I love this Food Map because Nevada isn't actually a food, but "buffets". So true. But what the heck are Knoeplah (North Dakota) and Ramps (West Virginia)? Anyone?
Agree/disagree with your state's assigned "food representative"?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Ummm... awkward!
The truth is, life is really just a series of awkward moments.
Allow me to present...
Exhibit 1: I started my morning with a quick Starbucks run before work. I place my order and then eagerly await the arrival of my drink at the pick-up counter. 30 seconds later I see the barista start to call out the next drink, and because I am in a hurry and I am supposed to be next, I hurtle myself towards the counter, tripping over myself on the way. One embarrassing trip behind me, and then comes Awkward Moment #2: the barista looks at me and says quite loudly "That's not yours" as I'm grabbing the drink. The man who the drink does belong to reaches beside me for it and gives us Awkward Moment #3 in which I bump into him in my hurry to step away from the counter. At this point I looked like completely whacked out to everyone in Starbucks, but I apologized to the man and went back to waiting patiently. My drink arrives and on my way out I am maneuvering through the door, drink, keys, and muffin in hand, and you can probably guess what happens next... the extremely heavy door shuts on me, nearly toppling my coffee from my grasp. And there were people sitting on both sides of the door to witness my grand exit. It was only 6:30 am.
Exhibit 2: I managed to inform my boss today that I have never had explosive diarrhea. Don't ask.
Exhibit 3: After work I had an appointment for an ultrasound on my chest, and as the tech gets started, I start giggling and jerking around because I am so ticklish. She says "It's okay, you're doing great." And for some reason, this little gem comes flying out of my mouth: "I've had people feel me up so often, you think I'd be used to it." Now, from a medical standpoint, this is true. But when you say it to a complete stranger, it makes things uncomfortable. Especially when you're naked from the waist up.
Case closed.
Allow me to present...
Exhibit 1: I started my morning with a quick Starbucks run before work. I place my order and then eagerly await the arrival of my drink at the pick-up counter. 30 seconds later I see the barista start to call out the next drink, and because I am in a hurry and I am supposed to be next, I hurtle myself towards the counter, tripping over myself on the way. One embarrassing trip behind me, and then comes Awkward Moment #2: the barista looks at me and says quite loudly "That's not yours" as I'm grabbing the drink. The man who the drink does belong to reaches beside me for it and gives us Awkward Moment #3 in which I bump into him in my hurry to step away from the counter. At this point I looked like completely whacked out to everyone in Starbucks, but I apologized to the man and went back to waiting patiently. My drink arrives and on my way out I am maneuvering through the door, drink, keys, and muffin in hand, and you can probably guess what happens next... the extremely heavy door shuts on me, nearly toppling my coffee from my grasp. And there were people sitting on both sides of the door to witness my grand exit. It was only 6:30 am.
Exhibit 2: I managed to inform my boss today that I have never had explosive diarrhea. Don't ask.
Exhibit 3: After work I had an appointment for an ultrasound on my chest, and as the tech gets started, I start giggling and jerking around because I am so ticklish. She says "It's okay, you're doing great." And for some reason, this little gem comes flying out of my mouth: "I've had people feel me up so often, you think I'd be used to it." Now, from a medical standpoint, this is true. But when you say it to a complete stranger, it makes things uncomfortable. Especially when you're naked from the waist up.
Case closed.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Forced Spontaneity
[Disclaimer: I am not intentionally "vague-blogging" in this post. I'll be letting you all know about the changes I'm referring to within the next couple of days.]
Recently I have found myself wishing I could go back to a different time in my life when things were stable, unchanging, and utterly predictable. Like when I was stationed in Monterey. I was in one place for three years and every day was pretty much the same. The monotony drove me crazy. I woke up at 5, formation at 7, work until 4, PT until 5, dinner, and in bed by 9. Every day. Over and over. For 3 years. The only difference is that for the first year "work" meant class, and for the second two years, "work" was work.
