Google Today, SkyNet Tomorrow: My Birthday Edition

I was surprised to see this when I fired up the ol' Lappy 486 yesterday:

Yes, it's probably just based on a simple date in my Google+ profile (yes, I have one. no, I don't use it. yes, I'm still ashamed to have one), but it's nonetheless indicative of the coming SkyNet takeover.

And yet, I still like that it was a screen just for me.

So thanks, Google, for personalizing my internet experience yesterday.
And even more, thanks to all of you who made it a great day by wishing me a happy birthday through calls, texts, in-person greetings, and Facebook wall posts!

I'm who I am today because of all of you! Muchas gracias!

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This Year's Pie Night and Thanksgiving

Another amazing week of Pie Night and Thanksgiving festivities. And too much to write, so I'll sum it up mainly with pictures.

For another great recap of these lovely holiday events, see my sister's blogpost about them.

Pie Night Prep

You can't have a good Pie Night if you don't prepare properly.

So Heidi and I made a few pies. She did chocolate pecan, and I did cranberry-ginger pear.

Rollin' with the homies...

She makes her crusts, I buy mine
No wonder her pies are so much better

Doesn't it look amazing?!

Pie Night

I think our chocolate pecan and cranberry-ginger pear made their first appearances at this year's Pie Night.
Both did well (meaning they got eaten quickly), but the chocolate pecan was the first gone, and I'm not surprised, because it was absolutely delicious.

Showing off our contributions

Smyth girls

Smyth boys (minus dad)

We even had gluten-free pie (thanks, Danny!)

The first round of options

The night "Cup o' Pie" was invented

Thanksgiving

With our pie lust satisfied (as much as is reasonably possible) the previous night, we were ready for turkey and all the rest of the Thanksgiving goods. And I definitely had plenty, though my favorite part was and is and likely always will be the spending time with family, immediate as well as extended.

Siblings gotta snuggle a lil bit, right?

These gals have style

After this point, all I could think of was eating and socializing, so the camera got put away.

Thanks for a great holiday, family and friends. Hope yours was just as wonderful!

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A "Once Upon a Dream" Halloween

There's a lot of build-up to Halloween night.

You know, haunted houses and pumpkin carving and such.

But the real Halloween holiday season payoff is the big night and getting to wear costumes.

Heidi and I wanted to do a couples costume.
We struggled to decide on what we'd be, until we landed on the idea of Prince Phillip and Briar Rose.

This is what we were shooting for:

With the help of some pieces from HCT rentals, and my amazing mother making my tunic and hat, I'd say Heidi and I rocked our costumes. And I gotta admit it feels cool carrying a sword around all night.

Conclusive proof that Heidi is a princess in disguise

My sister Megan joined us, appropriately/coincidentally dressed as a blue fairy, and we had a fun night visiting several friend parties.

Yes, that's a ghost horse photobomb

Heidi and her SLAC friends in great costumes

Hmm, what to be next year... It'll be hard to top this one.

What were you? Did you do a couples or group costume?

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What Would Your Baseball Intro Song Be?

During the MLB playoffs, I started thinking about the players' "walk-up songs".
That's the song played by the ballpark while a player is walking to the plate or the pitcher's mound, and I believe each guy gets to pick their own tune.

Some current players have pretty awesome songs, as shown in this BleacherReport list.
Pretty cool that James Shields had Rammstein and then went to Kid Cudi, and Nyjer Morgan uses a Michael Jackson song, and Lance Berkman has Johnny Cash to get amped up.
Closers appear to have the best selections, including Mariano Rivera with Metallica's "Enter Sandman".

With the World Series starting tonight between the St Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox, we'll get to hear on the biggest stage which songs the players on this year's two best teams choose.

So I started wondering, which song would I select for myself?
And what song would my friends and family choose?

I had to go with "Fuel" by Metallica. Such a good pump-up song!

Here are some of the responses I got from friends when I asked on a Facebook post:

Heidi: 
Led Zeppelin - Rock and Roll

Stanley:
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower

Laurie:
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

Everybody sing along!

Dan:
Chumbawumba - Tubthumping

Maybe Dan gets hit by a lot of pitches?

Lucy:
Mary J. Blige - Work That

Jody:
Mary J. Blige - Grown Woman

Bringing her big-girl bat to the plate.
Note: I incorrectly had Beyonce's 'Grown Woman' here before. My bad.

Scott:
AC/DC - Thunderstruck

Does this remind anyone else of the start of Jazz games?

Alison:
The Killers - Move Away

Troy:
Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand - You Don't Bring Me Flowers

Troy specializes in power bunting.

Blythe:
Guns 'n' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle

Like a wild beast in the batter's box.

And last but certainly not least,

Tommy:
Lion King - Circle of Life

Pretty sure the crowd would always go wild for this one.

I think some of these suggestions were in jest, but I had to share them anyway since they're funny.

Most of them would certainly be good walk-up songs, and they'd get the batter pumped up.
And I love seeing the personality of the person reflected in what they chose.

What song would you pick?

So let's play ball! Batter up!

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So, Um, There's a Velociraptor at This Wedding

I've been to a lot of weddings, but never one that had a surprise guest from the Cretaceous Period.

Props to Rob and Larissa for creating a one-of-a-kind wedding experience for all of us.

It started out normal enough, with beautiful decorations, tasty food, and plenty of dancing.

And then a bunch of girls (cousins, maybe?) came running in, screaming and flailing their arms. Following close behind was a velociraptor. The theme to Jurassic Park accompanied the mayhem.

So entertaining, and the bride and groom were loving it. They took a whole bunch of pics, and more songs played for the velociraptor and us to dance to, including (of course) 'Walk the Dinosaur'.

Sadly, the velociraptor eventually had to leave-- I figure for its feeding time, since eating a wedding attendee would have been quite messy on the dance floor-- but we had all enjoyed the visit.

Some more pics from the evening:

Eve caught the bouquet

My sis looked smashing in her polka dot dress

Ran into the one and only Damian Dayton

My sis with the lovely new couple

Congratulations, Rob and Larissa! We will never forget your special (raptor-enhanced) night!

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Delightful Disneyland and Dodger Days

Disneyland. It's the happiest place on earth.

So we took our family vacation on the road to Anaheim, CA, for a couple days of fun.

Once again, this post will be mostly pictures. Hope you're ok with that.

Day 1: Disneyland

Breezy's first roller coaster ride. Like a champ!

Zonks' first roller coaster ride. Like a boss!

Meeting the big cheese.

With the first lady.

G-unit is an official Jedi padawan. Even defeated Darth Maul.

So excited to meet their favorite!

They tried so hard. Guess they're princesses, not kings.

Day 2: (Mostly) California Adventure

My #carouselfie shot. Yep, that's a thing now.

Day 3: Both parks

A Mickey beignet? Yes, please!

My sister's friend Jillian was super cool, and doesn't she look like Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones?

Cruella de Vil was a total crack-up.

Caught up with some friends in Downtown Disney.

Day 4: Huntington Beach and the Dodgers game

Our hardcore surfer dudes.

Great game! Dodgers beat the Giants in extra innings.

After such an action-packed adventure, I only have one question:
Is it too early to start planning our next family trip?

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