Let the Countdown Begin

I am getting really excited for Christmas this year. Only one day to go before the December countdown begins. Growing up we always got Advent Calendars to help countdown til Christmas. I always loved the ones with pictures and would wake up every morning in anticipation of what would be behind each window. I will admit...sometimes I did cheat a little and would peak ahead. I'm looking for one to buy this year to have at work (hopefully it will help me stay motivated to keep working).

Here is some history on the Advent Calendars, thought it was interesting:

The origin of the Advent Calendar can be traced back to the 19th. Century. The first styles came from the protestant area. So religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve. The first known Advent Calendar which was made by handwork is from the year 1851.

Other early styles were the Adventclock or the Adventcandle - a candle for each of the 24 days until Christmas, like todays Advent wreath. So in religious families little pictures were hang up on the wall - one for each day in December. Another tradition was to paint chalk strokes on the door, one per day until Christmas Eve.

Welcome Home Mom and Dad

My parents have safely landed back in San Francisco after their 3-week adventure in China. I can't wait to see them and hear all their exciting stories. I can only wait to see all the stuff my mom brought back with her. Last year when they went to Germany she brought back enough presents to fit in an entire suitcase. We even got an old Pretzel that was the size of a large pie. Of course, it was a few days old and everyone was scared to eat it.

Wanted to say Welcome Home, we missed you and can't wait to see you soon.

A New Do

After having the same hairstyle for probably the last 10 years, I decided for a little change yesterday. I added some bangs! OK...they not too extreme, but they are definitely a different length than the rest of my hair.

I have my good friend, Heidi Hendricks to thank for my new hairstyle. She is amazing and the good news is she just started working part time in Walnut Creek at Mika Salon. I highly recommend her, so if you want to make an appointment here is the number: 925-939-6452. She works every other weekend at Mika since she still continues to work in Sacramento at another salon.

Tracy also got her hair done at the same time and we had a great time ordering pizza and sipping on some boxed wine. THANK YOU HEIDI! I love my new do and had such a fun time.

Thanksgiving At Our House

Since my parents were out of town, we offered to host Thanksgiving at our house. Jason's mom was sweet enough to come over bright and early and cook the turkey. I'm so thankful for her since I've never even attempted a turkey and felt that it would have been way too overwhelming. I have a hard enough time handling raw chicken, let alone a giant turkey. Jason's Grandma was also in town and was also a huge help in the kitchen.

We had a nice, relaxing day of hanging out, cooking, playing with Marley and Scott and holding Tyler. It was nice to keep it casual and the food turned out great.

Here are 2 new recipes that I tried and thought they turned out good (much better than last year's Brussel Sprouts gone bad).


Butternut Squash Gratin
*NOTE: To keep things much easier, I recommend using a large bag of frozen chopped spinach vs. fresh. It cuts down on a lot of time plus who can tell the difference. I think I only used 6 cups of spinach (which is plenty.)

Creamed Corn Casserole
This is similar to corn bread, but not as dense. Everyone really enjoyed this.

I always have luck finding recipes on www.bhg.com

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your day is filled with wonderful food, family and fun. I have so much to be thankful for this year and continue to try and remind myself daily.

Although our family has had our trials, it has allowed me to take the time and really examine all that I've been blessed with. I've truly never been more grateful for all that I have, until this year, so I guess that is my answer to my question of "Why?". This Thanksgiving, I give Thanks for an amazing husband, family, friends, job, house and of course, pets.

As you cook away in your kitchen tomorrow, try and remember the main reason why we are all gathering and give thanks for all that you have been blessed with this holiday season.

Amber and Adam Visit SF

Last night we headed to the city to see Amber and Adam. They were excited to be visiting SF after moving this past year back to Ohio. We started off at Mamacita's in the Marina. If you have a chance to go (and don't mind waiting for a table), I highly recommend it. The food, cocktails and atmosphere are all great and the only problem with this place is you may eat too much.
http://www.mamacitasf.com/

After dinner we headed to a bar, but first had to make a pit stop at one of Amber and I's favorite pleasures. All-Star Donuts. Yes, we used to always end our nights with a trip to the donut shop and have quite a few stories about conversations with our favorite donut employees. I always go for the white with rainbow sprinkles. It's the best!

