A lump of coal and some whiskey

I found out from a friend that in Scotland you go to your next door neighbor and give then a lump of coal and a bottle of whiskey every new year. And every other neighbor does the same through out the night. It was interesting to hear what other cultures do during the Holidays. I just thought that was pretty cool that you get a bottle of whiskey every new year. :-p

Anyways.. I would like to wish you all a Happy *belated* New Year and hope you all have many blessings this coming year! One of my New Year Resolutions was to stay and keep my little humble blog alive for as long as possible. So, hopefully Our Kind of Town will be here for another year or so. Haha, and maybe next year we can start going to our neighbors with a lump of coal and some whiskey.. or Sparkling Apple Cider, all the same.

God Bless,

~Shan

Ernesto

Ernesto, The Italian Chef

Ernesto lived in a little village near Venice. All his life he wanted to be a world class cook. He father would say “That’s women’s work”! But Ernesto never believed the silly musings of his father. He saw chefs in all the café’s and little restaurants around Italy. He always thought it be fun to crack an egg with one hand and to make a Filet Mignon. He would dream about making soufflés and all kinds of wonderful gourmet recipes. One day while running an errand for his mother he passed by a bakery and decided to go in and ask the Baker if there was a part-time job available for him to learn some basics. He inquired about this knowing he was going to hide it from his father.

The baker was very generous and decided to try him out immediately. Ernesto was so overjoyed at the prospect of working his first job, that he forgot to get the loaf of bread his mother asked him to pick up for her. After he arrived home his mother was very upset that he had forgotten. She said “Ernesto, what am I going to do with you? Your head is in the clouds. I send you out for a simple job and all you do is go off into your own little world and daydream. I see you sometimes when I pass by your school; not playing with the other children, but instead you pretend to cook leaves and rocks. What are you making, a stone soup?”

But Ernesto didn’t hear a word she said. All he was thinking about was how he was going to be an apprentice for the Baker of their town.

He wanted badly to tell his mother and father about his new adventure, but he knew that they would tell him to stop. They wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer or even a farmer, but they never would have guessed that he wanted to become a chef. After some months of learning most of the basics, he decided to leave the bakery and go to one of the more expensive restaurants seeking a new challenge. One of the top chefs who overheard Ernesto begging to be an apprentice said, “Why don’t you save up your money and go to a Culinary School. They are not cheap, but you might have a chance for a scholarship.” Ernesto had no hope of having that kind of money and even trying to get a scholarship. He felt discouraged.

After a few years Ernesto had given up any hope of cooking and learned the ways of a farmer, like his father and his grandfather before him. But one day, Ernesto’s father found out from the baker about that one special day when he went to get some bread for the family’s dinner. The Baker explained that Ernesto had been an apprentice and learned so much in such a short time, that the baker of the town couldn’t teach him anything anymore. “It is such a shame…my customers always ask for Ernesto’s special pantone.” His father ran home and slammed the door behind him. He yelled, “Ernesto! Get down here!” Ernesto came downstairs, wondering what he did to anger his father so.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your apprenticeship with the Baker? Ernesto, your mother and I have been saving up for your schooling, even before you were born. We have always had a plan for you, for your college tuition. When you told us you wanted to be a cook, we were upset only because we thought you would not have gone to college. But when the Baker told me of your plan from a couple of years ago, I had no idea that you COULD go to college to learn cooking. So, I am sorry for not being there for you when you needed me the most.” “Papa I—“replied Ernesto sheepishly. “No! You will take the money to go to this college for cooking. You must follow your dreams. You only live once.”

Ernesto did go to the Culinary School. He learned the ways of the chef, and opened his own restaurant, calling it “Ernesto’s Place”. After a few years of having his own restaurant he was awarded the James Beard award, a distinguished award in the cooking world, and published his first cookbook, which is now a best seller on the New York Times Bestseller List. He now has an agent who has negotiated a television deal for him, to host his first cooking show on The Food Network.

The story behind our Ernesto.. You may have met him in our kitchen..

New Addition to the Family

The Maher Family as of yesterday has a new addition the family. My dad just got her yesterday. But wont "officially" get it by sometime next week, because he just has to fix the breaks and have it smogged. Congrats Dad on getting your "dream car".
God Bless,
~Shan

Just a little note...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Having Fun with friends...

Playing Wolf....
^^^Damien's new friend, Forest The Lizard ^^^
Playing Baseball with a rock and stick...
The Licorice and Hershey Bandits!

Hunting with Friends...

Sorry to show the chipmunk, if you have a hard time with that sort of thing...
But...thats my kill. :-)

Thanks Jonathan for teaching me your special skills of gun safety and shooting!!

Camping ect, ect...

