Thanksgiving... Overdue

Hey All!!! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving... Rob and I had a great time celebrating with our families!!! And now that it's all over... we can get into full Christmas mode!!! Let the fun times begin...

So, Thursday morning was a crazy time... I woke up real early to cook... I made Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Souffle, Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Key Lime Pies... while my dear husband slept in until almost noon!!! LOL... Afterwards, we spent the whole afternoon with his family at Aunt Helen's for our Annual Thanksgiving luncheon. She converted her dining room so she could sit 20 people in there!!! We had a lot of fun playing with the kids (as you can tell from the pics below)!!! Haha! Hey, what can I say... some guys are chick-magnets... Rob and I, on the other hand, attract kids for some reason!!! They follow us everywhere, tug at our shirts, climb us like trees and they fight over who gets to sit next to us at the dinner table!!! Oh, man those kids are a hoot!!!

So, this is what happens when kids get a hold of your cell phone... LOL... The Maddoxes--Bentley, Miller and Levy

Here's Bentley trying to get cozy with Rob!

Levy's trying to sleep on my lap :-)

... And Levy wanted to be with Rob, so he had to kick Bentley out... haha! See what I'm talking about??? Those kids just LOVE us!!!

On Thanksgiving night, we had dinner with my side of the family at Tita Edith's, like we do every year. Rob and my brothers love going there because they have such a huge backyard that they can play football or baseball everytime we go there! We had a great time as usual!!! And after dinner, we sat around, watching various fights of Manny Pacquiao--which Uncle Tito and my dad love to do over and over!!! We took some pictures, but tita Edith has them, so I'll post them up when she e-mails them to me... It was so great to have been able to spend Thanksgiving with the people we love and treasure! We were so thankful and grateful to God... not for the food nor the material things we were blessed with this year, but mostly for our families and friends... and for every second that we get to spend with them... Those are the most precious!


The next day, Black Friday, I woke up at 4 AM and kicked off my Christmas shopping... I had many plans, but I was unable to accomplish all of them. I first went to Circuit City, because I drove by Best Buy and the line was just insane... so, I thought I would be better off at Circuit City... Since their building is much smaller than Best Buy, it had a limited capacity of 500. So, they were only letting in people every time some customers came out of the building... Luckily, I did not stand in line for a long time... However, once I was checking out, I stood in line for almost 2 hours!!! It was just C-R-A-Z-Y!!! They were so ill-prepared that they only had 3 registers running, and since 99% of the stuff people were buying had rebates, the cashiers were typing in every single name, address, phone numbers, etc, etc on the receipts!!! I didn't give up though and I ended up snatching some great deals on DVDs... So afterwards, I was planning on stopping by Target, but their lines were even longer, so i ditched that plan and just went straight to the mall... I did a lot of shopping at the mall... I got all the kids' presents done and most of the adults... So, now, I can cross them off the list... but I still have a long way to go... *sigh*


So, after a loooong morning, I went back home and joined my husband in bed... only to wake up hours later, freshened up and went back to the mall (again), but this time with Rob!!! Well, I went to some stores that I didn't get to visit earlier that day... After all the shopping, Rob and I went to my brother Kevin's State Championship playoffs!!! They played Pace High school... It was such an intense game because they were both really really good... Well, the Trojans won and they're playing at the Regional finals on Friday night against Nease High from Jacksonville... If they beat Nease, the Trojans are off to Miami for the State Championship game!!! Whooohooo... GO TROJANS!!!


Saturday was another looong day... We woke up early for an early breakfast tailgate party at the FSU-UF game! That was another intense game... we had the Gators for a little while there and honestly, I thought we would upset them... but they won and I just wish all the Gators out there... "Good Luck" on your game against Arkansas this Saturday for the SEC championship, because you sure are going to need it!!! Anyways, after the game, we all stayed and had a fish-fry tailgate party with all the hush puppies, 'slaw and cheese grits you can eat! The boys were in charge this time, headed by my father-in-law, who is such an avid fisherman :-) They did an awesome job!!! Mom kept drinking wine and so by the end of it, she was wasted... LOL... She kept telling Rob and I to "pro-create" and give her lots of grandbabies... LOL... She is so hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing and all of our friends were joining in on the fun!!! What a great way to end a rather disappointing season... but the future holds great promises for the 'Noles... We'll have to wait another year!


