hello diet coke, goodbye hair

i guess it's time for an update, on two things mostly.

first up: the whole
one-month-without-my-favorite-drink-in-the-world deal.

yeah, that.

today is the 4 week mark. 

i'll be honest - i cheated 3 times.

once at dinner at benihana - cause duh.

[even though that was really a diet pepsi (yuck)
so i don't think i'm going to count that]

second at the movies, cause we got popcorn. duh, x2.

third after cutting my hair, cause i thought it was the
only thing that could possibly calm me down.
(i was wrong, but it was worth it)

so here i am, 4 weeks later and barely any dc in my system.

do i feel different?

no.

am i going to start drinking it again?

absolutely.
do i sound like an alcoholic?
most likely.

i don't care, cause i love it that much.

on to bigger and better things...

the day i chopped 20 inches off my hair!

i'm going to try not to be dramatic by calling this
the biggest mistake of my life,

but it's important for you to know the thought has
crossed my mind once or twice.

the last time i really cut my hair (other than a trim) was roughly 8 years ago.

i cut it to my chin and cried.

for the past year and a half i've been thinking about cutting my hair but i always chicken out 

or say "i'll do it after <insert insignificant event>"

aannnyyywaaay

i finally got the courage, made the appointment,
and committed to the big cut.
i knew i would have to cut at least 10 inches to donate to locks of love,
but somehow 10 turned into 20.
fast forward to this moment:

and i felt like i was going to throw up.
if you've ever given birth to a baby, this analogy will probably offend you, but here goes...
when she cut off the braid and handed it to me, i felt like she was handing me a baby.
that hair was on my head for 8+ years,
(way longer than it takes to make a baby, i might add)
and in a matter of minutes i was holding it in my hands!
it was the weirdest feeling and i hated holding it.
(i probably won't feel that way when it's my actual baby)

too dramatic? sorry.

it's been two days and i'm still trying to get used to it.
i keep trying to remind myself that my hair will go to
someone who needs it more than me,
but that doesn't mean i didn't cry twice yesterday...
luckily i have a super sweet husband who is willing to tell me lies things like
"it'll grow back in 6 to 7 months"
and
"you have longer hair than most girls i know"
sure, i know those are lies,
but they make me feel a little better.
now please pardon this awkward self-portrait, but i figure if you've made it to the end of my sob story, you should at least get to see the end result:

#shorthairwishididntcare :(

2 weeks of a non-resolution

i'm not really one for new year's resolutions.

the last one i remember making was around age ten: 

my goal was to have $100 in the bank by the end of the year.

i asked for money for my birthday that year instead of presents.

tada! resolution complete.

{ok i spent it all right away, but to be fair, i did have at least $100 in my bank account that year. that's a win in my book}

anyway, i had absolutely no intention of making any resolutions for 2013.

buuuuut, after two weeks in utah, and 12 hours of junk/fast food on the car ride home, 

joe and i arrived home feeling...a little...well, disgusting.

joe decided that was the perfect moment to start 

informing me of how bad diet coke was for me.

i'll admit, the stories he was telling me freaked me out a little bit.

enough that when he said 

"let's go without diet soda for one month and see how we feel"

i fell for it!

{although, for me, no "diet soda" means no soda at all.

cause if it's not diet coke, what's the point?}

so we shook on it, and i woke up the next morning throwing up.

therefore, i broke our pact day one by drinking sprite and coke (but no diet coke).

that only lasted a couple of days, and then i had to commit to this no soda thing.

that was two weeks ago.

two long, excruciating, torturous weeks.

oh, and head aches. lots of em.

i was not expecting that side effect - i refused to believe i was addicted

i promise, food has lost its flavor without a diet coke by my side.

ok, so maybe i am was a little addicted...

but i haven't had one sip of the good stuff since jan. 2!

it's not $100 in the bank, but still, i've kept my non-resolution so far.

take that 11-to-23-year-old me!

two more weeks of my nightmare (notice the dramatics? that really helps.), 

then i'll update you on how amazing i feel after a month with no soda.

if that's really the case, then just disregard this post...but don't count on it.

wish me luck!

twas the season

after almost two full weeks in utah,

joe and i were welcomed home to california with the stomach flu.

aka, i still haven't finished unpacking and this post is probably so overdue that no one even cares about the holidays anymore.

oh well. 

going home for the holidays is so much fun. 

we spent time with family, caught up with friends, ate way too much (cafe rio 4 times in 2 weeks...whoop whoop! plus, the best home cooked meals we've had in a year), almost froze to death on a regular basis, and smothered our nieces and nephews as much as possible.

^^ notice joe in the background, pretending to be oblivious to how adorable we are ^^

kayden's note to santa killed me. he wrapped it in newspaper with an ornament as a gift to santa. 

good thing he's looking out for "kody"

i promise i'm not baby hungry, but seeing joe with kids kinda melts my heart

i miss the people.
i miss cafe rio.
i seem to be doing just fine without the snow...
>>..cheers to 2013..<<
this year is going to be great!

the holiday season is in full-swing over here.

last week was joe's work holiday party 

at the spinnaker in sausalito.

good food. good friends. 

great dancing!

joe and i played it really smart this year and decided to wait until last weekend to start any and all christmas shopping. 

saturday we went to the city for shopping and to see the nutcracker. 

i've been not-so-subtle in my hints to joe that i want to see the nutcracker ballet. 

it didn't happen last year, so i vowed this year we would do it. 

i was ready to spend big bucks on the real deal, but when i was presented with the opportunity to see the san francisco youth ballet academy perform the nutcracker for only $7 a ticket!!, i couldn't pass it up. 

