Has is it really been an entire month since I last posted to my blog? I must be busy...or I'm addicted to Facebook. You guess? If you haven't joined Facebook, you really don't know what you're missing. I found so many old friends and am having so much fun reconnecting with people who have either briefly entered my life or have continued to keep in contact with me throughout the years. For instance, I met up with Veronica for lunch a couple weeks ago and we were reunited because of Facebook. Here's a pic of us:

You can join Facebook, by clicking on my Facebook link at the top of this page.
January was a great month for me and my New Years Resolutions are beginning to come true! This month alone, Obama was Inaugurated as President and the Steelers won the Superbowl! Although we are all starting to see serious results from the economic downturn, especially in Silicon Valley, but with Obama as President, the economy can only go up from here! Had a great time hangin with a great group of friends for Superbowl Sunday and here are a few pics:
Me and Darla

Me, Darla and Selina

Still a little difficult to talk about openly, but after receiving a call from my mom last week explaining my grandma hasn't been eating in a few days, I jumped in the car and drove up to Redding to visit my grandma, mom & dad and picked up my brother on the way. My Uncle, Aunt and cousins were there too. The good news is my grandma started eating the day before we arrived and she seems to be feeling better. Here are a few pics from our visit:
Sundial bridge- Redding, CA and My Family on the Sundial Bridge

Mom and Grandma

Aunt Peggie, Uncle Larry, Cousin Kevin and Debbie/ Emily playin on the Wii

Every year for the last few years (minus the one year we were in LA), I volunteered as a Theater Manager for Cinequest, San Jose's Film Festival. This year I'm volunteering again and am really looking forward to it. Check out their website at:
Cinequest.org.
This year I'm also hoping to catch a glimpse of one of my heroes, Diablo Cody and possibly snap a picture with her. Brook Busey (pen name Diablo Cody) won fame as the writer of the 2007 film Juno, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. If you're interested in learning more about Diablo, here's her bio: Diablo Cody - Wikipedia

What's your pledge?
MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

Well, 2008 is over and I had a pretty good year...new place to live (where I can garden to my hearts content), new convertible car (where I can enjoy the California sun), reconnecting with old friends (speaks for itself), traveling up and down California (Mendocino, LA, Solvang, Cambria, Napa and Redding), spending time with friends in Cabo San Lucas Mexico, visiting family in Washington state & Oregon and traveling to Chicago for the first time with co-workers for fun & business. There has also been some bad. Not just bad for me, but for my family and friends,as well. Not to mention I didn't follow through on my goal last year to lose weight on the Natural WeightLoss Show, but I've decided to live my life looking at the positive going forward, because the more I think optimisticly, the happier I am and so are the people around me. Here are 100 pics of my 2008:

2009 has begun and I'm off to a good start...
I flew down to LA on Wednesday to be a seatfiller for the “People's Choice Awards” with my friend, Trisha, hung out with my friend, Melissa, Wednesday night and went to lunch with a couple of co-workers from our office in LA. I had a great time and was seated in the 6th row middle at the Awards show. A couple of people said they saw me on TV too!! I saw William Shatner when I stopped for coffee at Aroma's in Studio City, as well. Let me tell ya, it's a very surreal experience to see celebrities up close and personal. One celebrity I have always looked up to is Jenni Garth from Beverly Hills 90210 and Dancing with the Stars. I know, I know...I couldn't be more insane, but I enjoy the drama (hehe). People used to tell me I looked like her (many, many years ago), but you can see for yourself, as I stalked her at the Awards and she nicely agreed to snap a pic with crazy me:

Only two wishes this year. To be healthier and the other wish I'm keeping a secret (or it won't happen). No worries, as everything always comes out in the end ;)
2009 is also the year I'm going to be the big “40”! Ouch, it hurts just to say it. Thus the reason for my first wish...to be healthier.

Dave is also in full swing with his photography portfolio and building magnificent websites, including his own and my dad's. Please check them out at:
DaveThomasPhoto.com
HowardHughesBassFishing.com

Sometimes I'll be watching TV and hear an awe inspiring quote. So I'll pause the show to write down the words. Today I was watching Grey's Anatomy and Dr. Grey gave this narration at the beginning and end of the show, which I obviously couldn't resist dictating for my blog, as I think this quote applies to all of our lives:

We all get at least one good wish a year over the candles on our birthday.
Some of us throw in more; on eye lashes, fountains, lucky stars...

