The Peterson's

I've received the following from a few people now, and think it's time to post! Love it!

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Translation: It's okay to let some things go if you have to. I can follow this advice now that I'm officially done with UPS. :) It has been an incredibly crazy couple of weeks. The build is coming along great, but obviously taking up quite a bit of time in our already hectic schedule. And all of this happening during the Holidays? It's a good crazy, but still crazy. People try to envision the "perfect" holiday ... which means determination and stress in getting this done, getting that done, making sure this is ready, that is ready, etc., etc. And then BOOM! Christmas is over. And you have no idea where it went. This year, we've had to let some things just kind of go. Time has not been on our side. With 6 Rubbermaid boxes of Christmas decor, it can get a little creepy in here if EVERYTHING is used. So there are a few favorites out, a few necessities ... some crosses, my nativity set, a couple of snow globes, and of course, the tree. Cam and I were out of town last weekend (Friday thru Monday) and that forced me to "let go" of some things as well. We never got around to hanging the lights on the house, but you know what? It's okay. We're okay with that. Christmas cards? Didn't quite get those out, but maybe ... just maybe, you'll find a "New Year" card in your mailbox. :) Watching ELF and a Christmas Story, baking for our friends, Cam making Christmas gifts, reading from the collection of Christmas books, and having some downtime in the evenings as a family have become the must haves for the "perfect" holiday. I'm looking forward to spending time with friends and family next week, which is THE most important. And I'm okay with that. :) So, with that said, you might want to grab a cup of coffee - or wine - depending on the time of day, and where you might be sitting when reading this. (Not sure your boss would appreciate you dipping into that jug of Gallo leftover from the office Christmas party, but whatever.) There is a lot of catching up to do, and a lot of pics that I have been meaning to post. You know it's bad when you have to schedule into your day updating blogs, websites, and Facebook pages. :)

So let's see ... we did get this accomplished last week:

That was huge. Got a lot accomplished in the way of work, school, and getting ready for our trip.

Cameron and I headed out of town last Friday for Simi Valley and Skatelab. The 3rd Lair Skatepark in Minnesota hosts a 12 and under skateboard contest series each year. There are 5 qualifiers around the country, and 1 championship event at the end at the 3rd Lair in February. Cam participated in the first qualifier held this past summer at Woodward West, and qualified in the mini-ramp division. This past weekend he entered the beginner bowl competition and did FABULOUS! He placed 6th on Friday, which qualified him to compete in the Finals on Sunday. And ... he placed 6th again, which meant he qualified for the champtionship event in MN. So when we head that way in February, he'll compete in 2 of the 3 events at a national level. So much fun. It was actually business/pleasure trip, as Cam had a blast skating and hanging out with friends - old and new. And mom, well ... I was networking like a pro! Met some fantastic people, handed out some business cards, and the greatest thing was that 99.9% of these people already knew about us. :) SK8 ASYLUM was talked about and up like you wouldn't believe! Postivie feedback and support from people I've never met was amazing. Some of our "new" friends have vowed to road trip out for the grand opening - a vow I'm pretty sure they won't break. Some pics from the weekend.

It was great to see the support and representation! Had a few kids wearing our shirts, sporting stickers on their helmets, and skating our boards. SK8 ASYLUM was well represented!

Cam's first comp on Friday ... and yes, he did land this one. :) Placing 6th qualified him for the Finals on Sunday

Cam after he found out he qualified for the Finals! Happy Boy!

Skating on Saturday - no competitions for Cam, but he was still practicing for the Final comp.

Downtime with his pals Saturday night at the hotel sports bar!

This didn't stop my baby from kicking some butt!

Cam skating in the finals on Sunday

Finals on Sunday ... placed 6th again and qualified for the Championships in Feb.!

6 CAMERON PETERSON Cam 9 QUEEN CREEK AZ SK8 ASYLUM 57.5 Golden Ticket

Here's Cam posing with his prizes and the golden ticket for Minnesota. He had to look "cool" for the official photo they took, but I got a few where he actually looks like he's excited that he qualified for the championship. :)

Here's one with Cam and his buddy from here, Shane Short. Shane placed 6th in the expert bowl. Headed to Minnesota also!

So all in all, it was a great trip. So glad to get home though. We were scheduled to fly out Sunday night, until we found out Cam was actually competing in the Finals on Sunday afternoon, with the awards ceremony and announcement of winners Sunday evening. With a few minor changes to air, hotel and car, we made it work. :)

Tons of work has been done on the "shop". (It's funny ... SK8 Asylum is approx. 10,000 square feet or so, and we refer to it as the shop - which is only about 500 sq. feet. :) Anyway, Bryan has been working hard at making sure everything is running smoothly during the build. The crew is coming along with the build, inspections are taking place, with approvals, and we are down to one last inspection that will hopefully happen within the next few days. City has been out and approved that everything is up to code with the framework, stairs, and fire sprinklers. Looking good! I won't post pics on here, you can check the website or the FB page. (Don't forget to become a fan.) And I just realized there are more "fans" of SK8 Asylum, then I have "friends" on my personal page. Should I be concerned?

Few other great accomplishments in the way of advertising for us ... an article came out in the December issue of the San Tan Valley Today Newspaper, which is our local paper here in Queen Creek. Couldn't get the exact link to the article, so you'll have to do a little clicking. Go to Newspaper Edition at the top, Issue 3, and select pages 17-32. We're page 31, second to the last page. Pretty good interview with Bryan, very proud of him. :) Gave us some great props, and ... the exact location of the park was disclosed. Bryan said there were a ton of people driving by to take a look at the place.

Also, Arizona Grind Magazine included an article in their December Issue about us. This is an online only magazine, very casual, and geared towards the Arizona skateboarding community. The guy that puts it together is actually a photographer, and just does this on the side. Also pretty good article, in retrospect. Would love to get my red pen out and make a few corrections with spelling or grammar, but then again, are any of you surprised? Besides THAT, it was nice to see us in print. :) Click on the link, which will bring you to the main page. Click on "Read the December 2009 Issue Now!" and you can flip through to page 32 where the article starts.

AND ... SPUN Skateboards updated their website and included us under Shop Locator and Links. This was huge for us. You can see we're the only ones in Arizona that will sell their boards, and we're in some pretty good company with the other locations and links included.

PHEW! You guys still with me? I know. It's a lot to take in. Cam is out of school as of noon tomorrow. He's just a LITTLE bit excited. Have a date with my hubby tomorrow night for dinner and some Christmas shopping. I'm just a LITTLE bit excited. Cam's headed to grandma and papa's house for the night so I'm sure he'll have enough attention thrown his way to last a while! Was trying to work out heading to Las Vegas to watch the Beavers play, but it just doesn't look like that will happen. Too much going on here with the build, and the timing is horrible. Kinda bummed about that, but .... we'll survive. :)

I promise I won't take more than two weeks for the next post. That is a bit pathetic. So ... talk to you soon! I'm headed to bed now, it's been a long week, and I think if I hit the hay before 1:00ish - which has been the norm this week - it might do me some good! Remember the title of the post ... this includes sleep. :)