Christmas Cruise Part 2: Catalina Island

Can you believe this pictures were taken on Christmas Day? Didn't really feel like Christmas, but it did feel like the vacation of a lifetime. This is Catalina Island, off the coast of California. It was so picture perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, sunny, and warm enough for t-shirts. This is me and Tom on the tender boat. We had to take this boat from the cruise ship to the island.
I was just liiiiiittle excited. Can you tell?
Did you notice I bought new sunglasses part way through these pictures? Tom hated the ones I bought for 99 cents at Charlotte Russ so I bought new ones in Catalina. Personally, I don't see much of a difference, do you?
The first thing we did was SHOP SHOP SHOP! This is the hat I almost bought. It was super cute, but I couldn't think of any other time I would wear it, so I didn't buy it. Looking back, I wish I did. I would make up reasons to wear it around my house.
Don't ask me what Tom is doing with this seal...
Random eagles.


This was the best part of Catalina. Rather than renting golf carts to drive around the island, we rented electric bikes! They're regular bikes, but they have batteries attached to the back that help propel the bikes. On flat roads, you don't even have to pedal! If you ever go to Catalina Island, this is the way to go. It's cheap, super-cool, and you can go everywhere around the city in no time!

With the bikes, we were able to ride up a mountain and get some amazing pictures!

Saying goodbye to Catalina. It was such a romantic day!
Next blog...my first trip to Mexico!

Our Christmas Cruise...In More Detail

Part One: Long Beach and Carnival Paradise.

One of the main reasons we decided to go on this cruise is because it was cheaper to FLY to California AND pay for a cruise, than it was to fly home to Ottawa for Christmas. That being said, it's not like the trip was cheap, so we still had to save money wherever we could.

When we arrived in Long Beach, California, we still had a lot of time to kill. So we did a little research and found a nearby mall. This was not your average mall. It was HUGE! And attached to it was a Target AND a Costco! It was also crazy busy since it was the day before Christmas. We spent most of the time in Target so we could push around our luggage in a shopping cart.

Wondering how we got around in Long Beach? You guessed it! Good old public transportation. A taxi to the cruise ship would of cost us $40!! A bus ride was only $1.10 each. It was a no-brainer.Notice the palm trees?? Jealous yet? Did you notice I'm also in a t-shirt IN DECEMBER?
By the time we got on the cruise ship, named Carnival Paradise, I was ready to scream with excitement! Good thing there were already hundreds of kids screaming, so I didn't feel the need. There were seriously sooooo many families on our cruise. Every few minutes there were kids running up and down the hallways. I didn't mind though, it kinda added to the experience. But it did make me miss my own nieces and nephews.
Our room was great! We had a king bed, which always feels huge to us, since we only sleep on a double at home. I loved when our room was cleaned because they would leave chocolates and fun towel creations.
Our first morning on the cruise was Christmas morning. This is what sunrise looked like from our window. Gorgeous, eh??
I'm still amazed Santa was able to find us in the middle of the ocean! Can you guess which stocking is mine?
Tom got a 16 GB flash drive, a tie (which coincidentally matches one of my headbands), a Pass the Pigs game, a belt, gum and, of course, lots of chocolate.
I got lots of jewelry, flowers for my hair, a couple LillyMae bags (a flower wrist bag and the gym bag), chocolate, gum, and, my favorite gift, a subscription to STAR magazine. Bring on the celebrity gossip!
We spent Christmas Day on Catalina Island. Wait until you here what we rented to get around the island! Stay tuned for the next blog post!

Christmas Cruise

Most people don't like reading travelogues. Myself included. So rather than bore you to death with details from our cruise, here are some of the random things we saw. Hope they make you giggle as much as they made me giggle.

Every night the cabin steward would fold our towels into something adorable!

Like a pig!An Elephant!

I think this is a dinosaur.And last but not least, a heart!

Then, there were always fun carvings around the ship.

This Santa is made from mashed potatoes. Cool eh?
An ice carving of Santa and his reindeer.

In Ensenada, Mexico, they had a strange nativity scene where the Baby Jesus had a head bigger than Mary and Joseph.Then there was the giant statue made from whale bone. Those crazy Mexicans!
If I get good feedback from these or I get requests, I will post more pictures from our trip. Or I might just post more anyway. Depends how bored I get in the next few days.

Ugly Sweater Party

Saturday night was my sister-in-law's annual Ugly Sweater Party. You know the kind. They're thick, bluky, and have some sort of winter or Christmas scene on them. I'm not sure if it's a Utah thing, but I know every year there are tons of people searching through racks at DI (the thrift store) looking for the ugliest Christmas sweaters for these parties.

T.B. Harker and I didn't have time to shop for our ugly Christmas sweaters, but luckily Tom is a whiz with the sewing machine and he was able to whip up a couple vests for us.

Yes, believe it or not, my husband sewed these! Just add it to the list of things he's good at. Did you notice the "T" on the front of T.B.'s vest? Wait til you see the BACK!

Ours weren't the only amazing sweaters at this party. You can check out more pictures HERE!

And not only was this an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, we also had a cookie exchange AND and white elephant game.

These are what I made for the cookie exchange. I'm not a pretzel fan, but cover them in caramel and chocolate, and suddenly you have the perfect treat! They were soooo good. You wouldn't even know this is the first time I've ever made them!

