GO KINGS GO!!

Matt invited me along to see the Kings/Sharks game on Monday. He's in this pretty cool group that he knows through meetup.com. They do all kinds of activities from camping to hiking to - Hockey games! I took the Metro to the Staples center and we got a sweet group deal for the all you can eat section! and FREE hats! :) good times, even though the damn Kings lost again... i don't remember everyone's name but what i do remember is that they were super friendly and nice. Maybe I'll join them for a happy hour hike!

HH Holiday Party 08

Stacey and I hosted this year's get together and once again we had a fantastic time. We requested that everyone dress in their most cheesy festive attire and like the true pals they are, everyone looked like a school teacher :) Thanks Beth for all of the awesome pics!

The gift exchange was white elephant again, but the stipulations were that it had to be homemade and materials had to be $5 and under. As you can imagine we got some great laughs. I love how creative each and every one of my pals really is. Some of the highlighted gifts were: Porn on disc and condoms from (who else?) Tom. Custom coasters from Stacey, a laminated Dress up Becky from Marisa, Penis statue and movie night with Emily, HH gone wild calendar from Christine, homemade fudge from Jeff, and a bunch more...

My ugly sweater from last year was modified throughout the night because it kept getting warmer and warmer in the apartment. And following tradition, the old lonely smoker from downstairs decided to come up and yell at us. She even got classy this time and dropped the F-bomb! LOL!! I must say that Tom came up with the quote of the night - "Mariko, you know, you don't have to put a condom on a vibrator..." We- were- ROLLIN!

the roaring 20's

Joe Retro and I leading the conga line?

Dancing with 18 year olds. Hey! He's legal!

I'm supposed to become his fag hag.

Joe, me, Jessica and Mikey

Jessica chose a pretty rad theme for her birthday this year. She's making her way into her 30's (shhhhhhh) so she thought she'd celebrate by remembering the 20's! We all dressed up for the occasion and had a fun time in her backyard under the tent :)

what Becky is thinking...

"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." -Tyler Durden

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Prop 8 Musical!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Camping in December??

Yea, we did it! Ojai is a pretty awesome little town :) We camped in the Wheeler Gorge campground and I'm gonna say we were the only ones there without an RV.. It was around 45-50 degrees at night, and there was a 'No Fires' rule still in effect. Needless to say it was chilly :) but we made the best of it. We hiked up Matilija Creek - Gorgeous! I LOVE CAMPING!!!

Thanksgiving with the Andrade kids

I was happy to help out when I heard that all of Angel's cousins would be dressing up for Thanksgiving :). I think I laughed more during this shoot than ever before! What a crazy bunch of 'kids'!

The aftermath

The canyon is black with burned trees, the air smells of ash, but not a single life was lost. Only one home in the neighborhood was destroyed. It's a sad sight, but with the destruction comes a new beginning and new life. I can't wait to see the little green sprouts begin to pop back up after the first rain.

Big Horn Mine

Angel and I decided to go on another adventure and ended up finding the most awesome abandoned mine! It was so rickety and rundown that we thought it would fall apart if we touched it. but nonetheless we climbed all over it and even went into the cold, dark mine for a bit... spoooooky! Pretty much the coolest surprise at the end of a trail i've seen...