Last Surgery

Ok...This is IT!!! I sure hope it is. On August 20th I had my hernia surgery. I got several incisional hernias from my previous surgeries...Ugh! Again I was afraid to go into the surgery room the whole thing about being put under the tube down my throat. ICK! It took me forever to wake up. I think I like being asleep..haha The pain was way worse than I thought. The incisions were small but I had quite a few hernias they had to repair. It hurt to move it hurt to sleep blah blah. I was out of work a week. When I got back I just took it easy and stayed in the office and worked. It's been four weeks today and I still have some pain and I am still bloated I feel like a fat cow..argh! I still can't exercise. I know I must be patient and I'm trying. I'm just so sick of recovery! Enough!

Lake Siskiyou

In early August we took a trip to Lake Siskiyou..It was our family Autumn Nathan's girlfriend and Emily Shannen's friend joined us. It took us five hours to get there. We had a very relaxing and great time. We celebrated Shannen's 16th birthday while we were there. We went Kayaking and played games at night. Took her to dinner and she had a watermelon cake..haha
She loved it. Loved spending the week with the family. Great time!

Girls Tahoe Weekend!

The 2nd weekend in July was our 5th annual Cousin Tahoe trip. We had a great time!

Arrived in Tahoe Friday. Went to dinner then checked out the casinos. George his friend Matt and Jeff were there for this celebrity golf weekend thing. We visited with them for a bit. Went to dinner then checked out the casinos. On Saturday we hung out at the beach. It was great relaxing loved it! For dinner we went to an amazing Italian restaurant then out to a club. We started out at Mont Blue something...It was kinda funky...stayed for a couple of hours. Then a few of us ended up at Club Vex. We had a great time. Saw George and Matt in the club and hung out with them. We crawled in at 4:30. I can't remember the last time I came home that late. Needless to say I got about 3 hours of sleep we drove home...yes I was a zombie...but we all had a great time! We missed Michelle, Lynda and Maricia who didn't go this year.

Red White Trash and Blue 4th of July BBQ

Nothing like a fun Red White Trash and Blue BBQ for the 4th. We spent the day at Jessica and Shaw's house in Santa Clara. They were remodeling and landscaping their yard so they decided to have the 4th of July party anyway...and had the white trash theme. It was great most everyone dressed up. Fireworks at Central park were great. Good time!

As tears fall

Today I was at work working with Karen in Benicia when I got a call from my best friend Cami and she told me her mother Mimi was killed in an automobile accident. Her nephew was in the car and all she knew was he was still alive. When I heard this I honestly couldn't believe it. I've known them since I was a kid. I just saw her Sunday at the Grad party. My heart sunk my stomach turned my head went foggy. I was in major disbelief. My poor friend...her children...her family. She lost her father about 8 years ago. This really couldn't be happening. Mimi was always so full of life and was a crack up. I loved talking and visiting with her. She looked good for her age of 72. She always lived life to the fullest. I still can't belive it.
I talked to Cami this evening and found out her nephew is ok but still in the hospital.
My prayers go out to Cami and her family. This is a great picture of Cami and her mother Renee (Mimi) I really loved that woman!

Working Daze!

Well...I started my job last week and so far so good. I do like it. Just getting to know the product always takes time and I need to be patient. First week I worked with Thom which was helpful cause he took me around introduced me etc. It's weird being at the Marketing meetings again and all that stuff. Almost feels like I haven't been off work a year.

Weekend was good and crazy...it was all about graduations!!! Thursday night my neice's 8th grade graduation. Friday night my Godchild Briana's High School Graduation. Saturday went to Ukiah for my neices High School Graduation. All Scott's family was there it was so much fun to see everyone. Sunday went to Hollister for Cami's 3 kid's graduations. Jacob 8th grade, Josh High School and My Godchild Cristal's College grad from Santa Clara University. Very proud of her. Proud of all of them but college is amazing. It was a great visit with Cami's family.

