Matzoh Circa 1997

Hi Friend,

While we were playing Canasta on Friday night

Maureen: Know what I'm in the mood for? Matzoh bread from 1997.

Frita: I finished it this morning.

True story.  My dad ate the last two pieces of Matzoh out of this box on December 21, 2012.  His discerning pallet proclaimed that they tasted just like they did when he opened the box (in what I can only assume was 1995.)

The evening before this, I took Percy on his first plane ride.  There were copious amounts of turbulence during the last 30 minutes of the flight.  So much turbulence in fact that by the time we landed, at least one person from every row started throwing up.  As we were deplaning, there was a trash bin filled to the top with sick bags.  Percy didn't even wake up.  Clearly, he's used to me throwing him in a bag and toting him all over the place. 

 Last week, Maureen took Patrick to audition for a part in Beauty in the Beast.  His plan was to wait for 2 and 1/2 hours for a part in the ensemble.  When he came out of the audition, Mo asked him what song he sang and he proudly announced, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"  He didn't get the part of the ensemble - instead he'll be playing the part of .... wait for it... GASTON!!

Maureen also took the boys down town to see the tree, the decorations and check out FAO Schwartz.  They were each given some money to pick out something that they wanted.  There was a guy testing out a plane at the store.

Kyle: Hey. How much?

Guy: $11.99

Kyle: Sold.

Later, upon receiving a pretzel, Kyle exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!" which was followed by Kevin yelling, "GROUP HUG!!"  Best. Nephews. Ever.  In case you didn't want to take that story alone as reason for their awesomeness - on Thursday, Kevin said grace.

Kevin: I hope Aunt Tiffany has a nice Christmas.

Maureen:  That's really specific.

Just to jump back, and make sure I didn't leave anything out from this update.  Monday, my department had a holiday bowling event.  We played a little darts (I totally would have won if we were playing regular cricket - but instead we were playing a modified cricket so even though I got all of the targets hit before anyone else, I still didn't win.  Lame!) Naturally, I was the worst bowler - but I made my piece with this sport a long time ago.  I did like those who were trying to eat with their right and bowl with their unnatural left (Kelly) to avoid mixing the germs with sustenance. 

Tuesday, Lucas got licensed to drive!  We went out to Spazzo's to celebrate (with a not so quick stop at lens crafters to pick up my glasses from back in June.  And you wonder why I procrastinate these tasks.)  Wednesday, I asked my hair dresser to turn me into a brunette.  When I met with the fam for dinner that night there was a lot of "Why did you do that?" and "I guess we'll get used to it."  My thoughts exactly.  The chick at the aveda studio was like, "When you came in all I noticed was your hair and now I notice... your eyes."  Oh great.  I got rid of my defining quality.  Super.  :)

Thursday, I took Percy into the vet for another shot and health certificate.  He's 2.3 pounds now.  Did you know that they give the same dosage to a 2 lb puppy as a Great Dane puppy?  And this is why he sneezed for a week the last time he got a shot.  (The sneezes were incredibly cute.)

I got this text from Becky on Friday too: Lol!!! Jared: I saw I was in this week’s email, but only because I mentioned Tiffany. It's like a Christmas gift exchange but with only words and you can't take anything back.

Saturday, Mo had folks over to her house for a pre-holiday bash.  Percy had another eventful day with a black lab and Bella - that's pretty much been every day - but more on that next week. 

Sunday,I had breakfast with Evivova at JV Bagel.  It was as awesome as always, but possibly better because we were talking weddings and babies.  Then we headed to JV Mall where we shopped for her little brother and I saw Zach's game in the store!

That same evening, we went over to Sean's for his birthday.  I gave him a card that said something like "Happy Birthday! Let's High Five!" And on the inside, "Or not.  We don't have to be dorks about it".  He opened his first present, a sign that said, "It is what it is."  And then, as he was opening the second one, I asked him to guess what this sign said.  He correctly guessed, "It's all good."  Then, like the dorks we are, we high fived.  (Like Nater and Kevin, Sean also got a Beard Head, the official gift of 2012. :)

I hope you all had a lovely holiday, and I'll write more next week about my trip to NY.   (Oh and sorry – but Someecards was not liking me today.  I’ll make up for it sometime… not necessarily soon, but some time. )

B side of Taylor Swifts Album

Last week was a rush of trying to get everything done before Dawne and Jordan left for Germany.  Thus, Monday was my annual anxiously checking to see if gifts are going to arrive on time for Christmas.  It's SUPER fun.   While D & J are in Germany, I've had three pups to hang out with - so instead of waking up 4 times with Percy, I was up 6 times because apparently they are on different schedules.   The saddest part of this is I think I'm actually getting used to it. 

