend. This will be the 2nd year that we have had Thanksgiving there. My grandparents from my moms side will be there, adn some aunts uncle and cousins from my dads family. Plus several of my parents friends either have a place or will camp out there. It will be nice to be out of town for a few days. I will also be able to ride my quad which will be nice, it has been awhile since I have been riding. Ok, well the sooner I get some work done the sooner I can get on the road. It is not a bad drive but I do have to go through a mountain grade and it has been raining here all night so it is probably raining in the mountains as well.
I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Christmas version of getting to know you better email that I decided to use as a post instead.


Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
Real tree or Artificial? Niether, it is a ceramic tree that my grandma made about 20+ years ago.
When do you put up the tree? whenever I drag it down from the top of my closet.
When do you take the tree down? After new years.
Do you like eggnog? Oh I absolutly LOVE IT! look foward to it. I have already gone through 3 cartons.
Favorite gift received as a child? IDK, umm Cabbage Patch doll, yes that is itm her name was Angelique.
Hardest person to buy for? BFF Sarah
Easiest person to buy for? Dad - get him any DVD and he is happy.
Do you have a nativity scene? That will be a no, but my mom used to put one out when we were kids if that counts.
Mail or email Christmas cards? Myspace message - I know, I always think I am going to do cards and it never happens.
Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably an article of clothing that my mom thought I would like.
Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
When do you start shopping for Christmas? Days after Christmas, all year long.
Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? That may or may not have happened in the past.
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? variety of christmas cookies.
Lights on the tree? Yes there are lights on my ceramic tree.
Favorite Christmas Song? Jingle Bells
Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Desert
Can you name all of Santas Reindeer? ummmm....On Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen of the best of all Rudolph. Ok so i cant! =)
Angel on the tree top or a star? There is a star on my tree that is permanetly there.
Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Growing up it was both, now we do it a few days early so we do not have to drag the stuff out to the sand dunes.
Most annoying thing about this time of year? rude shoppers and rude drivers.
Favorite ornament theme or color? I like snowmen as a theme.
Favorite ornament? Homemade ones
What do you want for Christmas this year? My 2 front teeth, um actually I do not know. Good health and peace for all!

*VETERANS' DAY* which means no work and also take to remember our Vet's
and current military personnel.
*Slept till 7:30 AM which is great because I get up at 5 AM M-F.
*Drove to Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall. Got there 10 minutes before they opened.
No wonder there was parking.
*Was hoping to finish Christmas shopping, only bought a gift for my mom, was
disapointed by the "sales".
*Stopped at Target for new Taylor Swift CD for 9$, walked out of there spending a
lot more than that.
*Went home, made lunch, leftover chicken alfredo. Watched Life on Mars on DVR.
*Uploaded new CD to itunes. Currently listening to CD and so far my favorite song
is Love Story. Probably because it has been played on the radio over and over.
*Need to do laundry (UGH, not my favorite thing to do).
*Going to meet a few people at Edwards Cinema to see Secret life of Bee's at 3:10
so that means I need to get serious and at least go do one load of laundry.
**Did I mention that I love paid holidays :)

(FOR SOME REASON THIS PIC IS IN 2 PLACES - WHATEVER, I GIVE UP)

Friday:

We normally have a costume contest and pizza at work on Halloween, typically it is for an hour (normal lunch break). First place is $100, 2nd is $75, and 3rd is $50. The days before Halloween were a little unstable at work. On Wednesday there were 10 office people that were let go. 4 from our Vegas office and 6 from the SD offices. Needless to say the tension was thick and the mood very somber, and there were a few tears as well. I am happy to say that I am safe. I was promoted almost exactly a year ago and I have been told that it is going well, plus there are only 3 of us in my department now and 1 of the 3 is in the field full time so I know they cannot get rid of my position.

Our CEO sent out an email letting us know that these cutbacks were necesary for the company during these hard economic times. to try and lift spirits they extended our halloween contest and lunch to include alcohol, beer wine and Captain Morgan (yay). During the party it was announced that we were free to leave for home early (I wish they would have said that before I had a few captains.....) I had to stay an hour later than most so that I could drive home :)I have a few pictures of our contest and of some of the offices that were decorated. I was a dud, I did not dress up and all I really put in my office were some spider webs...

That night I passed out candy till about 8 PM, then walked around the block with my neighbor and her kids then headed over to a friends party.

Saturday:

I did not make it to Mad's soccer game, 9 AM was just to damn early after drinking the night before. I went to her game last week so hopefully she did not miss me.

I did make it to Target to look for some after halloween sales. Then I ran into Mervyns when I saw that they are closing all of their stores - I am so bummed, that was one of my first credit cards. then I went to the mall to meet some friends for lunch at Oscar's then of course I did some shopping. For some reason I cannot remeber what else happened on Sat. Oh well.

