2007, Dec 8: Company Holiday Party

One of the many responsibilities I have at my company is to coordinate all social activities at our company; therefore, the biggest events (Summer & Winter) are up to me to coordinate. I have a Social Committee who helps out so I don't have to pull my hair out every time someone complains to me about the events we do. This last Saturday we hosted our annual Holiday Party for 120+ ppl. We provided a DJ, a cartoon artist (CHECK OUT OUR COOL PHOTO), and a blackjack tournament. Poor D had to mingle on his own most of the night since I had to make sure everything was running smoothly.

2007, Nov 22-25: Turkey Day at our house

Happy Turkey Day! D's mom and her bf drove down to stay with us for the T-day holiday. All of us were assigned food items all day. Turkey was brine for 24 hrs, apple parsnip sausage stuffing, buttered pecan brussel sprouts, southern green beans, traditional mash potatoes w/ gravy sage dressing. YUM!

2007, Nov 3: John & Imelda's Wedding, San Francisco, CA

My younger cousin got married (he's the groom)! WOOHOO!! Another family reunion in less than one year (SEE 1st reunion in May). The ceremony was held in the famous Catholic Church St. Peter & Paul. The reception was held at the Fairmont Hotel. My mom grooved to hip hop and rocked the dance floor all night. Congrats John & Imelda.

2007, Oct 24-Oct 28: Ashland, Oregon

D & I decided to take a mini-vacation after our wedding in Sept. Both of us have never been to Ashland, Oregon and decided what the heck. So we took our shiny toaster oven and we headed north about a 5-6 hour drive. On our drive to Ashland, we passed by Mt. Shasta. What a beautiful mountain. D has hiked up to the top of the peak... i'd like to do that someday.

Ashland, Oregon is known for it's Shakespeare plays. We sampled good food and watched two wonderful plays. We visited Crater Lake, one of the deepest lakes in the world. The lake was formed by volcanic eruptions that toppled and formed a crater, hence the name. As you can see, it was very cold!! We'd like to head back to Oregon during warmer weather...white water rafting, camping and more Shakespeare plays.

2007, Sept 21-23: Camping at Hat Creek, CA

aaaannnnndddd here's another camping story! We decided to camp at a place called Hat Creek. it's known for being one of the top places to go trout fishing. Boy were they right... D got me geared up with salmon eggs and i caught more than 10 fish throughout the weekend. My wrist got too tired from reeling them in!! one day we decided to walk through an underground lava cave. We brought our headlamps and took a 1 mile hike in the dark.

2007, Sept 7 & 8: Our big celebration in Paso Robles, CA

D & I are finally married - WOOHOO!! Our closest family members and friends witnessed this very special day with us. First we started off with a dinner rehearsal at 10th Street Cafe, a basque restaurant. We were served a variety of delicious basque foods and our wedding hosts (Scott & Bobbi) brought an array of yummy red wines. Afterwards, the servers passed the wine bota around the tables. Check out the photo of my mom... i think the wine totally missed her mouth and went all over her eyes!! What a fun night!


Our big day: 09/08/07
The day started off with our Chef Tom Fundaro from Villa Creek Restaurant who stopped by Ventuex Vineyards to smoke our 2 pigs for 5 hours before our reception! We had a great ceremony with 60 of our family & closest friends. The ceremony was sweet and short: no maid of honor, no best man, we wore flip flops, we wrote our own vows, D's dad officiated us, we administered our own wine ceremony describing ourselves using our favorite wines.


The food was delicious, wines from Four Vines & Villa Creek and hard liquor quenched everyone's thirst throughout the night. Cigars, techno music and lots of alcohol ended our night. Oh, don't forget the 2 limousines that D ordered.

Thank you Bobbi & Scott (Jake & Clover too) for allowing D & I to have a kick ass wedding & party at Venteux Vineyards: www.ventuexvineyards.com

2007, Sept 1: Girls Night Out

Party Party! Countdown begins! Saturday, Sept 8th is the day I will no longer become a single woman!! AAHHH!! I don't want to call it my bachelorette party since I soo dislike being in the spotlight but my gfriend, Sam & I decided to plan a girls night out. we started at the Sierra Tap House and headed over to Imperial Lounge, Divine Lounge, Shooters, 3rd Street Jazz, and Vinos. We danced until our heart's content! I didn't have any dinner so that first dirty tuaca shot didn't settle well in my tummy. At about 2 am, I was ready to go home.
THANK YOU LADIES FOR AN AWESOME TIME!

