The One With Double Icicles

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Brad and I decided to get a head start on our Christmas decorating. Since this is our first Christmas in our home, we were especially excited to finally be able to put up our own lights on the house. Our plan started with us driving around the neighborhood at night and scoping out the competition/generating lighting ideas. We finally decided to go with the fake icicle lights on our house, which then prompted my question- “Should we do single icicles or double icicles?” Since our house is 2 stories, we would have 2 roof ledges to hang lights from- so would having icicle lights on the first and second story be too much? Brad thought so, but then we saw a house like this and decided that double icicles would look really good. (Obviously the house in the picture looks great for other reasons besides the double icicles.)

Then we drove home and saw this…

That’s right- we don’t even have 2 ledges! So all our debating back and forth was for nothing. And now our next issue was going to be a ladder, since the highest one we own is 4 foot tall step stool.

Finally, after shopping around Home Depot for ladders and lights we came to the conclusion that we weren’t going to be able to buy ALL the lights and Christmas necessities we needed to achieve the above pictured house (at least, not if we wanted to buy Christmas presents this year!)

So, for our first Christmas, these are our lights:



Next Christmas we’ll get the ladder and do the double icicles. (Notice the tiny 2nd ledge over the front door - we can totally still do double icicles!)

Also, here’s our first real Christmas tree’s before and after photos. You’ll see that the bottom portion of the tree has no ornaments- we have Copper to thank for that.

The One With The Reason For The Season

I read this amazing news story yesterday and felt that it was a great reminder of what the holiday season is all about. Read below and be inspired!

Mystery Couple Start “Magical” Chain Reaction

It played like a scene from a holiday movie -- a mystery couple, who didn’t leave their names or numbers, walked into a restaurant, finished their meal and then set-off a chain reaction of generosity that lasted for hours.

That’s just what employees at the Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond said a man and a woman did during their breakfast shift last Saturday morning.

“It was magical. I had tears in my eyes because it never happened before. I’ve been here for 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Lynn Willard, a waitress.

Willard and other waitresses told NBC Philadelphia that the couple started the chain reaction by paying double: for their own meal and for the tab of another table of diners at the restaurant. There's no evidence that one group of diners knew the others.

“I could not believe it … and it continued and continued, it was very nice,” said Willard. “They asked us not to say anything until they left, but we said ‘Merry Christmas, that person picked up your tab.’”

For the next five hours, dozens of patrons got into that same holiday spirit and paid the favor forward.
The diner’s manager said not one person was concerned about price of the check -- which averaged between $12-$30.

“It was a surprise to all of us, the girls were even taken aback,” said Linda. “Those who took the check also tipped the waitress. So nobody had to do anything other than pass it on and that’s what they did. They just passed it forward.”

It’s a true holiday story that proves how a small gesture of kindness can create some magic.

Click here to view video clip of story…

The One Where Alex Got Married

I’m a little behind on posting these pictures, but they’re just so pretty- I wanted to share!

Our good friend Alex and her now husband, Steve, were married on November 20th in Silverado, California at the amazing Rancho Las Lomas preserve.

Photos of friends, the happy couple and beautiful event below- Congrats Alex & Steve!

The One With The Fort

Remember when you were a kid and on rainy days you would stay inside and make forts? Well, at the age of 25, Brad and I are still making forts on rainy days- this time it’s for our dog.


I’ve always said we’re pretty spoiled in San Diego, but now I actually see why- this is only our second day of rain since adopting Copper in June. And being an Arizona born/San Diego raised dog- she’s not quite used to the rain yet. Her first time experiencing rain was over Thanksgiving weekend, where she stayed inside and barked all day long. Not a good day for any of us in the house.

Today is her second day of rain and first time having to deal with it alone outside. Since we don’t have a covered patio and leaving her inside is not an option (the house would be in ruins), we decided to block off part of our garage so that Copper would have some coverage during the day. Unfortunately, I don’t think Copper gets the excitement of having a fort, like we did as kids. Luckily, we are blessed with good weather in San Diego, so hopefully there won’t be too many days filled with fort making- for our benefit and Copper’s.

The One With 6 Days Of Turkey

For this year’s Thanksgiving, Brad and I decided to take on the task of hosting dinner at our place. I’m not much of a cook (Brad has only said “you can definitely make this again” to only one or two of my dinner dishes), so needless to say, this Thanksgiving dinner was going to be interesting. By the way- this is what I get for responding with “For when we host Thanksgiving or something” whenever Brad asked why we were registering for a certain piece of china or serving dish.

In anticipation of Thanksgiving Day, Brad and I decided to do a trail run turkey on the Monday before, so we roasted a 4 lb bird and made gravy from it. Unfortunately, this idea did not make us any more prepared/comfortable for the big day since our little turkey came out undercooked and the gravy was way too sweet tasting. After cutting up one side of the turkey, we threw it back in the oven for another hour or so, hoping that would cook the other side enough to eat for the next night.

Now after having turkey for Monday and Tuesday’s dinner AND eating turkey sandwiches (deli turkey- at least) for Wednesday’s lunch, we weren’t really looking forward to cooking a 19 lb turkey the next day and eating it.

However, we got lucky and our big Thanksgiving Day turkey came out great and the gravy even turned out decent! And no- we did not buy canned gravy, we made it from scratch. Our one little mistake was that we only pulled out one bag of “goodies” from the carcass and didn’t realize there was a 2nd bag until we started carving into the cooked turkey. Whoops! I did mention that I’m not much of a cook and this was our first time cooking a turkey- right? (The trail run doesn’t count since there was no bag of “goodies” inside.)

The rest of our weekend was spent being lazy. I never left the house or changed out of my PJs all day Friday and Saturday (Brad golfed on Saturday), which meant we ate turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls (oh- that was our 2nd mistake- we forgot to bake and serve the rolls at Thanksgiving dinner!) and pie all weekend long. Thankfully, Brad’s aunt, uncle and cousins came to visit Sunday afternoon, so not only did I finally shower and dress, but we also went out and ate something other than turkey- Mexican food!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Holiday!