Godfather Dan's Birthday

To celebrate Dan's birthday, we invited the Fortmann's over for dinner. It turned out to be just like old times, celebrating Christmas, celebrating his birthday and just having a fun time. With the six of us, the group has definitely dwindled down in numbers. But such is the case with girls :-) We had made first a salad of Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette on a Bed of Greens, Apple, Pear, Cashews and Cranberries, then homemade Seafood Lasagna, and finally Tapioca. I hope Dan enjoyed the night and had a wonderful Birthday Day the following day.

A Quaint Christmas

Christmas Eve this year was very mellow. We kept it small and ended up going to Ti Amo to celebrate. Mom and I had a 4 course meal, while Dad and Dag had appetizers and then split a Paella. It was a really splendid evening. The restaurant felt quaint, so it almost seemed like you were at home. But the plus side was that you did not have to cook, nor did you have to do any dishes.

Mom and me

Dad and me

Dag and Mom

The meal was wonderful. Everything was cooked to perfection. The night was so nice. We got home and stayed up until midnight to put the baby Jesus in the Nativity Scene. Just a typical little tradition :-)

I awoke the next morning, and to my delight, Santa had not forgotten the house! I was stunned to see so many gifts under the tree. I am so lucky to still be graced by Santa's presence every year!


And the main gift this year is those set of golf clubs you see below...
Seems as though I'll be having to take some real golf lessons in the New Year!!!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

A Kitty Get Together

As mom and dad were hanging up the Christmas lights, my kitties decided to join them. For once, I was not the one having to decorate, although I did supervise from my bedroom window...yes I know, I am such a helpful child. But I could not have done much better than they did at hanging and decorating. The courtyard looks so fantastic all lit up at night!! So as the two were working hard in the cold (yes is it was very cold) Sly and Java had to come and at least watch.

here are some snapshots with Sly

and as Sly left, Java came to check out what was going on...

I love my two kitties to death, and although they have both become outdoor cats, they are still as cuddly and attached as ever.

PS Sorry for the lack in quality these photos were taken via my blackberry...

A Black and White Affair

Saturday evening Kathleen and her roommates hosted a Black and White Holiday Party. It was a fun gathering with plenty of wine and festive food. Here are a few snapshots from the evening. Let the merriment continue!!

Morgan, Tasha, Carly, Brigid, Kathleen, myself, and Katie
the beautiful hostesses are wearing red

Bryan, Travis

Carly and Avi

Jon and Tasha
taking a break from the food and drinks for some snapshots

Thank you so much Kathleen for hosting such a fun festive evening! It's always a pleasure to be able to spend an evening with friends and celebrate the season!

To Keep In Mind This Holiday Season

The Beginning of the Holiday Season

December is here and that means Christmas decorating, good food and drinks, and parties. To start the holiday season, my firm had our annual Christmas Dinner a bit early. December 8, 2008, we had dinner at Pelican Grill in Newport Beach. We all spent a very fun evening. I was surrounded by not only my bosses, but also all the wives and Andy came with me as my date. Free flowing wine, wonderful food along with great friends/bosses is a great way to ring in the holidays. I hope everyone is starting the holidays already as well. It's a great time to start thinking about others, and to just have a great and fun month.

The End of an Era

It is official; the precious fig tree has been chopped down!! It really is the end of an era in the family...

goodbye Mr. Fig Tree

Now:

Then:

Out with the Old : In with the New

So I have finally gotten the courage to juxtapose photos from the past with photos of the newly renovated front rooms of my parents house. I found these photos of my brother's and my childhood rooms.

My room had the typical pink carpet, Precious Moments border on the walls, and the four poster canopy bed with a pink ruffly bedspread.

My room

Next door Arnaud had the typical boy's room. He had blue and white carpet, black and white checkered race track border and a black and white bedspread.

Arnaud's Room

And now for the modern day look of these two rooms renovated into a master suite:

What used to be my "pinkie" room is now transformed into a living room.

Where my closet area was, we put a door to go in to what used to be Arnaud's room.

This used to be Arnaud's room, and now is my room.

To close off the closet, we put up a curtain, so it is almost like a private dressing room.

Then to complete the job to make it a master suite, first we sealed off the door that led into the hallways and we put a door from the bedroom into what used to be the guest bathroom (normally accessible from the hallway)

The newly renovated bathroom, that has two doors that can both be locked to limit access from the hallway or the bedroom.

Fall in the South

This year has been extremely eventful, filled with fun trips. This past weekend, I flew out to visit Lauren in Nashville. It was a last minute decision, but a good one at that. On Friday I gt a flight that left at noon and arrived at Nashville at 9 pm. Lauren picked me up and we stayed up ALL night catching up and talking about everything and anything (and over a bottle of wine of course). We went to bed around 4am (way past our bedtimes).

The next morning, we awoke pretty late, but made our way to the cutest coffee shop just down the street. It was an overcast day, with the high registering at 48F, and that does not include the windchill.

This photo was taken just in front of her apartment building. We both had the strong urge to find some rakes, rake up the lawns and jump in the enormous pile we could make!

Lauren's apartment building

This view was looking down her street. The colors were absolutely amazing, and this shot is only the first of many.
After breakfast, Lauren drove me all around Downtown and the neighborhoods of Nashville. With the weather we opted to make it a driving tour with the heat on full blast. I took photos from the car as we drove around.

a view of Nashville atop a hill

a view of Downtown from Vanderbilt University

At the very end of Broadway, and across the River, stand the stadium in which the Tennessee Titans call home.

Downtown

After the tour we relaxed back at Lauren's apartment until dinner. We caught a cab to Downtown and proceeded to eat at Jack's BBQ. It was phenomenal. I don't think I've had that great of BBQ, it was just so different from the stuff that we have out here on the West Coast. And of course, along with my ribs, beans, coleslaw and corn bread, I had to have a nice cold beer :-)

"Nashvegas" at night

Once we finished dinner the first bar we went to was called Tootsie's. Apparently it's really well known, of course I'll take any one's word for it since I'm not a country music fan. Here is the first pictures Lauren and I took while there.



Tootsie's got extremely crowded so we then went to the next bar, The Stage on Broadway. We ended up staying there the rest of the night!

The first performer was hysterical. At one point as I had my back turned and was talking to Lauren she stares past me, and as I turn I realize that the singer took his shirt off. Extremely random! He was like an illuminated Jesus/Dane Cook figure out there on stage.

We had a great time at The Stage and made quite a few acquaintances. One of whom was this cowboy...

...who at first tried to make it in our photo.


We left the bar at closing at 2 am and just went straight to bed. We were completely exhausted from dancing and singing and drinking! Sunday morning Lauren took me out to the Copper Kettle for an amazing brunch. We ate way too much, but at least we took care of all three meals in one :-) As we were talking about what we wanted to do for the day, she brought up the idea of going out to see Franklin, an historic little town that even she had never been to. So that's what we did, we out to discover a new place. The moment we arrived at the town square, it felt so quaint, just straight out of a movie, or the Gilmore Girls at least. People were walking the streets, heading off to church. We parked on the main road and walked for a while. This picture is of the main street with all the shops.

Town Square

As we were walking around we went up and down a few of the streets. The colors of the trees mixed in with the old architecture of the Southern homes made for perfect photo opportunities.




Unfortunately I had to leave and catch my flight Sunday evening. I really did not want to leave yet. Nashville is such a great city, filled with music and hospitable people. I felt right at home! Thanks Lauren for making it such a fun filled weekend!!!