My age is catching up to me!

Happy Holiday Season. While I still haven't decorated anything nor wrapped a single gift I have finished my holiday shopping. I have two weeks off and even though I do plan on going into my office several days, I have grander plans on cleaning and organizing my house. On top of spending alot of time at the gym. I'm going to try to get in as many workouts as my body will take so I can enjoy my xmas and new years meals.

Now onto my age. I was invited to a holiday party this year which was awesome. It's so rare that my friends have adult parties so I was truly looking forward to dressing up, wearing heels (crazy right?) and heading out. I spent my morning doing 2 hours at the gym to offset the major calorie load I was planning on and then found a great mani/pedi place across the street. Very thourough mani/pedi for an extremely reasonable price. A quick nap and then getting ready for the party. I went across the street when I was done so I could prove to Val that I can look like an adult. She was impressed.

The party was wonderful. E and her husband were so welcoming and the food (checkers from livermore) was great. Especially the vegitarian stuffed mushrooms, oh and I know you must be freaking out that I was eating stuffed mushrooms but they were phenom! It was nice to catch up with old friends and chat with new. Being the women we are we truly outlasted the men. I carpooled with friends and the husband was ready to go at midnight but we weren't so off he went and we stayed with some other women and chatted the night away until we realized it was past 2am! Somebody made the grown up decision to head home. We were laughing and taking all the way. I got home and passed out from the fun night. BUT my internal time clock decided that I should be wide awake at 8am. So I have been fighting exhaustion all day. All of the things I needed/wanted to do feel by the wayside. This is where my age shows. I just can't get my shit together when I don't get enough sleep. I used to party like a rockstar and go to work the next day. Now I'd have to call in sick. It's just a good thing that my kid is at her dads this weekend. I wouldn't know what would have happened if I had to be a parent too LOL

Now I've got to get my recipes together and get ready for the holidays. I hope I can find everything I intend to make.

Happy Baking!

It's beginning to look alot like xmas..just not in my house!

Somehow I have managed to not decorate for xmas this year. Call me scrooge as everyone else has, but I'm loving that I won't have to clean up anything this year. I will pull out our stockings to hang by the chimney with care and the small ceramic tree to put the presents around, but we won't be home so no reason to decorate. We have the schedule all worked out and our xmas eve menu is set. Just need to do some grocery shopping closer to the day.

I am going to a holiday party this year. Kinda excited as it's a dress up adult thing. I'm going to my friends tomorrow to show her some sample options. I'm going to get my hair did and possibly make up done too. Really glam it up. You never know who will be at these things?!?

We've decided not to go to dland for new years. I'd rather spend the money when we go on our cruise next year. Not sure what that means for my new years plans. Probably the same as last year...hanging with jean. Lots of fun though. Maybe I can convince her to go to a movie. We never go together. Sounds so exciting LOL

I have upped my workout plan. Trying to do 6 days and 2 of those are 2 hour workouts. Mostly because I'm eating more crap this time of year but starting in the new year I'm going to kick my diet into shape and really try to shed some more weight. I like the way the gym is changing my body but I need to drop some lbs not just tone the fat up.

Hope you all have a great holiday and a wonderful new year! Maybe I'll put one more post out before the new year...maybe.

End of Vacation or T minus 3 weeks until the next one!

Thanksbirthdaygiving was great! Thanks to my fabulous friends for hosting us at their home. As usual it was an engaging day. From cooking together the day before to ending the night playing balderdash an all around awesome time for tay and I. We got to see old friends and eat WAY too much. I'm still having leftovers 3 days later. In fact, I saved a lemon cupcake for me to remember the day. I will admit to bringing my own tupperware over to bring home leftovers.

After that long day I dropped off the kid at her friends and met jean and robin at Walmart at midnight for a night of shop til we drop. We started at wal mart where jean wanted to get some doorbusters. She got some great deals, things I don't need but man what great prices they had. We ended up getting a wristband for the doorbuster by 2am so we were able to pay and leave and head over to Kohl's, which opened at 3am. Just as we pulled into the center Starbucks opened...hallelujah! After getting a hot beverage, we got in line at Kohl's. I didn't need anything but I got some new towels for the house at a fabulous price. Finally a matching set for each bathroom. We headed to target next for their 4am opening but their line to get in was ridiculous. So back to walmart to pick up the doorbuster at 5am. Back to target, but again foiled by a riducuous line to pay. There was no way I was standing in that! Then off to sports authority to get myself the best workout pants at a discount and sam's club, who was feeding everyone breakfast, for an end to the night. I picked up tay and headed home to take a nice long nap!

