Ladies Night Out

Have you ever eaten at The Melting Pot? If not, it's a crying shame. The restaurant is host to fondue dinners that consist of cheeses, meats, and chocolates...DELISH! For the last couple of months, they have been doing Ladies Night Out on the last Tuesday of the month and the prices are like half off! Of course me and my girlfriends, all good eaters, have taken them up and really enjoyed ourselves!!! See below! : )

Well behaved ladies.

Well behaved ladies on fondue!

My Mini-Vacation

This weekend was AWESOME! I went up to Lake Nacimiento with some family and friends for a quick getaway filled with waterskiing and winetasting. I realize I am selfish, though, and was not satisfied with only three days away. I want to go back!

Lisa and Matt Page, two very dear friends from Sacramento, drove down and met me, my parents, sister, her friend Emily, and my friend Rebekah halfway. Lake Nacimiento is about 15 miles from Paso Robles for those of you who know your wine country.

On Friday, we hit the water around 2pm and jet skied, wakeboarded, and played in the warm water. We cleaned up and drove down into town for some BBQ dinner at a place that actually has a mechanical bull in it. We were all too tired and already feeling the soreness or I'm sure someone would have tried it.

On Saturday, we got a late start and hit the lake around 9:30 for a couple hours of fun, then we ran back, got ready, and hit three vineyards for some delicious wine. We went to Halter Ranch, Tablas Creek, and Justin. I really liked them all, but found that Tablas Creek has an incredible variety of whites. They pulled out an awesome white for me to try, which I bought instantly! At Justin, we met up with the Fitzgeralds, who were on an anniversary trip, and all took a private winemaking tour and then saw the caves. It was pretty cool! We went back to the lake for a couple of hours of wakeboarding, then ate pizza, and played a lot of Apples to Apples...while imbibing. It was hilarious!

Sunday morning at 7:15, we hit the water for some skiing on glass. It was really incredible for some good cuts. It makes me mad that I have to let go of the rope after a while, not because my legs or back give out, but that my HANDS do...guess there's really no exercise for that...
I had an amazing weekend and can't wait to do more of those fun ski trips with friends in the future!

Matt, Lisa, Rebekah, and I

The whole gang at Halter Ranch Taking a swig at Tablas Creek
With Jennifer at Justin
All that glorious goodness
An intense round of Apples to Apples
Making a cut on Sunday morning
The cute Pages

The girls!

Sara-Britt's Bridal Shower

My sweet little cousin is getting married in October and on Saturday, my mom hosted a beautiful shower for her. My mom is the Party Queen and outdoes herself each time she hosts something! Sara-Britt is SO excited to get married! She can hardly contain herself! She's such a special girl and I love her to pieces. The joke was always that she and I should have been sisters with our dark-er hair and tan skin and left Danny, Missie, Jake, and Carlee to be brothers and sisters with their fair skin, hair, and freckles! : )

Sara-Britt and Grandma June. Grandma gives a devotional for all the granddaughters at their bridal showers. This one was special though, because she was teary-eyed as she shared that 60 years ago at this time, she was busy planning her own wedding!
The cake was out of this world! It had an edible photo of SB and Pete and flowers and leaves.

Missie and Bryson (Carlee and Bryan's son) hamming it up for the camera. Bryson is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!!

Congrats, Sara-Britt and Pete! I know you'll be really happy and that the last two months of your engagement will fly by and that you'll be happily married in no time at all. PS - thanks for planning your wedding in Temecula. I really like the wine there. HA!

Grey's Dedication/Weekend in Santa Cruz

This weekend, the Johnsons trucked on up to Santa Cruz for my niece's dedication service. My brother Dan and his wife Shannon were married there in her father's church four years ago and they decided to have their sweet little girl dedicated there, too! What a special thing it was for us all to be there and see them all stand at the front of the church again, this time as a family. My mom, dad, sister, grandparents and I represented the Johnson side of the family and we couldn't have been happier to steal a couple of days with the smallest Johnson!

The Santa Cruz board walk is pretty darn cool. Lots of rides and beachgoers everywhere. They also have free concerts on the beach every Friday night in the summer. We listened to a few songs on Friday night when we got in to town, but it wasn't anyone we'd ever heard of...

Me and my mom goofing around at a restaurant on the pier.

Grammy Stephanie with Grey-bug. Seriously, I've never seen a smilier 6 month old!

