My Life in the Last Five Months

Last time I posted was March? Okay... April - I'm an Aunt!! Woohoo! Brad (Dave's bro) and Donna had a baby girl. Brenna is super cute and we're all smitten. She arrived a little later than expected, but what girl doesn't take her own sweet time to announce her arrival? That's okay, it gave me time to make a little present for her. I'll post pics of Brenna and Pointy Kitty as soon as I can.

May - hmm... the most eventful thing was that my parents went to Asia for my cousin, Agnes's wedding. They said there were 1000 people at the reception! Eek! Aggie made a gorgeous bride, of course.

Moving along... June. Umm... did I mention that Turtle was engaged? hehe... Sir proposed the day after Thanksgiving. Hehe... I think he must have known the good mood she would be in after all that yummy food.

Anyway, we had her Bachelorette Party on the 9th. She wanted something a little more low key, but still fun. So we went to Marrekesh Restaurant in Costa Mesa. Delicous Morroccan food, wonderful company, and some fun bellydancing!

Did I mention the super stretch limo driven by the Awesome Tony (hehe... our limo driver from our wedding!).

The following weekend was the Playboy Jazz Fest. BOX NUMBER ELEVEN!! Need I say more? It totally rocked! We always have an awesome time with Charlie and Mills.

Oohh... and I can't forget that we went to Disney California Adventure with John & Miki! We had such a great time! Ha! and I even have more pics here!!

Now for July... wow... this speed posting isn't so bad. Of course we went to the Annual 4th of July Block Party at my Aunt's house. This event has been going on for 20+ years and it just keeps getting better and better. All the food, family, and friends continues to make this my second fav holiday of the year. You should know by now that Thanksgiving is my first favorite (fuuuuud!).

These are the corn fritters that I made. Well... I made the batter. Sir was kind enough to help me with the deep frying. I've never fried before!

This year was even more special because Ana, Marco, and Rose joined us, as well as Dave's parents! I love my family!

Also in July... Annie and Sir got married!! woohoo!! They had a beautiful backyard ceremony (also at my Aunt's house!) and a reception at NBC Seafood, where Dave and I had ours. Yep... the food was suuuper tasty! Oh yeah... the dress you see below was copied from the one that Nicole Kidman wore in Australia. Gorgeous!

Woohoo!! August!! I'm almost caught up! The beginning of the month was our trip to NY. I've never been before and it was great! Dave and I got an awesome flight deal of $220 RT with JetBlue. We took a cruise around the Island. The Announcer sounded like Charles Osgood from KNX1070.

We also ate some of the yummiest food ever. Everything was delicious!! I love foie gras!

The main reason for the trip was his cousin Connor's wedding so I got to hang out with a whole bunch of the Kirsch clan. They're wonderful! And of course, I had to wear some really hot shoes. Hehe. I have pics of the wedding, but as of this post, they're not uploaded yet!

And now the most recent of trips - Bonneville. The last time I was at the Utah's Salt Flats for Bonneville was 2006. It wasn't nearly as hot (for the days that we were there) this time. I remember it being in the hundreds and just boiling away. This time, I think we peaked in the high 80s. But good ol' Wendover was the same as ever! Think, wannabe Vegas with only two casinos... The Streamliner did great. Mr. Ferguson made a first pass at 299 mph. The next day, he completed his record run with 310mph!! That was definitely enough to get him a 300mph Club hat!! Oh yeah... he also took out Mile Marker #4.

After the last pass, the Streamliner decided that it wasn't playing anymore. Something about a gasket... buk buk buuuk! I don't know... didn't really understand. Anyway, they ran the Modified Roadster instead. They were going for 208mph (I think) and she was doing great at first! She was at 211mph in the 2 1/4 mile... but then Don all of a sudden turned off the course. As it turns out, they were running lean, and burned 3 pistons. Ouchies!! After that, the crew decided it was time to go home. After two official days on the Salt (out of a whole week) they had set a record and gotten Mr. Ferg into the 3 Club. Not too bad. hehe... just don't think about all the prep in getting there!!

