Best Jib Jab Ever

By far the best Jib Jab ever, starring Brian, Tim, Jeff, Dad and Poppy. Enjoy. I have tears streaming down my face laughing, and I can't stop watching it.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

The push-up scene might be my favorite!

A Christmas miracle & fun times at home

Thursday and Friday of last week were pretty stressful. Not only did Brian and I have busy weeks at work, but we were also concerned we wouldn't be able to travel home due to the huge winter storm getting ready to hit the Eastern Seaboard. We were scheduled to leave Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PT, which meant that our flight wasn't scheduled to land until midnight ET in Newark. By Friday night, it seemed that our chances of making it on time were pretty slim. You might find this hard to believe, but I was actually the calm one! I didn't lose hope, even though it looked doubtful.

Saturday was Brian's birthday, so after a nice breakfast and packing, we headed to the airport. All he wanted was to make it home. We couldn't believe it when our flight took off on time...

...or when we landed on this snowy runway at Newark on time! Unbelievable.

The most difficult part of our travels? Getting a cab to Dale's house. We didn't want her to risk it on the road, and we ended up sharing a cab with a flight attendant who told us we were within 5 minutes of being diverted to Buffalo or Albany. Whew! Here I am waiting in the cab line...it's fr-fr-fr-freezing out there!

It was so snowy, the cab had to drop us off half a block away. Brian plowed the streets with our suitcases. We were just happy to be home - a Christmas miracle!

On Sunday, we went to Erin & Jeff's to celebrate Christmas and do our gift exchange. Here's Momma Neal with her babies.

Here are Erin & Jeff with Mr. Belvedere (in the Santa outfit) and Fifi (in her pink Snuggie).

Fifi wasn't the only one wearing a pink Snuggie. Momma Neal got one for Christmas, but I think it looked awesome on Nicole as she modeled the Twilight series she received for her birthday. Don't forget the book lamp!

We really have to pose our family pictures better, but at least everyone's smiling and Jeff's eyes are open.

The next day, Tim, Nicole, Momma Neal, Brian and I caught my first Broadway show: Next to Normal. It was incredible - the topic was quite heavy and emotional - but it was really amazing. Check it out if you have time when you're in the city.

Since our visit was short, we missed the big family get-together, but several family members met us halfway between Kearny and Pennsylvania. Here's Zak, Brian's cousin, with his grandparents. Zak's 2-month old sister Zaylee also met us and slept through lunch.

Zak looks a LOT like Brian did when he was a toddler, and I'm convinced we're going to have all boys someday. I'd be pretty happy if our sons were as cute and as smart as Zak!

Speaking of babies.... Though we didn't have time for much else in the city, we were able to meet up with Mike & Jen at the last minute. Look at Jen! Don't she and Madelynn Rose look great for 24 weeks?

After that, it was time to head to Kentucky for round 2 of our trip. We arrived after an uneventful flight on Wednesday and enjoyed a quiet evening at home with my parents - just what we needed.
The next day we met my aunt and my great uncle for lunch near the farm, followed by our first trip to my Dad's new cabin. After my grandfather died last summer, Dad didn't really have anywhere he could just chill and come and go at his leisure on the farm, so he built this rustic man cave. I was actually pretty impressed, both with its size and its construction.

I couldn't help but have a little fun. Dad brought up a ton of trophies that previously hung in his office (pre-retirement). I thought it would be fun to snuggle up in the bunk bed with the once-cuddly black bear.

Unfortunately, due to flight prices and scheduling, we had to leave on Saturday vs. Sunday. That meant that we missed the annual Paris girls' (and now boys') Christmas party. Luckily we got to visit with Lauren, Todd, Amy and her family. I miss my girls!

This year's Christmas theme was Asian. Here's Dad with his hand-carved Balinese wind chimes.

And here's Mom with one of her gifts, a palm wood mortar and pestle from Malaysia - just perfect for this pharmacist's collection.

Brian's favorite gift? One he gave himself. He has searched far and wide - practically all sports stores in the Bay Area and New York City metro area, in addition to online shops - in vain for this one particular baseball glove. Guess where he found it....Maysville, Kentucky. Since he couldn't find it online, we figured it was out of production but the sports store in Maysville must have had some left over. He was pretty pumped, as you can see!

The annual picture. Mom said it looked like I was wearing Santa's belt!

Granny K. and Poppy came over on Christmas Day. Jake helped Poppy unwrap his presents.

Granny K. modeled her new scarf from Thailand. Doesn't she look pretty? The coasters beside her are also from Bangkok.

We had a wonderful trip, but it was all too fast. Since we've been home I've unpacked, cleaned, cooked and done just about everything domestic in an attempt to avoid one of my least favorite tasks of the year: taking down the tree. For now, I'll just continue to enjoy it. Happy New Year!

The Christmas Pickle!

Every Christmas during my childhood, I looked forward to receiving new ornaments from my mom's college friends. Thanks to them, I have tons of wonderful ornaments and memories alike.

Emily, Adrienne and I decided that once we had children, we would also exchange ornaments among our children in lieu of gifts for each other. This year we're celebrating Charlotte's second Christmas, and Lucy's first (and only) in utero, and they each received ornaments from China this year. Since we don't have kids (yet), Brian and I the lucky recipients of said ornaments for now.

