I hope everyone had a nice holiday! I had off from work on Friday so Thursday night I baked butter thumbprint cookies using this recipe. I made some with strawberry preserves and others with milk & dark chocolate Hershey kisses. The strawberry preserve ones turned out amazing! I want to make more sometime with strawberry and raspberry preserves.

My Anniversary & Christmas gifts arrived from my husband. He sent me a Hello Kitty wallet. I wanted one from a cheap stall in the Philippines but he got me a nice one from the Sanrio store over there. A little stuffed mouse and a jade bangle, but unfortunately my pretty bangle doesn't fit. :(


Decorated the rat cages this year for Christmas with some Dollar Store decorations. (All of the pictures are here.)

(The ratties got yogurt raisins and yogies for Christmas!)

Christmas eve I stopped up to visit my cousin Jessica & drop of Christmas gifts. Christmas Day went with the family to the Chinese Buffet. This was the first year we did that and I think we're going to every year now. We had a light dinner exchanged gifts and watched movies on Netflix. I signed up for the free 30 day trial but I think I'm going to keep it because it's only $7.99 a month and I don't really watch TV at all so it's nice to be able to watch movies on my laptop. Plus we can stream through the PS3 to our TV.

My parents got the cat and dog Santa outfits for Christmas. My Dad's dog was excited about it but our cat Tansy was pissed!

Tansy

Homer

Ivy (She's a big squish hehe!)

I got lot's of stuffed animals for Christmas, haha. I've always wanted sock monkey's! And I got a Panda Pillow Pet and a "Pillow Pet". Hehe! I also got a Kangaroo Keeper for my purse and some supersized Dr. Pepper lip balms. Ooooh and a huge bag of Starbucks ground Christmas Blend Coffee! (The best!)


Don't forget to enter my Holiday Giveaway! Deadline is December 31st, 2010!

May not have work tomorrow. A snow blizzard started this afternoon and it's supposed to snow into Monday. We may be getting 8-12 inches of snow. I really hope they close work because so far the trains are delayed by almost 40 minutes and some bus service has been suspended. The mayor of Philadelphia declared a snow emergency that will last until 1pm Monday. Let's hope this is the only major snow storm we get!

One year ago today F.B. & I were married in the Philippines! We started off as friends who met online which turned into a long distance relationship. We've been through good times & bad times together and last December 19th, 2009 after 6 years of being together we were finally married. Our long distance adventures are not over yet- as we are still currently working with our immigration lawyer on getting F.B. to the USA, hopefully by early 2011! ♥♥♥

Wanted to share some picture & video memories of our wedding day last year:

Wedding Videos: (The 1st video was made by my sister in law. It originally had the song 'Happy Together' but due to copyright laws I had to remove the music to upload it).





♥♥♥ Happy Anniversary F.B. I Love You ♥♥♥
To view more of our wedding & honeymoon photos you can view our Photobucket album here!

or here:

Wedding Photographer Photos

Our Wedding & Honeymoon

My cousin Jessica & I went to see The Nutcracker at the Philadelphia Academy of Music today!

We woke up quite early and hit Starbuck's before our train downtown. Finally tried the Gingerbread Latte. (Still love the Peppermint Mocha though!) Our train stopped at Suburban Station.

We had an idea of how to get to the Academy and there was a "map" on our printable tickets so we set off down 16th street. After we walked about 2 blocks we thought it might be better to stop in a nearby hotel and make sure we were going the right way. The security guard pointed us in the direction we wanted to go. After a little while we were still a bit confused we weren't running into the street we needed. We stopped in the The Art Institute of Philadelphia to ask at the front desk. The lady there gave us much better directions! We were only about 3 blocks away from Broad street! It was freezing out today too! Only around 36F! (2.22C).

The ballet was great! It was 2 hours long with an intermission. Everything was beautiful- photography wasn't allowed during the show but I got some pictures of the theater during intermission. The chandelier was gorgeous! It would actually raise up into the ceiling during the show and lower during intermission.

Philadelphia Academy of Music:






After the show we headed back to Suburban Station to catch the 1:35pm train because my other cousin Chrissy, Jessica's sister was visiting from Georgia with her husband and we wanted to meet them for an early dinner.

On the way back- City Hall in the distance:


Oooh we saw Tiffany & Co. on Walnut Street, but we didn't have time to go in and browse. I sooo want something from Tiffany's someday from their $100 & under section online, hehe.



We also saw Love Park across from Suburban Station but didn't get to visit this time around.


