LA AGD JC Holiday Party

Over the weekend the LA AGD Junior Circle had a holiday party where we had an Ornament White Elephant Gift Exchange and a Cookie Swap!

On Saturday, of my favorite friends and I got together to bake for the cookie swap!

Check it out on the Food Blog!

We had a great time eating, chatting and playing games!

Ornament Exchange

Of course we all got each other Squirrel ornaments - I mean it would be a grave mistake if a Squirrel was not given as an ornament gift!

And I got another Red, Buff & Green ornament to go along with it!

All of the Squirrel Ornaments under the tree!

(Yes, there are 4 of the same ornament in different colors!

Thank you World Market for all of your Squirrel decorations!)

The group that participated in the ornament swap!

We had a great turn out!

It was such a wonderful day full of laughter and girl time!

It was absolutely much needed!! 

Guest Post

Good Morning All!!

Happy Friday!!

Has it felt like the longest week to anyone else??

My great friend, who guest posted for me here, asked me to guest post for her yesterday! 

Check it out!

Weir Homemade was featured on his website.

In this post, I discussed our eating habits as well as some helpful tips in the kitchen!

I also posted a new recipe!

I hope you all have a nice, relaxing, fun and fabulous weekend to look forward to!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 57

Part of my job requires my coworkers to transfer calls to my department - if the customer is having technical difficulty or if the customer has an education question that the agent is unable to answer.

My buddy, the woman I sit next to, she had transferred the call to my queue and so I picked it up.
She warned me about the customer, that he was being a bit hostile and then told me his issue.

I pick up the call.
Me: Good Morning, Sir? My name is La Tache, <insert my coworkers name> told me you were having trouble opening a link on our website.
Customer: I didn't catch your name, because it foreign.

He had so much disdain and hatred in his voice.
I was about to retort back with a response, but he kept talking and I didn't want to interrupt him since he was clearly upset and I didn't want to set him off any more than he already was.

I decided to 'Kill him with Kindness' and I helped him through the steps to fix his problem, and when it was resolved, I asked him if there was anything else I could assist him with.

Customer: Yeah, every time I call, I talk to someone foreign
I couldn't let him keep saying that, so I interrupted him
Me: Sir, I am not foreign, no one in our office is foreign. We live in Los Angeles, CA

He would not drop it!
Finally, I asked him if there was anything else I could do for him, since I wasn't getting through to this crazy that we are located in LA and that we are not foreign, so he should shut up already ;-)

He then kept me on the phone for over an hour, trying to come up with other things to talk to me about.
Needless to say it was a frustrating call.

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

Instagram Video

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Oh my Gosh!
This is seriously hilarious!!

And here is yet another gem!

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

Bay Area Weekend: Golden Gate Bridge

On Sunday, we leisurely woke up!

Rich and I got ourselves packed up.

Rich took my brothers and played some catch football with them!

I helped my mom out with getting her iPhone all set up (!!!)

And then we all (7 of us) piled into the car and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was super foggy but we decided to go for the walk across anyway!

I couldn't believe that my dad hadn't done it before!!

The fog was incredible!
One minute you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you and the next the fog cleared a gap ahead and you could see the entire downtown!

Or the entire tower of the bridge.

It was absolutely magical!

We walked a little over 1/2 way across and since we were sopping wet from all of the foggy mist we decided to turn back.

We hopped into a Thai restaurant on Union St - thank you yelp - and had the most delicious family style Thai food!

We jumped back on BART for SFO, sped through security - again (!)

And made it home all in one piece!

What a fun trip!

I miss the Bay and I know that both Rich and I would love to move back there again some day

Maybe soon?

Tomorrow?

alright alright...

Bay Area Weekend: Mom's Surprise Party

On Saturday we woke up and had, our second day in a row, leftover Thanksgiving sandwich.

My mom, aunt and I went for a walk and gossiped chatted.

It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoying the scenery! 

We got back, Sam and I made persimmon bread and watched college football.

Sadly, UCLA lost :-(

We got ready for dinner and headed downtown - for the surprise.

We got to the restaurant and many of my mom's close friends were waiting there to surprise her!

She was surprised, to say the least!

She was so glad to have everyone in one spot and celebrating her!

sorry mom - it is good of everyone else ;-)

my hottie mom! - but seriously! 

After dinner, my mom and I stayed at the restaurant bar with another couple of her friends and we had a few more drinks.

The restaurant closed so we headed to the local dive bar - yeah my mom is awesome like that ;-)

By the time we got home it was 1:30 and we were both basically dragging ourselves up the driveway to get into the house and tucked in to bed!

My mom is a special kind of woman who deserves to have everyone who knows her celebrate her!

Love you mom!!

(and I am so glad we finally got some good pictures together!!)

Bay Area Weekend: Ghirardelli Square

Friday night, after decorating the house for Christmas, my mom Uncle and I rode BART to San Francisco to see the Ghirardelli Square Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

how great does my mom look!!

Why Ghirardelly Square, and not Union Square, you ask?

Well because the Buena Vista is right next door to Ghirardelli Square!

And with the brisk weather, we wanted to warm ourselves up with a nice Irish Coffee from this San Francisco Landmark!

We made it to the cafe just in time because we got 3 stools next to each other at the bar!

Score!

(If you have been here, you know what I mean!)

We enjoyed our coffees and saw that they were making "to-go" coffees, so we decided: why not?!

We got another Irish Coffee to-go and headed to Ghirardelli Square as not to be late for the ceremony!

After the tree was lit we grabbed a town car and on our way back to BART we stopped at Hillstone for a roasted artichoke and cosmo - why not, right?!

If you ever go to a Hillstone restaurant, you must get the roasted artichoke, It is amazing!

We got back on BART and headed back and met the rest of the gang plus my aunt for a sushi dinner!

We got home after dinner and talked food talk and then headed off to bed!

Happy December!

Happy December!

May December grant you the ability to openness, forgiveness, and change!

Who else can believe it is already December?!

Um..what?!