I woke up friday afternoon and realized the cold I had been fighting all week had won. Probably shouldn't have stayed out all night. Way too old for that at my advance age, LOL. Basically spent the rest of the weekend hanging out on my couch. Clearing the DVR and watching some rental movies. It was nice to just chill out.

Now, I haven't worked out for a week as I was fighting a cold and didn't want to get worse. HOWEVER, I bought myself some new pants and sweaters and guess what...they are all a size smaller than before and fit! So I guess this gym, diet thing IS working. What a deal! My new gym opens tomorrow and I am excited to go and start working out 4 miles from my house. I definately plan to go tomorrow. There are lots of classes that look good to me.

I am fighting with myself to decorate for xmas. I have no visitors this year and laurie and bec are headed to hawaii (lucky) so I am going to cook at my aunts house instead of mine for xmas eve and go to moms for xmas dinner. I don't know what tay is doing as her dad is still working out their plans. My kid wants to come with me for both but it's really not fair to her dad so she will have to figure out what to do. I'm hoping she can just spend xmas day with them and come home to go to gmas but we'll see.

I hope all your decorating or not decorating goes well. Happy holidays to all!

Thanksbirthdaygiving!

Yeah, today is thanksgiving and my birthday. It only rolls around on the holiday every 7 years so it's extra special today. We are celebrating this day with friends. I like to call thanksgiving my anti family day. I love my family but it's fun to have a great dinner with friends and just chill, catch up, laugh, watch the kids run around etc. Yesterday we spent the day doing prep cooking for today. Got alot accomplished too. There's alot of good food coming my way tonight.

Other updates for our house..tay fininshed soccer placing second in her division. Same place as last year but different division. She tried out for winter soccer and did great. Unfortnuately there were 60 7th and 8th graders trying out for 15 spots. So no winter soccer this year. Bummer? (not to mommy)
Tay also tried out again for competitive volleyball and made the team. She's already started her practices and was excited to find out and old friend made the team with her. She is also playing basketball at her school. Due to our gym renovation we only have one team this year but tay is having fun with the girls.

We are planning another trip to dland so I guess I should have bought that season pass. Looks like I'll be purchasing it in 2011. I've never spent new years there so it ought to be fun. I'm looking forward to bringing in the new year with my baby bro too.

Happy Thanksbirthdaygiving to you all!

Back home and pondering...

Just got back from a weekend with the mouse. There were some suprises at the park...like ElecTRONica...LOVED IT! Glowjitos rock and the music was great. I was dancing all around California Adventure. It's so nice to have kids old enough to go on rides without me.

Once again, though, I am suprised at my actions. Had some very interesting things go on during the weekend and normally I would have been all up in it letting them know that I am pissed but I found myself biting my tounge to save the weekend. In the end I am extremely disappointed with myself. I let some things happen that were disrepectful. Now I sit in my house pissed. The only way to let it go is to put it out there. I don't know why I keep these feelings inside. It just eats away at me and gives me stress. I don't need any stress in my life.

Overall the weekend was great and I, once again, realize that I LOVE disney. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Toy story is the best...I totally rocked the score! Best in the car....TWICE! I went on grizzly twice and splash mountain twice. I never go on the water rides and they were so much fun. Got drenched the second time..like I took a shower. It was 11:30pm and I was FREEZING. but so much fun. My two fav moments were friday night at electronica/world of color and saturday night espn zone to the end hanging with the bono group!

Time to go to disneyland!

Is it wrong how excited I am to go to disneyland tomorrow? I was sitting with the 7yo I'm going with the other day and the excitement on his face was making me burst with excitement. He wants to ride everything, see everything. His eagerness to get there and go is contagious. I love going to my favorite place with people who haven't been or in he and his brothers case, have been but weren't old enough to remember. He told me that two summers ago he went to San Diego and his favorite part was Medival Times, which made me laugh since it's really in buena park..close to disneyland! He wants to leave disney and go to dinner there..telling me I'll really like it, but I said next time.

I am still contemplating the season pass. It would not save if we only go down pre cruise. I'm not sure if I want to go down in the summer too. I guess I'll make up my mind when we get there.

I'll post pics later...