It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and be back in the city. I miss not having Amber close by. She is the kind of person that you feel lucky to have in your life. She promised she would be back soon and I can't wait to see her again.

Loving the Baby Bjorn

We got to babysit Tyler on Saturday for the day as Heidi was at a swimmeet and Danny was in Utah. We realized how much easier it was to have only one nephew at a time. He was such a good boy and we loved having the opportunity to spend some quality time with him.
My sister introduced us to the amazing invention, The Baby Bjorn. I've always seen this item on Baby Shower registries and never quite understood them. But let me tell you...they are a miracle if the baby likes them. Wow! It changed our babysitting experiences and even Jason gave it a try.
Paris and Claudia stopped by to visit with Tyler and were so happy to see him after following all of his progress on Heidi's blog.
He is growing up and just started smiling. We tried getting some pics of the smiling, but realized it is hard to estimate when he is going to do it. We were always about 10 seconds too late.

Weekend with the Pets

We had a lot of fun hanging out with Marley on Friday night and all her toys. Thank you Kelli for her new toys that include a stuffed animal duck and nyla bones. She LOVES them! She basically plays for about and hour and then sleeps for an hour. She is so funny and has such a great personality. She always wants to be by someone's side, which I've heard is very classic of a lab. We wake up every morning (sometimes at 5AM) and say to each other how happy we are to have her in our lives.

Enjoy some pics I took over the weekend. As you may or may not know, I'm obsessed with taking lots of pet pictures (probably have over 500 of my cats and they basically all look the same. Cats aren't really into posing cute for the camera.) Marley would love to hang out with Serena, but Serena has realized she is safe sitting at the top of her condo.

Important Cooking Lesson

I hosted cooking club at my house this last week. We always have such a good time and love trying new recipes.

I do have to admit. I made a rookie mistake with my shopping this week and learned an important lesson. Phyllo Dough (AKA Filo, Fillo) and Puff Pastry are not the same thing. They are actually quite different. We were planning to make Chicken in Phyllo and I accidentely bought Puff Pastry, thinking it was the same thing. Well our chicken ended up looking like GIANT hot pockets and were quite heavy. I think each one weighed 5 pounds. In addition, we made enough mashed potatoes for 30 people. We all got a good laugh out of our interesting looking chicken creations.

The best part about cooking club isn't the cooking, it is just being with everyone. It really doesn't matter if the food is good, it matters if your having a good time. It gives us a good excuse every month to get together with one another, have a few glasses of wine and catch up on all the latest. I look forward to it every month and hope it continues for years to come.

The Lietz's Take On China

I just got an email from my Mom and Dad from China. Sounds like they are having quite an adventure and keeping very busy. My Mom is loving the wheeling and dealing with the street vendors and I'm sure she is keeping my Dad busy from day to night. To travel with my mom you realize you cannot call it a vacation. There is no relaxing, but that is who she is and one of the things we love most about her. I know she will come home with thousands of pictures, trinkets and the funniest stories. Tonight they visit with a Chinese family for dinner. I can only wait for the stories from that one. I'm sure my Mom will persuade one of the family members to come live at their house this summer.

I was so glad to hear that they are having such a great time. My mom was really hesitant to go, especially since she was just in the hospital, but a week before they were supposed to leave, they decided to go. I'm so happy for them and I know this is going to be a trip they will remember forever.

First Vet Visit

I brought Marley to a wonderful vet this morning, recommended to me from a friend at work.

Muller Vet is located across the street from Pleasant Hill Bart. I highly recommend it if you are looking for one. I've had some bad experiences with others in the area and was very happy with the visit. They even took her picture, so your bill comes with a cute little pic of her. Guess it makes it easier to hand over the credit card looking at your doggies pic smiling back at you. Good Marketing Tactic!

A lot of people who haven't met Marley have asked me how big she is. She is pretty big and a little chubby, but I had no idea how much she weighed. Found out this morning she is almost 19 POUNDS!!! I guess her nickname that I gave her "Lil Tubby" fits well. The vet said she seems very healthy and is beautiful, so I was happy to hear that.

