Christmas in Long Beach

Santa Katie's workshop was a busy place leading up to Christmas. Sadly, Santa Katie isn't nearly as skilled as the real good ol' St. Nick. Maybe it's his hundreds of years' experience...maybe it's his hundreds of elves...but somehow he manages to get all his gifts made & delivered on time. Not me!

Despite what I thought was an early start, & a bit of assistance from Elf Jacob, I still failed to finish & mail out all my gifts on time. One gift (or part of a gift...she also requested placemats) that did get to its recipient on time was a tree skirt for my sister & brother-in-law.

I've had the fabric for this project for months. It took me so long to decide on a pattern. I would make up my mind & start to lay everything out just to change my mind again & again & again. But I'm really happy with how it finally turned out.

One of my favorite little details is the snowflakes in the quilting. Thanks to my new sewing machine (the best Christmas gift from the best boyfriend) I have all these fun decorative stitches.

The fabric is super cute & this was one of my favorites.

And of course I had to get a picture of my tag on the finished project.

Karie got the tree skirt on Friday...barely in time! But it was under her tree for the big day & looked great!

Jacob & I spent Christmas day cooking (ham balls, vegetable casserole, party potatoes) & baking (pizzelles, sugar cookies). My mom safely made it to California (all by herself...I'm so proud) & we walked around Naples looking at the houses decorated for Christmas. Apparently the neighborhood theme was "Movies."

Mom has a bit of a thing for Snoopy.

This was the winner in my mind though! Talk about a Griswold house!

After we'd had our fill of Christmas lights we came home to have dinner & open presents. All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing day.

I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas as well...full of family, friends, love, & laughter. We missed all of you terribly & wished you could have been here...because it's 70 here & most likely a lot colder where you are. :)

How To: Winning a White Elephant Gift Exchange

Deck the halls with boughs of holly...fa la la la la, la la la la.

'Tis the season to be jolly...fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel...also known as tacky Christmas sweaters.

It's that time of the year again...Tacky Christmas Sweater parties, fruit cake jokes, mistletoe hung in inappropriate places, & White Elephant gift exchanges.

Jacob & I have always considered ourselves a fairly skilled team when it comes to White Elephants parties. Somehow we always seem to walk away feeling satisfied with the gifts we have received: suggestively shaped cacti, old school Christmas CDs, a gingerbread house kit, a balloon architecture kit, etc. We didn't just get lucky to get those gifts though, no, we strategized. The keys to winning at a White Elephant party are teamwork, predicting the number of steals, showing no interest in the gift you want, and ultimately, the steal. Under normal rules, we are almost always able to end up with at least one gift we have our hearts set on. This year was a bit different though.

We attended two White Elephant parties. The first was for our job site. We had a wonderful dinner at The Grove followed by the customary 'select gift,'have gift stolen,' 'steal someone else's gift,' repeat. I walked away with a couple of DVDs (Dumb & Dumber and A Christmas Story) & a desk-size bean bag toss game (aka Washers). A few days earlier I had mentioned to Jacob that we should pick up a copy of A Christmas Story, so I was quite happy with my loot. Jacob came out the big winner: a 750 ml bottle of Crown. Teamwork people! Since technically I won the gift, I'm re-gifting it to him & it's wrapped under the tree now. You're welcome, Jacob.

The second party was a bit more challenging. Tiffany & her roommate, Alex, throw a Tacky Christmas Sweater/White Elephant gift exchange party every year. (How cute are we dressed in our matching turtle necks?) As we all settled into our seats, Alex started to tell us the rules. And wouldn't you know it, she changed them on us! Everyone knows the rules of a White Elephant gift exchange, right? No immediate steal-backs & only two steals per gift. Apparently I've taken for granted that those rules are not ones that everyone lives by. Apparently you can decide that you want no immediate steal-backs, that there is no limit on the number of times a gift is stolen (gasp), and that after a gift is stolen, the gift-less party goer can't steal another person's gift (the horror)!

Some great gifts (a 'Hunger Games' picnic bag & a 'Lord of the Rings' Pez dispenser set) & some awful gifts ('Paulie' on laser disk & awful cheap perfume) circulated through the group.While we REALLY REALLY wanted the Hunger Games picnic bag, we walked away with an Egyptian mummy night light, a frisbee promoting "The Room" (apparently one of the worst movies ever made), and a circus character waffle iron. (Can you tell that everyone else at the party works in the film industry?)

Maybe I should add another key component to winning a White Elephant: perspective. Um...my mom is visiting for Christmas & I'll plug in the nightlight so she doesn't get scared in the dark...so...score? Jacob & I love to play frisbee at the beach...so...score. And we had waffles for breakfast the morning after the party...SCORE! We win!

