Thankful.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! We had a whole mess of people over at our house to celebrate our day of gratitude and gluttony. Nineteen people, to be exact. This was especially ambitious given I had (very routine) surgery on Tuesday. Thank God for my mom who flew in from Alaska.

My grandma's first reaction was, of course, "Where are you going to put all of those people?!" Well, we cleared out our formal living room and rented some chairs. It ended up working out pefectly.

Some pics of our Thanksgiving table.




It was wonderful to have so many people in our home. It felt like the holidays when I was little with all of the family and friends piling in.

And, this was the first turkey I have ever cooked! Well, correction: We cooked two turkeys! (I couldn't risk running out of turkey!). Luckily, dinner turned out well, and I didn't burn anything or have any major snafus.


Per family tradition, we had holiday crackers. As usual, all of our holiday pictures are of us in those ridiculous paper crowns. (Remember last Christmas?)

Bug and Anthony.


Mom and Grandparents.


The whole fan-dam-ily (and some dear friends).


This Thanksgiving, I feel especially grateful for Josh, my sister, my parents, grandparents, and my dear friends. With all of the turmoil in our country and economy, I feel blessed to have my job (despite how stressful it might be at times) and especially blessed and hopeful for our new president.

And, now with Thanksgiving behind us, you know what that means... It's officially Christmastime! Let the present wrapping, light hanging, and carol singing begin!

Alive.

Wow, it's been almost six weeks since my last post and since I have opened my Google Reader. Wow, 1,800 posts to read. Hmm. (Please forgive the lack of comments.)

I have had writer's block. So much is going on, but it's sometimes hard to decide what is blogpropriate and what isn't. But, when life gets challenging, it's hard to blog about anything other than what's on your mind, so I guess I decided to just ... not.

Luckily, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. A picture-filled Thanksgiving post to follow soon.

Fires & Pumpkins.

What a week. As you may have heard, there were some crazy fires in Southern California earlier this week. Monday morning, my commute looked like this:




Scary, right? The fire was about 10 miles away, but the winds picked up, and by Monday evening, there was concern that the fires would burn straight down to the coast. We got a call from the City on Monday evening, telling us to prepare to evacuate. We went outside, and our neighbors were packing their cars and leaving to stay with friends and family. It was very ... apocalyptic.

In case we were evacuated, Josh and I packed up our cars with family pictures and other sentimental stuff. After a long night of tossing and turning, I woke up Tuesday and got news mid-morning that our city was no longer threatened by the fire. Such a relief.

After that scare, the rest of the week seemed like no big thing.

On a brighter note, the weekend has been great. Saturday morning, we checked out the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival.


There was a little pumpkin patch at the entrance.


We are cheap, though, and didn't buy any pumpkins. Apparently, the grocery store by our house has pumpkins for $4 each, so we decided to hold off.


We met up with my dad and his lovely girlfriend Cathy.


Since it was game day, my dad was completely decked out. Can you guess for whom he roots?


The festival was filled with food booths, disastrous news for me since I am trying to lose the 4,327 pounds I've gained since starting at the Firm. Funnel cakes, sausages, and burritos galore. Tear.


I love fall in Southern California (yes, there are seasons here, they are just subtle, ok?). The weather Saturday was sunny and cool with a slight breeze. And the sky blue flecked with clouds. This may make me sound like an office rat, but it was so nice to be outside.


After looping through the Pumpkin Festival, we headed back to our cars. I really love my dad's girlfriend, Cathy. My dad has such a big heart and is kind of a goof, and in many ways, I think they work so well together.

Exhibit A: My dad and Cathy breaking out their dance moves on the way to the car. (Embarrasing yet adorable, no?)

After we left the Pumpkin Festival, we had lunch, and then headed back to our place. Dad and Josh watched football, and Cathy keep me company on a trip to Crate and Barrel to get some bookshelves. I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening unpacking the last few boxes of books, assembling the bookshelves, and cleaning out our home office. It looks like a totally new place.

Today, well, I should be working, but as you can see, I am procrastinating. Josh wants to go see W. this afternoon, so I should probably knock some work out here so I can go play later. More soon...

Beat the Sun Devils.

