Thanksgiving Break Fun

The party doesn't stop after Thanksgiving! Since so many of us kids were around, we hit the hot spots here in Southern California.

Primarily, Tito's Tacos.

Always a classic, even when Ali and I ate there earlier in the week when we flew in from New York. 

Afterwards we headed up the coast.

Pit stop at the beach.

I wanted to take a nap right there on the sand.

But crazy Kona- someone's wet golden retriever- kept wanting to shake his wet stinky fur right by us. 

No matter. The beach is always beautiful, even with a Kona. 

Next we headed over to Ventura Harbor Village to walk around. 

Mom and Dad treated us to ice cream, because that's just kind of what you do when you are at the beach, whether it is hot or cold. I got Circus Animal Cookie ice cream. Nom nom nom.



And of course I had to go in the hat shoppe because I am obsessed with hats.



Big hats, floppy hats, warm hats, sun hats, hot dog hats, pizza hats, pirate hats, shark hats.

Oh, and a bird pooped on Rissa. That was stupid. Luckily we washed most of it off.

Then, because we are human and we love that magical time of day when the sun goes to bed, we watched the sunset over the ocean.

That evening we ate a cool little hole-in-the-wall fish place. The food was fresh, even if we were freezing cold.

Thanksgiving break was also spent relaxing and snoozing. I think the older we all get the more we appreciate down time and not having to over-do it by playing tourist constantly. 

Synge knows the feeling. Also, the fam set-up the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree to rule them all.  

It takes so long, we have to pace ourselves with assembly, lights, and decorations. We watched the family favorite Scrooged while we decorated. 

Saturday the family headed to Redlands so everyone could see my place and hang out. Mom had planned to do these cool little turkeys on Thanksgiving but we had so much food the thought of more was dangerous. I thought this was such a cool idea that I was determined to do it, even if I am borderline terrified of melting chocolates and decorating. Lucky for me all of us helped out and they turned out awesome. I like that some of them have some character -whether on accident or on purpose- no matter. 

They are so good. Like a reeses peanut butter cookie with extra sugar. I love how creative my mom is, and how good she is at crafts like this. 

I was sad to see them leave. I am thinking I should probably change the name of this blog to that phrase. Because I say it a lot. Life is all about comings and goings I suppose. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and now we have Christmas to look forward to. 

Thanksgiving 2014

Holidays = family. When you have a family of 8, it is inevitable that you won't all be together, but you make the most of who is able to come. As per our usual tradition, we headed up to my Grandparents home for Thanksgiving.

All of us don't fit in one car, so we had to take two, and my car challenged the other car to a sing-off. We won. 

We got up to the cabin and had a fun time just hanging out. 

Helping make food -with grandma telling Ricky she needs to be more aggressive with the salt shaker.

The weather was absolutely amazing. It felt good to hang out in the sun. 

Sisters!

And with the parentals!

Having family around means photo time. Especially when you look as great as all of us.

Grandma had us get artsy with the pine cones and juniper branches. I think our tablescapes turned out quite nicely.  I had to include the picture of Max sitting by himself at the "kids table." 

I was fairly interested in the fact that Snapchat had a thanksgiving sticker. 

We didn't do much hiking like we used to because I'm fat and old, but mostly lazy. And if there is one lazy holiday all year, it is probably Thanksgiving. 

Taking pictures from the porch.

We went for a small walk at sunset. 

Sunsets up at the cabin have always been pretty breathtaking. 

I remember when I was younger I would think that the clouds in the valley looked like the ocean. That would be pretty amazing if it was.

Cass and Max hanging out on a rock.

The cabin. 

Other side of the house, with the tiniest crescent moon. 

After the sunset we helped Grandpa haul all the Christmas boxes up to the house. Pretty easy task when you have a bunch of grandkids hanging around. 

We put together the tree and decorated the house. 

Oh yeah, and somewhere in there we had pie.

Delicious, delicious pie. Maybe the best part of Thanksgiving.

Mom went a little overboard and bought two huge costco pies and made a chocolate french silk pie, and a peanut butter pie. We also had a rhubarb pie and a pecan pie, and I made a pumpkin gingersnap cheesecake. They were all delicious, and we had so much left over that everyone got to take at least one slice home!

25 Lessons in 25 Years

In honor of my recent birthday, I'm writing a blog post to share my wisdom. Several months ago I started thinking about what it means to me that I am almost 25 years old. Yes, very much like a first grade prompt with space where you can draw in a picture. I thought up quite a few lessons that I am really glad I learned- either quickly at a young age, or slowly and repeatedly at an older age. 

I have decided to include some pictures in hopes that will entice you to read this.

