Thanksgiving Round #2

Last night I made a Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment.

I had decided while home for Thanksgiving that I also wanted to cook my own dinner back at school. So while out at Target my mom and I got me everything I needed, with the exception of the refrigerated stuff, and last night I cooked! She sent me home with a bad of frozen turkey from last Thursday and I thawed out a piece.

I made my yummy green bean casserole.
and then, ok ok ok yes, I made *instant* mashed potatoes and stuffing, but I also made fresh cranberry sauce and pumpkin cake.

Day 28, 29 & 30 (yes, I am very behind!)

Day 30: "Christmas" in 2 places! (and our neighbors)

On Monday night, Maegan and I, along with our neighbors who are also dear friends, Keifer and Yana, helped us put up and decorate our Christmas tree in the apartment.. and even though we won't actually get to have Christmas at our apartment I'm happy that we get to have a tree up! I am also very thankful for these neighbors of ours. They were good friends before we moved in but now we spend much more time together. I love being able to walk two doors down and know that the door will be unlocked and I can just walk in and hang out! It's been a joy living so close to them.

Day 29: my Mom

I know I've already blogged about my mom and my family and gooshed and gushed about how much they mean to me, but I have to goosh just for a sec about my mom. I am 22-years-old and I will openly admit that I talk to my mom everyday at least once, but usually more than that. I love my mom, she is the one person, other than Amanda, that I know I can go to for anything! If I need to vent, tell a random story, have a melt down, talk about ideas or worries, that's her! I love that we have the relationship that we have, and I am very confident that no matter where I live, or how old I get we will always be close.

Day 28: motivation and inspiration

This weekend ended with me going to church with my family. I have attended other churches while down here in LA, but there's nothing like your home church. The sermon was perfect. It really got me to think about my relationship with God and how I tell people about it, and I realized I need to get better at it. The sermon really encouraged me to work more on myself, and my relationship with God, and on growing to become the woman He has planned for me to be. I am so greatful that I can be home again this weekend for the Christmas musical.

Day 27

: time at home!

I love being able to be home.

This weekend was amazing... lots of family time, got to go to church this morning, saw the best friend and Hannah! and I'm about to get back on the road. Things usually feel less stressful here and I always leave feeling more grounded and under control. I'm already coming home again next weekend so that I can go to the Christmas musical at church (yeah!!) and then I'll be home for Christmas break soon after that!

Ok. I'm posting this video on this post because 1. I'm obsessed with it, Glee always does really smart stuff with the music they choose.. and 2. because I finally updated my blogger interface so now I can very easily post video's on my page so I wanted to try it! Enjoy!

Day 26

: Christmas decorating!!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" in my house! We put up the first round of a ton of decorations last night.. almost everything minus the real tree that we will do later. But it is that time of year again and I am very excited!

We always do two trees in my house.. one fake one and one real one. On the fake one we always do a "theme," so this is the fake on with a red, white and silver theme!

This is my beloved Nutcracker collection! My family has given me a Nutcracker every Christmas since 1998, and I love them.

Day 25

: Black Friday.

Believe it or not, I am thankful for Black Friday and I will tell you why. Black Friday is always insane, for the people willing to get up that early, or stay up that late for that matter, but not for my family. None of can see why getting up at 4am to go get some "deal" that will probably be the same for the rest of the weekend, being worth it. So instead, every Black Friday ends up being a mellow, relaxing, play-it-by-ear kind of day. So yesterday we all slept in, got up, kind of took our time getting ready, then my mom, cousin, and I went to the mall to shop a little (but not until about 3pm). We went to Victoria's Secret and Macy's, only, and with great success, and then came home and had Thanksgiving left overs for dinner, and started decorating for Christmas while watching 3 different Christmas movies and all just relaxing and spending time together. It's been a very good time at home this trip, so I am thankful for relaxing days like Black Friday.

Happy Birthday Best Friend!

Today is Amanda Noel's birthday.

I blog about this girl all the time so we all know how I feel about her.

buuuuuuut I love her and now she's old.

I am just very thankful for her friendship and that it has continued to grow and change (but still stay the same) as we have grown and changed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!!!

Day 24 (Thanksgiving!)

: Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which is why I wasn't able to blog, but it was a great day! Lots of yummy traditional food (see picture below), family and lots and lots of laughter!

(this was a turkey my grandma made out of candy and cookies! so cute!)

Day 23

: Today I am thankful that Casey is back in California and that tonight I will be home with my ENTIRE family (including Sean)! I am so beyond excited, it's going to be very hard to focus in class, but I am heading home right after!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Day 21 & 22

(yes, I know.. I'm a little behind).

: today I am thankful for a clean apartment! I cleaned my face off today and the results made me very happy. I have had a headache for almost 3 days straight and it's made me pretty cranky, so my messy apartment had to go.. here are my results! (If you know me, you know that this whole clean thing is new to me, so I want to brag).

: I am also thankful for planes. A plane is what is going to bring my brother home to us for Thanksgiving and I could not be more excited to go after class tomorrow!

Cranky.

Today is a fort day.

I've had a head ache since yesterday. My hope was that it would go away with some good sleep, it didn't. I've had lots of water, coffee, food and advil and it still wont go away. Therefore, all I want to do (instead of going to class) is build a cozy fort, and lay in it all day watching Christmas movies and nap. Well, off to class I go. Ugh, i'm cranky.