Serena and Sage

So after day 1, I'm hopeful that our house full of animals will be able to be a peaceful one. Serena has been very brave. She comes out, surveys the scene and goes back to our bedroom. She has hissed a few times at Marley, but for the most part is minding her own business. Sage on the other hand, has not been seen for 24 hours. She is currently MIA. She has been hiding in our closet and I'm hoping she will come out soon for some food.
I need to remember it will take time for things to get back to normal with the cats. We took such a long time in deciding to get a dog since I was worried about the cats, but I know it will all work out.
Here are some recent pics of Serena and Sage. I have thousands of cat pictures on my camera. I just find them so cute!
Jason had a pep talk with them on our bed. He tried to remind them this is one of the safest places to hide from the pup.

Introducing Marley "Zipper" Maddox

Jason and I are proud to introduce you to the newest member of the Maddox Family, Marley. We went to visit puppies today and Jason wasn't sure if we would leave with one (I knew if he met them he wouldn't be able to resist). Thankfully, I was right and we came home with an adorable 10-week old black labrador that we named, Marley.
She has a cute little cowlick down her nose that gives her a lot of character, so her breeder nicknamed her Zipper. She is so much fun and has brought such joy to us within the first day of her arrival.
We are excited for our new adventures with Marley, Serena and Sage. Hopefully they will all learn to get along and love one another. I'm brining Jason up to speed on all the dog training techniques. As a 1st time dog owner, he is becoming quite the pro on housetraining and teething already. Thank You Jay for allowing me to bring this adorable pup into our lives. I couldn't be more excited!

Tyler's Blessing

Today we attended, Heidi and Danny's church for the Blessing of Tyler Anthony McMillan. Danny gave a beautiful blessing and it was very special to have his family there to help celebrate. To think back on the last few months and all that Tyler has been through, it truly was a miracle to see him and how strong he has become.
I'm so proud of Heidi and Danny and their strength and courage throughout it all. Their Bishop gave a talk on gratitude and I was reminded of how we are all so grateful to have Tyler in our lives. He is a reminder of how precious life truly is. All our love to Tyler as we watch him grow into an amazing little boy.

Gourmet East Bay

Diablo Magazine hosts Gourmet East Bay each year as a fundraiser for local food banks. It is always such a fun event with the best in food, drinks and music in a big tent. We were excited to go with Heather, Nate, Melissa and Alix.

My favorite food station was Blue Agave with their tasty chicken dish and I also loved the Butternut Squash soup. Heather (my friend) was so excited to see Yan Can Cook. Not many people seemed to know who he was, but I was happy to take a photo with him.

Gourmet East Bay kicks off Restaurant Week in the East Bay. It is a good time to take advantage of visiting popular restaurants at discounted rates. Here is a link to the list of restaurants:
http://www.gourmeteastbay.com/restaurant_week/

I would love to try Citron and Paragon. Anyone up for some good dinners this next weekend? On Wednesday, I'm heading to Va de Vi with co-workers. Nothing like good food with friends.

Game Night

Last night I went to Girls Game Night with friends from work. We had such a blast and things did get quite competitive. We started off the night with Catch Phrase. It is a combo of Guessing A Word and Hot Potato. This game is always a classic and a fun way to start the night.

We then played Pictionary. I was a little intimidated with my drawing since we had a few designers in the group, but I quickly realized everyone's skills look very similar when you are drawing on a pad of paper with a pencil. We did have some hard words to draw like:
Lord of the Rings (hard when you can't draw symbols)
Elope (I tried to draw a couple in Vegas, didn't quite work out)
Half Sister

Maya was the champion guesser. I was lucky to have her on my team. We also feasted on tons of food. What a fun night! When in doubt of what to do with your night, Play Some Games. It's always a winner.

Celebrate Life

I started going to a Bible Study about a month ago. We are working with a book called, Celebrate Life, and I'm so lucky to have this group right now. It has helped me to let go of my worries and is teaching me to allow my faith to guide me. It has helped change my outlook on everyday life and reminds me to focus on the positive, no matter what life brings. Last week I read a verse that has helped me get me through this week.

Philippians 4:6-7
Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

The Reunion

The Reunion weekend is over and I truly had the best time seeing everyone.

