Day Fourteen - N is for...

A night-lit nativity is nice!

I enjoy today's photo for two reasons - it is a beautifully hand-crafted nativity scene AND the photo was taken at night, really allowing the simplicity of the design, color and lighting to shine through.

The original plan was a night picture - there are already a lot of amply decorated houses with all kinds of colored lights and the occasional inflatable.

We were on our way to Life Group in the evening and I was just remarking that I planned to take an evening shot on our way out, when we walked up the pathway and saw this nativity scene.

That was quite the gift, as far as I was concerned and I wasn't going to pass it up, so as soon as we put the casserole dish and our books down, I was back outside snapping a picture and emailing it to myself.  We might have sounded like we were blathering on a bit, trying to explain to the hosts what we were doing and why, but the finished product is exactly what I was going for...N has been represented nicely!

Day Eleven - K is for...

Kind of like a Kaleidoscope, right?

Thanksgiving Day proved to be a little more challenging creatively than I thought that it might for the K entry!

It was getting late in the day when I looked out on the patio at my parents house to see the white lights on and looking very lovely.  They reflected in the sliding glass window and reminded me a bit of a kaleidoscope, so I trotted outside and stood up on a chair to take a close-up picture.

Fail is the only way to describe the output, so then I went on a hunt through the house to duplicate the effect with some other lights.  I found a lamp in the living room with some decorative holes on the top, and...success, at least in my mind!

Happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for so many different things, including the opportunity to blog about whatever I want to, including pictures of things that represent letters of the alphabet!

Day Four - D is for...

D is for DEBONAIR

I had my eyes out for a good subject to focus on in day 4 of our photo project...I was still feeling good from my C entry and felt that I needed to be creative to keep things moving.

I had a few ideas floating around, but then I saw the creature to the left and I knew that I had found it...my D entry for the day, debonair!

Ebe has a collection of cool lights and a flamingo on her 2nd floor patio.  The flamingo even has little neckerchief thingies that change out with the season, he is cool like that.

A week or two ago, a new flamingo came to roost - a LIGHT UP flamingo!  Elizabeth set him up, plugged him in and somehow decided that he needed to be themed a little more for Thanksgiving (he has a Santa hat on ordinarily), so she grabbed my uber-cool Turkey hat and put it on him.

The result as you see it here is very cool, very sophisticated  very (wait of it...) debonair.  I just hope that I can pull that hat off on Thanksgiving as easily as he can!

Redemption!

Office contest WINNER!

I had the opportunity to dress as Gumby in the office for Halloween yesterday; I was Pokey for the party with our Fellowship group (you've already read about that).  One thing that I failed to mention from the Fellowship group party is the Gumby/Pokey duo did not receive ONE vote in the contest!

There are a variety of reasons why this happened - we were only allowed two votes, since we entered together, we could not vote for each other and the remaining people (men judged the women costumes and vice verca) stated loud and clear that they had to vote for their wives.  Not helping was the Charlie's Angels entry - a sentimental favorite over Gumby and Pokey with that group!

At any rate, Ebe and I were flabbergasted that we did not garner a single vote, but we let it go, traded costumes and went our separate ways on Halloween since we both had to work.  Ebe's work did a little potluck for Halloween, but no costume contest.

Here at the swirly office, we didn't have a potluck, but we DID have a costume contest and about 20 people or so participated, myself (as Gumby) included.  THIS group loved Gumby and most wanted to take a picture with "The Girl Gumby" as I was dubbed (we know why - see the previous post!).  I was not expecting to win, so it was very exciting to receive the award shown here AND to have another member of my team win "Most Creative Costume" - she was dressed up as Pebbles from the Flintsone's and had a whole campaign around bringing Fruity Pebbles back to the Topping Bar at Pinkberry - a little inside humor that was fun to see played out.

I was delighted to win and indeed feel redeemed for the snub that the little green glob of clay (and his pony pal Pokey too) received  a couple of weeks ago...GUMBY!

Gumby is a Girl??!!

Gumby and Pokey for a new millennium

Happy Halloween!  I must confess that I am not the biggest fan of dressing up for Halloween - I am not sure that I ever was, unless you count being a ballerina for several years in a row during the elementary school years.  As an adult, I have been more prone to wearing a costume only when forced to, and it is typically with some amount of grumbling to accompany it.

Our Fellowship group celebrated Halloween in early October, with the mandate to every member to show up in a costume that depicts our favorite TV or cartoon character.  That is an easy call - Gumby!  Not being of the creative ilk, I immediately went to Amazon.com to see my choices and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the costume options were good AND relatively inexpensive.