And now, a year and a half later, I want it all back. I want to go back and live in that same ugly little room, with a steady rotation of increasingly psychotic roommates that threatened to kill me or didn't bathe. But when almost nothing changes, you can be sure of what comes next. You can make plans and keep them. You can start projects and finish them. You eat at the same time every day because the chow hall is only open at certain times. (And because it was an Army chow hall, you would most likely be eating the same thing every day.)
I'm clearly glossing over the unhappy parts to my time in Monterey, and there were definitely some unhappy times: a 9pm curfew at age 22 (not that I had anywhere to go, but if I DID...); not living with K; being told more than once by my superiors that I was not only failing myself, but I was failing my country because of some medical issues that were not my fault. Yes, tech school can be rough, but it's the only time in the military where your life is really stable. You know you aren't going anywhere until it's over and what each day will be like. I just want that stability back.
There are a lot of changes coming our way in the next year, and I feel like they are forcing me to be spontaneous. I'm all for spontaneity, and going with the flow, but not when it's forced. I want to CHOOSE to be spontaneous. Change makes us grasp for the familiar and cling to it, which is probably why I find myself wishing to be back in tech school. And no person in their right mind that has done it would actually wish for this because it's one step up from boot camp, which is also not fun.
I need to keep being angry about these changes for a few more days while they sink in, but if the crappy part of tech school taught me anything, it's that I can grab these changes by the cajones and show them whose boss!
Recently I have found myself wishing I could go back to a different time in my life when things were stable, unchanging, and utterly predictable. Like when I was stationed in Monterey. I was in one place for three years and every day was pretty much the same. The monotony drove me crazy. I woke up at 5, formation at 7, work until 4, PT until 5, dinner, and in bed by 9. Every day. Over and over. For 3 years. The only difference is that for the first year "work" meant class, and for the second two years, "work" was work.
And now, a year and a half later, I want it all back. I want to go back and live in that same ugly little room, with a steady rotation of increasingly psychotic roommates that threatened to kill me or didn't bathe. But when almost nothing changes, you can be sure of what comes next. You can make plans and keep them. You can start projects and finish them. You eat at the same time every day because the chow hall is only open at certain times. (And because it was an Army chow hall, you would most likely be eating the same thing every day.)
I'm clearly glossing over the unhappy parts to my time in Monterey, and there were definitely some unhappy times: a 9pm curfew at age 22 (not that I had anywhere to go, but if I DID...); not living with K; being told more than once by my superiors that I was not only failing myself, but I was failing my country because of some medical issues that were not my fault. Yes, tech school can be rough, but it's the only time in the military where your life is really stable. You know you aren't going anywhere until it's over and what each day will be like. I just want that stability back.
There are a lot of changes coming our way in the next year, and I feel like they are forcing me to be spontaneous. I'm all for spontaneity, and going with the flow, but not when it's forced. I want to CHOOSE to be spontaneous. Change makes us grasp for the familiar and cling to it, which is probably why I find myself wishing to be back in tech school. And no person in their right mind that has done it would actually wish for this because it's one step up from boot camp, which is also not fun.
I need to keep being angry about these changes for a few more days while they sink in, but if the crappy part of tech school taught me anything, it's that I can grab these changes by the cajones and show them whose boss!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Home Office Wish List
As a result of living in an apartment for about two years (and dorms for four years before that), I spend a lot of time daydreaming about having a home. I dream about having a home office, or at least a little nook that I can call my own to keep all of my project stuff in. I am in the dreaming stage where I am designing this space in my mind and it requires MANY hours of internet surfing on my wish list sites. (I define "wish list site" as a site where mostly everything they sell is stuff you wish you could have; a site you could surf for hours, drooling over everything.)
