Christmas 2010

It was our last Christmas as non-parents. We enjoyed Christmas eve eve just the two of us. I made a table of snacks for dinner- fondue, meatballs, deviled eggs, bacon-wrapped steak, veggies. It is very hard to make such a spread for two. But I wanted to start a new tradition of eating appetizers for dinner while watching White Christmas.


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And We're Back

Okay I have been absent for awhile now - both here and on Always Fabulous. But I am going to get back into blogging, not because I made some new year's resolution but because I need to write, whether anyone reads it or not.

Since my last post I have some very big news! We're having a baby! A boy! In March!

New Blog

Hello all! I've gotten together with a few of my girlfriends to do a fun blog. It is called Kinda Young; Sometimes Broke; Always Fabulous. We blog about food, entertaining, fashion, style, home decor, crafts, etc.

Please come visit and leave comments! The blog still needs a lot of work, but I could use your support. You can't tell yet who writes which blog, but I'll fix that soon!

Check it out: http://youngbrokefabulous.com/

ONE YEAR!

So I'm just a tad behind on the blog. Truthfully, there hasn't been much to blog about lately! Plus, I haven't been taking pictures! Enough excuses. So, a few months late . . . the post about our anniversary!

To celebrate our first year as husband and wife, we planned . . . absolutely nothing. What with our NYC trip, Aaron's graduation and Christmas, we really didn't put much thought (or money) into our anniversary. We were just trying to survive to see 2010! So, on January 1, we looked at one another and said, "Our anniversary is in two days. I didn't get you a gift. What do you want to do?"

We visited hotels.com and searched for a deal near home. The next day we packed up our things and made the journey . . . to downtown LA! Yes, that's right. We took a vacation just 15 miles away. We were excited to stay at the super-cool Standard Hotel (at an equally cool price). You can find some amazing last-minute deals online.

We went to a movie and dinner. Then we headed up to The Standard's rooftop bar to see the amazing view of the city at night. The next day we had lunch in the hip little cafe there and then took in some art at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a lovely one day trip and a great way to celebrate a wonderful year!

Above: This is The Standard's rooftop lounge and pool. The views were breathtaking. Below: This is the also-great view from our room.

Above: The room has really cool, modern, minimal decor with lots of cheekiness.

Above and below: Aaron and I are getting silly at the rooftop bar, doing "model" poses. I'm wearing a dress that Aaron gave me for Christmas.

Aaron could barely get up from this weird outdoor waterbed thing.

Happy Anniversary, my love!

One Hot Tamale!

I finally made tamales . . . probably a hundred or so. We made chicken, pork and dessert tamales. It's a lot of work but a fun process. It's all about hanging out and enjoying some chisme (Spanish for chatter or gossip). They were delicious! I took notes on everything my mother-in-law did. Tamales are a tradition in many Hispanic cultures for Christmas, and one I want to pass on to my children.

Though it's been said, many times, many ways . . .

Merry Christmas to you! I don't have too many pictures from Christmas - oops! Here we are glammed up for Drew and Mande's Fancy Holiday Party (and posing by our sparsley decorated tree).

And here I am holding up one of my Christmas gifts from Aaron - White Christmas on DVD! I love that movie with all my heart. It's not just my favorite Christmas movie. It is one of my all-time favorite movies in general. It's romantic, classy and campy all at once. It has music you can't resist and wardrobe to drool over.

Here is Aaron with his nina (grandma) on Christmas eve. We always go to her house on Christmas eve. We eat and sit around and everyone speaks Spanish, so I just sit there and smile. I try to hang with the young cousins, cause they speak English mostly. This time we did a mug gift exchange, which is a great game with a bilingual crowd. It's universal.

And these two cute pies are, at left, my cousin Liliana and my second cousin Isabel. (Via Aaron, obviously.) When you have a big family you end up with second cousins at the same age. Isabel is very adorable, despite this goofy looking photo.

Graduation

HE DID IT! Aaron graduated from The Art Institutes of California - Los Angeles with a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. Not only that, he was awarded Outstanding Portfolio. This is an incredible honor, as a committee of his teachers reviewed all of this graduating classmates' portfolios and chose Aaron's portfolio for this commendation.