A quick call to Elizabeth confirmed her willingness to go as a paired set of Gumby and Pokey (David is neither one for dressing up or the Fellowship group!), so I ordered the costumes and let them sit a week or two until the day of their debut at the party.  I tried both costumes on at home for David and Holly to see, they gave their approval and Holly snapped my photo.  As I reviewed the shots, I could not help my first reaction to the Gumby, "Are those my boobs??"  We had a good laugh because the answer is of course...yes and there is really no hiding it.

Elizabeth and I put the costumes on for our party at the side of the car, a couple of doors down from our destination.  She opted for Gumby, I for Pokey and we marched in, feeling very much the iconic duo of 60's claymation.  A neighbor of the host's house was out in her driveway and as we walked up, the first thing SHE said was, "Gumby is a girl??!"  Ebe had the right response, "It's Gumby for a new millennium."

We totally rocked those costumes.

'Tis the Season to???

I was out running some much-needed errands yesterday, including a stop at Target (better know as Tarjay in the sophisticated circles). As I navigated my cart through the store, I came upon the above-pictured corner in the back of the store, often used as the seasonal section.

I had to think for a moment. What is the date? Mid-September. So which message do I listen to? "Make the Outdoors Yours" evokes thoughts of summertime and BBQs, not too outrageous given we are in So Cal and have a good 30 days before things really start to cool off.

I could look forward to the end of next month and get in on the Halloween decorations with the "Bare Bone Prices", OR I could just skip straight to Christmas and load up on my fill of Christmas wreaths.

Good grief, I am confused!

A Memorial Day to Remember

Memorial Day was a busy one this year. The day started off with a 4:45 wake-up call to get on the road for the Laguna Hills Half Marathon. Things went along smoothly enough until I got to the starting line, walked over to register and realized that I left all of my gear in the car. Back across the lot I go (a quarter mile or so in each direction) to get suited up. As I am adjusting my iPod and hat, I hear them announce the start of my event...whoops! It was a bit of a hectic start, but I still made it out in time.

The day and the course were just about perfect, cool weather and some rolling hills; they are somehow always more fun when going downhill! I got a nice surprise between mile 5 and 6 when I see Elizabeth (who was celebrating a milestone birthday...welcome to the club) sitting on the curb with her camera. She took an entertaining shot of me as I sped by (don't believe everything I write!) with another 8 miles or so to go.

The 1/2 ended well, although I decided that 10 miles is about the point that I am over any event, so that last 2 miles or so were spent just wondering when the whole gig was going to be over!

Next stop...swimming at the Brown's new pool. Who wouldn't want to christen their new pool with a sweaty 1/2 marathoner?? We enjoyed the pool (what we could use of it with the crazy dozen or so kids splashing around!), had a nice BBQ and sang Happy Birthday to Elizabeth, all the while keeping our eye on the tasty Birthday/Memorial Day cupcake cake.

The drive home to catch up with the Schnoogs and David was a long one and we were all happy to flop down for the 30 minutes or so before everyone decided that it was time to go to bed. We definitely maximized the day for activities...not things centered around remembering those who served, but indeed in appreciation of having the freedoms that we do!

Text Your Mother

Happy Mother's Day.  We had a nice, quiet celebration around the Newton household, just the way I like it!  

There was an event larger than Mother's Day that occurred on Saturday.  The Schnoogs has been in need of a new phone for a while, so we made the time to trot down to the Sprint store to check out the latest and greatest options, signing up for another 2 years on the contract.

It might be hard to believe, but Holly has never had texting capabilities.  When I first got her the phone 4 1/2 years ago, that was a conscious decision that I made because I did not want to experience the kid who has her nose stuck in her phone all of the time, texting away and ignoring the people and events right in front of her.  A bit controlling, perhaps, but it was the thing that got me in the space to agree to get her a phone before she was in High School.

Since she is on the same plan that I set up for her back in December of 2004, the texting option has never been added on.  Oops.  I would hope that the Schnoogs at 18 can figure out when it is or is not OK to be texting.  Perhaps I should loosen the reigns a bit.  Props to Holly for never complaining or bugging me about it, even if she is the last person in Thousand Oaks to get the feature on her phone.

So, on Saturday we made it official and upgraded her plan to more minutes and texting, bringing her up to speed with the rest of the world and now able to communicate even more efficiently and easily with her family and friends.

Witness the fine communication we had going on Mother's Day!

Easter with Big Red

My Dad is a clown.  That statement on its own without any context can make one wonder about what kind of a relationship I have with my Dad.  

