Second Vacation!

One day after returning from LA to home, I am in San Francisco with Nick's family!

Let the seafood eating commence!

Venus

One of my greatest faults is procrastination. A great example of this is that I killed my cell phone a few months ago (Goodbye Motorola) and did not purchase a new cell phone, despite the fact that I was due to upgrade then. 

I lived without my cell for months! And at first it did not bother me, mostly because I was so busy and could just borrow Nick's phone. But lately I have really wanted a cell phone. I wanted my contacts numbers, and my phone camera, and I wanted to be able to CALL people! 

At first I wanted the LG Venus, mostly because it was pretty and slid open (my last phone's flip broke and would flap open and closed too easily, didn't want that again), but didn't want to spend $70 on it so gave up. 

Then I wanted the LG Decoy because it was $20 after a rebate! So Lesley and I drove to the mall and found a kiosk Verizon store--and a Decoy for $150.

Stupid shark guy was all "You won't beat this price!" 

Me: "I was just online and it was twenty dollars. Total."

Stupid shark guy: "No way. I can look it up right now. $150."

Me: "Seriously. Fifteen minutes ago it was twenty."

Stupid shark guy: "I betcha fifty dollars it is $150."

Me (shaking head in disbelief): "You're stupid. Goodbye."

Around the corner in the mall was a Verizon Wireless store where I found the Decoy and Venus for $20. I wanted to stick out my tongue at the stupid guy but refrained because I was calling my mom on my new shiny LG VENUS slider touch-screen cell phone! And then called Nick and both of them were all "Wha.... Katie's cell phone? She has a phone again? No way!"

Yayayayayayayayayay!

(Also, programming contacts is exhausting). (Also also, this is not my exact phone, because I have a cool purple flower on it. Totally make the difference!)

Yay!

Holiday Car Adventures

We drove to LA for the holidays. Something pretty exciting happened too! (Not getting presents, although that was awesome). 

So, we left in the Honda Odyssey van.

We arrived twelve hours later--SIX HOURS LONGER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN--in a Mercury Marquis. 

Yep.

In that sedan we had squished our four family members, presents, bags, food, and two retrievers that spent the last four hours of the trip lying on our laps--since there was no room at all. 

Guess why! Guess! Guess!

When we were about halfway to LA, I was driving, and all of a sudden I heard a quiet thunk sound from the engine and then nothing happened when I was accelerating except the rpm's needle shot up to the danger zone. Instead of going 80 mph all of a sudden I was going 60mph. Since all the cars were going more than 80 I immediately clicked on my emergency lights and after we realized that all I was doing was revving and not accelerating, even in lower gears, I moved into the break down lane and we coasted for maybe 1/2 of a mile total before stopping. 

Dad looked in the engine and we were leaking fluid and our transmission was shot. AAA came forty-five minutes later, hooked us up to the tow truck, and towed us an hour and a half away to a auto mechanic that had a transmission shop. (We rode way high up in the truck! And the dogs were alone in the car--Kali was sitting in the front smiling at everything she saw, and we couldn't see Sage, she was probably hiding). 

So here's another cool part!

This happened Tuesday--and they cannot look at it until MONDAY! SIX WHOLE DAYS LATER! And they are quoting us at LEAST $2,500 for the transmission and $800 for a cylinder thingy. 

(So we might get a new car! Woooooot!)

So we were still hours away from LA with a broken van full of presents and dogs. We called at least four rental places and the ones that had big cars didn't take dogs and wait, sorry, we don't have any big cars, just a Hyundai Sonata, and we close soon anyway, bye! 

Finally we got ahold of a Mercury Marquis--a big sedan. We had to leave only a few things, but did have the dogs sleeping on us the whole rest of the way. 

(Note! Sage did NOT vomit on this trip at all! They were incredibly well behaved!) 

So we arrived and heard the story of our relative's day in Disneyland--complete with one person getting sick from the rides and while driving home throwing up all over the side of the car! 

