.:: y'om say'n? word. ::.

.:: Saturday, December 31, 2005 ::.

i still can't believe it's almost 2006. 2005 was a good year for me. but then again, i haven't really had any bad years. i mean, there were bad moments in some years, but the good always outweighed the bad. i usually do my highlights and lowlights, but i think anyone who's been reading my blog pretty much knows my highlights, and there aren't many lowlights. so instead, i'll just share pictures of some of the things i've been working on. :)

i told you about our super friendly/super nice neighbors...well, i wanted to join in on the friendly/niceness, so i baked them cookies for christmas.

(we have lemon madeleines on the left, peanut butter whoopie pies up top (chocolate cookies with the yummiest peanut butter filling), iced gingerbread stars to the right, and rocky ledge bars at the bottom (white and dark chocolate chunks, butterscotch chips, marshmallows and caramel). courtesy of martha stewart. :)

and here's some of the knitting i've finished. this one is the first felted project i did just after thanksgiving, and it turned out quite nicely IMO. i am no longer afraid to felt in my front-loading washer!


lucky star purse for W's sister, and brown and orange purse for W's mom (i made the star pattern myself!):


and a fun fur scarf i made for fun, for W's sister (it's much purpler than the picture shows):


i'm still working on an enormous blanket for W (crocheted in a plaid pattern). and hoping to retry the knitpicks socks using the super cute sock yarn i bought. the pattern, which isn't really a pattern, more like general instruction, is really weird and my first attempt didn't come out so nice. but i bought 12 skeins in various colors, so i have 6 pairs of socks to make! i'm also hoping to make some more stuffed animals. i really need to figure out how to make my crafting into a lucrative business...hmmm...

anyway, happy new year!

:: joyCleeP 11:35 AM [+] ::
...

i admit it, i'm addicted to TV. i know, it's horrible, pathetic, just a big waste of time. even worse, i'm addicted to beverly hills 90210 reruns on soapnet. while we were in cali, i recorded all the episodes (daily) i'd miss, and now i'm on a 90210 rerun marathon! woohoo!

when we lived in pleasanton, we got dish network, and loved it. the DVR is super easy to use much faster than tivo. we never had any issues (aside from the 8 hour install and the having to ship back the receiver after we lugged it out here). so naturally we got dish when we moved out here. well, it sucks. it really sucks. we've had so many issues with it, we were both just fed up. from install mistakes and overcharges to our satellite going out ALL the time, and then our entire DVR being erased?! all those hours and hours of movies and shows i'd recorded, gone, poof! so we're making the switch to digital cable. they had an offer that was too good to pass up. we'll be paying much less and getting much more. all the channels...except soapnet!! what am i going to do?! no more 90210 reruns?! :( i should write letters to comcast to demand they add soapnet to their lineup! yes, it's that serious. :P i told you i had a serious addiction.

:: joyCleeP 1:15 PM [+] ::
...

how was your christmas?

our's was very low-key. it was nice having christmas early with our families tho, cuz we had no christmas shopping to do since it was all done earlier this month. christmas eve we saw "memoirs of a geisha" with C&C. we all agreed they did a great adaptation of the book to film. i loved the little girl who played the young chiyo. then after dinner, we exchanged christmas gifts; i got what i wanted, and W got what he wanted. i know, we're such geeks.... but we were both very happy as we played our games that night. :) christmas day we did much of nothing. i made deep dish lasagna for dinner, we drank a little wine (leftover cab from byington, where we got married) and ate some cookies for dessert (i made a cookie platter for our neighbors, with lemon madeleines, peanut butter whoopie pies, rocky ledge bars, and iced gingerbread stars...so good!).

then...the day after christmas. i went to aaron brothers to get my art canvases (i have big plans for our guest bedroom!) and some frames for the upstairs landing. then over to joanns to get some yarn to knit felted purses for W's mom and sister. after lunch, W and i ventured out to the mall, where it was just a madhouse! went to best buy and spent $106, but actually got $5 back after using up our giftcards and after rebates. then over to crate and barrel so i could get my double sided griddle which i've been wanting since i registered for it! the line was horrendously long, so we decided to walk around the furniture side, just to look. well, we did more than look. we bought our daybed!! the one we've had our eye on since we bought our bed! it goes soooo perfectly in our bedroom retreat. so perfect. and it was on sale! we couldn't resist! merry christmas to us! but that wasn't the end of it. we went over to gart sports to get the "power tower" W wanted (you know, those things you can do leg lifts and pull ups on), and ended up buying a home gym! cuz it was 50% off. :)

one thing W and i are really good at? spending money.