One of my sites that has prime, drool-worthy goods is West Elm. They have a clean, modern style that is great for small spaces (aka "apartment living") and a lot of their stuff is 100% green. I was wasting some time on their site and found these adorable beaded boxes which would be great for holding craft supplies:
One of my sites that has prime, drool-worthy goods is West Elm. They have a clean, modern style that is great for small spaces (aka "apartment living") and a lot of their stuff is 100% green. I was wasting some time on their site and found these adorable beaded boxes which would be great for holding craft supplies:
Another one of my wish list sites, Pottery Barn, has this "Daily System" home office organization set that I love. It's a mix and match deal so you can create whatever "system" of different pieces that you want:
I also love this Trash Bucket from Urban Outfitters. It would be perfect for catching scraps and other little bits:
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And this cute flower lamp from Mod Cloth:
Oh, someday... I'll just keep dreaming for now. And wasting far too much time on all of these sites. Does anybody else have good wish list sites that I should check out?
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Fruit and Nut Breakfast "Cookies"
I've never been a big breakfast eater for 2 reasons: 1) I don't like most breakfast foods, and 2) I would feel sick if I ate too soon after waking up. But while K was in ALS we spent 6 glorious weeks having breakfast together every morning. We would get ready and then sit down for a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit while watching episodes of "The Office" or the news. It was a peaceful start to the day, and those six weeks came and went too fast for my liking. I also realized that eating breakfast makes a BIG difference in my day. Mornings seem to go by faster and I am hungry for lunch sooner (sometimes I wouldn't even feel any hunger until noon... not good for the metabolism), and I'm spending a lot less money at Starbucks at 10 am. I just needed to find breakfast food I like, and eat a light breakfast in order to avoid that gross, full-stomach feeling I would get from eating early in the day.
A week and a half ago, I stumbled across this awesome recipe hiding in the front of my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook in the "Breast Cancer Awareness" section. That sounds weird, but the recipe is pretty amazing. It's full of yummy stuff like fruit and nuts, and good-for-you stuff like oat bran and flax seeds. It felt a little weird to be chomping on a cookie during my drive to work, but it makes a great breakfast to just grab and go. So, without further ado, here is the recipe:
If you're like me, you probably don't have things like oat bran and flaxseed in your pantry, but you can buy a small bag and it will last you a long time. The cookies are also surprisingly moist and will keep all week in a sealed plastic bag. Let me know if you try them out!
A week and a half ago, I stumbled across this awesome recipe hiding in the front of my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook in the "Breast Cancer Awareness" section. That sounds weird, but the recipe is pretty amazing. It's full of yummy stuff like fruit and nuts, and good-for-you stuff like oat bran and flax seeds. It felt a little weird to be chomping on a cookie during my drive to work, but it makes a great breakfast to just grab and go. So, without further ado, here is the recipe:
Fruit and Nut Breakfast Cookie
Ingredients:
2 lightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup dried fruit (I use dried cranberries, the recipe
recommends apricots, dates, and figs... yuck)
recommends apricots, dates, and figs... yuck)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup oat bran
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, or sliced almonds
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
and set aside. In a large bowl combine eggs, brown sugar, butter, vanilla.
Stir in dried fruit and set aside.
2. In medium bowl combine flour, whole wheat flour, oat bran, flaxseed,
baking soda, and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring
until moist. Stir in nuts.
3. Use scant 1/4 cup measure to drop mounds of dough 2 inches apart on
cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes until edges are golden. They
will end up about the size of your palm when baked.
4. Let cool and enjoy!
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| Yum! |
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Bumps and Bruises
If you look in the dictionary under "klutz" you might find my picture. If there's something for me to trip, stub my toe, bump my head, bang a knee/shin, fall, get caught, or scratch myself on, I will do it. More often than not, that "something" seems to be nothing more than air.
When I was a teenager I worked at a summer camp where I was outdoors all day. This was dangerous. I seemed to spend entire summers falling on my butt, scraping my legs, hands and arms, getting stung by bees (of which I am very allergic), getting caught in blackberry bushes, and just generally hurting myself. I might have used more band-aids than all of our campers combined. The other counselors frequently had to practice their first-aid skills on me.