And that is why our trip took us two times longer than normal. Yaaaay for holiday travel! 

Bleeeeeaaaagh. 

Happy Birthday to Me!

This post is kind of belated since I turned twenty a few days ago! I was hoping inspiration would strike and that I would compose a brilliant post . . .but nope. It didn't. So . . .

I'm twenty now.

No longer a teenager.

Is it sad this makes me feel old? I want to say "I'm twenty-teen" because for so long "teen" has been tacked on to the end of the number. Now it's not, and it feels weird!

I am spoiled. I got perfume, a one-hour massage, penguin socks, two (delicious chocolate!) cakes, lots of clothes, four pairs of shoes, lipgloss, cocoa, Spanish software, a manicure/pedicure set with OPI nailpolish, and I bought myself a car. Sorta. It was my grandma's, and I am getting it for a discount, and I haven't paid YET. But oh, I will. But oh also, it is so pretty and shiny and new!

I feel very lucky in my family and boyfriend and friends! Thank you everybody for spending the year with me!

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Ta-daaa! Here is the long awaited review of Ariel's Beginning! Short summary: Cute little Disney sequel. But I know you want more, so here is the actual review! ^_^

(Take note of the music box in Ariel's hands, as I will mention it again)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



In the beginning, there was much music and love in the Kingdom of Atlantis, for the boring and grumpy King Triton was married to his love, and thus he was happy.



Then one day King Triton and his lovely Queen and their seven daughters were out frolicking and the King gave the Queen a beautiful musical box, for she loved music and singing.

Out of nowhere . . .



. . . came a PIRATE SHIP! And then . . . it SQUISHED the Queen!!!

The entire kingdom was heartbroken. Then King Triton was grumpy and boring and mean and he banned music from the Kingdom of Atlantis.

His daughters were very very bored. They had a governess who wanted to become the King's right hand and wanted to get Sebastian the crab in the dungeons away from the King. The seven princesses wanted to do fun things but they were not allowed.



One day, Ariel was scrubbing coral when she noticed a flounder hitting some coral and it was making . . . (gasp!) . . .music! He was scared that she would bring him to jail and he ran off.

However . . . Ariel followed him!



Then she found an amazing secret music lair, where fish who loved music and dance and singing could gather and be happy. And Ariel also found out that Sebastion was the lead singer!



Unfortunately, King Triton found out and destroyed the music lair. Ariel and the band ran away! Then they found a secret beautiful cave and Ariel discovered the music box that belonged to her mother. She had an epiphany of how much her father must miss her mother and that hearing music was painful to him.

King Triton was searching for Ariel and realized that his daughters were more precious and deserved to hear music if they wanted.

Then the governess (see scary purple woman below) tried to kill Ariel. Through some tricky and cheesy moves they trapped her in the dungeon.



King Triton was so happy he said "Music for all!" And then there was happiness in the Kingdom of Atlantis.

And that is the story of how Ariel returned music to the Kingdom with love and friendship!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So. Yeah.

I know I am a dork.

And . . .yes. I did cry during this movie. Multiple times in fact!

EVERYONE DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO WATCH THE MOVIE!!!

Freaking Cute Kittens

Here's something to brighten up your day . . .

Hugs!


Squish!


ZzzZZZzzzZZZzzz


Just take a moment to appreciate the above picture . . .this is the first time that I have seen Io actually snuggling with a foster kitten. Cute little boys!!!

The Tree Hunt!

Here is our belated Christmas tree hunt post! We took the dogs and our family (Nick was too sick to be out in the freezing weather hiking all over) and headed off to our local tree farm.

Here's my Mama. ^_^


We spent maybe fifteen minutes looking for a tree before we found the perfect one. Actually, Troy found it. And then it only took Troy to cut it down instead of all of us hacking away for twenty minutes! This is us with our tree... Mom's taking the picture.