Making Plans and hanging out

Is it wrong to be a planner? There are worse things I can think of to have as a bad habit. Why is it that I can't handle not knowing the intimate details of an event coming up but I am fine with last minute invitations. There is no middle ground. On that note I have made my ressies for our pre cruise disney trip to Disneyland. I am currently in a dilemma of whether I should get season passes for DL or just continue to buy tix to the park. We are going down this month and again in April but will we be going again? Not sure so I hesitate. I have time to think so I'll just sit on it for a bit. I have also checked on my points needed for our planned Hawaii trip next thanksgiving. So far away but since everything is being done with miles/points I need to know now. Planning IS a good thing.

I would love to add another trip in the mix but I think that is being greedy. I think I'll just save up for tay to go to camp again next summer. I'm hoping next summer I can spend some more time at the beach with her in cali. Another fun trip to central coast would be worth it. I hate that I wasn't able to get away this past summer. Hopefully next summer this eating right exercising thing will produce results to help me feel more comfy!

On that note...the gym is going great. I really enjoy and quite frankly feel a need to go to the gym. Every opportunity to get there during the week I take and if I can't get there I go on the weekend. I love taking the classes. It's like dance class but harder. I love dancing and miss it so much. Not necessarily going to the clubs anymore, but wouldn't it be great if we could just dance all the time. I think people would be much happier if they could just dance it out.

However all of this gym time is severely cutting into my tv watching. I would like to say that's a good thing because I'm not a couch potato but I'm still recording in the hopes that I will sit on my ass and do nothing and watch it all so not quite a changed woman yet.

Volleyball at school is almost over. All of our games were cancelled this week which is a bummer since it's our last week. The only thing we have to do is the parent/student challenge and our end of season party. My team was 1-2 and tays team was 1-2 and 8th grade was 0-3 so overall kinda sucky. Tays soccer is winding down too. It's been a tough season this year. Quite different from last year. She is starting to shine but it's late in the season. She played a great game last week. On FIRE! She is having a great time in 7th grade but still struggling to handle all of her responsibilities. It's a work in progress for sure.

We have some fun stuff coming up this month and next. I look forward to the adventures. Planned or not..but preferably planned :)

Is there anything Jersey can't do??

Is it wrong how much I love all the reality Jersey shows? From Housewives to drunkens sluts and hairdressers. This is pretty much all of the TV I have paid attention too this summer and early fall. I have a dvr that is FULL! I need to clear out my regular tv but I have no time to watch. Having no time is good. I am really sticking to my work out regime in between tays sports. It's all good. I have been using that money I spend every month on the gym.

School is chugging along. I have almost finished my volleyball coaching responsibilities. We lost our first 2 matchs but won our final match. It was very exciting. Every year I learn a little more about what to teach/show and how to coach. I really like getting to know the new 6th graders. They are so cute and sweet.

Taylor's team is 1-2 also. They have one more game and they should win. We shall see! Her soccer team is faltering and it's pissing me off. It's hard to go from 2nd place to the bottom. I'm hoping tomorrows game will be awesome, we shall see. She really enjoys soccer so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that her team will pick it up.

Club Volleyball is starting soon. Clinics start now and tryouts are in a month. Tay is ready for try outs but she is not really into the clinics. We are going anyways. She needs the extra help for try outs.

So there's the update from our house. Everything else is pretty boring. Peace!

We made it!

Well the first week of school is officially over and I'm proud to say both tay and I made it through. The start of a new school year is exciting and exhausting. It's so wonderful to see all the old faces again, how big the kids are getting. All of the hugs and smiles and so many new faces. It's exhausting to constantly be "on" laughing, engaging while trying to get work done! Tay said she had a great week. She's happy with her homeroom and advisor. She started volleyball practice in the hot sun outside and made it through. Soccer is going along. We had our jamboree and didn't do great but it was good to see the issues that need to be worked out. I was chastised by a dad for not having only positive comments...i didn't realize it was his daughter that made the mistake..now i know she sucks! LOL. I'll just go back to reading again. I have alot of summer reading that didn't get done this year.

I am coaching 6th grade volleyball again. This year I have 16 girls that have come out! So exciting. Most have had some experience and I hate to brag...not... but my team is awesome! We are going to start working on game practice this week. Our first game is not for a while so we have lots of time to master.

I am also a room mom but so far have sucked in my duties. I have missed every event and meeting due to work responsibilities. I keep apologizing and thankfully my other mom partners are very kind and understanding.

