Christmas Recap

We had a very St. Louis Christmas this year. Here's the recap:
- 8 people, 3 dogs in a 3BR/2BA townhouse
- Christmas Eve at Debbie & Steve's
- Christmas day, no showers, lots of fun, and even a few drinking games
- Christmas dinner: Honeybaked ham, casseroles and cheesecake
- Casseroles: green bean casserole, potato casserole, sweet potato casserole
- LOVED casseroles!
- All the dogs got along for the most part
- We discovered Zoey is quite jealous when we pet other dogs, or even when they are near us
- Day after Christmas we drove to Cole Camp, MO., to see Mike's dad new headstone...
- ...And visit with Rhonda and her family. My parents also drove over from KC to visit with us.
- Mike spoiled me with gifts, which was a surprise because he's unemployed.
- My favorites are the Bose player/speaker thing for my iphone/ipod and my diamond hoops!
- I gave Mike lots of clothes. Just what he wanted...really, it's truly what he wanted

And now we are looking forward to New Year's Eve in St. Louis. We'll be celebrating with a few friends that are in from out of town and some of our STL folks. Should be a great time!

Before - After

As many of you know, we are living with the MIL (mother-in-law). To pass the time I've taken to redo'ing parts of her house. I think I mentioned that in my last post, right?! Anyway, here is a before/after photo of the dining. Quite an improvement, right?! Man, I wish we would have thought to do before/afters of everything.

So we thought we were done with home improving her at 2382 Hiddengarden Ct., and then the basement happened. Yeah, it rained a lot yesterday and apparently when there is a crack in the foundation it leaks inside...the basement...where there is carpet...and where Mike's sisters and their hubby's are to be sleeping this week. So we'll deal with the basement mess after Christmas, but looking on the positive side of things new carpet really will be nice down there ;)

Merry Christmas!

Yeah--it's time for my favorite holiday!!! Hopefully everyone received our Christmas card. In the move I lost our Christmas card list, but I think I was able to recreate without leaving too many people off. We will be staying in STL for the holidays. Mike's sisters (and their hubbies) are traveling in from Cinci and Boston so we will have a full house. Mike's mom's house is only a 3 bedroom place so it's already full with her, us, and Granny. Good thing she has a large basement.

Mike has worked very hard since we moved back to clean the basement and set it up with beds. It's very cozy down there now and his sisters will be (or should be) very happy when they arrive. We've also been doing a lot of work on his mom's house besides the basement. Since moving here in mid-October we've stripped wallpaper, painted (half bath, hallway, living room, AND the dining room), put in new doorhandles, hung new curtains, and installed 2" wood blinds. It's like a whole new place and his mom is really happy. We feel like it's the least we could do since we are living here for free. After Christmas we might tackle the kitchen, but that's a really big project.

We wish you all a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bad Blogger, Bad, Bad

I've been so bad at keeping up the blog since our relocation back to the Midwest! Getting ourselves back was all consuming for a while and now starting a new job is taking a lot of time as well. We are good and I promise to keep up with the blog better in the new year. I can't believe that Christmas is about a week away--time has flown since we've been back! We are looking forward to spending the holiday with Mike's family, but wish we had our house by now so my family could have possibly joined us as well. Maybe next year, right?! Cheers!

Our Very Own "Staycation"

Every

one's

doing it--

the Staycation! A vacation without leaving home. We took a day trip to the Santa Barbara area on Saturday. We wanted to check out the beach town while we are out in Cali and also wanted to visit a couple wineries. We went to Cambria because we love their Chardonnay. They didn't disappoint. We got 2 glasses with our tasting, Mike got a commemorative magnet (it was our first winery ever...not counting the Missouri ones...Mike "doesn't count those"), and bought 2 bottles. Then it was recommended that we got to the Kenneth Volk winery. That man can make some wine. We bought 3 bottles her and now that we are home feel as though we should have bought more! It's so tasty.

Then we ventured back into town to see what Santa Barbara is all about. It's a nice little beach town. It's only an hour away from where we live, so a nice weekend get-away. Very old town. We visited the Courthouse that was built in 1928 (after the previous one was destroyed in the 1925 earthquake) and the Mission (even older...like originally built in the 1700's or something like that). It's a really cute town and if we decide we need a weekend get-away we might head back.

Don't We Live in a Major Metropolitan Area?

First we have a skunk in the drive-way, and last Saturday night we had a opossum. I mean, seriously, I haven't even seen this many critters on like a float trip and we live in LA. What's up with that?

