Winter Vacay part 1: California!

Like I mentioned last Friday, I was off to California -- aka HOME! And since then, I've pretty much been non-stop busy!

I was only in CA for 4 days, sans husband. I was super bummed he couldn't make it, but also really excited and happy to see all my family and friends! Each day I was there was jam-packed.

I got in Friday night. My parents picked me up. I came home to a stocking on my bed that "Santa" had left me that was filled with goodies (my mom is the cutest thing in the world, bytheway).

Saturday morning, I woke up. I sat down on the couch and looked at our Christmas tree and the karaoke machine sitting in front of it and thought "Yup-- I'm definitely home!"

Then most of the day was spent getting things ready for my birthday party happening the next day. Then the fam and I went to eat dinner at a place called Anacapa Brewing Company. My bestie Erika also joined us.

After dinner, Erika and I headed to a pub to meet up with some of our other friends. It was fun- lots of laughs, dancing and good times.

Sunday, my parents and I headed to the thrift stores- a favorite tradition of ours. And, I don't mean to brag, but my hometown has the best thrift stores! We worked up an appetite while shopping around, so we headed to Gen Korean BBQ for lunch and ate 'til we couldn't move anymore!

Later in the evening, my friends and I went to watch Frozen. Really cute movie. Maayyybbeee a little too much singing for my taste, but that may be because I'm getting too old??


Then, Monday the 23rd. A day I was looking forward to because it was my birthday and a day I wasn't looking forward to because, well- it was my birthday. My 29th birthday, to be exact. Wowzers. But I will say this- it was one of my most favorite birthdays ever! There will be a post with details & pics coming tomorrow- because I think a birthday post deserves to be by itself, am I right?

Tuesday was Christmas Eve. My fam and I had a little relaxing lunch at home. We opened presents and hung out. My other best friend came over so I could see her kids, whom I haven't seen in a long time! Then we headed to another family party for a quick hi and bye because my parents had to take me to the airport!

My trip back home was excellent- I'm always so spoiled when I'm there and it was so good to see my family and friends. It was hard and easy to leave-- hard because all my people are there, but easy because I missed my husband so, so much. I don't know when I'll be back in Cali, but I hope it's soon!

Secret Santa week

On the week of Dec. 16th to 20th, we did Secret Santa at work. I've done Secret Santa before, but this was a little different for me. When I've played in the past- you just give your person something on the last day. But at work, it lasted the whole week and we gave each other little gifts throughout the week and the "bigger" gift on the last day.

It was actually really fun because I was always excited to see what I was going to get each day. I also was excited to give my person their gift and see their reaction. My secret santa would have a person deliver my gifts to me. And I would just leave my gifts for my person at her desk because I knew when she was gone and when she'd be back. It was fun and everyone would always speculate who was their secret santa.

Here are the things my Secret Santa gave me:

A Vanilla-scented candle, Snickers, comfy socks and a mug filled with chocolate.

And on Friday, the last day, she gave me a generous gift card to Target which she delivered herself to tell me she was my Secret Santa. It was my co-worker Allison-- and I really had no idea it was her the whole time! I thought it was someone else... She's such a sweetheart and I really enjoyed everything she gave me!

The person I got also had no idea I was her Secret Santa. I think it's funner when you don't know! It was a fun-filled week at work. I definitely like the week-long secret santa better ;)



Anyways, I am currently getting things together from my California trip/my birthday/ Christmas, so stay tuned!

Thanksgiving: Year 3

Yesterday, J & I celebrated our third Thanksgiving together as a married couple. It was a nice, quiet and relaxing holiday for us.

We had a humble Thanksgiving lunch of rotisserie chicken, wheat rolls, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and some pumpkin-flavored beverage. It was all pretty darn yummy (despite what the crappy quality of the below photo may show).

We watched some videos on Vice.com (excellent site, bytheway. My favorite show on Vice is Fresh Off the Boat). Then we got ready to head out to Dave & Buster's. We walked about 2 miles to the bus stop and waited for about half an hour before realizing that that particular bus wasn't running that day. Bummer. So we walked all the way back home. But hey- at least we got a nice little walk out of the deal and ran across this pretty purple wall I just had to take a picture in front of:

We got home, got comfortable and watched movies the rest of the day. We even ate the rest of our Thanksgiving leftovers from our lunch for dinner. All in all- it was a pretty good Thanksgiving. We enjoyed it.

