Christmas Update

As I've written on my earlier post... we pretty much did everything as planned/outlined on there. We just got back from Beau Rivage an hour or so ago... We had so much fun!!! We're going to celebrate New Year's eve with the Tanguiligs, my parents and siblings, complete with awesome fireworks that we purchased on our way home (from Biloxi) in Alabama...

We were only able to take several pictures, so here they are...

After Christmas Eve mass at our home before eating dinner

My mom and dad

JB and Rob sorting through the presents and handing them out as Michael waits patiently :-)

Who's ready to open presents???

Beau Rivage, Biloxi, MS

Ma and Pa after dinner

My mom and I

"It's all about the Benjamins, baby!!!"... haha!!!

Right before hanging out at the Isle of Capri

Merry Christmas, baby!

VIP Check-In... Oh yeah!!!

We've had the most awesome time celebrating our First Christmas as husband and wife!!! Rob and I would like to thank the following for all the Christmas presents and wishes:

* Kenneth and Jana Walling (AKA mom and dad)
* Jun and Bunny Galutera (AKA mama and papa)
* Spencer Walling
* Kathryn, JB, and Kevin Galutera
* Tito and Edith Tanguilig
* Michael, Rachel, and Andie Tanguilig
* Pete and Helen Purvis
* Michael and Jenny Maddox
* Miller, Bentley, and Levy Maddox
* Bill and Emily Montford
* Jake and Henry Montford
* Jimmy Purvis
* Bill and Pam Brewster
* Caroline Brewster
* Billy, Jen and Savannah Brewster
* Uncle Bob Johnson
* Mike and Lisa Phillips
* Emmalee and John Michael Phillips
* Ricky, Bivan and Sara Valenzuela
* Francis, Grace, Elise, Amelie and Caden Valenzuela
* David and Debbie Mims
* Teddy and Susan Payne
* Brian and Courtney Payne
* Sandra and Johnny Smith
* Tana and David Oglesby
* Pat Schofield
* May Ashoo
* Kyle Godwin
* Mike and Linda Yelvington
* Judy Oldson
* Hal Ballew
* Linda Woodward
* Cindy Vanlandingham
* Bill Hemberger
* Scott Copeland
* Cindy Cross
* Uly Turner
* Lance Smith
* David Greene
* Jim Valenzuela
* Sondra Darnell
* Rob's Syn-Tech co-workers

THANKS AGAIN Y'ALL !!!!

We hope you guys have a great year ahead! Be safe and don't party too hard :-)

Dinners, Parties... and more Parties

So, it's been very crazy lately... Rob and I are barely home. It all started Friday night. We had Kathryn's graduation dinner at Chou's Dynasty. We were suppose to go to Olive Garden, but they don't take reservations and the wait was literally 2 hours!!! So, to Chou's we went... It was fun... We really had a great time... Mom, dad and Spencer came with us too!!! And dad kept us all entertained with his stories :-) After dinner, we all watched Talladega Nights again!!! Man, I never get tired of that movie... I mean, how could you not laugh, ya know? And living in the South, it's hard NOT TO be reminded that some of the characters resemble someone you know!!! LOL

Saturday, Rob and I had to run errands all over town with Spencer in tow. We had to take him away from mom so she could do her Christmas shopping done--especially when she's buying for him! I got my co-workers little presents and had to do some more shopping for Rob's cousins... while Rob and Spencer looked at Pools and Spa models! Man, he REALLY is thinking of getting a jacuzzi installed in the back!!!

On Sunday, Rob and I worked on the backyard (finally!)... We really need to get those trees taken out! It was such a pain to blow the leaves, rake and put them in trash bags... We used more than 10 huge lawn trash bags!!! That night, we had dinner at Olive Garden... Haha!!! Since we didn't go last Friday, we thought we would go on Sunday instead because they didn't even have waiting time. It was our date night--which felt great because we haven't gone out on a date in a while--amid all the craziness!

