Thanksgiving Eve

Today I have been extremely homesick. I'm really missing home and am sad that I won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family this year. It's definitely going to be different this holiday. We're celebrating with Diego's family and I really don't know what to expect. Numerous family members have told me that they don't really celebrate the holiday. They'll make a turkey, but that's about it. My family, on the other hand, is all in to Thanksgiving. Our extended family gathers together and we really focus on family and giving thanks. We take our Thanksgiving food very seriously. We usually have tons and tons of food and desserts:  turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, two different types of dressing, cranberry salad, scalloped corn, deviled eggs, apple salad, carrots, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, pudding dessert, pumpkin bars or cookies, etc.

Although I think tomorrow will be very different than my "norm"....I will try to remain positive...the focus is on thanksgiving after all and I have many things that I'm thankful for.

I'm so thankful for my family even though we're 2,500 miles apart. I have been so blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful family. No, we're not perfect but I grew up in a loving home and grew up in a kind and loving family environment.  Since being away from my family and seeing that not all people were as lucky to grow up in such home, I am more grateful than ever!

I'm thankful for my health, my job, that I have a roof over my head, and that I have people who love me.


Well, I have more to say, but maybe next time. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Btw, how do you like the new layout? I was getting tired of that old one and thought this one seemed more fitting for now! :)

It's a Cali Thing

Part of San Pedro Cliff Falls Into Ocean: MyFoxLA.com

So part of a cliff near the water finally just crumbled yesterday due to all the rain we've been having...craziness! It's actually located right next to the nature preserve where I usually walk. The road had been cracking and then was starting to sink so they've had it closed off for a couple months now. It's been raining at least a couple times a week for the past month or so, so it's been getting worse. Yesterday we had a downpour and I guess that was the final straw....

I hope that I'll still be able to walk on the trails @ the preserve because I really like that place! They'd had a fence up right next to a portion of the trail, so I'm assuming that part of the trail would be off limits. We'll see I guess....

I actually took a couple pictures of the fence/trail on Friday. I'll have to upload them and post them  later.

Ventura Trip

Sitting here watching TV. I'm on my third episode of Restaurant: Impossible. I LOVE this show! The last episode was about a restaurant in San Diego and I absolutely loved the decor, which is in the photo above. I sooo want to own my own business! Just need to figure out what exactly. :)

So this week I have been staying busy with work. It's my last week of training and next week I will be on my own.

Nothing very exciting has been going on around here. Same old, same old for the most part. Last night D and I went to see "Tower Heist" because it was $5 Tuesday! Since we joined the Regal Royal Crown Club we got $2 popcorn and I received a coupon for a free soft drink. So we got two movie tickets, two popcorns, and a small soft drink for $12!  I'd say that's a pretty good deal, especially since a single movie ticket can cost around $12.

Oh, so I never posted the pictures from this past Sunday.

After church, we grabbed some roast beef sandwiches from Arby's! I hadn't had Arby's in MONTHS! I haven't seen a lot of them around here...

We headed over to D's fam's house to see what was going on....ended up washing and vacuuming the car! I took some pictures, but they didn't load correctly...We were kind of bored and felt like getting out of the city so we decided to drive up to Ventura, which is about an hour and a half drive north of LA. 

We stopped by this frozen yogurt place called Twist Frozen Yogurt in Calabasas....

It was really nice and we liked it even more than Yogurtland! They had tons of yummy yogurt toppings!

The decor was really nice and they had Ipads and internet access!

What an amazing view!

Next, we stopped in Camarillo, which I LOVED! There was sooo much agriculture! Tons of orchards and green fields!

We drove through this little park, but didn't stay...

Lemon trees!

I would so love to live in a place like this! Why didn't i study agriculture? :P

A train that was whizzing past us

A sign for a farm where they grow pine trees...you can go choose and cut your own christmas tree!

Lemon trees

D and his family used to go to this place...

We were trying to capture the beauty of these trees with the sun behind them...GORGEOUS!

Unfortunately, these photos don't do them justice!

View of the ocean from a hilltop in Ventura...

More beautiful trees...

Trying to find beach access...

It was an AMAZING sunset!

The sky was so bright red and it was just beautiful!

That's us! My hair was going crazy as usual because of the salt water in the air!

Traffic was HORRIBLE on our way back to LA. There had been a really bad accident on the northbound side and traffic was even worse over there.

So yeah, I have decided that I really, really liked the Ventura/Oxnard/Camarillo! There's a lot of nature and agriculture. It seems much more laid back and quiet. It's super nice!

Well, that's all for now folks. I'm going to head to bed soon! Night!

Hola!

Hola! I'm sitting here watching some show called "Scare Tactics" with Diego. It's actually pretty funny. It's similar to the show 'Punk'd' but more extreme. It's hilarious!

I had a pretty nice weekend! D and I just hung out at home on Friday night and watched a movie. On Saturday, we went out to lunch with some of D's siblings and then we hung out at his fam's house all evening. His mom made enchiladas and we had birthday cake to celebrate Joel's bday. There was some big fight on some everyone was busy watching the match. 

We ate @ BJ's Brewhouse in Montebello...

Waiting for our table...

My delicious chicken tortilla soup

Walking through the mall

This is some army surplus store that D and his brothers used to go to all the time...

Diego trying on hats...

awww

haha

Giant boot

For Jennica :P

Check out that winter coat that Larry was wearing..haha :P You'd think we were in the antarctic ;)  D and larry both got this mexican drink called tejuino. It's basically fermented dough...I tried it but...not a big fan :P

In the mall

Mangoes!!

D and I decided to play some checkers while the first match was going on...

D's mom made enchiladas for dinner. They were spicy but good!

The new kitchen table and chairs...well technically not new...gently used. :P

Irma and Rachel working in the kitchen

Singing happy birthday to the two birthday boys...

Rachel and Edgar made Joe's cake...I think Irma made the winnie the pooh cake...

Learning to play poker! (no money involved of course) It's actually a really fun game!

After the fight we all played a game Password. It was pretty fun...

The score for round 1.

We exchanged names for the Christmas gift exchange...Everyone is supposed to list some suggestions on this board...

I have more pictures from Sunday, but I'll post those tomorrow maybe. 

Today I worked 9 to 2. It went pretty smoothly. I still have someone shadowing me, but I'm basically doing all the work. I'll be on my own next week! Kind of scary! I had a headache after work so I just came home and slept for an hour or so. 

When Diego got out of work, we went over to check out a hotel for my parents when they come visit. It was pretty nice and just a couple blocks away from our apartment. The place is called San Pedro Inn & Suites...

This kind of reminded me of Titanic for some reason..haha

The doors were really tall....

The ceilings were really high as well...

The building has a lot of personality...it's an older hotel so has a lot of nice touches  like a stained glass window

Room w/ king bed

Okay, well I think that's it for now. I'll write more tomorrow! Night everyone!