Day 19

: my sorority, Delta Zeta.

I have blogged about Delta Zeta before, but last night was initiation and knowing that my time with these girls is coming to an end when I graduate has made me really sad, and thankful that I've had it. Without Delta Zeta I wouldn't have some of the most important people in my life. Maegan, my roommate, my Big sis, Nicole (in the picture below!), and my littles, Amanda, Melissa and Justine (and that's only the ones in my family, there are many more). I also wouldn't have any of my guy friends, that I met all through the Greek system, and I wouldn't have had any of the amazing experiences I've had while here at CSUN. I am so so glad I went greek. DKZ <3

(above: Nicole and I at my Big Sis reveal. below: Maegan and I with our newest littles at their initiation last night).

(below: me with my first 2 littles, Amanda and Melissa at their initiation last fall).

(below: me with my pledge class, yes that's really all of us, we were tiny).

Tonight is our date party event and I am so excited! Happy Weekend!

Day 17 & 18

: my church and my home.

I am so thankful for the church I have back home. I have gone there my entire life and i've been missing it a lot lately. Whenever I'm home I try to go and I cannot wait to be able to go as much as I can over Christmas break.

I'm also very thankful for my home. I am so so so beyond excited to be there on Wednesday night for Thanksgiving, AND that Casey is going to be there! (I could say so much more about my home, but i've written alot about it in the past, so I think you all get the idea..)

: phones.

As much as there are times that my phone is blowing up and I just want to hide it and be in "real-life," if it wasn't for my phone, I wouldn't be able to call/text my Mom and Amanda Noel and Casey, or anybody for that matter. So I am very happy that I have it.

Happy Friday!

Day 16

: life. I'm alive, and well, and ready to live.

I want to blow this up big enough for it to cover my ceiling so I can look up and read it every night before I go to bed.

Day 15

: the very near future. (and endless possibilities).

Lately i've been thinking a lot about graduating, and what i'm going to do after. (I'm graduating this next semester). I know that initially I'm going to move back home and work, and start working toward passing my CBEST and CSET, both tests I have to pass to be a substitute teacher, and also apply to get my teaching credentials. These are all things I know i'm going to do... but there are other things i've been seriously considering, and it scares the crap out of me knowing that if I really wanted to do either of them, I could. There would be nothing stopping me.

I've been thinking a lot about possibly moving to New York for a year. To work, live and just experience the east coast. That's been my only complaint about my life so far is how few places I've been and experienced when there is so much to see. Which leads me to the second option i've been considering. I've been also seriously toying with the idea of going over sees to teach english for a year, like Spain or somewhere over in Europe. It would be an amazing experience to live in Europe for a year, and to also get an experience like that for my future in teaching English. I don't know which of these I'd be able to make happen, but i'm only 22... I will still be 22 when I graduate, I'm single and I want to experince things! I want to be able to see things when I can still just kinda pick up and go... because once i'm married, working at a high school teaching, and possibly having kids I won't be able to do that; and don't get me wrong, I can't wait for those things to happen I just want to be able to do certain things before those things happens.

Lots to think about.

Born This Way?

Lady Gaga is a brilliant singer/song writer.

She is also very eccentric. She always has insane (intense and also very strange) live performances, and extreme clothing/costumes. As I was watching some live performances and music videos of Lady Gaga today, I began to wonder... do you think everything she does, or at least some of it are meant to be metaphors for things?... or is she just weird?.. Leave your comments and tell me what you think.

Day 13 & 14

Day 14: coffee.

I love coffee, and am pretty much addicted to it. I drink it every morning... and a lot of times through out most of the day. It's delicious and keeps the morning "caffeine headache" away. I wouldn't be able to wake up early to finish homework I've been putting off (ugh, time management) if it wasn't for coffee.

Day 13: pictures. This weekend I was in Long Beach with Amanda Noel and Hannah Joy.

You all know about Amanda, I talk about her alot, but I don't know if i've ever really mentioned who Hannah is. Hannah was Amanda's room mate last year, but here's the thing, we've all know each other, gone to the same church, been to summer camp and on missions trips together, for our whole lives, but the sad thing is, we weren't really good friends until Amanda and Hannah moved in together (which is really a sad thing). The picture below makes me happy, but because we've known each other so long, it kinda freaks me out. To me, I look at this picture and see 3 adult/college friends, hanging out, drinking coffee, which means we are grown (or growing) up.. and i'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a super awkward picture of the 3 of us from when we were really little.. but that might not be the best idea. I love being able to spend time with friends who have known me and been through so many of the same experiences with me. (Puss cup story, that's all i'm saying).

Anyway, pictures. I love pictures. To me they are memories. In every picture I have in up in my room I have a memory attached, I can tell you exactly what was going on or what I was doing in every picture I have up. I love them. Ever since, I'd say middle school, I've always had some sort of picture taking device on me everywhere I go. (First it was a disposable camera, then a digital camera, now I just use my phone). I always have pictures everywhere in my life. When I was in high school, I was all about making cute little collages for my binders, and now that I've gotten older, I have pictures in frames and all over several bulletin boards in my room. I love them. We were lucky enough to get to utilize Hannah's photography skills to end up with some really cool pictures from the weekend and here are a few.

This is probably my new favorite picture of Amanda and I. I love it.

Happy Monday! (10 days til Thanksgiving!)