Ugly Christmas Tree

I heard this essay a couple of weeks ago on NPR and I immediately thought of my sister, Emily. You see, Emily hates those ugly trees with homemade Christmas ornaments. I guess she likes the idea of a beautiful, coordinated tree. She always says that when she has her own kids, she is going to give them their own little Christmas tree for all those handmade ornaments. I have a feeling she will change her mind once her kids say, "Hey, Mommy...look at this ornament I made you!" :)

This essay is called "Appreciating the Ugliness of a Christmas Tree" by Ken Harbaugh. Enjoy!

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/21/143276270/appreciating-the-ugliness-of-the-christmas-tree

WooHoo, New Planner!

BIG NEWS! I just got my new 2012 planner!! Haha :) A few years ago I found my beloved planner (the red one) at Barnes and Noble. I always loved getting my new school planner back in junior high, high school, and at ASU. I remember being at Barnes and Noble and debating whether or not to splurge on the red one, but I did...and it was the BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE! I bring it to work everyday. Not only that, I HAVE to have it out on my desk, next to me. One time I thought I lost it and I started freaking out. I can't explain it, I just love having a planner. It probably stems from my obsession with being on top of things.

The last couple of years I have been able to get the refill from Barnes and Noble. This year, the store near me was completely out. They did have the same planner, just in a different color...so since the spine on my red one is tearing, I decided to replace the red one. AND it rang up 50% off (all of their calendars are 50% now).

ANYWAY, now you all think I am really strange and probably want to stop reading. Here are some pictures





It was kind of fun to look back on my 2011 planner (the pages were full of wedding stuff in January and February). I have saved other planners from years ago and those are really fun to look at too. Well, got to go...I have some planning to do :)

Christmas Recap

Belated Merry Christmas to everyone! I was back to work today so Christmas feels long gone! George and I left for AZ on Friday afternoon and came home last night. We had a very, very quick couple of days with family. On Saturday (Christmas Eve), we went to church at 3pm, followed by some appetizers at home and then Christmas caroling. This is our second year Christmas caroling and I think the tradition is going to stick!

Last year on our way to AZ for Christmas, George was playing Christmas songs on his ukulele. I was kind of singing along when I had a great idea...we should carol later that night with my family!! So, when we got to the house, we ran the idea by everyone. Most of them thought it was a horrible idea, but we convinced them and everyone ended up loving it! All of our neighbors/friends were waiting for us this year. Our two songs this time were "Joy to the World" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". George played the guitar which definitely helped cover up my not-so-good singing :)

We spent Christmas morning with my family and Christmas afternoon/evening with George's family. We ate a tasty breakfast on Christmas morning (some kind of breakfast casserole and monkey bread) and then a delicious dinner (steak, mashed potatoes, etc.) at George's parent's. At night, we went to a see "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo". It was a really, really good movie (fyi- there are a few disturbing scenes). BUT the best part of the movie was the theater! Nick (George's movie-loving friend) suggested we go to AMC Cinema Suites near the Biltmore. It was one of those theaters that serves food and has reclining chairs. It is a very unique experience that you all should try out.

Like I said, the weekend went by too fast as I'm sure it did for you all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas too.

My blog is still being strange about picture uploads, but I managed post a few...

Caramel Corn

Caramel Corn...check! (kind of)

Just finished up a batch of caramel corn. My goal was to make 12 little bags of it, but one batch only got me 8 so it looks like I'll be making some more tomorrow night.

I hit up Costco today too. Normally I love browsing the aisles of Costco to see what new stuff they have, but today it was so busy that I just wanted to get in, get the stuff I needed, and get out. I didn't even stop for samples :)

I will leave you with the caramel corn recipe...


Caramel Popcorn:

(Recipe from Audrey Warren)

1 C. Butter
2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Light Corn Syrup
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 Tsp. Vanilla
6 Quarts popped corn
Peanuts, optional

1. Melt butter in saucepan

2. Add sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Stir continuously until mixture comes to a boil. Let mixture boil without stirring for 5 minutes

3. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla

4. Slowly pour caramel over popped corn and optional peanuts. Mix well

5. Spread on 2 large baking pans. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and break apart. Store in covered container.

7. Temperature 250 degrees

8. Time: 1 hour

GRR! Something strange is going on with my blog and it won't let me upload the pictures of the caramel corn. If I figure it out, I will add them.