We realized something was going on when Zoey wouldn't stop barking at the neighbors tree by our drive-way. Mike went to check it out and noticed that there was an animal in the tree. Upon further inspection (through my office window) we realized it was a pesky opossum. We had to get the thing to leave or Zoey was just going to go nuts when we let her outside, and we didn't really need another "skunk" incident on our hands.

So how hard is it to get opossums out of trees? Hard. We first tried throwing small rocks at it-nothing. Then we moved onto water--first we sprayed the tree with the water bottle and that did nothing but make the opossum bury further into the tree. Then we dowsed it with a big bucket of water. Nothing. Finally, my brave husband went outside (armed with a golf umbrella should the opossum jump all the way across the drive-way and attack...yeah right) and handed me the hose through the window. Well, it took about 30 seconds of spraying that tree with water, but the opossum finally left. He was so wet. We didn't want to hurt the little guy, but he needed to go. Had he left after our warnings with the spray bottle he might not have gotten so wet.

Man, what's next? A coyote?!

2nd Row, Baby!

Last Friday we were lucky to get some awesome tickets from Mike's work! We were sitting in the 2nd row on the 3rd baseline. Ya know, the place where a lot of foul balls are hit--it was scary at times. We had a great time and once the people in front of us left we really hit it big time and sat front row. We wish the Dodgers would have been playing the Cardinals (nice shirt, Mike), but were happy that they beat the Brewers because that helps the Cards standings.

Earthquake Damage

Not really...but check out our damage...the "S" tipped over! Too funny. There wasn't really damage, but thought this was good for a laugh!

Quake Update

Officially, it was a 5.4 quake. We've had like 23 aftershocks, but we haven't been able to feel those. Mike said his building was just swaying back and forth, but this is because it's built on rollers to prevent a collapse. So the building was actually doing it's job. Still, he totally thought it was the "big one." And as the city official keep reminding us on the news, the "big one" is still on its way (within the next decade) and it will be about an 8.0. Crazy! If we are still here in a few years I'm definitely going to need to get that earthquake kit together.

Earthquake!

We just experience our first earthquake. It was a 5.8 with the epicenter of Chino Hills (just slightly south and east of us). Zoey started running up and down the hallway and when I walked out to check on her I realized that shaking and noise was not just a large truck rolling by our house. The shaking didn't really last very long, but it was definitely serious shaking. Totally freaky. Apparantly aftershocks can happen up to a week after the quake, so we have that to look forward to.

Rose Family Reunion 2008

We just got back from Colorado Springs Sunday night...like, late Sunday night. Man, flying in and out of LAX is quite the pain. It took an hour from landing to actually be in our car driving home. Anyway, the weekend was good. With us living in LA, Alice/Raf in Boston, Maggie/Drew in Cincinnati, and Rhonda in DC we don't get to see each other very often. And on top of spending time with them we got to see Mike's aunts and uncles and other family members. So it was a good time. We really packed a lot into 3 days--Royal Gorge, Pike's Peak, Seven Falls, and hanging out with family at Patty and Jim's house. It was about the best time to go to the top of Pike's Peak because it was the day of the annual race up the mountain and we got to see the cars zooming around and speeding to the finish line. Pretty cool. Still, I think our favorite part was hanging out with everyone. If Patty and Jim are reading this...we thank-you SO MUCH! It was a great weekend and we hope that a tradition has begun.

Congrats to our friends, Sharon & Zach!

We spent the weekend in Dallas celebrating Sharon and Zach's wedding. Sharon is such a good friend and it was so nice to finally meet her new hubby, Zach! We had a few travel issues--major delays--but it was so great to hang out with our friends we don't get to see as much as we wished. This weekend we are off to C. Springs for the Rose Family reunion. We're such jet setters...

Digital TV vs. Hybrid Cars

So by February 2009 all Americans will need to have digital TV/cable to receive programming. At this point most people have this so I don't think many of us will miss new episodes of Gossip Girl and Big Brother. It's interesting to me, though, that the government felt the need to make this a mandate. Maybe they should make hybrid cars a mandate? By 2010 automakers can only sell hybrid vehicles. It would help with all the fuels we use and if all were required to do it surely costs would go down, right? Just a thought...discuss amongst yourselves.

No More Heels

I finally saw the orthopedist today and my ankle has finally been diagnosed. Severe tendinitis. This diagnosis came with strict instructions: no more heels, no more flip-flops, and once my my shoe inserts are done I need to wear them for 4-6 weeks. Hopefully that will do the trick, otherwise I'm getting a cast...and then if that doesn't work...surgery. So I will sacrifice the heels for a while, but seriously they help lift the booty and elongate the legs. And the flip-flops? Hello! that's one of the main reason's we moved out here--year round flip-flops. It's gonna be tough, but I'll do it. I SO should have had this issue taken care of sooner. The doc said that he usually sees this type of tendinitis in people much older (like 50-60). Um, yeah. I've jacked up my ankle and it's time to take care. Wish me luck, or you'll be signing my cast!

