I braved the vicious 405 on Friday to attend the KISSmas Party hosted by KISS Wedding Books (they provide my beautiful leather flush mount albums) and am so I glad I did! Lots of familiar faces and made some new friends as well. Highlights of the night were winning a disc of Camera Dojo’s Photoshop actions, watching Doug participate in a high-stakes game of poker (cluelessly of course – I’m an Uno sort of girl), and squishing into the photobooth to create the masterpiece you’ll find below.

I got home from the party around 1 am, plopped into bed, and woke up 4 hours later for a 5-hour drive to Stockton for the annual mochi pounding gathering Scott’s family puts on (note: I was not the one driving, I was the one who was passed out in the backseat for almost the entire duration, possibly drooling on my sweater). I went last year as well and although I think I’ve gotten the manly pounding part down, I still fail in the “forming the mochi into nice balls” arena. I have Scott and his sister and middle school girls (and boys) showing me how to do it, and my mochi still comes out looking like someone ran it through a paper shredder. Maybe I’ll practice with Play-Doh for next year’s gathering, and while I’m at it I might as well work on the pounding side too, so I can bust it out like these guys.

On to the shots from the weekend, starting with the KISSmas Party…

Clockwise from top: with Serena / with the fabulous girls of All Made Up / the Lamborghini – raffled off to drive for a day / poker faces

Too much fun in the photobooth (you can never get enough dudes with boas): Lawrence of the Furious Photographers & Tofurious, Kevin Le Vu, Serena Grace, Mark Nguon

The next morning – shots taken between wielding heavy mallets after 4 hours of sleep:

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Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Cans for Comments last week! Will be totaling up the comments and going out on a can shopping spree in the next few days!
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