Out with the old and in with the new.

Hello everyone! I just wanted to write a quick blog. The end of our holiday trip is fast approaching and once I get home I plan on changing the blog a bit and I will eventually post a slide show of holiday photos when I learn how to use my new Photoshop software. We have had such a fun time and I am starting to feel a little sad knowing how soon we have to go home. I hope that everyone had as much fun over the holidays as we did.

Check back soon for a new blog and lots of photos.

Love,
Shandie

Skiing.

Ben and I went skiing this past Friday the 19th. We went to The Caynons, which was the first time skiing there since I skied it when it was Park West (and it hasn't been called that since 1995, to put a time reference on it). The resort has solved the problems of the past, i.e. the lack of snow, by making you take a gondola at the bottom before you ever put your skis on. The upper mountain is large and has plenty of snow. I was impressed with the amount of trees and I enjoyed the views, but it was super cold. Guess you can expect that when you go skiing. 

My First Santa Picture

I have never taken a picture with Santa so we took this last night. I will post more pics later.

- SHANDIE

Finals Finality.

I just finished my last final. Yay! That means Christmas is officially here. Yay! I am super excited to be home and to visit family and to see all the people that I haven't seen in so long. As for finals, here is a rundown:

1. STEPPS (last thursday): basically my professional responsibility class coupled with advanced legal writing. The exam was only 20 multiple questions lasting 1 hour. Which doesn't seem like much, but the semester was jam packed with assignments so even though the final was light the class took a lot of work overall. 

2. Federal Income Tax (last friday): This exam really scared me. Not only was income tax a tough subject that is different from the rest of my law classes, but it ended up being really encouraging because I felt like I did really well. Plus, federal income tax knowledge will always be good. 

3. Trusts & Estates (last saturday): This was a really interesting case and will most likely be useful in the future. The exam ended up being much more difficult than I expected, however, i was well prepared and I felt that I did well. Maybe it was just the fact that it was the 3rd day in a row of exams.

4. Constitutional Law (today, wednesday): after a well needed break last sunday, I spent all day Monday and all day yesterday studying for the exam. In fact, yesterday was probably the longest period of time of continuously sitting I have ever accomplished. The exam was big...really big. But I felt really organized and well prepared. I've found that those two things amount to good grades, so here's hoping. 

And now that I am done, I'm enjoying the weight off my shoulders and looking forward to hanging out with Shandie, something that I haven't been able to do that much lately. Yay!

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Do you remember a while back when I dyed my own hair and had to find a stylist to fix it? Well, her name is Emilie and I've been going to her ever since. She invited us to go to an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party" over the weekend. These are the sweaters that we found at the Salvation Army.

I also wanted to post a couple more pictures from Thanksgiving that were on my camera.

And finally, here are a few of the things I've been working on while Dave has been studying.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hi everyone! (Shandie here.) I promised to put up pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend. I only took a few pictures of my own Jarid (my brother) was here and he brought his camera. He copied the pictures that he took to my computer and now I have about 600 pictures to pick through (which is why it's taken me a little while to post this). He loves taking pictures and I think he is really good at it.

This Thanksgiving my dad and my brother decided to come down for a visit. It was my dad's first time in San Diego and we were all looking forward to a really relaxing day. Instead of cooking a huge dinner we decided to go to Karl Strauss Brewery and eat there. They were offering a traditional turkey dinner with all of the fixings (mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and green beans). It was fantastic!

They stayed in town until Sunday so after Thanksgiving we did some sight seeing.
First stop: OCEAN BEACH.

Jarid wanted to get sunset pictures at the beach so we headed over to Sunset Cliffs. (I forgot my sunglasses this day so I had to wear my spare pair. They are hideous so I felt like it needed an explanation.)Jarid got a couple of pretty cool pictures from our balcony that night.We spent the next day hanging out downtown.As you can tell, we had a lot of fun. It was nice to have them in town and to have a relaxing holiday.

I can't guarantee that I will be updating the blog that much this month due to all of the holiday planning. I'm trying to get in as many hours at work as possible and Dave is really busy studying for his finals. We will be back home for Christmas before you know it.

Update!