Christmas Plans

WooHoo, I am excited! Our Christmas cards are in the mail and presents are wrapped and ready to go. 6 days until Christmas and 4 days until we are home for Christmas :)

I plan to do some baking for coworkers tomorrow night and Wednesday night....caramel corn and cookies. My mom has a great caramel corn recipe. The stuff is addicting! I post the recipe later this week.

It is a tradition at work to do a big Christmas breakfast on our last day of work before the holiday. Last year was obviously my first time participating and it was SO MUCH FUN! We arrived at some ridiculous hour (like really ridiculous...2am?) and cooked up pancakes, eggs, breakfast potatoes, and bacon/sausage for our drivers, sales reps, and the entire office. I'm looking forward to doing it again this year.

Is everyone else ready for Christmas?

Weekend?

Just a quick update before I go to bed. This weekend has been busy with work! I was helping prepare for a tour and well, it took up some time :) I got a taste of the HORRIBLE Los Angeles traffic on Friday. I am pretty spoiled as my typical commute is just 15 minutes. However, on Friday, I was heading back in from LA and I kid you not, it took me over 3 hours to get home!!! Oh my goodness, I do not know how people do that on a regular basis. I called George on my way home and vented about the ridiculous traffic. So, George, being the loving husband that he is, bought me some beautiful flowers to come home to. There is some pine in the bouquet and it made our room smell great!

We have been to the movies twice in the past week. Go figure...we haven't been the movies in quite awhile and then twice within a few days. On Thursday night, we saw Mission Impossible on opening night. When we lived in Arizona, George and his buddy Nick used to go to the movies a lot (they are both "movie people"). I am not a big movie person and I am really picky about the kind of movies that I like (I really dislike any kind of science fiction). Sherlock Holmes came out this weekend...I actually wanted to see that movie AND the movies are half price on Sundays so we went again tonight. I recommend both movies. If you haven't seen the first Sherlock Holmes, definitely watch that and then watch the new one.

Off to bed! Hope you all are well rested and ready for another work week. For those of you in school, enjoy your break (the rest of us are jealous).

Weekend at Home

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I enjoyed laying low and just hanging out around the house with George after a few weekends away. I did get some stuff accomplished though....I finished up the majority my Christmas shopping. I think I did more online shopping this year than I have done ever before. So many places have free shipping and special online discounts so in some cases, it is cheaper AND no driving, no traffic, and no lines. But sometimes I find the mall/stores fun too :)

It is officially "winter" here in Southern California. It has been in the 50's (and rainy) the last couple of days...which makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning. George had off yesterday which made it extra hard. I get so jealous when I have to wake up and he gets to sleep in. Oh well, it is payback on the Saturdays that he has to work! Hahaha!

We didn't get to do much Christmas decorating this year because our Christmas stuff is in boxes. However, we do have one decoration in our room and I love it!

My Grandma Warren got us this little hand-carved wooden nativity scene as part of our wedding gift. Such a wonderful reminder of the meaning of Christmas. Thank you, Grandma!

Sweet and Salty Pretzels

Happy Thursday night! I can taste the weekend....

Real quick, I wanted to share a super easy recipe that I got from my lovely sister-in-law, Terrisa. She brought these to an ASU game that we went to last month and everyone loved them. I'm not too sure if they have an official name so I will just call them Sweet and Salty Pretzels.

There are just three ingredients: mini pretzels, Rolos, and M&Ms

Lay the pretzels on a cookie sheet and start unwrapping the Rolos (most time consuming part)

Place the Rolos on top of the pretzels like so...

Slightly melt the Rolos (225 degrees for 3 minutes should do the trick). Remove from oven and press the M&Ms into the Rolo. And if you're weird like me, you will make sure the "m" is facing up on each :)

Place in fridge and VOILA!

What a great little treat! Per George's suggestion, I might get crazy and use Peanut Butter M&Ms next time.

Now off to something else....hmm, perhaps an episode or two of Criminal Minds!

