nye '09 11:59 PM

Welcome to our Gilmore Girls-esque table spread for New Years Eve. Tamarin and my tradition continued for the third year of TV show marathon night. With homemade salsa, chips, cookies and ice cream, we settled in for the night. This year we had season three of 24 to watch. (Last year was Alias season 2, before was Heroes season 1.) Lori, Tamarin and I had a good time relaxing and eating our favorite things before healthy New Years resolutions kicked in. It was good times. And I finally got an It's-It!

birdo 11:51 PM

One of the great things I love about going home is visiting my California friends. Birdo is one of them. This trip home we ventured out ice skating at an outdoor rink in Dublin. Birdo was actually a good skater, she can skate backwards and spin. My big accomplishment was that I did not fall once!

Another night we went karaokeing with David, Bobbiejane, and David's BFF Phil. It was pretty funny. There was an eclectic grouping of townies with a diverse range of vocal talents. We, The Birdo Friends Chorus, jammed to Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" and got down with Usher's "Yeah". Birdo also crooned to "Crusin". It was a fun night.

The Birdo Friends Chorus: Me, Bobbiejane, David, Phil, Birdo

bryce is two 11:11 PM

On January 4th Bryce will turn two! He is such a cute kid. He has the most beautiful big brown eyes with long dark eyelashes. His smile is so cute. And he is SO smart! He is really articulate and he knew like every Christmas song. I loved hearing him walk down the hall singing a Christmas tune.

We had a family birthday party for him while David and I were still in town. It was a great time just hanging out with the family. We had dinner with our family and Vince's brother's family. It was neat to get to know them, I am glad that he has some family in he area for now. Bryce loves trains and cars. I got him a shake-n-go Firetruck. I am brainwashing the little guy. ;)

first cousin once removed 7:27 PM

Annie and Nate just brought this beautiful baby into the world. Ella Jane was born on the 17th - naturally. Annie is a champ. While I was home I got a chance to visit her. She is little and beautiful, smells good and makes cute little baby sounds. And she is warm and you can feel her breathing as you hold her... I love babies.

I love these pictures above. They remind me of the ones that are sitting in my baby album of my aunts and uncles holding me. As I was trying to figure out what to call Ella (my second cousin, niece, second niece, beautiful) I figured she was my second cousin. But technically, we are first cousins once removed. Although our extended family is close enough that I am going to stick with cousin. Congratulations Nate and Annie!

christmas card 8:40 PM

click photo to enlarge
I am such an adult.
I sent out Christmas cards this year.

ike's place 8:06 PM

David wrote: That my girl could live happy poor
(good luck Bobbiejane) not that she'll need to.

While home I had to hit up the greatest sandwich place ever - Ike's Place. Since the line was so long, we called in the order and then decided to walk around to kill the half-hour till they were ready. On the way we found a great garage that had paper plastered to it. The paper asked what your Christmas wish was. Thousands of things were written on the parchment, it was really cool. I love the idea. From there we grabbed drinks and a cool second hand store.

top left: Me, Tamarin - top right: Clay, Kristin
bottom left: Bobbiejane, David - bottom right: crazy guy

Back at Ike's we were lucky enough to get seats and enjoy our sandwiches. For future reference always get the sourdough bread with any sandwich. Always. As we ate a gentleman entertained us as he talked to himself without ever forming a real word and wandered around the street corner doing actions that made no sense at all. Good times.