House Update

Well, it's been two weeks since my last post and you would think I would have a lot to report. But we have mainly continued to work on the house. We started getting things framed and hanging pictures. We were given a full size bed complete with bedding and a headboard (it's amazing and we are so thankful for it) and we bought a queen size bed for the other spare bedroom. The house is slowly starting to fill up. I will take some more pictures this week to post so you can see the progress. Jamie has done a lot in the backyard/garden and only has 2 more stumps to remove from the bushes that were back there (there were about 16 to begin with - *Jamie would like this corrected as I've been told there were more like 20 to begin with* ).

I think we are anxious for the summer and want to get the house ready to have bbq's and guests. We've done so much in the last 6 months (yes we have had the house 6 months now!) but have so many things we still want to get to. Next weekend we will pick up another piece we had custom framed that Jamie bought in China, which will go in the dining room. So the work continues.

DIY Weekend

This weekend was spent working on the house. The main goal of the weekend was to put new lights in the garage, paint the closet doors, and go shopping for a guest bed. Two of them were completed but the guest bed was put on hold. With the Santa Ana winds starting up last Friday, they quickly killed off our side gate that was already pretty battered to begin with. So unless we wanted to hear it open and close all week, we needed to fix it.

Saturday, Jamie and my Dad, spent the day working on the lighting in the garage. The lighting was really bad, their was one light bulb working near the door. On several occasions Jamie and I went into the garage to get something and I asked Jamie to turn on the light only to find that it was on! So it was much needed and it looks amazing. I think our garage is now the best lite room in the house. Meanwhile, my Mom and I did some research on how to go about building a replacement gate.

We were able to find something called an Adjust-A-Gate which gave you all the metal pieces and you just had to buy the remaining wood pieces. So Sunday Jamie tackled the gate and I painted closet doors. If you are ever looking for a great way to do squats without thinking about it, paint doors. You go up and down all day and it totally works your legs and arms and trust me you feel the results all week. I'm so soar from the shoulders down but after the Christmas Holiday I definitely needed the workout. Jamie finished the gate with a bit of beginners frustration but it looks great and works perfectly. Not the most exciting weekend but a very productive one.

Snow

Last Saturday we decided to take a trip to the mountains, partly to get some fresh air after being in doors so much over the holidays, partly to walk off some of the food we ate, but mostly to have some fun in the snow. Jamie was a bit disappointed when we didn't get any snow in England so we drove an hour and a half to Idyllwild, which is in the San Jacinto Mountains. It's about 5,300 ft to 6,500 ft and although it wasn't completely blanketed with snow, there was plenty around to make a beautiful scene.We got there early and did a short hike, about 5 miles up the mountain. There wasn't another person in sight the whole way up and down. It was peaceful and beautiful. The only problem with no one being around is that we couldn't get a picture together.
While hiking we saw this warning, something I'm used to, but something that Jamie gets a kick out of. It always puts me on edge, although sighting are extremely rare they happen, but there is nothing even remotely comparable in England.

Once we reached the top of our trail we stopped at this rock and had some of our rations, mostly chocolate for Jamie and shortbread for me. It's a bit harder to hike in the snow than we thought, it was icy at times with some parts about a ft deep, which is why we only did 5 miles, any farther and we would have needed more gear.

Lastly, we stopped at a Lake partially frozen over. It was an amazing scene, it was so still and the reflection in the water was breathtaking.

It was a cold day, it was extremely foggy driving up the mountain and on the way home we got some rain. I know what your thinking, Ang in the snow? Well, I dressed warmly and was able to somewhat acclimate after an hour. At least we had a warm car to climb into and a warm home, with a heater that is working wonderfully, thanks Dad. I can last a day or a weekend but living there is another story...

New Year's Day (a.k.a Christmas # 2)

As we were with Jamie's family over Christmas, we decided to celebrate Christmas with my family on New Year's Day. So we celebrated Christmas #2 with the Saldana Family at our house :) My parents and brother didn't open any of their presents Christmas Day so that they could open them with us when we got back. How sweet is that!
Jamie and I decorated the table for Christmas and made a lovely dinner of our signature lasagna dish and garlic bread (By the time all the eating for Christmas #1 was complete, we wanted something different). We were able to find Christmas Crackers after Christmas, as most stores were already sold out, we didn't get around to buying them before Christmas and so they weren't the best.

The whole day was great. We ate, drank, opened presents, and watched the Rose Bowl game (A college football game played every year on New Year's day). It was so relaxing, as you can see below of my brother and dad after dinner.

More to come later on the rest of our weekend...

2009

Happy New Year Everyone!

Graduation Day

Well, we are going to go back in time to the Friday before Christmas, December 19th. Why, well that was Anthony's Graduation Day! Although he finished classes in September the ceremony was in December. It was held at the Anaheim Marriott hotel with about 250 graduates. Anthony worked really hard the last 4 years and everyone is so proud of him. It was a fun ceremony, a bit on the artistic side, with a good speaker and many proud parents.

Here are some pictures:

Congratulations!!!

Christmas in Yorkshire

Well, we are back home now. We had a great trip and really enjoyed seeing everyone. We started off the trip mainly doing some shopping. Here is the view of some shops in York. It wasn't too bad in the morning but the wind picked up in the afternoon and the temperature dropped pretty quickly.

I think one of the things Jamie enjoyed the most, other than being home and with family of course, was the food. A traditional Griffin Christmas dinner consists of ham, chicken, and/or roast beef, carrots, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, stuffing, and yorkshire puddings (Well, the yorkshire puddings aren't always there but this year they made an appearance).

***Please note - There were 2 types of potatoes, roast and boiled, as well as pigs in blankets

Here's Martin and Jean (Jamie's grandparents), David and Jamie before dinner on Boxing Day.

Mark, his older brother, and his his fiancé Lisa.

Above, is the Christmas Cracker. Tom Smith, a baker of wedding cakes from Clerkenwell, London, invented the Christmas cracker in 1847. A cracker is made of cardboard tubing wrapped in decorated paper to resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. It's pulled by two people, when broken in half one side is larger than the other, much like a wishbone. When in breaks there is a small snap, kind of like a cap gun. There is usually a toy, joke, and paper crown inside. Below is the largest cracker I've seen. Karen bought it for dinner or tea (In parts of England dinner is refered to as tea and lunch is called dinner, very confusing for me at times) at Jamie's Grans' house.

Below, is a picture of Jamie's brothers and his Dad on Boxing Day.

It was a fun trip but a bit tiring as we only were there a week. We are back at work today and I'm exhausted. It's just after 11 am and I'm ready for bed. Wonder if anyone would miss me if I disappeared for a quick/long nap?