Posts Tagged ‘family’

A pictureless entry


2010
04.17

Something that prevents me from posting — and this is stupid — is not having a photograph to add. I’m just a little bit too lazy to do photo editing and truthfully there isn’t much to display at the moment.

April has been good and quite honestly gorgeous in Colorado.

After Easter with my mom, I saw my father the very next weekend. He came to stay with me and then we went to the Rockies game on Sunday. We had great seats, great weather, and a great win by the Rockies. Spending time with my family is such a joy. I love them so much.

As April winds down though, I’m saddened that I won’t be out in California to attend my friend Jay’s wedding. I had been planning on going all along, but when I took a look at my finances, I just couldn’t make it happen. It was tempting to break out the credit card, which is essentially locked up. I’m making good progress on getting out of debt and so it would set me back. I’m living by a cash only philosophy as much as possible. So when I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it, I opted out and sent them a very nice present instead. The best I could afford with cash. I hope they enjoy it, although I’m sure they’d enjoy having their friend there more. I guess that’s life and being responsible.

Life at home is serene. Time off is a blessing.

Shifting gears, to not be too serious….my newest obsession (there are always so many) is Keith Olbermann. I’ve loved Keith for years. If you know me, you know that I swing his way politically, so I enjoy his show every now and again. I know that he goes a bit too far sometimes, but I just find it adorable. Sickening, I know. Especially if you disagree with his views. I hear about people loving Beck or that other guy on Fox. What’s his name, the dark haired commentator? I find it awesome I can’t remember his name. Anyway — I get sick to my stomach when I hear people gush about those guys, so this is very hypocritical and I apologize if you feel sick now too, but I can’t help it. Turn away!

So what’s with the sudden love fest? He’s on twitter! And his posts make me so happy. I don’t know what it is. It’s not even that cool really, but I just dig it.

Random enough for you?

If it’s not, I could go on and on about my almost lesbian love for Rachel Maddow. So much that I love this Tumblr blog devoted to her. She’s adorable and so freaking smart. In an alternate universe I would legitimately fall for her. But, alas, in this world I just like boys. Shucks.

Finally, I picked a new (bright and busy) blog template. We’ll see how long I keep it. One day I’m going to really design my own. But today that seems hard.

And with that, I hope you all are well and I promise better blogging — even if I don’t have pictures.

Easter 2010


2010
04.04

Sorry for the unimaginative blog post title, I’m a little knackered after this jam packed weekend. Today, was Easter and it was a very nice day. I didn’t get it spend it with my whole family, which would have been awesome, but I did get to spend it with my mom, step-dad, Marissa, and Johnny. We had a really nice afternoon.

There was food….

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

And there was lots of sitting around the table…

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

And there was our traditional egg cracking game….

Which I have to tell you a side story about. My father’s side of the family has been playing this game forever. It’s traditional Lebanese or more likely Mediterranean, because it was in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. But it’s flat out a thing that most Malouffs do at Easter. Even Malouffs, that I’ve never met, who I’m not even really related to, like the Maalouf and Maloof families. And because of the wonder of Facebook, I’ve friended a few Malouffs that I’ve never met. There’s a million of them all over the world. Our crazy Lebanese clan is just everywhere. So, I saw this woman post about the game and it made me so happy. She also describes how it’s played.

Well, even without my dad here today, we played the game.

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Michael had the winning egg, which is one that Johnny decorated the night before. He beat Johnny to win. The irony!

And of course there was a lot of love….

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Weekend Roundup


2010
01.24

So the weekend is coming to an end.

The weekend after a three day weekend is always so shockingly short. I swear, I just got off work and here I am preparing for tomorrow.

This one was a good one though. It started on Friday when I took Callie to the Vet and they put another bandage on her tail. They said she could wear it for two weeks this time and then she might not have to wear the cone when she goes bandage-free!

Well this blissful state ended a little abruptly for both her and I when I came home tonight to find her Jets-colored bandage on the floor completely in tact, as if she slipped it off disgusted with their loss. She herself was just chilling on her favorite blanket. She started to lick at it pretty good, so I was forced to put the cone on her…

January 24 2010

She gets bummed out wearing the cone, and that bums me out pretty bad. But this could be for the best. I’m thinking that it’s somehow meant to be, because this is really what the Vets wanted to do in the first place. I’m wondering if they put her bandage on in such a manner so that it would slip off easily and we’d be forced to do the truly right thing! The tail needs air, and we’ll just have to deal with our sweet little girl living in her Elizabethian cone.

After the Vet, I went to Best Buy in an effort to get NetFlix streaming on my TV. I had lots of options. Could run a DVI->HDMI cable from my laptop. Could get a PS3. Could get a capable Blu-Ray player. Best Buy did not have the cable, so it was between the PS3 or Blu-Ray.  After lots of internal debate, I ended up getting the Blu-Ray. It was half the price, didn’t require a disc from NetFlix to do initial setup, and I just don’t really play games that much.

You may be asking yourself, why not wait for the Wii NetFlix option that is coming soon? Well, there’s a bit of an urgency since I’m trying to catch up a friend on Lost before the new season starts. And the Wii version won’t have HD capabilities. Plus, I’m a bit excited for Blu-Ray. I bought Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Blu-Ray, and I can’t wait to watch it!

So overall I’m glad I got it. It was really easy to setup, and now I have a whole new gigantic option of viewing options whenever I want.

