hodge podge recap

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! It’s been particularly hectic for me lately. Here’s a quick recap of some highlights over the last week:

Jolene recently mentioned that she can no longer blog at work. I can’t either…

This is the message I get at work when I visit a website that I'm not supposed to be on

Last Friday we met up with our friends Gino and Rebecca. After eating at this cute little Italian restaurant in West LA (I can’t remember the name) we all went to support one of Rob’s co-workers who has a role in the new movie, Southland Tales. While I won’t offer my review of the movie on my blog, you can go to this website to learn more about this film.

Rebecca and Gino
Silly Rob and I

Last Saturday we celebrated our dads’ birthdays at Mario’s by the Sea in Dana Point. It’s always great to get the entire Tucker/Palmer family together. We missed Mimi, although sounds like she a had fun girls’ night out.

Daddy Palmer
Daddy Tucker
All of us (L to R): Terry, Gabe, Patrice, Gil, me, Rob, Laura, Marie
The Palmers

That evening as we pulled into a parking spot in front of our condo, a big black Jeep decided it would reverse into us and drive off. We think they were either upset we took the spot (when in fact we were about to ask them if we accidentally took the spot they wanted) or they were drunk. Either way, Rob’s beloved aluminum car was dented. Of course the Jeep was new and didn't have plates, so when the police arrived there wasn’t much they could do other than write a police report. A little after the police left, Rob and I had a gut feeling that we needed to drive around the block. We listened to our guts and caught the offenders! They had the audacity to park around the corner. We snapped some pics of the VIN and also the damage to their car and called the police back. At this point, Rob’s car is in the shop and hopefully the offenders will be captured soon.

Ouch...poor car

Last Sunday I attended a CPR class all day. Knowing that we were going to eat at Sushi Studio with our friends Jeff and Karen got me through the 8-hour class. They brought along their 3-year old daughter, Katie. Is she not the cutest?

Thursday morning I ran the Long Beach Turkey Trot…this perhaps isn't a big deal to most, but because I hate running, it was a big deal to me. I ended up finding the inspiration and ran the entire thing! Well, except for maybe 3 minutes. I was very proud of myself and as it turns out, I loved the running part. I think I’m more of a racer and less of a trainer. I’m definitely up for participating in all of the local 5Ks and maybe eventually the 10Ks. Come on, if Katie Holmes can run the NYC Marathon, I can too, right?

Even Rob stretched with me...

So close...
Phew...done!

After the run, and the soy peppermint mocha latte from Coffee Bean (my first one in about 2 months), I made a chocolate pecan pie for Thanksgiving dessert. It was so incredibly decadent and delicious. I didn’t feel an ounce guilty for my indulgences after my run.

We had a really great Thanksgiving dinner with Rob’s family in San Clemente. It was so nice to spend time with family we don’t see often enough. Of course, as all Tucker family gatherings end around the piano, this Thanksgiving wasn’t any different. It's fun to hang out and sing old songs with really talented family.

On Friday, or Black Friday, we were crazy enough and joined the throngs of people at South Coast Plaza. We got there around 8am and left by 11am. A couple deals were discovered and some gift ideas were inspired from browsing, but mostly Christmas decorations and some cute wrappings were purchased. After shopping, we headed to Santa Monica to visit our friend Matt. He happily showed off his new LCD TV as we watched Spiderman 3. Rob and I are super proud of Matt as he recently organized a Habitat for Humanity event for his work.

Saturday I did some scrapbooking in Valencia with Susan while Rob made some music with Griff, and even little Corbin. We ended the evening with dinner at Macaroni Grill. I really love spending time with the Lauerman family…and bonus, we all have the same creative tendencies!

Sunday after church I did some organizing and resting. Can’t believe a new week is already upon us. So many fun DIY projects going on right now, but most importantly I need to find more time to keep up on blogging!