"In the beginning..."

#1. Go. I know this may be a little bossy but you need to. If you are debating whether to wait or go, GO. You'll never have more money, and you'll never have more time. When I was interning in Central America I had this crazy idea to end early take some time to backpack in Guatemala. I was soo stressed about it. But that was one of the best decisions I ever made. There is no "next summer" or "next month." The days can be long and you may feel exhausted, but there is no time like the present to *start*. 

# 2. Just be you. Don't worry about being the first one to do something, or living in someone's shadow. If you've wanted a pet hedgehog since you were 8, but your best friend now wants one too. That is okay. Just get the hedgehog. One of the best bits of advice I got was, "It's not a competition."

#3. Get rid of frenemies. Hopefully you have some good solid friends.  This means you can cut off the frenemies. The guilt, fear, abuse, and embarrassment isn't worth anything they offer. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Then if it turns into a frenemy situation, let them go.

#4. Give things a fair shot. When I was in high school I hated bell peppers. I tried them out again in college and they are now my favorite veggie. Lentils- gave those a fair shot a few times. And I still think they are repulsive.

#5. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. The only thing more pathetic than making others feel sorry for you is a Pity Party table for 1.

#6. Don't let other people tell you what to do, or who you are. But listen when they do, because you can receive insight and become a better version of who you have always wanted to be (perceived as).



#7. Own it. You made a mistake. Your craft is hideous. You won the race. You passed the test. You failed the test. Good or bad, mistake or intentional. Brag or say you're sorry -own it.

#8. Stop complaining about money. If you're tight, everyone is tight. It's annoying to complain about money. It wears you down and wears down others. Your financial situation may get better, or it may not. But it can't be your scapegoat for not living life or being grumpy.



#9. Be flexible. This one should have come first because I only learned this through years of thinking I was flexible (this is different from indecisive by the way). Maybe my years of Caribbean living, or realizing how much life is out of my control. But I learned that the only way to survive is to be understanding and realize things come up, stuff happens. Adapt.

#10. If you would donate to the thrift store, don't buy it from the thrift store.

#11. Stop giving the brunt of it to those who love you. They support you but shouldn't have to deal with your crap. Whether you're hangry, PMSing, or having a bad day, don't abuse those who will always be there for you.

#12. Packing always takes more time than it should. Whether you think you have a lot or you think you have a little, you're wrong. You just have MORE.

#13. Be genuine on someone's birthday. Send a picture or a video. Not everyone is picky about this. But either way, being genuine is a good thing. Going the extra mile isn't hard for helping someone feel special.

#14. Do your best and be done. Move forward. I remember in college, exiting the testing center, everyone would gather by the screen and see their score. Most of the times, I just walked on. People asked me how and why I would ever do that. It's simple. I had already done my best. And although my best never got me a scholarship, what more could I do?

#15. Stop buying clothes that are too tight because "you're losing weight anyway." I've been different shapes and sizes and I've been thinking I'd lose weight my whole adult life. This leads me to having clothes that are uncomfortable and don't look good. There is already so much self-hate in this world, it doesn't need a promotion.



#16. Intentionally put yourself in uncomfortable situations. This is one way you can grow the most. It's painful, but you will learn a lot. Also, stop making things unnecessarily uncomfortable, when you're actually fine. I think "that was so awkward" is misused about 90% of the time.



#17. Stop thinking everything is about you. Whether it is someone's status update or a song someone told you to listen to, it's most often not about you.



#18. Be okay with yourself. This is unfair in that it is sort of all encompassing and easier said than done, but learn to be at peace with who you are- faults and strengths.

#19. Don't be nice to people because what you believe they can do for you. Probably the number one reason why I am not a successful business entrepreneur.



#20. Flush the toilet in a public restroom. I don't understand people who see a mess like that and just don't flush it. You wanna have it sit in there and stew all day instead? I understand if it is on the verge of explosion and overflow, but help us all out and just step on that handle.



#21. You don't know everything. Funny coming from a girl who is sharing her "gems of wisdom." But I've learned that thinking you know everything opens you up to righteous indignation and closes your mind. Having an open mind helps you improve your knowledge and grow. So stop being condescending.

#22. Double check the text recipient. Yep. It's inevitable.

#23. Navigate before you get in the car, and read the recipe all the way through before you begin.



#24. Quit lying. Notice I didn't say, "Be honest." Because I'm talking about excuses. If you don't want to go to the party don't say it's because you had to "....." If you ignored someone's call don't say it was because you were out with the dog.

My last and final word of wisdom, that I have learned and re-learned will always be:

#25. The pizza buffet is never worth it.

There you have it, and here is to more wisdom in the years to come.