"the kids will be really cute"

"i've seen some amazing child ballet dancers"

"$7 sounds so much better than $100!"

just a few of the thoughts i had.

you guys...i was wrong.

i'm pretty sure we were the only people in the audience who didn't have a child/sister/brother/some-sort-of-relative in the performance. 

and i'm almost positive i'll have nightmares about the giant mouse and nutcracker for the rest of my life.

bravo kiddos, but lesson learned = sometimes, you get what you pay for.

it's a good thing we got a lot of shopping done, ate some delicious food, and ended the night at ghirardelli, so we could still call the day a success. 

have i mentioned that i love the city at christmas time?

all i want for christmas is a house on the marina. please, santa?

we leave tomorrow for utah 

(2 days earlier than planned thanks to a snow storm rolling in!!! 

do you think i've ever been happier to hear about snow? no, i have not.)

that means i have a whole lot of shopping/packing/wrapping/cleaning the apt. 

to get done in one day. 

i could really stress out right about now 

if excitement wasn't the only emotion i'm capable of feeling.

see you soon, utes!

ps. sorry for the lack of quality in the pictures. 

they were all taken on my phone, most in motion. 

but i'm also not sorry, cause its either phone pictures, or no pictures.

(usually that means no pictures...)

merry and bright

now that i'm out of my food coma, i guess its time for an update.

thanksgiving was so great!

we stayed here again instead of going home.

(not that i was offered an alternative, but i really thought i was ok with not being around family for turkey day. of course that all changed when i started watching the macy's parade while talking to my family.

the water works just came out of nowhere...and stayed for most of the morning.)

i eventually got a hold of  my emotions, asked my mom a million cooking questions for
my homemade rolls and mashed potatoes,

and we ended up having such a wonderful, delicious, fun day.

i'm so grateful for the friends here that invited us to join them for thanksgiving dinner.

they made our thanksgiving away from home more than ok.

on friday, joe absolutely refused to take part in any black friday shopping

and i wasn't about to go brave those crowds by myself!

so instead we headed into the city for the tree lighting ceremony

to fight the biggest crowd we could find...

it was such a beautiful day, and i ended up getting to do some shopping after all :)

we watched the actual lighting of the tree from one of macy's big windows, and i'm pretty sure we had the best seat in the house.

we ended the night with some rooftop dining at cheesecake factory, with a view of union square, ice skaters, and the tree.

i'm loving the city this holiday season.

its so magical and buzzing with so much excitement.

on saturday joe finally agreed to see twilight with me.

i'm not sure what he hated more:

the movie, or my review of the first 4 movies so he wouldn't be confused the whole time.

i think he was still confused but he was a good sport and didn't make fun of me once!

sunday was a big day.

joe and i agree that the leftovers from thanksgiving is one of the best parts, and we knew we wouldn't have any this year.

so...we attempted our first thanksgiving meal: just the two of us!

turkey, rolls, gravy, stuffing (from a box), potatoes...the whole smorgasbord!

once again, i called my mom so many times, she probably felt like she was the one cooking the meal.

what would i do without her? thanks mom!

unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as i'd hoped.

the potatoes were too runny, the gravy wasn't very flavorful, and the rolls were in the oven a little too long.

but we didn't burn the turkey! 

so i'm chalking this up to mostly a success and hopefully it'll be better next time.

i had every intention of documenting the process, but the only picture i managed to get was of the turkey before we cooked it...no one cares to see that.

oh, and all of our christmas decor, including the tree, is now up!

so things really are merry and bright around here. 

happy holidays everyone!

halloween + other stuff

it's official people: 

i've eaten enough candy corn in the last 24 hours to make myself sick.

all in the name of halloween though, so it was worth it.

sick husband = no costumes, nothing festive, not even a horror flick to appease my need for anything festive. i even rushed to the store after work today to buy candy for possible trick-or-treaters.

guess what? not one child dropped by. 

now i'll be forced to eat all that candy by myself...poor me. 

wish me better luck next year!

in other news:

our weekends in san jose are officially complete (for now, that i know of)

i did enjoy our nightly stops at pinkberry, sushi dates, 

and filling up on diet cokes in the car -

but i'm excited to be sticking around for a while too.

on sunday we watched the giants win the world series!!!

i'm not a huge baseball fan, or a big fan of any sport for that matter, 

but i was really into the giants this year. 

its been really fun living in a place where i'm so close to a major league team, 

surrounded by loads of loyal fans. 

even the cross guards love a good sweep!

i love holiday-colored m&m's.

if you ask me, they just taste better that way.

and mini fist pump for the first plant at work that i haven't killed!

(i know its not a great looking plant, but i even managed to kill ivy, which my coworker said, she 

"didn't know was possible." so living = victory in my book.)

hope you all had a happy halloween!

sometimes when your husband teaches double-weekend seminars, 

you just have to tag-along.

so tag-along i did.

this weekend it was san jose.

while joe played superman and taught people how to read

(ok, his job is so much more than that, but i'm horrible at explaining it)

i spent my days shopping...

and hanging out on the san jose state university campus.

it is beautiful and it totally brought me back to my days as a college student.

dare i say, it even made me miss it?! 

ok, i don't miss spending hours studying in the library or walking everywhere,

but it definitely had me feeling nostalgic.

we even ate at pita pit, which i haven't had since living in logan.

and to use the wifi in the library, i had to get a library card.

i'll be back next weekend so it's totally worth it.
turns out san jose's not so bad...