Josh woke me up at eight o'clock this morning. Waking me up that early on a Saturday is usually unforgivable, but he had the most excited-little-boy smile. (It's hard to be mad at him when he is so cute.) Apparently, my dad had called and had four tickets to the USC football game and wanted to see if we wanted to go. Since Josh is obsessed with college football, and since USC is my second favorite team (sorry, Bruins friends) next to the Washington Huskies, we jumped in the shower and headed to the Coliseum.

Parking at USC is insane. Most of the event parking by the stadium is between $40 and $60 (!!!!), so we drove a little further away and finally found a sketchy vacant lot that was charging $20. But, that's not all. They would give you free parking if you paid them $25 to baby-sit your kid in the vacant lot while you enjoyed the game. Not sure if anyone took them up on the offer.


First stop once we were inside: food, of course. I got a rice bowl with tri-tip and chicken. Mmmm.


We found Bug and my dad, decked out in Trojan gear.


Our seats were pretty good. Actually, they were fantastic, considering they were free! And, it was a gorgeous autumn day in Southern California: 70 degrees, slight breeze, and sunny. Now this is why I moved back to L.A. after several cold years in Upstate New York! (Although, I must confess I miss the leaves this time of year, but I digress.)


Since both my parents are SC alums, and Bug is in medical school there, it has become my second favorite college football team. Now, the Huskies will always be my first and favorite. In fact, I hope they cream the Trojans in a couple of weeks. Unlikely, but a girl can hope.

Bug flashing victory. Fight on.


The game itself was pretty uneventful. The Trojans beat the ASU Sun Devils 28-0. Despite some messy fumbles, USC pretty much dominated.

Friday Night with Cio-Cio San.

Ahhhh, the weekend again. This week was a little slower, which was a nice change. Monday, Bug and I met up with some friends for dinner at the Spring Street Smokehouse. The original plan had been french dips at Phillipe's, but the crowds were insane. (Awesome Monkey recap here.)

The rest of the week was just work and home. Josh had Yom Kippur off on Thursday, so he was a total angel and whipped our house in order. Such a nice surprise to come home to!

Friday, Josh met me downtown and we headed to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. We have season tickets to the L.A. Opera, and we had tickets last night to see Madama Butterfly.


Josh is actually a pretty big opera fan. Fun fact about Josh: He has an absolutely gorgeous voice. He was classically trained, and for awhile, sang in operas. However, he got bored with that, and now would rather start a 90s grunge cover band. I kind of wish he would have stuck with opera, because how many people can sing like that? I mean, if I opened my mouth and all those incredible sounds came out, you would not be able to pull me off stage. A side note to this side note: Josh is fantastically fun at karaoke.

(One more digression: This week, I dug out my old point and shoot camera, so I actually have pictures (I am often too lazy to tote around my big 'ole SLR), although they are a little fuzzy.)

Okay, back on track.

We arrived at the Music Center an hour before the show. I was hoping to have dinner at Pinot Grill, but it was completely packed. Josh and I decided to grab a quick bite at the Spotlight Cafe, a small cafe run by the Patina Group that has sandwiches and snacks.


We got a couple little bottles of wine, and I ordered the grilled portobello mushroom sandwich with arugula, which was quite tasty! (Extremely fuzzy pic below.)


We sat by the fountain, ate our food, sipped our wine, and enjoyed the water show.


After a quick bite to eat, it was time for the show.


Of course, no pictures were allowed or taken during the show. The music was gorgeous, and the set design was very modern and minimalist. It was beautiful -- the stage looked like a moving painting, and the singers would freeze and slowly walk it looked like they were gliding. The stage was a moving, breathing painting. (That said, the theater was quite warm and we had just had a delicious dinner. Some of the slower arias set against the minimal background seemed to drag a little.)

After the show, we trekked home. After the food, wine, and beautiful music, I made a beeline for bed and slept like a baby.

To Market, To Market.

Wow, a two week blogging drought. You can probably guess why I have been MIA from the blogosphere lately. Yeah, I have been working a lot. I did escape my laptop for awhile last weekend to go to Bean's first birthday (awesome recaps here, here, and here) and had a wonderful dinner at Mastro's in Beverly Hills with some of my favorite girls from work last night.