Sunday was slow-paced... Thank goodness! We did a lot of cleaning, but it was great to just relax and stay home! We went back to work on Monday... and after work, Rob and I went to babysit the Maddoxes! We played so many games that we were both exhausted at the end of it... Well, we did have a great time with those kids (AGAIN)... Needless to say, we slept really well that night :-) We had Riccardo's for dinner last night with my family at my parents' house... And today, we had a slack day at work... My co-workers and I had so much fun decorating our office for Christmas!!! We finally have our Christmas tree up in the hallway and we hung garlands and wreaths in every corner... Tomorrow, I'm going to hang a stocking on my office door... I'm sure they'll stuff it with something good :-) Tonight, we're in dire need of supplies, so Rob and I are going grocery shopping... Well, the weekend's almost here again... so, until next time... have a good one!

The Holidays Are Here!!!

Whoa! Thanksgiving's in 3 days!!! I cannot wait... It's going to be a ton of fun! So, we had another awesome weekend... Starting off on Thursday, I was sworn in as a US Citizen at the Federal Courthouse here in Tallahassee. Immediately after the ceremony, they had a booth set up outside the courtroom where Ian Sancho--the Board of Elections Supervisor in Leon County--encouraged us to register to vote. So I did... too bad I missed the elections by a few weeks... oh well!

On Friday, my co-workers threw me a surprise party!!! They were so sweet and I was so touched by them! My boss even gave me a bouquet of red, white and blue carnations. It's sitting on my desk in my office :-) Since Friday was a slack day, we all walked over to College Ave. that afternoon for the FSU Homecoming parade... It was a lot of fun as most of us are FSU alums... We were there to REPRESENT, ya know what ah mean???!!! LOL... After work, Rob and I went to visit Emily at the THM Women's Pavillion!!! Yes, she gave birth at around 8:00 AM on Nov. 16th to an 8-pound baby-boy--Henry James Montford!!! (sorry, don't have any pics of him yet, but I'll take some during our Thanksgiving luncheon at Aunt Helen's on Thursday)! He's so adorable... he kinda looks like Jake a little, but with darker hair!


That night, we were supposed to go to the Downtown Getdown with Jimbo, Justin, Alex, Robbie and the other guys, but Jimbo called the last minute and asked if we wanted to go see 007-Casino Royale instead with him and Whitney. Well, I'm not a big fan of James Bond, so we opted out. We ended up watching Saw (finally!!!) on DVD with my mom and dad at their house. My plan was to watch Saw and then Saw II, so that Rob and I can go see Saw III, but I think I'll stop at one, because I didn't really like the whole premise of the movie. Anyways, Kevin had a game that night in Milton and they won, so they have a game here on Friday (after Thanksgiving) against Pace High School!!! Boy, Friday's going to be a loooooong day... *sigh*... but a really REALLY fun one :-)


Moving on... Saturday was another game day! We tailgated at around noon for the FSU-WMU Homecoming game. The game was another close call, but it just made our weekend a lot better... Now, we're getting ready for the BIGGEST game this season... The rivalry of all rivalries in college football-- FSU vs. UF this coming Saturday at noon! But win or lose... and I'm going to say this now... Given that we stink this year and UF's #4, we're probably going to lose... Well, it's still going to be an awesome game, either way! So, there's a lot going on this week / weekend... and I can't wait for all the excitement to start come Wednesday night :-)


In other sports news... We had a boxing party at my parents' house Saturday night after the FSU game. My dad loves boxing, especially when Filipinos fight. Last Saturday was a huge fight for the Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao as he faced the Mexican boxer Erik Morales for the 3rd time! We've been waiting for months for this only to witness a very swift, yet solid K.O. vitory for Pacquiao! As they say... short and sweet... but man, what a fight!!!


I was finally able to take pictures of my Christmas decors... (still haven't done the outside yet... we will after Thanksgiving!!!)... So, here they are...

Here's our dining room... I'm not really done yet with the X'mas decors!

Here's another shot, without the flash...

My Christmas China

Here's our breakfast area... not done yet either

My "mini" Christmas tree on our breakfast table

Another mini Christmas tree on our coffee table

Our fireplace... we still don't have our nativity scene

The living room

Our 10-foot Christmas tree... Yeah, I started Christmas shopping but not even close to being done... *sigh*... Got a long ways to go!!!

And another one without the flash on :-)

Well... I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!! Hope you have a great time, because we sure are going to!!!

Perfect Season... 10-0!!!

Geez... It's been almost a week again since I've last posted! A lot has happened since... So, here it goes...

Friday night, the Trojans beat Wolfson High 33-0!!! So, Kevin and his team are advancing to the State Regional Semi-Finals in Milton, FL. Unfortunately, Rob and I will not be going... We simply didn't want to drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back! Also, we've already committed that we're going to this week's Downtown Getdown that night with our friends. Hopefully, the Trojans win again, so they can go on to the Regional Finals here in Tally next week. In which case we may be having another deja vu as Lincoln may be playing Pace High School here... Hmmm... Can't wait!