2007, Aug 11: Wedding in Galena, NV

Wow, camping & a wedding in 1 weekend! (read BELOW for camping story) The weekend started off in Lahotan drinking beer, eating burgers & dogs then to a 1 1/2 hr drive to beautiful Galena Park eating peeled shrimp and drinking red wine.

My former co-worker from my college days of working at LabCorp got married! Her newly wed husband is a care flight pilot and had his buddies fly him into the wedding site - COOL! I had a blast reminiscing with my former LabCorp friends. D & I couldn't stay for very long since we had to drive back to Lahotan. If any of you know, it's not easy to find a campsite in the dark.

2007, Aug 10-12: Camping in Lahotan Lake, NV

So can I say WHOA?? WHOA!!! We packed in a camping trip and a wedding in 1 weekend!!
(see ABOVE for wedding story) Our mechanics who have been fixing our cars for years (Independent Specialists) invited us to Lahotan Lake. This site is just a "party scene". When I mean party scene, I mean back to back RVs, motorhomes, ATVs, motorboats, jet skiis, BBQs, & beverage consumption! There were about 20 of us camping by the lake and all we did was BBQ & play bags all day. One day, I was brave enough to ride The Molecule. An inflatable raft with three balls on each end designed to hold about 8 people. Our boat driver, Chris, couldn't wait to flail us around the water. What was I thinking? To cut this story short, I could not stay on for too long. One of girls flew by me & elbowed me in the eye! Am I too old for this? Naaaah, not really :)

2007, Jul 27 - 29: Camping in Stampede, CA

Remember when D said he wanted to take the Airstream trailer at least 1x a month? This was it! Zach-o-rama invited us camping at Stampede, CA for the weekend. We packed our Airstream and headed west. Z & Charlie had some friends who brought their boats and they all went wakeboarding (That's Z on the wakeboard).

One night Charlie decided to dice up some hot jalepenos to make a yummy rice dish but forgot to wash the oils off his fingers. Guess what? Yep, you guessed it... he rubbed his eyes with his fingers and next thing you know... BAM!!! Red wet flaming eyes and sweaty face! Poor guy, I ended up having to douse one of his eyes with organic fat-free milk. Great pose Charlie!
FYI: any dairy cream will help remove the jalepenos oils.

2007, Jun 12 - 18: Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN

BONNAROO 2007!!!

This was our 2nd Bonnaroo experience (read our last year's posting: Jun 2006). What a hot, muggy 4-days!! We originally planned for 4 guys and 2 gals but turned out that the other gal was few months pregnant and it wasn't going to be a good idea for her to sleep in a rented RV with 4 other guys for 4 days. So it was me and 4 guys in a rented RV for 4 days!! This time D convinced his 3 other friends (Dave in the yellow bandana, Zach in the yellow shirt, Charlie in the mauve shirt) to join us for the ride. Yes, that's D's 4-day dirty foot- BLAH!
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I'm not quite sure I'll go again next year. Stay tuned!

2007, Jun 1-2: Camping in Buckeye Creek, CA

Ok, I've been slacking on writing my stories b/c there's so much to say and too much typing to do! If you read our Jul 2005 camping story you'll know that we had a tire blowout & blood-sucking mosquitoes attacking us. This year we had zero mosquitoes and 100% fun! This time, D & I arranged a group to come with us. On our way to Bridgeport, CA we passed a town that encountered lightning strikes on the side of their mt. Turned out the next few days this fire died down but winds ignited the fire burning hundreds of acres! We spent the weekend in a natural hot spring, fished on a rented pontoon boat, played Cranium, drank lots of grape juice, ate smores, and laughed a whole lot! D told me that we MUST take the Airstream out at least 1x a month....so stay tuned for more camping stories.

2007, May 26: Our Wedding Party & Family Reunion in LA

Since D & I are having a small wedding in September, my mom & aunt hosted a dinner party in LA and all our relatives showed up. Not only did we celebrate our upcoming wedding but we celebrated my grandma's 88th b-day! The last time all the aunts, uncles & cousins were ALL in town together was 8 years ago for my older cousin's wedding & our grandma's 80th b-day. I felt very honored that D & I were able to share this time with our relatives & with grandma!

We were down on Venice Beach cruising the shops and found these great sunglasses! D got a kick out of me wearing these "green" sunglasses since this look is SO not me!
SAY NO TO DRUGS!