After we got back on the train we headed up to see my cousin & her husband. We went out to Chili's for dinner. Had a really long but nice day! And fun getting to play tourist in my own city again, lol!

Our work campus finally made the big downtown move. We are near 30th Street Station now. (Patty- all your NYC tourist stories- I have one! We were walking along & some guy was telling his wife or female friend, "Yeah they got rid of 30th Street Station years ago!" What the?! Obviously he hasn't been to Philadelphia in years because I've been through there every day this week for work!)

I am not liking commuting so far but I don't really have a choice. Driving home in Center City Philadelphia traffic would probably take longer than the hour I'm on the train. My biggest peeve is the train being late to or from work. Or switching tracks at the last minute. I guess eventually I'll get used to it. It's just I've been spoiled. I've been driving since I was 16, I've never really taken public transportation. My commute to work for the past 8 years was only a 10-15min drive! So having to commute an hour each way every day is something that's going to take awhile to get used to.

In other news- my back is so much better! The 1 week of bed rest and steroid's made everything heal up quickly. I'm still a bit stiff in the mornings and at night but I'm pretty back to my old self. And all the walking with commuting now has definitely healed & strengthened my back. I'm just happy to not be in pain anymore. I'm stubborn about going to doctors and I usually wait much longer than I should before I will go.

And because it's my 1 year anniversary tomorrow and Christmas is next week! I wanted to do a Holiday Giveaway for all my blog readers!

I will be giving away 2 Bath & Body Works products. Twisted Peppermint Handibac lotion and Winter Candy Apple Pocketbac Gel, 1 sample sized package of Starbuck's ground Christmas Blend coffee (I am in LOVE with this coffee people, it is so bold & rich!) and also a cute Christmasy pen!


This giveaway is open internationally & also to family & friends. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me:

What is your favorite Christmas food, candy or drink?

For extra entries:

-Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect. (You can find the 'Followers' link under 'Contents' on the right hand sidebar. If you follow already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question). 

-Follow me on Twitter: @tunaynamahal82 (Include your user name in the comments. If you follow me already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question).

-Tweet about this giveaway (Include your link in the comments).

Giveaway Ends: December 31st, 2010.12AM EST.

And yes, I am pushing the Twitter thing. Why? Because if it helped me win a giveaway it might help you too. ;-)

I love all domesticated rat colors and believe me there are dozens of colors and varities to choose from. But my favorite color would have to be the blue rat. It's a shade that can look like a slate gray to a powder blue or even a deep russian blue. It's a beautiful color. I've been lucky enough to own 6 blue rats.

Basil:

Basil with Sage: (Sage passed away 1 month after I got both boys.)


 Sage:


Ginger: (I had Ginger for about 1 1/2 years)


 Jasmine:

Jasmine is on the right. Iris is on the left.

Iris & Daisy:

Iris

Daisy

Ginger, Basil, Sage & Jasmine. Have all been blue hooded rats. Iris is a blue berkshire. And Daisy is a blue rex berkshire.

Jasmine was fine yesterday today I wake up to find her alone in the igloo with the right side of her face all swollen & lumpy with a big red scabby gash. I remember some of the girls were fighting last night I think someone might have bit her and it got swollen & infected. (It could have even happened earlier this week since Honey & Hazelnut like to pester the girls & fight occasionally.) But today is when I noticed her neck is all puffed up and swollen. :(

I looked EVERYWHERE and cannot find the half full bottle of SMZ-TMP the vet gave me for Pepper. All I have is some Amoxicillan (fishmox) and oral Prednisolone also from Pepper in the house. I gave Jasmine some of the steroids maybe it will help to lower the swelling.

I called the vet but I can't go in until Tuesday they had nothing on Monday after my Doctor's visit at 2pm. They could have seen me tomorrow but I'm on bed rest until Monday. Want to cry. I don't think it's an abscess but it could certainly turn into one if it gets infected badly. Cleaning her wound with Betadine & Peroxide. They can't see her until Tuesday @ 5:30pm because I won't get back on the train from work until a little after 4pm. Sigh...

Edited to add: Change of plans- I talked to my Mom she is going to run Jasmine over tomorrow at 12pm to the vet for me instead since I'm still on bedrest until Monday.

UPDATED 12/11/10:

The swelling on her neck was down a lot this morning. My Mom & brother just ran her over and it only took about 20 minutes. (Mom took my note of what I think happened.) The vet thinks it's just a bite that got infected and doesn't think it's an abscess at this point. (I don't either.) He gave her a Baytril injection. (Will have to keep an eye out for Baytril burn on her little behind.) And SMZ-TMP antibiotic 0.3ml for 2 weeks. ($115.50 Ouch!) Hoping she will be doing much better by next week! Jasmine is approx 4 months old.