Say Good-Bye to Freedom

Ok...yes...good news...I got a job! I went into Homeguard for my 2nd and final interview on Monday and I was offered the job. I will be doing sales for the Home Inspection/Home warranty company. My territory is Milpitas, East San Jose/Evergreen/down to Gilroy peninsula up to Menlo Park...something like that. I will miss the East Bay and my friends out there...but not the drive. It's always weird to start a new job...the unknown..the people all that. I am looking forward to it though.
So my last week of no work...Monday was the interview went to dinner with my friend and old boss Hilda...Tuesday I had to get new tires then went to see Holly, Frank and Isabella she is about 10 days old. So darn cute. I will miss always being able to just go over on a weekday. Wednesday Shannen's last day of school so I took her to Santana Row we had lunch at Maggianos Jonathan just got off work so he joined us...shopped around and hung out for a bit. It was nice.
Thursday Shannen and I went to SFO to pick up Brittany at Scott's work. We went in and met a lot of people he works with and all that stuff. It was cool. Then us three went to the beach...ahhh how I just love the beach. Went to Santa Cruz kicked back on the beach read my book/slept. Relaxed and listened to the ocean. We took a drive to Capitola and shopped a bit. Friday went to get groceries then Britt Shannen and I went to Santana Row. Jonathan was working at Maggianos so we went to visit him had a snack. Then kicked back in my favorite spot in the sun and read my book and relaxed and people watched. That night Scott and I went to dinner with Trish, Deb and George, had a great time. My last week of freedom was amazing!

Saturday we went to Chantal's birthday BBQ in Menlo Pk. It was fun! Sunday my nieces 6th birthday party at the cool house in Monte Sereno.

It's been a year since I first broke my foot on June 22nd. In a cast for 6 weeks get laid off work end of July...first hospital stay in Aug. on unemployment 6 weeks then back into the hospital for emergency surgery...2nd surgery Jan.18. Off disability end of March. Now I will be back to work.
I'm glad to be done with the events of 2007 but I sure did try and make the best of a bad situation. It is now time to get back to reality and back work.
Life is good!

Last weekends in May

Memorial day weekend was a nice one. It started off Friday night with me going to Gay night at Great America. I hung out with Cami and her staff. It was a busy night. The entertainment was good. Comedians impersonator...fun night. I love to people watch..Great to see Cami at work....lots to do.

Scott and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary. That is more than half my life..haha. We celebrated on Sunday. We went to Shadow Brook in Capitola for Brunch. Then shopped around downtown Capitola. Scott bought a new dress and sunhat. We then went to a beach off Hwy 1. It was so beautiful. The weather was a bit overcast. But when we got to the beach the sun came out for awhile. It felt great. We then went to Santa Cruz and went to a Cafe called Chocolate. They have the best hot chocolate. It's so thick, rich dark chocolate..it's amazing. Then we went home and relaxed. It was a perfect day.
On Monday we went to see Holly and Frank they just had their baby girl Isabella. She was 10 lbs 8oz. She is so cute doesn't even look like a newborn. I can't believe 10lbs. Holly is doing good. I can't wait to go to the house and visit. I want to give them time to get settled rest and enjoy time with her.

The week went well. On Wednesday I took a trip to Hollister to visit with Cami we met her sister Robin for lunch it was a great visit. Thursday went to hang out in Santana Row and hung out by Starbucks met friends and read my book. Nathan came home on Thursday night we had dinner and all hung out. It was nice to have all the kids home. Friday Scott left for the weekend went with Manny and his dad cousins to their cabin by Arnold. I went to visit Jean and the kids. On Saturday night went with some friends to get a few drinks then off to see 'Sex and the City' good movie. I will be hopefully be working soon. I won't mention anything yet. If not I will just have to continue to enjoy life..hehe

May happenings

I need to get back to a weekly blog. I'm doing catch up now. After the weekend at the beach and surprise party the week went by like all. I'm still enjoying my time off work. I know reality is I need to get to work but it is nice just enjoying life. Mother's Day weekend was nice. Nathan came home for the weekend. On Saturday we had our annual Mother's Day lunch at The Blue Agave in Pleasanton. My mom, sisters, aunts, cousins friends all get together for a lunch. There was about 20 of us. It was a lot of fun. We relaxed and had a great time. The weather was wonderful almost 90 degrees...love it!

On Mother's Day the kids made me a wonderful breakfast then we went for a hike at Castle Rock. It was beautiful...I love hiking glad I'm able to hike again. No more broken foot no more surgeries. After the hike we went to lunch and had a great day.

On Monday I met my friend Hilda we spent the afternoon together and then she came joined us for dinner. Wednesday I met Sandra at Santana Row and we had a nice visit. Then Brittany met me there we sat in our favorite lounge chairs and relaxed and talked. Thursday I met Leslie at Starbucks in the AM. It was a nice visit. Thursday was my starvation day...I couldn't eat a thing...had to prepare for my lovely colonoscopy on Friday. Well...I have tried 2 times to have a colonoscopy and first time I ended up in surgery 2nd time they couldn't do it cause of scar tissue. Third times a charm. Again I had to go under....that always kind of creeps me out but at least it wasn't all the way under. It's great though cause I wake up and it's all over. The test went well and Dr called me and said everything looks good.