so that was our christmas. oh, did i mention the record high temps in denver? yeah, there was no white christmas for us. apparently, it's very rare to have snow on christmas. :(

:: joyCleeP 9:06 AM [+] ::
...

when we got back late wednesday, there was an invitation on our front door from one of our neighbors, for a christmas party. we didn't really want to go, but felt we should, or else the neighbors might think we're rude and antisocial. and heaven forbid they don't just love us! :) the crowd was much older, since most of our neighbors have teenaged kids, and we were definitely the youngsters. and they were all original owners, and had known each other now for almost 12 years! but the host and hostess were so gracious and everyone was so friendly and eager to meet us. i was glad we went, even tho we were there til 10:30, much later than i had planned. i hope i remember everyone's names!

so not only does our neighborhood have a christmas lights contest, they also have lawn of the month! woa... i found out that lone tree has a great new rec center with an indoor lap pool. i think i'll go check that out.

we had our mail on hold at the post office while we were gone, and it was quite a pleasant surprise to get so many christmas cards!! so thank you all for your lovely cards! you know, in this age of emails and egreetings, it's really nice to get an actual piece of mail every once in a while. :)

:: joyCleeP 9:52 AM [+] ::
...

there's no place like home...

well, we made it, in one piece! and the car made it too! just barely...

we left my parent's house tuesday morning (originally we were planning to leave monday but W had some things to wrap up at work, so we stayed an extra day). we drove for almost 12 hours to tusayan, arizona, just outside the grand canyon. woke up bright and early wednesday to head over to the canyon. what a sight! it was beautiful, breath-taking, vast, stomach-turning...so much more incredible in person than any pictures or words could describe. it's hard to imagine a river did that! we drove along the road to all the little lookout points, not wanting a miss a thing. we came **THIS** close to hitting a HUGE deer, antlers and all, when we weren't paying attention to the road. luckily we were only going about 15 mph, and W slammed on the brakes and the deer was smart enough to run out of our way just in time! seriously, we were like millimeters from hitting it...scary!! the funniest part was when he jumped out of our way, he didn't continue on, he turned around and stared, no, glared, at us, as if to say "WTF?!" i was just trying to imagine the kind of damage an animal of that size would do to our little CRX!!!

on our way out of the park, W smelled oil, and we noticed that the car was leaking a bit. we pulled over at the gas station, and rusty was bleeding! heavily! W took a look under the car, and *dread* there was a hole in the oil pan! there was some uneven pavement along the road at the grand canyon, and we kinda drove over some rocky parts and scraped the underbelly of the car. the pavement hit at just the "right" spot on the oil pan and made a nice little hole. :( luckily, i have a very handy and prepared husband, who was able to patch up the hole (thank you JB Weld!!) and we were on our way. unfortunately, this little fiasco set us back about a little over an hour. but we would still make it home around 10:30pm. we wanted to visit the petrified forest and painted desert, recommended by L, but we didn't want to get home at midnight, so we just kinda looked for it from the freeway. we didn't see nothin'. you know, arizona actually was pretty nice at first, nice landscape, lots of trees...but after you pass flagstaff, it's pretty flat and boring. new mexico was worse (altho we did see an amazing sunset). albuquerque and santa fe looked like big cities, but after that, nothing. just straight up little towns and trailer trash. i can't imagine growing up in a place like that. (am i being too judgmental again?)

we finally got home just after 11pm, and it was the greatest site i'd ever seen! my city! my neighborhood! my house!!! i love it all...and most of all, i loved getting into my bed...in my bedroom...i've never been so happy to be home. :) home, sweet home.

here are a few pics from the grand canyon:


and one of our poor car...


and now, for the first time ever, all our vehicles are home, under one roof! wow.