We can see clearly now, the rain has gone! It's now beautiful skies, crystal clear horizons and luscious green everywhere. We knew that the famous SD weather would return eventually. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we woke up for Thanksgiving, we heard the unfamiliar sound of rain hitting our glass deck guardrail. It hardly ever rains here. In the past year I think it has rained 4 times. This Thanksgiving seems to be different. It rained really hard Tuesday night and then got sunny yesterday, but it is coming down in buckets today! Shandie's father Mike and brother Jarid are visiting this weekend and we've gone on and on about how awesome the weather is down here. Guess we're going to be eating more than just turkey this Thanksgiving...does cranberry sauce go well with our words?

Ben's visit.

My good friend Ben came down to visit this weekend. Fortunately the Santa Anna winds came in and gave us temperatures in the high eighties. We started off Friday by walking downtown, enjoying the restaurants and shops, and then going to the new 007 movie. It was really good and I highly suggest others going to see it. Afterwards we rocked out on rock band and then ate dinner at the Old Town Cafe, a famous Mexican restaurant. Of course we finished off our evening with some more rock band. 

Saturday was even more hot and sunny. Shandie had to work so Ben and I drove up to Pacific Beach. We wanted to go surfing. I had never gone before and it was Ben's third time, but we were confident we could do it. Shandie told me earlier in the week that there was a huge surge and that we should be careful. The waves did end up being pretty big. In fact it got tossed around pretty hard by a wave that I swear was at least 15 feet high. But on the bright side of things, I got up on my very first try. Ben and I eventually traded in our long boards for shorter ones which made it a lot easier. We had no problem getting up, but were exhausted from paddling past such big waves. We had a blast and we'll be doing it again sometime soon. 

Saturday night we headed up to Qualcomm stadium for the Utah - San Diego State football game. It was a blowout but it was fun to be able to go to at least one game of this epic season (it could be the best season they have ever had). On the way home we picked up a pizza and then sunk deep into the couch. Today we nurse our sore ribs and necks. Guess we don't have surfing muscles yet. 

All in all it was a really fun trip. We had hoped James could have made it down but he got tied up last minute. Nonetheless, it was just like old times, having fun with Ben; but I'm not surprised. Ben is one of those friends that no matter how long it has been since we've hung out, we can just pick up where we left off, no problem. 

Meg

Dave's sister Meg was induced today so I just wanted to post a blog to say that Dave and I are really excited for our new nephew and we wish Meg and JR the best of luck!

ELECTION DAY 11/4/2008

I hope everyone else made it out today and voted in this historic and exciting election.

PS.. Just wanted to wish a very happy birthday today to the following people:

MOM
GRANDPA DRAPER
CHARLIE

Halloween Pictures

Shane's 4th Birthday

We drove up to Fullerton on Sunday to celebrate my nephew Shane's 4th birthday. It was a lot of fun.

Who needs a babysitter when you have one of these?
My big kid.
By this time Shane and Val were sick of their costumes. They started the day out as Batman and Superwoman.
Val will probably hate that I posted this picture.
Shane thanking everyone for his presents.

4 Things Tag

Meg "tagged" me in her blog so, here goes:

4 Random things I like about my husband:

1. When he explains things or answers questions he always has to list his points by saying "Well, either A.... or B.....".
2. He takes the garbage and the recycling out.
3. He doesn't mind answering weird questions for my family at random times of the day. My brother says that he is better than Google.
4. He plays the drums in his sleep. (This just happened last night. We bought a Nintendo Wii and the game Rock Band and the last couple of nights he has been dreaming about drumming. Last night he woke me up because he had his hand in the air and he was drumming away like crazy. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen someone do in their sleep.)