Skunks Smell REAL Bad

So something you may not know about our neighborhood...every once in a while we'll smell something in the evenings that reminds us of a skunk. Tonight, it came on really strong. I mean, really strong. So we run outside to get Zoey inside so she doesn't pick up the scent and realize that she has been "playing" with a skunk at the end of the driveway. Seriously. It smelled so bad. Far worse than you've ever smelled a skunk. It was like acid skunk.

First we called the emergency vet to make sure Zoey wasn't going to get rabies or anything. Apparently rabies aren't very prevalent in Cali, so that's good. Luckily the vet had a recipe for washing the skunk right off of our dog: 1 cup baking soda, 3T Dawn dish soap, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Before heading to the grocery we must first deal with the skunk tail at the end of our driveway. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yeah, Zoey didn't just play with said skunk, she somehow took it's tail off (the best part). I mean, are you kidding me? Zoey is the sweetest dog EVER ripped off a skunks tail? That smell must have really gotten to her (by now it was really getting to us!).

With the tail in a trash bag we head off to Von's to buy the items needed for the de-skunking. While at the grocery we also realize we stink almost as bad as our dog. So we pick up a can of tomato juice. Ever heard that? Yes, use it to remove skunk smell off humans. I can now say with certainty that it works.

Fast forward...two hours later we have a clean dog, candles lit all over the house, we are happy that Febreeze makes a wide variety of products, and we've showered ourselves with tomato juice. Who'd have thought when we sat down to watch So You Think You Can Dance that we'd have this kind of night? I hope it's not true that dogs only have short term memory, and that Zoey remembers not to ever play with skunks again. Seriously, we pray. UGH.

And the Test Results are in...

...I passed! Whew, barely. And it actually took me two tries, but whatever that's all history now. I'm officially legal to drive in California. That only took me 10 months to take care of. Now, how long do we all think it will take Mike Rose. He's not budging...I'm saying it will be well into our 2nd year before we thinks about it.

It's Like I'm Turning 16 Tomorrow

Just when you think you only have to take a written driving test once in your life California throws that in your face and says, "Ha, do it again." Tomorrow over the lunch hour I will be heading down to the DMV to take a California Driver's Test. Usually, this is not something that would even make me think twice. I've been driving for over 15 years, I got it. That was until a couple friends of ours out here failed the test! They shall remain nameless as not to embarrass them, but Mike has know one of them since preschool ;)

Anyway, so I've been studying the practice tests and thank God. Who knew that you are to notify the DMV within 5 days of selling your vehicle? Or, that when parking your vehicle parallel to the curb it needs to be within 18 inches. I knew it needed to be close, but someone thought it'd be best to measure that and put it into law? Oh California. So wish me luck. I shall report back tomorrow. Hopefully I'll pass, because if I don't I only get two more tries.

Why'd We Move Here?

Well, that's an easy question to answer. We didn't want to say "What If" one day. Moving to LA has been such an adventure for us. We have been trying to to all the "touristy"things and make sure we experience as much of California as we can. We don't know how long we'll last out here--some days St. Louis calls our name louder than others--but until the draw of the Midwest makes us pack up the car we'll keep on having fun out here! The video is just a little bit of what we've done since we moved here over 10 months ago.

I'm hoping to make a video that highlights all the fun we've had with our friends (most of them visitors) out here soon. If you find that you aren't in that upcoming video take that as a hint...you should visit! Casa Rose is always accepting reservations!

What a Good Looking Guy

This is post worthy, because Mike Rose has a real hard time keeping the eyes open for photos. What a handsome fella.

An Update

It's been a while, so let's see, what have the Roses been up to? Well, we thought we were gonna buy a house and decided to wait a year. So another year of renting it is. At that time we'll have to decide if we are going to stay put or head back to the Midwest.

April and Brittany came back for visit 2.0 (that's them in the pictures). It was as fantastic as the first time. We were a bit more lazy this time, but it's always good to just hang with friends. We actually discovered a very cool karaoke bar in Burbank and as luck would have it ran into Mr. Belding (Saved by the Bell) while we were there. He has not aged well. Too bad Zach Morris wasn't with him.

Now we are laying low for a couple weeks before July hits. Zoey is great, loving the hikes and the weather. I think she wishes we'd take her back to the dog beach in Huntington, but with gas at $4.59 we don't think we'll be going there as often.