Saturday was terrible! I mean, the tailgate party was great as usual... It was the game that was so unbearable to watch! It was the lowest point of our season... No, scratch that... It was the lowest point of Bobby Bowden's career!!! That game was the last string that was holding off our Offensive Coordinator's resignation--Jeff Bowden (who happens to be Bobby's son). For years now, EVERYBODY--from the students to the faculty to the alumni and especially the Boosters--were calling for J.B. to step down! And now, it's finally happening! It's weird though... Rob said to me last night "You know, we've always wanted Jeff to quit for the longest time and now that he really did quit, I feel really bad for him!" Well, my husband's not entirely alone, but I think, this is a new start for the 'Noles... Since Jeff Bowden was hired as the Offensive Coordinator in 2001, you can definitely see a change--of gradual disappointments and such... There is a stark pattern from 2001-2006 in the Seminole dynasty... If you're a college football fanatic, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about!!! Anyways, only time will tell if this is such a good move!

On Sunday, Rob and I went Christmas crazy!!! Haha!!! Ok, that's a stretch... Rob's probably reading this and saying... "WHAT??? You mean, YOU WENT Christmas crazy!!!"... Alright, so I did!!! I spent way too much money on Christmas decors, but it was all worth-it!!! So, we're ALMOST done decorating for Christmas... (Yeah, Rob, I'm NOT DONE yet and you know that so don't even act surprised!!! LOL)... We're almost finished with the inside... We just need a few touches here and there, i.e. we haven't bought our nativity scene yet... We do have our Christmas tree up and our fireplace is all trimmed up. I'm going to have to post pictures next time! I just absolutely LOVE our tree... So, we went with the artificial one, which I'm glad we did, because it was a pain in the butt to assemble... how much more putting up a real tree would be??? So, we now have a 10-foot tree sitting in our living room!!! On the other hand, the outside is BARE! We're waiting until after Thanksgiving to do that... We're mainly saving all of the fun for my sister... Kathryn said she wanted to put the lights up and stuff, so Kat, if you're reading this, you can come anytime and put the lights up on our front porch and trees!

Well, Monday night was awesome!!! The Catfish won (thus, the title of this post!!!) They ended their season with a huge bang, with their most challenging game thus far... They were losing by 6 runs and ended up winning, thanks to my husband's triple in the fourth or fifth inning (???)--which became the turning point of the game! After the game, we all went to BW3's to celebrate! We're having the official championship party at one of Rob's teammate and co-worker--Dan's new home on Dec. 2nd! That should be a lot of fun!

Last night, we had mama and Kevin over for dinner... I made some BBQ Chicken breasts and Potato Casserole... Yes, another one of my recipes! We never have left-overs though... I always make my mom take the left-overs home for papa and JB... lol...Tonight, we're having mom, dad and Spencer over for some Key Lime pie after dinner :-) Tomorrow, I'm taking the whole day off as I take my Oath to pledge allegiance to the United States of America :-) I'll keep you all posted!

Updates...

It has been a busy week, so forgive me for my late entry. Where to start??? So, Friday night Rob and I went out on a date... We had dinner and then watched "The Departed"... He's been wanting to watch that movie and I'm not big on action films, but this one was REALLY REALLY good. They had great actors like Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Matt Damon. And the plot was amazing!!! Oh and did I mention it was directed by Martin Scorsese??? Yup, this one's going to get award nominations next year...

On Saturday, we had an early game here in Tally... So, we tailgated at 10 AM and had a breakfast theme... I baked some croissants stuffed with ham and cream cheese (from scratch!!!)... Everybody loved it and mom's friends kept asking me for the recipe! I'm still basking in compliments *sigh*... I'm really enjoying cooking and trying out new recipes, so I've been cooking almost everyday now :-) I've even gotten into baking lately... more on that later!So, FSU won against Virginia 33-0!!! Yay!!! All thanks to our new starting QB and our slowly-recovering defense team!!! A lot of them are still hurt, but we're getting by!


The game ended before 4 PM, so we tailgated for a couple more hours, then we headed home to freshen up and get ready for another night at the movies... This time, we went to see "Borat" with JB! That movie is SO HILARIOUS!!! If you haven't seen it yet, then go see it tonight!!! It's so funny!!! It's only about 1 hr and 20 mins, but I was laughing the entire time!!! If you have no clue what I'm talking about, watch the "Ali G" show on HBO... Borat is one of the characters he plays on that show. So, check it out!

After the movies, Rob and I went to a late dinner with Kathryn, JB and Kevin at Village Inn... We have this thing for diners... Our favorite is Steak and Shake... Since they're open 24 hours, we love just randomly saying "Ok, who wants to go to S & S???" and then we'd all go and hang out there since they're open 24 hrs! We also like Waffle House, but with the new Village Inn open behind S & S, we go there more often!