This is what Percy looks like when he wakes me up:

Me to Nala: Your inability to bring me the ball is hindering my ability to play with you.

Zach: I thought you were going to say, "to love you."

I brought Percy to work with me last week.  It's not really something that is allowed, so I just wanted to test it out.  About 30 minutes before I was about to leave I decided he needed a bath before I introduced him to anyone.  Not necessarily because he was "dirty" but because the natural reaction for every person who picks Percy up is to cuddle him up to their face while placing their nose deep in his fur.  The courteous thing to do would be to make sure he smells like strawberry when they do that.  Have I mentioned how much he loathes bathing? When I bathe and when he does - not a fan.  When I got to work, trying to be very stealth, the first thing my former boss said was, "You got a puppy in that bag?"  Percy was happy to sleep away the day without bothering anyone - but when I took him to our team meeting, everyone wanted to hold him so he was on the table running around.  He did this until he found me, and then I put him on the ground and he went back to sleep.  I had a co-worker watch him during another meeting - very low key.  I put him in his back on a chair next to her.  All was going well, until he sneezed and everyone oooed and aaahhed and had to cuddle. Other than that - he slept and no one noticed him.  Mission Office Pup: SUCCESS!

Me: Janette is getting married!

Maureen: To New Balance?

Me: YES!

(At least three years ago - maybe longer, Janette said she wanted to get a personalized present for Neville.  Maureen suggested she get him a pair of New Balance sneakers, because then he would have his initials on the shoes - personalized, JUST FOR HIM.) 

Becky to a friend: I danced all night and now I feel like I'm falling apart.

Friend: You're getting old.

Becky: They say 30 is the new 70.

Friend: Really? They 're saying that?

Jared: Only if "they" is Tiffany.

On Saturday morning Luke and I met up with Matty for brunch in Fremont at Roxy's.

Lucas: Matty just wrote back TTYS? What does that mean?

Me: Talk to you soon.

Lucas: Oh I don't know these codes you have because I never grew up having to press numbers for letters. JK.

Me: JK!?

Matty: How are your bros?

Lucas: My bros? Oh you mean my actual bros because my "bros" would be a long  list.  Actually just two more.

We went to the antique store and as we were leaving, Lucas says to me, "My house is going to look like this. It's going to be awful."

On Sunday morning, Zach and I were hanging out in the kitchen with the pups when Zach says to me, "Here's the dilemma. Percy is so cute I want to hold him in tight. (holds him in tight) But then I can't see how cute he is. So I hold him out here, (lifting him up to see his face) and then I want to hold him in tight again!  #bestproblemever

Sunday evening, I took the van to bring Lucas and Arda to a gig.  It was a frightening evening.  First, the van has become a death trap.  I couldn't see out of any of the windows, except the dash.  The mirrors were totally inoperable and useless.  And on top of that, it was pouring out.  When I got to Arda's steep driveway, I tried to back up to the garage for easy load in.  The van was not pleased with this action, plus, I was so scared the breaks would fail, that I stayed in the car with my foot on the break.  When we actually got to El Corazon, a bar under the overpass of I-5 in Seattle, I had Lucas get out so he could help me back up into the space.  We were 5 min early, so the boys couldn't load in. 

Lucas: This place is so scary.

Arda: I only want to play happy places.

Lucas: Not ones with bats on the sign.

While we waited, Arda made some calls to the other band members.

Arda: You're not coming?!

Arda: Oh okay cool.

Arda: You didn't bring your amp?!

Arda: Oh okay cool

Lucas: You're conversations are terrifying.

Lucas: I wonder if they are letting people in.

Arda:  They probably signal that with a gunshot.

