Happy birthday, Miss!

In 2008, I met Miss on Plurk. There was something about her I trusted immediately. She was funny, sensitive, and thoughtful. I never expected to have her be such a huge part of my life, but for almost 3 years a day hasn't gone by when I haven't been in touch with her.



We share a love of wine, cupcakes, and Disneyland. We despise each other's baseball team, but are willing to watch a Dodgers vs. Padres game together. She introduced me to iTunes, the brilliance of Sex and the City and "toy" shopping. I introduced her to Brazilian waxing, Rosebud Salve and yoga. The past New Years Eves have been spent "together" via IM while our kids are fast asleep in their beds. We commiserate on the joys and challenges of our long distance relationships. And we plan our futures together.



Before we actually met in person we were both talking about our parents going on an Alaskan cruise at the same time. There was a moment when we wondered if we were related! When you look at our kids you would think they were siblings. She cares about my daughter's well being and I follow up on her son's school reports & baseball games. We are family!



I know with Miss that no matter what I talk to her about she will listen with an open mind and heart. Her loyalty, kindness and generosity are immeasurable. She always says that I have taught her how to be a better friend, but she taught me how to believe in myself again. Friends bring out the best in each other!



Happy birthday to my beautiful best friend!

Wordless Wednesday: Magical Disney Mardi Gras

Wordless Wednesday: A Year in Review from my Blackberry

January 2010


February 2010


March 2010


April 2010


May 2010


June 2010


July 2010




August 2010




September 2010




October 2010




November 2010


December 2010

Dear Blackberry, Thank you for a capturing my year! You traveled the world with me. You captured some priceless moments when my Nikon was not available. But, a new year means a new mobile. No hard feelings. Much love, RLM

Holiday Traditions in a Divorced Family

I come from a traditional family. My parents have been married for 41 years, but for the first 18 years of my life we did the same holiday traditions every year. Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' best friend's house for an amazing dinner with a large group of friends. After dinner all of us daughters (for some reason all of my parents' friends had daughters) playing Santa passing out the gifts and we would open them by the fire, laughing, and eating dessert. The night would end at midnight mass with me always falling asleep on my dad's shoulder. The following morning at home we opened our gifts while family came over throughout the day.

As I got older my parents tried to keep these traditions intact, but with us girls getting married new traditions were formed. Christmas Eve was spent at my in laws because they always threw a big party. The next morning we opened gifts with my parents at my home followed by Christmas brunch back at my in laws.

But divorce changed everything and we have been struggling in trying to find new traditions. We tried splitting holidays. At first we thought we could swap Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year. One year Princess D would be with her dad for his parents Christmas Eve party, but because he would be drinking I would have to come pick her up. Having her spend the night at where ever he was sleeping was not optimal because I purchased all of the gifts that would be from Santa. It was hard pulling Princess D away from her new toys so that she could have Christmas breakfast at her other grandparents house. My X and I were fighting over our time with her.

What it comes down to is our daughter's happiness. Creating traditions she can count on. So, this year we repeated last year's schedule and improved it a bit.

Princess D was with me on Christmas Eve. We made cookies for Santa, we tracked Santa, she opened up her one gift from me, we had a nice quiet dinner with my parents and she went to bed on time.



In the morning she opened up her gifts and got to play with them for a few hours. At noon I dropped her off at her other grandparents' house to spend time with her Dad and his family while I went out to dim sum with my parents. Then around 5pm Princess D would be brought home.

It worked for all of us! Princess D was content and didn't feel like she was being dragged all over the place. There was no fighting or uncomfortable feelings between her dad and I. I can't say that this is the PERFECT tradition or that it isn't going to change again in the future. But at least I know that this is a basic tradition we can count.

Merry Christmas from Nic, Princess D and Chloe Puppy!

Happy BOOMERS! Holiday

Have you ever had a weekend when there is NOTHING on the calendar and you don’t know quite what do to with the kids? I know I have. Solution: BOOMERS!



A couple of weekends ago Boomers! San Diego hosted a holiday event for a bunch of local bloggers. I have never taken Princess D there because I figured it wouldn't be much fun for a 5 year old. I was surprised to discover that this family friendly location offers a large game room including air hockey tables and skee ball (my daughter’s personal favorites), a go kart track, and all kinds of "county fair" type rides including a ferris wheel, batting cages and miniature golf.



It was my daughter’s first time playing miniature golf. She had so much fun and proved to be a natural golfer by getting a hole in one on the Storybook course 9th hole (there is also a Western course).

Since this was a holiday event, BOOMERS! set out Christmas pictures for the kids to color and sugar cookies for decorating. They even arranged for a scavenger hunt to find Santa.