4 Years!

We've been married 4 years and to celebrate we took a long weekend trip to San Diego. It's nice that we can drive there, although it took us almost double the amount of time it should have (holiday traffic, oh wait, maybe just LA traffic). We had a great time! We ate at the Fish Market (best crab cakes), visited the USS Midway (a aircraft carrier), went to Seaport Village, hiked Torrey Pines, went through the Gaslamp District, ate at Hash House (amazing and very large breakfast), and hung out at the Hotel Del Coronado. We only spent one night at the Del, but it was really amazing. It's a historic hotel with great history and overall just a very cool resort right on the beach of Coronado Island off San Diego. We would have like one more day, but isn't that always the case when you go on vacation? One day we'll head back there because we still need to go to the San Diego Zoo and maybe stay at the Del one more time.

OMG!

Enough said.

LA Visitors

We've had a lot of visitors since moving here.

It's been fun to show everyone around, but there's been one friend who hasn't visited.

This person really knows how to have a good time and we can't even put into words how excited we are for our good friend--

MADONNA

to visit on Thursday, November 6th!!!!!!!

Earthquakes

There have been quite a few small ones out west recently, so we are just waiting our turn. In doing so we have decided that we need to put together an earthquake preparedness kit. We've done some research and hopefully we won't procrastinate actually reading it until after the fact. One of the recommendations is that we have one out of town family member we'll call to let them know what's up and so others can get in touch with them. Umm, who's the luck one...umm...OK, we pick Amy's parents. Done. Mark that off the list...

More Fires...

Forgot to mention the fires in my last blog, so yeah, these are really close to us. We are about 10 minutes from Pasadena and the fires are about 5-10 minutes from there. We aren't in any danger or anything, but it's so strange how close they are. I'm sure we'll have some issues with smoke and ash when it's all said and done.

Weekend Update

I was so happy to be home Thursday night after being gone for 8 days! Part of that was for fun, but the rest for work. The fun happened in Corpus Christi, where Shrop lives. It was our first, annual girls weekend. It was great hanging with the pals and I can't wait to host next year out in LA (hopefuly we'll own a home by then!). Then I had 4 days of work and got home late Thursday, so I was very happy to have a relaxing weekend!

It was so hot here (like mid-90s) that we headed out to the beach both days. On Saturday we drove down to Huntington Dog Beach so we could take Zoey with us and spent the afternoon there. She really loves that place, it truly is dog heaven on Earth. Sunday we headed out to the Malibu area with Janell--she came up to celebrate her birthday. Afterwards I made her a dinner of all her favorites: crab rangoon, green bean casserole, ritzy chicken, and no bake cookies. It was a very odd dinner, but she loved it.

Tomorrow I head out for another week of travel, but the end of that travel will be a weekend in KC to hang with the family for a bit. Its nice to be able to turn a work trip to KC into some time to see friends and family.

P.S. Gas prices at $3.99 here in LA. No joke. It will be coming your way before you know it...

Staples Center

I finally made it to the Staples Center! Not for a Lakers game, but that's probably good since Mike Rose didnt get to go with me. Janell had an extra ticket to the Kings game so I went and checked it out. It's funny, I've never really thought of the Staples Center as a branded arena. That was just the name of the place where the Lakers play. Pretty naive--especially since I'm in advertising! Well, I know where to go for my office products after this game, for sure. The arena wasn't all that impressive--basically like a "big Kemper" as Janell put it. I'm sure it's more exciting for a Lakers game...or even a weekend game. The vending options were very interesting, I mean what other hockey team's arena rolls out a dessert bar after the 2nd period? I mean really, it was like the bakery counter at the Cheesecake Factory. They're so fancy here. All in all, it was a good time!

"I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I kind of want KU to win" --Mike Rose

Nope, it's not April Fool's day yet. Mike Rose, a serious Mizzou fan, actually said these words. He likes their players and respects the fact that a junior did got to the NBA and stayed in college to play (he might of been injured, but MCR, Jr. still gives him credit for staying). I just thought you'd all be as suprised by his kind words towards KU as I was. It might be a one time thing, so consider it noted for history.

So we went to Vegas a couple weeks ago...

The whole gang at Rum Jungle


Me and Mike at the Venetian



Andy dancing with wax Whoopi. They're tight.




The new Blue Man group


We may not have won any money, but we had a great time! Me, Mike, Andy Smith, Janell, and our pal April made the best of two days! We checked out different casinos, gambled, went to a couple different bars, April and Janell met Rascal Flatts, we all saw Heidi and Spencer from The Hills (they are so annoying), April checked her blood sugar for the first time, and we created the new Blue Man Group down on Fremont by purchasing the ugliest blue tourist sweatshirts!