It is all good.  My Dad is a registered clown who uses his juggling, magic, jokes and balloon animal art to entertain kids in various parades and community events.  He is quite popular and I don't think that there is a balloon animal out there that he can't make.

The community where my parents live hosted an Easter celebration, and Big Red's talents were put to good use.  Here are a few happy clients, beaming with their balloon hats.

Put in that context, having a Dad who is a clown is a very good thing indeed!

Just Wear the Crown

I enjoy celebrating birthdays...for other people. It is not that I have an issue with getting older or my age; I have no problem with that! i just feel kind of weird proclaiming that it is a day to celebrate me...it's just not something that I typically do.

The day was early last week and it was nice; not too action-packed and low key because it wasn't widely known at work until late in the day. David, Holly and I went to P.F. Chang's for dinner (YUM) and had a very nice time...no singing, no fuss and no excessive attention, just the way I like it!!

I thought that I had scooted through another year without a big production, and then my young friend Briana (AKA "the Pants") invited me to dinner with her on Friday. We originally intended to go to BJ's, but the wait was ridiculous, so we walked to the other end of the mall and did a little Red Robin action (who are very accommodating when it comes to subbing in a Garden Burger for any of their gourmet burgers, by the way).

When we sat down at the table, Briana asked me if I would do a favor for her. I was suspicious, but begrudgingly agreed. From what seemed like nowhere, she whipped out some mini-crown and ask that I wear it. I tried to negotiate some different terms, but Briana put her foot down and said, "Just wear the crown." I did and of course got plenty of stares and smiles from everyone in the restaurant.

I no sooner finished my dinner when the dreaded thing happened...every server on the floor came over to our table, carrying a sundae, clanging the spoon on the glass, singing and clapping. Oh good grief, PLEASE tell me they aren't stopping at our table! Oh, but they did. I did not make eye contact with any of them and endured the clappity-clap and song routine for what seemed like an eternity. Briana, of course, was very pleased with herself and watched me turn redder by the moment.

I paid a hefty price for it, but the sundae was tasty!

Wii are in Love

Happy Valentine's Day. We celebrated at the Newton household in a most festive fashion - with pizza and playing the Wii!

Yes, after months of hoping, wishing and almost-pleading, a Wii and Wii Fit were the family gift for my two Valentines. They were both very surprised AND very excited about it when they realized what it was. I am most impressed with the fact that neither of the two made any reference to a new TV, and both were genuinely surprised with the gift.

We cracked out the gift in the morning, but everyone had chores and work to do during the day, so the unveiling came in the evening. Schnoogs had everything out of the box and hooked up in record time; then she began to create our "Mii's" so that we could each have our own profile in the game. David cheered the creation on and I kept on eye (and made a few veto votes) on things from the kitchen while I made a family favorite for dinner; homemade pizza. Yum.

It might seem counter intuitive to register our fitness goals while munching on tasty pizza, but all agreed that it was a fun evening and we liked the interactive nature of things.

Looks like we definitely won't be needing a new TV anytime soon!

Resolved!

Happy New Year. We are not big resolution makers here in the Newton household - I'd like to think that it is due to our ongoing quest to be good peeps and do the right thing. It certainly sounds good!

Just for fun, I asked David and Holly if they had any resolutions. David (he's the really chatty one in the household) said, 'Nope'. Holly said that she hopes to manage her body mass index down a couple of points. Oh, and how can she do that? With a Wii Fit - she registered herself on her Grandma's this weekend and is on this side of healthy weight but is shooting for her BMI to be closer to 22. She's a sly one, that Schnoogs is!

After realizing Holly's little plan, David piped in with his resolution - to get a Wii and a big screen plasma TV. OK, things are getting out of control around here! My resolution is to keep those crazies in check!

Happy New Year and here's to 2009 being full of fun, love and joy - and maybe a Wii (if you're lucky)!

Joyeux Noel

We hope that this entry finds you all enjoying the day with loved ones doing whatever it is you do to celebrate Christmas in your family. Traditions are an important part of this holiday, so be sure to enjoy that element of the day and take a couple of pictures too - memories are another big factor to making this time of the year special (in my humble opinion).

I am writing this entry a few days in advance of Christmas, so while I anticipate we are doing something very cool, fun and French...I don't know exactly what that is - we will both have to wait for the experiences to happen and then be captured! I will tell you that I have been banned from 'over-programming' the trip, which means that my fine organizational skills are being wasted. Why not schedule every minute of the day to ensure that all sights are seen and enjoyed? It makes sense to me!