It was a very fun day for both of us! Thank you so much to BOOMERS! for hosting a wonderful event and introducing us to some family fun activities. I wouldn’t be surprised if Princess D’s grandparents will be putting her in golf lessons if her back swing is as good as her putting. In the meantime, we will be going back to Boomers! in Vista for some practice!

Bye bye Blackberry, hello Droid

About four years now I have been a very dedicated BlackBerry user. I started with a pretty pink Pearl. When The Boyfriend came into my life I upgraded to the Tour to made communication when I travel to Europe easy. I loved my BlackBerry and thought nothing could compare.

Then this year my beloved BlackBerry started doing very scary things. Software failures. Taking 30+ minutes to boot up. Freezing. None of these were good for my anxiety!

Enter Miss with a new Droid X. She has always shared my love for Blackberry, but then she made the switch and it got me thinking. Like any normal project manager I created my pros and cons list:

• I don't play games or download music.
• I do live by Google (mail, contacts, calendar, docs, IM).
• I don't care for touch screens.
• I prefer a QWERTY keyboard.
• I use my phone for work and personal.

It was a really hard decision until Motorola introduced the Driod Pro! As soon as I could upgrade my account I made the switch ... Merry Christmas to me!

So far I am impressed! The multiple screens, all of the apps, easy synchronization. There are only a couple of things I am not crazy about: no lanyard loop and crappy ringtones. One I can easily fix with a download. The other ... guess I just have to learn to not drop my mobile!

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All I want for Christmas ...

Recently a close friend of mine told me that she had hinted to her husband about what she wants for Christmas, but she wondered would be strange if she bought it for herself just in case. She would simply stash it away until after Christmas. Then if he got it for her she could simply return it, but if he didn't at least it could be a gift to herself.

This got me thinking ... all my adult life I have been financially independent. Even when I was married I was the breadwinner of the family and most of the time the sole financial support. If I had a soundtrack to my life one song on it would be "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child. The only financial support outside of my own income has come from my parents (but I am paying them back every penny).

If there is anything I really want/need I usually just buy it, so it makes giving me gifts a bit challenging. I don't really like giving hints because historically they are not heard causing frustration. There have been times I tweet something I want, but I don't mean for it to be a hint. My tweet is more of an announcement of "look what I am about to buy!" So the gifts I like to receive the things I would never purchase for myself or gifts that when someone sees something they think "that is SO Nic and I have to get it for her!" I don't care for gifts given out of obligation. Of course I am thankful for everything and anything I receive, but I believe that if you are going to give someone a gift thought, effort and uniqueness should be put into it.

The Boyfriend and I have talked about my view on cards. I prefer hand written letters than a store bought card. From kids I prefer drawings or hand made gifts just for me. It is the thought and effort that counts to me. I need to add that I really do LOVE getting holiday photo cards because these aren't cards that you just buy in a store. There is thought behind the photo(s) featured and effort to create the card. Plus it is just so much fun to see my friend's kid(s) change from year to year!

Do I sound picky and difficult ... maybe. So what would someone like me want for Christmas then? Hand made pictures or cards, photos to frame or pin up, or out of the major gift categories here is what I would really enjoy, but won't buy for myself:

	CLOTHES A Johnny Cupcakes X Hello Kitty t-shirt. I love cupcakes! I love Hello Kitty (I am Asian afterall)! The reason why I would never buy this for myself is that I can't justify spending $40 on a t-shirt even if it is a limited edition!
	ELECTRONICS So many people have Nikons now including my dad and my BFF Miss. Put them all on a table and it is hard to figure out which one belongs to who! But a unique camera strap from My Funky Camera would make that simple. And and extra long strap would make carrying my camera around so much easier. So why don't I just buy one? Because I would rather spend the money on a new lens!
	JEWELRY I don't need any more jewelry, but my a friend of mine saw this and thought of me. She knows me so well! I would totally wear this to tweetups and conferences. It would be a fabulous conversation starter.
	SUBSCRIPTIONS If you know me you know how much I love Disneyland. I am already an annual passholder, so a D23 membership would be a perfect for me.

So tell me, what are you hoping to find under the tree on Christmas morning? Or what did you give yourself?

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Santa doesn't leave IOUs under the tree

Back in November I had Princess D write out her Christmas wishlist. I told her she could ask Santa for 4 things:

1) Tangled Rapunzel Costume
2) Tangled Rapunzel's Tower Play Set
3) Toy Story 3 DVD
4) Despicable Me DVD

I was not surprised to see that two of the four items were from Disney Tangled. So, when the Friends & Family + Free Shipping discount showed up in my email I didn't hesitate to oder items #1 and #2. It saved me a trip to the crowded mall and a few dollars.

That was November 15th.