Eventually, the boys were allowed in to set up etc.  I had to stay in the car, so I texted my fear to Matty to see if he would consider coming early to keep me company.  And he did. :)  The show went well, in that there were a lot of people and they enjoyed the performance.  Not great in that the people at the venue hated teenagers and were very surly.  I thought at one point the bouncers were going to bounce Allium right off the stage.   (Here is Allium's (Luke's band) ep: http://allium.bandcamp.com/_ )

After one song, Arda jokingly said, "That was from the B side of Taylor Swifts never getting back together album."  To which I turned to Matty and said, "B side. They don't know what that means."

Finally, as we were loading back into the death trap van, Matty said, "Microsoft Store bag holding the band gear.  How very Bellevue-suburban rock." 

Laina, Dr. Rach and I went to see ELF the musical on Thursday.  It was awful.  The whole time I was just wishing I was home watching the movie.  Speaking of movies, last week was pretty rough with a roller coaster of emotions between being super excited for friends getting engaged (CONGRATULATIONS EVIVOVA!!) and just way too much news of death.  Not knowing what to do with myself, I was so happy to have Luke around to distract me with Christmas movies and How I Met Your Mother.   

Extra special warm fuzzy feelings to Kristy Kreme and my big brother Sean for their Birthday on Sunday!

And to all of the rest of you... Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Have a super NEW YEAR!

Shut the Door, Rudolf!

I had a moment in which I was really stoked to go to Iceland because there was a super sweet deal that came into my inbox.  When I asked my co-worker about it, she said, "I've never thought about going to Iceland is it cool there?"

As I might have mentioned, some of my favorite gifts are from my dad.  Just my dad.  Frita will go around the house and wrap up random "treasures" that have been left around the house for a decade or two and gives them to us.  This year, Frita complained that I don't take my crap back to Seattle with me.  (Truth time, I don't take everything back with me, but I do throw out 75% of my "present" every year.)  He also decided to circumvent the system by sending every drawing I ever did in Mr. Giam's 2nd period art class.   One of the master pieces included an in depth explanation for the low quality artwork which started with a complaint about the lack of art supplies provided by the school district (I didn't have a second piece of paper to start anew when I messed up the first one) and then proceeded to take me high and higher on my soap box until I lost all sight of the issue at hand.  Classic Tiffany. 

I have two "Classic Kevin" Quotes for you also this week.  The first was from Kevin to Donovan, the Doreen's son, ""You're obsessed with crotches".  I don't need context - Do you?

The second was contained within an email from Frita:

Kevin is watching Rudolph setting out on his own, sneaking out of the house on the island of Misfit Toys and remarks, "At least, why doesn't he at least shut the door?"  Needless to say, his grandmother remarked, "That is what we have been saying to the our grandsons, every day, for years."

  

Last week, we went to see Lincoln and when I asked the boys what they thought of the movie, Lucas replied, "I was really inspired by the facial hair."  He really GOT that story. 

On Wednesday, we had a meeting of the "Try New Things Club."  We went to the Mongolian Hot Pot, and I brought Lucas and then Zach met us shortly later. 

Albert: Look other white people!

Me: Just one?

Albert: No, they come in pairs.

Albert was really cool about explaining what was in both broths before we got started.   I requested that we have a "pure" side that only vegetables, noodles and chicken could enter - and boy was I glad that  the two sides were separated by steel.  I was also sticking to my mantra that "First rule of try new things club was that you don't have to try new things."  Especially when they started eating these guys:

Momela's comment later: Wouldn't even eat the rice that it touched!!!!!

Kelly: Have you ever tried that?

Me: NO!

Lucas: You know, when I think back to the things of my nightmares, they would come from that side of the pot. 

Me to Adrien as he put more food into be cooked: You're good at this... in that you know the rules;  Don't mix the sides.

At one point a noodle fell, teetering on the divider to which I panicked until someone pulled all of it over to the bad side. 

I was actually really impressed with Zach because not only did he eat from the bad side, he also was able to eat knowing that everyone's chopsticks were going into the same, shared, pot.  For someone who has been known to, when asked to share his drink say yes, and then never drink from the drink again, this was a HUGE accomplishment. 

Albert starting a story: I ran....