Soft Tissue Issue

Most people that know me are aware that I have an "ankle issue" on the right side. It's swollen, it has been for years, and I live with it. Well, lately I haven't been able to hike or work-out because the pain has increased. So I decided to finally get to a doctor and figure this thing out. I went to Dr. Wall's office this morning and he concluded I have a "soft tissue issue" (funny old man, when he said these words it was almost like a Dr. Seuss book had come alive). I'm going to go in for and MRI later this week, or early next week, to figure out what said "issue" is. If we're lucky maybe Dr. Wall will have another rhyme for us. The up side here is that he didn't tell me to stop wearing heels...well for the short term, but they are not banned for life. Woo-hoo! More to come on this after the fancy-schmancy MRI...

Happy St. Pat's Day!

It's weird to be in LA on St. Pat's Day. Not that KC is the most Irish place, but you knew everyone was excited and celebrating. I'm sure people in LA were celebrating, but it's just so big and spread out that you just don't feel it. That's the good and bad thing about LA. There's so much to do and something for everyone, but with it being so large and spread out you just don't always "feel" or know when things are going on.

I'm still traveling for work and it will be a lot of travel through the end of April, but there is some fun travel to look forward to. We have Maggie and Drew's wedding and my girls trip to Corpus Christi coming up in April. Mike has been working like crazy. He works late almost every night. Hopefully all this hard work will really pay off this week, so keep your fingers crossed!

$3.47

That's the price of a gallon of gas where we live.
Insane!

Our Trip to the Oscars

That's right, we went to the Oscars...I shall now define "went to"...

We decided since we live about 15 minutes from Hollywood we should probably go check out the Oscar scene. We got into the Hollywood area without any problems, but once in there were street closures, sidewalk closures, lane closures, store closures, and I'm sure more closures I can't remember. You would have thought the President was in town or something. I've never seen so many orange cones all assembled in one place!

So what'd we learn from this visit?

• You have to get there much earlier than we did to get close to the viewing point for the red carpet entrance (our picture shows the entrance, but we are about a block down, or so. Thank god for zoom)
• For those that have been here, they don't actually walk the red carpet into the Kodak Theatre...nope they trot right on down Hollywood (the road) and then take a right into the Kodak.
• There are a lot more limos in LA than we ever thought there could be. So much for having an annual "green" Oscars
• Only the Academy executives and business types stay at the Renaissance Hotel behind the Hollywood/Highland intersection (Thanks to the bouncer, Cornelius, for filling us in). Most of the stars ride over from the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. So if you ever try to do some "lobby spotting" by renting a room on the day of, save up an go to the Four Seasons.
• They employ about two-thousand valets for all the folks who don't get to walk the red carpet and don't have limos...it was seriously crazy.
• And most importantly, although it was crowded red carpet spotting is much more fun than watching the long, drawn out show.

So did we see anyone? Unfortunately, no. But, we did hear George Clooney arrive. That's right, when you were watching him arrive on TV we were across the street, about a block north, standing behind a stinky little Chinese lady. The crowd erupted and about a minute later it made it down to use that it was Mr. Clooney himself. Ah, to be in his presence.

In The Dog House...

..or should I say crate? Zoey had no problem sharing her crate with Mike Rose. All that girl cares about is getting in so she can have her treat. So funny! Mike seemed to really enjoy it in there!

2008 so far...

What a year it's already been! We've already had some friends visit and it's not gonna stop. In February Ryan and Angela; and Doug and Brandy will be coming to visit. Before we know it, it's gonna be March! We had a great time when Tanisha and Sharon visited (Amy's work friends)--did the touristy stuff...which included lunching at The Ivy. No big celebrity spottings, but we did see Zsa Zsa Gabor's ex-husband. I still can't beleive that Tanisha spotted him!

This past weekend Andrea and Mel were in town. They stayed out in Santa Monica with Megan Brandenstein and it was great to see them both days. It was also super fun to reunite with Megan and the Roses look forward to hanging out with her more! We love Santa Monica...oh, if only Mike's office was closer to the beach. Oh well. We'll just have to keep dreaming of the beach home we hope to have one day...one day, far, far away... Until then we'll just have to be satisfied with the AMAZING weather! I mean, we were at the beach on Saturday with Zoey walking around without shoes on! Sweet! Now why haven't you visited yet?

Our House at Christmas

Here's how we decorated for Cristmas...and it's another picture of our house! This is the front room (where you come in the front door).