A few weeks ago it was my friend Audrey's birthday, so some friends and I schemed like good teachers do, and we planned a surprise party for her. It was held at my house the day before her actual b-day, and it was so much fun! We sent out two fake emails inviting people to other birthday festivities, and then the email inviting people to the actual party. My friend (and one of Aud's roommies) Karen and I bought the Happy Birthday sign, the "noise" makers, the cake fixings, the beverages, the salad, and, yes, the frozen lasagna. We go big here, people. All was going according to schedule until I pulled out one of the fancy "noise" makers. (H hates it when people use unnecessary quotes...but these are NECESSARY!) I put my mouth to the contraption, excited because I had 18 of these fun little toys, and to my surprise, no noise is to be heard. Only hot air and the noise of paper moving in and out. I guess it's important to READ THE LABEL when buying such items. Fun times were had by all anyway...I mean, who doesn't love a good microwave cake?
Last Saturday (Dec 12) was a real treat for Aaron and I. My good friend and co-worker Cami had another choir concert in Redlands, and since the one in October was so much fun, we decided we could not miss another! Aaron decided to make a good ol' fashion date night out of it, so we (wait for it) went to Starbucks and sipped yummy Christmas beverages! (that's not the end of the date, don't worry!) Next we hit up Maceroni Grill, mostly because it was across the parking lot from the SB, but also because I had a gift card. We shared a dish, then when the waitress came back and asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu, I just about said, "Oh no thank-you," when Aaron chimed in and said, "Yes, thank you." After much debating (about 3 seconds worth) we went with the Tiramisu and, you guessed it, some coffee. :) The concert was a blast, especially the part when Cami had a solo...she's got that musical voice, you know which one I'm talking about? It's the kind of voice that you KNOW should be up on stage singing "The sun'll come out, tomorrow,"and the like. Cami was a super star that night.
Sunday (Dec 13) after church, Aaron and I sat down to have lunch together, when I could not take the suspense any longer. I had bought Aaron tickets to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood, and I was so excited to give them to him! So before we even started eating lunch I ran into my room, grabbed the three envelopes and red package I had for him. The first envelope contained a Merry Christmas greeting, and told him how cool I think he is, and that he should open the next envelope. The second envelope contained a Merry Christmas greeting, and a menu for the following Sunday's lunch. I don't have an exhaustive list of meals I can make, but I do okay. The third envelope contained a Merry Christmas greeting and directions to open the red package. Aaron tore open the tissue paper (I know, Heidi...I was cringing a little, and totally wanted to tell him to be careful and we can reuse the paper..but it's our first Christmas together) to open Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas with another Merry Christmas greeting and two fake tickets to see the musical the following weekend. Aaron was surprised and said, "You know me so well!"
Sunday night (Dec 13...night...) Aaron took me to downtown Riverside where we saw the Festival of Lights. There's this historic hotel down there where they supposedly start hanging Christmas lights in September or something, and it is quite a show to see! We wandered around the lights, then hit up a local coffee shop. :) This is the part in the story where I say we sipped warm beverages and had stimulating conversation for hours. But wait. That is not what happened next (well, not all of it, anyway) Aaron and I are sitting on stools behind this counter that faces the front window, so we can gaze at, er, the street. When all of a sudden, we see a large man with a flannel shirt on pull out bottles of half-empty (half-full?) liquor from the backpack of some teenage kid. At first I didn't think it was that big of deal, except that the kid who owned the backpack looked a little too young to have alcohol, but then I remembered that it is ILLEGAL to carry around open bottles of liquor in your backpack...especially for a teenager! It was then that another flannel-clad man came out of OUR coffee shop with two or three more teenagers! Turns out the flannel-ed guys were undercover cops, and had just busted a whole group of underage drinkers for more than one crime. I tried not to stare as the questioning went down at a table right outside the window where we were sitting. Talk about an eventful Sunday night!
The school week (Dec 14-18) seemed to drag on forever, as it usually does the week before a long vacation. Although I only had to (ahem, got to) teach 4.5 days this week, but it was just L O N G. I taught my kids two Christmas carols in Spanish, and we practiced with maracas every day to prepare for Friday's traditional Christmas caroling around campus day. Wednesday was NOT the highlight of my teaching career, and let's just say that one of my 5 Spanish classes did not get the pleasure of Christmas caroling and having a party on Friday. Yikes. All in all, it was a decent week at school, and I can't really complain, seeing as how I have the next 13 days to do whatever I want. Also - Friday was my SIL Michelle's birthday...FELIZ CUMPLEANOS! :)
Saturday (Dec 19) was a super fun day. I worked admissions for a b-ball tournament at school for a few hours, then Aaron and I hit up the mall. We got some yummy Chinese food first, then started our search. "Search for what?" you may be asking. Well, in less than one week from today, and Aaron will be a)going to the midwest for the FIRST TIME EVER b)meeting my parents c)meeting my SIBLINGS (and their spouses :) ) Which calls for: new sweaters, and jeans for Aaron. :) It was fun to shop with Aaron, he's such a sport. I'd pick something out, say "try it on!", he'd come out of the dressing room, I'd take one look, and he'd know if it was a keeper or not. He ended up with some really cute, er, handsome, clothes, and he is all set for Michigan! :)
Sunday (Dec 20) was the highly anticipated day of the show. I went to the early service at church (which was really good, by the way. At Christmas time I go to church thinking, "What can they possibly say that I haven't heard before during Christmas?" and yet I still learn new things every year!) After church I called my mom to ask some questions about making home-made mashed potatoes and steak without using a grill (I know, how can a house of 5 girls live in Cali without a GRILL? I ask myself that every day...). Moms are so great. What would I do without her? :) I donned my apron that cousin Nancy made for me, set the table, boiled the potatoes, took out the marinated meat, and waited for Aaron to arrive. We shared a really yummy meal (thanks, mom!) and good conversation. As we finished, I looked at Aaron and said, "Hey, why don't you go look under the tree?" He came back with a gift in hand. Okay, so I got him another gift. I just happened to be in one of my favorite stores ever the other day, and just had to get Aaron this book. We ate some home-made ice cream cake (yes, I can make that too!) and got ready for the, ahem, theatre. :)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was fantastic, as to be expected. The costumes, the adorable Cindy-loo-who, and of course, the lime-green Grinch were so amazing. I woke up this morning with a song stuck in my head from the show, "Welcome Christmas, welcome Christmas, da-who doray, da-who doray," fun times!
So why, with as much excitement as I have had in the past few weeks, am I awake at (now) 6:05am??? Being the nice roommate that I am, I brought Krista to the airport this morning at 4:30, and once I'm up...there's no going back. PLUS, Aaron is picking me up at 9am for some big thing he has planned. I guess it's my Christmas gift, and whatever it is takes the entire day...so we cleared our schedules (ha! as if I really had to clear anything!) and we're doing something totally great! I have an idea of what we are doing...but I won't say. Here's what I know: I can wear jeans and a t-shirt (it's December in California, remember) and comfortable shoes. And we're going to be outside. I'll let ya know if I am right in my next post. But for now...I'd say that's enough from Allison-ville (get why I am saying that now?) I hope you made it to the end of this post, and enjoy the pictures!
2 comments:
can't wait to hear about the date!!!
Sasha was sitting on my lap and looking at the pictures. She said "Allison! And who's that?" I told her it was your friend Aaron and she said "He's a big boy?"
We can't wait to meet him, even though I think Allison was kind of hoping for your friend to be small like her!
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