Denver Trip

I am finally getting around to updating my blog after a busy couple of weeks. I think I mentioned in my last post that George and I celebrated our Thanksgiving on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving morning together (I made a big breakfast for us) and I hit the road in the late morning. I arrived in Arizona just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Paisley even joined in on the Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread, and even a little bit of turkey. Emily, Hannah, Terrisa, my mom, and I planned out our Black Friday shopping strategy after dinner. So many stores actually opened on Thanksgiving day or 12am on Black Friday…which we did not like so much. We hit-up Michael’s and Wal-Mart on Thursday evening, and then called it quits until 6am on Friday morning. We weren’t going for any big electronics so we headed to the mall and ended up getting some great deals. I actually worked out of Phoenix on Monday and Tuesday and made it back to California just in time to do laundry and pack for our Colorado trip. We dodged the crazy Santa Ana winds here in Southern California and made it to Denver on Thursday afternoon. My cousin Dan and his wife Alaina joined the family this year on our annual Beaver Creek ski trip. Of course, The Ritz did not disappoint!! George’s skiing improved so much this year with his new skis – I was very proud! Emily, Terrisa, and I were in charge of the annual Friday night spaghetti dinner with all of the other Hill-Rom families (my mom and Hannah didn’t arrive until Friday night)…I think our execution was pretty good for our first time cooking for about 40 people! Today, it was back to reality….no more heated floors, valet, Ritz cookies, or a tea/coffee bar. Hannah and my mom, however, are off to Hawaii for marching band. Hannah’s band is playing for the 70^thanniversary of Pearl Harbor. She is the first of my siblings to make it to Hawaii………needless to say, I think we’re all a little jealous :)

I am happy to be home to enjoy the Christmas season with George. I love this time of year!! We are finalizing our Christmas plans, but it’s looking like we will be traveling to Phoenix a couple of days before Christmas.

I will leave you all with a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Just arrived in Denver and waiting for the others...

Paisley and Hannah ready for some snow!

Got to love her mode of transportation!

Thanksgiving Prep

Like I mentioned earlier this week, George and I had our Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I prepped most of the food last night and just had a few things to do when I got home from work today. I took a few pictures of my work in the kitchen last night. I must say, it was some pretty photogenic food!

One of my personal favorite Thanksgiving items, green beans!

I made FOUR Dutch Apple Pies last night (a couple for work, one to bring to AZ, and one for George). My hands were sore from peeling apples!

These two were waiting to be baked while the first two were in the oven. Got to love that crumb topping. I've looked at a ton of Dutch Apple Pie recipes online. This one seems to turn out the best and it happens to be the most simple one too! http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1737,149180-244207,00.html

George couldn't wait a day to try the pie so, he ate two pieces last night :)

I even made my own cranberry sauce for the first time...it is so easy!

Had to share this picture too. George and I went to a ski shop around here and purchased some new (used, but new to us) skis for George! They were a great deal...$99 for skis and bindings!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

AZ Weekend

Well, I woke up in Arizona this morning, flew into Ontario, CA, and arrived at work by 8:00am! I had a great weekend with family. I flew in on Friday night after a long week of work. I was greeted at the airport by my Mom and Dad, Emily, and Grandma Warren (Grandma Warren and my Dad flew in on Friday night too). Most of Saturday was spent at the craft sale. Here are some pictures from our booth:

The entire family went to the ASU vs. U of A game on Saturday night…Grandma and Paisley included. We left with about 10 minutes left in the game; ASU was winning by 3 or 4 points. 20 minutes after we left, they lost the game!!!!! Always embarrassing to have U of A beat ASU, especially in Sun Devil Stadium….glad we left :)

I had a chance to visit with the Lucases on Sunday afternoon. It was great to see them. I wish George could have been there to see them too! Poor George is entering his “busy time” at work. Apple blacks out the next month and a half so no one is allowed to request vacation during that period of time. The good news is that he is able to go to Colorado this year!!!!!

George and I are celebrating Thanksgiving this week here in California. I am driving out to Arizona on Thursday afternoon…can’t miss that Black Friday shopping!!! I have a meeting in Phoenix next Tuesday so I am planning to just stay in Phoenix through Tuesday. I will drive home and have just enough time to do laundry and pack for Denver (we leave for Denver next Thursday). Did anyone follow?? Haha, very confusing, I know!

Anyone else shopping on Black Friday?? I’m not going for anything specific, but I love being a part of “the action”. It is kind of a tradition now for my mom, sisters, and I to wake up super early and hit the stores.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!! Here are a few more pictures:

Paisley and Grandma Warren at the ASU game

Hannah trying to steal a kiss from Paisley....she wasn't having it :)

This big girl is feeding herself a little snack

Scootin' around the house...not quite crawling!

