Happy 2010!

Joey and Stephanie came down from Montreal to celebrate New Years weekend with us in LA.
We had dinner and drinks at Katsuya in Holly- wood...

...and finished the night with a bottle of bubbly watching the ball drop at home...

All pics HERE

O Christmas Tree

The Lima Christmas Eve was at Mom and Dad's this year... Mom went all out on decorating and Dad even set up the trains for the little kids!

Mom got Daisy a snowman Christmas sweater and she got a lotta love from all the Little Limas! Daisy is our favorite Christmas present this year because we almost lost her two weeks ago (and when I say "we," I mean "I")...thank goodness we found her! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wedding in a Winter Wonderland

Suzy and Matt's wedding was absolutely beautiful...she created the most amazing winter wonderland setting with shades of blue and silver and it turned out to be the most lovely Southern California winter day in Palos Verdes!

...she actually made her own dress and was more stunning and more enchanting than a Disney Princess!

Fun in the photo booth!

Congrat- ulations, Matt and Suzy!!!

Click HERE for all the pics.

Our First Christmas Card

Christmas Cards from Family and Friends

Hometown Run

Catherine, Nancy and I ran in the inaugural LA County Half Marathon at Fairplex and Pudding- stone on Sunday...

Billy, Nicole, Mom & Dad all came out to cheer us on at the finish line, which we each crossed at...

Catherine 1:59:25 - Nancy 2:03:37 - Carly 2:10:39

The only time I ever stopped running was to snap these pictures... can't believe all this beauty is right in our backyard!

With horrible weather in the week leading up to the race, were just relieved we didn't have to run in the rain - but it actually ended up being a BEAUTIFUL morning.

After the race, Billy treated us to a well deserved brunch at IHOP. And he says that, next year, he is going to cheer us on from his boat!

(Link to last year's 1/2 Marathon)

Go Galaxy!

Sunday in Seattle to support the Galaxy in the 2009 MLS Cup...it was such a great game, coming down to penalty kicks at the end...

unfortun- ately, we lost...but it was still pretty exciting to be there!



The game was held where the Seahawks play...nice stadium - and PACKED with Seattle Sounders fans!

The city's skyline was beautiful at night...

It was so cold that one of the wandering vendors was actually a "hot chocolate and whipped cream" guy!

All pics HERE

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

Leave it Suzy to reinvent the Vegas Bachelor- ette Party...we started the day with indoor skydiving, which was basically playing around in a vertical wind tunnel with an instructor that guided us...since I would never do the real thing, this was a pretty cool alternative!


We had a fabulous dinner at Emeril's New Orleans, went to a highly entertain- ing show at the Paris casino called The Uncensored Hypnotist and danced the night away at Studio 54...fun girls, fun weekend!

Skydiving Pics
Vegas Pics
Alexis' Pics

Congratulations, Paul and Erin!

Go Zenyatta!!!

Lots of fun with family and friends at the 2009 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita! It would have been a great day at the races in and of itself, but it was especially exciting because we got to witness Zenyatta, an undefeated filly, win her 14th and final race against the boys in the Breeders' Cup Classic...one of THE greatest moments in horseracing and one of the most fun days at the races ever! Click HERE for all the pics.

My first "Carly Allevato" credential!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Steve!

Wednesday night, Uncle Steve's friends and family joined together to wish him a very happy birthday, thanking and praising him for all of the good work he has done over the years for our furry little friends!

Halloween 2009

One of our favorite movies of 2008 was Watchmen, so I was so excited for us to dress up as Night Owl and Silk Spectre...
...well, Tony had a pretty rough day at work, so he opted for comfort, going to the party as a video gamer in his "It's on like Donkey Kong" t-shirt...would have been more fun if we were BOTH dressed in character, but it was still a fun night!

Friday Night Lights

A fun time under the Friday night lights for Amat Homecoming. Gregory's Chamber Singers group sang the national anthem to start off the night...


Then Dad and Gregory left to go the Chalet for the kick-off dinner of Paul's bachelor party weekend. Mom, Cat, and I stayed to watch the Lancers beat the Alemany Warriors 36-14!



After the game, we headed to the Coliseum for the Nike Human Race...running at midnight in South Central... yeah, probably won't do that again...but it was an experience!

Happy Birthday to a LOT of Limas!

Celebra- ting September October, and November birthdays at Aunt Debbie's... and it looks like a few others snuck in for the candle-blowing as well... ; )

UCLA Day

What a fun afternoon in Westwood with Angela! We had lunch at the Corner Bakery,

went shopping at the UCLA bookstore, and had dessert at Diddy Riese, an essential stop on a tour of Westwood!

Field Trip to Edwards Air Force Base

Dad took all of us kids and Grandma to the Air Show at Edwards Air Force Base.

We started out with a great

"down home" breakfast in Lancaster at a place called Karen's Kitchen, then stopped off Avenue G where we got to drive over the Honda Musical Road. Thanks to Aunt Marilyn for tipping us off to this...Honda built this as an advertising stunt - when you drive over it (ideally in a Civic at 55MPH), the grooves in the road "play" the William Tell Overture. Here is a video that someone posted on you tube of the the original road. Apparently, many residents complained of the noise, so they paved over it and moved it to a less busy street not too far away. We couldn't resist driving over it twice!



The Air Show was really impressive...amazing to see these planes take off and land in such short time/distances...pretty crazy how close they are able to fly to each other, too!

After the show, we stopped at Sonic Burger Drive-In for dinner because Gregory and Catherine, after watching too many very tempting

commercials recently, discovered that Lancaster was the closest location to us - so of course, we couldn't pass that up...! All in all, a VERY fun day with "Vacation Dad!"

Welcome, Baby Kendra!

Congrat- ulations, Brent and Janelle - what a beautiful new baby girl!

Beach Run 2009

Cat and I ran in our "5th Annual" Manhattan Beach 10K...Cat warned me that she hadn't been training, so I was going to have to bring up our "Sisters" team score...well, I'm pretty sure she could take an entire year off from running and still smoke me...

Catherine 52:23 Pace: 8:26
Carly 1:00:25 Pace: 9:44 (a new personal best!)

Mom came to cheer us on and we had a great breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House afterwards.

Road Trip!

Our first family vacation... what started out as a trip of just Tony and his brother flying to Phoenix for the weekend to watch the Colts play the Cardinals turned into a
road trip with all three of us to Vegas, Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon!
Daisy, just chillin' in the room while we went out to dinner...



Dinner at Ago at the Hard Rock Cafe...we got to visit with Emilio, our favorite waiter from Ago in LA who moved here when they opened this restaurant.




A quick stop for Daisy outside the pet-friendly Westin before hitting the road for Arizona...


Driving through the Hoover Dam... Tony called this the leaning tower of electricity!


We met up with Mikey at the Phoenix airport, took Daisy to his hotel for the day, then went to the Colts game...










Our SWEET suite that Paul LoDuca invited us to!
It was a great game in a great season for the Colts!

Sedona was so beautiful... the rock formations were amazing...

I heard someone say that this must be where the put all the rocks that they dug from the Grand Canyon!

We stayed at a place that Paul's dad manages and we got great restaurant recommendations from a friend of mine from High School who lives there now.


The Grand Canyon was just AWESOME!!! You see pictures of it all your life, but there is just no way you can't be impressed by how massive and breathtaking it is in real life...




Arizona is truly a beautiful place...it was such a fun trip, but Tony's allergies went crazy being so close to Daisy in the car for so long, so that just might be our only Daisy road trip : )

All pics HERE