Last post of the 2007 Year...

It's the last post of the Year... My grandma or "Gueli" as I called her passed away 2 weeks ago, so my cousin and I flew out and then drove back home. We stayed for about a week for the funeral and for X-mas. The last X-mas Holiday I spent back home was 1999. I have visited for short periods throughout since then and also my Ma and Tia Rosa visited in 2006 and 2007. The last time I visited home was in March 2005. That's the Last time I saw Gueli. Spending this time back home has made me want to move back. Not too close, but close enough to be able to be home faster than having to catch a plane and then drive some more. San Antonio or Austin would be perfect as they would be just a short drive. There again I also would like to move farther to maybe Canada or Spain or Italy. Anyways we'll see what happens this year. Y'all have a good one.

Homemade Fall Wreath

I have always wanted to have a fall wreath to hang on the front door, however every year by the time I start looking at Autumnal themed wreaths, fall has passed and it's already x-mas.

I bought my x-mas wreath several years ago. It is a Martha Stewart Everyday brand wreath from Kmart. The wreath has frosty fake snow and is stringed with white lights. to this day I have not had to replace a single bulb. I like that all the things I buy from Martha Stewart always have some recipe or idea. I got some bows last year that said the first Christmas card appeared in London in 1843, however sending holiday cards did not become popular in the United States until the 1870s.

So this year I decided no matter what I was going to have a fall wreath. I looked at some stores but did not like the prices. I could wait until after Thanksgiving when they would likely be discounted but by then it's time to put the x-mas stuff up.

Looking through my decorating stuff and found I had several fall garlands that I used last year for work that I was not using this year. I got my crafty gloves on and cut a circle out of a cardboard box and then spray painted it. I cut up several of the garlands into smaller usable pieces and then hot glued them onto the cardboard box. The finished wreath looked awesome.

Discover India 2007

On Sunday, November 18th I attended the 6th Annual Discover India Festival. It was fun. there were traditional dances on the stage many sellers of Indian jewelry and clothes as well as traditional Indian food. Definitely will go again next year.

Butterball Cruelty

Thanksgiving almost here...

Thanksgiving is almost here. Usually for Thanksgiving I go to someone's house to celebrate as I don't really celebrate it. On some past years I have gotten one of those ready made meals for me and my roommates.

This year the first invitation came from Enedina... So If I go to anyone's Thanksgiving it will be hers. Her parents won't be here but she and her sisters and brothers are getting together. It is potluck style and said they already have everything they need so I wouldn't need to bring anything. She is making the main course and her siblings bringing in the rest of the stuff. She is making it a formal type dinner so no jeans! Rocio is going to be joining her and she also invited me, which is great. I do work on black Friday so means I won't be able to stay too late, but it's nice of her to have invited me. If I do go I'll probably take some kind of dessert.

Still, it would be nice to have dinner with my roommates, as we rarely get to hang out together anymore. I guess that may have to wait for X-mas...

JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes...

Today I participated in the JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes. This event, like the previous volunteer walk I participated in, was at the Tempe Beach Park. This time the walk was in the morning. Started at 9am, team photo at 8:30am and registration at 7:30am. I arrived at around 7:15am so was able to register and do quick walk/warm up around looking at the different vendors and participants.

Starbucks was giving a free tall coffee to whoever wanted, so that's where I headed first. They were also giving sample size servings of Pumpkin Spice Latte. There was an official breakfast area that was giving out juice, apples, bananas, oranges, mini muffins, and breakfast bars. The music on the stage was great. Fox was the tv sponsor and they brought Stewie from Family Guy was there.

The walk route was 5k and very well planned. Some walkers and runners took shortcuts. Not me. I wanted to really be able to say that I walked the whole 5k so I did it with no shortcuts and it felt good.

At the finish line they were giving out gift bags with candles in them. Nice. I also got a few giveaways that some companies were giving. A couple pens, energy drinks/water, a dog toy from PetSmart, and a few other nick knacks.

They then had brown bag lunch for everyone. Ate there and then came back home. It was a nice event.

Babyshower...

I went to a cute baby shower today. It was for the daughter of a work friend.

Dishwashing Gel Cut...

pretty much what the title says dish washing gel cut. I was opening a bottle of Target brand dishwashing gel and I cut myself with the edge that is sealed with a paper that you need to pull to open. So I guess it's more like dishwashing gel edge and paper cut.

Thai Cultural Days 2007

I have always been interested in different cultures, travel, religions, customs, foods, etc. This weekend here in Phoenix there was a Thai Cultural event. It is the Fifth Annual Thai Cultural Day Festival and took place at the Heritage & Science Park. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. I had no one to go with so I went by myself. There were booths with a showcase of sites to visit in Thailand, Thai food, products of Thailand, and information on Thailand.

I didn't make it to the opening ceremonies that included the Thai Ambassador to the U.S. and other city elected officials, but I did get to see some of the dances and hear classical music played on unique Thai instruments. Throughout the grounds there was a showcase of gold, fuchsia, pink and green rice paper umbrellas of all sizes.