Below is a timeline of the graduation process. First, you see Aaron working on his portfolio - he even had to work on it during our trip to New York. The two below are from the portfolio show - this is a very big deal to a design student. You set up your own little booth with your portfolio, biz cards, resume, laptop with website and videos up, sample works, etc. Employers stroll through, seeking out potential new hires. He's already got an interview with a company that liked his work!

And now, graduation! My parents and Aaron's immediate family all came. We had a wonderful time and were so shocked (though not surprised) and proud when the dean announced Aaron's name for Outstanding Portfolio.

After the graduation ceremony, we went to Johnny's New York Pizzeria in West LA. This was a favorite spot of Aaron's during his college years. He'd pick up a $2 slice of pizza and then buy his soda from the 7-11 next door (cheaper) a few times a week. It is delicious pizza - thin, crispy crust and perfect cheese and toppings. The salads were yum too.

Winterfest

As part of the Social Concerns Committee at church, I helped with the Holiday Winterfest. At this event, we invited various vendors to sell their fair-trade goods. We also invted the community to consider doing some Christmas shopping from these vendors. "Fair trade" means that the product was made by someone who was paid fairly for it. Out idea was, "What would Jesus want us to buy?" or "How can we buy some gifts that help others?" So there were scarves and purses from a co-op of women in rural Mexico and ornaments from Peru and baskets from Vietnam, along with fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate. It was a fun event (read: too much work!) and we were able to pick up a few gifts for those on our list.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We put up the tree a few weeks ago and did a little bit of decorating. When I say a "little bit of decorating" I mean it. And I don't mean "... and we'll finish decorating soon!" I just don't own Christmas decor. I never seem to be stable at Christmas. Last year I was planning my wedding. The year before that I was having a breakdown and was in the process of moving in with my parents. The year before that was my best attempt but it was really my first Christmas in my own place and I was broke and busy.

So we have a tiny tree and a few random ornaments. My friend Ashley donated a few more. Maybe I'll shop the after-Christmas sales and pick up just a few more festive items.

NYC Photos

If I Make it Here . . .

. . . I'll make it ANYWHERE! It's up to you, New York . . . Neeeew Yoooork!!!

(Sorry Aunt Barbara. I know you hate that song!)

The Monroys Take Manhattan!

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Thursday: Thanksgiving day! Well, we spent it on a plane/in airports/in a car. When we got to our hotel at 11:00 PM we wandered our neighborhood for a bit and then found a diner where we got a roast chicken dinner with mashed potatoes, broccoli and stuffing. So we had a Thanksgiving after all!

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Friday: We had bagels for breakfast then we went to Times Square - which we didn't really like. It felt more like Vegas. Then we walked to Rockefellar Center, which was also busy (HELLO! Black Friday?) but beautiful. We went on a tour of NBC. Then we headed to the West Village and wandered around before having dinner at a cute little Italian place called Po. I LOOOVED the West Village. Later that night we got dessert with my college BFF Monica. She lives in Boston but came to NYC to hang out with us!>.

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Saturday: We went to Chelsea with Monica and shopped at vintage stalls. Then we went to Lombardi's for pizza - supposedly they are the original pizzeria in the US. Later we saw an improv tournament at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

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Sunday: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, then we saw a bit of the financial district and got Chinese food. At night we went to Gramercy Tavern for super-late dinner that was amazing.

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Monday: We slept in, since we had been staying up until 2:00 AM every night. It was raining but we shlepped to the Lower East Side for Katz's Deli and had yummy pastrami. After a nap (me) and homework (Aaron), we grabbed a slice of pizza and saw The Toxic Avenger musical. It was off-broadway and it was really fun! For American Idol fans out there, Dianna Degarmo played the blind librarian and was great.

Tuesday: We were going to go to the Moma . . . but it was closed! I was soooo sad. We went to the American Folk Art Museum next door which was awesome. We got Gray's Papaya for lunch and Magnolia cupcakes/banana pudding for dessert before taking a long walk through Central Park. Then, sadly, it was time to go home!

