What I'm Thankful For

In the past five years, I think I've only been home for Thanksgiving once, maybe twice. This year is no different, I'll be spending the day with my Grandma up at my Cousin's house with my other cousins, their families, and my Aunt and Uncle. On Friday, we'll have brunch and hopefully I'll get some shopping done before we have Hippie Thanksgiving at my house. James decided to have it again this year, so people will be coming over for a second thanksgiving (the day after), aka a potluck with friends. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but I'm very thankful to have a place to go for Thanksgiving and a place to call home.


I'm thankful for...



1. My parents, who still answer the phone at odd hours with a warm voice and a helpful answer, who love me unconditionally, and help me out more than anyone else in my life.

2. My brother, who makes me proud every day, who I love with all my heart, and who will always be my happy pill.

3. My friends, both new and old, who love me even when I forget to love myself, and who laugh with and at me, and who keep me balanced. They are my chosen family and I love them more than words can say.

4. My boyfriend, who never fails to make me laugh, provides me with bear hugs at least five times a day, and balances law school so we have time to spend together.

5. My job, because our economy sucks and even though they can't afford to keep me, they keep me on part time, and because there are people I know who are struggling to keep up and to find a job.

6. My kids, all of them, the ones I babysit, the ones I tutor, the ones I coach, even the ones I don't know. They make me smile and they remind me to laugh and to stop worrying about the little things.

7. My Grandma, who never lets on if there is something wrong and who loves and gives unconditionally. Her sweet smile will always be with me.

8. My dog, and cats, even though I only see them a few times a year. There's nothing better than snuggling up to warm fur.

9. My trusty car that gets me where I need to go, even though it feels like a spaceship.

10. My house, because it provides me with a warm and safe place to come home to.

11. The weather, because it's not too hot and it's not too cold.

12. Self realization, because without it, I'd be lost.

13. Peoples blogs I read, facebook, and myspace, because otherwise I would be totally bored at work.

14. Tea and coffee, because they wake me up in the morning.

15. The rain. Plain and simple.

Babies

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about my good friend Becky getting pregnant after a dream I had. She gave birth in June to a baby girl named Jade.

Jade, taken in November

This past spring, Whitney gave birth to a baby girl, Jordyn and recently got engaged and bought a house with her fiance.

I'm pretty sure she dressed Jordyn up like a cow because she knows I love cows!

In October, Kirsten and AC gave birth to Sierra, who is so adorable!

My friend Regan from high school and Swingin Sweethearts announced a few months ago that she, too, is expecting a baby with her husband Elliot, whom she married two years ago.

Regan is standing to the right of me in the black shirt

Today, another one of my best friends from high school called me telling me that I will be an honorary aunt! Bica and Stephen found out this morning that there will be an addition to their little family and I am so very happy for them.

taken at their wedding in 2006

Lastly, a shout out to another great friend from high school, Val, who got married earlier this year to her husband Casey, and they will be having thier baby girl sometime this week! So happy for them!

Babies, babies everywhere!

relaxing weekend

One of the awesome things about living in a city where "winter weather" is a comfortable 70 degrees: warm sunsets.

On my street

And in other news, I am no longer a pie virgin: i (helped) make my very first pie this weekend. james made the crust from scratch and i made (er, mixed simple ingredients together) the filling and it was delish.

being thankful

HOW IS IT ALMOST THANKSGIVING?

did we not just celebrate halloween?

Thanksgiving makes me think of how thankful I am for the people in my life.

And today, without a doubt, i can say that I could not be more thankful for the wonderful family, friends and boyfriend that I have in my life. :)

Fires

Fire season is an understatement. it seems as if every fall, instead of expecting soft rain drops and big poofy rain clouds, we get fires and smoke instead. orange county is on fire, again. and so is LA. when i opened up the OC register this morning, one of the articles mentioned a girl I went to college with (brittney). we were both editors for our college paper. her house burned down. i can't imagine losing my house, that's so sad.

This is what I woke up to

This is the Brea fire on Saturday morning, a few hours after it started.