This is the third year that I haven't spent Thanksgiving with my family. I miss it- especially since our family Thanksgiving tradition is to go dirtbiking. Lots of fun. I hope next year we can spend it together.

Mine & J's first Thanksgiving as Mr. & Mrs. was spent in Ecuador at a gringo bar. Last year, we spent it in the Philippines. This year, we're in Nashville. I have no clue where we'll be or what we'll be doing this time next year. We will see...

We did Thankful Turkeys in my pre-k class.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with much love, blessings, and food- of course!

How to cook a turkey

We did this writing activity in my pre-K class today. I got a lot of really cute responses from my kids, but this one was my favorite.

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend was a pretty darn good one. Even though we didn't make a trip anywhere, we still enjoyed our 'long' weekend at home.

Friday:
We finally got to move into our apartment, which I talked about yesterday here. After we hustled our buns off moving everything in (just my husband and I, mind you), we worked up quite an appetite. We went to try out this Greek place called Athen's Family Restaurant. We got there at a good time because shortly after we were seated, the line slowly started to form. By the time we had finished, there were quite a few people waiting to be seated. I was wondering why it was so poppin'- then I went outside and saw their sign. It explained a lot. Their food was really good. And super filling! It was just what we needed.

After dinner, we went back home and did a little bit of unpacking. While I was in our room, I heard big booms and bangs, and I looked out the window and saw a fireworks show going on down at the baseball stadium. It was really awesome- especially since I had a perfect view from my window! It was quite the welcoming to our new home. ;)

Saturday:
I didn't feel like doing any unpacking in the morning, so Saturday started pretty slowly. After lunch, we headed downtown for the anti-war in Syria protest. On our way, I took a couple of shots of the Capitol building and another historic-looking building that I should have looked up what it was. Then we joined the protest. It was a pretty small turnout (especially since my husband and I are used to the HUGE anti-war protests in L.A.), but it was good being out there standing in solidarity.

Sunday:
We started the morning off with the oh-so-fun laundry time. Then we hit up the grocery store for some goods-- our favorite football (or soccer) team was playing so we had to make a thing out of it. We had chicken wings, watermelon, salad and of course some drinks! (And yes- our team won! iViva Barca!)

Later in the evening, we hit up Sonic's because I was feeling like a milkshake-- and I wanted to take advantage of their half-off shakes after 8pm deal while it's still here! I'm pretty sure I've almost tried every flavor.... My fave so far: Oreo Cheesecake!

Monday:
My favorite part of Monday: the fact that I got paid for enjoying a day off! Woohoo-- thank goodness for paid holidays! We walked to a record store that's really close to our house because they were having free food, booze and a band playing. So that was cool. And they had a life-size Muno there, signed by DJ Lance Rock and everything. I wanted to steal it.

Then later in the evening, we went our for some drinks with a friend. And, I will admit this to you blog world because I have no shame, we went to Sonic's AGAIN for milkshakes. Don't judge me.


So those were my shenanigans that were had on my holiday weekend! What about yours???

Holiday Weekend

We had an amazing July 4th Weekend! J & I drove up to Maryland to spend time with family. All his sisters & dad were there and we had a great 4th of July & weekend filled with lots of food & good times. We even did a little exploring in Annapolis & DC. 

It's always hard to leave & go back home. That's definitely my least favorite part about a trip.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend as well!

xo

{A Little Belated} Merry Christmas!

Silly & cheesy... just like us.

I hope everyone had a splendid Christmas filled with love and good times. We sure did.

Thanksgiving

Last year, J & I were in Ecuador for Thanksgiving. We went to this "gringo" bar and ate some amazing burgers and fries. And this year, we're in the Philippines. It makes me wonder- where will we be next year? =)

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a little dinner that I cooked {and J helped too}. Luckily it was just us two and I didn't have to cook a lot of food, so I wasn't slaving over the stove for too long. I also made my very first pie from scratch. It was pumpkin pie, of course. Everything tasted amazing.