Today our ornament from Emily, Ryan and Charlotte arrived - a Christmas pickle!

I've seen them in stores before but never really knew the story. Not surprisingly, Emily packaged it up with a special rhyme:

"To start a tradition that surely will last. Here's a short story about the pickle of glass. The night before Christmas it's hung on the tree. While everyone's sleeping it's done secretly. And on Christmas morning when you arise, the first one to find it will get a surprise."

We won't be here on Christmas - and even if we were, there wouldn't be a ton of competition to find it - so I decided to hang it proudly for the rest of the season. Someday we'll make hiding the pickle a family tradition.

Here's a look at some of our other new ornaments this year.

One of my favorites, a handmade ornament from China.

China was really the only country that seemed to catch on to how much Westerners like Christmas ornaments. I realize that Christmas isn't as prevalent in Asia, but certainly a country like Singapore - with so many expats - would realize the marketing genius in selling ornaments to tourists. Well, lucky for me, the Singapore Flyer had a bookmark with a ribbon that I transformed into an ornament. I think it's pretty!

On the left, another ornament from China (to commemorate Brian's inquiry to our Great Wall tour guide if we were going to see pandas. Um, no...). And on the right, an initial ornament from the Easter Bonnie.

The Easter Bonnie always sends us new ornaments each year. This year she sent Brian a Yankees snowman to commemorate their World Series win.

Back to the lack of ornaments in Asia, this is a traditional Balinese mask. I'm not sure how it's intended to be used, it's so small. I thought it would make a nice Christmas ornament. Unlike the Singapore Flyer, it's a little scary for the tree, but I left it anyway.

Adrienne sent Brian this Yankees heart for his birthday (it's a week from Saturday).

My mom also sent me this globe on the left to celebrate our Asian adventures. Yes, that's Joe Torre on the left (but it doesn't look like him!)

And this is a ceramic ornament from the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. It's the traditional pattern found on the hotel's dishes and such. I bought this ornament on the day Michael Jackson died. Isn't it weird that a gravy boat will always remind me of the King of Pop every Christmas?

You're hot, then you're cold

Update: Our building manager - as if he reads the blog (yeah right) - called back today and said "surprise! the timer on the heater was way off!" Ya think? Or maybe it just wasn't set that way until someone complained enough. Whatever. Supposedly it's on to supply 15 hours of heat today, but we'll see. I say that it doesn't really matter how many hours worth of heat you have, it's all about how warm your apartment actually is. So we agreed to monitor it over the next couple of days and hopefully we can all thaw out a bit.

In the meantime, the dishwasher won't start. SERIOUSLY?! Guess who's getting another call tomorrow. Sorry, Robert!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Before you East Coasters even begin to harass us about how warm it is in San Francisco compared to your town, take a look this:

It was 6:59 a.m. when this picture was taken. Though the 39-degree temps outside are nothing compared to some of our friends East of the Mississippi, are any of your homes just 60 degrees INSIDE? Our house is! Despite repeated pleas and phone calls over the course of four winters now to turn up the heat, the heat here remains on a timer that doesn't quite provide adequate heat. Right before I took this picture, it was 59.9 degrees inside. My body heat must have warmed it that tenth of a degree before the camera flashed, but that's still unacceptable - even by San Francisco Tenants Union. Here's what its website says:

"According to Section 701 of the San Francisco Housing Code, landlords must provide heat capable of maintaining a room temperature of 68 degrees (at a point three feet above the floor) This is based on an outside temperature of 35 degrees, so there is no excuse for heat less than 68 degrees when its 40 or 45 degrees out. This level of heat must be provided for at least thirteen hours, specifically from 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM."

Well, as you can see, it was almost 7 a.m. and we were a full eight degrees away. And unfortunately for Brian, the daytime isn't much better. We really like our place at the end of the day, but this is ridiculous and I suspect our landlords may receive a letter soon. Given our split schedules, it's always the first thing out of the person at home's mouth when the other one calls. We usually begin the conversation with, "It's fr-fr-fr-freeeeeezing in here."

And yes, we pay our rent.

One night I fully expect a photo of me sleeping in a hooded sweatshirt (hood up), will appear, but since Brian hasn't thought of that yet I'll let you check out how pathetic some of our other winter get-up is.

Need a stocking stuffer? Get these one-size-fits-all fuzzy socks from Old Navy stat. They're normally $5 and I picked them up for just $3.50 on sale. I wish I had bought more; I've hardly taken them off since Sunday!

This nap shot was actually taken during a period of relatively high heat. Though I love my Snuggie, it's not as warm as some other blankets. Doesn't it look cozy?

What I should have gotten Dad for Christmas

Adrienne sent me what I thought was the funniest link the other day: a Christmas gift idea for my father, avid hunter and Second Amendment rights advocate.



Too bad all of his gifts this year are coming from Asia. Speaking of Asian gifts, check out Emily & Ryan's blog for a picture of Charlotte enjoying her Chinese nursery decorations. Too cute!