On Monday, I arrived at work to find my desk covered with presents from my co-workers and bosses!!! They truly are the greatest! Oh, and remember my Christmas stocking I hung on my office door? It was full of candy!!! I told you they'd stuff it with something good :-) For lunch, we all went to Chili's to celebrate Cindy's birthday and also for our Holiday luncheon... It was fun to just hang out with my co-workers outside of work, despite our age differences! (Yup, I'm still the baby in the IT Section--which has more than 60 people!).

Work's been slow these past few days, since many people are off for 2 weeks... I'm saving my leave for next year. I'm taking a week off for our anniversary cruise in May, another week off when I (maybe) going with the Tanguiligs to San Diego in the summer, one week off for Las Vegas in November, and another week off for The Walling family ski trip to Vail, Colorado in December/early January 2008. But I am taking Tuesday (Dec. 26th) and Friday (Dec. 29th) off next week!

Monday night was a blast!!! We had our annual Christmas party with the Paynes at their house. All the tailgate buddies were there--The Wallings, the Mimses, the Smiths, the Paynes... We had some yummy grilled Mahi-Mahi, Grouper and Halibut! After dinner, we watched wedding videos and flipped through pictures. There were 3 weddings amongst the families this year alone, so we had a lot of laugh watching those, especially our video with everyone dancing and getting drunk!!! Haha!!! I think 2006 is the wedding year for some reason!

Tuesday was cookie-day at work... Actually, today we had more cookies than yesterday! Everyone brought home-made cookies and cakes... Well, except me because I just didn't have time to bake... I promised to make them something good next time we have a party (which is in January)! Also, I finally sent out our first Christmas photo cards yesterday! Yeah, call me a slacker in that department... I was waiting to see if I could get Karen Lucchini to come take our pictures, but we had conflicting schedules. So, I took a really neat suggestion of using our official wedding portrait since it's our very first Christmas card! They turned out really well... We sent out almost 50 of them and hopefully, you guys will get them in the mail soon!

Tuesday night was yet another dinner party with the Phillips--Rob's cousins on his dad's side--at mom and dad's house. We haven't seen them since our wedding... and we couldn't believe how much the kids have grown since then! Their daughter, Emmalee, is such a good dancer. She was outstaging everybody on the dance floor at our reception! She said "That was the best wedding ever... I had so much fun!!!" After dinner, we all sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents... We got our first present from the Phillips. It was a set of candles with ornate, wrought-iron candle holders! I was surprised she knew my style... I said "How did you know....?" And before I could even finish, she said "When I came over to your house at your bridal shower, I saw you had a lot of candles and lamps, so I definitely know what to get you from now on!"... She was so sweet!

So, I need to start planning what to cook for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I'm leaving work early on Friday for a dentist appointment and then I can go shopping for ingredients. Saturday would be a last-minute-did-i-forget-something-crunch-time-Christmas shopping.

Then, Sunday, Christmas Eve, the fun begins... my plan is to sleep in as late as I could, cook all my dishes in the morning, then get ready for the afternoon. Rob's going to go shooting with the boys in Madison in the morning while I cook. Our first stop is Pam and Bill's home--the Brewsters--(Pam, who is mom's sister and her husband Bill, their daughter Caroline comes over too, as well as their son Billy, his wife Jen and their kids Savannah and Caleb). We're having our annual Christmas eve party starting at 5 pm. Then, at 8 pm, we're going to church with my side of the family--instead of the usual midnight mass. We're kind of changing our family tradition this year, now that I'm married. We have to accommodate the in-laws into our schedule. After mass, everyone's coming over to our home, eat dinner, open presents and just hang out... Then after midnight, Rob and I are heading to mom and dad's house. We're having a slumber party in their basement... We're sleeping over so we can get up in time to open presents at like, 7 AM or something!

Christmas day, we're having a big luncheon at mom and dad's with Rob's side at 2 pm. Then the rest of the afternoon and night will be spent with my side. The day after Christmas, Kathryn and I are hitting up the mall like we always do! And on Wednesday, we're throwing a party at our house for the FSU-UCLA game at 8 pm!