I love holding this sweet little baby and making her smile. I kept asking Dan and Shannon if I could keep her, but they just wouldn't agree...

Grey wore the same beautiful gown that Shannon wore for her dedication. It was hand stitched and embroidered by Don's (Shannon's dad) aunts.

Paying attention during the rest of the church service...and playing with an impromptu toy.

With mom and dad!

Does he want to be called "grandpa"??? No, he wants the baby to call him Big D or Papa D. Ha! She got a little sleepy during lunch and he got up from the table and walked her around for about twenty minutes while she napped on his shoulder... precious moment...

Updates

A quick week of updates. I went to the Pat Benatar concert on Friday night and had more fun than I have in a long time. I loved singing every word to every song and was surprised when I didn't lose my voice! I had a blast!!! Thanks to Barbie for enjoying the concert with me and to Marc and Penni for telling us that Pat would be at the House of Blues!

This weekend was all about golf! I had a great lesson on Saturday, played with friends after church on Sunday, and played in a tournament for work on Monday! We played at Los Verdes in Rancho Palos Verdes and the tourney benefitted the Boys and Girls Club. We had a great time and did pretty darn well considering I've only been playing for three months and one of the women literally was on a golf course for the first time. The funniest thing happened, though. Boss Lady and I were riding together and our cart started to run out of juice. I jumped out and gave a little push, then as I was trying to get in, Boss Lady didn't slow down, so my foot got caught and I went flying. I did a little MacGyver roll and then bounced up. We laughed SO HARD! Some people apparently saw it and commented at the dinner that night. We had a good crack up. : )

Work has been pretty good lately and I've been really busy with CWLA and the Bergeson Series. I really love being on those Boards, but I have to learn to carve out time to dedicate to the efforts. I'm working on being more dedicated.

In other news, congrats to Angie and Cody on the arrival of Ingrid Amelia Antonia Kotnik! She's beautiful and I'm so excited for you guys!!! I'm sure Greta will be a great big sister and that your sweet babies will grow up to be good Scandinavians! Ha!

HELLO 1980s!!!!

Tonight I'm going to see Pat Benatar at the House of Blues. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Sweet

I golfed with my dad and then had dinner with the family last night. We made plans for later this month, when we'll all cruise up to Santa Cruz for Grey's dedication. I can't wait to see this sweet little munchkin!!!

Proud Aunty Posting/I'm a jerk of a sister

Missie, don't think I didn't notice this... I'm on to you and your evil gift-giving ways. My Horned Frogs will fight back and send the little princess something in purple and white!

Danny's birthday was yesterday. Here father and daughter read cards celebrating his big 2-8!
Little bathing beauty. Apparently, she loves the water. Guess she's a real water baby! (PS, I had to crop this photo for modesty. Guess she's a little naked tart! Ha!)

I'm a big dummy. I forgot my brother's birthday was yesterday. Our family celebrates birthdays in a major way...and not just for presents, but to celebrate the person. I screwed up this year and didn't pay attention to the calendar and I feel awful. My brother has had a huge year of growing and I want him to know that that alone is something to be proud of! So, I'm a jerk for forgetting and not getting on the phone to let him know how special I think he is or what a tremendous man he's become. And even though he just said, "man, I'm old," I still remember him as the little boy in my ballet tu-tu and the cowboy boots. I LOVE YA, Danny-boy!

A little Friday afternoon treat for Krissy-pooh and Wendy-pooh

New pics of Grey!

Yes, she is the most adorable baby in the whole wide world! : )

How could you not fall in love with a smile like this?

Chillin in her new bumbo chair.

At the chiropractor. Apparently, babies go now, too. I personally have never heard of this and think the chiro looks like Napoleon Dynamite.

In a sling with daddy.

And speaking of Daddy... I am so proud of my little brother. He is an AWESOME dad. He is generous with his time, is a partner in parenting, loves to hold and care for his little girl, and is a provider. When I think of what he was like as a teenager, I get the giggles. He was always such a huge goof. He used to make up words and names for me and Missie. I have no doubt that he'll do that with his own daughter when she gets old enough to understand. He is loving and caring and fun. And this is all because he had an awesome example in our dad. I know that most people see my dad as a big teaser, who you usually had to run away from at some point, but he also has a HUGE heart. My dad is tenderhearted beyond belief and is the rock in our family. I know with an example like that, Danny will continue to be a terrific father!

