Red Pearl with the Besties!

Shanty and I

Me, Shanty, Jaim, Sash

Every year Jaime, Sasha, Shaunna, Stephy and me do a fun friend gift exchange. It is such a fun time in our busy Christmas season to stop, have a drink and spend some quality time with each other. Since Stephy moved out to Longbeach we did her presents 2 weekends before at the Girls Wine Party since she couldn't make it to dinner.

Our resturant of choice this year was "Red Pearl" in downtown San Diego. It was AWESOME. The food was great, the atmosphere was definitely a fun setting and the drinks were delicious! I love spending this quality time with my girls especially now more than ever because I can lean on them for advice about the wedding and just life in general.

This year....Sash pulled the names out of a hat and this is who got who....

Kate had Stephy - She got a fun clutch purse, 2 rings, a bracelet and long gloves
Stephy had Sasha - She got a big purse and a beautiful red scarf
Sasha had Shaunna - She got a grey purse (see a theme) and an adorable bangel bracelet
Shaunna had Jaime - She got Juicy wine toppers and a really cute bracelet
Jaime had Kate - I got a pair of Juicy underwear, Firehouse giftcard, a lobster wine stopper, a perfume roller and a bracelet

Our limit was $40.00 this year and most of us stayed within the boundaries....well maybe...but either way we all loved our gifts!!! I hope we always continue this holiday tradition because it means so much to me to have this special time with my girls.

LSC @ Yardhouse

Throughout our law school adventures we have met some amazing friends, especially our law school vegas crew. It's really neat to be sharing all of these difficult, fun, stressful, memorable moments with these other couples and have them relate exactly to what you're going through as a couple. Ana & Sidd and Ashley & Jay have been our shoulders to lean on the past 3 years and hopefully will continue for many more. We decided to share our love for Christmas this year with a group dinner at Yardhouse - our favorite resturant. We had lots of fun, lots of drinks and lots of food! All in all these couples are so wonderful to be around. Words can't even express how thankful I am that Gregg has made such great friends in his law school career and that everyone has gotten along so well. I am so blessed to have all these people in my life and I really don't know what I'd do without them. Love my law peeps!

Mr. & Mrs. Pal

lover and me

A & K

the girls

fab four

Master Batters Original Recipe Softball Team

Soon to be Anderson's

Don, Gregg and Me

This past Sunday on December 21, 2008 Alex and Trisha proclaimed their love for one another and tied the knot! It was such a sight to see. Their story is beautiful - not only are these the most accomplished people I've ever met but they have the most amazing personalities that compliment each other in so many ways. Gregg goes to school with BOTH Trisha and Alex - that's right they met their first year of law school and dated throughout the entire 3 years! He had a class with both Alex and Trisha this past year and got to know them really well since all 3 of them sat together. Also this year, they invited me to join their co-ed softball league that they had started - Master Batters Original Recipe Every Wednesday I've gotten to know Trisha and Alex better and better and I just love how hilarious they are. They are definitely not a shy couple, that's for sure. Usually their little pup Kramer Kram comes to the games too (he is starting to take the title of our mascot - and I just love him dearly).

Turns out that this wedding was on a whirlwind of a weekend. Alex and Trisha graduated Thomas Jefferson School of Law on Saturday - December 20th, both graduating Cum Laude. Sunday they got married - December 21st and now they are both prepping to take the bar in July 2009. Talk about a crazy month!

All in all, we had a wonderful time at the wedding. One of their professors who had both of them in class ended up marrying them - props and all. Their wedding was held on the beautiful Shelter Island in San Diego at the Island Palms hotel. 80 people watched as they danced their first dance as husband and wife and even did some crazy moves to Michael Jackson later on in the night. I love seeing these wonderful couples committ their lives to one another and it just gets me excited when Gregg and I finally have our turn!

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Pal - we love you guys!!!!!

Shari's Berries & Hershey Kisses

The other day at work I was sitting in my cube working away when I got the best email ever! It was from our shipping department telling me that a personal package had been delievered and was waiting for me in shipping. Since I wasn't expecting anything I assumed this was a Christmas gift and was getting excited.....the wheels were spinning! I went to the office only to find a big box from Hershey's chocolate from....Harley Anderson. I had a quick laugh and ran back to my desk to open my surprise package. It was a little Christmas basket filled with lots of yummy kisses, peanut butter cups and a HUGE Hershey's Kiss. The message was "Happy Holidays from Harley" - what a sweet puppy I have. I just love how thoughtful he is to get me chocolate even though he can't eat any!

The very next day (it was like dejavu) I got an IM from shipping from our coordinator Greg Jacobs. He told me that I had a personal package waiting for me in shipping. Obviously I thought this was a mistake since I had already gotten a fun personal package yesterday - so I told him that I had already picked it up and that he was mistaken. He then told me that it was ANOTHER package - but this time from a customer. I asked him where it was from (since I didn't believe any of my customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee or Kentucky) would be sending ME gifts. He told me it was from Rocklin, CA. How odd...hmmm since that is NEAR where I'm from but not exactly my town. Who on earth would send me something from Rocklin?? So since him and I both assumed it was from a customer - I had him read the card. OOPS!! Greg said.....Hey this guy has a good name - uh oh I don't think I should have opened this....

