Updates with pictures!

We've had a great past week! Christmas was nice (Bernie really enjoyed it) and we had lots and lots of great food and gifts. We've been spending some time with relatives visiting from Canada, which has been wonderful of course. My baby cousin Béa was introduced to her first mini cousins' sleepover (although she's the only one who did any sleeping; the rest of us just sat there watching her and waiting for her to wake up so we could play with her!). We also opened some Christmas gifts with her which was oh-so-very cute! 

Sunday night my mom took our entire extended family out to a yummy dinner at the White Shallot (YUM- love that place!). It was cool, we had just about everyone there from my mom's side of the family:

That night Corey and I made a trip back up to Sacramento to finish up work stuff (for Corey) and to do the final wrap up of our apartment. We're completely out of there now- it's weird! I'm going to miss that place! I also got to go to my first (and last, at least for the next 4 years) Nestie get together and meet some great girls! It was so fun!

Now we're back in San Jose for our final week in the U.S.! As soon as my sis and her boyfriend get here we're going to head out and see Marly and Me, which I'm looking forward to. I'm prepared to ball my eyes out. I still get teased about the My Dog Skip viewing fiasco... What can I say, dog movies get to me!

Anyway, that's how my past week was. How was yours??

Brrr!!

I'm freezing my butt off here- in California.

In a week and a half I will be living here- in Misawa:

I'm in trouble.

It FINALLY Feels Like Christmas!

Corey and I are down in San Jose at my parents' house where the Christmas spirit is alive and kicking! We will basically be here until we leave for Japan (in EXACTLY 2 weeks- AH!). The house is all decorated, my dad is in the kitchen "practicing" his cornbread for our Christmas dinner cornbread stuffing (how cute is that?), and the house smells like cookies! That's what I've been doing for the last couple of hours (baking). I made Chocolate Mint cookies and Russian Tea cookies. Mmmm mmm! Later today (or tomorrow) I'll make gingersnaps and Cranberry Orange cookies. 

Unfortunately, I feel like I'm getting kind of big-time sick. I've decided I'm going to ignore it and pretend like that's not the case.

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season!

Holy Deliciousness!

  *Drool* The Cinnamon Sees lollipops are A-MA-ZING!

Hmmm...

Corey picked up our itinerary for our Japan travels today. Tell me if this makes any sense: We leave from Sacramento at 10am, fly to San Francisco, and then from there fly non-stop to Tokyo. Since we'll be in San Jose the week leading up to our departure, we asked if we could just bypass the Sacramento part and leave from San Francisco (shorter drive, would save them money on that little flight, right?). No. We must leave from Sacramento Airport. *sigh* So we'll drive all the way up to Sacramento on Tuesday morning, take a 30 minute plane ride back over to San Francisco, and be on our way. Silliness.

On the plus side, we get almost 24 hours in Tokyo before we have to head out to Misawa. Yay!

Empty Apartment

The movers came today and took away all our stuff! With 3 guys it took them about 4 hours to clear everything out. Let me tell you, it is quite awkward to just stand there for 4 hours and watch people working hard to move your stuff without being able to help them at all (we're not allowed to help for liability reasons I guess). It was 4 hours of trying not to get in the way while still attempting to watch and make sure everything was inventoried correctly without seeming too overbearing. My feet got sore from just standing there feeling useless all day. Ugh.

Here are a few pictures of the moving process (taken from my phone post-strawberry margarita submersion a few months back, so the camera is a little iffy...)

Our bedroom all packed up

The chaos that was the living room

Hard to see, but the 4 crates that our apartment filled up on the moving truck

**Warning- grossness coming** So the movers were nice and fast, but they had some interesting bathroom issues. Each of the 3 guys used it quite a bit and left *ahem*... a lot of evidence behind. Towards the end they clogged the toilet too, which was fun. Yuck!

Anyway, we celebrated the end of this chaos tonight with a yummy dinner at Outback! I LOVE Wallaby Darneds, Outback crab cakes, and Outback ranch dressing! Mmm mmm!

So now we're hanging out with our borrowed air mattress, pillows, and blankets (thanks mom!)... and that's pretty much it. I'm sitting on the floor of our empty bedroom now as I type this.  *sigh* It's weird, but definitely exciting! The next time we see our stuff will be in Japan sometime in February! There's no turning back now!  :)

Getting Sentimental

It's starting to set in. Thanks for a wonderful last visit guys. 

Clutter and Chaos

Today has been pretty exhausting. I am easily stressed out by disorganization, and this move is full of it! I've spent all day shuffling things back and forth from San Jose, trying to figure out which things we'll need when and then attempting to keep them separated based on

which group they're being shipped with (we have 3 different moving shipments), taking apart furniture, documenting and photographing everything we'd be upset about them breaking or losing, trying to move furniture downstairs by myself (NOT a good idea, in case you were wondering), and doing all of this WITHOUT Corey, not having the slightest idea what he wants done with all his stuff.