My parents have a set of stairs in their house that I am constantly falling up. Maybe I run up them too fast, but my feet are constantly getting caught and I fall face first. Usually nobody sees me do this because the stairs are in the back of the house. Luckily I've only fallen down the stairs twice.
I was walking through Target once and after tripping twice in one minute, my friend started counting. I tripped three more times within five minutes.
My T.I. in boot camp always yelled at me for dragging my feet. Apparently I didn't lift up my feet enough when walking and my boots would leave black scuffs all over the floor in our dormitory. He would walk into the dorm and yell "AQUINO! PICK UP YOUR DAMN FEET!" After I graduated he made me wax and polish the floors in the whole dorm by myself. This might be why I stumbling all the time, but I think there are tiny, invisible gnomes running around my feet tripping me up.
On Monday my klutzy-ness reached an all-time high. Try not to laugh when you read this... I was getting out of the shower, and in an effort to NOT trip on the shower curtain, I was ATTACKED by the towel rack. It smacked me right on my head, just above my right eye. When I went to bed that night I had a pretty big knot on my noggin. Yesterday it hurt, but the swelling was gone. Today I woke up and it hurts to move anything on the right side of my face. My boss thought this was really funny, and when I told him not to make me laugh because it hurt, he sent me this in an email:
And of course I started laughing, which only made my head hurt more. Maybe I should invest in a pillow hat for some cushioning around my dome...
When I was a teenager I worked at a summer camp where I was outdoors all day. This was dangerous. I seemed to spend entire summers falling on my butt, scraping my legs, hands and arms, getting stung by bees (of which I am very allergic), getting caught in blackberry bushes, and just generally hurting myself. I might have used more band-aids than all of our campers combined. The other counselors frequently had to practice their first-aid skills on me.
My parents have a set of stairs in their house that I am constantly falling up. Maybe I run up them too fast, but my feet are constantly getting caught and I fall face first. Usually nobody sees me do this because the stairs are in the back of the house. Luckily I've only fallen down the stairs twice.
I was walking through Target once and after tripping twice in one minute, my friend started counting. I tripped three more times within five minutes.
My T.I. in boot camp always yelled at me for dragging my feet. Apparently I didn't lift up my feet enough when walking and my boots would leave black scuffs all over the floor in our dormitory. He would walk into the dorm and yell "AQUINO! PICK UP YOUR DAMN FEET!" After I graduated he made me wax and polish the floors in the whole dorm by myself. This might be why I stumbling all the time, but I think there are tiny, invisible gnomes running around my feet tripping me up.
On Monday my klutzy-ness reached an all-time high. Try not to laugh when you read this... I was getting out of the shower, and in an effort to NOT trip on the shower curtain, I was ATTACKED by the towel rack. It smacked me right on my head, just above my right eye. When I went to bed that night I had a pretty big knot on my noggin. Yesterday it hurt, but the swelling was gone. Today I woke up and it hurts to move anything on the right side of my face. My boss thought this was really funny, and when I told him not to make me laugh because it hurt, he sent me this in an email:
"Beware of the..."
And of course I started laughing, which only made my head hurt more. Maybe I should invest in a pillow hat for some cushioning around my dome...
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
2011 Bucket List
I'm pretty excited about this new year. I have a lot planned for myself, as well as a lot coming up for K and I. I've never been one for New Year's resolutions, but I felt like I should set some goals for the year. So instead of resolutions, I will share with you my 2011 Bucket List (which is kind of like making resolutions, but more fun). Here it goes:
And I know I said I'm not big on resolutions, but I do have one real, important one for this year:
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2011 Bucket List
- Visit my dear friend Amanda in Portland. She's been living there for years and I still haven't made it up there to visit her. I want to, I promised her I would, and I already have a ticket. I just have to go.