This past weekend Scott & I took Shannen and her friend Emily to Capitola. We went to go visit my brother Bert and Kathi they were staying at Kathi's parents place. We hung out at the beach I got a little color. We had a great day. Sunday Scott and I got up early and went on a hike at Alum Rock Park. I love that park.

Brittany's Surprise Birthday Party!

May always starts off with Brittany's birthday on the 3rd. We had a surprise 19th birthday party for her at the beach. This was great she was really surprised. She was actually very easy to fool..haha.

We rented a beach house at Pajaro Dunes in Watsonville. There were about 15 teenagers/young adults there. Scott and I and his sister Sandy and husband Bob were the adults there. It was great on Friday night it was just us adults at the house. We went to dinner and just had a really good time visiting. The view from our room was the ocean..so nice! The next day people started getting there around 12:30 Britt got there about 1ish. She was completely surprised I loved the confused look on her face..hehe...it was great. We had great food and drinks and dessert of course. Everyone had a good time. At night we had a fire on the beach. The weather was really nice it was sunny on Saturday. About 10 of the kids stayed the night. The next day we just hung out inside most of the day since it was a windy cold day on Sunday. But it was so beautiful looking out the windows. We ate relaxed and enjoyed the day. Left about 5pm. What a perfect weekend.

Month of April

Wow...can't believe it's been a month since the last blog. Where the hell does time go? Let me think...April was a good month. On April 8th I had a great day. In the morning I went to Trish's house in San Ramon she made me breakfast..so cute...we then went on a walk and hung out. I then met my friend Karen at Whole Foods for lunch..nice visit. Then I stopped by Fremont to visit Michele and we ended up hanging out there going to dinner I didn't get home until 9:30. It was a full day but a fun one. On April 9th my godchild Cristal had an art show at Santa Clara University. Her work is amazing! She graduated this year. Here are a few pictures from her show.

On April 5th we had a surprise 50th Anniversary party in Willits for my in-laws. They were really surprised. It turned out nice. That Sunday we went to a dinner for Holly's birthday. Fun filled weekend of parties and eating!

April 26th Shannen went to the Bellarmine Jr. Prom...eeek..my baby at prom.

On April 20th our friends daughter Olivia had her first communion...she looked so pretty, the party after was lots of fun.

I've been exercising again, which is a great thing. I've been on several hikes in April which I really missed. It's been since last June before I broke my foot that I've been on a hike.
April was good!

George's 40th Party

This last Saturday was also George's 40th birthday party. It was lots of fun. Everyone had George drinking shots of ta-kill-ya. He wasn't feeling to good the next day..haha Scott had his share of drinks as well...I drove home. Great time..here are some pictures! There were lots of people lots of fun! G's brother and sis-in-law threw the party...turned out really nice!

Holly's Shower

This last weekend was the party weekend. It started off with Saturday afternoon. Terri T and I gave Holly a baby shower. It was at Terri's house in Livermore. It turned out nice. We had about 20 people there...good food...fun games...yes I usually hate the games but Terri did a good job with them. Most importantly there were good people there! Holly's mom even flew out from Utah. Can't wait until the baby is born then we'll know...is it a boy or a girl. I won't guess cause I never have any idea.

Easter Sunday

Easter was a great day. We all went to Ruby and Tom's in Morgan Hill. Lot's of great people and great food. It was weird all the kids that use to do the Easter egg hunt are all teenagers now. There use to be about 20 kids searching for eggs. This year we only had about 6 looking for eggs. It was cute. Brittany wasn't able to be there for Easter. She had been sick since Thursday....high fever...sore throat. Took her to Dr on Friday they gave her the wrong medicine. I had to take her back to dr on Monday and they did another test she had strep throat. So it was sad she wasn't able to be there at Easter. This year our friends Holly, Frank and Mike and Chantal and George joined us. It was nice to have them there. It was also good to see all the family from Modesto area I don't get to see that often. Another good day!

First Day of Spring!

Today is the first day of spring...it was a beautiful sunshine day. I met a friend for lunch in Los Gatos and enjoyed the sun.

I'm officially off of disability it's been 2 months since my surgery and I'm almost 100% not quite but doing so much better. Now reality is hitting and I need to find a job....blah.

This last weekend my daughters and I met some friends at Nordstroms early in the morning for the spring makeup trend show. It was a lot of fun. We all had our makeup done...just girlie stuff.