I parked at the garage under Heritage Square Park which I thought was overpriced at $10, but I couldn't find any street parking. I went to the Saturday, 10/27/2007 event. I wanted to return today Sunday, but had to work and already had evening plans. Next year I'll be going to the whole event from start to finish.

Hawaiian Luau - Work Themed Picnic 2007

Every year our work has a themed picnic. This past Tuesday, October 23, 2007 we had this year's. The theme was a Hawaiian Luau. They brought in catered food and entertainment. It was a fun event for a change. The past several years it just sucked. Here's some pics:

Light the Night Walk

I participated in the Light the Night Walk, which is an event by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, this past Saturday 10/20/2007. It was fun. Although the band playing was just too loud.
The event took place at the Tempe Beach Park. The weather was perfect for the walk.

The walk itself was about maybe 3 miles and I made sure I was right at the front of the line.
On a previous volunteer walk for breast cancer I was around the middle, so I got impatient when all the slow walkers were right in front of me and I couldn't get past them for part of the walk. It took me about an hour and five minutes to finish because of this. Even though these events are usually leisure walks, I like speed walking and I hate being behind people who go slow. So, it took me between 35-40 minutes to finish this walk.

I got to take a picture with Bullseye and there were booths where they gave away water, oranges, bananas, vitamin water, and other stuff. It was a great evening/night.

cupcakes...

Last week Armandzraven's sister asked if he would make some desserts to donate to their school. The school was putting together a fund raiser by asking parents to donate homemade desserts to sell so the kids could have a Halloween party on of course Halloween. So he made a sugar-free lemon cake with sugar-free frosting, cinnamon rolls, and cupcakes.

About a week earlier I had bought the Martha Stewart Holiday Halloween Special magazine. Her magazines are always full of ideas. In this one there were ideas on how to make cupcakes fit for a Halloween party.

So he made all the desserts and then I helped him decorate the cupcakes to look like witches and used the idea on the magazine as reference. We skipped the licorice that the magazine suggested for the hair and eyebrows and instead just piped out the hair and eyebrows for the witches from chocolate frosting. We also used Hershey's Kissables instead of M&M's for the eyes as their little peaks make better for sticking into the cupcake. Our cupcake witches did not come out as perfect as the ones pictured on the magazine, but they were good enough, and that's a good thing. :)

Around noon we dropped off the desserts at his sister's. It was fun putting the witch cupcakes together. This was this past Saturday, 10/20/2007.

some pics from Walk for Hope...

Here are a few pictures from the City of Hope, Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer that I participated in on 10/7/2007.

Starbucks run!

How awesome is my new Team Lead. She is doing a Starbucks coffee run for our team. Mmmm.... caramel macchiato.

5k Walk.

This past Saturday I participated in a 5k walk/run for the City of Hope Walk for Hope to cure Breast Cancer. My place of work paid for each walker/runner and we could invite friends and family to join.

So I took my roommate Aaron and met up with some friends after the walk. Enedina and her bf were there. There were a lot of companies participating as groups as well as individual walkers. The local country station was present as well. The walk went through the Phoenix Zoo. Many walkers with kids stopped inside the zoo... We didn't we kept fast walking, but we did see a gigantic turtle and a lion, and few other critters. It was a great morning, like most morning on the wonderful Arizona fall weather, a little chilly then warmed up as the day went on.

After the walk, some companies had set up booths, and gave away bread, band-aids, beauty product samples, water, and other stuff. Early in the morning Sprouts gave bananas and Tully's coffee had of course coffee.

New Computer!

YAY! I am so happy I got a new computer. I have been using my old computer that uses the no longer supported Windows Me. I got that one in the year 2000. So now I have a new PC running Windows Vista Home Premium and I love. First thing I did was remove all that preloaded trial crap of aol, netzero, etc on it, then do a windows update to it. So probably 1 hour after doing that I finally started looking over the new features on vista... the gadgets are neat... I'm still keeping my old computer to play my old computer games... Can't wait to try the media center options and stream pics and videos to my PS3.

I remember the first Windows system I played with was Windows 3.1 on my aunt's computer. They used CAD programs while I played games on it. Then I got my own first computer in 1995 with of course Windows 1995 and I used that until '98, when I then got a Windows 1998 computer and then in 2000 the Windows Me computer. I only got to use Windows 2000 and then XP on work computers, and have only used Apple computers for a brief period from mid 1998 to late 1999 during school when I studied Visual Communications. I think next time I may get an Apple computer.

Anyways, hope you all have a good rest of the week!!! :)

blogging...

