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Happy Holidays!

Published December 31, 2007 family , random , vacation Leave a Comment
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Ben & I returned from our visit to Oregon late last night. We spent Christmas with Ben’s family up there. It was a fun visit, although we were incredibly busy throughout the week! On Christmas day, we spent the afternoon with Ben’s grandfather, and got a bit of snow. It was my first white Christmas!

We arranged breakfast with my family on Sunday morning to celebrate our 2nd christmas of the week. My mom made a nice brunch and we spent the afternoon opening stockings and presents.

I was really behind on getting xmas cards out this year – I may be sending new year’s cards instead! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!

Have a safe new year’s eve – try to stay off the roads and stay safe!

Visiting the falls

Published January 28, 2007 vacation Leave a Comment
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IMG_3623_thumb10 A few weeks ago, Ben and I traveled up to his parents house in Oregon for a rather sad occasion – Ben’s grandmother’s memorial service. It was a beautiful service – Ben’s brother, Dave, put together a video slide show of their grandmother’s life – from baby pictures all the way through Thanksgiving. It was very touching.

This trip was one of my few times driving in snowy conditions. While the roads were dry, the agents at Hertz warned us of black ice on the roads. It made me a little worried, since I was the only driver on the rental, and adding Ben would have cost us an extra $10 a day. But I figured if I was cautious, we’d be fine.

While I played it safe driving, walking was a different story. Ben, his sister, nieces, brother and I ventured out to Silver Creek Falls on Saturday afternoon. I hadn’t packed for a snow excursion – the sneakers I brought along had little tread and canvas tops, making my adventure slippery, wet and cold. The first stop was great. We played in the snow, had a few snowball fights, and ran around like kids. I started feeling a little more confident – maybe the shoes weren’t as bad as I thought. We continued on to ourIMG_3602_thumb13 next vista stop, grabbing a cup of hot cocoa to warm up, and absorbing the breathtaking scenery. Then, everything gets a little fuzzy. Or, more appropriately, they got a little slippery. As Ben & I strolled down path, we encountered a patch of ice. Ben slipped a bit, caught his balance, and warned me that it was slippery. A half second later, I hit the same patch and was down. Of course, my hands were safely stowed away in the pockets of my jacket, leaving the brunt of the blow to my poor little tail bone. It was definitely not a fun experience. I spent a few minutes on the ground – varying between pain and laughter – embarrassed for taking such a dramatic tumble, but in too much pain to get up.

The next week contained shuffling around, sleeping on my stomach and lots of advil. Two weeks later, I’m happy to say that I feel that I’m nearing full recovery.

We’re Engaged!!!

Published December 29, 2005 random , vacation 6 Comments
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After enjoying a fabulous Christmas together, Ben & I decided to spend some time away from the xmas chaos & head down to Yosemite for a brief retreat. We made reservations at a small B&B in Groveland, and arrived around 3pm on Monday afternoon.

Wanting to catch some of the spectacular views before dark, we made our way on to Yosemite. Intending to make our way to Glacier Point, we were disappointed to learn that the road out there is only open during summer months. Instead, we redirected and headed out to Tunnel View.

We arrived at Tunnel View around 4:30pm, and promptly got out of the car to enjoy the view. The view was spectacular – the valley floor hugged by a dense layer of fog; it appeared that everything around was hovering in mid air.

I asked someone to take a snapshot of us; Ben & I posed and the stranger snapped away. We start to leave, and Ben tugs at my sweater, stopping me from entering a family snapshot. I divert, heading through the parking lot instead, and he stops me again.

Ben says, “I have one last Christmas present for you”

He pulls a small package out and hands it to me.

It’s a package in brown paper; inside, a smaller package wrapped in snowman christmas paper.

I start to rip through it, and he asks, “You’re not even going to look at the tag?” I turn the package over, where he’d written, “Suzy, will you marry me?” He follows up by asking, “Will you?” I reply, “Yes! Of course, yes!” I unwrap the package and inside is a beautiful princess cut diamond engagement ring.

Then, in the midst of numerous tourists, Ben kneels down and puts the ring on my finger.

To celebrate, we went to the Awahnee and had a drink & appetizers. While sitting there, Long and Winding Road by The Beatles came on. Very apropos.

The rest of the trip was fabulous… we hiked to Lower Yosemite Falls & Mirror Lake on Tuesday, and left the park around 3pm that afternoon.

I’m so excited about the whole thing!! I’ll post updates soon.

Vacation Vacation Vacation!!!!

Published December 24, 2005 random , vacation 2 Comments
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Christmastime has now officially begun – as, you guessed it, I am now on vacation :)

We’ve been preparing for xmas in a style that’s fitting for us. Our decorations are minimal – Ben hung some icicle lights outside, we have a Christmas tree, and have stockings hung on the mantle. Our high tech Christmas tree consists solely of LED Lights, and costs pennies to run. Even our star is LED – and, even better, color changing!

I’ve made a few treats in the past few weeks, which have been mailed or handed out to friends and family. I was quite proud of my pink & green rice crispy treats (yup, pink. Half a tube of food coloring later, and they still wouldn’t come out red). Regardless, they were tasty.

We have a nice little collection of presents nestled around the tree – anxiously awaiting their fate. I did pretty well this year, finishing up the shopping at 8pm on December 23. But really, most of the shopping was complete about a week ago. I remember the years when Chris & I spent our christmas eve at Walmart, getting last minute stocking stuffers & presents. This year, I just had a few hard to find items left to get tonight. Once again, I’m seriously over budget, and I’m wondering how long it will take Mr. Visa to start sending me personal thank you notes for my spending habits.

Ben & I are spending our last evening in Sacramento before heading to my parent’s house for tomorrow evening. We plan on exchanging stockings tonight, and saving the big presents for xmas morn. Although, currently, we’re having a laptop party; as he updates himself on the world outside, and I update the world outside about us.

Next week – a long week of relaxing awaits us. We plan on heading down to Yosemite Monday and staying in a cute B&B just outside the park entrance. Neither of us has been to Yosemite during winter, and it should be an awing experience. Cold, but awing. I’ve not been to Yosemite since the summer of 2002, after graduating from college. Not that it changes much, but it’s definitely nice to reconnect with nature once in a while.

At this point, I’m having blogger’s block, so I’m gonna hand this over to the one liners (just some random thoughts I’ll share)

- I love the smell of xmas trees
- I’m a fan of christmas music, although I think I hit my limit mid-december this year
- I still love the Beatles
- Christmas is overwhelming to me
- Even though I just went on vacation at Thanksgiving, I feels like it’s been AGES since I’ve had time off
- My toe is itchy, but I’m too lazy to take my boot off to scratch it
- I have no idea what Ben got me for xmas
- I can’t wait to go to Yosemite
- I’m looking forward to spending xmas with my family AND Ben!
- I’m excited about playing scrabble with my grandma this weekend
- I feel like I still have a billion things left to do before xmas
- I’m currently enjoying a glass of champagne, which is not helping my concentration skills
- The “once a year drivers” who come out at Christmas annoy me to a point of rage (but I think that’s a given for everyone, right?)
- I transferred my Visa balance over to a new Discover card – which has 0% APR for a year and will save xmas for me!
- My new discover card is bright pink with a cute “s” in the middle (you can see it here)

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Mom to "C", wife to Ben. I'm a part-time blogger, cook, organizer, seamstress, house cleaner, taxi, nurse (the mom kind), accountant... I could go on, but really... it's all in the blog. Read away!

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