I'm a new auntie!
Welcome to the world, baby Aaron Marvin Abar Calica! Happy BIRTHday today at 4:10pm!! :)

YAY!

Check out this collage that Heidi made:

Crazy!
It's a crazy time right now, so I apologize for blog slacking...

Christmas recap
Christmas Eve: Annual Christmas dinner with the family in Daly City. Lots of food and fun, including the white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with Heidi's gift of 2 DVDs - Love Actually and King Arthur and Alan got a crystal bowl with candy and $30 CASH rolled up inside! Alan got me a 'Sweet Home' ornament for our tree and I got him a 'God Bless This Home' one.... see the theme? Now, we have 12 ornaments on our tree!! :)

Christmas Day: Abar Family dinner in our house in Hayward. Spent the whole afternoon cooking food and preparing the house. Had a nice sit down dinner on our new dining table, plus the ping pong table attached to it (nicely decorated and tableclothed of course. Tableclothed... is that a word?) Met Alan's cousin from the Philippines... nice guy. Even brought some gifts from cousins back home. Funny thing: when they all got there, we opened the door and they looked like carolers - wearing Santa Hats and singing Jingle Bells. Another gift exchange - I ended up with this dark walnut photo cabinet thingy and Alan got a throw blanket. Lots of fun with family.

10 days and counting
Finally dealing with all the little details for the wedding... seating arrangements, music, etc. My mom decorated all the centerpieces yesterday (thanks Ma!). Great thing about having a wedding right after Christmas - all the decoration stuff is on sale!!! And good thing my colors are ivory and gold, cuz there are so many holiday things I can get at discounted prices. Went to Michael's Crafts store yesterday and bought lots of stuff -- flower girl baskets, ribbon for decorating the church, a bag for the coins, corsage pins. Also went to Hillsdale Mall looking for bridesmaids gifts and found some cute stuff in my color - champagne gold! Even got flower girl gifts too! Lots of stuff done yesterday... it's good I had the afternoon off :)

On the phone
I have about 8 phone calls to make during lunch! It's good it's slow at work this week...I might take Thursday off too.

Comfort over glamour
We're gonna be in Vegas for New Year's Eve with all our friends for a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. Well, not really joint ... we're all gonna be there from Thursday thru Sunday, but the guys and the girls are only gonna hang out on New Year's Eve... Anyway, I booked a mini-suite at the Flamingo Hilton which only had 2 beds and 1 bath, but had a living room and stuff... but after thinking about it more, we decided to just get two regular rooms at the Imperial Palace... 8 girls - 1 bathroom? I don't think that would go so well. It's only for sleeping anyway, right?

I'm excited for Vegas! Can't wait to hit Rain for my official bachelorette night. I love that place. For NYE, we're all meeting up for dinner... probably buffet. Any suggestions for a buffet on the strip? Rio is good, but too far.

Early Christmas in my bank account
I got my regular pay today, along with my reimbursement for the SAS class I took! Yay, more money to spend.... on.... wedding stuff!! hehe.

Considering Tivo
Got some great opinions from the gadget guru and his wife about Tivo. Very convincing arguments to get it. Now I have to convince Alan that we really really do need at least cable TV in our house... then I can work on him for Tivo, esp. since we'll be missing some great new episodes in January when we're on our honeymoon! :)

Happy Birthday Eric!
Going to Le Cheval for dinner tonight, even though Eric's birthday was yesterday. I haven't been there since days at Cal. Can't wait!

Party weekend
I guess this past weekend was full of parties for everyone! Friday night, Alan and I went to my company's holiday party at this place called "Spotlight on the Square" in Alameda. It was cutely decorated inside, with lights everywhere, a huge Christmas tree, and a Santa chair to take pictures on. The food was definitely not worth the $20 I paid for Alan ... the best thing were the jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce, and the open bar (beer/wine) until 10pm :) There was a fake casino, with blackjack tables, craps, and roulette, which was fun. (I love playing craps - can't wait to play in Vegas!)

But the highlight of the night was the live band - made up of 4 people who work at Celera, including the one guy in the group I work in. They were awesome! 3 guys playing drums and 2 guitars, and one girl singing. I guess it's funny to me to see co-workers outside of work, and even more so - in a band! But it was cool.