On Friday morning (the 29th), we're leaving for Biloxi to spend our last days of the year gambling!!! Then Sunday, New Year's Eve, we're celebrating with thousands of Tallahasseeans at the Kleman Plaza to count down the New Year! Well, there's what we have done so far and what we'll be doing for the holidays... in a nutshell! LOL... Yeah, believe me, that was in a nutshell!!!

Well... I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and the New Year with your loved ones!!!

It's ALL about THE Passion!!!

They started out with close to 200... With a passing rate of only 40% each semester, the number of hopeful souls started dwindling down. Full of dreams, driven by the desire to help mankind, each one journeyed on... Braving sleepless nights, trading the only little time left for themselves to save others, only to wake up from a nap and start all over again. Last Thursday night, we witnessed only the BEST--all 31 remaining--starkly dressed in white, proudly standing tall... Welcome to the Nursing School's Pinning and Graduation Ceremony! My sister, Kathryn, was one of them...

Kathryn--fondly called "Kulot" in our family because of her adorable curls as a little girl, my ONLY sister--my little sister, one of my bestfriends, my maid-of-honor, the "cool" sibling, my shopping-buddy--is NOW a NURSE! There are no words to express how proud I am of her!!! Watching her last Thursday, I couldn't believe how much she's grown through her college years. Was this really the little girl I used to play with??? Those of you who are close to her, VERY WELL KNOW what she has gone through in the past... She has faced a lot of obstacles and despite all the hardships, she has proven to those who have caused her great pain that she has succeeded!!!

The speaker at last night's ceremony said... "Nursing is one of the most respected professions throughout history... Nurses truly touch the world, one patient at a time... All you nurses up here on the stage and down there in the audience, KNOW that it's not about the paycheck and it's definitely not about the work hours... It's about having that fire deep within to reach out and care for others... So, keep that fire burning because IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PASSION!"

Congratulations to the Nursing School Fall Class of 2006!

Planning Ahead...

Rob and I were talking last night about our plans for 2007... We really put a lot of thought and consideration on them and we decided on what's best for us... and we have come up with these:

* Delaying our plans of buying land to build our second home... (We've been searching the last few weeks, but we can't seem to find a great location!!! It's all about LOCATION!!!) We LOVE our home right now because it's really big for 2 people and it's so CLOSE to EVERYTHING... I can walk to the mall if I want to... I can get to several grocery stores in less than 5 minutes!!! I can get to work in less than 10 minutes!!! Our subdivision is surrounded by a bunch of businesses... the hospital's 5 minutes away, as well as some awesome restaurants... We just love living here... It's a great neighborhood and I don't think we're ready to trade all of these off just yet... So, we'll keep trying to look for a lot, with no concrete plans of actually purchasing it until after 5 years or so from now!

* In lieu of buying land, we're going to do some extensive home rennovations!!! (We both love doing this!!!)

* We're going to be building a de-tached second garage, that is big enough to fit Rob's motorcycle and lawn stuff... and serve as a tool room for Rob. We have a shed in our backyard, but it can only hold his lawn stuff for now!!!

* Installing granite countertops in the kitchen and the bathrooms, as well as new sinks and restoring the tiles in the bathrooms.

* Getting rid of our deck in the backyard and replacing it with a brick patio, so we can later add a built-in grill.

* Pressure-washing the front porch and repainting it, so I can finally put some patio furniture on there :-)

* Re-landscaping the front lawn and the backyard... (We need to get rid of some trees!!! We have way too many trees in the back!!!)

* Replacing our kitchen appliances with a black fridge, black oven, stove, and vent, and a black microwave oven to match our breakfast area.

* Putting crown molding on the ceilings--if we have time, otherwise we can always wait until the year after :-)

* And we're also looking at possibly installing a pool in the backyard in a couple of years... (And therefore, replacing our fence with a higher one!!!) Hmmm... this might make us stay at our current home even much longer than planned!!! But that's alright... What can I say???!!! We really DO LOVE our home... it truly is home, sweet home!!!

