Archive for December, 2006

Not a long post this Christmas eve. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas feast and was in the company of wonderful people. Andy, Jabber, and I have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, which I will write more about at a later date. Just wanted to leave you with a little Christmas cheer!

Last Friday, my friend Ashley and her boyfriend Peter flew down to Texas for a visit. I had such a marvelous time and wish it weren’t over so soon! I took the day off on Friday, that ways I could go pick them up from the Dallas-Love airport. If you know me, you’ll understand that driving into downtown Dallas is a rather daunting task for me. Andy wrote down very explicit instructions on how to get there. I committed these to memory before leaving and got there right on time. However, getting home was just a tad more difficult. I know, I know…how hard can it be, right? I just flip the directions on how I got there to get home. But I managed to miss a turn and was heading in the wrong direction (right towards heavy Friday afternoon traffic). Thank goodness for Ashley and Peter’s much better sense of direction, we got turned back around and to the house without wasting too much time.

Friday night, we met up with some of my work friends at Uncle Julio’s. The restaurant was packed and the wait was for an hour, but we figured anywhere we went, there would be a very long line. Besides, you can get unlimited chips and dip while you’re waiting. So, we patiently waited while munching on our chips. After our hour was up, I was so full of chips that I contemplated just leaving the restaurant. It’s not my fault I was no longer hungry! Chips are evil like that, if they’re sitting in front of you, you’ll continue munching on them even if you don’t want to. In the end, Andy and I split a small entree, so everything worked out okay.

After dinner, we headed over to the Horseman country bar. Wow…that was an experience and a half. One of my co-workers really had to go, because there was some country cd release that was being given away at the door. We walk in and are immediately surrounded by cowboy hats, boots, big belt buckles, women with big hair, tight jeans on both genders, and everyone is speaking with an honest to goodness Texas twang. We stood around and chatted, tried to Texas two step (which for the life of me, I cannot figure out), and tried not to offend any cowboys. Though at one point we were laughing so hard, I was surprised we didn’t get thrown out of the club!

It was beautiful outside on Saturday, so the four of us went mini golfing! I managed to NOT hit my ball in the scum infested pond and actually hit a hole in one! I’m rather proud of myself. We played with the puppy, watched Lost in Translation, and barbequed for dinner. Andy grilled up some chicken, I made roasted vegetable oven baked penne, and fresh raspberry sorbet (FYI: sorbet is made with water and sherbet is made with milk/cream). Dinner was followed by a rousing game of Cranium Turbo. I do love that game, and if you’ve never played it…well then you’re missing out on some awesome wacky fun.

We took our guests to the Crate and Barrel outlet we found right by the airport.  I found some really pretty soup/sandwich plates, a beautiful duvet perfect for the guest room, and Andy found the metal barbeque skewers that he’s been looking for. Gosh, I do love Crate and Barrel. But Crate and Barrel on sale is even better! After we dropped our friends off at the airport, Andy and I came home to continue our cleaning for the holidays. I am proud to announce that we have made great progress on our office (aka the junk room). Since my family is coming to visit next week, I had to make sure my sister could actually walk to the sofa, let alone sleep on the sofa! I am most definately looking forward to the Christmas holiday, and am equally excited to have a week off of work!

This morning, I stopped by the social security office in downtown Fort Worth to finalize our marriage by changing my last name. I was rather proud of myself, I got there without getting lost! Downtown Fort Worth can be rather daunting to navigate (at least to me…). I got to the Federal Building right as they opened. I walked into the social security room…and the room was completely packed! How did all those people get there? Sigh, the same problem occurred at the DMV when I went to get my license changed over.

Anyhow, I took a number and sat down to wait. I glanced at the ticket with my number on it, and it had an estimated wait time of 70 minutes!!! I was seriously contemplating just giving up on the whole process. But I had already paid the parking meter for an hour, I figured I may as well just stay for an hour. Turns out, I was in and out in 20 minutes! It helped tremendously that I had already filled out the application and had all the necessary data in hand. Yay for my list making tendencies.

It is very very strange to use a different name. I liked being a Chao, Chao has been an awesome last name. No longer can I sign Christmas cards “from the Chaos” and have it be funny. My far fetched dream of having a business with my sister and calling it “Chaos Squared” will no longer be truthful, not that this dream was ever to be realized since I have absolutely no idea what we would go to business for. Sigh…I suppose I could have hyphenated, but that gets confusing. Angela Chao Trommer just sounds ridiculous. Chao was not meant to be a middle name. It was mentioned that I certainly didn’t have to change my name. But it is traditional and I suppose I’ll get used to it eventually. Right now I’m having the hardest time signing for things with Trommer. I’m not entirely sure how to make a cool “T”, any ideas?

Oh…I added some pictures of the house decorated for Christmas. Take a look!

For those of you that know me, you know that I love the Christmas season. I actually Christmas shop all year round in anticipation for wrapping and giving away presents. I spend many hours agonizing over who would enjoy which item the most. Andy is always and forever teasing me about the intricate and extremely detailed lists I keep on who’s getting what. He can laugh all he wants, but we were done Christmas shopping before December even started. Thank goodness! Just driving by the shopping centers makes me feel anxious, all those cars fighting for parking spots so they can argue over who gets the last half priced cashmere sweater at the Banana Republic…grrr arg.

Okay, thinking happy snow white, Christmas tree, Santa Claus, twinkle lights, shiny ornament thoughts. Just like we did last year, Andy and I adopted an angel from the UNTHSC angel tree. All the angels are children of employees that work at the university who are unable to purchase gifts for their kids this holiday. The lab and I put together some money to buy all sorts of stuff for little three year old Camille.

Andy and I just finished shopping for her tonight. We got her a Barbie, Barbie’s kitchen (comes with fridge, oven, sink, plates, cups, utensils, food…etc), two Barbie outfits, a tiara/earrings set, a picnic kitchen set (cups, pots, pans, plates, silverware, picnic blanket, napkins, plates, blender, mixer…who brings a blender and mixer on a picnic??), an extra basket of food that velcroes together so it sounds like you’re cutting the veggies with your little wooden knife, four shirts, two pairs of pants, a little hoodie jacket, and a stuffed jingle cow. Man, I couldn’t pass up the stuffed jingle cow. She’s going to be one happy kid come Christmas morning! Andy and I were even practical enough to put all her toys and clothing in a magenta rubbermaid box. That ways she will have something to keep all her treasures in. I also will be supplying a big Costco roll of wrapping paper and some shiny silver ribbon. I feel like such a good little Santa’s helper! Here’s a photo of me packing up all of Camille’s items. (yeah, I look a little drugged…it’s Friday after a hard week of work, I’m entitled to look a little kooky)
Oh! And check the gallery for new pictures (Jabber and Thanksgiving).