Movember has come & gone...

Some of you may fondly (or not so fondly) remember Jacob's "No Shave November" a couple of years ago. That was the first year we were dating so a lot of my family & friends first met him with that Abe Lincoln beard. Naively, I thought that after college, & now in the real world, he would stick with the well manicured beard that I love so much...oh boy was I wrong.

Our job site observes "Movember." This year, our co-workers showed their support through donations & growing mustaches. So this is what I lived with for an entire month...a creeper stache.

This picture was taken at the company's Christmas party. What are the odds that the year we move from Kansas to California, the company hosts a Western-themed Christmas party?

Jacob was well prepared already having the boots & jacket & obvious mustache. After borrowing a bolo from my grandpa, he was set. Thanks, Papa! I had a bit more difficulty getting into character but thankfully Tiffany let me borrow a shirt & a belt buckle so I could pull off the look.

We had a great time at the party! Jacob finally two-stepped with me. I was able to meet his co-workers from last summer & several peoples' spouses. And I met the mechanical bull! Sadly/Happily/Luckily there's no big story to tell...but I can now say that I've ridden a mechanical bull.

While the mustache worked for the party, don't worry, it was gone the next day. And now, a couple of weeks into December, I am happy to say that the beard is back!

Holiday Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving!

Wonderful food, wonderful company.

Everyone said Tiffany made a delicious turkey.

And apparently Seaton liked my pumpkin pie!

Jacob & I had today off from work & will be enjoying a relaxing weekend.

I'll be sewing; he'll be working on a few projects around the apartment.

Maybe we'll decorate for Christmas...now that Thanksgiving has officially passed.

Sunday's high is supposed to be around 80 so we may have to spend the afternoon at the beach.

Happy Thanksgiving

(Apparently we do get some fall leaves in SoCal!)

There is so much to be thankful for today: the new adventure Jacob & I started this summer, our jobs, our wonderful families back home & the technology that helps keep us connected, our family out here who is spending the day with us, & the Coco Bolo's recipe we smuggled out of Manhattan!

We're spending the day cooking with Jake & Tiffany, calling family & friends back home, watching football, watching Harry Potter, drinking sangria, & hopefully we'll get a few good games of Farkle in, too!

I hope you all are spending the holiday with loved ones & eating lots of yummy food!

I clicked my heels three times...

And found myself back in Kansas. For a weekend anyway...

Jacob & Mom surprised me with a trip back to Kansas for Arkalalah! My 28th Arkalalah to be exact and yes, that does deserve specific mention.

As I was walking through the Wichita airport I saw this...

...and knew I was back in Kansas. I texted this picture to Jacob that afternoon & he begged me to bring some decent beef back with him. Poor guy still hasn't found any decent meat out here.

Mom was there to pick me up & the first stop on our way to AC was to see Bear at work. The second stop was Planet Sub. I am a girl with her priorities in order! I hadn't had a Tempeh Reuben sandwich in MONTHS & to say I was giddy would be an understatement.

It was a wonderful weekend full of family & friends. That's the great thing about Arkalalah weekend...you can see just about everyone you need to see just by walking up Summit Street on Saturday afternoon. We made it to the pancake feed, parade, arts & crafts fair, night show, & too many food vendors to count.

I meant to take pictures to post for you: the carnival, funnel cakes, family, & friends good enough to be family. But as usual, I forgot.

With one exception. I took plenty of pictures of this little guy!

He is just the most adorable thing I've ever seen! Lindsay & Adam are lucky I didn't run off with him. Jacob was warned that he may get a call saying to go buy a crib because I was coming home with a baby.

Lack of Protein

Jacob was talking to his dad on the phone as we were pulling onto the 405 this evening. Because we ride together we're able to use the carpool lane that allows us to zoom past all the other single drivers who have to wait at the light that restricts the number of cars entering the freeway. We love how we're able to do that!

Now we're no experts, but my guess is that a semi can't just hop into the car pool lane to enter the freeway & cut us off, but that's exactly what happened today. As my tendency to get a little worked up while driving is well known, you won't be surprised to hear that my reaction was immediate, passionate, & consisted of one or two words that I can't say in front of Warren.

Rob then made some comment about the hand gestures that must accompany my vocal outbursts. I explained that while I'm quick to verbally insult the other driver, I'm never quick enough to honk or give the bird.

"Must be the lack of protein...it affects your ability to react."

Rob's always one to find a circumstance to ridicule me for being a tree-hugging vegetarian. :)