It's Almost Christmas!!!

So, I haven't updated in a while... I've been really really busy with Christmas stuff... I can't believe this would be my very first post for December!!! Could I be more of a blog slacker or what!!! Haha! Anyways, so much has happened since Thanksgiving... so, pardon me if I forget something... Let me get my thoughts straightened out...


Let's see... I guess I'll start with Dec. 1st... So, Kevin had their Regional championship game that night... Sadly, they lost to Nease High... but we soon found out that Nease was on probation for 5 years. They (FHSAA) did an investigation and found out that Nease had been cheating by recruiting players from other school zones and the coaches were offering the parents of the players jobs and monetary gifts, etc... Anyways, everybody is really upset about this, because Nease got a very light punishment and this did not even disqualify them to go on to Miami for the State Championship... Well, I guess Karma got to them since they lost to Plant high from Tampa in the championship anyway :-)


So, now that the football season's over, Kevin's focusing on working out, weight-lifting and stuff... I think he's joining Rob's basketball team, with JB, as they started practicing last Saturday for the season, which starts on Jan. 2nd!Also, Kevin's on the Lincoln Track team... He does shot put! I'm not sure if he's still going to be in it this year though... And before you know it, they'll be having their annual Spring Football Jamboree and the cycle continues... Hopefully, the Trojans will go all the way to the State Championship next year (which will be here at the Doak Campbell Stadium--home of the FSU Seminoles!). Since most of their players--like Kevin--are juniors, they have a really good chance to dominate next season, especially because their JV (Junior Varsity) team was undefeated this season and will be moving up to Varsity in the Spring!!!


On Saturday (Dec. 2nd), Rob had to go to work to reload their servers. And I took that opportunity to go Christmas shopping (mostly for Rob)... and I was able to wrap his presents up before he even got home from work :-) We were supposed to go to the Catfish Championship party that night, but I took a nap and woke up with a horrible headache. I told Rob to go without me, but he stayed home instead, so we missed that one :-( That Sunday, we didn't do much but had dinner with Kevin at Smokey Bones.


Kevin celebrated his 18th birthday last Wednesday, Dec. 6th!!! I can't believe my "baby" brother is already 18!!! Yes, he's 18 and in 11th grade because my mom enrolled him in nursery school instead of kindergarten when he was 5!!! He never failed, in case you're wondering... He's actually pretty smart... He's really good in Math--which is one of my minors in college (because it's required for B.S. Software Engineering, and a minor in Physics too) and is one of my strongest subjects as well as Kathryn's... I think we took after my dad in that area--the Math and Science part, that is :-)We didn't have a big party, but we had a great family dinner and I made Kevin a stacked Krispy Kreme cake... LOL Anyways, he'll ALWAYS be a "baby" brother to me, not matter how much bigger he grows :-)


On Friday, Dec. 8th, Rob and I attended his company's Christmas party at the Doubletree Hotel. We had a really great time, well, except I got a little upset because Rob didn't want to dance. He danced once but that was it!!! Anyways, maybe I can get him to take dance lessons in the spring???? Haha, just a thought! We'll see...


Last Saturday, Rob had to work overtime yet again, so I went with my parents Christmas shopping... I had to help them pick out what to get everybody for Christmas... haha... including me! So, I've pretty much opened up 1 present already! Well, Rob did too though... He met his dad at the fairground's gun show so he can pick out one of his Christmas presents... One thing about my husband that everybody knows is that he's REALLY SPOILED!!! He's so spoiled that our bestman--Jimmy, who is Rob's cousin--even stated the fact during his speech and I quote him... "Rob's spoiled, but that's Kerstin's problem now!!!" haha! So, yeah, dad bought him a $600 pistol last Saturday, just because Rob wants one! I remember the Christmas we got engaged (2 years ago), he wanted a new set of wheels for his Bimmer... so what did mom and dad do??? Well, they bought him the $5,000 set of rims, of course!!! Last Christmas was pretty low-key... I think Rob opted for cash or something... Well, except for the fact that they bought us some really expensive set of China--which we still haven't used and is still sitting in our China cabinet! Anyways, mom and dad may be spoiling Rob, but I sure keep him grounded :-)