I haven't been able to come up with an interesting topic lately or anything to write about...until now.
Camping, Summer, ect, ect..
I went Camping and learned how to shoot a gun! Rather shocking for a sixteen year old girl to learn something like that, huh? You'd say, "most girls don't enjoy that, did you miss every time?, wasn't it hard?, I bet you didn't even shoot anything,". Well for all of your information I did shoot and kill chipmunks, and yes I enjoyed it! I missed quite a few times (crying out loud! It was my first time!!) and I thought it was a lot of fun!
Besides my fun with hunting, my friends and I had some other fun with fishing, campfires, wolf (up til 2am playing), catching a lizard, carrying buckets of water, and even doing word...and number searches. And of course whats a trip without a good game of Phase Ten?
I would like to thank Mrs. Crane and my mother, the two bestest, coolest, awesomest moms ever!!
Over the summer my mom has been in a Summer Class, gone most of the time studying and in classes. She worked really hard and I am so proud of all she has done to become a Nurse. Hopefully she will not be as stressed with the Beginning of the School year coming up. Besides that, in May I went to Nebraska with my two other Nebrasateers friends. And enjoyed traveling with them. And also having a blast with the Crane Family while there. I would never of been able to go to Ordinations with out them. I had some interesting experiences on that journey, on and off the planes. But I enjoyed every minute. Now I believe I am more prepared for traveling to Italy. And I wont pack SO lightly. ;-p
(Off subject here now....for a sec)
I realized something over the summer about friends. If I didn't have my friends, I don't think I would be whole different person. I mean it! I believe your friends have a big impact on your life, besides God and your Family. They help you through stuff, laugh with you, have fun with you, help you, talk with you, and even make you feel better while being sick. :-D I just wanted to touch on that a bit, I'll probably write about that more later...Anyways. I'm gonna try and write more.. (yeah, yeah I said that already!) But, my new English Teacher wants me to write all the time now. Even when I have nothing to say, to just plot down what I'm thinking. So I'm gonna try. :-)

Back on subject...sort of)

School,
Last Monday I started school for the year! I am now a Sophmor!! And on top of that, I got sick! :-| Probably from having a blast camping and getting really, really, hyper with my friends from licorice and hersheys (you'll see what I mean in the pictures....). But anyways, I have my same teacher from last year (thankgoodness!!). My subjects are Biology, Math, World History (Oh boy!! :-|), English 2, Spanish 2, and the reading elective where I read 100 pages a week (or more). All my classes are on friday, except Spanish which is twice a week.
I started off on a ruff start with getting sick. But I finished everything that needed to be finished for Monday, when I meet with my teacher. Now, I can relax, and write to you and enjoy getting better. I believe thats it for now...

On to the pictures!!!

Sinceramente,
~Shannon (a.k.a. Shunday) :-p

Bidwell

A very old friend of mine is rejoining his band and touring around Sacramento with his band "Bidwell". Check out his website http://www.myspace.com/bidwell

Enjoy!!
~Shan

Blake Lewis - You Give Love A Bad Name(Bon Jovi)

An awesome video....!!!

100 and still alive!!!

Dear Bloggers,

I am proud to say that Our Kind Of Town has reached 100 posts! I would like to thank everyone who has helped by posting even if they didn't want too, or even if they did like to! I also would like to wish everyone a Happy (belated) Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! And I would also like to thank everyone for making my Birthday so awesome! All the messages and phone calls, e-cards, and gifts really made my day special! I'm so blessed and lucky to have friends like all of you!!

Now on to another subject, now that Lent is over and school is going to end soon (Finally!), I would like to ask, what are you all doing for the summer? I know for one that I'm getting a job to save up for (Hopefully) a trip to Italy in 2008! So, I'll be kept busy for a while. All I have to do is find a job first...that may help a little. Also what did you all do for Easter? I went over to my Grandparents house for the weekend and spent Easter Sunday with my family and had a Easter Egg Hunt. On Monday we all went to Tall Ships and then had a wonderful dinner at my grandparents house with some of my friends. Which was soo much fun! Sadly I didn't get a group photo of everyone who went to Tall Ships but at least we all have the memory of it.

I picked this video because first off, I really like Josh Groban and Michael Buble! And they both sing so wonderful. But, they also are great togehther. I hope you all enjoy it and thank you again and again!


With my prayers,
~Shannon

Libertango (Piazzolla) - Yo-Yo Ma

Hola everyone!

Its Sunday! Do you know what that means? Time to Party! We not really, because that should be saved for all the drinking on St. Patty's Day! That could be the new show! How many shots can you handle?Hahaha....you don't care. Okay!

On to other stuff, I found so much stuff on Yo Yo Ma for my research report I'm doing on the cello. Well, I finished the report and got 100% but that's not the point! My point is that I have played for all those years and didn't realized how long it had been and all the history there was. Man! Does about 6 years count? (I think that's how long anyways...) But I had know idea all the history about the Cello! I mean it just amazes me that Andre Amati (the first cello maker) was Stradivari's (he is the maker of the bestest violins ever!) teacher! That's just a taste of what I have learned. Now, I'm off to writing a play. Yes, a play. A ONE act play about Disability. Yeah, not my idea (my Teacher of course) but I get extra credit and its a contest so if I don't win I still get my extra credit and if I do win...well...it will be cool I can tell you that. So this week is to the books for ideas!!Hahaha, it was either that or do the Odyssey all over again. Hard decision, huh? Not really.
Yesterday we (the book club) went and saw Twelve Angry Men at the Community Center Theater in Sacramento. I loved it, not sure about anyone else out there but I though that the anger was so much more than in the Book OR in the Movie. I got chills. Yeah I did! Maybe because Richard Thomas was in it! We will never know. It was a awesome play though I must say. It was worth the money! :-D Although the walk to Round Table and back was a bit harsh..but anyways!
Since Lent has started I have noticed how addicting it can be to watch a TV show. 24 is one of my favorite shows of all time, besides LOST! While my family is watching all these shows it is so tempting to just peek around the corner and take a look at what their screaming at, but in a good way its nice because I have gotten ahead in my school work and have plenty of time for spiritual reading and prayer time. Its been rather relaxing, no stress really. And plenty of time to write letters I can tell you that! Oh and I think I'm going to make Rosary Making as a living. I've done it so many times these past few weeks that I could probably do it in my sleep!