The balance of my summer has been spent working and hanging out at my house. The neighbors grandkids have been here all summer so tay (when she was home) spent all her time over there. I picked up a bad habit of beer drinking. I have resigned to stop drinking..well beer anyways.. so that my work outs can be productive. I also have been staying faithful to the gym and eating healthy. Each week I am successfully losing weight. It's been frustrating because i want to lose alot and it seems so slow. BUT my friend reminded me that each week I am LOSING and that is what is important. AND I feel fantastic. This is the most important part.

My tv watching has seriously slowed down due to all of this activity. However I still have found time for true blood, weeds and all my real housewives. True Blood is amazing as usual. I am about 2 books ahead of the show and am enjoying how HBO and alan ball are changing it up.

There's the update from our home. Enjoy your labor day weekend. I need to vaccum.

tick tick tick...BOOM

The time is upon us for school to begin. Teachers return next week and I am definately feeling the pressure. It's been a busy, challenging summer on so many levels. I'm not sure at the end how I am feeling about this one. I think time will tell. Here is an interesting realization that just came up...

When I was in HS I worked at a 711 type store for over 1 1/2 years. I really liked working there and have alot of great memories of coworkers and fun times. I was not a perfect employee by any means, but I certainly wasn't the worst! Eventually I was fired because I refused to work a holiday. I refused because it was at my birthday and I had worked every holiday previous. The manager and several employees told the owner that I should get the day off but he was being a douche. That was my first job and I was fired. I have carried that with me to every job I have had. Including my current one, where I have been for 14years! That situation has kept me on my toes at each subsequent job. BUT is that good? I'm always thinking that no matter how hard I work or how dedicated I am to my job, I will be fired. It's funny that I just realized how much of an impact something had on me over 25 years later! It's really pathetic that I can say over 25 years ago!

This summer I have faced many personal and professional walls. I still keep climbing over. Some people think that those walls are getting higher and higher and if I don't start knocking them down instead of climbing over...i'm going to fall. It's inevitable. I still keep climbing. I can't knock them down, I don't have the confidence or the energy. In that order unfortunately!

After that wah poor me up above, I will give myself a giant pat on the back...I have been consistent with my diet and excercise. The best part is that I have been dancing again. I love to dance and the aerobic dance classes are my favorite. I'm no SYTYCD dancer but I can keep up. It's wonderful and uplifting. I'm going to continue the accolades because I have learned that NO is in my vocabulary when it comes to food (not alcohol...don't worry) and I can go to the gym by myself...i don't like it but I will do it!

My daughter is amazing, as usual. She's still having an awesome summer and I'm completely jealous.

Is school really starting soon???

I can't believe that school is going to be starting soon. It's been quite hectic at the workplace..getting everything ready for the kids. We are in the beginning of a massive remodeling of our middle school and I am in the beginning of a massive remodeling of myself. I am proud to say that I have been working out regularly and will continue to do so. Between my friend jen and my neighbor and linda I have plenty of people to make sure I keep my fat ass in gear and working. I have a plan that I will be back down to "cruise" weight by our spring break trip. Then keep on going to get back to a happy weight after. So maybe next summer I can enjoy it. Now, I've never let the way I look direct me. I still go to the beach etc. but it will be nice to feel totally free. I figure if I could stop biting my fingernails after 40 years, I can do this. Habits are hard to break but I'm going to try my best and thats all I can hope. I will say that I feel great after each class. I've been doing pilates and water aerobics. Last night I did a hip hop class and had the BEST time. I so miss dance classes! I also tried zumba but it was super hard..fun but super hard.

Tay has had a great summer. I never had a summer as good as this kid! She is ready for 7th grade. I can't believe how big my baby is now. She's really starting to turn into a young lady. I helped a friend bring her new baby into the world. It was so nice holding that baby in my arms. Stirred something in me but then reality hit and I remembered they are nice to hold but even nicer to give back to their mommys!

Well i'm off to catch up with all the jersey craziness....the shore, the salon, the housewives..it's all way too good to pass up. TTYL

Guess What?!?

I think I miss my kid! Who knew.... Tay has been at camp for 2 weeks and I'm getting kinda lonely. She still has 1 more week at camp, then she's off to visit with her bff for a week. I'd say I'm having a great summer, but in reality she's the one having a ton of fun! I've just been working all the time.