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!
Alan and I went to buy a Christmas tree on Saturday and to our surprise, they were all 50% off at Home Depot - even the usually expensive Noble Firs. I guess if it's a week before Christmas they try to sell them quick. Anyway we got a 6-7 ft tree for $22! So we bought lights at Walmart (also a good deal), brought it home, and decorated it! Our first tree! Of course, we took lots of pics.

Currently, we have 10 ornaments on our tree because a tradition Alan and I decided to do a long time ago - ever since our first Christmas together in 1999. We bought each other an ornament every Christmas, waiting for the day to put them on our own tree.... now we have one! And we're only gonna put ornaments that we give each other as the years go by ... and of course ones that our future kids make for us :)

Christmas Lights
While Alan was out with his guy friends for his local bachelor party, I went to Bonfante Gardens with my family. It was a family fun park with kids rides, but during the holidays they decorate it with all these light displays all over the place! It was cold, but fun!

The big 3-0
My cousin Donna turns 30 in January, but decided to have her big 30th birthday dance party on Sunday in Pleasanton. It's always good to get together with family for big life events. It was fun - lots of food, dancing and fun. Can't believe she's 30!

SHC Holiday Party
Afterwards, we rushed home to go to Alan's high school friends' holiday party, but unfortunately we missed the gift exchange! It's ok though, that means we get to keep our gifts (which were really really good :) heheh jk.) We hung out at his friend's newly renovated house in St. Francis Woods which was a very nice place. Then we went home to work on wedding stuff!

18 days!
Sounds shorter than 3 weeks, so I'll just keep saying '3 weeks'. We met with our pianist and he's awesome! He's my friend from SI and he was so cool and had some really good ideas! Can't wait to hear him play and sing with Bev at our wedding!

"Way of the future"
Last night, we saw a free preview screening of The Aviator, the story of Howard Hughes, the billionaire, movie producer and aviator among many other things. The movie was really good - I thought the actors played their parts really well, especially Leo! I didn't expect the movie to be 3 hours long, but it actually flowed and so I never once looked at my watch. On the other hand, my friend who came with me fell asleep! So I guess it depends on if you like long epic movies...

Party weekend
Tonight is my holiday party and Sunday is my cousin's big 30th birthday party! And in between, well, what else... wedding stuff. Oh, and I'm going to Bonfante Gardens with my family while Alan is out for his local bachelor party... he better be good... I should have a local bachelorette party!! hehe.

A craving for the news
I hadn't watched the nightly news in a while, and last night I had this weird urge to watch. I usually watch the 10 o'clock news on Channel 2 following any TV show that is on beforehand, but recently there haven't been any new episodes of anything.

ALIAS!
It's coming back on January 5th, for a two-hour premiere! That's right before the wedding, so I'll definitely tape it. Plus it's moving to Wednesday night instead of Sunday! (I have a feeling I blogged about this already?)

Kate & Leo
I just noticed how Kate & Leo is 1) a movie (starring Meg Ryan & Hugh Jackman), 2) the stars of Titanic (Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio), and 3) the stars of the upcoming movie The Aviator (Kate Beckinsale & Leonardo DiCaprio). Heidi brought home a tape of the Oprah show with the stars and director of The Aviator, and I must say the Leo is still looking quite fine :) Can't wait to watch the free screening tomorrow night!

Baby!
This past Saturday was Abby & Mike's baby shower! It was fun - lots of food and games, and babies all around! Can't believe we're getting to that age... Anyway, we played baby word scramble, Guess the Poo Poo (different chocolate bars melted in diapers), Feed the Baby, Dress the Baby, and Guess Mike & Abby's Girth. Lots of gifts - like teeny weeny cute outfits and onesies! So cute! Can't wait to meet our new nephew. Abby's due date is our wedding day!

