Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NOTW: Ask me anything!
Here's my post - sorry it's late...
Name a few things on your ?bucket list?: My mother, brother and I
are running in our first half marathon next month. I look forward to
the time we cross the finish line! Someday I would also like to hear
Andrea Bocelli give a concert in Tuscany and to visit his mother's
vineyard to buy some wine!
5 Places You Think People Need to See before they die:
1) Alaska! DH and I went this summer and it was the trip of a
lifetime. It was literally the most beautiful and relaxing place we've
visited together.
2) Disneyland's Club 33: A family friend of ours was able to get us in
last year, and it was the trip of a lifetime! When you purchase your
meal there, you get a free park hopper ticket. The meal is the price of
a ticket so basically you pay to get into the park and get a
ridiculously awesome meal! At the appetizer buffet we had lobster
tails, crab, shrimp, antipasto platters, salads, soups, etc. I had a
perfect piece of filet mignon for my entree along with a glass of wine.
Club 33 is the only place in Disneyland where you can drink alcohol,
and they had a really cool bar! There was also a great dessert bar, and
they brought me a cute mickey mouse birthday dessert. If I can figure
this out, I'll PIP some pics.
3)
Golden Gate Bridge: We sailed under it this summer on our trip to
Alaska, and it was one of those experiences that gave chills big time -
tons of people were walking across the bridge waving frantically, and
the horn was blowing the entire time we sailed underneath. Too cool.
4)
Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez wine country is one of our favorite Saturday
outings. We stop for lunch after leaving wine tasting in Santa Barbara
at this place called the Cold Springs Tavern. It's a stop that used to
be along the stagecoach trail and they have great bbq - tri tip sammies,
buffalo burgers (yum), venison, tons of "wild" items. The bikers love
to stop here on the weekends b/c they have live music on the weekends.
5)
A concert at the Hollywood Bowl! If you're ever in Socal, this is a
must. You can get tickets for as little as $1, and the Los Angeles
Philharmonic does all of their summer concerts here. Take a picnic and
some good wine and you're set. We saw A. Bocelli here, and said that if
we couldn't see him in Italy, this is the place!
If you had no
strings attached to where you live now, where would you move to: Maui.
We went there for our HM and again last summer. The lifestyle is so
laid back and the people are so nice. Sunset at the top of Haleakala
volcano is breathtaking and quite the adventure (if you're racing down
so you can hit up the Aloha Mixed Plate before they close LOL). Can't
beat their $3 mai tais... one of our kitties is named Mai Tai after that
place.
Biggest
life change since the wedding: Seeing DH every day. We dated for 10
years before actually getting married and we always lived 100 miles away
from each other. Add in Los Angeles traffic and you've got a mess!
Unfortunately DH still commutes there every day b/c the economy is so
poor right now but hopefully he'll find something closer to home real
soon so he isn't spending over $600 a month on gas.
When you
were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up: a ballerina. I still
have my pointe shoes b/c I just couldn't part with that part of my
childhood.
Name 1 thing you miss about being a kid: Not much. I
get to live through the eyes of 8 year olds every day at school, which
is a treat. I don't envy children nowadays b/c the demands in school
are so much more intense.
What is your favorite time of day:
Walking in the house after teaching all day and tutoring after school to
see the kitties and Bill.
Who lives in your household (include
babies/pets/crazy in-laws): DH and our kitties named Mr. Claws and Mai
Tai. Yes, I loved mai tais THAT much on our honeymoon. Best mai tai
I've ever had was at the Aloha Mixed Plate in Lahaina, Maui.
How
many kids do you realistically hope to have- if at all? Are you working
on it yet? If not, when would you like to start?: I wonder all the
time how I'm ever going to be able to take care of my own child.
Between working full time, having a huge commitment as a district
SMARTboard trainer, and tutoring I can barely take care of DH and I. We
might be lucky enough to just have one. Twins have run in our family,
skipping generations. I would be ok with having 2 at the same time and
getting it out of my system at once! And no, even though I am an old
maid to some (31, gasp!), we haven't started trying. If things didn't
work out for me, I certainly wouldn't be against adopting.
What
is your go-to food when you have had a bad day: a cosmic blizzard from
Dr. Conkey's Coffee & Candy company (iced caramel coffee drink), or a
cheeseburger & fries from the Habit!
What is your signature
dish/favorite food to make: I love to make cowboy spaghetti from the
PW cookbook, and believe it or not I'm always getting requests for
appetizer recipes. I love making bacon wrapped pineapple, vanilla fruit
dip, and meatballs. I also make a rockin chicken dish with eggplant.
Goes great with a bottle of gewurstraminer.
Favorite Mindless TV
Show to Watch: As a teacher, I do not practice what I preach. I watch
way too much. Some of my favorites are Grey's Anatomy, Modern Family,
Dancing with the stars, Millionaire Matchmaker, Rachel Zoe, Man V. Food,
America's Got Talent, Some of the Real Housewives shows, Huell Howser
(it's a hokey California show on public television), and probably 100
other shows I just can't think of right now.