The card read:

Happy Holidays Baby

From your Husband to be

Ha ha, needless to say I was definitely blushing but Greg and I just laughed it off. He told me they were from Shari's Berries and immediately I was smiling from ear to ear. Ever since high school I have always wanted to get Shari's Berries from a boy...and now look - my amazing fiance had them shipped to me from Sacramento all the way to my little office in San Diego. These were the best treats/Christmas surprises I have ever gotten. I have some special boys in my life - that's for sure!!!!!

Threadshow - San Diego - December 2008

Fashionistas

LLK

Laurel and Kate

Last Thursday Laurel and I got together at the Estancia (where she works and where I'm getting married) and had a "planning lunch" to discuss wedding details and really just to catch up with one another. While we were cathing up she mentioned this fun show that comes to San Diego called the "Threadshow" where all designers from the nearby area come to showcase their talents/clothes/jewelry/purses/headbands/clips, etc. you get the picture! Soooo we decided to make it an event and invited Lisa to come along too. She was really grateful for the study break inbetween her finals.

We got there almost 2 hours early thinking it was going to be a jam packed event, but we were actually the first ones in line (and this was after we had gotten a bagel and coffee) oops! It never hurts to be prepared. As we were eating our yummy breakfast on the side of the tent we decided to take a few pictures......I don't know if you were allowed to take pictures inside the tent but I wish I could have because it was such a sight to see! There was everything from clips to headbands to feathers to jackets to shirts, etc, etc. Since we were there so early, normally you had to pay extra to get a VIP ticket, however we paid the regular price but got in early - AND we got a giftbag since we were part of the first 250 people - ha ha ha more like the FIRST ONES!

I bought a really cute bracelet, a neat shirt that wraps around and a cute heart shaped clutch. Sooo fun! The day was so great especially for us fashionista girls and we are planning to go to the next show in August! Hooooray for fashion!

Hard Rock Christmas Party

Laura, Miranda and I

Jaime, Gregg and I

This past weekend Gregg's law firm had their holiday work party at the new Hard Rock Hotel in Downtown San Diego! It was a blast!!! Kind of interesting because from 3pm-6pm only the employees were allowed to come in, then from 6pm-12am everyone's significant others and spouses were able to join the party. It was a bit different than the normal Christmas party but all together it was a great time. The company was very generous and the entire night was open bar (no tip allowed) and open appetizers round the clock! It was pretty exciting!!! Gregg had a lot of fun and we finally decided to leave Hard Rock and headed out to Fleetwood, a neighboring bar to meet up with some other friends for a going away party. I rarely get to hang out with my Jaime girl downtown so it was so great getting to see her and everyone else at the bar too! Unfortunately Gregg started to feel a bit ill....so we hopped in a cab - just in time to miss Sasha and Mike's arrival, got him some yummy pizza and saw Miranda for a quick second since her work party was downtown at Confidential as well. The night was a great success and Gregg and I basically had our own little pub crawl downtown - ha. I love Christmas party season!!!!!

2nd Annual Wine & Salad Party

"right hand picture"

My wine girls

Websensers

This year Jenni I and I decided to throw our annual Wine & Salad Party. It was seriously so much fun! Last year we had the party hosted at my house but this year since we have Harley now and it was a little crowded last year, we decided to rent out my clubhouse instead! Jenni brought all of the decorations, while I bought all of the craft materials. Each year we try to decorate something....last year it was cookies, this year it was ornaments! All of the girls brought amazing salads, pasta salad, bbq chicken salad, caprese salad, potato salad, chinese chicken salad, greek salad!! I made my famous garlic bread too which was a very big hit as well. We played 2 games this year, 1 game where we pass a present around depending on the winner of each question, the second was a normal white elephant gift. The girls had a ton of fun and so did Jenni and I! We love this party and hope to continue it for years and years!!! (Gregg was the nice fiance who came to help clean up and take all our group shots for us - what a doll!!)

Granite Bay Thanksgiving 2008

Cranium Game Time

Harley in the Hood

David wearing the apron.....again!

Silly Cousins

Katie, Kimmy, Lauren, Lisa

This year for Thanksgiving Gregg and I made the long drive home starting at 3:30am!! I drove first since I actually got some sleep this year. Gregg had a paper due, so he pulled an all nighter and was even able to hook up his laptop in the car!! Talk about dedication. We made it to Sacramento in one piece, Harley included around 11:30am! Hooray!! I got my hair done by Brett that evening and was able to visit with him and talk a little bit about wedding ideas and such - hooray! Thanksgiving was held at my house this year (like it is every year) and my mom and aunts did such a great job cooking up a marvelous feast. It was especially neat this year because my parents bought some champagne and my dad gave a really nice toast welcoming Gregg into the family...officially! Also this year Lisa's boyfriend Mike, Lauren's boyfriend Andrew and Gregg were all able to attend and meet each other for the first time, what a treat! Afterwards the cousins and I played our usual competitive boardgame of Cranium....we stopped the game for pie and never finished....I guess we weren't that interested. Overall it was so great being home and really made Gregg and I consider moving there after he graduates.......we'll see!!!

Friendsgiving

Bree, me and Shaunna

Bree, Shaunna, me and Holly

This year Gregg and I decided to participate in the annual "Friendsgiving" that a few of our friends throw each year. It was insane! I had no idea people our age could cook such wonderful Thanksgiving food including 2 turkeys! Bree was there whom I love - I rarely get to see her but when I do she is such a delight to be around. Overall Gregg and I had a great time eating all the food, hanging out with old friends and making new ones! It might have to be a yearly tradition from now on!!