Sunday:

The main thing I did was to go and see The Changeling. It was such a good movie. Not an entertaining movie, if that makes sense. It was a dark drama , based on a true story about a missing child in Los Angeles in 1928. Wow, it was good, sad and a history lesson all in 2.5 hours. I do recommend it, but it is not one that I would purchase and watch over again.

SPIDER WEBS ON MY WALL

PART OF MARKETING HALLWAY

LOOKING DOWN MARKETING HALLWAY

RECEPTIONIST

MY FAV CUBICLE IN ACCOUNTING. JACKIE DRESSED AS A MERMAID (SHE WOULD NOT GET IN THE PIC)

Mandi requested that I post the pics I took at Rose and Nick's wedding. I had my camera with me but 99% of the time it sat in my purse at our table..... This was the first time that I never really used my camera at an event. I did have someone take one of Mandi and myself, I got one of some guy I do not know walking across the dance floor , the cake, Nick and Rose dancing and the most unusual pic, the one of the pumpkin cake that someone decided to see if it would cook on the fire pit :)

I am alive and at work. Just thought I would post a quick blog since yes, no surprise, it has been 2 weeks since my last post. Ricki has almost caught up to me though on the not posting :)

Lets see, yesterday I went with my BFF and her 2 little ones to the harvest festival at the Del Mar Fair grounds. It was full of crafts, homemade and commercial that you could purchase. they had a lot of neat stuff that I could have bought but they would eventually be nothing but dust collectors. I did buy a candle that had the beach in it for my office. I fell in love with it because it had flip flops in it. Hmmm I wonder if I take a pic with my cell if I can post on here at work. I will try... Yesterday was also my mom's birthday so we all went to Fuddruckers for dinner. When I called to find out what time we needed to meet, she sounded horrible. She has that nasty cough/cold that is going around. so it was not a real fun birthdayfor her. Last week I was in some serious pain from one of my molars. Oh my, it was a constant pain and nothing helped. When I got in to the denist they of course said it was infected and I needed a root canal. - never had one by the way - they could not get to it for 4 days so they sent me home with antibiotics and motrin. I went home early 2 days in a row from work. I just couldn't take it and it was makeing me grumpy and edgy - I even hung up on somebody cause they were irritating me (oops) once I calmed down I called them back and blamed it on the connection :) So I decided that I should use some sick hours and stay home. I had never been in constant pain before - I have never broken a bone, knock on wood, or been seriously ill, knock on wood again. This was all new to me. Once the meds kicked in I was good to go. The root canal was not bad and I go back tomorrow to get the crown built up or whatever it is that they do. I guess I learned my lesson though. that tooth hurt probably a year ago but Aleve took care of the problem then and it really did not bother me much after that until last week when it hit with full force.. have I mentioned that I have dental issues and I HATE going to the dentist!

Ok, well I better get back to work. These invoices are not going to code themselves, not to mention walk over to the main building themselves either.

Oh I am going to take a pic of my cool candle right now and see if this works.


It worked some what, the coloring is a little off.....

Last night was the 33rd annual 101.5 KGB annual sky show at Qualcomm stadium here in San Diego. The fantastic fireworks show started at about 10 PM after the SDSU Aztecs got their a$$es kicked!

I used to go the Sky show as a kid when it was after a San Diego Padres game, but a few years ago the Padres got their own ball park so now it is held after the Aztec football game. I got up early (for a saturday) 6:30 AM so that I could drop my parents off to catch a bus to take then to La to go on a 7 day cruise to the Mexican Riveria (I have not heard from them and I did see that there is a hurricane down there - hope the ship is not rocking too hard).... Then I got ready to meet the Champions and some of their friends down at the stadium. We tailgated and hung out until the fireworks started at 10. Luckily I found someone to drop me off so that I did not have to worry about driving home.... KGB also had a small carnival for the kids but that did not stop my from going on some of the rides. Those swings did make me dizzy and I did not go back on them. It was also Sierra's 14th birthday so I made her go on the ride where you stand up and it spins really fast and gravity was the only thing holding you in place. This might have contributed to my headache later in the evening. Tina brought "homemade" tequila that someone gave her. So we decided to use it for shooters(Joanna took pics of us crazies taking shots and hopefully she will send me the pics). It was actually very smooth and did not have much of an after taste which can be a bad thing because you then decide to do more and it creeps up on you later.

I got dropped off at home a little after 1 Am and I could not go to sleep because the damn tequila decided to haunt me by giving me heartburn, not to mention a headache. i finally got out of bed around 10 AM and my head was just killing me. THe rest of me is fine....

NO MORE TEQUILA SHOTS!

Here are some pics from the day.

Me giving Sierra her balloon.

On the dizzy swings.

On the gravity spinner

Austin and friends on swings.

Walking back from carnival.

This cannot be good!

Right before she dropped the cake, which landed right side up - unbelievable.

Stadium at night.