David and Holly apparently believe that they should be allowed to enjoy life at their pace (and rumor has it that the French move at that 'slower' speed too) Oh well, I may just go off on a few adventures of my own.

Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noel - no matter how fast or slow you like to move!

Pete the Parrot

Sometimes the silliest things give me the most laughter. Holly received a gift from her Grandma called "Pete the Parrot" for Christmas, primarily as a joke and a reminder of a good laugh that the two of them had doing Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. As the story goes, they first saw the toy hanging in a Walgreen's. It takes a snippet of something that you say and repeats it back at you twice, much like the proverbial 'Polly want a cracker' parrot that mimics a phrase or two.

It seems that Holly and my Mom spent a good deal of time in front of this bird, talking and laughing as it repeated everything they were saying. Holly opted not to buy it because it really wasn't anything she needed, but my Mom (being a very observant and thoughtful shopper) went back to get it as a final Christmas gift.

Holly started laughing as soon as she opened the gift and began telling us the story of finding the toy when she was shopping. Wanting to share the excitement with all of us, she put the batteries in and turned it on - sure enough, it started to repeat phrases that she was saying, which made us laugh, which made Pete the Parrot laugh, which made the dogs bark (remember - we have the Christmas Daschunds there), which made PETE bark - pandemonium then ensued.

I will admit that we got a good laugh out of this gift and will probably never be able to look at Pete again without thinking of poor little Freckles (he is the larger and more anti-Pete the Parrot of the two doxys) going after him, determined to shred his feathers! Doggy want a parrot?

The Christmas Dauschund

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were out in Hemet this weekend, visiting our parents to celebrate Christmas since we will not be in town (or the country, for that matter) on Christmas Day. The visits were excellent, complete with some nice gifts, tasty treats and playing with our new toys.

This trip also heralded an important Christmas figure that I until now I did not know existed - the Christmas Dauschund.

My parents have had miniature dauschunds (a common and easier to pronounce/spell nickname is doxy) for something near 20 years. They are sweet -albeit a little yippy - dogs who have funny little personalities and always keep things interesting. My Mom is excellent at finding things that have doxys on them and has a great collection about the house. From figurines to pictures, magnets, notecards and beanie babies - if there is a doxy item (especially a miniature wire-haired version), my Mom has found it or someone has given it to her.

What I did not realize until my visit to Hemet yesterday is there is also a Christmas Dauschund - witness the photo above - who barks in Christmas each year. I walked by him 3 or 4 times, smiled each time that I saw his little beard and hat, and then finally went inside to get my camera so that I could capture his essence to share with all.

I'll bet that he is a big help to Santa, especially when it comes to wrapping (or unwrapping) presents.

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

I love Christmas. The decorations, time with friends and family, cooler (and sometimes even cold, but not usually in So Cal) weather with the general upbeat mood and spirits all make me happy as we move along, building with anticipation the celebration of Christ's birth in a joyous and loving fashion...until it is time to go the mall.

I have very little to worry about in terms of Christmas shopping this year - we got lucky and booked a deal of the century trip to France for our Christmas celebration, so have decided as a family that gifts need not be exchanged - the experiences (and subsequent photos) will serve as our gifts this year. With that said, there were a couple of items that I did need to pick up for those not lucky enough to be going to Paris with us, so I finally ventured out to the mall for 3 things on Saturday - 3 things that I thought should take me about 30 minutes total time to get.

How very naive I was! The parking situation alone was enough to kill 30 minutes (which it did) and I declared something resembling a victory in a parking place when I squeezed into the last spot at the farthest point away from the mall (the owner of the Jaguar in the accompanying space must not have realized that they were hanging a good third of the way into the next space), walked through the construction area across the parking lot and finally made it to the outer perimeter of the newest portion of the mall.

I will spare the sordid details of what I will call bad Christmas behavior, but suffice it to say that while I consider myself a pretty upbeat person, I was about ready to gauge my eyes out by the time 90 minutes had elapsed and I left the mall with my 3 items in hand. It was feeling a lot like the commercialized side of Christmas that we hear many people complaining about, yet it continues.

And I admittedly fed right into it!

Save the Turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving! A fun holiday that celebrates two of my favorite things...family and food, I do have the fundamental issue with the whole turkey as the center of the meal thing. I would like to believe that my choice for the past 5 years to consume no turkey (or any of their feathered fowl friends) is helping to save the turkey population...but I know better.

Nonetheless, I celebrate today sans a main entree, there is plenty to eat between the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce...the list goes on and on. The spirit of the holiday is alive and well, and so are the turkeys!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and hug the next turkey you see...you can interpret that any way you see fit!