After all the go, go, go, I was SO looking forward to sleeping in this morning. It has been over a month since I have had a free Saturday morning, so I was well overdue for a nice, long sleep. Giddy, I came home from dinner, slipped into my pajamas, and crawled into bed at 11 o'clock.

I woke up this morning, groggy, thinking it must be at least 1 p.m. I reached for my Blackberry to check the time (yes, it's on my nightstand -- sad, I know), and it was only 9 o'clock!! I used to be able to sleep well into the afternoon. Looks like I am losing the magic...

On the bright side, I felt well-rested and still had the whole day in front of me!

I got dressed, and Josh and I headed to the Calabasas Farmers' Market, our new Saturday morning tradition.

It's such a fabulously grey and drizzly day, so it almost felt like we were back in the Northwest.




I was really excited to find a bunch of baskets of different types of lettuce leaves.


We had to come home with a bag.


Everything was so fresh. I have never seen Josh so excited about vegetables. :)


And, of course, we loaded up on Josh's favorite food in the world: potatoes.




Mmmm...berries...


The Farmers' Market is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It had little restaurant booths in addition to local produce.


Josh said it reminded him of Oly. It reminded me a little of the produce stands in the Campo where I lived in Rome. Either way, we both agreed that we would be back next weekend!

Strolling about Santa Barbara.

This week has been long and trying. But, one thing that I have been looking forward to all week: spending today in Santa Barbara with my cousins from Italy!

I meant to get up early and get things done around my house before my grandparents arrived with Pino and Rosanna. I really did. Instead, the house phone rang at 8:15. Groggily, I answered. I didn't really sleep well because I kept waking up worrying I messed up something I served on Friday at work. (Maybe I should look into medication.) Anyway, when I heard my grandma's cheery voice saying they had just left the San Gabriel Valley, I knew it was time to get my butt in gear. I took a shower and picked up my house in record time. And, just as I was shoving the last random piece of scattered junk from my living room into the hall closet, there was a knock at the door.

My cousins and grandparents came in, and we gave them a little tour of our casa. After a quick shot of espresso (courtesy of the awesome espresso machine from Jackie), we were on the road, headed north.

Instead of taking the 101, we went down Malibu Canyon and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu.

We stopped at Zuma Beach to take some pictures and a little stroll.


The weather was absolutely perfect today. And the water at the beach was a gorgeous, deep blue.


"The Italians."


You know these folks by now...


We said ciao to Malibu and continued north. About an hour later, we stopped for lunch at the Summerland Beach Cafe, a favorite of Jackie's that serves some pretty kick ass breakfast (the bacon, especially).


Josh and Pino each had una birra.


We sat outside and soaked in the gorgeous weather and the smell of the ocean.


I had a breakfast combo with eggs, bacon, and french toast. The bacon was, of course, outstanding. The french toast was a little gooey for my taste, but that didn't really stop me from eating it!


Rosanna really wanted to go to the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. I had never been, but she really, really wanted to see a Redwood tree, so when she read in her guidebook that there were Redwoods at the Botanical Gardens, off we went.




I really liked this oak tree.


My grandma rounding the bend with Rosanna.


Finally, we found the Redwoods.






Pino and Rosanna were really excited to see cacti. Weird to us, but I suppose it makes sense since there really isn't much desert plant life in Italy.


Our last stop was the Santa Barbara Mission.


The fountain outside.


Padre Serra.


I love this chandelier.


Say formaggio.


Inside the mission.


I thought this sculpture was especially beautiful and powerful.


The mission garden.


The palm trees surrounding the mission. It was an incredibly beautiful day to be outside.


After touring the mission, the cousins and grandparents were pooped. They headed south on the 101, and Josh and I stayed to wander around State Street. We window shopped and then stumbled across this little wine and cheese shop. Wine and cheese? Yeah, you know we stopped.

After sampling some pairings of wine and cheese (only one small bite for Josh since he really shouldn't have cheese), we bought some of our favorite things we sampled and headed to the car.

It has been a long, but wonderful day. One of those days that all my worries about work and life dissipated and my mind was calm and present. Soaking in the sun, family, and a little sightseeing in our own backyard has got to be one of the best ways to spend a Saturday.