It was the shortest tree hunt in our family that we could remember! The dogs were very well behaved and we hardly fought at all!

This pic is from a few days later, when we had the decorations set out. We lost Edward and then found him . . .sleeping peacefully on the decorations. They have been choosing the weirdest places to sleep lately!



We had to put some of the cut branches on the floor so the kittens would leave our tree alone! It worked--except they LOVE the branches and attack them all the time and now we have branches spread out all of the kitchen and little pine needles covering the floor. Good thing they're cute!

The True Reason for Santa Hats

How to have fun while decorating the Christmas tree:
1) Procure a fluffy Santa hat
2) Force said hat upon every available head and snap pictures
3) Repeat until bored. Then find a new game! Like how many times you can deposit a kitten on a dog before they both freak out!

Fluffy little Bella with a fluffy huge hat=Sweet!


Nick! So cute.


Us!


Dad and Sage


Kali is too cool to show both eyes.


Ziggy. And Bella and Edward hugging!


Yes, we had fun. Happy Holidays!

Troy

My baby brother turned 17 today. It seems crazy to write that because I swear, he was just ten, and before that he was just five, and he was the cutest, sweetest little boy imaginable. There were some crazy "Ohmigod stop being a freaking teenager!" years but they are mainly over now... and he's still pretty sweet. Usually. ^_^



We woke him up early this morning, so that we could give him his present before Dad left for work. He was groggy and had a hard time getting the tape off... but finally he opened it and there was a brand spankin' new ipod touch, 32GB, oh-so-pretty! He was THRILLED and spent the entire time I was home--like 8 hours before I went to work--downloading applications and playing games and exploring his cool new ipod. This boy loves music! Hmm let's see.... Troy plays the piano and the drums, is in the band at school playing drums, writes his own music for the piano, can play the vibraphone as well... He has a nice girlfriend...a third degree black belt in TaeKwonDo...and a junior in high school.



Happy Birthday baby bro!!!

White Christmas

This is the first Christmas in California that we have had snow flurries outside while we were decorating our tree! It's sort of sticking to the ground now, and it's great! I dumped sleet down Troy and Dad's shirts too! Hehehehehe.

Nick came over and helped us decorate the tree, and it was a lot of fun--he mostly played with kittens while we held up ornaments and said "Awwwwww this is Troy at five years old!" or "This is Mom's. Or.....maybe it's not. Huh. Who has the weird artichoke ornament?!" And we drank eggnog and were happy.

Tonight we had our family birthday dinner, as Troy and I are only one day apart--my baby brother turns seventeen tomorrow!!! (And Nick turns twenty years old six days after I do) (I'm dating a younger man!) Anyway we had delicious steak, potatoes, salad and bread. (Go Mom for cooking it all). And then amazing chocolate cake!

Here's hoping for snow snow snow!

DONE!

I am officially done with my third semester at college!!!

(Jumping, shrieking, and happy dancing ensues)

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!


. . . Now I am going to go sleep for a month. Or until 7am, which is when I wake up for work. But whatever, because I AM DONE WITH MY THIRD SEMESTER OHMIGOD YAY!!!



Edward, fast asleep under the china hutch, with the heater vent next to him. He anticipated my need for sleep and BEAT ME TO IT. Darn adorable kittens.

Three More Days

. . .and then VACATION!!!

From school at least! ^_^

I cannot wait for this semester to be over and done with! Just have to survive three more days . . . but I don't have that much to do--just a math final and interdisciplinary assessment and essay, and another essay. Woooot!

And then hopefully I can actually post something interesting!

Dork

Vicky let me borrow her six year old daughter's movie "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning" and I am so ridiculously excited, I just might have to watch the first one and then scrounge up the second one from somebody before I can see it so that I don't forget anything.

And don't worry--I'll be sure to post a movie review letting you know if you should run out and watch it too. Unless you are a Disney sucker like me, and then you probably already have seen it!