I don't have thyroid disease!

For those of you who have been following my crazy year of medical discovery, I finally found out that I DON'T have thyroid disease. Yeah! As it turns out, all of my symptoms, which seemed to lead to thyroid difficulties, are actually explained by low blood pressure and a B12 deficiency. All I have to do is power down a significant amount of the vitamin and then have my blood tested again in two months. This should stop my exhaustion, potentially help with my poor circulation and therefore cold limbs, give me more energy and pep in my step! Yeah!

I kicked ass at my very first golf tournament!!!

Well, sorta... I won the "longest drive" contest for women and actually came home with a freaking delicious and expensive driver by TaylorMade! I was so excited!!! I totally made some disgusting shots on the course though, too. Strike that. I made more disgusting shots than beautiful shots, but hey, I'm learning, I didn't give up, and I didn't get ballistic at anytime. So, that's good, right!

Also, because there were very few women in the tournament, they didn't make polo shirts for us, they just gave us $50 gift cards to Nordstrom -- SCORE!

I very much enjoyed the free beers every couple of holes and the snackages were flowing as well. I even smoked a cigar with the boys -- well, I smoked a third of one, which I'm still burping up today. I know all you readers in blogger land wanted to know that!

All in all, it was an AWESOME day and I can't wait to tell my instructor all about how the lessons are paying off!

My Darling 3-Month Old Niece

A couple pics of Grey Mackenzie Johnson. I had to steal these from Shannon's MySpace page, but I'm pretty sure they're still just as adorable as if they were full res!

Look at that cute smile! I think she's looking more and more like Shan, but the chin is still Danny all the way!

She's got a new seat! Doesn't look like she's too sure, but hey, she's upright!

CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR ME!

Thursday is the big golf tournament for work! I've been taking lessons regularly and have been practicing at least once or twice a week on my own and I'm improving SO MUCH. But I'm also slightly freaked out! I keep telling my instructor to help me reset my expectations and remember that I've only been playing for a month and a half and I shouldn't expect to be great already. I'm just pleased when I get the ball in the air and if it goes straight-ish. The driver and fairway wood are going well, but sometimes I really blow it with the irons. Grrrrr. Frustration can really set in, but I need to shake it off and focus on the basics.

Another very amusing thing happened at the course on Saturday. A mom was picking her kid up from lessons and she backed into a fire hydrant and the whole thing shot straight into the sky! There was a wedding going on and the bride and groom raced over to take pics in front of it. The poor kid whose mom did it looked MORTIFIED! We laughed so hard!!!

My little friend Connor

Emily called me this morning to tell me that last night Connor wanted me to come over and play! It's so hard to believe that he's almost three years old and he remembers funny little details like the fact that I live in California with Lightening McQueen (from the animated movie Cars) and Gwen Stefani (he loves her new song!). Isn't that the cutest thing ever? We told him that I'll come and play in the fall during TCU football season. Guess that wasn't soon enough, as he asked again half way through the conversation if I could come and visit again. Ha! Kids are too dang cute!

My Darling Niece

Shannon sent some new pics over the weekend that I just couldn't resist posting!!!

the little side smile just kills me!

what a sweet pic! Shannon must have snapped this late at night.
what a smile! she's sporting a little Ralph Lauren number I got her in DC.
what a California-babe! designer clothes and some sweet shades. ya, girl!

Jennifer's Bday

Helped my dear friend Jennifer celebrate her 30th birthday on Saturday night in Newport. Her boyfriend rented a duffy boat and we had cocktails and hors d'ouvres on board before grabbing dinner at a yummy restaurant. It's so nice to have friends that you can celebrate special milestones with, even when you don't get to see them very often.

Jennifer and I have been friends since high school and she's always been there to take part in fun memories. We laughed our butts off about a time in college, when I went down to visit her at SDSU and she took me to a "rave," even though I was all "Ann Taylor'd-out." We lost each other at one point and when she looked over a balcony, she found me on the middle of the dance floor, shakin my booty...in my Ann Taylor ensemble. Too funny!

Happy Birthday, Jennifer! I'm so glad to count you as a friend!

me and Jennifer

me, Cody, Jennifer, and Yaz (Yasmine, Jennifer, and I planned our HS reunion. memories!)

me and Cody, Jennifer's BFF. I sat with her and her fiance at dinner. they're FAB.

