First things first, just in case you forgot...my roofdeck is still awesome...literally.
I took these at the end of october...one of those 60 degree days...I was reading on the roofdeck and almost cried when the sunset. Yup. I love my life.
Next, on to Thanksgiving in SF.
All of these pictures are courtesy my brother. I took my puny camera home and realized that I need to stop doing that. Once cam pulls out his, there is no contest. Plus, he's awesome at getting good ones. Like he said, I'm your personal photographer. Its totally true and I want to keep it that way.
I was so excited for thanksgiving this year. Even though I went home 3 times this fall, I really was dying for a trip back. My laundry basket was full and I wanted some sunshine. Thanksgiving meant a lot to me this year because this whole month I've had a deep feelings of gratitude for all that I have. More on that later...
Catching me check, check, checkin' da email. This was Wednesday morning, after our run at the Stanford dish and a scrumptous breakfast at Stacks. I look so deep in thought.
Mom being mom. In our living room.
here's where my mom was showing me the last issue of Gentry. Gentry is some hoity toity magazine from home that announces all the goings on in our community. My friend from 3rd grades wedding picture was in it so my mom was showing her pic. She lives in London now...i'm envious.
I felt like doing cartwheels. Cam felt like taking pictures.The rest of wednesday was great...I got new running shoes, aptly named ADDICTION. I was much over due for new ones...and they feel great! After that we went to Stanford shopping center where *shock* I didn't buy anything. Then we had tempura a la Gary (I'm so glad my step dad served in Japan...he makes the best curry and tempura) and then we went to Stranger Than Fiction, which is definitely on my list of favorite movies of all time. For serious.
Thanksgiving day...I woke up late and then we went to the dish day 2.
My lovely mother at the bottom of the first hill.
Cam and I walking up the second hill.
Thats me and the view of Stanford campus in the background.
The Stanford hills...over that one is Santa Cruz and the big blue ocean.
Looking over stanford golf course and then if you squint you can see SF. That day was so beautiful and clear you could see the whole city in the distance.
Love this pic of me, mom, and gary.
One of my furry friends at Stanford.
Cam running up one of the big hills. I of course had already ran it twice. haha.
2 years ago Stanford paid 2 million or something crazy for these huge iron and hay sculptures to be put in. My mom and I thought it was a joke. It totally wasnt and they are still there...
My brother rocks as a photographer How cool is that tree?
The rest of thanksgiving was great, we had 3 families over and our total reached 12. Which worked out great since we only had 12 plates and 9 chairs. Our thanksgiving tradition continued with having the Hughes over for dinner, which worked out perfect that we ran into them at the dish that morning and begged them to come. hee hee. My moms rolls were amazing and the sweet potatoes were my favorite part. I of course ate too much. We had great conversation and we were going to go see a movie but none of us could move. Thank goodness elf was on TBS. :)
Friday was fabulous. We got up at 6:30 AM to catch the big sales at Off 5th outlet in Milpitas...I really wanted to die getting up that early for shopping...but it was totally worth it. I got some good christmas presents at off 5th...and I got a new yellow north face jacket that I love love love. And the sales stopped in the morning...and we beat some of the crowds...and i saw the sun coming up...and it was the day after thanksgiving. :)
After the mall it was time to see Karren and Gordon, a much awaited brother-sister get together. We wanted to go up to the Haight butttt lunch took a long time and we shopped too long in the morning. :) It was off to the Dutch Goose (err I mean Greasy Goose) for some GOOD food. Their hosue speciality are the deviled eggs...so good. And their chili is to die for. I wish I had pics...but alas, cam didn't bring his camera! hee hee.
Since Karren and Gordon had to go back to Los Gatos, cam and I made the trek up to the haight. I know I've blogged about the Haight before, but yeah, this trip was so great. It was SO clear when we got up there you could see the Golden gate from 19th ave. Which never happens since its always fogged over. I gasped and Cam took a pic at a red light.
The golden gate was bigger in real life. :)
Once we got to the Haight and parked up the street on Ashbury, Cam got some good pics of the delightful houses around there. I love these houses so much I could stare at each and every one of them for a day. Seriously. The pics don't show the amazing detailed wood work that adorns the window panes and door frames. Sigh.
Me and the new North Face jacket in front of an awesome SF house.
You can see some of the detail in this one.
Sigh.
pretty self explanatory.
