Clippers vs. Thunder Game

On Monday, January 30th, Nic and I went to the Clippers vs. Thunder Game with Rebecca and Jerett. It has been so nice to see Rebecca so many times this month. I so wish they lived closer because Nic also gets along really well with Jerett and we always have a great time together.

Brunch with Lauren

On Sunday, January 29th, I met Lauren in studio city for brunch. I love getting together with Lauren. We always have the best time and I appreciate her friendship so much. I am really lucky to have such a wonderful friend and I'm even luckier that she always makes such a huge effort to spend time with me. It is also really fun to try new places for breakfast, so hopefully we can make this a bit of a tradition.

UCI Homecoming

On January 28th, Nic and I went down to Orange County for UCI's homecoming. This has sort of become a fun tradition. I get to catch up with my sorority sisters and Nic gets to catch up with basketball friends. A lot less people went this year though, which was kind of a bummer. Hopefully, more of our friends can start making this a tradition so we can catch up with everyone at least once a year.

We started off the day at Steelhead with my sorority sisters, just like we did last year. While the guys drank beers and watched basketball, we went over to the sorority house. They won some Vogue contest and the house was remodeled, so that was fun to see. We checked out our old composites, which are sadly making their way further and further upstairs and reminisced about the good old days. ;)

Then we all went over to the street fair and then Rebecca, Jerret, Nic and I went to the game. Nic spent most of the game walking around catching up with people. Rebecca and I ran into a few more of our sorority sisters and caught up with them.

After the game, Nic got some pictures with the basketball alumni and current team. Then we went to a special reception for basketball alumnis. They had food, cookies and drinks. We caught up with a few guys Nic played with and met some of the new guys. It was a really fun night for both if us and we are already looking forward to next year.

MJ Cirque du Soleil

On Friday, January 27th, Nic, my mom, Tomi, Russel, Justin, Tyler, and Laura went to the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson show. We all went to dinner at Gourmet 88 first and my dad even joined us. I love that place! Especially when we go with a large group because then I get to try tons of different things. We all enjoyed the show, especially the music and the dancer on crutches. One thing Nic and I have noticed is that all the current Cirque shows set to famous music have way more dancing and way less acrobatics. While there were a few impressive moments, I just didn't feel like it had enough of the Cirque Magic I loved so much as a child. Overall though, you can't really go wrong with MJ music and we all had a really fun night.

Australia Day

On January 26th, I made an Australian dinner to celebrate Australia Day. I made Susan's meat pie recipe, which is always delicious and I tried some new cookies I saw on Bake at 350. The Nutella and Sea Salt Stuffed Sugar Cookies, that were actually created by another blogger, Cookin' Canuck, were Amazing!! Nic and I loved them and I can't wait to make more.

Nutella and Sea Salt Stuffed Sugar Cookies

Yield: Makes approximately 24 cookies.

From the kitchen of Cookin Canuck. www.cookincanuck.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Nutella (chocolate-hazelnut spread)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Using a 1 teaspoon measure, scoop out Nutella and place in small mounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
2. Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar with an electric mixer set on medium speed until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla extract.
5. Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually beat in the flour mixture until it is just combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir the mixture a few times to make sure all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
6. Place 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl. Use 2 tablespoons cookie dough for each cookie. Split the piece of dough in half and slightly flatten the bottom half.
7. Sprinkle 5 or 6 grains of sea salt on the flattened dough.
8. Use a small metal spatula to lift the mounds of Nutella from the baking sheet and lay on the bottom half of cookie dough, on top of the salt. If the Nutella starts to soften, place back in the freezer for a few minutes.
9. Cover Nutella with the other piece of cookie dough. Seal the edges with your fingers. Roll the ball in the sugar to coat it and place it on a prepared baking sheet.
10. Repeat with the remaining dough and Nutella mounds, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheets.
11. Bake the cookies, one sheet a time, rotating from front to back halfway through baking. They are done when the edges are set and beginning to brown, 10 to 13 minutes. The centers of the cookies should still be soft and puffy.
12. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Using a spatula, remove the cookies from the baking sheet and let cool on a rack. They can also be served warm.

Marilyn's Funeral

On January 25th, my mom and I went to our cousin Marilyn's funeral. She was technically Papa's cousin and even though I don't really remember her, everyone expressed what a wonderful person she was. It was a really nice funeral service and we got to see a lot of family members that I don't see very often and don't know very well. After the funeral, we all went to Marilyn's house. I didn't realize how close she lived to UCI. I remember her wanting to come to dance shows when I was in college and I really regret not spending time with her. At her house, we all looked through her photo albums, which was really fun. I got to see tons of pictures of Papa and Uncle Nick when they were younger and hear a bunch of stories from all Papa's cousins. Even though it was a sad day, it was nice to spend time with my extended family.

Dinner with the Bells

On January 17th, Nic and I went to Rachelle and Brandon's for dinner. Judy came over also and we all had a great time catching up. We had a thai dinner and they showed us a slideshow of their trip. The food was delicious and the pictures from their trip looked incredible! Thailand is definitely on my list of places I want to travel to.

