Spotlight: Ken McEntire

The Basics

Name: Kenneth James McEntire
Nickname(s): "Oogie", "boo-boo", "Kenny", "Cold-cut-Kenny"
Birthday: Dec. 20 Zodiac: Sagittarius
Birthstone: Turquoise
Ruling Planet: Jupiter
Hometown: Centerville, Utah
Current Location: Centerville, Utah
Occupation: Graphic Designer
Employer: 4Life

**********************************

Firsts
First Word(s): Probably something food related
First Date (Who, Where, When): Nichole Bain, Kindergarten, the "Little Toy"
First Car: My Grandma's 1965 Pontiac Catalina... "Super Car"
First Friend: Deidre Lombardi
**********************************

Favorites

Color to wear: Blue
Color Schemes/Styles to decorate with: Blue & Brown... modern mid-century, clean lines Ikea type.
Cuisine/Meal: Do baked goods count as a cuisine? I guess if I have to choose "real" food it would be Mexican
Sit-Down Restaurant: I'm in the mood for Steak right now so I'm going to say Maddoxx
Fast Food Restaurant: Cafe Rio, don't eat much fast food.
Movie: I can't pick a favorite!
Movie Genre: Comedy / Romantic Comedy / True Stories
Book: I've been meaning to read something

Author: Beverly Cleary
Book Genre: Cook Books, or Biographies

Store/Website to Shop at for Clothes: The Buckle / H&M / Nordstom Rack

Store/Website to Shop at for Housewares: Wiliams Sanoma / Ikea
Store/Website to Shop for (Other): Amazon
Vacation you've taken with Family: It's been a long time, but the most memorable were going camping to Bear Lake when we were all kids. Trips to Disneyland and to Disneyworld.
Vacation you've taken with Friends/Solo: Tokyo Japan was an adventure, but my heart belongs to New York, love it there every time I go.
Wild Animal: Hedgehog
Animal (Pet): I'm not a big pet person. love animals just like children. They are best when viewed from a distance. But if I had to have a pet it would be an English Bull Dog, they're so lazy I would seem very active in comparison.
Musical/Play: Into the Woods
Musical Artist/Band: I'm so bad at favorites... I like singer songwriter types Jason Mraz, Gavin Creel, Brandi Carlisle, Dolly Parton
Music Genre: Pop
***********************

Tell us...

about your hobbies: baking, traveling, camping, Theatre, building schools in Africa, sky diving (OK so I haven't got around to the last two, but I have good intentions)

a most embarrassing moment as a child or an adult: Wasn't really embarrassing, but as a young chunky child I put a marble from our Tilt board game in my belly button while being board watching TV. A few days later I was getting ready for church and had my shirt off and doing some stupid dance in front of Kelli and she said "what's in your belly button" and much to my chagrin the marble was still in my really, really innie belly button.... classy!

Spotlight: Carol Williams

The Basics

Name: Carol Williams

Nickname(s): none

Birthday: October 11

Zodiac: Libra

Birthstone: Opal

Ruling Planet: Venus

Hometown: Mount Laurel, NJ

Current Location: Mount Laurel, NJ

Occupation: Student / Cashier / Sales Representative / Rowing Coach

Employer: Danzeisen & Quigley / South Jersey Rowing Club

**********************************

Firsts

First Word(s): I'm not positive of what they were. My dad says they were "dada." My mom says "mama." I'm sure it was alot more exciting sounding than it does now.

First Friend: Tory Bezy

First Date (Who, Where, When): Ray Eveland, Bowling Alley( laurel lanes), age 16

First Job: Friendly’s as a hostess at the age of 14. Freshman Year in high school. I hate how you smelled when you get out of there, but I still love to eat there, surprisingly.