Every now and then one of those wishes comes true...
So what then? Is it as good as we'd hoped? Do we bask in the warm glow of our happiness? Or do we just notice we've got another long list of wishes waiting to be wished?

We wish because we need help and we're scared and we know we may be asking too much.
We still wish though, because sometimes they come true!

Here are a couple of websites, which I found inspiring:
After watching Oprah's “Best Life Series” last Monday on her show, I felt inspired to follow in her path for 2009. Check out this site where Oprah speaks candidly about her weight gain. See how she's getting back on track with the help of fitness expert Bob Greene and making the commitment to live her best life:
Oprah.com – Best Life Series - Weight

Six common barriers to personal happiness and fulfillment and how to overcome them.
Why you're not Happy

No big plans in the near future, but I do plan to work on my health and catch up with more friends over the next few weeks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Here's my Resolution for 2009 (you may recognize it):

To be strong, so nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet.
To make all my friends feel there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all time and give every living creature I meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
...and don't forget, lose some weight ;)

Unlike a majority of my friends and family, I had a happy 2008 and have absolutely no complaints. In 2009, I'm hoping for a better year for my friends and family.

Here are a few pics from last weekend with my brother and niece at Christmas in the Park in Downtown San Jose and their first visit to the new Hooters in Campbell, CA:

And here are a few pics from today with Dave in Santa Cruz, CA:

Don't forget to check out Dave's portfolio at DaveThomasPhoto.com

I've been really busy with the holidays this year and have been spending way too much time on a social networking site, called Facebook. Facebook.com is a social networking environment, which reflects our real identities, and the relationships and information we care about. It's amazing how many old and dear friends I've caught up with on Facebook and it's also a great way to keep in touch with family, who live a few miles away. I invite you to join at:
Cheri's Facebook site
In the meantime, Dave has been building his Photography portfolio website. Check it out at DaveThomasPhoto.com. Here are a few pics from our December photo shoots:

This month I celebrated the holiday season by going to the Los Gatos Christmas Parade with my friends; Katie, Amanda & Todd and by going to the Santa Clara Ballet Company presentation of the Nutcracker with Dave's stepmom, Sue.
Here are a couple of pics:

I'm very excited about going down to LA to be a Seatfiller at the 35th Peoples Choice Awards , the evening of Wednesday, January 7th on CBS with my friend, Trisha. I'm hoping to be in the front few rows of the show, so be sure and look for me in the audience. Here are the nominees:
People's Choice Awards Nominations 2009
Last, but not least...here are some wonderful memories with my family last weekend at my brother's house, where we celebrated the holiday season by exchanging presents and enjoying quality time together:

We are planning to visit Dave's mom and family near Seattle, WA for Christmas. Although at this moment our plans are Weather permitting. If we stay in town, we plan to Volunteer to help people in need this holiday season! Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and very Happy Holiday season!

For Thanksgiving this year, Dave and I drove up to Fairfield to pick up my brother and niece, then we all traveled up to our Parent's house in Redding to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Hughes family. This was a very Thankful year for me and I was thrilled to be spending this holiday with the ones I love.

During our visit to Redding, my mom, niece (Emily) and husband, Dave, decided to walk a few blocks to the local park. As we walked along the sidewalk, Emily noticed a street sign, which she almost ran into without looking, and on the street sign there was a painted symbol. She asked me what the symbol was and I said it's a Peace sign. Emily looked at me...confused? She said, “What's Peace mean?” Wow, for a moment...I smiled. My 7 yr. old niece asked ME what Peace is. I knew I must think quick. Peace is important to me and I personally feel our Earth would be a wonderful place to live, if peace were more abundant in the world today. Peace is what I remember feeling when I was her age. Now, how do I explain this to her? I thought for a moment and said, “peace is harmony, it's happiness, it's being nice to everyone you meet”. She smiled and looked as if she understood. Within minutes a huge 4x4 truck with a very loud engine drove into the parking lot of the Park. They stopped abruptly to meet their friends, who were enjoying crashing their remote control cars into each other. A man jumped out of his truck and reached out his hand to (what appeared to be) his friend and said, “hey dude, what's up?”. There was a moment of silence, then Emily looked back at me and said, “that's Peace, right Auntie Cheri?”. I smiled and said, “Yes, Emily that's Peace.” What a wonderful life lesson and one I will never forget...
Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving:

I'm so happy it's December!! I have plans to visit all of our immediate family members over the next 3 weeks and will do my best to upload pics and post stories. Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season :)