I have decided that I need to find an available single friend. I'm not a single vacation kinda girl. While I can hang by myself many times, I still need someone to have dinner with. Most of my single friends have kid obligations or don't have the freedom with their work to go at the last minute. I'm ready for exotic. I've been looking at many islands in the caribbean and in the med. BUT paying for tay and me to go places gets expensive. I need another adult to split cost.

On the flip side, I have been going out more since tay is gone. Lot's of trivia, movies, happy hours. Fun adult fun. We've also been hanging out on our patios old school style on my street. It's nice to have a great group of neighbors that like to hang with a beer, swim, bbq etc.

Very chill summer with the exception of my hectic work schedule. Hope your summer is chill too!

Aloha!

Well folks it's official. I'm a DVC'er for life. I just bought into the Hawaii property Aulani http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-hawaii-resort/gallery. As you can expect, I will be spending all of my future thanksgivings in paradise, mickey style. Maybe I'll try a new season there. I knew there was a reason I've been saving my hawaiian miles all these years. I probably have 4 tickets! yahoo. Taylor is very excited about returning back to hawaii. This property won't open until August 2011, but they are booking starting September 2010.

I need to start really using my points for vacations. I sold some last year to pay for this coming spring break trip. I am at a loss for vacation right now. My summer is packed but I need a release. I am looking and looking but finding no good time to go. I just want a quick beach trip before school starts. For god sakes, I live in california I should be able to get to a beach at some point right!

My kid is off to sleep away camp. They post pictures and she looks like she is having fun. I sent her an email today which the replacement for snail mail nowadays. I'm glad because when she gets back she's got some book reports to do. Fun summer homework.

Happy belated 4th of July to you all.

It's summer time! My favorite time of year..just not this year.

Lets see..where did we leave off last time?? Oh yea just before mothers day. This year I had planned to have a nice generational lunch with great gma, gma, me and tay. My uncle, however, had to come with us. Oh well. We still had fun. Went to the Ben Lomond Lodge for brunch. It was..interesting to say the least. The lodge is really neat and back in it's heyday it was a happening place but now it was less than steller. And not made any better by the fact that my uncle had my 92yo gma putting food from her plate into plastic bags for his dog to eat...and did I mention that the dog was in the car the whole time we were inside. Oh yea white trash at it's finest. So AWESOME!

Taylor finally had a playdate with her childhood friend, Lise. They had such a good time together and are just both so big. It's so amazing to see the young ladies they've turned into.

Next it was time for the medival festival at school. The kids had to dress in costume and then perform skits. Taylor was the narrator for her groups performance. She did a great job!

Before I knew it, we were at the last dance/bbq. This year the student council (me and virginia) hosted a bbq for the entire middle school. The 6th and 7th graders got their yearbooks and they had a nice time signing each others books. Then the DJ started playing. The kids all started dancing and having a great time. Taylor got a chance to "spin" with the DJ.The 8th graders just couldn't say goodbye to each other and ended the night past the dance time. Lights came on and they were all in a circle just swaying back and forth. It was adorable.

Next up came graduation. We went to the afterparty this year because our friend jillie graduated. We don't have a pic of the graduate but this is a pic of my two tays. Her brother graduated also. It was a fun night. My daughter told me she couldn't wait for her gradutaion. I, on the otherhand, can totally wait!

So now school has ended and the first monday after I have to go to work , but I don't turn on my alarm clock and chill. Guess who shows up on my back porch?? Hermie the sweet stray cat who hangs in my back yard. He never shows up on a weekday morning, so I take advantage and pick him up, which he happily lets me do, and put him in the carrier and promptly take him to the vet. I really love this raggedy animal, but I have wanted to get him looked at for a year. If he's going to hang with my maddie he needs to be disease free. So, the vet tested him, fixed him and even gave him advantage so he would get rid of the fleas. I brought him home to the bathroom. Set up a lovely kitty area. He was happy and rested, ate and just allowed me to pet him and hold him for 2 days. After he was healthy enough to go outside, I let him out figuring that he would run back in, but hell no. He took off outta my yard like nobodys business and then didn't come back for a week! How's that for gratitiude.Here he is looking up at me! Now he comes back once a week. BUT at least he's disease free, flea free and can't knock up any other strays. Sorry dude but the nuggets had to go!

After that excitement came sadness. My boss left his job today. I get to pick up the slack until they hire someone to take his place. Lovely. I wish him the best. I will miss his wit and charm. We had a good time with our picnic on the knoll today. I am sunburnt from it. I hope he and his wife join us for trivia and I'm sure I'll be walking with his wife sometimes.

