Goodbye 2010!

2010 has been a wonderful year for us! It has been so full of many happy memories, and a few sad ones, and I thought that tonight would be a great time to reflect on our year! (clicking on the grey words should open a picture or the original blog post)

January: When January arrived, it made it real as to how fast the wedding was approaching! We were busy planning and enjoying being engaged. The highlight of the month was an amazing date night that included a limo, a romantic dinner at the melting pot, and tickets to see STOMP at the Pantages theatre.

February: We spent much of the month working but we were able to have some time with our families. My wedding dress FINALLY came in, and I was nervous that I wouldn't love it like I did when I tried it on, I had a high sigh of relief that I still loved it and knew I chose the right one.

March: March = birthday month for our friends and family (we had five or six celebrations that month)! We were also able to celebrate the wedding of our good friends, Elizabeth and Ronnie at the golf course in Avila Beach. We had a tasting for our wedding dinner and I was able to spend a wonderful weekend with so many special people in my life at my bridal shower in San Luis, hosted by the lovely Jackie.

April: My Mother-in-law threw me another bridal shower at her home so that my friends that live down here could attend. My uncle was in a horrible motorcycle crash (and has now made an almost miraculous recovery) and Dad and I were able to visit him while he was in the hospital. Chris went on his bachelor party (a Carnival cruise down to Mexico) with ten of his friends and had a great time.

May: May was certainly a busy month for us! While we were busy putting the final touches on the wedding, I was picked up by my Maid of Honor for my surprise bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas! We sadly said goodbye to my Grandfather the week before the wedding, but we know that he was watching over us on our special day. We had the best time at our wedding and everything turned out perfectly! We were ready to go on the honeymoon to Tahiti and relax in paradise for a week!

June: We adopted two kittens and (we named them Captain Jack and Brick) they provide much entertainment. We were also able to celebrate the wedding of our friend Gus and Tiarra at a winery in Orcutt. We also continued our hunt for a home to purchase.

July: July was our month to travel: we spent time visiting Mom and Dad, we flew up to Washington to visit with my Grandma and Pawpaw's friend Tom, and we also went to Las Vegas with a group of friends. The highlight of the Vegas trip was getting to see the Beatles Love show. We enjoyed our travels, but were definitely glad to be home at the end of the month!

August: We both worked a lot in August and we were glad to have Chris' 28th birthday to celebrate to give us a little bit of a break from work. We went camping for three nights with some friends (including boating, fishing, hiking, s'mores and late-night game playing). I also met a wonderful "new" friend. Nicole's Grandmother and mine were friends while in Arabia, our Moms were friends growing up and now we have become close since she moved out to California.

September: It was wonderful to have time with Mom and Dad as they both came to visit during the month. Dad came down and we were able to go to Dodger stadium where we watched the Giants beat the Dodgers. Mom came on another visit and we did what we do best: shop, chat and just enjoy our time together.

October: Another month of overtime for us. We stayed pretty close to home, but we did get to enjoy a day of horseback riding in the hills overlooking Santa Barbara and Goleta.

November: We had much to be thankful this year! We spent a weekend in Santa Rosa for my brother's wedding, had been married for six moths and celebrated my 27th birthday with a relaxing weekend in Paso Robles. We had been waiting to hear if the bank had accepted our offer on a house that we loved and we heard that it was accepted!

December: This has been such a busy month for us! We have been signing our lives away on paperwork for our new house, going to LA Kings hockey games, celebrating two Christmases and trying to spend time together!

This has been such an amazing year for us and we have felt so loved by our family and friends who have shared in our joyous moments. We are looking forward to seeing what 2011 will bring to us! I wish you a year full of happy moments, love and time with those that are important to you! See you next year!

Crosby Christmas

I got off of work at 7am on Christmas day and Chris had to leave for work at about 10:45 , but we were glad to have a little time together! We drove out to Chris' Mom's house where his cousins, aunt, and sister were waiting for us to open gifts and stockings.

Before the any gifts were opened.

