My gift!

So for Christmas this year, I got some money, clothes, a set of dumbbells, some cologne, aaaaaaaand....from my mom, a new laptop! Asus G50V, with Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB DDR2.

Christmas 2008

Just a small Christmas celebration at the house in Palmdale today. Had plenty of food as always, lots of presents going around, and of course, the Lakers-Celtics Christmas day game. It was a nice, relaxing, and joyful Christmas this year, with plenty to be thankful for. Maybe before the new year I'll write a more in depth blog with a recap of the year. But for now, just a few Christmas pictures.















Christmas decor at the Grove (on Christmas Eve)





























My cousin preparing to distribute the gifts.

Happy 18th

Went to Claim Jumper in Northridge for my little cousin's 18th birthday...so what can you do at 18? Well lotto, buy "Mature" video games, but you know what the best part is? Morongoooooo!

Happy Birthday Tim.

Snow!

Typically, I prefer being in LA rather than being in Palmdale...but yesterday was definitely one of those exceptions...It snows in Palmdale every so often, but it hasn't in a couple years.

I want to go home!...to the snooooow!












































And my mom knee deep in the snow!

Park La Brea Christmas

Not too long ago, we had a Park La Brea Thanksgiving celebration at the apartment.

Last night, we had dinner at The Stinking Rose as our Park La Brea Christmas gathering.

Thank you Eddy for the Diesel gift card, Andrew for the 24 DVD and The Hills (yes, the Hills) DVD, and Christian and Katherine for the Nike golf shirt! Everything is much appreciated, and aside from that, thanks to everyone who came for dinner!





















Picture is stolen from Andrew's blog (http://ajfcast.blogspot.com)















We did a little gift exchanging at the restaurant, but look at my presents that I wrapped!















This is the closest thing I have to a group picture haha

Smiley

When we went to Johnny Rockets tonight, they didn't make the ketchup smiley...so I made my own, happy face

Yea I'm bored and have nothing else to post about
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Staples

A nice quiet trip to Staples...

I'm sure they have a lot of bulk orders from offices, etc. but anytime you go into their stores, there's never anybody there
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Walmart

First stop is Walmart...I'm tempted to buy a new tv, but ill resist
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Black Friday begins

So every year, my mom always wakes me up and off we go for some black friday shopping...we rarely go for those big items that you have to get in line for, but we do go around and get a few things from lots of places...

So off we go...
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The drive home

I was about to post this picture about there being no traffic on Thanksgiving day, then 20 mins later I run into this, daaaaamn it
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Thanksgiving Dinner 2008 @ Park La Brea

Thanksgiving Dinner 2008 @ Park La Brea, Part II

Cooking Bacon Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

For our Thanksgiving dinner tonight, I made Bacon Cheddar Mashed Potatoes. I woke up this morning and here's what I did...

First, I peeled the potatoes (Picture 1). Then I cut the potatoes in little cubes so they'd boil more efficiently (Picture 2/3). I added water and salt and brought it to a boil (Picture 4). After draining the water, I added heavy cream, butter, and salt and pepper, and mashed the potatoes (Picture 5). On the side, I heated bacon to a crisp in a skillet (Picture 6). Then I added cheese, chives, sour cream, and the bacon to the potatoes (Picture 7). I mixed it all together, and got....

Bacon Cheddar Mashed Potatoes.

No Defense

Last night, the Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls 116-109 in LA to bring their record to 8-1.

8-1 sounds impressive, but allowing 109 points to any team is unacceptable, especially when this is the same Bulls team that was held to only 74 points tonight in a 42 point loss to the Blazers *shakes head*

Housewarming in Ontario

Went to supervisor's house in Ontario for a sort of housewarming. We grilled some carne asada and put some hot links and onions on some skewers. We also had a huge ass poker game afterwards with 12 people, which I would eventually lose in. Fun night though.

2nd again?

Had another night of poker with the coworkers. First game had 9 players, and again, I came in second and lost to the person who beat me last poker game, so twice she's won first, and twice I've gotten killed at the end...

There was a second game after that, although I was only able to finish third in that.

Ice Pan

So after hiking and eating at Daphne's, we got some ice cream at Ice Pan where they make the ice cream in front of you...

First it starts off as some liquid stuff, then it becomes sorta flaky, then finally it becomes real ice cream!