I went to the block (a mall) to see the new james bond movie (don't see it, it was lame) and it looked like the Apocalypse outside. (PS i know this looks photoshopped, it isn't. I promise it was that creepy looking)
View from a shopping center after Alexis and I went shopping.
View from my Church on Sunday morning
James knows the area really well so he humored my fire chasing desire and drove me to a better lookout spot. This is the Brea fire on Sunday afternoon, when it was more under control.
We parked at a park that at one point, a few years ago, jessie, kyle, colleen and a few other people including myself, had found where there's a way to sneak in and climb up a hill where a bunch of power towers are, and it has a great view. Orange County is super clear, despite the fires. we could see catalina pretty clearly, from 20 miles inland!

JKMP :)

100 miles later

today i had a free day and some energy to burn, so I got in my car and started driving around aimlessly... I ended up taking practically every freeway in LA/OC. I started off by going to Long Beach and I drove through CSULB's campus, and then went through long beach, to san pedro, to venice beach, to santa monica, up santa monica blvd, and through LA and back home. It was rather amusing, some things you only see in LA.

LA was super smoggy and gross.

I don't get it either. Especially the Seagull part

Okay, seriously? This van is super sketch.

Does this disturb anyone else besides me? it's a giant shoe.

this reminds me of the song :)

because if nothing else will get you there, they have ice cream

when i was younger, i used to read all these books about homeless kids, foster kids, and kids wanting to run away and this is where they'd go.

if i was to stay in a hostel, this is where i'd want to stay

The batmobile!

end result: 100 miles, 3 gallons of gas, and some funny pictures

website!

after sweating blood and tears into it (and giving up on the custom domain option after running into a million problems), i'm proud to announce that...


my website is up!


check it out, spread the word, tell your friends/parents/kids, and help me out!

a tribute to carolyn.

last night j and i were talking, and i let it out that i'm frustrated at the lack of direction in my life, and how i used to be so motivated. the only reason i'm applying to grad school right now is because that's what I keep telling everyone that's what i'm doing.

"i think you know what you want to do, you just need to find that spark," he said.

i think he's right. i need that spark. where is it?

today when i was walking down to get the mail, i realized, what did i do with all the free time i had in college? and decided right then and there that tomorrow, on my first day off (i don't work fridays anymore) that i'm going to bring a book to the beach and lay in the sun for awhile, go to the gym, and paint my fingernails.

because sometimes, it's better to have a mental health day, than just another friday.

election

my boss walked into the office this morning, and the first thing he said was, "did you vote?" and i said yes, over a week ago. "good girl," he said.

i read a myspace bulletin from a friend ranting how wolf blitzer goes on and on about how our 18-30 age group has poor voter turnout. which i find absurd, because there is not a single person i can think of that I'm friends with who is not voting, or has not expressed some sort of political view or question. to prove it, i checked facebook and forgive this awful small picture but i couldn't figure out how to do it otherwise, but i clicked on the "friend status" and made it so nearly 200 statuses showed up. all but about 20 or so had statuses saying they voted for so and so, and yes on this, no on that, vote Obama, vote McCain. And it was within a one hour time span.

so forgive me, when i respectfully disagree with people saying our generation is blase about politics and this election. i think our generation has paid more attention to this election than any other election we've had. granted, many people are voting for the first time, but we understand the importance of casting our votes. last night at swim practice, a high school girl i coach with and i were talking with another coach, easily 20+ years older than us. we were talking about the different candidates and the propositions, and how we voted absentee (she's 18, an older HS student) and the older coach said, "yeah, i don't know if I'm going to vote. i don't really care, and i don't know who i want to vote for. it doesn't matter anyway." isn't that what others are saying our generation says? yet here is someone who is IN that accusing generation saying these kinds of things.

then again, she also thought prop 8 was solely about polygamy. maybe she shouldn't vote.

as for me, i'll follow the election tonight on my cell phone while i enjoy Ingrid Michaelson live in concert at the HOB, celebrating a lovely 5 months with my guy, and a change for our country.