On Sunday, Rob worked on the lawn (finally!)... We have this huge oak tree on our front yard that sheds tons of leaves everywhere... Well, he's not technically done. He has yet to work on our back yard and our deck is blanketed with leaves.. Sunday night, we had dinner with my in-laws... I was finally able to see mom's Christmas decorations... They were also done decorating their lawn, which inspired us to follow through :-) Mom gave me a bunch of wreaths and Christmas lights, so I basically have no excuse not to decorate outside... :p


My sister Kathryn's graduating on Thursday!!! I was going to throw her a big party, but she didn't want that, since She and her bestfriend Shelley are both graduating and are having a party at the Holiday Inn downtown next weekend... So, we're celebrating at Olive Garden on Friday night instead... Kathryn accepted a job offer at TMH and she'll be taking the NCLEX exams next year. Speaking of which, while we were having dinner at mom and dad's, Spencer told me that they have an ornament hanging on their tree that looks like Kathryn... So after dinner, he showed me where it was and sure enough, there hanging on a branch was a tiny nurse with black hair, a round face and big black eyes... and Spencer proudly said "See... I told you that's Kathryn!"... haha!


So last night, Kathryn and Kevin came over to help us put our Christmas lights up! Well, they mostly helped Rob, while I decorated the wreaths with bows and nosegays and hung them on every window and door. We didn't go "all out" as Kevin kept saying, since this is our very first attempt... But Kathryn already have big plans for next year though... She's going to help me pick out all the stuff we're going to put on our lawn!!!


JB's been missing all the action :-( He mostly works Mondays-Fridays from 3-11 PM, so he couldn't be there with us! Yeah,my siblings and I are workaholics... Mainly because we like having our own money... We don't like depending on our parents. We've all been working since high school (Yes, Kevin works now too!!!). Eventhough I had a full scholarship, I worked 40 hours a week my first 2 years in college and started working more the last 2 years. On my senior year, I had 2 jobs, with almost 60 hours per week combined... All this while having a full load of courses all 4 years at FSU!!! Kathryn's been working 2 jobs too, despite having a full scholarship... She even has an internship, so it's like having 3 jobs, while going to Nursing school full time... But that's all about to change for her come Thursday!!! I'm extremely proud of my sister, despite what she has gone through... All her hard work has paid off!!! I remember that feeling, my last day at FSU... the feeling that I've accomplished SO MUCH from NOTHING--that it didn't even cost me a penny to get my degree and now my sister gets to experience what I had! And JB's been blessed with a great job (thanks to Rob's connections) that he gets to attend FSU full time while pursuing Physical Therapy... and He even pays for his own tuition!!! Hopefully, Kevin will get a scholarship too... if not a full athletic scholarship to play football, then he'll definitely get a partial academic scholarship through Florida Bright Futures so long as he maintains a good GPA! People often say... (My co-workers mostly) "Your parents are so lucky to have you! My son/daughter who's older than you still depends on me!!!" They're wrong!!! My siblings and I ARE LUCKIER to have parents like them... We may have ignored some of their teachings when we were younger, but we always remembered them... and we learned from our mistakes... They never spoiled us and taught us to work hard for what we want... and because of them, we have come this far!!!


Anyways... After decorating, we all went out to eat at Boston Market... Mmmm... It was like having Thanksgiving all over again!!! So, two hours later and a tired crew of 4, we now have this...



The front of our house



Front (without the flash)



The front porch



Wreath on the door leading to the garage



Wreath on the door leading to the deck



Left side of the house



Wreath on the front door... I made all those wreaths from scratch :-)



And this is what I've been doing the past couple of weeks... Christmas shopping!!! I'm almost done... yay!!!