This also means no vacations this summer for us. Just to busy with work. Oh well. It'll make our spring break cruise so much better.

Tay is getting ready to leave for sleepaway camp. Then she comes back to volleyball camp, then she goes to camp dad. I'm sure I'll be putting in a ton of hours while she's gone. Oh joy.

I'm headed down to Disneyland w/o the kid to check out DVC Hawaii. I can't wait to see what they are offering. It'll be a quick overnight trip with the hughes. Adults only, but we plan to spend the day at Dland and I am excited about that! I hope we have time to check out the new light show at california adventure.

That's the update for now. As the kids say H.A.G.S. (have a great summer!)

In the home stretch of the school year!

This year has had alot of firsts for tay. Moving to middle school, first club sports and afterschool sports, first broken bone and first dance! You decide which was her favorite. At her last dance, she got ready with friends and one of them helped her put make up on to wear to the dance. She was very excited to get yet another first done!

One night while hanging out at the mall with friends, tay decided to become a model...or a mannequin. Can you tell which is real and which is tay??

The 6th grade has had several big projects, but one of the favorites is Astrogation week. The kids spend the week making rockets to launch into space. These 2 pics are tay ready to launch and watching her rocket travel up!


It was a fun day full of sun and I got a nice pink face out of it!

We are winding down the school year preparring for summer and lots of different camps. Tay is very excited to be going to sleep away camp again. We are trying a new one she gets to fly too! One of her school friends is going to the same camp so it's making it even better. No big vacations this summer. We are waiting for our spring break disney cruise next year. Can't wait. I followed a magic in the med blog this time around and am feeling very sad that I didn't get to go back on the magic this summer. Airfare is crazy right now. I spoke with an aquiantance who works for a major airline and they said if you can find a deal buy it as they are getting fewer and farther between. It's very discouraging for those of us who need a deal to get where we want to go.

I'm looking forward to this school year ending. My favorite event we do...ENGAGE THE SPIRIT..is coming up soon. I have started walking on the path to running again. I am embarrased to say I let myself go this year big time. I really need to get off my fat ass and get back into it. I did have a good reason that I let myself go which I'll keep to myself, but it's been well over a year and even though I put on weight I feel much better. AND in the end, it was the right choice and I'm glad I finally did it. Weight can always come off right?!?!

There's a first time for everything!

On our first official day of spring break, my daughter broke her wrist in 2 places. A fun night spent in the ER at her dads work to get her arm in a full cast. Kind of killing the freedom of the week! We go in for the hard cast next week. She can get all her friends to sign it and she's very exited for that!

After that unwelcome start to our break, We took a quick planned trip to look at colleges with her cousin and aunt during the week. Since I didn't go to college it was very eye opening. I have been freaking out for the last year about high school and now I have a whole new fear in how to pay for college! I will say it was very hard to look at these kids and schools and not have a tinge of jealousy. I wish that I had been inspired by anyone in my life to go to college. Many people say to do it now, but I can find a million excuses to not go back. Most involve time and money. I keep saying, someday....

Back to the college visits. We went to Cal State Monterey. A very nice looking school and super small. If you are into tech or marine sciences this is your school. Otherwise, I wasn't impressed.

The weather was beautiful during the week. I got a nice little face/chest tan. I wish I had been more preparred for the weather. We stayed overnight in Morro Bay and had a gorgeous view of morro rock. We went out to the rock and walked around. The kids took of their shoes and chased the waves. We saw otters and squirrel rats (as I call them) We walked around the downtown had dinner. It was a great evening.

Next up, Cal Poly SLO. I was definately impressed with this school. Beautiful campus, lots of friendly/helpful kids. Great Tour guide. We met up with a former student from tays school and she was super helpful. She even let us see her off campus house. It was such a typical student apartment. Reminded me of my first apartments.

After our visit we headed in the opposite direction to Hearst Castle. Since this was the first visit by the aunt/cousin we did the same tour #1 we've done before. I think later this summer, tay and I will head back and do tour #2. It was a gorgeous day to visit an amazing place.

We then headed south to down to Santa Barbara. On the way we stopped at my dining place, Addamo. I wish I wasn't driving so I could have tasted. I don't think anyone else really cared about my wine but me. Oh well. Next time I'll just stop for wine and keep heading south.