SCU Holiday Party
Afterwards we went over to our friends' house for the annual holiday party with the SCU crew. As usual, the white elephant gift exchange lasted over an hour, since each gift could be stolen three times. I ended up with the $25 Nordstrom gift card, but seeing how I never shop there, I traded for the $20 CPK gift certificate. I'd rather eat than shop ;) Alan ended up with the Rounders DVD and 2 Lottery tickets, but traded the DVD for this magnetic dart board, which we had fun playing in our house the next day. Overall a great party - we even added a new game to the night - Battle of the Sexes Win Lose or Draw... Fortunately, it ended up as a tie, so everyone won :)

Crunch Crunch Crunch
Only about 24 days til the big day. We've been working hard these past few weeks, and things are getting busier and busier. I just made an appointment to get my dress bustled and steamed, finished scanning my pics for the slideshow, we finished the reception programs and the favors, and figured out our centerpieces. Next up among other things - the mass programs, the placecards, the seating arrangement, the flower girl baskets, the rehearsal dinner invitations, and much much more.... I love planning! :)

One month left!
One month from today I'll be married! Crazy! Mrs. Olivia Abar!

Anniversary date
On Saturday, Alan and I went to dinner at Straits Cafe in Burlingame for our 5 year anniversary! The food was pretty good - lobster/shrimp pad thai, honey glazed ribs, calamari and some sort of duck. The duck was alright, but the rest was good.

Afterwards, we headed over to Starbucks and I got my first Mint Hot Chocolate of the season! It reminded me of being in New York, especially since it was so cold outside too!

Crunch time
It's crunch time in regards to the wedding. We've gotten started on a lot of the details, so hopefully we won't be so stressed out right before... especially since we're going to Vegas for our bachelor/ette parties New Year's Eve weekend!

Busy at work!
I've been so busy at work, I can hardly take a breath to check people's blogs - but somehow I find time ;)

Happy Birthday Mommy-to-be!
Happy Birthday to Abby! (Alan's older sister) We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate at Central Park Bistro in San Mateo... Yay! Another night of yummy food.

YOU ATE MY SANDWICH???!!!
Remember that Friends episode where Ross was trying to deal with anger management, but found out that someone at work ate his sandwich?? That's sorta how I feel right now! Except that instead of a sandwich, it's my gourmet salad dressing! (Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette)

The company puts out free salad (mixed greens) everyday in the lunchroom and they usually have dressing, but I decided to buy my own. So I leave it in the community refridgerator so every day I can use it myself and I even put my name on it.

I just bought a brand new one about two weeks ago and half of it's gone already! I know that I haven't been able to use that much in two weeks, so it must mean that someone here at work has been using it! How rude is that?!?!

So I took it out of the fridge in the lunchroom upstairs and am going to put it elswhere.

Wedding nightmare!
Last night I had a bad dream about our wedding day - everything that could go wrong did! And I was felt so stressed out while I was sleeping! For some reason, I dreamed that I got my hair done but somehow it got all messed up and so I had to put all these bobby pins all over to fix it - but it still looked bad! And also, I was running late and when I looked at my watch it was already 6pm, and I hadn't even gone to the church yet! Oh! And a couple of my bridesmaids from out of town just decided not to show up! I woke up and touched my head (I guess to see if the bobby pins were there?) and realized it was only a bad dream.

I think it's time to buckle down and get serious about wedding planning. I don't want to have any more nightmares!

Freezing!
It's been so cold lately, I've been wearing gloves and scarves to work. Reminds me of the bitter cold of New York, and the 'deceptive sun'.

5 years!
It'll be our 5 year anniversary tomorrow! Can't believe it's been so long - but it went by so quickly. And I'm still madly in love with Alan :) We're going out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate!

Have a great weekend!
And don't forget the umbrella. I heard it's supposed to rain on and off for the next 4 days.

Welcome to December!
Already December? (in Judy's words... :) That means only about one more month to go until I become Mrs. Alan Abar! We went to get our marriage license in Redwood City yesterday morning, and since we went right when they opened at 8am, there wasn't a line. Definitely fill out the application online first before you go - it's really fast. We saw all the camera crews who were there for the Scott Peterson trial too.

Emotion-packed One Tree Hill!
Last night's episode of was sooo good... it hasn't been that good in a while - probably not ever. I'm definitely hooked. For some reason though - Jake looked different. I didn't recognize him. Is is the same actor?

Rockefeller Center Christmas
I watched the lighting of the huge tree in Rockefeller Center last night on TV. It reminded me of my cold snowy days in New York. It was fun walking around the city, seeing all the decorations, looking at the Saks Fifth Avenue windows, and getting Mint Hot Chocolates every day from Starbucks across the street from campus. I miss NY!