:: joyCleeP 10:34 AM [+] ::
...

yea! another car sold! i never thought i'd see the day where we'd only have 3 cars. W assures me that won't be for long, as he is planning to get a new one soon. but it sure is a great relief to have the maxima sold, and have everything go very smoothly. now we can relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation...sort of. :P

:: joyCleeP 12:55 PM [+] ::
...

i don't think we've been away long enough for it to have that "boy, it's really great to be back" feeling. but i realize now just how different denver is. driving around pleasanton yesterday running errands, i realized i like lone tree soooo much better than pleasanton. but one thing pleasanton has that colorado doesn't: fiesta taco! our favorite tacqueria...and yes, we grubbed. mmm.... the mexican food in denver isn't bad, it's just different. they like to "smother" everything with this sauce and cheese. it's a bit much for me, but the locals love it.

the biggest thing i've noticed is the humidity! man, it's really humid here! i guess my skin is already adjusting to the dry rocky mountain air. it's nice to spend time with my parents though, and get some of my mom's great home cookin'!

now, if we could just sell the car...please, someone buy it!! did i mention we're driving our last car back? i'm not looking forward to the 20+ hour drive (we're taking the southern route thru nevada, arizona and new mexico to avoid any snowstorms) but i am looking forward to our stop at the grand canyon (neither of us has seen it!). but until next week, we're trying to hang out with friends and family as much as possible. so in that sense, it's really great to be back. :)

:: joyCleeP 10:14 AM [+] ::
...

this morning, we went snowboarding in our backyard...hehehe... if our neighbors were watching us, i'm sure they were laughing. :P i know it's hard to tell from the pictures, but it was a lovely 4 degrees!

:: joyCleeP 12:52 PM [+] ::
...

i just love the snow, and i can't get over how cool it is!! i know, you're probably getting sick of hearing about it. but there's just something really peaceful and calming about snow. i get mesmerized just staring out the window watching the snow fall...and the landscape is so beautiful!! when we're driving around and we see all the snow everywhere, i can't believe this is where we live! i don't think it will ever get old. what i can definitely do without is the frigid temps. it's supposed to be below zero the next couple of nights. holy crap.

i've got so many holiday and knitting projects going on at once right now, i hope i finish them all before we leave! well, the time sensitive ones at least.

:: joyCleeP 11:40 AM [+] ::
...

i was very skeptical when W told me his coworkers were telling him about a "great ramen place" in denver. there are a ton of asian restaurants out here, but they're different than back home. so saturday we ventured out in the snow to oshima ramen. you walk in, and suddenly you're transported to japan...it was so weird! they have the high countertop, vats of boiling water, little noodle baskets, hot and humid atmosphere...i couldn't believe it! we sat down and ordered our ramen, and watched them prepare is just like they do in japan. and the ramen was soooooo good. apparently oshima ramen is a ramen chain in japan, and they have one single location in the US, and it just happens to be in denver! of all places! i just have to say, i am one very happy camper. oh, and their gyoza are deeeeelicious!

W's coworker told him about this website. it's actually a weekly publication, much like the guardian or SF weekly, with local goings-on and reviews and such. they have a really extensive "best of" list, and oshima was "best cheap lunch" which is odd since a bowl of ramen is about $7-10. that's cheap?? anyway, we decided that we would try a restaurant from the best of list every week. our list of places to eat is growing by the minute!

we also found a great place for margaritas. it's a very el torito style mexican restuarant that makes margaritas with everclear. i have no clue what everclear is, but apparently it's something you can't get in california. W loved it, and is happy to have found a place with great margaritas. the food was pretty good too.

i'm getting really excited about going home to visit...i wonder how it will feel? will i miss denver? haha...sounds strange.

:: joyCleeP 11:07 AM [+] ::
...

old roommie sent me this. okay, i love hello kitty and all, but this is a bit much. i can't believe there is even a need for a hello kitty airplane! i know hello kitty is to japan what mickey mouse is to americans, but we're talking a whole 'nother dimension. here are some dude's pictures of an actual flight. very very odd... altho i do like the hello kitty fishcake on the udon noodles. :P

:: joyCleeP 11:18 AM [+] ::
...