Elsja Down Under

Even Better Online Shopping November 30, 2006

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So someone named Bruce posted a comment suggesting 4ourcause.com Im not really choosy but I just think people should sign up for one of these. Seriously- it’s free and I know people shop online. Both these sites have good causes and both have cool stores. 4ourcause even has ofoto and I order pics all the time. Take 10 extra minutes before you shop to sign up. You’ll feel good while you shop. This especially goes out to Jen who specifically said she will be doing all her Christmas shopping online!

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For ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE that plans to buy ANYTHING online EVER… Shop on IGIVE.COM

They have all the stores you usually would buy from online, and every time you purchase something, a % goes to a charity of your choice. Things cost the same, but you will help out charities at the same time!!! You have to just log in with your email address and it keeps track of how much is being donated. It’s one extra step in the online buying process, but it’s worth it.

I just found out about this, so I havent tried it out yet, but I read all about it and it just makes sense. Why wouldn’t you shop on igive?

Bad News Just Got A Lot Worse November 28, 2006

Well, unfortunately the news about my brother-in-law did not get better throughout the day. In fact, it got a lot worse. Brett was diagnosed today with stage 4 pancreatic cancer that has metastasized into his liver and lungs. For those of you who don’t know about stages of cancer, stage 4 is the worst. As if that is not bad enough, pancreatic cancer also has the worst prognosis of any cancer. Surgery is only really feasible in early stages and he has clearly passed the early stage so they have to look at all the options for treatment. I guess this cancer hits from the ages of 29-40 and is not typically genetic. He has been feeling sick for about a month. Yesterday he had a scope of his stomach and they just saw inflammation. They were going to send him home but my sister said he looked yellow. The doctor just said “oh ok, we’ll do an ultrasound.��? Jan wanted to take him to the emergency room and Brett just wanted to wait for the ultrasound results. Well he didn’t even make it all night, at 5am he felt so bad that she finally took him. They didn’t even do biopsies… they can tell how bad it is simply from the Cat scan and blood tests. My sister said the nurses came in crying because of the prognosis.  I just want to ask everyone who prays to say an extra prayer for my brother-in-law and his family. They all REALLY need it.  He has a 4 year old son and a 1 year old son.  Today is Brett’s 38th birthday and I’d say he’s had the worst birthday you could possibly have. �

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When It Rains, It Pours.

This week is like hospital/birthday nightmare week in my family. First it was baby Gianna giving us all a scare on her and Trevor’s birthday and now it’s my brother-in-law, Brett in the hospital today (on HIS birthday). He and my sister were here visiting from Texas last month and he was feeling a bit sick then. I guess he’s been to the Dr. since he got back to Texas but they didn’t really figure anything out. Well my sister took him to the emergency room and now they are doing millions of tests. So far they say he’s got acute pancreatitis and something is wrong with his liver because his skin is completely yellow. They are doing a Cat Scan today and they even mentioned the word “cancer” to my sister and so needless to say- she is not taking that well. But, like any medical issue, its “too early to tell” and it could be completely fine. He’s always been really healthy so at least that is positive. He is going to be in the hospital for this whole week which sucks! Another cruddy birthday but hopefully this one turns out better, just like Gianna and Trevor’s.

The Weekend November 27, 2006

Well, I’ve been pretty lazy lately so I haven’t done anything too spectacular or exciting. Thanksgiving was nice. It was spent at the Seemann house and it was a smaller group this year (like 16 people vs. 30) and it was actually nice to have it a little quiter and more peaceful. We all were guessing when Cathy would have her baby (she was due Dec. 10th). Well, she didnt even last 3 days before she went into labor. She had the baby, Gianna Catherine Gale, early yesterday morning. The family had a big scare when Gianna wouldn’t breath on her own right away and she had to stay in an incubator. Well, it looks like she is all better, her parents were going to get to hold her today for the first time, and although she may not get to go home with mom tomorrow, she will go hopefully go home in a few days. It is a true blessing and we are all thankful that she will be ok. She is beautiful, has daddy’s eyes and mommy’s nose. She was also born on her uncle Trevor’s birthday so he got a nice little present

Last night I went to dinner with my sister and Trevor for his birthday. A bunch of their friends joined us at Riptide in Mission Viejo. Although it’s no Tsunami… it still was yummy!

Also Saturday I saw Jen’s condo for the 1st time. It is going to be so nice and I’m very happy for Jen because she has worked so hard to get her first place!  I must say I am a little jealous, and I’ll feel a little weird being the ONLY person still living at home with my parents, but I guess everyone’s lives are on different paths.

Other than that, my weekend was pretty slow. I avoided the malls this weekend as much as possible. I can’t stand the “black Friday” shopping crowds. I guess I probably missed out on some sales, but I think I prefer to spend a little more money on things than to be stuck in a crowd of annoying, crazy holiday shoppers. I Spent most of the time watching tv, eating… all the lazy stuff you do on Thanksgiving weekend. I hope everyone else had a good turkey day!!!

Emma the Rhino November 22, 2006

 

Kids are cute

Emma the Rhino

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New Music Tuesday November 21, 2006

I was searching through itunes to find all the cool new music that came out today. You will all be thrilled to know that I found this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jen- I know it’s a day late, but do you want me to get you this for your birthday???

HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHA

Do people still actually listen to these freaks?? When will they ever stop??

And if that wasn’t bad enough:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greatest hits??? They only had like ONE song on the radio!! Come on people!!! HAHAHAHA

I Can’t Believe It! November 20, 2006

After 3 months, my love Andrew finally updated his blog. What an exciting day.