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Overall, it was a great trip! New York did not disapoint. I can't wait to go back. Next time, I'll want to go in the spring so I can actually tolerate being outside more.

Fashionista . . . for a night

My girlfriend Mande took me to a fashion show thing in Hollywood last weekend. Yes, I sound super-cool, I know. It really wasn't anything to write home about. But it is something to write on your blog about! Mande knew someone who could "get us on the list" but as it turns out, pretty much anyone could get on the list.

"Going out" in LA is highly overated. First you spend hours stressing about what to wear, wondering if people will spot you for the nerd that you are. Then you sit in traffic and then you get lost. Then you spend hours looking for parking. You pay $15 - 20 for parking. You walk half a mile to the venue. You wait in line. Even if it is the "on the list" line, you wait awhile. This is usually when the heels start to seriously hurt. You finally get in and wait in a 15 minute line at the bar . . . to buy a $10 vodka tonic. Then you lose your friends and spend 10 minutes texting one another as a search and rescue mission.

where r u?

in potty line

wheres that? i need 2 go 2

next to vip . . . creepy guy hitting on me! help!

More waiting in line for the bathroom line. All three girls go in together which means people will proceed to pound on the door because you're taking too long. Then you either dance a bit or wait for the concert to start, or, in this case, wait 45 minutes for fashion show to start. At this point, your feet are without a doubt numb.

We ended up watching just one designer's line and half a song from Da Twin Rappers before deciding to get out of the chaos and get a burger or something.

Needless to say, it was the first time I actually saw a real, in-person fashion show, so that was cool. It wasn't fancy like on Project Runway/Rachel Zoe. We were all standing on the floor under the runway. We could the models undies! Yikes! Also, the models were a little scary.

The best part, of course, was getting to wear one of my vintage hats. I got several compliments on it. Next time, I'm just gonna put a cute hat on and stay home to watch a Netflix.

Poor Grandma

Okay, I was on the AMAZING AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com and I seriously injured myself in two places laughing so hard. Aaron didn't quite see the humor, but I had tears streaming down my face and I think I pulled a muscle in my neck, along with both sides of my jaw hurting. Whoever said laughter is the best medicine did not realize how hazardous it can be.

Note how she is actually POSING for the picture, with sort of a passive-agressive smile. Hysterical. A few captions (some are my own original thoughts, some inspired by comments on the site):

1. The really creepy part is that Grandma is dead. And boy is she pissed about the hot young new grandma.

2. One word: Agoraphobia.

3. "Dad, I don't want to hurt Mom's feelings, but I'd like a picture of just the two of us."

4. Who let Aunt Bertha out of the basement?

5. "I'm not gonna be ignored, Dan!"

6. Poor Aunt Hilda has Swine Flu and has been quarentined

7. "I never miss a photo op!"

8. "Step right up and get your picture with an old guy! Wait behind the door until your number is called."

9. The Grandma is actually just a cardboard cutout, like that guy in Three Men and a Baby that everyone said was a ghost.

10. The family prefers not to discuss Nana's house arrest. It's a delicate subject.

End of Summer Picnic

Aaron and I packed a picnic recently and headed to our favorite park. That's all.

Black & White Party

Last night, the Social Concerns Committee hosted Night of Discovery, an event to raise funds for Mending Kids. The organization helps children from around the world travel to the US for medical procedures. A church member recently housed a child and her mom from Zimbabwe, so the organization was close to our heart.

We went for a black and white theme. I created luminaries out of tap-on lights, white paper and black ribbon. I used a projector to write on the letters and then used black paint and glitter. At the last minute we decided we wanted a menu board. I brought my menu board from home . . . complete with a painted-on colorful rooster. I covered up the rooster with white flowers I fastened out of coffee filters and napkins from the church kitchen. I was quite proud of this!

Is it normal . . .

. . . to carry around a frozen meal in your purse? Ah, life on a diet. By the way, this Lean Cuisine - Chinese Chicken with Rice - was AWFUL. I ate in Amy's office while I was giving presentations at her school.