We tried to get her to look at the camera, but she was getting too distracted by everything else

"Bump" Info

George sent me the link to this article a couple of weeks ago. It is all about the ins and outs of getting bumped. And no, no...it wasn't written by a Warren ;)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/04/travel/flight-bumping-tips/index.html?iref=allsearch

Also, I heard on NPR that this holiday season airlines overbooked flights more than normal. And if you think that overbooking is a bad thing, read the article.....it actually means chaaaa-ching! Haha

Monday Update

I have been meaning to mention my little advertisement on the left side of my blog. My sister has an Etsy shop with a friend of hers. Click on the "blog button" and it will take you to their Etsy page. Emily, you're welcome for the free advertising ;)

Last week FLEW, the weekend FLEW by, and the way things are going, I'm thinking that the same will be the case for this week. I head to Phoenix on Friday evening. My Grandma Warren will be in town too which is always an extra bonus!

We have the craft sale on Saturday morning/early afternoon at Scrapbooks, etc. I spent almost the entire weekend preparing for it. Here are some more things to look forward to at our booth...

Today is Sergio's birthday and we celebrated with him and Andi on Friday night at one of our favorite restaurants, Mama D's. I love their pasta with meat sauce.......and their bread.....their bread is so good. We try really hard to eat in during the week so I love going out to eat on Friday nights (I love eating out and trying new restaurants!!)

Oh, I have to run...I will post later this week.

Had to share this real quick. Seeing this picture that Emily posted on Facebook, made me miss my family so much!

Paisley and the family (minus my dad...he is traveling for business) are watching Hannah's marching band perform tonight (they had a fundraising event). She looks cozy in her cute little hat that Aunt Heather bought her :)

Meanwhile, back here in California, George and I enjoyed a tasty cinnamon cappuccino made by yours truly. I used our nifty Nespresso machine. And now that I am all nice and warm, I am off the gym.....

Burrrr

The weather is getting cold here....burrrr....temps were under 60 and rainy all weekend. It is a welcome change for most people around here. The summer temperatures were lingering too long! It's funny because on rainy days in Arizona/S. CA, everyone has something like, "I LOVE THIS WEATHER" on their Facebook. Which is opposite than those of you in upstate New York :)

I spent most of my weekend working on projects/crafts for an upcoming holiday boutique that my mom, sisters, and I are participating in. The holiday boutique will be held at Scrapbooks, Etc on Saturday, November 19 from 10am-3pm. It will feature vendors with all things homemade. Scrapbooks, Etc. is amazing....I LOVE going to this store :) http://scrapbooks-etc.com/ If you're in the area on the 19th, you should come check out our booth. Here is a little sneak peak of one of the baby/toddler skirts that I am making for it.

George and I enjoyed a FREE lunch yesterday at the Lazy Dog Cafe near our home. It is a local chain...we used to enjoy happy hour (half price appetizers...woot!) at their Irvine location, so I called the other day to see when their West Covina location was officially opening. Well, they just so happened to be having pre-opening event over the weekend and since I called, I scored us an invitation. The free meal included an appetizer, soup/salad, entree, dessert, and a drink! It was great.

The combination of the colder weather and early signs of Christmas time, are making me so excited for the holidays. I love Thanksgiving/Christmas time!!! Thanksgiving is just 3 weeks away and our Denver trip is another week after that! George and I have a lot of traveling in our near future.

I am off to the gym tonight.......again. I have been keeping up with the running pretty well and have average 10 or so miles per week. My gym has a "cardio cinema" which is basically just a movie theater with cardio equipment. So, I have seen 40 minutes of a bunch of movies over the past couple of months. Occasionally, I wait around for the end of the movie and get some extra exercise in. When it's a boring movie, the run feels much longer.

That's all for now. Have a great Monday night, everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone!! Hope you are enjoying some candy.

I remember the excitement of Halloween as a kid. Back in my day, they would let us wear our costumes to school. I hear they don't allow that now. We would also go visit our grandparents and I remember that my Grandma and Grandpa Warren had a neighbor who would always do scary little tricks....and we ate it up!! 

Last year, at a big national meeting for work, this guy got up to talk about the reasons why he loves Southern California (the meeting was being held in San Diego around Halloween time). He was from Buffalo and it cracked me up because one of the reasons he loved Southern California was that people don't have to wear their Halloween costumes over a jacket and pants. I remember doing that when we lived in Rochester. There is nothing worse than having an awesome Halloween costume and then having to wear a jacket under it! 

