December 13, 2012
-
Two weekends ago, we went to visit James’ parents for the day. We were originally going to spend Thanksgiving with them, but with my parents flying in from the east coast, we moved our trip (and they spent Thanksgiving with James’ sister instead). The kids fun playing with trains and dolls. With both kids entertained and no Internet, I flipped through catalogs until I fell asleep.
It was raining pretty hard Sunday morning, so we skipped out on our CIM (California International Marathon) fun run. I’m sure if I were running the actual marathon, I would have braved the storm, but it wasn’t worth a 2.63 mile route. Instead, we went to Melissa’s house for a play date and lunch. Much cozier! Plus, they served their award winning empanadas – yum.
In the late afternoon, Calista met up with her friend Cassie for a local production of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’ It was super cute, only 30 minutes and $7/ticket. We had Cassie and her parents over for dinner after the show.
Mid-week, Zachary’s school had a ‘Festival of Lights’ event, where each grade had displays of how people around the world celebrate the holidays. There were samples of food (the room for India was the yummiest!) and Santa was in the North Pole room. Zach asked Santa for a bike since his knees hit the handle bars of his current bike. Calie asked for a toy horse and new shoes.
Last Saturday was SUPER busy! Zach and I went on a 6.3 mile jog with friends while James took Calie to dance class. We met up at the annual Santa event at our workplace, where there were crafts, stations to write letters to Santa, movies, and animal stuffing.
And the obligatory family photo with Santa … complete with badge (Ugh!)
Then I took Calista to Aubrey and Courtney’s birthday party (Happy 6th Birthday!) In the afternoon, I went to 2 yoga classes (Calie came with me to one.)
10k jog + over 2 hours of yoga in one day = sooo sore! Call me crazy but I think I’m more motivated to exercise because my Lululemon exercise outfits are so comfortable and cute. I’m a huge fan. I think their clothes are perfect for middle-aged women/moms … high quality, flattering, and not too revealing. Let’s face it. “Pink” and “Juicy” don’t belong on my 38-year-old backside.
Saturday evening, Melissa had a work holiday party, so we babysat their kids … which was super easy since they’re well behaved and my kids like playing with them.
I had to work unexpectedly over the weekend … 7am meetings, 11pm sync ups, texts, phone calls, IMs. I was pretty much online all Sunday. Skipped my morning jog, James took both kids to swim lessons. I planned a get-together to see ‘Madeline’s Christmas’ show that day, and had to miss the pre-show lunch at Red Robin. Bah! I was able to sneak away for the actual performance though (yes, I did check my work email during intermission
) Annoying as it is when work gets in the way of life, escalations inject a sense of urgency and energy that I somewhat thrive on. I may be one of those crazy people that need stress in my life, so I can’t complain too much.
(Kids: Alex, Nicole, Calie, Zach, Khloe, Jason, Kelly) ‘Madeline’s Christmas’ was a fun, sold-out show and we had front row seats. I think Calista prefers the smaller theatres, as she likes meeting the characters after the performance.
Other non-kids activities the past 2 weeks included a date night with James … we watched ‘Life of Pi’, which was very good but boat in the storm made me feel nauseated. At one point, I actually had to walk out of the theater. It’s possible I just ate too much popcorn too, as it seems everyone else was fine. We had appetizers at Chops before heading home. My team and I took my awesome admin (now ex-admin… *sniff!*) Marissa out for lunch to thank her for all she’s done for us. Because of a re-org at work, I was assigned a different admin. I will definitely miss the awesome support I got from Marissa! My team also went on our Q4 quarterly … an hour at SkyHigh playing dodge-ball and jumping into foam pits. I actually did a flip! I can’t wait to take the kids to show them – they are going to be so impressed.
We then went to Samauri Sushi and received such bad service that we walked out. Upon discovering we were on a company expensed Happy Hour, the owner claimed our group was too big to get the discounted prices. We ended up going to Chicago Fire, which was a crowd pleaser. Can’t beat their deep dish pizzas – best crust ever! (My Yelp warning: http://www.yelp.com/biz/samurai-sushi-rancho-cordova)
Speaking of work (again), do you ever question your choice of industry? I am really a girl’s girl. I grew up with sisters. I was a girl scout (and girl scout leader.) My best friends are women. Today I trimmed my nails using wire cutters … and when I cut myself, I glued the wound with super glue. I think it’s a sign that I’m around men too much all day.