Sunday morning Scott & I took off kinda early and went to breakfast in Campbell and then to the farmers market. We went to go see our little godchild Ava to bring her her b-day present. She turned 2 on March 10th. She is so darn cute. I just love that age. I miss my kids being cute and little....not that I want to go through all that again...eek. Teenagers...tattoos, piercings and all that good stuff...oh joy! argh!

I met my friend Michele for lunch this week. She took me for my birthday...oh my the birthday keeps going..hahaha. It was great to see her and we had a really good conversation. Of course I was whining about my daughters 'lovely' bull nose piercing and she just put things in a different light for me and I am just letting it go. I really appreciated it a lot. She is great!

Good Friday is tomorrow my parents are having a big fish dinner with the familia. I'll probably make the dessert!

Tahoe Weekend

Like I said my birthday just never ends..haha. This last weekend we took our annual Tahoe February birthday trip...just adults. Me, Chris, George and Mike all have our birthdays in Feb. For the last 5 years we have taken our b-day trip. This year we some how ended up going in March. There were 9 of us this year. We arrived on Friday...enjoyed a home cooked meal and played Texas Holdem. Saturday 4 went snowboarding and 5 of us went to lunch and the casinos. The weather was beautiful! That night we went back to the Casinos. We had a great time. There were a couple of people who came out ahead...and a few luzers...won't mention any names...haha. After our lungs and clothes were full of smoke we headed back to the house to play cards again. Chantal was the winner..killed all of us in Texas Holdem. We left Sunday about noon. Another awesome B-day trip to Tahoe!

Yummy Recipe

I had a great weekend. Friday Sonja and I hung out..started off at Starbucks in Cupertino then went to Valley Fair shopping a bit. We went to Santana Row and read our books in the sun. It was so nice. Saturday afternoon/evening I went to Salida with Trish to go visit Deb. Today, Scott and I went to Manny & Jeans for our Sunday morning breakfast of Noahs and Jamba Juice. It was a nice visit as always. Other than that I didn't do too much...relaxed and enjoyed life.
This last week I made this great lemon yogurt cake. It's from my barefoot contessa at home cookbook. I love her recipes. If you feel like cooking a great dessert try this out.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 tsps grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly queezed lemon juice
For the Glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven 360 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2 X 4 1/4 X 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. grease and flower the pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Fold the vegtable oil into the batter. Mix well. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool. For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake. ENJOY!

Rainy Days

I've been slacking. I haven't updated in a couple of weeks. I've just been hanging out went to the beach again with my friend Erin and my daughters. That was before we started getting all the rain. Last weekend my cousin Michelle came into town so my other cousins Debbie and Linda and I all met for breakfast at Stacks in Campbell. YUM! It was a great visit not to mention yummy breakfast.

I still need to take it easy so I really can't do too much...yes, I'm going a bit stir crazy.
Since it's been raining a lot I've caught up on a few movies. Got to love Netflicks. These are some movies I've watched;
-Across the Universe-great movie..good music...highly recommend it
-Jane Austen Book Club- Good movie..fun entertaining...recommend it
-Why did I get Married- Good movie...love Tyler Perry..funny, sad..recommend it
-Good Luck Chuck- Ok movie...funny I like Dane Cook but a total guy movie, cheap shots...brainless entertainment
-Weeds-Showtime series...great series..original, clever, funny...loved it...highly recommend it
I've only watched season 1. I will start season 2 soon!

I just read good novel too. It was good called 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' by Kate Jacobs. It was easy reading...good characters, plot..I liked it.
I'm sitting here thinking who do I think I am Siskel and Ebert..haha

Birthday Time!

Well...as you might know February is my birthday month..haha. Well that is what Scott says...On Feb 1st he says, 'Happy Birthday Month!' Actually my day is the 12th. This last weekend our family took a motorhome trip over to Half Moon Bay for the night. The weather was beautiful! It was a great time. Very relaxing and good time to connect with the family. The kids still enjoy our trips even though it was a short one. We ate, talked, walked on the beach watched the surfers, read and ate chocolate cake!!!

Tuesday, my actual birthday my friend Sandra and I went to Capitola. She took me to lunch we walked around shopped and hung out by the beach...very beautiful and fun day, thanks Sandra!!! Came home went out to dinner then had more dessert...mmmm! I got lots of calls and texts from friends and family singing or wishing me a happy bday! It was very nice! Thanks!!!! :)
My mom will make me my favorite dinner sopes...mmmm...can't wait! The B-day continues..hehe :)