I love Christmas! And Christmas parties!

My Date with Kate

On Friday night, I got to babysit our baby niece Kate. I was excited and a little nervous. It's been A LONG time since I've watched a baby by myself. T.B. Harker has always been there for moral support, plus he usually does most of the work since he's so great with kids. This time, it was all me.

Kate's a special little girl. She was born a few weeks early, so she's always been smaller than other babies. For the first few months of her life she was hooked up to oxygen, so I still have this mind frame that she's extremely fragile.

Lucky for me, Kate was in a good mood and we had a pretty good time. So much so, I just had to get out my camera for a little photo shoot!

I couldn't get this picture to format right. But you can still see how CUTE she is!She liked my hair.
I think I may have been having more fun than she was.
Best Friday night date ever! Thanks Kate!

Holy Crow! I'm 25!

Wednesday was my birthday.

The highlight of my day? I got a birthday text from my dentist AND a birthday phone call from our American Family Insurance agent. I feel so loved.

Just joking! That was just PART of my awesome day, thanks to my awesome husband.


He bought me this awesome and sexy jacket! It's sooo warm, but not bulky. Perfect for Utah! He also bought me some MAC makeup and a Terry's Chocolate Orange. He knows me so well!

Can you guess what kind of cake? It's Dairy Queen ice cream cake! With extra icing... My favorite!

A few of Tom's siblings plus TEN nieces and nephews came over to help us eat it.
One of our nieces is only TWO WEEKS OLD! She's sooooooooo cute!

Needless to say, I spend a lot of the night holding her.

Guess what! I can finally drive a rental car! The world is my Oyster.

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I have the best family and friends EVER!

KSL in the News

It's not often news organizations make the news, but this past week, KSL has been in the major Utah papers THREE times!

You know how I blogged last weekend about how amazing we did during Sweeps, even with Jay Leno as our lead-in? Well apparently I wasn't the only was talking about it.

Here are snip-its from two of the three articles, both from The Salt Lake Tribune. Enjoy!

TV: KSL continues dominance despite Leno flop

By Vince Horiuchi

Tribune Television Critic

12/03/2009

KSL Channel 5's late-night news is like the Coca-Cola of local newscasts (an odd analogy if you know who owns KSL, but I digress).

The 10 p.m. newscast with Bruce Lindsay and Nadine Wimmer is a popular brand, just like that delicious caramel-colored beverage. It's a local tradition, a reliable television entity that's so ingrained in Utah's viewing habits that it would take a nuclear disaster to unhinge its dominance in the ratings.

Not even Jay Leno can ruin it.

The November sweeps are over. Once again, KSL led the ratings race, even after a disastrous debut from "The Jay Leno Show" as the lead-in to the late-night news.

For the 10 p.m., Monday-through-Friday ratings for November, KSL got a 10.1 rating;

KUTV Channel 2, 9.1; KSTU Channel 13, 5.5; and KTVX Channel 4, 4.4. Ratings refer to the percentage of Utah's 944,060 television households watching a particular program.

Lead-ins are vitally important to local news stations. Affiliates depend on those 9 p.m. shows to attract viewers who will stick around to watch the news. So far, "Leno" has been a huge failure -- although not a surprising one, as low ratings were predicted by national critics.

But KSL has weathered the "Leno" show flop better than any NBC affiliate in the country. In fact, KSL had the highest-rated late-night news of any NBC station in the country last month, according to Con Psarras, KSL's news director.

Article #2

KSL still leads in late-night TV news viewers

Ratings » Overall audience is down for those spots, continuing a trend.

By Vince Horiuchi

The Salt Lake Tribune

12/03/2009

Despite one of the worst lead-in programs in years that has crippled other local NBC television newscasts around the country, KSL Channel 5 remains the ratings leader in late-night TV news.

All stations experienced drops in viewership from the same time last year, a downward trend that has continued for at least a couple of years as Utahns turn to the Internet for news. But KSL has experienced a small decline, even though its new lead-in program at 9 p.m., "The Jay Leno Show," has had some of the lowest ratings for that time slot.

"Leno" averaged a 4.4 rating in November, while the one-hour dramas NBC used to broadcast in the 9 p.m. hour, including "Medium" and "Law & Order," averaged a 6.2 rating, according to NielsenMedia Research.

According to November "sweeps" figures, KSL still led the Monday-through-Friday, 10 p.m. newscasts. Ratings during a "sweeps" month are especially important for television stations because that is when advertiser's rates are calculated.

KSL led with a rating of 10.1, followed by KUTV Channel 2 with a 9.1. KSTU Channel 13's news at 9 p.m. was third with 5.5, and KTVX Channel 4 was fourth with a 4.4. KJZZ Channel 14's news at 9 p.m., which is delivered by KUTV, posted a 1.1 rating.

A ratings refers to the percentage of Utah's 944,060 television households that are watching a particular program.

"NBC deserves credit for trying something different," KSL News Director Con Psarras said about the network's decision to move Jay Leno to prime time. "The lesson to KSL and other stations is we're on our own, and we sink or swim on the caliber of our own product. I'm gratified that we have the kind of product that attracts viewers on its own.