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!