137.2....Holidays, Bowl Games & Many Festivities

 It has been such a crazy, busy week since I last posted. Bear with me, there are a ton of photos in this post. I last left you a week ago on Friday…I took my son to lunch at Pizza Rev, then to his basketball practice. 

For dinner, I reheated some Skinnytaste Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup. 

We went over to Joe and Alicia’s for wine and dessert. I brought one of my all-time favorite cakes:

Nothing Bundt Cakes Red Velvet Cake.  

Heaven.

Breakfast Saturday:

I went to the gym then came home to get packed for Los Angeles. My husband picked up Los Primos for lunch. I had a chicken taco salad. 

I mentioned before that my husband’s company is the title sponsor for this year’s Holiday Bowl again. We attended a tour of the USS America ship with both teams (Washington State and Minnesota). 

It was a really cool experience! 

Afterwards, we drove to my brother’s house in Los Angeles to celebrate my birthday and Christmas with my family. When we arrived, we were greeted with lots of yummy snacks. 

Dinner was brisket sandwiches, fries and salad.

 I opted to go bun-less so I could eat lots of my birthday cake. ;)

We checked into the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and called it a night. 

Christmas morning started off right with some of my favorite beverages. 

While opening presents at my brother’s house, we had a two-part breakfast. Part one was mini bagels with cream cheese, lox, onions, tomatoes and capers. 

If that wasn’t excellent enough, part two was breakfast burritos that were AMAZING.

It was loaded with spicy scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese, bacon and guacamole. If I could have, I would have eaten two. But I knew we had a fabulous Christmas dinner coming complete with a gorgeous crown of lamb!

Glad I saved room! Dinner was outstanding!!

Dessert was pretty amazing too. Besides the awesome chocolate birthday cake, we also had mini pumpkin cheesecakes that were divine. 

All good things must come to an end…..we had to say good bye and drive home that night. 

Monday’s breakfast:

Then it was time to head to the National Funding Holiday Bowl Kickoff Luncheon at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. 

My husband was one of the speakers for the event. 

Our lunch began with a Caesar salad:

The entree was short ribs with risotto and asparagus. Pretty good actually! You never know with these mass-produced meals. 

I was underwhelmed by dessert. I was an apple pie with phyllo dough and whipped cream. I would have preferred it to be served warm with ice cream. 

After the luncheon, we checked into the Manchester Grand Hyatt with the rest of our family and hung out for a bit before dinner. 

We had a huge family dinner at Corvette Diner. Every table had a huge tray of appetizers to start. 

I ordered the Dante’s Inferno (lettuce wrapped) with fries. 

For dessert, everyone had a mini sundae! 

Definitely a fun night hanging out with family!

Tuesday was game day. It started out right with some room service for breakfast. 

Egg white omelet with spinach, onions, cheddar cheese and sliced tomatoes. I also had some wheat toast. 

Game day started with the Holiday Bowl Balloon Parade. Since we are the title sponsors, we got to ride in the parade. 

We also were able to get our kids, nieces and nephews in cars behind us. The kids had a blast waving to everyone along the parade route!

We had a few minutes to change and head to the bus for the big game!

Before the game, we went to the Holiday Bowl tailgate. I had some steak, salad and mashed potatoes. 

Then it was game time!

We were able to walk out on the field and watch my husband do the coin toss.

I also ran into Larry, the Dr. Pepper guy! LOL

The game ended with Minnesota taking the trophy. Congrats to the Golden Gophers! 

We boarded the bus and headed to Coasterra for a big dinner with family and friends. There was a fabulous buffet of all sorts of delicious Mexican food but somehow it escaped my camera. I did capture the mini churros for dessert that appeared at the table! Yum!

And just like that, the Holiday Bowl festivities came and went. We met everyone at breakfast at Buster’s Beach House at Seaport Village. I had an egg white omelet with spinach, jalapeños, onions, cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes and wheat toast. 

After breakfast, everyone said their good byes and headed out. My husband and two of his brothers took the kids to Las Vegas for the past two days. I’ve had the house to myself! I can’t say it was super relaxing because my to-do list was a mile long. So much laundry and mess all over the house from the holidays.

I did meet Lisa and Alicia for an impromptu dinner at Love Boat Sushi. Besides the service being awful, the sushi was great. It had been way too long since I had had it.

Miso Soup:

Tuna nigiri:

Salmon and Yellowtail Nigiri:

Marine Boy roll:

Wasabi roll:

Breakfast yesterday:

I got up bright and early and went to the gym. That was much needed.

I got my hair done, then brought home some Subway for lunch. 

Turkey, avocado with all the veggies and lots of buffalo sauce.

I had to run a bunch of errands later in the day and decided I needed sushi. Again. I decided to give KI Sushi a try!

Miso soup:

Tuna, yellowtail and salmon nigiri. As well as a Spicy Fantasy Roll:

I really enjoyed it and would definitely go back!

Today’s breakfast:

I went to Orange Theory this morning and have been trying to clean up my desk all day. It’s amazing how much stuff piles up. The husband and kiddos are coming home this afternoon. The craziness will continue into the next few days with more trips and a couple football games thrown in.

Happy New Year!

What are you New Year’s Eve plans?

Technorati Tags: Birthday, Coasterra, Corvette Diner, Everyday, Holiday Bowl, Los Primos, Love Boat Sushi, National Funding Holiday Bowl, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Orange Theory , Pizza Rev, Skinnytaste, Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup, Subway, KI Sushi