January 24 2010

On Saturday I did a ton of cleaning (again), including some de-cluttering that I had planned on doing ever since last week’s big clean up.

January 23 2010

Read more about that and see before and after pictures over at The Simple Sisters.

Today, my dad and Cathy came up for a visit. The three of us, along with Marissa and Johnny, went over to the Great Indoors, which was a little bit like torture (I’m a renter and I have no real money to speak of), and then had a fun lunch at Panera (yum!).

We talked about how I love to teach people lessons. Okay, more like my family made fun of me for that. They called me George Bluth from Arrested Development.

If you’ve never seen Arrested Development, it’s the episode called “Pier Pressures.” I wish I could show you a clip, but alas, I couldn’t find one.

Anyway, I came home and did computer-y things, and plan to curl up with my Kindle tonight. I never did share my Kindle skin experience. I do love it so! It was really easy to apply and I think it looks so cute!

January 24 2010

I’m with COCO too


2010
01.20

Mmm mmm mmm.

It was the summer of ’97….

I was a 18-year-old bratty graduate bound for college and angry at her parents for setting such a lame curfew. 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. My 17-year-old brother operated within the same guidelines.

So we’d go out most weeknights to hang out with friends. Me to my favorite coffee house (it was the 90s after all), and my brother to….well…I have no idea where he ever was.

And then 11:00 would roll around, we’d wander home and make our way into the kitchen for a late night snack–usually cereal, either Fruity Pebbles or Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

By the time we settled in around the kitchen table, it would be about 11:30 and The Tonight Show would just be ending and Late Night with Conan O’Brien would be starting. As we munched on our cereal we’d laugh at Conan’s funny monologue, and we’d refill our bowls by the time the first guest would come on.

I don’t remember how we found Conan in the first place, but he became such a part of that summer and a permanent figure in the memory I have of spending time with my brother at that age, that I have been incredibly fond of him ever since.

In 2002, I went with my dad and sister to New York and we visited NBC’s Rockefeller building. We got to tour lots of the studios, but sadly not Conan’s. We were so sad! But we did the next best thing and paid for a fake photo shoot  with a green screen, where it looked like we were on the set with Conan, sitting in his chairs, drinking out of mugs and laughing it up. When we got home from vacation, we lied and told my mom that we met him in real life and she believed us for a little bit, until we started laughing.

And that’s where I got my favorite mug!

January 20 2010

I was thrilled when I heard that Conan was taking over the Tonight Show in 2009! Especially because I was no spring chicken anymore and had imposed my own self inflicted curfew to be in bed by 11 (amazing how life evolves). To have Conan start at 10:35 was most excellent to me.

So I was there watching on his debut night, and kept at it for quite awhile.

I was so certain that Conan would be there at 10:35 for years and years to come that I wasn’t as worried about viewership as I should have been. If I missed a night, it was no big deal. If I missed a week, I dealt with it.

January 20 2010

So it should come to no surprise that I am livid at the late night fiasco at NBC. I could go on and on and on about my beef with NBC in general. I have never loved and hated something so equally and passionately as I do with NBC. Somehow NBC is my default channel, and a big chunk of my programming happens on NBC. So as much as I want to boycott or stay away from the network that chooses to destroy pretty much everything I love, I keep tuning in. LOSER!

Since this madness started, I’ve been watching every second of the Tonight Show, and he’s funnier than ever, which just makes it hurt more. I know that this isn’t the end of Conan by any means, but it still makes me sad. I hate that he only had seven months to be the host of the legendary “Tonight Show,” and I feel like he’ll forever be jaded.

And so that’s my story on that. I could dig deeper into all this, but really, this video pretty much sums it up for me!

Christmas recap


2009
12.30

Christmas was wonderful this year. Everything went as smoothly as possible, minus a little bit of a cold that tried to keep my down. I really celebrated the season this year with Christmas baking and buying my loved ones lots of excellent presents. In return, I got some wonderful things as well, which include a Kindle (my absolute favorite thing) and a Tassimo coffee maker.

Anyway, here are some photos from the holiday.

The Christmas Baking

I made my usual fudge, chocolate chip cookies, and tea cakes. I haven’t made tea cakes in years, and I’m so glad that I did. They were by far the highlight of all the goodies.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

My Christmas Tree

The tree with all the presents that gave.

Christmas 2009

Pueblo for Christmas

I went to Pueblo, as usual, and had a wonderful time.

Here’s my mom’s tree.

Christmas 2009

And here are some portraits I took of Marissa and Johnny.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

We made a Mexican feast (another family tradition), and even made our own tamales! It was quite a feat!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Dinner was awesome!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

And then I caught my cold! I went to bed that night with the shivers and I couldn’t get warm. I had a sheet right out of the dryer, an electric blanket, a comforter, and a quilt. Yet, I couldn’t get warm. That night was not so good, but I refused to let it deter me from a wonderful Christmas morning.

We woke up and had French Toast and coffee and then got to the business of opening presents.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Later, I went to my dad’s house to celebrate. We had more Mexican food (which is sort of hilarious that we’re all a bunch of white people…well, not hispanic so to speak). We had a fun time! Although, I must admit that my illness was trying to get the better of me.

Christmas 2009

It was another great Christmas! And the break from work was wonderful.

I also got a snuggie, some movies, some new pajamas, and some other heart felt gifts.