- Try one new restaurant every 3 months. And I'm not talking about some new Chili's/Applebee's type of restaurant, I'm talking about some actual GOOD food. The amount of options we have here in Vegas is ridiculous and just about every famous chef you can name has a restaurant (or two) here, so why not take advantage of that? Obviously this can get a little expensive, hence the every 3 months rule.
- Go to a concert. I can count on 8 fingers the number of concerts I've been to in my lifetime. Pathetic, I know. I love live music and I don't know what my issue is, but I'll do something about it at least once this year. And if you're wondering about those 8 concerts, they were Britney Spears, The Calling, Tina Turner, N Sync, Rancid, Vonda Shepard (from "Ally McBeal"), Sixpence None the Richer, and Julio Iglesias. (Wow, you might think I was a little bit schizophrenic based on my concert history.)
- This is sort of a resolution, but I really, really, REALLY, want to clear out our storage unit. Most of it is K's stuff he had put away before he was supposed to deploy in 2009 and it's just been sitting in storage. I want to go through it, get rid of stuff, and most importantly, stop forking over money every month.
- Go 4-wheeling in the desert. There's a bunch of tour groups out here that take day trips to places like Red Rock and the NV/CA border. K and I tried to go last year, but they booked our reservation for the wrong day, so when we showed up they didn't have a spot for us. We're going to try again once it warms up.
- Take a photography class. This one is already in the works! I am signed up for a class at the College of Southern Nevada, paid my tuition this morning, and class starts January 24th! We have a lot going on this year, so I want to be ready to take lots of pictures.
- This is the big one: take our belated honeymoon in the fall. We've been talking, dreaming, planning, talking some more, researching, and saving, but we have to make sure we actually DO it. We've saved all the money we received from our wedding and put it into a separate savings so that we wouldn't be tempted. The plan is to spend a few weeks backpacking through a few countries in Europe. We could go sit on a beach somewhere for a week, but we want adventure and this is something we won't be able to do once we decide to start a family (which won't be for awhile, don't get your hopes up).
-And, of course, continue to pursue my happiness.
~
And I know I said I'm not big on resolutions, but I do have one real, important one for this year:
Make my plan for going back to school full-time. I want so badly to go back to school, but the majority of the problem is the fact that the foundation of our life here, the Air Force, is very shaky. It's provided a great opportunity for us to get on our feet as a couple without having to worry very much about money... but it is an incredibly unstable foundation. We can count on K having a steady job and paycheck, but the problem is that we can't think long-term. I can take a class or two here and there, but I can't bring myself to sign up for a full schedule when our life could be flipped upside down at the drop of some orders. Especially if K gets deployed this year, which is looking like a very real possibility. I also can't bring myself to live here in Vegas by myself for 6-8 months, so moving back home would throw a major wrench in my studies. After some major discussion, we've decided that no matter what, I will go back to school full-time next January when K will only have a year and half on his contract, and it is highly unlikely that he will be sent anywhere. Which means I have to start planning: getting my GI Bill and VA assistance in order, deciding what I will study and where, and making sure we will be financially set to live off of one paycheck.
Happy New Year!
We are already on our fourth day of the new year... I feel like Christmas JUST happened, but it's already been a week and a half!
K and I had a very low-key New Year's. I didn't have work on New Year's Eve so we went and crossed off one of the items on our Las Vegas Bucket List: "CSI: The Experience" at the MGM. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but K likes it and had been wanting to go to "The Experience" for a few weeks. We went early in the day so we could get out of downtown before things started to get crazy and the roadblocks went up. Once you get inside, they give you a couple of different scenarios and you pick which one you want to "solve". Then you go to a simulated crime scene (don't worry, it isn't scary) where you take your notes. After that, you go through a few different stations where you do "lab work" and then present your findings to the CSI Supervisor (the main guy from the show) via computer, and if you solved the crime correctly, you win! You don't actually win anything, but we did get diplomas stating we are now "Rookie Crime Scene Investigators" according to the MGM. Hooray! We had a lot of fun (and got free t-shirts) so if anyone visits Vegas and wants some fun not involving alcohol and clubs, I would suggest checking it out.