So I have a blog here and there and almost everywhere... well not really but I do have several blogs, here at blogger, newblog, myspace, etc. Whenever I post I do it on one then copy paste it on the others... too much hassle going from one to the other... so i decided to get rid of some... so myspace is the obligatory place to be at so that stays. I am keeping my blogspot here at blogger as it's part of google and have just started discovering all their services, docs, picassa, etc. Love that i can have all those services in one spot... those are the ones i like the most, but am still keeping my yahoo one, it's my oldest if my less visited and my xbox/livespace one, so when i have my xbox when fable 2 comes out then i'll actually start using that one... i am keeping of course youtube... Wait seems like i am keeping more than I am doing away with... oh well i am getting rid of some that are just useless, always blogger and myspace are the main ones....
everyone have a good week!!!

Woke up late...

My alarm is set to go off at 3:30am, then 3:45 am, and last at 3:55 am. I start work at 5am so I have to be up by at least 4am to make it to work right on time. My alarm is set on my Virgin Mobile phone. My first alarm song went on, so I knew I had 2 more to go. Then I wake up to see if it is just before the 3:45 alarm song and no, it's 4:30 am. So I figure I could get ready quickly I may still make it to work right on time.

Clocking in at work no later than 5 minutes past the time you are supposed to be in is still ok, a minute later and it is a tardy. Three blocks to go and it is 5:08am. So if i am going to be tardy might as well make the tardy worth it. Being up to 1 hour late is a tardy, any time after that counts as being absent.

So I kept driving past work to go get coffee. I didn't get time to pack a lunch so I decided to go to a Fry's Marketplace on Chandler Blvd. that opens at 5am to pick up an apple and coffee at their in-store Tully's Coffee.

I had forgotten how much nicer the Fry's in the Ahwatukee area is compared to the ones in South Phoenix where I live. I stroll by the apples and they are perfectly buffed to shine and look as though each one was specially placed on each of their spots. I grabbed some apples, then I figured I would get bagels for the team. They had just come out and were still warm to the touch. I pick up some cream cheese to go along and some Naked Juice for me for later to lunch with my apple. After the checkout I go get a regular coffee at the Tully's.

It is now 5:34 am and no longer feel like going to work. I could either call off and take a personal day, Still make it with a tardy, or maybe go in half day and take just half an absence. Half a day at work sounds much better so I head back home. On the drive back I kept tossing the idea of just taking a personal day. Aside from the several pre-scheduled vacation weeks I took earlier this year to go to Vegas, then when my mom and aunt visited, and lastly when Aaron had his birthday at a resort in Scottsdale, I have not been absent a single time. So when I got home 6:02 am, I called scheduling a personal day, and then phone in one of my previous supervisors, as I couldn't find the business card with the phone for my current supervisor.

So what to do constructively in the 8 hours I would have normally be working so as to not feel the personal day is just being wasted? Well, I'll be doing some errands and chores around the house that need to be done. I got a couple wood file cabinets at Target that my roommate Aaron build for me so I am sorting some files, and getting rid of old ones. Aaron is still looking for a job, so part of the day I'll be driving him to some potential employers.

After today I have 10 straight days of work so I think I'll make the most of my personal day today. Everyone have a great week!!!

Nada...

Haven't really had time to post anything... Since my last post to now I have been working everyday with one day off in between work weeks. So when my day off arrives I don't feel like going anywhere so I just kick back at home. This past Sat and Sunday Has been my full weekend off in a long time. Saturday my roommates and I signed our new lease for another year in the house we are at. So by the end of the new lease in 2008 we will have spent 3 years in the house we are renting.

Target had all seasons of Smallville on sale for US $19.99 so I got season 4 and 5 that were missing from my collection. Glued to the tv, I was watching both seasons this weekend. today is Labor day here in the US so it's a "holiday" and at work only the people who sign up for specific shifts get to work everyone one else is off. I am one of the few who pro-actively signs up to work on all Holidays so I'll be going to work in the next couple of hours.

Oh I got a PS3. I got the 60GB PS3 that Sony has decided to discontinue (you may remember them also discontinuing the 20GB Model) in Favor of the Newer 80 GB PS3 model, which does not include the Emotion engine. That's the engine that runs all of PS1 and PS2 Games, so yeah I had to jump to get the 60GB one since it is really the one with the whole package in my opinion. I can play PS1, PS2, and PS3 Games on it and those new Blu Ray movies. I never owned a PS1 or PS2 so for me this was awesome to get and is sort of like a very early X-Mas gift. Which mind you seems to be just around the corner. My has this year gone fast.

Anyways, I will try to post more often, but more than likely it may be a month from now :)

No June posts, but here's a peek...

So yeah I didn't blog at all in June, but my aunt and mom visited. They visited in mid-June. We had just a quaint of a time. We went to shops, restaurants, parks, etc. and even played Nintendo Wii Sports together. Here's a peek:

my coffee...

when I have a good cup of coffee in the morning it just makes the day start much better... :)

My Vegas Trip... 5/19/07 - Recap

5/19/07 - Recap

Jerry was waiting for us when we arrived at the airport, yesterday. He said he had been there only about 10 minutes. Once home Aaron started to unpack. Turns out he didn't loose his camera, he had packed it in with his checked bag. I still haven't unpacked.

Here are some more photos: