It runs in the family!!!

So, many of you know I have a slight (actually major) obsession with all things entertainment including tv, movies, gossip, you name it. Well as some of you know my Uncle is in the biz and has been for over thirty years. If you thought I knew a lot about entertainment, I know nothing compared to my Uncle. He has been acting, writing and producing television since I was born. He worked for many years at E! and produced several of their big shows. He has now begun working on several different creative projects, one of them, is for TV.com. He actually produces these segments as well as stars in them.

Check out the first one below!!!

http://www.tv.com/backstory/?tag=gumballs;img;2&om_act=convert&om_clk=gumballs

Our Baja Getaway

This past weekend Pat and I took a little vacation south of the border, the California border that is. We decided to check out Ensenada Mexico for the holiday weekend. It was a very nice and relaxing vacation and we were able to check out some of the fun and interesting things Baja has to offer.

We actually rented a car in San Diego and drove down to Ensenada, which was a nice way to truly see some of these towns. All I can say is DEVELOPMENT!! I am not sure if Baja is expected to be the next real estate boom but it seems like every plot outside of Tijuana all the way down was under construction for luxury condos and hotels. Even Trump is building something on the beach in Real Del Mar.

We arrived at our hotel in Ensenada, called Las Rosas, checked our bags and headed to grab some lunch at the restaurant and walk around. The hotel really was exactly what we were looking for, quiet and peaceful.

The water normally hit the sea wall but when the tide is really low you can walk the tide pools.

Ensenada has several things to do while staying there. One of the main attractions is called La Bufadora, it is a blowhole on the tip of the Estero Peninsula. It is called La Bufadora because of the noise it makes, buffalo snort. A bit of a tourist trap once you get up to it but the drive was great going to it and luckily we were there the day before the cruise ships dock so it was virtually a ghost town.

The next day we set out to go visit some vineyards in the Guadalupe Valley. To our surprise, we went expecting beautiful green vineyards with grapes and instead we got bark and vines (guess we should have paid more attention to harvest times lol). We decided to visit L.A Cetto Vineyard, which produces almost 80% of all of Mexico wine. We were given a tour and explained the actual process about making wine, which was really interesting. Then at the end, we were given a great tasting of their wonderful wines, and because our guide said Pat and I "behaved" he gave us quite a few more wine tastes. I bought a bottle of Champagne and we headed back to the town for some roadside tacos. We arrived back at the hotel right in time to hop into the hot tub to watch the sunset.

The next day we headed down to the plaza to get on a boat for some whale watching. We were in Ensenada during prime Grey Whale season and Ensenada is right on their migration path. We traveled out for about an hour and a half to reach the area where they swim and sure enough we started seeing blowholes spout out water all over. It was really cool and were were able to see quite a few of them and get pretty close as well. Unfortunately it is really hard to photograph them. We headed back to get ready to check out our neighboring hotel The Coral and Marina. Pat was able to check out the last quarter of the game while I sat at the bar amazed by the lime peanuts (they were so good!!). We had some dinner, walked around the marina and headed out.

The final day we headed back to the states and unfortunately got a little lost in Tijuana, which was pretty freaky. Every sign said San Diego with a right arrow and just took us around in circles. We even ended up doing a little, very scary off roading in our chevy cobalt to find the main road again. Luckily after about a half an hour we ended up at the border and were into San Diego in no time. We headed to La Jolla in the morning to see the seals. It is pupping season so they bring the pups on shore to keep them safe and bond with them for 6-8 weeks then off into the ocean again.

We had all day to waste since our flight did not leave until later that night so we spent the day at The San Diego Zoo. Neither Pat or I had been to the zoo in a very long time so we thought it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. We got to some really adorable animals and got a lot of exercise too!!!

Katie's Baby Shower

On Sunday I hosted Katie's Baby Shower for her friends and family. It was a great party and almost eveyone Katie wanted to come was able to. For food I served a wonderful brie as well as tomato and basil on brusetta and salmon and cucumbers with horseradish dill sauce. For dessert we had a great chocolate fudge cake as well as baby themed gummies.