I've been doing most of my Christmas shopping online on Amazon.com, Ebay, Bath & Bodyworks, Old Navy, Cafe Press. There's only very few gifts I need to get from the actual store. (Mostly food/candy items to go along with gifts).

I was teasing F.B. the other day that I was going to get him this fabulous sweater from Old Navy for Christmas. I was saying when he finally arrives in the USA then I could easily spot him at the airport, hahaha! He did not agree. :-p
(Sadly I can't even link you to that awesome sweater because people actually bought it!)

I did tell him I was going to get him 2 warm clothes items for Christmas for when he really does arrive. (No new immigration updates, I emailed our lawyer but haven't heard back- he may be away on holiday.) F.B. already knows he is getting these items so I thought I would share.

Men's Logo Thermal Tees

Men's Bonded Performance Fleece Hoodies

 (Navy isn't available in regular sizes anymore- I think I got the last one. :-p )

And I got myself two items as well- (Hey! had to get free shipping!) Do you guys know that if you sign up for Old Navy emails on their front page under 'Sign up & Save' they will send you a coupon code for $10 off that you can use online or print out & take to the store? I didn't, I found it by looking for promo codes online. So I ended up getting free shipping & $10 off!

My items:

Women's Logo Zip Hoodies

(They didn't have the cute dark gray with purple logo one anymore that I originally wanted.)

Women's Performance Fleece Scarves

I'm going to be a darn train commuter starting Tuesday! Ugh! So I figured I might need a scarf to go along with my gloves & hat and winter jacket. Since the weather is supposed to be below freezing next week!

And two very unnecessary items for myself:

Silver Canvas Sequin Tennis Sneakers

I really wanted the neato sequin Converse sneakers they had out a few months ago. But it happened to be just at the time I ordered my $62.00 custom Converse, so I didn't get the black or pink sequin sneakers. Now you can't find them online. Or if you do people are selling them for $80+ on Ebay, etc. *Sad Face*. So I did a little searching and came across these cute $9.99 no name brand silver sequin sneakers that look like Converse. They will be cute for the holidays!

My other cute unnecessary item! It's a mouse/rat ring that wraps around your finger. It's too cute!

Mouse/Rat Wrap Ring

I got this on Ebay as well from a seller in Hong Kong. I've had no problem ordering items less than $8 on Ebay from Hong Kong, I've always gotten them. (And usually free shipping!) It does sometimes take a month for shipping though. I got 2 cute Opal or "Opal" (Not really sure.) rings on Ebay shipped from Hong Kong during the summer. Now the seller I bought this ring from doesn't have anymore available but you can do some sleuthing here- I see other sellers selling the same sort of ring in silver or bronze.

Hoping Old Navy ships fast because I've got to get F.B.'s Christmas/Anniversary gifts in the mail by December 20th at least. He still might not get them right on time even with express mail to the Philippines but at least they will be on their way. 

As for health updates, the steroids are definitely starting to relieve my back. It is not as painful and debilitating as it was before. But... now I have an awful pain from my butt down to above my right knee. I'm thinking it's the sciatica nerve. Not sure if this is due to the fall I took the other night (even though I was told I landed on my left side.) or from the doctor messing with my legs this past Monday to check & make sure it WASN'T the sciatica nerve. Or just because my back hurt so darn bad I didn't feel my leg hurting. Anyhow now that it hurting worse than my back. :( Hopefully I won't need an Xray or MRI though and I still have quite a few doses of steroids to take (ends Wed.) And a doctor appointment on Monday at 2pm. Maybe he can just presribe a pain reliever that doesn't make me pass out!

I've just been resting in bed only getting up for meals or snacks before I take my pills (about 3 times a day). and also bathroom or shower. I've mostly been on the laptop, reading or painting my nails, lol. I've got a new obsession with nail polish blogs! (You can see some listed under Food & Fun blogs on my right side bar).

I have to go back to work on Tuesday (I'll have drained my paid leave, blah). We'll be downtown. I spoke to my manager today and she said it was a good thing I wasn't at work with my back because it's chaos with the move happening. Their last day at our NE Philadelphia campus is Friday. I had to have my coworkers pack up my work supplies for me.

Upcoming Events: 

December 18th: seeing the Nutcracker with my cousin Jessica!

December 19th: 1 year wedding anniversary with F.B.! ♥♥♥