Elizabeth and Mario greeted us in their Christmas attire...penguin onesie pajamas!


This is my stack of gifts! I must have been a very good girl this year!

I got everything on my list (including a wonderful hammock, that I'm hugging) and Chris surprised me with a pink hockey jersey!

Chris was excited because he got a portable karaoke machine!

The aftermath (with Chris' cousins Luke and Donya in the picture).

I carried a little of our family tradition (mimosas!) to Lynn's house. Dottie, Lynn and I enjoyed them while we cooked dinner.

It was wonderful to spend time with my in-laws (my Father-in-law joined us for dinner) and while we were missing Chris, it was a very nice Christmas.

I hope that you were able to celebrate the holiday with those you love. The best gifts I received this year was time with my family(s)! It's hard to believe that it's almost 2011!

Christmas with the Wrights

My family is used to celebrating holidays on odd days due to Mom and Dad working shift work and now Chris and I work rotating schedules too. We have learned how to split the holidays between our families and this year was no different.

I had three days off in the week before Christmas and Chris had two days off, so we spent them up celebrating with Mom and Dad.

Mom and I love to bake together, usually we spend days and days baking cookies (my favorite being red chocolate crinkles), but with our limited time together we only made these chocolate-coffee-cheesecake-cupcakes for me to take to work on Christmas eve for my shift.

After we opened gifts on the 23rd. Brick enjoyed helping us open our gifts and playing in the wrapping paper. Another of our traditions is drinking mimosas while opening gifts.

Chris was very happy to receive a head scratcher (I don't know what it's called, it looks like a whisk without the ends touching). Dad and I aren't too fond of them, but Chris and Mom enjoy them!

Mom enjoyed her chicken gifts this year, a stone carving of a woman sitting on a big chicken and a mug that says "farm life" on the inside rim. (Mom has good taste, she picked these out herself early in the year but had forgotten!).

Jack was pretty skittish being at their house, but Brick was enjoying all of the attention and all the ribbon left over from our gifts.

Brick helping us open gifts.

Even Jack and Brick got stockings this year! (Thanks Dad!)

Mom and I (and Jack who finally came out of hiding) after opening gifts. (I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of Dad, but he was there too!)

After raining for the past week, the day was just beautiful: Crisp and warm at the same time, blue skies, and clear view out to the ocean. We decided to enjoy the break in the weather and took a walk around the neighborhood.

We enjoyed looking at the different yards and styles of houses, getting ideas for our home. We even found a house that was very similar to ours and we were able to see how just a few changes/updates can make a big difference.

All of the fire hydrants in the neighborhood have been painted to look like soldiers. Rumor has it is that a retired firefighter painted them a long time ago and they have remained painted ever since.

Before heading back to Camarillo we had a delicious dinner at Mclintocks in Pismo Beach. When we got into Santa Barbara there was a huge, golden moon leading us home.

We had a wonderful visit and, even though it was too short, we are thankful for any time that we get together!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you are spending the day (or whenever you are able to celebrate) with family and friends! We will be spending some time with my in-laws before Chris has to head to work and I am thankful that I get to see my husband for a little bit today. I am very blessed by the wonderful, caring and loving family and friends that I have. Thank you all for being a special part of my life.

Merry Christmas!

hockey

On Dec. 9th (I know, a long time before I got around to posting about it) we went with a group of 18 people to a Kings hockey game, most of them were co-workers of Chris' but a few of my friends came too. We were able to get a suite at the Staples center (thanks to my mother-in-law) and it was amazing!

We started with dinner at the Yardhouse and it was yummy! The perfect place to grab some beer and food before cheering on your favorite team!

The ice before the game.

My wonderful friend Nicole and I.

The teams warming up.



They have a blimp that floats around the Staples Center dropping things in between periods during the game.

After each intermission, the Kings exit their locker room from what looks like a Castle.

Having some fun in the suite.

Chris was really happy to be at the game!

Last time we went to a game, Ish bought a big black foam #1 finger and Chris was really happy (I guess?) that Ish remembered to bring it this time.

