new year's eve

even though this blog stresses me out a lot of the time, i've decided to continue blogging in 2012 'cause it forces me to be positive everyday. i also love being able to read back on everything i did throughout the year. 2011 was pretty big for us. although i suffered two extremely difficult losses (my kitty and one of my dearest friends), i also enjoyed many blessings. we bought a house that i absolutely love, took a lot of fun trips with family and friends, welcomed baby russell into our lives, and finally decided that we are ready for a baby of our own. we are looking forward to another good year!

so anyway, we had a good new year's eve. we started the celebration with the mejia side of the family. we had dinner with the fam out in encino.




around 9:30, we rushed out the door and sped over to carson because i wanted to catch the minnesotans on skype for their countdown (which is two hours earlier than ours). we made it JUST in time.



in carson, my dad bought a bunch of wings from wingstop, so we ate again! we hung out with the family for a bit. rianne even curled my hair!





and thennnnn, for the first time ever, we left before midnight!! we usually spend the countdown at home in carson, but i wanted to spend it at our own home since it's our first year in the new house. we spent it pretty much the same way we would if we were in carson. we put money in our pockets, shook containers full of coins, and jumped up and down laughing when the clock struck 12. haha. super lame. my mom even made us a fruit bowl to take home. i hope our cheesy traditions bring us good luck! (=

west co

since anthony has been wanting boba from half and half for months now, we asked carla and geof if they wanted to join us since we were heading out to their hood. we had dinner at pondahan, finally got some of anthony's favorite boba (though he was not as crazy about it this time as he was the first time), and then even went to 85c to pick up some goodies for the road. so much good stuff out in west co, especially my sweet carla! haha.

just my baby daddy

i almost forgot to take a picture today, but anthony reminded me! wow! it's rare for him to be on this blog because he hates posing for pictures. i think that's funny, though, 'cause i spend most of my time with him! we just hung out at home after work today. it was nice to relax since the last few weeks have been so hectic. i was happy to have a nice, quiet night at home. sometimes i get a little sad when i realize that our time together is going to change. we are both excited for baby, but i'm just trying to enjoy these last few months of just us two. ya know?

anyway, on a less melancholy note, anthony saw the baby move for the first time today! i've felt bad because he always tries to feel the baby, but until today has been unsuccessful. baby started kicking me two weeks ago, and i always try to figure out a way for anthony to feel/see it, too. now when i'm at home and i feel baby kick, i put my phone on my belly and watch it move. but whenever anthony is around, the baby gets shy! well today while we were watching burn notice on tv, the baby kicked really hard during a gunshot scene! i told anthony to pause it so he could come see. but since it was suddenly all quiet, the baby got all shy again. so anthony made a loud noise and my phone jumped! hahaha.. how cute!!

korean bbq

we had our belated Christmas dinner with all the homies tonight. we ended up eating at cham soot gol in garden grove, where we had all-you-can-eat korean bbq and ice cream! the food was really good. i stupidly banged myself in the head really hard right before i left work, so i was kind of out-of-it the whole night, but i still had fun. haha. after dinner, we exchanged gifts. so many goodies!!! thanks, friends!

invitations

we met up at gen & alex's house after work today to work on eva & jeric's wedding invitations. we actually got a lot done, but realized we could've done things a lot more efficiently after we were already finished. haha. oh well. still good times with the girlies.

leftovers party

my parents and rianne came over this afternoon to help me eat some leftovers! we have a fridge full of food from yesterday's party. they also helped me clean up the rest of the kitchen. thanks!

Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! today we hosted our very first Christmas at our own house! even though it was super crazy planning and getting ready, it was all worth it because we really enjoyed being the hosts. we started off the holiday by attending midnight mass, and then went back home to prepare some more. i only ended up getting about three hours of sleep, but it's okay. we had fun. hope you all had a great day celebrating Jesus' birthday, too!!!

Christmas eve

we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family today at the Way Residence in cerritos. they had sooooooooo much food! it was pretty chill. we mostly just sat around and chit chatted. it was fun. sebastian looks like he had a great time, too!

busyness

it's been a very busy week for us. to prevent having a complete meltdown by sunday, i've created a whole spreadsheet where i've broken down all the tasks we need to get done, day by day. haha. anyway, today i had to go to walmart to pick up a few items. i really hate that store, and apparently my baby does, too, because i seriously felt like i was going to pass out while i was waiting in the super long check-out line. i'm pooped!!!! but i am also glad to cross out more items off our to-do list!

Christmas cards

i love getting Christmas cards in the mail! i get so excited to check the mail box as soon as i get home from work. (= hopefully everyone has received ours by now.