Adventures with Lisa & Kevin

Our little blog has grown up and moved to our own domain: www.lisankevin.com!

We hope you'll continue to follow us there--we're happy to have a little more control of the site and we're really excited about it.

Thanks to everyone who has been following us along on our journey the past year and a half! We're looking forward to many more adventures this year and in the years to come and hope you'll join us!

With lots of love,

Lisa, Kevin and Lola

So what was the Christmas gift I told you I asked Kevin to get me? Well, if the title of this post didn't give it away...my first tattoo!!

In 2006 on our honeymoon on the big island of Hawai'i we spent a lovely afternoon at Punalu'u Beach and I fell in love with the image below that was found on a monument describing the legend of the beach:

Since seeing it I knew I wanted it tattooed on me but never worked up the courage (or the funds) to go out and actually get it. A co-worker suggested the local SF shop One Shot Tattoo and I was happy with the reviews they had on Yelp. I still wasn't sure, though, if I was brave enough to actually get it.

The following week I received an e-mail from one of those daily coupon websites (Homerun.com) which randomly had a 51% off a one hour session at that same exact tattoo shop I had been referred to! I knew I couldn't pass up the amazing deal so purchased it right away in hopes that I'd work up the courage to actually set up an appointment sometime in the next week.

On Tuesday 12/28 Carleigh and I met up at Corona Heights dog park for a doggie play date and she suggested we just drop by the shop to get a quote and have them sketch it out...who woulda thought that I'd end up under the needle the same day! I'm happy I bit the bullet and did it that day instead of worrying about it all week (or month, or year!). It honestly didn't hurt as bad as I thought (though the shading was the most painful) and I am so happy I got it!

The healing process was quick and almost pain and itch free--it was pretty painful the first few hours after I got it but other than that it was like it wasn't even there! I can't wait for the warmer weather so I can show it off more. ;)

We were back in town for Christmas Eve--Kevin had to work but I was lucky to be able to spend part of the afternoon with the Julian family who were in town for the holidays visiting their son Brandon (he lives in San Bruno). The Julians are really close friends of my family's who we spent Thanksgiving with in 2009 (see post at this link). Me and Lola met up with the gang in Golden Gate Park at Stow Lake, one of my favorite parts of the park. We walked all around the lake and up Strawberry Hill for a good hour or so--it was such a nice, crisp day, perfect for a walk in the park!






After saying farewell (we were going to spend Christmas Day with them) we ran back home to pick up Kevin and made our way to Carleigh & Scott's place for Christmas Eve dinner.






Carleigh & Scott bought us a new game for Christmas as well called Bezzerwizzer (a trivia game) and we had a good time playing although trying to remember the name of the damn game was difficult because you were supposed to call it out occasionally and none of us could ever remember what the name of the game was, haha.

One of the biggest perks to working for a university (me) = two weeks off at Christmas!

BUT we were able to finagle a few days before Christmas for a quick, shotgun trip down south. We decided to surprise Kevin's mom Dorothy so she was the only one in our families that didn't know we were coming down. We had a good week or so of talking up how sad it was that we weren't able to come down at all for the holidays...if only she knew...hehehehe.

Monday 12/20
After Kevin got off of work that afternoon we jumped in the car and made our way down to Long Beach. We got in around 1am Tuesday morning and after quickly saying hi to my mom, we hit the sack to get ready for our big surprise the next morning.

Tuesday 12/21
Kevin's dad George helped with the surprise telling Dorothy that he had a doctor's appointment that morning that he wanted her to go to with him. So our plan was for Kevin to call Dorothy on her cell phone and have her on the phone when we knocked on the door. Here are two videos of Operation: Surprise Dorothy for Christmas 2010! ;)





Thomas was there and Judith, Joshua and Katelyn came over for a yummy breakfast of waffles, french toast, and bacon.




A little gift exchange...






We spent the whole day with the family and enjoyed a yummy spaghetti dinner together too.



Wednesday 12/22
We met up with Thomas and his girlfriend Ashley for breakfast at The Potholder Cafe in Long Beach.




That afternoon we spent a few hours hanging out with my mom (like old times!) and then met up with my brother Derek, our friend Brian, my mom's boyfriend Steve and the Chinese student living with my mom while he studies at CSULB Jeremy for dinner at Lucille's BBQ (me and Kevin's favorite chain restaurant!)

Thursday 12/23
We woke up early so that me, Kevin and my mom could go to Westminster for our annual Chinese massage (annual for me and Kev, more often for my mom!) It was EXACTLY what we needed and we enjoyed it so much. My mom asked the guys to snap a few photos of us for proof, haha!



We then went to fill up our tummies with some yummy Chinese food at Seafood Cove #1.



That afternoon around 4pm we jumped back in our car and made our way back to San Francisco so that Kevin could be at work the next morning at 6am.

We had lots of pre-Christmas festivities leading up to the big day--here are some of the highlights!

Cookie Exchange party
I was invited to my boss' Cookie Exchange party. I had to bring 6 dozen cookies (or the equivalent--I brought 6 pounds of Mexican Chocolate Fudge!)--I shared 1 dozen at the party and then got to take home 5 dozen cookies! Yowzas. There was a taste contest too and my fudge won Most Delicious! Not bad for my first time trying to make fudge. It really did turn out amazing--the recipe is at this link if you're interested (super easy!)


Decorating Carleigh & Scott's Christmas tree
This year Carleigh got her first Christmas tree ever! Since we don't have the room in our apartment to put up a tree, I let them borrow some of our ornaments and we enjoyed decorating the tree, eating dinner and baking cookies together--and you know we had to include a doggie photo shoot (with doggie costumes and everything!)




Christmas card photo shoot
This year we decided to join the club and send out Christmas cards and I knew I had to take a cute photo of Lola to include. I wore her out at the park playing fetch so that she would wear her (homemade, bootleg) antlers and not fuss with them. I posed her on a red blanket on our bed with a little "Reindeer Food" bag I've had a few years and -voila!- adorable Christmas card. ;)

Dinner with the Dobsons
Jessie came into town for dinner with the Dobson family--the family she used to nanny for and that we had gotten close to in the process. They've got four boys under the age of 10 so any family gathering is entertaining when the Delmar girls join the mix! ;) Lots of laughs (and lots of wine) made for a wonderful evening.


Lola's special delivery
Among all of the wonderful Christmas cards we received in the mail, there was one that was just addressed to "Lola Edmonds" and we were delighted to find an edible Christmas card for her made out of rawhide! She LOVED the card and thoroughly enjoyed tearing it to pieces. ;)
Thanks Judith and Dorothy!


Christmas in San Jose
Jessie invited us and our friend Lisa to enjoy some Christmas spirit San Jose style.

Mars getting some well-deserved attention...


Festive wear was donned...

First, a hooping show by Jess...


Then a drive down town...




Ice skating...











Christmas in the Park...




And to end the night? A bottle of champagne at Jessie's wine bar, Enoteca la Storia in Los Gatos...





If our pre-Christmas festivities were any indication of how Christmas itself would actually be, we were in for a good time! :)