Friday
Started off with everyone meeting at McCovey's. We had a group of about 50 people and it was just a night of catching up. The highlight of the evening was Meg and Heather Mayo showing up in the same shirt. It made me laugh since they we were all in syncro together and it just seemed so perfect, especially representing our team color of purple. Go Aquanuts!

Saturday
Our reunion committee met at the Shadelands to set-up and everything looked so festive. The girls came over to my house to get ready. It felt like old times with all of us running around, doing our make-up and primping to look our best.
We figured a lot of people would arrive fashionably late, but starting at 7:00 people started pouring in. Thank goodness for the nametags. With over 200 people in attendance, they were a lifesaver and definitely helped jog the memory.
As a whole, everyone looked great! I truly felt that people were happy to be there and be reunited. The dancing didn't stop til 1:00 in the morning. The DJ played everything and definitely some classics from '97. We were on the dance floor for the majority of the night and our photographer was quite the paparazzi.
I even made up with my one and only Arch Nemesis from high school. Yes, I really did have one. I offered a hand shake and hopefully he felt that I was sincere. At the end of the night, Jason and I both heard him say, "I love that girl, but hate her." I had to laugh. Oh well...at least my conscious is cleared. The funniest part is I don't even know why we didn't get along in the 1st place. I guess that's high school for you.

Sunday
Had to head to NG for the BBQ. We had an amazing attendance of around 10 people (4 of us committee members). We just laughed and laughed as we reminised about the night. Beth, Tommy and I also performed a rendition of "Slapping Leather" from our days of social dance.

As a whole, I was so proud of the reunion. Our committee put a lot of effort into planning an event that (I hope) everyone enjoyed. We kept it casual, festive and fun. People were already started asking about the 20th. I think I'll wait a few more years until I think of that one.

Name Tags - Mission Accomplished

We just finished our name tags for the reunion that is taking place this weekend. THANK YOU ADIE AND TRACY for your help! The sticker party was actually quite fun.

Of course (typical me... "the procrastinator with good intentions") volunteered to make them over 2 months ago and left it to the week before to even start. After completing all 400 of them, I sure hope people wear them. We included everyone's high school yearbook photo, so it will be fun to see how everyone has changed or stayed the same. My most dramatic change has definitely been my eyebrows. I went a little crazy with the tweezer in high school.

Our reunion committee has had such a great time organizing the event (probably because every meeting began with a few bottles of wine) and I know the event is going to be so much fun. I am looking forward to all my friends that will be visiting from out of town: Michelle from AZ, Hillary from Memphis, Kristin from Utah and of course seeing everyone else that I haven't seen for the past 10 years. STORIES...To Be Continued...

Attack of the 3AM Barn Owl

So I haven't been sleeping well lately. Jason insists on keeping the window open at night, so our room drops to about 50 degress by the morning. This morning I think I even saw my breath.

Well, last night I was awakened at 3am by a horrible noise. It sounded like one of our neighbors dogs was being attacked. It was a mixture of screams and howls. Truly unlike anything I've ever heard. I woke up Jason and made him listen. He told me to get a flashlight and go outside and see what it was. Sure...I'm really going to go outside and brave a wild beast. So we sat and listened. All of a sudden, the weird noises were followed by a "Hoo Hoo" (like an owl). The noises went on for about 10 more minutes and then I finally decided to shut the window and try to ignore it.

So today at work I googled "strange owl noises" and came across a description of a barn owl. It seemed to match what we heard. Maybe he is in the neighborhood for Halloween. Anyways, if you are awakened by some strange noises, no worries it may just be your local Barn Owl. By the way, I do find owls rather cute. Sometimes they remind us of our cat, Serena. Same serious eyes. (see images above)

Background on the Barn Owl...
"Perhaps no other animal is more a part of folklore and superstition than the owl, and it is likely the behavior of the barn owl is one of the reasons. The barn owl likes to “haunt” old buildings like barns, church steeples or abandoned houses. Strange noises coming from an old house are not ghosts; they are more likely the calls of barn owls. The barn owl’s voice is a mixture of screams, screeches, whistles, growls and hisses, weird enough to make some people think that an old house where barn owls live might be haunted."