It has been a month since I placed my order when I received the following email from DisneyStore.com:

My parents have an ornament that on Christmas Eve Santa is supposed to put a "treat" in. It could be a piece of chocolate, money or a small toy. Last year Santa forgot to fill it on Christmas Eve, so when Princess D saw that the ornament was empty her eyes filled up with tears and she asked me if she hadn't been a good enough girl that year. Her heartbreak at that moment stuck with me. How could I explain to her this time that she really has been good this year even though Santa didn't give her one of the gifts she asked for? She is only 5 years old and believes in the magic of Santa Claus. Telling her "sorry, baby, but Santa couldn't make all of the toys in time this year" or "there wasn't room in Santa's sleigh" just aren't options. No matter how many gifts she gets this year they are not THE same gift.

Christmas is 10 days away, so panic set in and I started googling like a crazy mom. This costume was sold out everywhere I looked. In typical planning fashion I laid out my options:

OPTION 1: Bid $100 for the costume on eBay which is more than 3x the original price I paid.

OPTION 2: Get the Tangled Rapunzel night gown that is only in stock in a size 2.

OPTION 3: Bid for the correct size Tangled Rapunzel night gown on eBay and pay 2x the original price.

OPTION 4: Have The Boyfriend purchase the costume in the UK and bring it with him when he comes to visit at the end of the year.

Knowing that my anxiety had to be contained before I self imploded, Miss and The Boyfriend came up with a brilliant plan ...

Santa leaves Princess D a note apologizing that he accidentally spilled some of the milk she left out for him on the Rapunzel costume, so he is taking it back to his workshop for the elves to fix. In the meantime, he left her the nightgown she can use as a costume. Santa will make arrangements for The Boyfriend to pick up the replacement costume since he will be passing over the North Pole on his flight here.

This might be totally over thought, but it is enough to convince my daughter that she really was good this year and that Santa is just clumsy!

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(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Santas Everywhere

We have been to so many holiday events this month already and at every one of them there has been a Santa. I thought Princess D would be terribly confused by all of the different Santas, but she doesn't seem to care. She has told each of them what she wants for Christmas and believes so much that these Santas will let the REAL Santa know.

Westfield North County Shopping Mall

This is the Santa she has seen every year since she was born. I love that it is the same man and that his beard is real. I didn't get the normal "professional" photo taken because this was a spontaneous meeting. We had no idea that Santa was already at BEFORE Thanksgiving. But, Princess D wanted to tell him what was on her Christmas list and give him a hug.

Grand Del Mar

This photo was taken by the professional photographer at the resort's holiday open house. Princess D had found a Princess Ariel bracelet and gave it to Santa to return it to the little girl who had lost it because she knew that the little girl would be sad without it. After she told him what she wanted for Christmas and got her photo taken another mother asked her if she could talk to her daughter that was around the same age. The little girls was scared of Santa, so D told her that Santa was really nice then explain to Santa that the little girl wants to say hi ... from a distance. Santa told D "Thank you for being so helpful, sweetie!" She was moon that Santa called her "sweetie." He was a great Santa with a real beard.

Elementary Holiday Bazzar

This is a woman dressed up as Santa! Princess D could tell it was a woman and said that it was Mrs. Claus. She didn't even ask why Mrs. Claus has a beard, so I just went with it! Not sure why they didn't just dress her up like Mrs. Claus.

Balboa Park December Nights

This Santa looked so lonely sitting all by himself with no kids in line to meet him. I think he would have let Princess D talk to him all day if I let her.

Santa's Magical Village in San Marcos

This is another yearly event we attend. It is the same man playing Santa, but he doesn't have a real beard. The ushers kept the line moving like a well oiled machine. I opted to take the photo myself instead of having them taking it and having to pay $5 for a Polaroid.

Boomers!

We went to a Boomers! Holiday party and the kids had to go on a scavenger hunt to find Santa. It was so hot that day you could tell the man in the suit was not very comfortable. He kept readjusting his fake beard! It was a cute idea to have him sitting in a go-kart while the kids read him their wishlist.

California Adventure

Princess D couldn't remember all of the 4 items, so she sat there thinking, so Santa pretended that he was getting sleepy listening to her. It was quite cute and he was a great Santa indulging her. His costume was beautiful and they did his make up like he had frost bite from the winter air in the North Pole, but he had a fake beard.

Just think, there are still 10 more days to go until Christmas Eve. How many more Santas could she see before then?

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Holiday Open House at The Grand Del Mar

Christmas is my favorite holiday because it lasts for so much longer than other holidays! I love the lights and decorated trees, hot cocoa and sweet treats, music and movies, and most of all seeing how Princess D's face lights up when she sees anything Christmas-y.