Lucas: ... is a country. 

Albert:  You should try that Asian Date.  The best way I can describe it is... do you know what Hammer pants are?  It has the same composition as hammer pants.  You should totally try it. 

Lucas:  Know what's the worst?  When kids turn your book bag inside out, put all your books back inside, and then zip tie it closed.

Me: Has that happened to you?

Lucas: Not the inside out part, but someone did zip tie my bag, then asked me if I had scissors.  When I said no, they felt bad, and cut it for me.

Albert:  You need to find lesser kids and flip their book bags inside out with zip ties.

Kelly: And then zip tie their scissors too!

On Friday, I took Percy for his first shots, and then around to local stores for a Halo Product check.  Unexpectedly, I got invited to the Microsoft holiday party which was pretty cool.  They had Laser Tag, Curling, Mini-Golf, ice skating, and a 12 foot tall ice block / shot luge. 

When we took a picture, we also got to choose a background.  Naturally, we chose the one with the Master Chief to which the chick helping us said, "Which one is Master Chief."  You'll learn by the end of the party, I'm sure. 

On Saturday, we did some on line holiday shopping until Dr. Rach arrived to make cookies!  Making the dough was super fun as we got caught up in the excitement of the recently announced engagement.   Which totally made up for the fact that we ended up not being able to actually make the cookies because we had to get down to Tacoma.  (BTW The dough is still in the fridge - should I make cookies with it now?)

Why did we need to go to Tacoma you ask?  To see the How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular!!! And it was, truly spectacular.  Here, take a look see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obsYils5vwo

Before the show, a little kid in front of us asked his mom for a snow cone, to which he received an immediate and resounding, "No."  Not waiting even a millisecond, Lucas turns and says in a whisper, "Hey mom, can we get snow cones?"

Nate (referring to the "barrier" around the stage): Those dragons can totally jump that.

Lucas: They're trained dragons, Nate.  

Sunday we tried finishing up our shopping, including taking the circus that is the three dogs to University Village.  I tried putting Percy on a leash for the first time (he didn't care for it), and wearing Nala's coat, (a little too big) and putting him on an escalator (he just sat there and shook.)  On our way home from the store, we saw this sign outside a local church that was advertising the holiday performance of "The Shepard's Tale."  Jordan said, "I was talking to this kid on line at the store and he was very excited about The Shepard Tale because he got the part of second lobster. 

Sunday night, I took Percy to socialize with Shana's pups (he was a little overwhelmed to say the least.) Shana was having a Arbonne party with facials and wine.  I mentioned that my face was a little sensitive.  Then, as we were doing the first step of cleanser, I jokingly said, "I hope someone brought the Benadryl!" On the second step I whispered to Cathy, "Is your face burning."  She giggled.  Then I said, "No, seriously.  Is your face burning?" The woman doing the demonstration gave me toner to help, but that just made it worse.  Shana, "How do you clean your face?" Me, "With Neutrogena for sensitive skin!!" I took all of the stuff off my face, and poured everyone another glass of wine.  When I got home, hours later, and put my face on my super soft pillows, it felt like sand paper.  I'm still a little raw, and it's Thursday.  Like anyone was REALLY surprised that I'm sensitive. :P

How Do You Spell Hanukka Again?

Hi there!

Last week we watched a lot of Hallmark, Lifetime, and 2 star rated Christmas shows.  During one particular show, in which a kid wishes for a husband for his mom, and then ultimately doesn't like the husband that is found for her, Lucas commented on one of the main characters with the following: His character actually took me on a trip.

Often, when watching movies, Lucas will say to me, "is this a bad guy?" or "Does this have a happy ending?"  I try to tell him when I can.  Part of me agrees.  Just tell me I should love or hate a character.  If I wanted my emotions shattered by falling in love with someone who will be a disappointment or worse, die in the next scene, I would just get out of the house more. 

 I received the following email from Frita the other day.  I personally thought it was hilarious so here it goes:

This is the second notice. [Meaning he sent an email before this with no content] Kyle lost a tooth this morning and while down at the bus stop, in the midst of playing football, announces "Did any of you notice that I lost a tooth?" A TRUE EXAMPLE OF ONE CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO THINK ALL EYES ARE ON ONESELF!