Sabrina's in Town

Sabrina came into town on Saturday, January 15th. We went to Islands for lunch and got pizza for dinner. We didn't have that much time with her, but any time with Beena is good. We love when she comes to visit. :)

Date Night

On Saturday, January 14th, Nic and I went out for a date night. We only went to CPK down the street, but it was nice to spend some quality time together. We are always so busy these days with work and the house that it is wonderful to spend some down time enoying life together.

Dinner with Friends

On Sunday, January 8th, I went out to dinner with Lindsay. We haven't hung out in so long and we had a great time! I think we ended up having a 3 hour dinner and I took most of my food home becasue I was talking so much. :)

On Tuesday, January 10th, I went out to dinner with Rebecca. We met up at LA Live. We had so much fun and had tons to catch up on. It had been way too long.

It's great how much better a week can be by spending some time with good friends. I really need to make time for friends more often.

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, my mom, dad, Tyler, Laura, Nic and I drove into Yosemite National Park to meet some friends at a frozen lake to go ice skating. Normally, there is so much snow at this time of year that the pass is closed, but because there is no snow, we got to enjoy a beautiful day out in nature. The drive itself was gorgeous, with tons of huge mountains, trees, and tons of frozen lakes and streams. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the lake was so beautiful. Nic and I didn't have skates that fit us (and neither of us no how to skate well at all) so we watched everyone else skate. You could hear the ice constantly shifting and cracking, it was so incredible, but kind of scary at the same time. It was a really fun way to spend the day.

That night, we went to the Red Lantern for dinner. We each picked a dish and shared all the chinese food. After that, we went home and played Phase 10. I think playing Phase 10 with my mom and brothers (and Nic and Laura) was my favorite part of the whole weekend. I love playing games and I especially loved spending some time with my brothers that didn't involve us sitting in front of the tv. It was a great way to start 2012. (On a side note, Justin totally creamed us all!).

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve we went to the Mahlm's house. Tomi made delicious pad thai and Ron made his amazing sushi. At 9pm, we couldn't find the New York countdown on tv, but we were sort of able to see the fireworks that the village put on. We left at about 10 to head home. Nic and I tried to watch the rest of Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve on tv, but we both fell asleep (sad, huh? we must be getting old). Somehow, Nic woke up a couple of minutes before midnight, so we got to see the ball drop and I got my midnight kiss. Even though it wasn't the most exciting New Year's Eve, getting to ring in a new year with a kiss from my favorite person is better than any party. Happy New Year everyone!!

Snowcat Dinner

On the 30th, (Sabrina's birthday-Happy Birthday Beena!) we spent most of the day lounging around. We watched a few episodes of House and ate and talked and that was about it. That night, we got to ride in a snowcat up to Parallax for dinner. I had never been in a snowcat before and was pretty excited about it.

It was bigger and fancier inside than I expected, but riding up a huge, steep mountain was super cool. When we got to the top, we went in for dinner. The dinner was delicious! They had these cheesy, rice breaded balls in marinara sauce that were delicious and a really good bison chili. For dessert, we enjoyed a huge 6 layer chocolate cake, a cheesecake, and some icecreams.

After dinner, we rode the snowcat back down, although this time we got the less fancy one. It was a really unique experience and a very fun evening!

Pizza Night in Mammoth

On December 29th, we flew up to Mammoth to the spend New Year's weekend with my family. The flight was gorgeous! We got to see such a beautiful sunset from the sky!

Our first night there, we went over to Tomi and Ron's house for homemade Chicago style pizzas. They were delicious! My favorite had chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and mushrooms in it. It always amazes me that we could leave work at 4 and by 6:30 we could be at someone's house in Mammoth enjoying a delicious meal! Ahh, the wonders of flying! :)

Bob Seger Concert

On Wednesday, December 28th, my mom, Laura, Nic and I went to Gourmet 88 for dinner before heading over to Staples Center for the Bob Seger Concert. He has so many great songs, and even though he is getting old, he still had that same great scratchy voice. It was a great concert!! We were especially impressed with the sax player! He was incredible!

Park with Friends

On the 26th, Nic and I met up with some friends and their kids at the park. We all brought our own lunches and ate at picnic tables while the kids played. It was a gorgeous day and felt great to be outdoors for a change. Now that I work at a desk, I feel like I rarely see the sun. It was fun to catch up, as it always is!

After the park, we went to Rachelle and Brandon's to exchange gifts, have some snacks, talk about Ryan and Alli getting engaged, and to hear about Rachelle and Brandon's upcoming trip to Thailand!