The yummy food



The Grandmother's to be


Katie and Me


Jennifer and Katie


Reagan, Colin and Katie


Janie, Katie and Julie


Barb and Kaden

NYE at the Parkside Mansion 2007

This was the first year in about 5 years where Pat and I did not plan all the details about New Years well in advance. We were actually thinking about going to Steamboat for the holiday with Pat's brother and sister in law, but because of the weather we decided Denver may be our final destination on NYE instead. So we finally picked our friend Jeremy and Craig's party at about 5pm. We mainly selected this party because it was where our good friends were headed and the Parkside Mansion is right by our place.

All in all NYE was a lot of fun. There was some typical immature, crazy stuff towards the end from the party goers but I guess that is what you can expect on NYE. Here are some fun photo's from our evening.

Cyn, Sara and I before the party

Pat and I

All the ladies


Brandi and Daniel

Sky, Me and Jeremy

Cheers!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! HOPING YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT 2008- GO OBAMA!!!

2007 Holiday Party

Just days after we got home from Christmas in Omaha, Pat and I had our Holiday Party. We figured it would be easier for everyone to make a party after the holidays. We served our guests this wonderful Brie and mini pigs in a blankets as well as sweet and sour meatballs. They also snacked on cream puffs and chocolates while sipping on hot buttered rum and Christmas punch.
We were so thrilled that almost everyone could make it, our floors on the other hand were not as thrilled as we were, I have mopped 4 times and floors are still not clean again :(. Instead of talking about the party the pics always show things a little better, especially when cocktails are involved.

When guests arrived they were directed to go see Atreju, he had been assigned to coat check duties for the night (see if you can find him).

Sara with my girlfriend Barb's son Kaden

My girlfriend Katie with her husband, Casey (that is sparkling cider she is holding!!!)

The Brougham's

Me, Lauren, Cynthia and Brandi

Blake, Josh, Pat and Daniel

Valentina, Cerida, Jenny and Tamara

All the ladies

Chris, Jake and Luke

Chris and Justin

Erin and James

Christmas 2007

Boy, did we have a fast Christmas!!! This year we decided to pack up and drive to Omaha for Christmas. Yes, I said DRIVE!! You have not heard the best part though we only really went for a day and a half. 72 hour trip minus 16 hours of driving and 16 hours of sleeping so that equals 40 hours of family filled fun!!! Early on Christmas Eve morning (6am), Pat and I set out to go pick up my mom, sister and my sister's boyfriend, Adam, and it was off for a VERY straight trip to Omaha. It was a little funny to take my first road trip with family in over 10 years. Road trips have sure changed a lot since the last time we have all traveled together. My mom kept commenting about what a technology SUV we were in. For the 8 hours we traveled we probably all talked less then 30 mins of it. We all had our DVD players and Ipods and even had a computer (GPS) telling us how to get there, compliments of Pat for Christmas :).

We arrived in Omaha at about 3:00 and had a quite a welcoming entrance at my cousin Kara's house. Kara, her husband Troy and their two adorable kids, Meghann and Liam invited Pat and I to stay with them, which was greatly appreciated. After arriving we only had about an hour to unwind and change before it was off to my cousin Amy's house for Christmas Eve festivities. We all got the hugs and kisses out of the way and then settled down to our traditional Christmas Eve chili. It was amazing to me to see all of the little kids, there are so many now they almost out number the adults. Here are some pics of all the little ones.

We opened gifts and shared funny stories and even had a surprise visit from Bono (really my Uncle Mike, he just thought he would act like Bono for the evening).

On Christmas day Pat and I actually went to go see two movies, which is something Pat would normally not do. It is hard enough to get him to go to one movie a month, let alone two in a day. We had a great Christmas dinner and it was so good to spend time with family this holiday. The next morning we were on the highway heading home even before the sun came up. Although it was a very quick trip, it was a great Christmas!!!