Okay... that's it for now. As soon as I have pics posted for the other events, I'll post a link!!

A bit of Snow Fun

I finally got to do a little boarding this year.  For the very first time, I went to Snow Summit and Bear Mountain.  They were both great!  Plenty of fun, sugary, snow to shred.  The first day was the day after New Year's on Jan 2.  I went with Turtle, Sir, Andrew, and Calvin (Belinda's brother). Too bad Belinda couldn't come, but she was watching little Logan.  

It was a pretty fun cousin day!

The next day of snowboarding was a couple of weeks ago on Fernando's birthday.  It was

 Fernando, Mary, Marco, Brisia, and me.   Mary got pretty brave and decided to come down the double black diamond with me and Fernando.  It took her a little while, but she made it!!  Marco is still working on is left turns but I think he'll be getting there soon!!

Happy Birthday, Fernando!

Check out more pics here.

Hooray for relaxing weekends!

The wonderfully talented Antonio gave me a fabulous perm on Friday.  I'm still getting used to taking care of it, but I'm having so much fun doing it!  Too bad the rain makes it a little crazy.  On second thought... what's wrong with crazy?  I love it.  Thank you, Antonio!

Valentine's Day was wonderful!  Dave and I started by walking to Farmer's Market and enjoying pupusas, roast corn, and fresh lemonade.  Goes in corn...!!  Later we went met up with my parents at Annie and Sir's where we had delcious dinner of Foie Gras and Ox Tail Oso Bucco!!  Mmm... mouth watering again.

We also bought a 4" potted Paperwhite for our front garden area.  On Sunday morning, I did some gardening (yes... you read it right.  Amanda gardened!) and turned up the area for the flowers.  I planted the Paperwhite, and some Freesia bulbs.  Hopefully the rain doesn't flood them out.  Dave was doing other yard work and maintaining our back veggie garden.  I can't wait 

for all the yummy things growing back there!

One of the most special parts of the weekend was visting Tina and Baby Mia, aka Miss Thang! 

 

She's so cute and so sweet!  

This is why I've never watched an entire season of American Idol

So I finally watched last Thursday's episode of American Idol where they all sit in front of the Judges and are told if they get to be a part of Season 8.  I either didn't care or pretty much agreed with most of their decisions.  But seriously... WTF?! They got rid of Jamar Rogers, but kept Nick, Jessie, and Tati-freakin-ana?!  I actually like Nick/Norman... hehe.  I don't think he could actually win, but he makes me laugh.  And Tatiana just needs to go.  She's more annoying than the girl from last season that bawled her eyes out when ANYONE was put into the bottom three or got kicked off.  I sooo loved Jamar's Delilah, but apparently the judges didn't.  And speaking of the judges, who else can't stand Kara I-suck-at-judging-so-I'll-just-say-what-everyone-else-is-saying DioGuardio.  C'mon... arguing with Bikini Girl at her audition?!  She lost the rest of what little respect points that I had for her.   blah... I think this whole post might have killed any respect points anyone might have had for me.  I'll just end with this... GO DANNY!!!

This week was pretty busy.  We had a baby shower for Minako on Wednesday, we attended Joman & Bryn's wedding on Saturday, and then we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Sunday!  The baby shower turned out pretty nice.  We played a couple of the typical games... including the "What's in the diapey" game where you have to figure out what the melted chocolate bar in the diaper is.  Along with the rest of us ruffians, our company head honchos were really great sports and did their best to figure out the candy bar!  Congrats Minako and Dave!