2011 Christmas Card

This is our 2011 Christmas Card:

Christmas 2011

We celebrate Christmas morning at my parent's house. This year Aunt Susannah, Will, and Sam came, which we were all really excited about because kids always make Christmas more fun. One disappointment was that Grandma and Wil didn't come. Apparently Grandma wasn't feeling well. It was really weird (and sad) that we didn't see any of our grandparents this Christmas. So the first thing we did, was watch Sam come in and see his present from Santa. You should have seen us...we were all circled around him with cameras like a pack of wolves, we were so excited! I think we scared him, because he looked at the bike, then looked shocked, then looked like he was about to cry. Not exactly the reaction we were all hoping for, but we all understood he was probably overwhelmed. Then we all opened stockings before the best part of Christmas...the food! We had Oma's potatoes (Nic made them this year and they were amazing!), scrapple (I was a bit worried about the scrapple this year, but we all agreed it tasted the best ever!), applesauce sausage (it was amazing as always!), bacon, cinnabons, and my dad's amazing hot apple cider! We didn't have Grandma's eggs this year, which was a bummer, but everything else was delicious!!

After breakfast, we opened presents. I got a le creuset french oven from Nic (I've been wanting one for a while now), a Pottery Barn glass canister from Sabrina, a bunch of gift cards, and a MAC COMPUTER!! My computer was on it's last leg last year and somehow managed to hang on for one more year, so I really needed a new computer. I am so excited about it and can't wait to see what cool new things I can do on it.

After we opened presents, Nic and I went for a ride in my dad's Razor. I was a little nervous, but it was pretty fun, plus we got to go to the top of the hill for a great 360 view.

That afternoon, Nic, Sabrina, Tyler, and I went to the Lakers vs. Bulls game. The Christmas Day game has become quite a tradition for us. :) It was fun, except that the Lakers lost by a point right at the end.

That night, we went back to my parent's house for a family dinner. My mom made a roast and mashed potatoes and we spent more time together as a family. We had a wonderful Christmas!

Santa's Little Helper

Our Australia family celebrated Christmas one day ahead of us. Take a look at this photo of Oliver with the present Auntie Crystal and Uncle Nic bought him.

Look how much he has changed since last Christmas:

Christmas Eve

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. We normally go to Oma and Opa's house, but it is just getting too difficult for them to host it, so Aunt Hiedi and Uncle Greg hosted this year. We all brought food to help out. My mom brought appetizers, Aunt Lynette and Uncle Eddie brought vegetables, Opa made a turkey, Anut Hiedi made Roladen, gravy and sauerkraut, and I brought desserts. The big disappointment of the night is that Oma and Opa didn't come. :( I was a bit nervous they wouldn't make it because it is getting more and more difficult for Oma to leave the house, but I was still hopeful we would get to see them. Unfortunately, Oma wasn't feeling well and Opa didn't feel comfortable leaving her. We were all sad that they weren't there, but we all still had an enjoyable evening with family enjoying great food.

Our Decorated House

As most of you know, we have had a bit of remodeling done on our house. I was wanting to wait until it was finished to show pictures, but I'm starting to feel like that may never happen, so I might as well share some photos of the house decorated for the holidays.

Here is a photo of our new entry (We had a wall built, painted it blue, and bought an entry table):

Here is a photo of our stairway (not much new here, except the apothecary jars and tree from Pottery Barn and a different color of paint on the walls):

Our new dining room: (This rooms changed the most. New barn doors, new bar, new table, new chandeleir and we still have a ways to go)

A close-up of the barn doors because I love them, especially with those gorgeous pottery barn snowflakes and candle jars hanging from the hardware:

Our living room: (We got a new rug, had a built in media cabinet made, got a new painting for the fireplace and got a side table)

Christmas Eve Eve

We started a new tradition last year, that is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Because Sabrina missed Thanksgiving last year I decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner and have my family over for Christmas Eve Eve. We don't get to spend that much time together these days and we had the best time. Since it was so great to do last year, I figured we should make it a tradition. Since Sabrina was at Thanksgiving this year, and making Thanksgiving dinner along with all the food I make for Christmas morning is a lot of work (and I was way behind on Christmas present buying and wrapping this year) I decided to make one of our favorite family recipes instead. I made two casseroles of Chicken Altogether and a peppermint dessert bar.

After dinner, we went and looked at the Christmas lights. We had planned on doing that last year, but the turkey (and huge amounts of other delicious Thanksgiving foods) made us too tired and we didn't make it. It was so fun! First we drove through our neighborhood while playing Christmas music, then we went to Winter Wonderland, the best light neighborhood in our area. We parked the car and walked around. Last year, Justin went with us, and I have to say, this will for sure be a tradition for my family. As you walk around the neighborhood, lit up boards tell the story of the Night Before Christmas. People were also passing out candy canes and there were even carolers. We all had such a great time, the only bummer was that Sabrina didn't make it in time to go with us. Next year, hopefully the whole family can go.

After the lights, we went back to the house for my peppermint bar which included: red velvet cupcakes with peppermint frosting, peppermint oreo truffles, peppermint cookies, peppermint bark rice krispy treats, peppermint ice cream bar, and peppermint hot chocolate bar. Everything was delicious and my dessert bar turned out really cute! I definitely think the night was a success. 

Later that night, Justin and Sabrina stayed the night, and we continued the tradition of watching Elf, and I continued my tradition of falling asleep a few minutes in. ;) I'm already looking forward to hosting next year's Christmas Eve Eve!