First Car: 2004 Jeep Wrangler

**********************************

Favorites

Color to wear: Any. Earthy tones, but black is always slimming

Color Schemes/Styles to decorate with: Colorful and warming. Anything that makes you feel comfortable

Cuisine/Meal: Sushi, Shrimp Tempura to be exact

Sit-Down Restaurant: Friday’s

Fast Food Restaurant: Wendy’s

Movie: Elf

Movie Genre: Comedy/Romantic Comedy

Book: Into the Wild
Author: Mitch Alboum / Thoreau
Book Genre: Non-Fiction, Inspirational true story types
Store/Website to Shop at for Clothes: Target, Swell
Store/Website to Shop at for Housewares: Target, Bed Bath & Beyond
Store/Website to Shop for (Other): Victorias Secret,
Vacation you've taken with Family: Thailand, way back when

Vacation you've taken with Friends/Solo: Mont Tremblant, Quebec

Wild Animal: Koala Bear

Animal (Pet): Dog, but have cat

Musical/Play: I have never been/seen a musical/play although I think I would enjoy it

Musical Artist/Band: Dave Matthews Band

Music Genre: Everything
***********************

Tell us...

about your hobbies: reading, relaxing, surfing, snowboarding, coaching, rowing, working out(that is, when I’m in shape), hanging out with friends, traveling, scrap booking

a most embarrassing moment as a child or an adult: Child…At dinner in Thailand, drinking a lot of water because everything was so spicy, then peeing the bed with Dave sleeping in it also. (VERY YOUNG, don’t judge me)

Carol's Amazon.com Wish List

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=2FYJY5NGGHMWC

Gift Exchange - drawing results

David and I drew names for everyone tonight. We printed out a list of everyone' names, folded them up and placed them in bowl. We drew at random and below are the results:

You__________ Buys for:
David__________ Jim (Kelli's Dad)
Kelli___________ Beverly (Kelli's Mom)
Al_____________ Kelli
Nid____________ Mish (Kelli's sister)
Carol___________ Ken (Kelli's brother)
Beverly_________ Nid (David's Mom)
Jim____________ Al (David's Dad)
Ken____________ Carol (David's sister)
Mish___________ David

So, there you have it. If you have an Amazon wish list, this is a great way to let people know what you want/need. If not, consider setting one up or you can certainly post your gift ideas on this blog as well.

As a reminder, you should spend no more than $30 on your gift. It can be one gift or multiple gifts that equal $30 or less. Do not worry about stocking stuffers, David and I will take care of those for everyone.

Happy Shopping everyone!

Spotlight: Mish McEntire

The Basics

Name: Michele McEntire "Mish"

Nickname(s): Mish, Mishi, Mishelina

Birthday: May 28 Zodiac: Gemini

Birthstone: Emerald

Ruling Planet: Mercury

Hometown: Centerville, Utah

Current Location: Seattle, WA

Occupation: Artist/Office Manager-Shipping & Receiving

Employer: Self-Employed/ University of Washington - Primate Center

**********************************

Firsts

First Word(s): Not sure exactly, but more than likely it was "I'm good, how are you?". Mish learned to talk at a very early age. Our Mom used to comment all the time how people used to ask her how she was and would be shocked because she would answer them in a full sentenses and then ask them how they were and that you just didn't anticipate that kind of response from a baby.
First Friend: Tammy & Charmain (nursery)

First Date (Who, Where, When): Age 6, Randy Hull, Had dinner at his parents house. First Job: We all worked for my Dad when we were kids so I guess technically that was the first job we had, but her first real job was at Channel 12 when she was in High School.

First Car: 1975 Green Jeep Cherokee
**********************************

Favorites

Color to wear: Black, of course.

Color Schemes/Styles to decorate with: Mexican, Day of Dead

Cuisine/Meal: Thai Food (anywhere)

Sit-Down Restaurant: Stella's (Seattle, WA)

Fast Food Restaurant: Jack-in-the-Box (Seattle, WA) Seattle doesn't really have much fast food (in the city). Your options are McDonalds or Jack-in-the-Box.

Movie: Strange Brew or Dangerous Liaisons

Movie Genre: Comedy/ Romantic Comedy

Book: Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
Author: Shakespeare
Book Genre: Art Books (artist biographies, history)
Store/Website to Shop at for Clothes: Silhouettes
Store/Website to Shop at for Housewares: Target, Amazon
Store/Website to Shop for (Other): Amazon
Vacation you've taken with Family: National Parks/Ruins (We went on a tour of several of the National Parks around Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Montana when we were kids, we saw old Indian ruins and ghost towns, etc. Very cool!)