And, by the way, how in the world am I supposed to estimate what 500 pounds of stuff is? I have no clue. For that matter, how am I supposed to know how much "stuff" makes up 4,000 lbs? Because that's our limit... hopefully we don't have more than that! Who knows!

I also woke up at 4:20 this morning to take someone to the airport, then had a ginormously awesome long workout that kicked my butt. I'm already starting to feel it! Man am I exhausted! And... IT'S FREAKING COLD TODAY!!!!!!

I give up for tonight. Time to take a hot bubble bath, then sit down with a big glass of wine and watch my Lost Season 4 special features!

Getting into the holiday spirit

Time for a Christmas survey! (Copied from Purple)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I think wrapped presents are a lot more fun, but I resort to the bags sometimes when I'm in a crunch.

2. Real tree or artificial? Always, always, always REAL! I really don't get the point of a fake tree. The smell is the best thing about having a Christmas tree!

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the first or second week of December. Unfortunately we don't get one this year. :( We'll enjoy my parents' tree though!

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually when it starts to die sometime in January. We keep that sucker for as long as we can!

5. Do you like eggnog? I love all things holidays... EXCEPT eggnog. Bleck.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? That's tough, I got a lot of good ones over the years! Oh wait, I know- Bernie! My dog who lives at my parents house! He was a Christmas gift- the best one!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Hmm... not sure. Maybe parents, on both sides (for different reasons).

8. Easiest person to buy for? Usually Corey, but I'm having trouble this year...

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope. I'm not much of a religious person.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. Although we've never actually sent any out ourselves. We should definitely start next year.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Mean question! I couldn't answer that...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Ditto Purple's answer: Love Actually. Best best best movie!!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I'm a super duper procrastinator. I'm the sucker at the malls on Christmas Eve.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably, but I can't think of specifics.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The O'Dell's yearly plate of homemade cookies, fudge and other yummy goodies!

16. Lights on the tree? Of course!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Everything Trans-Siberian Orchestra

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I prefer to stay home, but if family is far away, then traveling it is!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolf. (Ok, I cheated a bit because I had Purple's answer right there in front of me before I deleted it and wrote it myself!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We've always had an angel, but I like the idea of a star better. Next year, I'm getting a star!

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? As a child my sister and I got to open 1 present Christmas Eve. Everything else Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I grew up a couple of blocks away from Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, which meant that around the holidays, it was impossible to go anywhere without massive traffic. Luckily I don't have to deal with that anymore!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Green is my favorite color... everything is green is nice! Corey collects Star Trek ornaments.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Christmas dinner has never been a big deal for us. We don't have a traditional meal. Although this year we're doing turkey and all the fixings since we missed that meal for Thanksgiving!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Something small that we can easily transport to Japan!

Yay for the holidays!! For the heck of it, here is a picture of Zoey (our puppy who we had to put to sleep in May) eating our last year's Christmas tree:

Woops, nevermind!

*Edit* Ok so a couple hours after I posted this (AND put an add on Craigslist), Corey called and told me his sponsor finally got back to him and said our couch would probably be OK in Japan, and that it's really difficult to find furniture in the little town we're going to. So we're going to bring it afterall. Woops, sorry!!!

I've been tagged!

Apparently I've been tagged by Stefanie K! Sure, I'll play along! :)

So, here are the rules and then me fulfilling them...

The rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs

5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Ok, so here are my random 6 things:

1. I can quote the movies Robin Hood Men in Tights and Matilda just about from start to finish. I really love those movies.

2. I have a vendetta against all the ants in the world. I've spent countless hours squishing them into oblivion and get endless joy out of watching them swarm the traps full of poison, knowing they are going to bring it back to their nests. I'm not evil, I swear. I just really hate ants.

3. I love love love side salads at restaurants. Not regular menu salads, but side salads. I don't know why, they just always taste so good!

4. According to my family and friends, I sleep like "a sausage." Meaning I sleep on my stomach with my legs tightly together and arms tucked underneath my sides with just my hands sticking out. They've made fun of me for it my whole life.

5. I spent 6 weeks in the desert at an archaeological field school in college and got dirtier than anyone has ever been before.

6. I'm slightly obsessed with the TV show Lost. Ok, really obsessed. As in, the thing I am most upset about and will miss more than anything else (except my family and best friends) when I move to Japan is having to wait until the episodes are online and watching the final 2 season on a tiny computer screen instead of our wonderful big TV. *sigh*

Ok, now I shall cheat and only tag 3 blogs, because they are the only ones I know of/have read with any regularity (other than Stefanie's):

Purple Passion

The New Adventures of Me, Myself and I

Random Ramblings

Fun!

Getting back in shape!

I've decided it is far beyond time that I start getting healthier and losing a bit of weight. I want to get back to running 4 miles a day and feeling more energetic and better about myself. The workouts are starting slow, but as long as I stay consistent, I feel confident I can be back to what I used to do before too long. We shall see. Today I ran 2 miles and walked another 1.5. 