Joman & Bryn's wedding on Saturday was at the beautiful Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in 

Downtown Los Angeles.  I loved the huge organ and especially the lighting in the main chapel.  The Cathedral also has a ballroom where the reception was held.  Most of the cousins were there and we had a lot of fun drinking and eating... like most of our cousin days together!!  As  you can 

see from the photo, we also took ful advantage of the open bar.  Unfortunately it was only open 

for four hours so at 10 minutes before closing, we bum rushed the bar and stocked up on last 

minute drinks... see photo.  =P  Okay... so we didn't REEEALLY bum rush the bar... we just kind of sauntered over and ordered a few extras.  Classy, huh?  hehe.

On Sunday, Dave and I met up with Damon and Jenna at the Aquarium of the Pacific.  It was a little rainy, but it wasn't too wet during the times we were outside looking at exhibits.  We had a wonderful time checking out the tropical fish, the seals and sea lions, rays, 

puffins and even the lorikeets!  Too bad my camera ran out of battery during the lorikeets.  I really wanted to get a shot 

of Dave petting the rays.  Check out the rest of the pics here.

SCTA Banquet

Last weekend we went to the annual SCTA Banquet honoring all the drivers' achievements for the 2008 season.  The Rod Riders did great!  Dave, Chris, and Bob all got inducted in the Dirty Two club for going over 200 mph at El Mirage.  Don presented the Wheels of Fame award to his father for all the wonderful work and success that he's accomplished in racing.  Doug and Miriam were each in the Top 10 for points (6th and 10th place, respectively).  What a great rookie year for Miriam!  The whole awards presentation was a bit long... but lucky for us, there was a bar to keep us entertained!  I think Bob enjoyed it the most!  Click here to see more pics!

Random amusement from the President

As we await the CHANGE promised by the new President, we already get one piece of enjoyment resulting from his campaign:  Obamicon.  Paste Magazine has a fun little website where you can create your own Obamicon using your webcam or uploading your own picture.  It allows you to adjust the levels of the the four colors available to create whatever desired affect.  I created the above Obamicon in honor of my sweet kitty, Vash.  Doesn't she look ecstatic?  Here are a few of my favorites created by others.  To create your own, go to ObamiconMe and have fun!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

This Chinese New Year is the Year of the Ox!!  Steady, stable... stubborn.  Hehe.  We had our family celebration on Sunday evening and once again gorged on delicious food.  We had two sushi platters, chicken adobo, roast pork, mushroooms with pork, sticky rice and Dave's super moist carrot cake.  For the first time, Dave and I had to hand out Lai See.  Since we only had six people we had to give to, I made the little red envelopes for each person.  They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!  You can see more pics here.

Disneyland with Miki & John

Yesterday we went to Disneyland with Miki and John.  We thought it would be busy because of the long weekend, but we only waited 15 minutes at most for each ride!  Woohoo!  We almost didn't make Space Mountain because they shut down during our Fast Pass time.  Bleh!  But we came back later and it was all good!  We pretty much went on everything else of importance except for Nemo because the line was about an hour long.  Indiana Jones was awesome, as usual!  That's why it's my favorite!  We got soaked on Splash Mountain... really... I got seriously drenched!  Pirates of the Carribean was super fun, but Haunted Mansion was closed.  We went on the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and we did two other things that I haven't done in almost 20 years.  We went to Tom Sawyer's Island and rode the Teacups!  The Teacups were pretty interesting.  Try getting four full sized adults crammed into that little space below the wheel!  And then the boys decided to try and spin us as fast as they could!  Oh yeah... this was right before dinner!  Speaking of dinner, we finished off the day with a wonderful meal at the Jazz Kitchen topped off with Double Chocolate Bread Pudding!!  Drooollll!  Check out more pics here.

Our friend Chika came for a visit from Japan.  To celebrate, a bunch of us went out last night and had a blast drinking and singing Karaoke at the FuzzyNest.  Thanks, Sandy for hosting!!  When I came back this afternoon, this is what I found waiting for me at home!  The kids that did it, took advantage of our newly trimmed tree and and really got the TP eeeeverywhere!  Poor Dave had to clean it up after just driving back from Vegas for CES.