Vacation you've taken with Friends/Solo: June 1996 Van Couver (while stalking BNL). Mish and her friends used hang around with the guys from the musical group Bare Naked Ladies. This was before they became famous.

Wild Animal: Platypus

Animal (Pet): Kitties

Musical/Play: Sweet Charity

Musical Artist/Band: Flight of Concords

Music Genre: Eclectic (everything except gangster rap and really twangy country)
***********************

Tell us...

about your hobbies: Art , make weird things out of bits, 3 dimensional art, paint. Learning different forms of art. Writing, movies and music. Vampires. Collecting halloween-esk chackies(Vampires, skulls, bats and day of the dead).

a most embarrassing moment as a child or an adult: Child - I crawled into retrieve Dad's brand new flashlight from the outhouse at Carl &Janet's cabin. Emerged covered in poop! Both families have never let her forget it...:)

**************************************************

Now you know a little bit more about my sister, for more details, chat her up during your visit to our house this Christmas. Also, view her Amazon wish list for items she'd love to own, this may come in handy if you draw her name for the gift exchange.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A31GFFETU7BZ2B/ref=cm_wl_rlist_profile

Family Member Spot Light

Family Member Spot Light! Kelli and I have decided that we will highlight a new family member every couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. The spot lights are intended to help both the McEntire and Williams families get to know one another. The spot light will supply basic biographic information as well interesting information about each family member. The spot light will also make gift buying a snap. As part of the spot lights we will be adding a link to each person's Amazon.com wish list. So...if you don't already have one follow the link to create an Amazon.com Wish List

Gift Exchange Ideas - Yay or Nay

So, I had a thought the other day regarding gift exchange for Christmas this year. We don't want people to spend too much money since you've already spent enough to get yourselves to Chicago and for David and I that is gift enough, but because gift giving is such a large part of the holiday we thought we'd open it up for discussion to see if anyone would be interested in a gift exchange. Some ideas we had:

• Stockings instead of wrapped gifts - We could do a name exchange amongst our whole group or even within each family so that each person would receive a stocking by one other member of the group or family. You would spend no more than $25 (we can go with a smaller amount as well, I just threw that number out there to start with) and can fill it with small gifts, candy, whatever as long as it's under the agreed upon amount.
• Wrapped gifts - similar deal, we could do a name exchange so that each person gets at least one gift to open and set the limit at $25 (or whatever is agreed upon) or we could get a small gift for each person within the whole group or within our individual families, that is no more than $10-$15. To make it even easier, we could even choose specifically what the gift will be. For example, we'd do a DVD, Book, CD or other type of exchange.

I personally think that if we do decide to do gifts of some kind then drawing names is a good idea because it is the least expensive way to go and each person will get something to open on Christmas. And, as said earlier, we could throw every one's name into a hat and draw amongst both families or since this is the first time you'll meeting each other and don't know each other very well yet, we could just draw names amongst our own families as well. Let's us know what you think and take it from there.

Tickets Booked

Yay! The McEntire and Williams Families are booked (well, most of them) for Chicago! In light of this we wanted to make sure everyone knew that you're welcome to come as early and stay as long as you'd like. Here's the flights that everyone has booked so far:

Kelli's parents: 12/22 (1:00PM) - 12/28 (11:35AM) Midway Airport
Kelli's sister: 12/17 (1:00PM)- 12/27 (8:25am) Midway Airport
Kelli's brother: TBD

David's parents: 12/23 (9:30AM) - 12/26 (6:10PM) Midway Airport
David's sister: 12/23 (9:30AM) - 12/26 (6:10PM) Midway Airport


We're happy to pick people up from either airport at anytime so book whichever flights offer you the best price and flight times.

Happy booking...

Christmas - Bringing families together since the birth of Christ!

This blog is being created to provide information about spending Christmas in Chicago with the Williams and McEntire Clans. Not only will this festive occasion give us the opportunity to share the holiday with both our families, but it will give every member of our families a chance to meet each other as well.

More information is to come and we invite you to check back from time to time to get updates on how the plans are progressing. We'll have more information, including links on how/where to book your airfare and/or hotel accommodations (if needed), menu planning and more...

David & Kelli