Eat to Help...Typhoon Haiyan Relief Dinner

From my big win on that tiramisu cake from Chocolate and Spice Bakery I had the pleasure of also meeting the Vegas Foodie who does there PR who then let me know about a Benefit Dinner that restuarant Origin India was hosting to support the Philippines.


Chef Maneet Chauhan of Chopped prepared the Indian/Filipino fusion dishes...sweetest lady, so fun to chat with
 First course was paneer tikka lumpia with a La Marca Prosecco cocktail with Pomegranate Staranise
 pretty star in there deserves a close up :)
2nd course, tilapia in a tomato, curry leaf coconut sauce served with a malbec...the sauce was so yummy, dipped the bread in there too
3rd course, annatto flavored chicken skewers which were very flavorful
dessert was leche flan with a lychee slaw and some moscato, great combo the flan and lychee together

 Eating for a good cause was fun :)

Mamma's Boy, Daddies Girls...

Trip to the bay for just me and Jayson, he was very excited...he was so easy, such a good traveler :)  My godson was also celebrating a birthday, plus I wanted to actually make an annual scu Christmas party, I have only been to a few, the first one was held at my moms house 12 years ago, crazy!  Two big events made it a good weekend to go!
 Straight from the airport to Santana Row to meet the girls...Aub was visiting too which worked out perfectly, got to see my other godson Isaiah.  Was nice to catch up over some dim sum and Jayson had so much fun with his new buddies Zed and Lauren, made his top favorite things of the trip
they had pinkberry

and bonded in their secret spot in H&M :)

 Later that evening met up with the SCU crew...it really is crazy so many of us have stayed so close all these years, too many of us that we barely fit in the camera...oh that's Santa Rex, so cute how the guys rotate Santa for the kids

 even I got to sit on Santa's lap...hee!

so crazy how we've made all these kids :)
 we did a PJ party and breakfast for dinner to match, chicken & waffles being the biggest hit...they were really good, I've had them in restuarants where the waffles are overcooked, chicken not good, but can't beat home made waffles and popeyes chicken...hee!
full & happy
kids had some cookie fun with Auntie Loan
cute lil reindeers
 Jayson and his fellow long hair friend having so much fun
partied out for the day
Christians bday spread, so fun and yummy!

Happy Birthday Christian!

while we were having fun with friends and fam in the bay, Jay and the girls went to the Zappos Tree Lighting

Dec = Christmas Cookies

Love me some cookie exchange parties!  Good for my heart not my body :)
My second year to attend the women's cookie exchange at our church, The Crossing...I'd say the biggest most organized cookie exchange there is
I totally did last minute pretzel turtles and smore pops
 
so was so surprised when I won an award for most creative...probably because there wasn't anything super creative this year like there was last year, mostly just regular cookies...hee! 
My friend Deb and I had the two most creative, she did a red velvet white chocolate cookie.

The overall best cookie was this apple pie cookie, very well deserved, as soon as they said that we ran to make sure we got one of those first, so good!
aftermath 2 full tupperwares of cookies for the fam
 
Cookie party #2 is Michelle's annual party for us...the girls always enjoy decorating Caron's sugar cookies


We did chocolate dipped pretzels and smore pops again, so I won't bore you with another pic of that :)

Jaylin said this year she wants to do some real cooking not just decorating or dipping since when did a cookie party become a dipping party, drama queen...so she got to help make snickerdoodles and my favorite butter balls :)


Zappos Christmas Partays

December is always fun but crazy with the many work activities going on, but wouldn't have it any other way :)
Winter Wonderland for the kids...really cool this year with the fake snow
 
cookies and hot chocolate of course
 
animal rides and snowmen
 
and the best part of all, the sledding!

Multiple Christmas parties since as planners we are our own group but also part of the merchandising groups we work directly with, for me the Performance Footwear and Clothing Teams
First was at the old 40/40 club, now Legassi Stadium for some food, drinks and football. 
 The Clothing Team did an Errrything Gold Theme Party
so cute how they did it up
 #clothingplanners
 love my clothing girls

 had to cut the Clothing party short to get to our team dinner up at Mt. Charleston...so pretty at the lodge up there
 #zapposplanners
 with Brad and Kristin
 so funny cause we had the photo team up there a few days before doing a  photo shoot for the home page and we thought our peeps could re-create it, they did pretty good :)
 was a nice cozy dinner
and an as seen on tv white elephant game :)  I left happy with my perfect pancake maker