We arrive in SB after 8pm. Too late to look around and too early to go to bed. We just lounged, cleaned out the car, showered. No alarm needed the next day since our tour was at 11am. At this point toh and tay were tired of walking around. Cyn was getting tired too. I was getting there, but then we got to the campus. OMG..such a beautiful place. The weather was fabulous, the campus was active with students on bikes, playing soccer, studying and even laying out on the lawn in their bikini's! This was a true so cal school with the exception of our over achieving tour guide. Scholar student, A++ grants given. She told us the tale of her first "C" and how she turned it around getting help at office hours. I didn't really think toh liked the school, but her mom said she did however it was far away from home. A concern for both parent and child. To me it doesn't seem so far, but I like to travel and love the sun/sea so I'd be inclinded to visit my daughter over having her come home if she was at a coastal school.

I had wanted to stop in Solvang on the way home, but found I just wanted to get home. We had hung out at campus for a bit after our tour. Had lunch in the student union and got to watch the ASU speech/debate. Tay was really paying attention to this! I don't think my kid was too impressed with the schools as she is too young to care. She was super pissed that I did not purchase a sweatshirt for her at any school. Really, her arm is in a full cast, by the time she can wear it, summer will be here! No good reason to spend $50 on a sweatshirt.

All in all a good time. I have been talked into a trip to magic mountain with the kids this summer. Tay feels that she's old enough to handle it. I suggested we check out some additional so cal schools and throw magic mountain and disney into the mix. We'll see. We have a busy summer planned and are waiting on scholarship information for 2 seperate camps for taylor. If she gets in we have a small window of time to do vacatons. Plus, I really don't want to spend money yet, since we'll be doing our big spring break cruise next year. Less than 1 year from now...can't wait!

Hope everyone had a great easter. Final countdown to the summer begins..yahoo.

They're over...phew!

Well the competitive sports have ended. We now can go straight home after school to do homework and make dinner and the "normal" family things. Although "normal" really is a thing of the past. So many of the kids from kindergarten thru high school don't really sit for family dinner anymore. We are all lucky if we get 1 night together. With the amount of homework and activities these kids have it's amazing they can do it all. My daughter has realized her limits. She has decided to go down to one sport at a time next year. Soccer and volleyball with a possible softball team. Depends on if she makes volleyball and when ends.

It's been an interesting year so far in middle school. While tay has started off well she struggles in one class. It's so frustrating to watch them struggle. I think back to my middle school days and really can't remember my parents helping me with homework or even checking to see if it was done. Really nothing back in the past happened until it was too late. Nowadays we are trying to get in front of the problems so they don't happen in the first place. Is that right or wrong? Should our kids experience some kind of failure?

For example, last weekend was tays last volleyball tournament. They tanked it. Teams they had beaten hands down were kicking our butts. The girls, however, we having a great time. Goofing off, laughing having fun during the breaks. At the end of the day a couple of them, including my child, were shrugging their shoulders at their last place finish. So what, who cares. Have we protected them so much from failure that when they do come in last they don't care? And personally, I think they should care. I received a little blowback when I stated that I was displeased with their performance. Aren't we supposed to learn from our mistakes? How are we supposed to learn if we don't think or care if we're making them.

Just my thoughts after the end of our first official year of team sports.

Ski Trip Fun! and other sports updates

Yesterday we went on a school ski trip. I chaperoned and tay skied. It was the first time either of us had been up to the snow in about 5 years to ski. Tay goes up to her cousins and sleds with her dad, but not on the slopes. Last time tay took snowboard lessons and tried that out. This time she took a ski lesson. Final outcome: Skiing rocks over snowboarding!

As usual my picture taking skills lack and I took 3 pictures. 1 of tay sleeping and 2 of kids eating lunch. Blah!
We took a bus at 6am from school and headed up to Bear Valley. A 3 hour bus ride took 4 1/2 because our lovely driver could not get the chains on the bus. Although we offered to help, pay for the chain people to help he wanted to do it all by himself. We also had to pull over for an imaginary train (imagine my suprise that a BUS driver is into TRAINS, it's like my dad was driving!) as at least 15 cars, trucks and BUSES passed while we waited at the side of the road and we had to make a short pit stop to let a puker get some fresh air. I have a stomach of steel as I cleaned up his mess!
As was well as soon as we got there. Our lift tickets were waiting for us and the kids jetted off on the runs. I waited with the lesson kids until their lesson started. Then I went inside the lodge to secure a seat for most of them. Just as I was getting comfy and cueing up my movie..the first wave of lunch bunch came in. Kids passed thru the lodge to eat and chill and then head back out. My lesson kids came back excited about their new found skill and quickly ate to head out and fall and fall again. That was their claim to fame..how many times they fell!
At the end of the day we loaded back on the bus and I am happy to report that I had 2 losses only ...a cell phone and a glove. No broken anything, no bleeding. YAHOO!
The kids had so much fun that they were suggesting we do a sleepover next year so they have 2 days to ski! I'm not ready for that yet.