A little Halloween trivia for you all...did you know that Halloween is always the number one or two day for frozen pizza sales??? Super Bowl Sunday is right there too. SOO guess what we had for dinner? DiGiorno Supreme Pizza and Honey BBQ Wyngz...and Skinny Cow Sandwiches for dessert. 

  

Thank you to the freezer in my office for dinner :)

George and I had a great time in Las Vegas over the weekend. It was a short trip, but really fun. The costumes were a HUGE hit on the strip. We literally just walked around and everyone was asking for our picture (they mostly wanted picture of the Ghostbusters, but I felt pretty cool too!) If you haven't heard, George and his friends have been the Ghostbusters for three years now and they love showing off their costumes. They have all spent lots and lots of time hand-making their "proton packs".

I am Stay Puft...a "bad guy" form the movie. I don't look that intimidating, do I?

Here they are in all their glory! :) 

George and I are going to pass out some candy tonight and then meet up with Sergio, Andi, Keziah, and Sergio's daughters for some Trick-or-Treating. We will not be Trick-or-Treating, but it will be fun to watch the kids. 

One more thing before I go. For all of you non-Facebookers, here is a cute picture of Paisley and Terrisa from Brent and Chrissy's Halloween party on Saturday night. Cutest elephant EVER!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!!!!!!!!!

Rochester Trip

Well, I had a really great time in Rochester over the past several days. It was great hanging out with my Dad and two Grandmas! Here is a quick rundown of the trip...

My Dad and I both arrived pretty late on Wednesday night. We were welcomed to Rochester with some cold weather and rain. Grandma Warren picked us up and we were off to her house - we stayed up talking for a bit and didn't get to bed until pretty late.

So, we did a bit of sleeping in on Thursday morning and then headed out to lunch with my Grandma Clark. We went to Carmine's for a delicious steak sandwich...YUM! After lunch, we spent some time wandering through Wegman's. Since I work in a grocery related industry and spend a lot of time in grocery stores for work, I have developed an appreciation for grocery stores. Wegman's is definitely top notch - they have a wonderful bakery, huge produce section, tons of prepared hot food items, a cafe (we got a cappuccino)...it was fun just walking around the store! The four of us (Grandma Clark, Grandma Warren, Dad, and me) spent Thursday evening relaxing and eating dinner at my Grandma Warren's.

Friday was the start of some of the University of Rochester Homecoming weekend events. Before we headed over to the U of R, I took my Grandma Clark for a haircut and we also managed to do some shopping. We had fun looking at baby clothes for Paisley :) Our first stop at the U of R, was a panel on "America's Debt Crisis" and although some of the stuff went over my head, it was very interesting! Most of the panel was either U of R alumni or U of R professors. Next, we attended a business school reception and dinner. We closed the day with a talk from a lady who has an album of pictures that belonged to prisoners of Auschwitz (pictures that  they were taken from them upon arrival). Long story short, she discovered the pictures on a trip to Auschwitz and has since dedicated her life to telling the stories behind the pictures and the people in the pictures. I thought it was extremely interesting.

On Saturday, my Dad and I headed back over to the U of R for two events that we didn't have tickets to, Bill Clinton's talk and a panel with Justice Scalia. There were two lines, one for people with tickets and one for people without tickets (who would be let in if space allowed). In typical fashion for my dad, he stood by the line for people with tickets and asked people entering if they had an extra tickets. The first person he asked at BOTH EVENTS said yes and gave him tickets. Doesn't hurt to ask!! :) Both events were awesome.

My Grandma Warren had a bunch of our family over for pizza and wings on Saturday night. It was great to meet Gabe and Katie's son, Caleb, for the first time and see everyone else too! And the pizza wasn't bad either ;) I forgot to take pictures!

Am I boring you all with the play by play of my trip yet?

I spent Saturday night at my Grandma Clark's so she dropped me off at my Grandma Warren's on Sunday morning and we headed out to Buffalo. Check out the delicious Scottish breakfast my Grandma Clark made me on Sunday morning...

We stopped by my Uncle Mark's for a couple hours on our way to the airport. We got to see their chickens! They are getting about 5 eggs per day from them now.

Definitely a wonderful trip and a nice break from work. Thank you to both Grandmas for having us!!!