Well, needless to say, the holidays are over.  It's a bittersweet thing, you know?  It's such an insane time of the year, that in the midst of it all, you're like, when is it all going to be over?!?  But now, I'm like gee golly! 

That was one of the best Christmasses ever!

Here's a list of my Top Ten of the season:

1. Shooting pumpkins with the Zenzics

2. Being a Lady who Lunches with some of the most prominent women of the Napa Valley - 'Dre Dog is quite the Socialista around these parts!

3. Catching up with my darling Bear in DC (I particularly enjoyed the part when Bear attempted to bring a 24 pack of Coors Light into Betsy Johnson ) 

4.  Shopping for bridesmaid dresses with Laura on the busiest shopping day of the year, and in the end, not finding one.

5. Spending time with the fabulous and hilarious Williams family in their incredible Potrero Hill Apartment.  Best and healthiest dinner I've ever eaten.

6. Spending time with the Jaeger family and the Shifflett Family  which included:

- discovering that Michael Shifflett has some unbelievable dance moves - 

and low slung, v-neck tank tops

- talking weddings with Lizette Jaeger and making a promise to both have a summer wedding,

during which we will debut our band: Velvet Wedgie with a Snag.

- Talking with Alex and Lizette about a future career in St. Helena catering - (i'd tell you our grand plan, but then I'd have to kill you...)

- hanging out with my other brother, Max.  He attempted to cuddle with me one night, but I had to remind him that that's not what siblings do!  Just lots of love.

- Spending time with Miss Augusta Shifflett, who is just more fabulous than ever in her Christian Louboutins, and hob nobs with big shots such as Paula LeDuc.

7. My mom finally giving in and buying me a mechanical juicer for Christmas ( the main reason she did not want to buy it for me being that it would mess up her kitchen... therefore I am not allowed to open it until I move into my own place.)

8. Spending the week after Christmas with our good friends, the Lorenzens, and discovering that the bond that our parents share was effortlessly passed down to us kids.  

9.  Skiing two runs on a DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND!  Impressive, I know.

10. Finally, hitting up all of the infamous dive bars of the Napa Valley on NYE with my brother and great friends.

It was definitely a holiday season that I will never forget!

Stay tuned for my next blog, in which I will describe my attempts to get back into City life complete with a job and a new place to live!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Spotted

The entire Lohan family minus Lindsay.  Shocker, I know.  Dina pretty much resembles a rotting persimmon, and Ali is a spitting image of her big sis.  The two boys are surprisingly cute and normal looking.

Who knew the Lohans went on vacations in places other than New Jersey or Long Island?  They actually know how to ski!!

Quotes by Andrea

Who: Andrea, Jim, Gina

When: 1:30pm

Where: Edwards, Colorado

Scenario: As Andrea, Jim and Gina walk out of Gorsuch:

"Ugh, I just hate it when I walk out of a store and haven't bought anything."

Prison Break

Greetings from Vail, Colorado!  

The Phelps family relocated from the insane assylum to Vail on Christmas day.  We woke up at 8:30, opened our gifts, enjoyed our standard Christmas Day breakfast of Dad's scrambled eggs and Bloody Marys, Will's berries and cream, and Mom's Pillsbury Grands cinnamon rolls.  'Twas a truly classy affair.

After eight hours of travel, we arrived at our very good family friends (the Lorenzens) townhouse.  The Lorenzen family includes the mom and dad: Gina and Jim, and their two children, Kara and Tom.  My dad and Jim were fraternity brothers at the Sigma Chi chapter at Colorado College.  It's amazing that these two men came out of college as heterosexuals, seeing as four of their fraternity bothers came out of the closet post-college.  After my parents got married and moved to Colorado, Jim and Bill reconnected, and Andrea and Gina were fast friends.  They shared a genuine love for Chardonnay, dinner parties, shopping, and babies.

Side note:  I've got to share my favorite story about Gina.  When they first started having babies, they were pretty much clueless.  Gina had Tom after Will and I had been born, and one day my mom invited them over for a playdate.  My mom watched Gina through the window as she attempted to transport Tom from the car to the house.  

Gina successfully removed Tom from the carseat, and spent about five minutes struggling to get him into his Baby Bjorn, so that they could safely enter the house.  It never occurred to her that she could simply carry Tom into the house by hand!  The process of being a new mother is just so amazing and hysterical to me, I can't wait till my girlfriends and I go through that together.

Anyways, we have been having the time of our lives.  My stomach is sore from all of the belly laughs we've enjoyed.  Stay tuned: I've got some good ones coming - particularly heavy in "Quotes by Andrea".

Fire drills are important afterall

The insanity continues.  Our alarm system has not been working lately, and we've had some pretty interesting experiences because of it.  The first was when, of course, my mom was taking a nap and I was sitting right next to the blaring speaker, and we both nearly had a heart attack.  

The second?  Ohhhhh the second.  I was really excited to go do some Christmas wrapping because I absolutely love wrapping gifts.  Just as I got settled on the floor with everything around me the gosh darned alarm goes off again.

Now.  This is no normal alarm.  The alarm screams "FIRE! FIRE! EVACUATE THE PREMISE!" and then this fun phrase is followed up by the sound of an enormous fog horn.  That part I don't quite get, but I mean, the sheer terror that this thing evokes would turn a dead person over in their grave.

Oh but there's more.  In the midst of the alarm, the alarm company calls to see if it's a real emergency.  Of course I can't hear the lady talking, but in the midst of screaming "FALSE ALARM"  I hear her ask for the password.  the password?  How on earth am I supposed to know the password?

So in one hand I've got the landline, and in the other hand I've got my cell phone, and I repeatedly try to get a hold of my parents.  No answer.  Ever.

The lady puts me on hold and after about four minutes the alarm goes off.  thank GOODNESS!  I continue to stay on hold as my ears are ringing, and about 8 minutes go by.  Finally I just hang up on this lady.  

Just as I do so, I hear the St Helena Fire Alarm go off.  CRAP!  Now the whole volunteer firemens' fleat is dropping whatever they're doing to come put out a false-alarm-fire.

The really sad thing is that I did not even think to call 911!  I've heard that in times of panic people sometimes forget that they're supposed to call 911 - that or I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

Long story short, the fire marshall comes to my house, and just as the fire truck's wails get closer, he tells them its a false alarm, and they could go back.

Just a typical Wednesday at the Phelps Household.

Okay I'm not sure why the link won't post, but the song is Billy Idol's White Wedding Parts 1 & 2.

Check it out!

Song of the moment

I recently flew to DC to visit my Vandy roomate, Catherine, and my friend Dante loaned me his iPod.  Well I just fell in love with this song!  Make sure you listed to it in it's entirety; it starts off as a rock song and then turns into an 80's pop music song!  It's really fun to follow the progression of the song!   Brace yourself, though, you've gotta dedicate 8 minutes and 22 seconds to this baby...