SECRETS!

I was just tipped off to a new fantastic website!!! PostSecret is a place where people mail in crazy/sad/hilarious postcards to a guy who posts them annonymously every Sunday. Check it out, you'll either giggle or gasp, but I'm gathering that you'll become quickly addicted regardless!!!

Vegas, baby!

Went to Vegas this weekend with some of my favorite girls in the whole world. Simmons, Clarke, and I all flew in on Friday night to stay the weekend with Stephanie at her house in Henderson. Because she's a VIP, she was able to hook us up with some FAB perks, such as tickets to a Boyz II Men concert (yes, I'm serious) and then comps into the Ghostbar and Rain at The Palms.

We spent Saturday mostly just taking it easy. We drove down the Strip with the top down on the convertible, went and visited Sigfried and Roy's fabulous white tigers (and lions and alpacas - very odd), and then hit an outlet mall where we all made FAB purchases! Then we cruised back and Steph made us a fiesta in honor of Cinco de Mayo -- deLISH! After dinner, we got all gussied up and went to the Boyz II Men concert, which was seriously one of the most hilarious things ever!!! Clearly, we needed some adult beverages in order to enjoy the concert, but once the girls started rushing the stage, we quickly got the giggles! At one point, I even ran down to the stage and caught a rose that one of the "Boyz" threw to me. After the concert, we headed over to The Palms where we ran into a pack of professional British rugby players. We did what any normal group of red-blooded American girls would do and made them hang out with us the rest of the night! : ) The Ghostbar was awesome and we also boogied down at Rain a little bit, but by the end of the night, our feet were killing us and all we wanted to do was go home and eat more enchiladas...so we did. : )

On Sunday, Steph woke me and Clarke up by siccing the dogs on us. We drove down to Boulder City (near the dam) and had some greasy breakfast, then headed back for a day by the pool. I have a sunburn, but it was so nice to just lounge around with my girls! We had dinner in celebration of Sarah's birthday (next weekend) and then all left for the airport. : ( It was so sad to say goodbye, but on the other hand it was nice knowing that we're all going to make it a priority to still get together.

Me and Clarke

Steph and Simmons

Simmons and I playing with a tiger.

It's Cinco de Mayo, therefore MARGARITA TIME!

All dolled up and ready for a night on the town.

There they are ladies, BOYZ II MEN are at it again. Jealous?!

A candid snapped of me with one of the beautiful British boys!

The end of the night and the glasses and jammies are out. So are all the left-overs that we quickly demolished! : )

Krissy-pooh is married -- and lounging on a beach somewhere (jerk!)!!!

Nah, don't take the title for anything more than a little joke. This weekend was AWESOME -- I really mean it. I had such a fun time at Kristen's wedding (even though I went stag). As always, her friends were awesome (shout out to all the bloggers!) and welcoming, even though I'm on the periphery. I also spent some time with my cousins. Chad, Brittney, and Michelle are SO grown up at 16 and 12! It's so hard to believe that they've lived in Seattle for 8 years now!!! Both Julie and Jeff seem to be doing really well, with Julie just finishing massage therapy school and Jeff having the time of his life at Microsoft.

Now, back to the wedding. Kristen was RADIANT and I don't think I've ever seen her smile so much. It was so obvious how this was the day that she'd been waiting for her whole life...and it seemed so natural, too. She wasn't a ball of PSYCHO like some brides tend to be and all the details were just awesome. But the thing that I loved the most and was touched by the most was the ceremony and their vows. Kristen's uncle performed the marriage and I really thought he did a lovely job of teaching the meaning of marriage and how it is a mirror of Christ's love for the church. He tied in to Kristen and Ryan's love story so beautifully and I know that there were many tears throughout the whole place... which by the way, was a super cool venue. The place was down by the locks in Seattle and is all window with really neat views. There was a train in the background which gave the whole place this earthy, yet mechanical vibe - a really cool blend! The DJ wasn't crazy and I danced with Gavin, a RAD three-year old who I'm pretty sure was jealous, because HE wanted to marry Kristen. : )

At the end of the night, I was again touched by a bittersweet moment. When Kristen and Ryan got ready to leave, it was really a goodbye to her best girlfriends, too. Seeing them hug and fight to keep it together was so poinant... it's so wonderful to know that friendships can exist thousands of miles away!!!