Well I think that's about it, besides being extremely tired right now from a long day. So I will bid you all goodnight! Until Next Sunday!

Adios!
~Shanchez

P.S. This is one of my favorite songs from Yo Yo Ma.

"Sunrise....Sunset. Sunrise Sunset." - Fiddler On the Roof

Dear Bloggers,

Well, it's plain and simple. I'm not going to be on Blogger, Facebook, or IM until Easter. I will still be on email for school purposes, but not much.

Lent is a time to make sacrifices and offer up the little things and big things for God. I'm going to be giving up computer and television for Lent. So now the big question for the next two months is...(drum roll please)...(not that I will see your answers)... What are you all giving up for Lent? Yes, the famous question right before Lent.

Oh and before I forget to mention! The Mardi Gras! I say props to Reed for the decorations and John Paul for being the Leader (Our president for YG), making sure we got everything done! Of course all the Shopping Gals who went to get the food deserve praise and thanks (yeah I was in that group!) And thanks goes to all the balloon helpers. Haha, I think the dance was fantastic! I was very surprised too, as to the number of people who showed up, because in the beginning it didn't look so good. Anyway, Congrats to everyone who helped put it together and I'll see you all after Easter!

God Bless,
~Shannon

Happy St. Valentine's Day Everyone!

St. Valentine Pray For Us!

~Shan @};-

Finally A New Post

We have this old man in our neighborhood who walks his dogs everyday (weather permitted) and we would always wave hello or smile when we pass by him. Over the passed years we have seen this young dog he had from a pup to now a full grown dog. One day we saw him and waved, we noticed he didn't have his dog with him (the dog is very old now). We assumed that the dog had died. The next day we saw him with another dog instead. A much younger dog but still a adult. Then a couple weeks later we saw the man, the new dog, and then the old dog he had for several years all walking down to the park. That was about 2 years ago. Since then we have seen quite a number of dogs with him walking down to the lake, park, or pool. So we have come to a conclusion on our friend with all the dogs. He is a Foster Dog Father...I guess you could say it that way. So everyday he takes his dogs on walk when Skip and I pass by and say our friendly hello's and how are yous and then on our way.
Yes that was very....random or out there, but I had no idea what to put up here. So yet another for no good reason post on Our Kind Of Town. I have noticed that not a lot of people have been on the Blogs because of Facebook (me included) But I just want to say for those who have stayed with it and have kept their blogs alive from that terrible word DELETION, I congratulate you!:-D

Just another humble blogger,

~Shan

New Years #2

New Years '06

KATE AND I
ALL THE GUYS (its just cardboard)
NICK, KATE, ME, TYLER, ANTHONY, and CONOR
GEMMA, ME, BIRDY, and GIANNA
KATE AND I

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Oh, and please go to Sarah's Blog. Remember Christmas doesn't end til January 6th :-p
Merry Christmas!!
~Shannon

Favorite Carols

What's your FAVORITE Christmas carol of all time during Christmas?? Mine is White Christmas by Bing Crosby.....well okay ANYTHING by Bing I like :-D
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

~Shannon

Friend Survey

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
5. Describe me in one word.
6. What was your first impression when we first met?
7. Do you still think that way about me now?
8. What reminds you of me?
9. If you could give me anything what would it be?
10. How well do you know me?
11. When's the last time you saw me?
12. Ever wanted to tell me something? If so, what?
13. Are you going to post this on your blog or notes and see what I say about you?
14. Anything you'd like to know about me?

It may seem weird...but you can get a lot of info out of this..;-p
Thanks,
~Shannon

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Well since everyone is still commenting on another post and still after I did another one, I guess I have no choice but to do (once again) another post. Alright, what are all of you doing for Thanksgiving? Are you going to your grandparaents house, are you staying at home, are you driving really far to see relatives? Well we are going to my grandparents house. But first TRADITION! Hahaha, we always, ALWAYS watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. Its been like this even before I was born....I think. Anyways, I have always loved watching it. My favorite of all time is Grover. I'm not sure why, But I always see him there. :-D And now the famous question of all time, What are you thankful for this thanksgiving? I'm thankful for my family, and for wonderful friends, and for our Pope, and having St. Stephens. Theres more but lets just leave it at that for now. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

~Shannon
P.S. The music in the parade to awesome as well ;-p