4 Jobs I've had:

1. Housekeeper (When I was 14 my dad's friend paid me $20 every Sunday to clean his house.)
2. Accounts Payable Clerk
3. Sales Associate

4. Server

4 Movies I have watched more than once:

1. Amelie
2. The Darjeeling Limited
3. Raising Arizona
4. Stranger Than Fiction

4 TV Shows I watch:

1. The Office
2. The Daily Show
3. Jon and Kate Plus 8 (I can't help it.)
4. Cold Case Files

4 People that email me regularly:

1. Grandma Hartwell
2. Deryk Forbush
3. Aunt Pat
4. Dave

4 Favorite foods:

1. Green grapes
2. Imitation crab
3. Sushi
4. Buffalo wings (Had to throw 1 unhealthy thing in there.)

4 Places I would like to visit:

1. New York City
2. Thailand
3. England
4. San Francisco

4 Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

1. Trip home for the holidays
2. Halloween
3. Dave's graduation
4. Moving home

People I tag:
-Anyone who reads this.

Interesting Read

For some reason I forgot how much I love to read and for the last few weeks I haven't been able to keep my head out of books. I picked this book up from the library a couple of days ago. I thought that even though it has some sad stories it was a really interesting book.

Today

By Ken's suggestion

I remember Ken talking about cow tongue and how good it was. I never had tried cow tongue but when I think about it I don't think I have ever had the opportunity to try it. So when I asked a small Mexican food restaurant what type of meat is in the "lengua" burrito and they told me it was cow tongue, I had to try it. Tender, juicy, and slightly oily, but tasty. Thanks Ken for your commendation. 

Foreign Cruise

Ok, so we just went down to the tip of the Baja peninsula but I got a much more foreign experience then I was planning on. For those that have never been on  cruise before, something you may not know is that the service staff are all foreign. Their name tags list the country they are from and they work on the ship for an extended period of time. It didn't take long to realize how many of these service women were from Thailand. Seems they hire a large group so that they can have some of their own nationality on the ship together. And it didn't take them long to remember who I was. I told them my name is "Somsak," which is the Thai equivalent to the name David or Richard over here. They thought it was so funny. Fortunately for me my Thai has remained fairly strong despite my lack of using it. I even had a discussion with one of the women about Thai politics and the problems they are having right now. Thai political words are ones that I haven't used in a long time! At the end they each came up and gave me a special goodbye, and I hope I made that cruise a little bit more fun for them. They certainly added to the fun experience for me. -Dave

Tonight's Dinner

Chicken Salad With Taco-Ranch Dressing (Serves 2)
From the "Bride and Groom: First & Forever Cookbook"

Taco Ranch Dressing
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Chicken
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
1 tablespoon canola oil

Salad
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped into 3/4-inch pieces
1 plum tomato, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup crumbled tortilla chips, preferably ranch style
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 lime wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
To make the taco-ranch dressing: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.
To prepare the chicken: Mix the taco seasoning, onion powder, and kosher salt in a small bowl. Season the chicken on both sides with the spice mixture and brush with the canola oil. Place the chicken on the prepared baking sheet and bake until opaque in the center, 15 to 20 minutes.
To make the salad: Combine the beans, avocado, tomato, and taco seasoning in a large bowl and toss gently. Add the lettuce, chips, and cilantro. Add 1/2 cup of the dressing and toss, adding additional dressing if necessary. Divide between 2 plates. Slice the chicken and fan on top of the salads. Garnish each with a lime wedge.

I really loved this recipe. I used hot taco seasoning instead to add a little more spice. I also added a little more cilantro in the dressing because I love cilantro. Scrumptious!

SHANDIE

October 1, 2008

Hello everyone! September went by in a flash and now that it's over I finally have some time to write about everything that happened last month.
Dave and I went on a cruise on September 15th with my mom, Cal and their friends Carl and Chris. We had such a good time! It was a 5 day cruise with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada.
On September 26th I flew out to Utah to surprise my brother for his 30th birthday. My family rented rooms at the Snowbird Lodge and we stayed there for 2 nights and went to Oktoberfest. It was so much fun to surprise my brother and to see the rest of my family. It was also really nice to see the beautiful fall colors on the mountains and to smell the pine trees. Dave stayed in San Diego and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers when I got home.
Here are just a few of the pictures from Jarid's birthday:

Me and Jarid

Pat, Me, Charlie, Dad, Riley
Jarid & Mom
Jarid & Charlie
My lovely flowers (There are little pumpkins in the bouquet... I love them!)

Now that September is over things are back to normal for us and will probably be that way until Christmas rolls around. I hope that all is well with everyone.

Cruise Photos