Happy 2008 Everyone!

Last night we went to a small party at our friend's apartment to ring in the new year. The food was plentiful and delicious (sliders, chicken satay, shrimp cocktail, pigs in a blanket, homemade ice cream, etc) and the drinks were overflowing. Well, they were overflowing for most of the guests -- another girl and I were DDs, so by the end of the night it was really the coffee and water that was overflowing for us.

After chatting and eating we played some trivial pursuit 90's edition (the boys team killed us) and Guitar Hero on the Wii. I have never played GH before and I am so bad! The controls are just not intuitive for me at all and yet, by the end of the night I had decided that the game is a must have (that is, if we can find it in stock anywhere.)

Right around midnight we switched on the tv and rang in 2008 with Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve. Anyone else just feel sad when they see Dick Clark on the screen these days? I know he is doing better than he was last year and I give him props for still going on air to count down the ball dropping, but it really just breaks my heart. :( Champagne was toasted, we kissed our significant others and then 2008 was officially here. GH was played for another couple of hours and then it was time to call it a night.

Hope everyone had a great night and that 2008 is a great year!!

It's official, we're old.

Friday night, end of a long week and time to relax and get ready for the weekend. Great. Dinner and a movie (the new Harry Potter film in particular) sounded fun especially seeing as how the last time we saw a movie in a theater was when the last Harry Potter movie was out. Um, yeah, that was in 2005. Wow. Anywho, after perusing the movie guides, the AMC at Universal City had the largest selection of times so off we went.

Universal City Walk has recently been revamped and is now supposed to be bigger and better than it was prior to the "remodel". We always enjoyed hanging out there a few years back when we were still dating so we were looking forward to another fun night. We get there, park, go in and it feels much the same save for one small difference... the noise. It. Is. Loud. Like really loud. And crowded. Well, this should be fun?

We decided to eat at Hard Rock as in the past we've always had pretty good food there so we grabbed a pager and waited for them to call our table. In the mean time, Richard Blade was hosting the entertainment on the stage in the middle of citywalk so we settled in to watch for a bit. A contest was just beginning that entailed a group of pre-teen and teen-age girls on stage who were supposed to take turns dancing when a random song was played. At the end, the audience would choose their favorite by way of clapping and that girl would be the winner. Of what, I'm not sure. Sounds innocent enough, right? That is until they started dancing... like in Jim's words "video girls". We just stood there with our mouths hanging agape. And the hooting and hollering that the audience was doing was even more appalling! Keep in mind, these girls are only 13-15 years old and are dancing like go-go dancers on a stage in the middle of city walk. Who thought this was a good idea? After a minute or so, we actually had to walk away because we felt so disgusted with what was going on.

Our pager finally went off and we were seated outside on the patio as requested. We quickly ordered drinks (margaritas all around) and our meals (fajitas for me, a burger and fries for Jim). When they came out, however, we were sorely disappointed. The margaritas were just off and our meals were meh at best. Granted, I was beyond starving so I still scarfed my fajitas down without much complaint, but it was still nowhere near as good as we were hoping it would be.

After dinner we realized we were a little too late for the 10:15pm show and just didn't feel like waiting around for the 11pm one, so we took a quick stroll down citywalk before heading back to the car. Again, it all pretty much looked the same to us and with the crowds and the pulsing music and noise, it just wasn't as much fun as we remembered. On our way back to the car, we looked at each other and said "We're just getting too old". And sadly, neither of us have hit the 30 mark yet either.


OT: As I write this Jim is playing a round of 18 on the Wii. Didn't I tell you he is obsessed?

Bad bad girl

That is me. I said I was going to be better about blogging and then ... nothin'. But, I swear I have a good excuse, wanna hear? I got pretty sick in the middle of June, was knocked flat on my back and then it took me a while to get sorted out again. Granted, I've been "sorted out" for a few weeks now, but that was what initially derailed me. Boooo!

In the month that I've been away, a lot has happened though (and much of it wedding related). The highlights are:

• Went wedding dress shopping with my best friend Kristin's little sister Lindsey. I was completely honored to have even been asked along --- the total group included Lindsey, Kristin and her future sister-in-law --- and we had a great time hitting up several bridal salons in Orange County and having her try on all sorts of dresses. She may have even found "The One"!
• My other best friend, Jamie, got engaged!!! She has been with her boyfriend Nate for forever and I am so excited that they will be making it all official sometime next year. Congratulations again you two... and now let the wedding planning madness begin ;-)
• My inlaws celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. They have got to be one of the cutest, most loving couples I know and I am so happy to be able to consider them family. They celebrated with a trip to Las Vegas and stayed in the Paris hotel and even upgraded to a room with a view of the Bellagio fountains. In the words of my mother-in-law "So. Worth. It." All of us kids pitched in and bought them a GC to Charlie Palmer Steakhouse at the Four Seasons. They said that they had a lovely posh time, which is what we were all hoping. I only hope that Jim and I are still that much in like and love with one another 30 years from now.
• Met up with Kristin in OC for a full day of shopping and talking and eating and just playing catch up with each other. As always, we ate too much, laughed a lot and had a great time.
• Attended a hilarious bachelorette party for two of the SFAM girls that are getting married later this summer. Started off with dinner at Loggia and then headed to Hollywood Men for after-dinner entertainment. Um, can I just say that the choreographed dancing (and I use those words loosely) was just comedy. I seriously was in stitches from laughing so hard. But, the bachelorettes had a great time and were treated to quite a bit of eye candy.
• Attended a baby shower for my friend Deb. The shower was held at a beautiful house in Toluca Lake with the most gorgeous backyard pool I've ever seen. I didn't have the courage to actually go in, mind you --- the whole idea of being in a bikini in front of a bunch of strangers didn't so much appeal to me --- but a lot of folks sure did. The story behind Deb's pregnancy is hilarious or frightening (depending on who you ask), but too long to go into detail here. Let's just say I'm very excited for her and her little girl is very lucky to have such a cool mom and dad.
• We got a Wii. Jim is obsessed with the Tiger golf game and I am now greeted with him doing full on golf swings in our living room when I come back from the gym. Hey, I guess you can consider it a workout, right?
• Hubs and I decided on taking a trip for our 2 year anniversary so we are off to Kauai and Maui for 12 days in September. I am beyond excited, but am also now working out like a woman possessed to try and make sure I am more than bikini-ready come September. The gym and I are serious besties for the next 6 weeks.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up. I really am going to be better now that I am feeling normal again and am back on my regular schedule. No really, I am!