It was another close game and fortunately the Kings won! We were all pretty happy about it, everyone except for Danielle who was rooting for the other team, but she took the ribbing pretty well when her team lost.

Nicole, Ish, and Gus chatting in the living room area of the suite. We even had our own waiter come and serve us and we were close to the good concession stands, so we didn't have to go too far to get delicious stadium food!

Ish and his finger.

A fun time was had by all and it was really nice to meet more of Chris' coworkers. Hopefully we can all do it again soon!

Holiday decorating at Pecho

Earlier this month I spent a few days at Mom and Dad's house, just visiting and enjoying our time together.

On my drive north, the sky was just beautiful and thanks to my new camera, I got some amazing pictures and I drove along the coast.

The weekend was filled with decorating, shopping, the boat parade in Morro Bay, and a retirement party for our wonderful friend and neighbor, Matt.

Mom and Dad's house lit with Christmas lights.


We had a great view of the boat parade while sitting on some steps (I didn't get a very good picture, but there were some neat entries). Some boats played music, some had themes and others were just full of lights.


I was also able to help decorate the house for Christmas.
{and it came out beautifully if I do say so myself!}

The stocking (not) hung by the chimney with care...

The simply decorated buffet.

The dining room table ready for a delicious meal to be served.

Ornaments, trees, and a garland in the front window.

My job every year is to setup the manger and this year I was very happy with how it turned out.

Here is Madge, one of "the girls", outside of the window watching us decorate. She and the other girls (there are 5 total) kept pecking at the glass trying to "eat" the garlands that we put on the windowsills.

We didn't decorate our own house this year (didn't even get a Christmas tree or put up lights outside), with starting to pack and our work schedules being hectic this month, we decided to save our decorating energy for next year when we are in our own home. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday, however you are spending it!

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow...tomorrow...

I get to see these two wonderful people tomorrow! Any amount of time we get to spend together is wonderful and tomorrow is much needed time together.

Mom and Dad are coming down to check out the house we are in the process of buying and I am really happy that they are braving the stormy weather to give us some much needed advise and company!

We have been told (here at work) to expect over 10 inches of rain over the next week, so make sure that you are all prepared with flashlights, batteries, non-perishable food, and warm blankets to cozy up in, especially if the power goes out where you are! Candles are good too, as long as they are contained in a glass (we don't want any fires started)! Stay dry, take your time driving, and enjoy your weekend!

days off this past week

This past week I was fortunate to have two days off in a row (unfortunately Chris had work and training both days so I only got to see him Tuesday night for a couple of hours)!

It was nice to be able to sleep in a little, catch up on laundry, and begin sorting through all of our stuff! Looking at our schedules for the next month and a half, there are very few days that we have off together, so I figured that I would begin cleaning, sorting, and packing so that it's not a big rush when we do, eventually, get the keys.

I also spent a lot of my time off trying to read through all the legal documents for buying a house. What a hard time that is! It seems like everything is written in another language and I only understand about half of what I'm reading! So I'm making sure to take my time and read through everything a few times and looking up things when I'm not sure what they mean.

Hopefully we will have a better idea of the condition of the house, after the roofer and duct-men come to inspect it a little more closely, in the next week or two and have a better idea of when we can close escrow!

I hope that you are having a great week, that you are not stressing about the little things and taking joy in the things that make you happy!

Updates:

Here are a few updates from our lives recently:

• House: Our offer has been accepted by the bank on the house that we liked the most (YAY!). We had the home inspection last Thursday and it seemed to go well, nothing major came up and now it's onto the paperwork, negotiations as to those minor things that need fixing, and (hopefully) getting the keys in the near future!
• Work: Work for both of us is really busy right now. There is lots of overtime due to people being on vacation and with the holidays coming up. Chris' shift is changing again, but fortunately he is able to stay in Santa Barbara, so only the hours are going to be different.
• Christmas: I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I think between working a lot (usually 5 or 6 days out of the week) and knowing that we will be moving in the near future, I just can't find the energy to decorate. I did get most of our Christmas cards mailed this week and we have a day or two off together next week, so maybe we will decorate then.