My diet on the other hand- I'm trying something new this time! *drum roll please*... I'm actually practicing the art of moderation! I've always been a very "all or nothing" type of gal when it comes to my eating habits. I'm either eating whatever I want, whenever I want without any thought whatsoever, or I crash diet. This time around, I'm working on more sustainable habits. Eating very healthy with a few TINY little splurges. I'm recording my calories for a while to get a better grasp about foods' contents, and I'm also watching my nutrition to make sure I get enough of all the important stuff. Feeling good about it so far (but then again, I've only been doing it for a week...). We'll see how things go. 

It's kind of a cruddy time to be starting a new fitness regimen what with an international move coming up next month and lots of instability right now (not to mention all the holiday goodies around constantly), but hey- there's always an excuse not to start, right? 

Anyone else focusing on eating better, working out more, or generally increasing overall health? Any tips, motivations or anything else to share?

It's finally official!

Corey got orders yesterday for our PCS to Misawa! It's about freaking time- it only took 6 months. Geez! But we have them now, so no more looking back! Time to look forward...

... holy crap! Looking forward means we're leaving the country in exactly a month! The movers are coming to our apartment Dec. 18th and 19th to take all our things and after that we'll probably be at my parents house in San Jose until we leave. Which means we really only have less than 2 weeks left of life as "normal" in our home. As much as I'll be so happy to get the heck out of Natomas, I really love our apartment itself and will miss it very very much! I'm getting so sentimental knowing that this little stage of our life is coming to a close. *sigh*

But onto the next exciting stage!! 

Score!

I went to the grocery store last night to pick up a couple of things, and this is what I left with:

How much did I spend? $6! Total! Woohoo! Yay for crazy wine bottle neck coupons! I'm always quite the thrifty grocery shopper, but I think this is a personal best for me!

Comments

Hey, what do you know! Part of my morning excitement has been discovering blogger comments. You learn something new every day!

(Yes, I'm a little slow...)

The other part of our morning excitement has been phone war with various offices at Beale and discovering that Corey actually DOES need a new polygraph test before we can get our orders. As with everything else, we were told MONTHS ago that he specifically did not need a new one. So no orders yet... the wait continues.

Why I love my husband so very much!

Corey is off playing with his friends and his toys at the comic book store, and I'm sitting here watching Paris Hilton's My New Best Friend (unfortunately I'm not kidding) and thinking about how much I love that guy! We've been married just about 3 months now. Crazy! It seems like the wedding JUST happened! I miss the wedding... *sigh* Anyway, just a handful of reasons why I love Corey:

I love him because he never stops trying.
I love him because he thinks for himself.
I love him because he does the cutest funny boy dances I've ever seen.
I love him because he genuinely loves my family and is always happy to spend time with them.
I love him because he will do anything (and I do mean ANYTHING) to make sure that I'm happy.
I love him because he has a clear idea of what is right and wrong, and lives by his ideals.
I love him because he's HOT!
I love him because he is completely UNselfish.

I love him because he's my only serious competition in Mario Party.
I love him because I know I'm safe, secure, and happy whether we're together or apart.

I love him because he not only puts up with me, but does everything he can to understand and help me when I'm in a bad mood (which has been way too often lately).
I love him because he's going to make the best babies in the world someday (and I want them to be JUST like him!)
I love him because he makes me feel beautiful even when I think I look like a hideous blob.
I love him because he can quote all the best movies (and some not so good ones :P).
I love him because he's a good friend to people.
I love him because he goes above and beyond.
I love him because I've never had so much fun in my life.

I could go on and on. But it's about time to announce who Paris chose as her new BFF, so I better end it here so I can devout my full attention to such important matters (I think being in Japan will be good for me on many levels!).

I love you baby!

Guadalajara

We're back!

We had a really great trip visiting my sister in Mexico over the holiday weekend. We ate A LOT, walked A LOT, saw A LOT, and had A LOT of quality family time. I've posted the pics I took on my picasa page if you care to look at them. Guadalajara is definitely an interesting city. Here is what I learned:

- I would die within 90 seconds if I tried to drive there. Without a doubt. I have never seen traffic or drivers like that in my life.
- Queso fundido is delicious.
- 5 million people is simply way too many to cram into one city.
- If they break your suitcase at Guadalajara International Airport while inspecting your bag, they will charge you $9 to wrap your stuff in saran wrap so it is contained.
- It is very possible to be in the ghetto and the upscale part of town at exactly the same time, in the same place.
- There are more white miniature poodles here than in every other city in the world combined.
- There are also more fountains in Guadalajara than in every other city in the world combined.
- Toilet paper doesn't go into toilets. Hence the gross garbage cans next to each one.
- I suck at money conversion.
- Guadalajarans really love their churches.
- Buses will not hesitate to run you over. I was within a literal inch of finding that out for myself.
- Micheladas are my new favorite drink in the world.
- Noise and air pollution can reach far beyond even LA standards.
- The Hotel Morales is one of the prettiest hotels I've ever seen.
- I suck at speaking spanish.
- My dad gets REALLY excited about Mexican popsicles.
- All the parks and plazas are awesome.
- It is important to always, always, ALWAYS have a Sparkle on you.
- I like Guadalajara overall.