Is that the same thing as writing a blog every week, confident that everyone wants to know all the minutia that is my life?

I tried to go to San Francisco on Friday night.  I actually went to San Francisco on Saturday morning.  Silly weather delays.  I did feel bad about making Janette and Neville get up at 8 on a Saturday - I mean moderately bad.  I did have to get up at 4. :)  We grabbed bagels and had some coffee back at their place.  Once there, Janette asked me if I wanted to be in her bridal party.  Then I asked her what the date was so I could put it in the calendar.  As I was looking through my calendar,  I immediately said, "Oh no! That's when Rach is getting married!" Janette looked very sad, so I told her to hold on.  I then texted Rach to see if she was willing to change her wedding date so that I could go to both weddings. She replied, "I GUESS I could change my date seeing that Janette is actually engaged and I'm not." Pretty good timing though, because Rach got engaged the next day (Sunday.)  Congrats to Dr. Rach & Dr. Anders!

The wedding date was in August, I just thought this was funny. J

Janette, Neville and I then set off to meet Erika, Kenny and their two boys Toby and Xavier at Macy's.  The Macy's in San Fran have puppies and kittens in the windows which are up for adoption from the ASPCA.  Soooo cute!  My favorite part of the weekend might have been when Toby, after approximately 5 minutes, asked to hold my hand and couldn't stop chatting with me.  His excitement over every cable car that went by was very catching.  We walked to a bunch of the hotels in the city to see their holiday decorations.  We saw a huge Gingerbread house, a Chateau made with 1300 pounds of sugar, and we even got to judge a bunch of elaborate gingerbread houses (and you know how I love to judge.) We missed the 4 and 6PM Snow shower at one of the hotels because we ended up at a wine bar enjoying delightful conversation and fermented grapes.   Here are some snippets:

Erika, talking about how much she had (house wise) in Maryland compared to what you could get at a similar price in San Fran: We had a really good set up and now we have family.

Me: How are your parents doing?

Janette: My parents are really happy!

Erika: That makes me sick.

Me: Then I shouldn't talk about my parents either then?

After Erika went back to her house, OH WAIT! Before Erika departed, I got a mini Bop-it, for all of my awkward conversation moments (that I usually cause.)  Then we met up with some of Janette's friends for pizza and then headed upstairs to hand out, drink Manhattan's and wait for an appropriate time to go to a birthday party.  When it was a good time, Janette's fiancé, Neville decided to go home instead.  I can't fully describe Janette's dismay and shock.  Apparently, she thought it was very significant that it was the first time that Neville wanted to go home early without her.  I was thinking, maybe he always wants to go home but this time Janette already had a buddy to go with? Just a thought.  :)

Sunday, the rain cleared up so we drove down highway 1, grabbed some Barbeque and then headed to Sea Lane Bowling.  The BBQ place was definitely one of those places that you could tell must be on guides of where you should stop if you are on the coastal highway.  You can't sit and eat, you just grab and go, and it was delicious.  I thought BBQ wasn't the BEST idea to bring to a bowling alley... but we separated the activities.  There was a little boy outside jumping into puddles while we waited for our food.  This kid was adorable.  The water was pretty much as high has his boots and as he was running through these gigantic puddles, his mom, in a feat of strength and speed, scooped him up and to the side by their RV.  I thought she was going to make him stop, but instead she just took off his pants, but his boots back on, and let him jump through the puddles in his underwear.  It was seriously adorable - but I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to take pictures of a baby in his underwear to show you. 

Based on watching this baby walk, Janette's friend brought up how little kids walk is basically the best way to balance.  And then as he was demonstrating the walk with his arms out in front of him - we realized it was also very similar to the way a Zombie walks.  That's when Ben said, "It's kinda like they are saying, I need brains but I have trouble with balance."

After bowling, I realized I hadn’t instagram’d enough over the weekend, so Neville and Janette brought me to some prime spots:

Dawne and Jordan were up in Leavenworth (on the same day and time as Rach and Anders right before he proposed) and Dawne got Percy boy a new sweater.  I don't think he has quite gotten the hang of it yet because as soon as I put it on he fell down (more than he usually does.) Looks cute though.