I am looking forward to having a couple of days off next week and catching up on housework, beginning to pack and sort through our things, and resting. Happy weekend!

Grass

Tonight I was trying to catch up on the mountain catalogs that have been coming daily to our mailbox and found them filled with many wonderful, colorful items that I will never buy. I will admit to having purchased gifts before from catalogs (maybe the reason for our mountain of them) and especially being up at 3am at work, on the computer, with Christmas and birthdays fast approaching it seems like a good idea. Especially since my number of days off are getting harder and harder to find.

Normally, I don't like to purchase items out of catalogs; I like to go to the store, browse (pick up and touch and see in person) and find just the right gift for just the right person. And oftentimes I find that things in catalogs are just useless things that clutter up our homes (and I don't like to see the total skyrocket because of shipping at the last minute), but there are many things I see and enjoy for the moment that they pass my vision as I turn the page.

Tonight I saw a t-shirt (that I would never purchase for anyone) but I really liked the saying on it and it got me thinking...

If the grass is greener on the other side

WATER YOUR GRASS.

I know it probably isn't meant to be thought provoking or anything other than a "funny" little saying, but it certainly got me thinking.

How often do we complain (myself included) about what others have, how someones friendships/marriage/life is more ideal than ours? How often do we put up a front so that others don't see that we are not perfect, that we have stresses in our lives and that we are flawed? I know that I do it often because it is easier in the moment to say that I am fine, instead of telling someone my troubles and worries.

Fortunately I have a husband who is a great listener, wonderful friends and a family that I can always lean on when I need to. Hopefully I am someone that my friends and family lean on when times are tough and that you all know that I am here for you, big things or small. I think that if we all took a few extra moments to look at what we do have and stop coveting what we perceive others have, then we might just see that our grass is actually a beautiful shade of green.

December...

Is starting out (and will continue to be) a busy month for us it seems! I was fortunate enough to be able to spend 3 wonderful days with Mom and Dad this past weekend where we were able to spend time with friends. I have pictures and updates to come (hopefully) soon, but until I have some time at home they will have to wait.

I hope that your week is starting off well and that we are all remembering to be thankful for all that we have been given! Happy Tuesday!

27 on the 27th!

This year I turned 27 on November 27th. My wonderful husband treated me to a weekend full of surprises. We started out the weekend on Friday by driving north and stopping in at my parents' house.



After a short visit and lunch we continued north until we arrived at our hotel in Paso Robles. The hotel was gorgeous (even if they did make a mistake with our reservation) and we had an amazing suite.

The living room.

Hallway from the living room to the bedroom.

The beautiful bathroom.

Chris getting comfy on the bed.

Enjoying some time together!


The biggest surprise of the weekend was a hot air balloon ride over the vineyards Saturday morning. We had to get up early, but it was worth it, even if it was only about 33 degrees outside!

The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous and I am so glad that we were up early to enjoy it together! {thanks to Mom and Dad for my new camera that helped me get so many wonderful pictures}

We took off from the parking lot of Eagle Castle Winery. The winery reminds me of medieval times.

Our guide testing out the flame before the balloon was attached.

The balloon laid out before being inflated.


Chris holding the mouth of the balloon open so the air gets inside.

It's growing!


and growing...or is the castle shrinking?


Filling it up with the hot air.

All ready to go!

We're off to float in the skies!

The view looking west.

The winery from high up.

It was cold, but a beautiful day for ballooning!

Different varieties of grapes, with different colored leaves. I love the fall colors!

We were able to float right down in between the vines.

We flew over Castoro Cellars.

Looking up at the balloon as our guide increased the flame.

We ended the day with dinner at McLintocks and shared some champagne to celebrate.

It was the best birthday weekend I can remember having and I am so glad that we were able to have time together. I am one very lucky lady to have such a caring, romantic and loving husband!