Later that night we went to dinner at Texas de Brazil, an amazing Brazilian-style steakhouse, and then counted down to the New Year at a friend's house. Our first day of 2011 was spent hanging around the house, making a Starbucks run, watching movies, and some Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It was a successfully lazy day, which is exactly what we were going for.
We took our final picture of 2010 at dinner:
And our first picture of 2011 just after midnight:
K and I had a very low-key New Year's. I didn't have work on New Year's Eve so we went and crossed off one of the items on our Las Vegas Bucket List: "CSI: The Experience" at the MGM. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but K likes it and had been wanting to go to "The Experience" for a few weeks. We went early in the day so we could get out of downtown before things started to get crazy and the roadblocks went up. Once you get inside, they give you a couple of different scenarios and you pick which one you want to "solve". Then you go to a simulated crime scene (don't worry, it isn't scary) where you take your notes. After that, you go through a few different stations where you do "lab work" and then present your findings to the CSI Supervisor (the main guy from the show) via computer, and if you solved the crime correctly, you win! You don't actually win anything, but we did get diplomas stating we are now "Rookie Crime Scene Investigators" according to the MGM. Hooray! We had a lot of fun (and got free t-shirts) so if anyone visits Vegas and wants some fun not involving alcohol and clubs, I would suggest checking it out.
Later that night we went to dinner at Texas de Brazil, an amazing Brazilian-style steakhouse, and then counted down to the New Year at a friend's house. Our first day of 2011 was spent hanging around the house, making a Starbucks run, watching movies, and some Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It was a successfully lazy day, which is exactly what we were going for.
We took our final picture of 2010 at dinner:
And our first picture of 2011 just after midnight:
Happy New Year!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Christmas Vacation Part II
CHRISTMAS! I really, really, REALLY love Christmas, despite what some people may think. I tend to stay fairly calm when opening presents and I don't get overly excited (even though I LOVE presents and I truly appreciate them). I've been accused more than once of not getting "excited enough".
Anyway, K and I had a great Christmas. The morning started off with stockings which are always a highlight. All of us kids look forward to our stockings and you know you're in the family when you've got a stocking on the fireplace. My family has really ballooned in the past few years (3 marriages and three new babies since 2006) so there are a lot more of us. The mantle is really reaching its limit:
After stockings, we had some delicious Monkey Bread made by my big sister and brother-in-law, and then the real fun began. I do realize that these are difficult times for a lot of people and my family has certainly felt the impact of this economic climate, but I know my family is incredibly blessed to have my mom and stepdad at the helm. They spare no expense when it comes to their kids and grandkids and there were so many presents under our tree this year that I had a hard time believing they were all for us.
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| My niece, Taylor, enjoying her first Christmas with Grandma. |
In May my sister and sister-in-law both had babies within about twelve hours of each other. The result was these two cuties, my niece and nephew. My older sister and her family live on the other side of the country and we only get to see them a couple of times a year, so this Christmas was extra special because they were here to share it with us. It also meant that we got to share my niece and nephew's first Christmas ever. Uncle K got a picture with both of the babies:
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| Take 1. |
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| That's better. |
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| Working on the houses. |
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| The finished products. |
I hope everyone else had an amazing holiday and just think... less than a year until next Christmas!
Christmas Vacation Part I
I've been on a little blogging hiatus for the past couple of weeks, but K and I have been up to quite a bit, so I'll just get right into it by sharing our awesome trip home for Christmas. We flew home on the Wednesday night before Christmas, and after a two and a half hour delay we finally made it to good old Northern California. We slept a few hours that night and then we were up and at 'em, going (seemingly) non-stop for three days straight. We were kept super-busy, so this post may be a little long, but I'll reward you with plenty of pictures of the festivities.