On the tay sports front.....

Winter Soccer is coming to an end. Rain and sickness have delayed many games. She has 2 weeks left and really can't wait to end. She is ready for a break. Her big complaint is she can't do sleepovers/playdates because she's always too busy. Which is true.

Volleyball is digging along (pun intended). They had their 2nd tournament last week and came in 3rd. Next week she has another and we're hoping for 3rd or better. The girls are leaps and bounds better than when they were with me last fall. Steph H. should be very excited for her 7th grade team next year.

Cheer is coming to an end too. Our last competition is coming up next weekend. This is the one sport tay is very happy to come to an end. She really likes doing it but the commitment is way too much for her. The girls have been working hard on their new routine and we hope for a better finish than last time.

Softball has just started up at school and tay is loving it. She asked me to look for a softball team to play on outside of school but all have started already (thank goodness).

Tay tried out for competitive soccer and did not make the team. I'm pretty sure she was going to decline to play as she had decided after the tryouts that she really didn't want to make the commitment. It would have been nice to say no. Oh well. She'll play house soccer back with her friends in the fall.

BRACES!


Tay finally got her braces on. After years at the ortho all her baby teeth fell out and it was time. After a couple of days of discomfort, she's totally used to them and happy again.

It looks like we'll just wind down march with most of the sports and then spring break we might go look at colleges with tori and her mom. See whats around our area.

Oh and I start coaching boys volleyball this week. AND we will have some games. Pretty cool.

2010 off and running...

A new decade begins! My new years started off with a lovely cold. That's right I was in bed asleep at 10pm on new years eve. It was worth it! I think I slept off the crap from 2009 because I woke up 12 hours later refreshed and ready to go. Started off with a birthday party to attend new years night. I gave the birthday girl a snuggie..she loved it. Those damn things are so warm.

We had no break from sports over winter break. It seems I'm always praying for rain now..heehe.

Things have settled down since xmas and here are the newest updates:

I booked my 1st 2011 vacation. We are so excited to be heading on the mouse to mexico! We are going to be joined by several friends from the area. The even better news is that I used my points to pay for the trip so it cost me ZERO! I am still thinking about alaska with med friends in july, but seriously disney out of vancouver is the same price as princess out of SF. Since Alaska is way down on my list of places to see....you get the point.

Soccer...Sparks are 1-3 after a bummer of a day today. Afer a strong start, we lost both games which stunk but they were great and worked very well as a team. Tay is loving winter select and is seriously thinking of trying out for competitive soccer. I just read about it and, while it would be great for her, I am not sure how down I am with 75min. away games and the costs. Guess you have to let them try.

Cheer...After the coaching snafu we have settled down and are working hard towards our first competition. Shauna did pick up coaching tays team and has recruited me to assist her. I have missed coaching cheer so it's been fun to work with the girls.

Volleyball...is rolling along. Our first tournament is coming up soon. They are all day tournaments..UGH!

I am assisting our boys basketball coaches. I have to say it's hysterical to see me out on the court with our varsity boys who are a half foot taller than me. The funniest thing is I make them nervous and they don't want to bump or push me. I tripped over one kids feet and thought he was going to freak, he apologized for 10 minutes.

Student Council is going strong. We have been commiting to our goal of local fundraising this year. The students also put together a ski trip for the kids. I will be chaperoning, but manning the lodge with plenty of books. 2 knee surgeries=no skiing!

Work is good. The economy hasn't really hit us too bad. The transistion to my new boss has been smooth and easy. I have enjoyed working for him, even working out with his wife. Although when the weather turned we stopped running. We'll start again in the spring. We switched to trivia at a local pub. Which is counter acting the excercise. Sitting on your butt with beer answering trivia not to active ya know.
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Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. I look forward to this decade, watching my daughter go thru high school and start attending college. Crap.I just realized how old I am.