Adventures In Babysitting

We got the pleasure of babysitting Scott and Tyler this last weekend. They arrived bright and early Saturday morning and after a 5 minutes tutorial on the feeding tube and I was ready to go. For the first few moments, I was a little nervous however I quickly realized that we were ready for a wonderful day.

Highlights included:

*Scott
Playing with his Play-Doh in his high chair
Feeding his baby doll in the highchair (a cheerio got stuck in the mouth)
Showing us his teeth
Trying to eat cat food
Listening to Grandma on the cell phone while he got his diaper changed

*Tyler
Cuddling and sleeping in our arms (Jason even fell asleep while holding him)
Being happy and interested in the light in the sun room
Dirty diapers (forgot the joys of changing baby diapers)
His little smiles while he sleeps

We had such a wonderful time taking care of our nephews. It made us realize how much work it really is and we are so impressed that Danny and Heidi do it daily with a smile on their faces. They always make it look so easy and I'm so proud of them. After the boys left, we realized how lucky we are to have our nephews. They are both such an important part of our lives.

Austin Trip

Our little plane


The Ladies


The Men


The Lake


The Bugs


We just got back from visiting Ryan and Lauren in Austin. They moved about 2 months ago and when they left it was like losing a family member. They were our best friends and such an important and special part of our lives here in Walnut Creek. I was so excited to visit them in their new town and explore the sites.

We got in Friday morning around 3:30AM and needed to sleep a few hours to catch up on some ZZZZ's. After we woke up, Ryan took us to a cute restaurant for lunch. Lauren got off work a few hours later and then we headed to the airport to pick up Amber and Adam that were flying in from Columbus. I realized how much I had missed both Lauren and Amber with having both of them move from the Bay Area in the past 6 months. I was so excited for this weekend and I knew it was going to be perfect and just what I needed after these last few months.

Friday night we headed to Z-Tejas. An Arizona favorite. We all had a delicious meal with some great cocktails. After we headed back to Ryan and Lauren's apartment for a game of HEARTS (an Adam Scott favorite). Whoever lost each round, had to take a shot of either Crown Royale (Jason's favorite) or some sort of mixed grapefruit/vodka. Thankfully I only lost twice because the Crown Royale does not go down easy for us ladies.

Saturday we had the perfect day. We had a wonderful breakfast pizza, cooked up by Lauren. Kadie and Derek arrived from Dallas and it was great to see them. We headed to our boat tour on the lake. Our little electronic boat went the amazing speed of 10MPH, but it was fun to be on the lake crusing around. Amber was unable to make it on the boat due to a wicked hangover from all the Crown. Later that night we went to dinner on 4th street which was delicious. The guys got to watch the College Football games, while the ladies just talked. After dinner a few of us wanted to go out, so we moved up 2 streets to 6th Street. We went to The Belmont and another bar with Adam and Amber. Majority of the bars in Austin have rooftop bars, so it is nice to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. We got home around 2:00 after a quick stop for some fast food Mexican.

Sunday the men watched football as the ladies headed to Rudy's BBQ and picked up lunch. Lauren then brought me on a tour of Austin to show me some neighborhoods and even a house they were interested in. I was so happy to see how she loved being in Austin. I think it is going to be such a great adventure for the two of them.

What a perfect weekend...who could have asked for anything more? The best of friends, laughter, fun, beautiful weather, great food...truly the best time. Although it is sad that I no longer see my friends daily, I'm reminded that these trips are just as important and something I will truly cherish. I hope we can continue to keep the tradition going and plan something special each year. It will be fun to see where we all end up next year.

Welcome Home Tyler

After a month of being in the hospital at UCSF, Tyler Anthony McMillan came home. He has been through such an amazing journey and I couldn't be more proud to be his Aunt. Tyler was diagnosed with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is a rare congenital heart defect. After a week of life, he underwent heart surgery and has made an miraculous recovery.

Through it all Heidi and Danny have been so strong and truly exemplified what it really means to become a parent. They were an example of trust in faith and showed nothing but pure love. I look forward to watching Tyler grow up and I hope to be able to support him through anything he needs. He is an inspiration to me and so many people. He has changed my outlook on my own challenges and made me realize how precious and important each and every day of life is. I truly see him as my little angel and I know he will forever hold a special place in my heart. One day I hope to share with him how he helped change my life for the better.