I was really excited to learn that The Grand Del Mar was having a Holiday Open House for anyone to enjoy. This year we went there for Valentine's Day, so had a feeling that it would be a fabulous place to start off the holiday festivities. We were not disappointed when we entered the main lobby and were greeted by a gorgeous Christmas tree, period dressed carolers and Nutcracker ballet dancers.







Unfortunately, we had arrived late (because we had to go back home since I forgot my camera) and had to push our way along with the crowd to see the Santa's Workshop display. The detail is incredible and you could get a tooth ache from smell alone.





Even though the sign said HANDS OFF it was impossible for parents to keep kids from touching it. One kid knocked the sign over trying to get closer. I even saw a small bite taken on the very edge!

They children didn't have to wait long to get their fill of sweets. A hall just beyond the main lobby had candy canes that could be transformed into reindeer and gingerbread cookies that could be decorated with icing, sprinkles and M&Ms. There was endless hot cocoa, caramel or chocolate pecan squares, apple cider, spice bread, coffee and tea.



By the time we got in line to see Santa it was an hour long. Families were getting their yearly group photos taken with the man in red causing the line to move slowly. He did make sure to take his time talking to each child ... since that is really what it was all about. We even got a professional photo to take home as a keepsake.

The evening ended with the lighting of the hotel Christmas tree and a mini performance of the Nutcracker. Princess D was amazed with how the ballerinas could spin and spin and spin. It got her excited for her first ballet recital next week.



Overall, it was a wonderful free local event! It got us in the holiday spirit and I am looking forward to more holiday events this weekend. Next year I think we will have an early supper at one of the resort restaurants so that we can get a good table to see the lighting ceremony, get in line to see Santa BEFORE the crowd gets there and enjoy all that the open house has to offer.

Click here to view the upcoming holiday events at The Grand Del Mar.

NOTE: I was not asked to post about The Grand Del Mar or this event. All statements are my opinion and my opinion only.

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Wordless Wednesday: Photo with Santa

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I am thankful

It is that time of year that Americans give thanks for all that we are blessed with ... our freedom, our homeland, our futures. What we are really thankful for is in the details of our lives ... the every day realities. Here is what I am thankful for this year ...

I am thankful for my daughter. She is an amazing child who has been through a massive life change over the past couple of years. Through it all she has stayed loving, healthy and happy. I am so proud that she is a normal 5 year old kindergartener. I am a very blessed mama!

I am thankful for my parents. I really don't know where I would be right now if they weren't always by my side supporting me, helping me, encouraging me. They have gone above and beyond the call of parental duty. They have given us a roof over our heads, food on our table, clean clothes on our back, security and unconditional love.

I am thankful for The Boyfriend. He has provided guidance without directing me. He has provided love without expectation. He has provided security during unexpected times. He has provided generosity asking for nothing in return. He has provided friendship to the ones I love. I couldn't have asked for a better man to spend the rest of my life with.

I am thankful for Miss. She is my soul sister. There is so much similarity between our beliefs, what we love to do, the things we want in life. She has been incredibly loyal and supportive through the darkest and lightest times. I know our friendship will last a lifetime.

I am thankful for The HC. They are 9 women who I was incredibly lucky to meet in college. Fourteen years later we are still close. We have celebrated marriages and births of our children. We have supported each other through break ups and loss. These women amaze me with their talents, loyalty, love and spirit. I am blessed to call them my friends. (Don't bother asking what HC stands for ... its a secret between the 10 of us.)

I am thankful for my job. It is not my dream job, but it pays the bills and provides benefits! I work hard and this company gives me flexibility in return. Because of my job I was the breadwinner in my marriage and now I am the sole support of my daughter. With so many Americans who don't have jobs right now I will never take mine for granted!

I am thankful for my puppy. She is a handful, but so perfect for our family. It is amazing how such a little creature can bring so much joy to a house turning it into a home. I love being greeted by so much happiness after a hard day at work. I love snuggling with her and my daughter in the morning. She has brought so much laughter into our lives!

I am thankful for this blog and social networking. It has been a big part of my life for over 5 years. It allowed me to be creative while finding unexpected friendships. Because of blogging I discovered how photography and writing can be therapeutic. It has pushed me to stay current in the quickly changing world of technology which my job has benefited from. It has provided a little extra income and perks I didn't expect when I first started out. I really enjoy this strange online world and plan on sticking around!

So, tomorrow I will give thanks for all of these things and so much more while some stranger carves turkey for me and my parents (we are going out to eat!). Tell me ... what will you be giving thanks for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Wordless Wednesday: Amazing Pumpkins

The monks at the Self Realization Fellowship in Encinitas donated the pumpkins, as well as their time and pumpkin carving expertise to bring Pumpkin Lane to life for the DEMA Safe Trick or Treat.

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