Happy Birthday Jen

Happy 26th birthday to my BFF Jen!! She has finally joined the rest of us on the downhill fall to 30!! So unlike our mean friend Shannon, I will post a pretty picture, not post a horrible picture of Jen (But I’ll post a link to the fab snapshot).

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Woohoo!

 

Near Tragedy November 17, 2006

Last night I opened itunes to add some new music I got from Jen and I freaked… where was my music?? There was no music. My itunes was completely empty. Not ONE of my songs was in my library!!! Where did it all go you ask??? Beats me, I’d like to know too! I do know my computer has been doing some peculiar things lately… but my computer has never acted up so much that it would do something so tragic! This could have been disastrous… but luckily I have all my music saved in separate files on my hard drive. It was somewhat of a pain transferring it all back into itunes… but I did it and that’s what matters. My playlists on the other hand, those were lost forever- so i had to kinda recreate a few of my favorites. I guess it also gives me a good reason to create some new fabulous playlists. Good to change things up every now and then.  

Crisis averted! 

 

Random Things About my Week November 13, 2006

1. I paid off my credit card!! YAY!! I haven’t been debt free from credit cards since I started grad-school in 2004. Well now, they are finally paid off. Sure I still have 35K in student loan debt, but I just look at that like a really really cheap mortgage. $250 a month that I’ll be paying for the next million years.

 

2. I started back at yoga. I hadn’t been since right before Andrew got here and I’m feeling it now. Super sore, but that’s a good thing. The instructor yesterday kicked our butts. Just what I need before the holiday feasts start.

3. My mom’s 60th birthday party was a huge success and everyone loved the flowers and present cakes… (yes, cakeS). See, look how cute they all were:

 

4. I’m going Christmas shopping today. The other day I had to go to Barnes and Noble to get a guest book for my mom’s birthday party. Well, as I drove around for 10 minutes looking for parking, it suddenly hit me… Christmas shopping season is starting soon. Christmas shopping season is the most dreadful time of year for me. Now, I love love love Christmas- but I HATE Christmas shopping. Not because of the money I have to spend, or figuring out what to buy people… it’s because I HATE crowds, I HATE traffic and I dislike malls in general. So out of fear, I have decided to shop at random times on random days ASAP before it gets any worse.

5. Andrew left less than a week ago and it already feels like an eternity!!! It sucks having to say goodbye over and over and over. Hopefully he’ll be coming next month so I shouldn’t have to wait too long before my happiness returns

Sad Day, Happy Week November 7, 2006

Well the time had to come. My boyfriend had to go home, but I’m still happy because he did stay an extra 3 days longer than he was supposed to (he was supposed to leave Saturday). I’ve been kinda out of the loop, haven’t really written stuff on here, haven’t watched all of my TV shows, haven’t talked to many people the last week… but that’s what happens when I only have 10 days to spend with my Drew. Just to recap, here’s a list of some of the things that happened this week. It was one of the best

1. Went to Disneyland, I hadn’t been in years! It was really fun and not too crowded so we didnt have to wait longer than 30 minutes for any ride.

2. Andrew turned 26 on the 28th of October. We rode bikes downtown (it was a beautiful day), ate lunch at Ruby’s, went swimming and stayed at the Hyatt in HB that night. We went downtown and had too many drinks (Andrew had WAY too many drinks)

3. We ate out WAY too much, but ate soooo much yummy food! I think I gained a few pounds because on top of eating a lot, I also didn’t exercise that much (another thing that got skipped over so I could spend more time with andrew). Some of my faves: Tantalum, Don Jose’s, Tsunami, and Flemings. Some of Andrew’s faves: Ruby’s, Red Robin, Tantalum. YUM YUM.  

4. Speaking of eating out, last night Andrew and I went to Tsunami with my dad. Andrew did sake bombs for the first time ever and I tried shrimp (prawns) for the first time ever. That’s right! I TRIED SHRIMP. Those of you who know me, know how amazing that is. I think it was the glass of wine and the first 2 sake bombs that gave me the guts to try it out. I just had a little bite- but still, I tried it and that’s what matters. Andrew was very proud! It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. I think it’s something I could get used to- but not something I would prefer.

5. Andrew witnessed his first American Halloween. The decorations, the kids in costumes, Trevor’s crazy contraptions that scare the crap out of tiny children, and his first taste ever of pumpkin pie!!

6. I took Andrew to Hollywood and he got to see the Hollywood sign, Hollywood Blvd Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Hollywood and Highland and some of the freaks and other interesting “entertainment” in LA!

7. We watched DVDs, went and saw “The Departed”, went swimming, went to the beach, walked in the park, hung out with friends, drank a lot of wine, and also enjoyed some quiet cuddle moments

It was an amazing 10 days. I am so sad that he had to leave, but hopefully he will be back next month!! YAY. Now back to reality. Back to work, the gym, yoga and my TV shows. I’ll just have to start my new countdown to the next time we get to see each other! Oh and I got some really really CRAPPY horrible news about my text messaging plan with Sprint. But, I’ll blog about that later cause I want to keep this one nice and happy!

Here’s a few pics of my wonderful week:

 

HALLOWEEN WITH PRESTON AND EMMA:

 ON THE BEACH IN LAGUNA AFTER FLEMINGS:

BEFORE THE DROP ON SPLASH MOUNTAIN:

AFTER THE DROP ON SPLASH MOUNTAIN:

ANDREW’S FIRST SAKE BOMB

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