Biggest Fear: Losing a family member
Biggest
Pet Peeve: People who judge me because I've been married for 2 years,
I'm in my 30s and don't have children. As a teacher, I see people who
must have lied on that application to become a parent and want to make
sure that I provide as best as I can when I'm READY.
If you
could go back and re-live one moment in your life, what moment would it
be: Putting a sapphire ring from my mother in my pocket during band
practice outside in high school... and then losing it 
If you
absolutely HAD to switch jobs/career paths, what would you choose as a
new job (pretend you don't need any further education-SAHM doesn't count
for this one): I would love to be the next Rachel Zoe. Fashion is a
passion of mine. If finances weren't an issue I would work at
Anthropologie selling cute dresses and smelling their yummy blue candles
all day long. I was a paper girl when I was 10 and loved that job too -
no one bugged me!
What's the one object (not person) you cannot
live without: My Toms! My brother just gave me sequined burgundy toms
for my bday last week and they're adorable!
What was your favorite toy growing up: breyer horses, light brite, my little pony, barbie, puzzles, and coloring books
Re: NOTW: Ask me anything!
How did you and DH meet?
What is your favorite and least favorite things about teaching?
How do you unwind after a particularly rough day with the kiddos?
Favorite LA restauraunt (other than Hamburger Habit... saw that... yum-o):
Favorite part about living in LA?
Alaska has a special place in my heart. My grandpa, Pop, always wanted to visit there. We kick ourselves for never making the trip up there with him (I was blessed to have him live with us for over 15 years). When he passed away we took some of the money he left us and took a 14 day cruisetour to Alaska. I have seen the Northern Lights and they were frickin' amazing. I have seen moose and bears in Denali National Park. and the cruise - OMFG!!!
DH and I took a 10 day roundtrip San Francisco cruise last month. Like I mentioned already, sailing under the Golden Gate was quite the thrill.
It was great b/c DH didn't have to worry about driving most of the time (we did rent a car in Skagway and drove the Klondike Hwy into Canada). The service was impeccable, food amazing, entertainment as hokey and hilarious as it gets, the passengers were fun to laugh at (we jokingly named one of the men who "waddled" each morning at the man in the black and white pants who we nicknamed the orca), and we ate exceptional food! One of the best parts of being on the ship was going to afternoon tea each day.
We saw whales, whales, and more whales along with eagles, otter, a shark, seals, and more. Some of the whales were so close to the ship you could see the markings on them. I jogged at least 3-5 mi each day and sometimes saw DOZENS of whales at a time breaching like crazy. It was surreal.
We stopped in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria. LOVED Skagway, Victoria, and Ketchikan.
Juneau is another story...My favorite part of Juneau was finding the statue of Patsy Ann (google it).
We saw the salmon running like crazy in Ketchikan. Saw amazing totem poles at the state park there. Eagles flew above us the entire time we were walking around outside there.
We rented a car in Skagway and took the Klondike Hwy into Canada. It was great to be away from people for a while. Some of the most picturesque scenery I've ever seen.
Victoria was great fun. We found the most amazing vintage hat shop... I bought 2 and DH bought one too. We wore our hats throughout town as we walked through tea time at the Empress hotel and the Parliament building! Victoria was a gorgeous city. We saw orcas as we left!
Glacier Bay is one of the most remarkable experiences I have ever had in my life. It's one of those places you just have to experience yourself. The day that we were there, one of the glaciers calved (crashed into the ocean) like crazy. The naturalist onboard who was narrating said that it was literally the 2nd largest crash he had ever seen. Measuring from the bridge he estimated that a chunk of the glacier broke off that was 200' x 200' !!!
We came home with some lovely souvies that were handcrafted in Alaska such as an ulu knife and hand carved doll.
We still laugh about the anniversary song the waiters sang to us at dinner one night. I seriously need to youtube it.
Everyone needs to go sometime in their lifetime.
If I get a chance sometime soon, I'll post some of my pix.
You have a great memory Krissy!
I can still remember hiding behind the couch at my parents' house from the wicked witch. I must have been around 4! When I was in 5th grade I played a flute solo for band and played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." My mom cried. I show it to my class every year on the last day of school. I walked down the aisle to Judy Garland's version.
You should see the new watch my parents gave me for my bday. My brother also gave me some "ruby" sequined toms. Love. love. love.
I have an OzSome student each week in class
It's really fun being an Oz fan...lots of fun memorabilia!
There's a Malibu Seafood (same company?) in Redondo too... gooood seafood in a takeout, inexpensive atmosphere... yummy. lol... I thought you were referring to Hamburger Habit in LA... the Habit sounds yummy... I'm a little burnt out on In'n'Out
I have never actually toured around Santa Barbara... went camping up there but only stayed at the beach. I've never been to the Greek, the HOllywood bowl or the Getty, lol. I'm going to Dland this Friday.
Lawry's is AWESOME!!! Yum-o... I also love the Stinking Rose... ever been? Yummy if you like garcli, lol.
I also haven't seen teh cirque at the pier... didn't know they performed there.
... and Yes, I'm from the good ol' IE... Rancho Cucamonga to be exact.
Thanks for sharing hon!