The Eyes Have It

This was a very productive Veterans Day for the Schnoogs and I. There have been a number of errands that we have been overdue on for quite some time. First on the list - some new glasses for Holly.

Somehow, 2 years have passed since Holly's last eye exam and it has been almost 4 years since she has upgraded her glasses. I realized that it was time to pay attention to the Schnoogs last week when she drove me somewhere...she naturally has to wear her specs when driving and that was when I saw it...the tape. Yes, my child had a piece of scotch tape holding her glasses together. No wonder I hardly ever see her wear them anymore!

Before you call social services on me, let me tell you that we immediately set this date as our time to get her eyes checked, glasses fixed and replacements purchased; all of which did happen as promised. The good news is that her eyes have actually improved just a bit AND they were able to fill the lens prescription today, so my child no longer has to wear jankety, not-quite-the-right-prescription glasses.

I even threw in a bonus pair of sunglasses to keep things easy on the eyes when driving. We make quite the models, as you can see above. Of course, the lenses made me a bit queasy and I almost tripped when I walked over to check the picture that David took.

But they do make me look smart, even if they add at least five years, don't you think?

Tour de Pumpkin

Happy Halloween. Fellow Unemployment Friday attendee Jonathan and I celebrated with a 26 mile ride on the Ventura River Trail out towards Ojai. It has been some time since Jax did a bike ride outside of any length, so he had a fair amount of trepidation around the journey. A player all the way, Jonathan set out on the ride and admitted when we finished up that he enjoyed the whole biking experience far more than he thought. A favorite part was the return - there is a fair amount of incline all the way out, so once you turn around and head back towards the beach, there is a great downhill slant for about 10 miles.

There are no real Halloween stories to share today - for some strange reason I never received the 'Halloween Excitement' gene. Call it a defect. It isn't for a lack of trying on the part of my parents - we carved pumpkins, dressed in costumes (I was a ballerina for 7 consecutive years, I clearly lacked imagination on this topic), attended carnivals and did extensive Trick or Treating. Nothing. I didn't really enjoy it then and I don't now. It seems rather blasphemous to many, including Holly who is the primary reason that we even have any decorations or acknowledgement around the house that it is Halloween. We do have candy...I remembered to purchase some and both David and I sampled a few of them just a few minutes ago. The chocolate/caramel mix was a good choice if I may say so myself.

Holly dressed up and left for school before I had a chance to take her picture. She is at the school filming the homecoming game for a piece that her mass media class is presenting next week, so I don't know if I am going to have a chance to capture her Halloween spirit or not. I will search her out and snap a photo, even if it is of her from the behind the scenes vantage of recording the game...go T.O.!!

It will be a busy weekend with a trip to Denver for myself and a stint on a TV show for the newest celebrity in our family - Shadow! Stay tuned, we are a lively group over here!

Who knows what lurks beneath

This is the official vacation blog. In addition to the obligatory pictures ( thank your lucky stars that I sifted down to about 24 - you could be bored for HOURS if I put them all out there), I am going to make the declaration that one week of vacation just isn't enough. I was just starting to settle into the vacation groove - stay up until 1 or 2 am and get up at 8:45 or 9:00 the next morning. No e-mail, no phone, no real responsibilities or agenda...that is some fine luxury living.

You will note in the picture series that there was a lot of time spent out on the water - either on a boat, pontoon or even riding on a giant tube while being hauled around the lake at speeds sometimes upward of 35 mph (that translates to 70 mph+ as you whip behind the boat in the turns...good times!) I have decided (and always kind of have known) that I need to live somewhere that I can have access to water - it is very grounding to me.

Speaking of the lake, I ventured out on one late morning with the intention of doing a fine open water swim...there were very few boats or skiers on our side of the lake, so it seemed an idyllic and tranquil spot to swim at least a half mile. Things started out OK and then I hit the reeds. CREEPER!! There are few things worse in my opinion than swimming along while things are touching you - even if they are just harmless water plants. Who knows what lurks beneath???? I spent at least the first 10 minutes hyperventilating and talking myself out of stopping (besides, I was in the middle of the lake with no support crew...how was I going to stop??)

After 15 minutes of irregular breathing and splashing, I got my groove on and proceeded to demonstrate some fine, Phelps-like swimming skills (well, maybe not QUITE as fast, but good form nonetheless). Coming back through the weeds/reeds/torture chamber was not a treat but I managed to power through without stopping to tread water in the midst of it and get freaked out. That may have been the longest 30 minute swim of my life, but hopefully it will help to get me ready for the Santa Barbara Triathlon that I have this Sunday!