Thursday was spent hanging out with family and friends. This included an annual mud football game (K played, I watched), my parent's annual Crab Cioppino night, and our annual potluck with our friends from high school. That's a lot of "annuals", but some things are just tradition. Like the fact that my mom always makes me chicken nuggets when everyone else is eating Crab Cioppino (I'm not a big seafood fan). This year I got Tyson's Fun Nuggets in various dinosaur shapes which I shared with my 4-year-old nephew. We ate and watched "The Santa Clause" while all of the adults were in the dining room. I'm hoping this becomes a tradition because I have to admit, I felt pretty special when he asked to share my BBQ sauce with me because he thought it was better than his ketchup. I don't get to see that little guy too often, and when I do he's usually busy being an almost-5-year-old-boy which seems to require a lot of energy and general running around, so he's too busy to want to hang out with me.
Photo highlights from Thursday:
Friday was Christmas Eve and this is when my mother-in-law's family does their Christmas celebration. In the early afternoon we headed down to Alameda where K's grandparents live. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent eating and playing games, with the occasional philosophical debate thrown in for fun. K has some really amazing family and they have always made me feel incredibly welcome. He doesn't have any siblings, but has always been very close to his cousins on both sides of his family, and I really enjoy getting to spend time with them. We played some hilarious rounds of Apples to Apples and a very intense game of Scrabble in which K blew all of us out of the water (hint to Scrabble players: "remix" can get you a LOT of points). This group really likes to hang out so we didn't open presents until 11:15pm, and then finally got home around 1:00am. The best part of my day was when K's grandpa came up to me, gave me a hug, and asked if I felt comfortable with all of them. I told him I felt absolutely welcome, and then he said "Good, because you are my granddaughter now and you belong here." My heart melted.
Photo highlights from Friday:
Thursday was spent hanging out with family and friends. This included an annual mud football game (K played, I watched), my parent's annual Crab Cioppino night, and our annual potluck with our friends from high school. That's a lot of "annuals", but some things are just tradition. Like the fact that my mom always makes me chicken nuggets when everyone else is eating Crab Cioppino (I'm not a big seafood fan). This year I got Tyson's Fun Nuggets in various dinosaur shapes which I shared with my 4-year-old nephew. We ate and watched "The Santa Clause" while all of the adults were in the dining room. I'm hoping this becomes a tradition because I have to admit, I felt pretty special when he asked to share my BBQ sauce with me because he thought it was better than his ketchup. I don't get to see that little guy too often, and when I do he's usually busy being an almost-5-year-old-boy which seems to require a lot of energy and general running around, so he's too busy to want to hang out with me.
Photo highlights from Thursday:
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| All the boys after the game. |
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| Cooks in the kitchen before Cioppino. |
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| My best friends, aka "The Tri-pod" |
Friday was Christmas Eve and this is when my mother-in-law's family does their Christmas celebration. In the early afternoon we headed down to Alameda where K's grandparents live. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent eating and playing games, with the occasional philosophical debate thrown in for fun. K has some really amazing family and they have always made me feel incredibly welcome. He doesn't have any siblings, but has always been very close to his cousins on both sides of his family, and I really enjoy getting to spend time with them. We played some hilarious rounds of Apples to Apples and a very intense game of Scrabble in which K blew all of us out of the water (hint to Scrabble players: "remix" can get you a LOT of points). This group really likes to hang out so we didn't open presents until 11:15pm, and then finally got home around 1:00am. The best part of my day was when K's grandpa came up to me, gave me a hug, and asked if I felt comfortable with all of them. I told him I felt absolutely welcome, and then he said "Good, because you are my granddaughter now and you belong here." My heart melted.
Photo highlights from Friday:
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| K and two of his cousins. They could be brothers. |
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| Grandpa showing us his crazy harmonica skills. |
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