Sunday was typical... I made creamy chicken soup with wild rice. We had mom, dad and Spencer over for dinner. I also made some Key Lime Pie... You know how chefs have their "specialty dish or dessert"??? Well, this one's going to be mine :-) It's a work in progress but since then, I've made a total of 5 pies already!!! So, the next one would be a lot better!!! By Thanksgiving, I'd have the perfect Key Lime Pie!!! This weekend, I'm making some sweet potato pie and I've gotta practice my sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving too! Then on Tuesday, we had my mom and Kevin over for dinner... I made some Chicken Alfredo pasta with garlic bread and you guessed it... Key Lime Pie for dessert!!! haha! Yesterday, we had our annual Thanksgiving party at work... It was great! I really didn't care much for the turkey, because the stuffings and the casseroles were much better! The only thing I didn't like is standing in line for almost an hour with hundreds of people, but it was a slack day after that, so it's all good!

Rob had a game last night and they won again... so they're still undefeated. They've got another game tonight at 9 PM and their last game is on Monday! We have no work tomorrow due to Veteran's Day, so I'm definitely looking forward to a long weekend ahead!!! Kevin's state championship play-offs start tomorrow. They're playing Wolfson High school here at home. And the FSU vs. Wake Forest game is also here at 8 PM on Saturday... I'm already thinking of what to make for our tailgate party! This one has to be a dinner theme... Hmmm... I'll eventually come up with something!

Next week, Rob and I will start doing our homework (again!)... On what, you say? Well, we're getting ready to purchase a lot for us to build our second home :-) Rob wants at least a 3-acre lot and we've started looking at the Bucklake area. That's currently the only subdivision here in Tallahassee that offers more than 1 acre properties. Rob's got these great plans for our next (and final) home... The reason he wants a huge property is so we can expand and build anytime and anywhere we want to on our property. Why???...... Because he says he wants our parents to live with us when they're old... Rob's plan is to build them separate guest houses, where they can still enjoy being some-what independent and having their personal space, while having us there to care for them and cook meals at the same time! We're looking at buying sometime next year, probably in the spring or summer and we plan to start building in 3-5 years! It's our next BIG dream that is slowly forming right before our eyes!

It's November!!!

Trick Or Treat, Smell My Feet, Give Me Something Good To Eat...

Last night was awesome!!! I forgot how much fun it was to go Trick or Treating... Ok, yeah, the last time I've been was in high school. My sister and I would dress up and walk around with our pillow sacks. Well, those were the days when it was still cool for high school kids to go knock on people's doors and ask for candy!!! Nowadays, the high school kids don't even dress up anymore... They just show up and DEMAND some candy! Not so cute... but we did see a bunch of interesting costumes!

Anyways, so we took Michael, Rachel and Andie around their neighborhood. Michael was Darth Vader, Rachel was a witch, and Andie was a bride! Oh, the things kids do to get some candy!!! Halloween is truly their favorite occasion/holiday(??)!!! It was neat to see the houses with their Halloween decors on the lawn. Then there's always this one house that stands out. This one was so "tricked" out (no pun intended... lol) that the owner even kept his garage door open and had fog machines blowing here and there... It was really cool, but I couldn't imagine spending that much money on ghoulish stuff... Christmas, Yes, but Halloween??? I don't think so!

Rachel, Michael and Andie

Some of the Halloween decorations at the "tricked out house"

The garage of the "tricked out house"

Darth Vader, Rob as "The Donald", JB, Kevin, the witch and the bride
Today's the first day of November... I love knowing that the Holidays are so close... Next week would be the start of it. No work on Friday (11/10) because of Veteran's day and then Thanksgiving on the 23rd and the 24th!!! I can't wait to decorate our house for Christmas and start new traditions for Rob and I!!! We still haven't made up our minds as to whether we would have a fresh Christmas tree or a synthetic one... we'll see! Our living room has a high ceiling, so we were thinking of getting a 10 foot one, but that would be a pain in the butt to put up if we get a fresh one! We decided that we would decorate the day after Thanksgiving--on Friday night--after the traditional Post-Thanksgiving shopping sales that start at 5 AM of course! We have to get all the decorations up before the first week of December because we're having a Christmas photo shoot at our house with our wedding photographer, Karen Lucchini!

So... cheers to leaves turning red, orange and yellow... to cooler nights and chilly mornings... to roasted turkeys and yummy dressings... to pumpkin pies and sweet potato casseroles... to Post-Thanksgiving sales and Early Christmas shoppings... to Festival of Lights and Christmas parades... and most importantly, to families who gather together and cherish moments like these!!!