Cruisin the Haight.
One of my favorite vintage shops.
A random accordian player. She was awesome.
This guy looks like a missionary. He was not. He was reading from Joyce's Ulysses. Gotta love it. As cam said, why did he want to read that out loud? Its so boring!
Me in front of Villians. I can't walk into this store without buying something. I actually did manage to not buy anything in villians, but I did buy a couple things in their shoe store next door...does that count?
Inside Villians. You can see me in the red..I'm on the hunt.
Hunting for Tshirts...
I really wish I could wear this. Sorry for the swear!
More hunting...there was this sweet orange and brown 70s looking jacket i was eyeing...i decided not to go with it. Although it was a tough decision.
Here's where I ran into trouble. I tried on these shoes and then HAD to have them.
They are special edition Etnies...yes, those are ribbons for the shoe laces and the designer used a special silk weave fabric for the inlay. I um..adore these. Plus, they have special foam padding so they are SO comfy. And only 157 pairs were made. They were my best purchase this trip.
And I couldn't stay away from the old school vans in two tone green. My theory is I can never have too many pairs of vans. I now have 4.
After Villians we went to my second favorite place..Bang On Tshirts.
They have american apparel blank tshirts and tons of iron on transfers to make your own tshirts. I simply love the place since I feel like I'm making something original. Even though probably hundreds of kids do the same thing I do...thats okay. I still feel cool.
Oh man...a replacement for the original banana shirt! aie! The iron on transfer was getting too messed up...I went for a new color although my gut told me just to redo the old one. Cam suggested something new. And i LOVE it.
French and Sesame Street. The perfect combo. Plus, I'm totally going through a purple phase...I love buying purple clothes...I have no idea where it comes from.
There is a great story behind this one. Cam made a nor cal shirt on black. Now, one of my goals while I was home was to get a Nor Cal black sweatshirt with big white writing. So I was all mad since I wanted one too. But I wanted the same thing he got. He was like ummm no...that doesn't work we both in Boston. Point taken. So then I got fuzzy white letters and one big star. and I still have Nor Cal pride. :D
The corner of Haigh-Ashbury. Ben and Jerrys and then the Gap. Which I always thought it was depressing that the Gap got a corner of Haight Ashbury. Anyway, love the photographer skills my brother possesses. He put his camera on a car since he didn't have a tripod.
So after the very successful trip to the Haight, it was time for GAME NIGHT. I invited a bunch of my friends from high school over and their siblings and it was so great. I stole my roommates' Magnolia banana pudding recipe and my mom helped me make it. SO GOOD. We played the name game and catch phrase. There were like 15 of us...twas great. :) We heated up the hot tub and partied some more.
Wednesday morning I had the bright idea of after hot tubbing to jump in the freezing pool. I convinced my best friend Sara to do it with me Friday night. It took a lot of coaxing.
Sara and I eyeing the pool...getting ready.
Cam is awesome at taking perfect action shots. Here's us just before we hit the water. The calm before the storm.
Here is us SCREAMING OUR HEADS OFF. Looking at these makes me shiver all over again.
If you can zoom on Sara's face, her mouth is frozen open. I'm trying desperately to cover myself with something. haha.
Jeff couldn't let the girls take all the praise. He decided to get in too. Cannonball! Notice just one of his legs is in...once again, well done Cam.
The face says it all.Saturday we slept in and then had left overs for lunch and then heading to Union Square in SF for some...guess what...shopping!
Mom and I waiting for cam to come out of diesel.
Mom and I in H&M. I love how i'm not smiling and my mom is.
Purty flowers outside of Nieman Marcus.
Neiman Marcus' HUGE tree and Haley's, Gary's, Mom's and my head.
This is my favorite christmas decoration...Saks snowflakes...so pretty!
Nice candid pic. Notice the purple purse.
Every year Macy's puts up all the little wreaths and then has one HUGE wreath in the middle. They changed it this year and I'm a little perturbed. The tree just doesn't cut it. Plus they had these heinous fluorescent lights behind it. Oh well.
The HUGE tree in the middle of union square...awww.
The tree and Saks.So that night we went to Beach Blanket Bablyon, an SF show thats been running for 30 years. It was HILARIOUS. I almost peed my pants. Go see it if you are ever in SF. I loved seeing karren again and so glad she came!
Sunday was nice and relaxing, I got to go to my home ward and also the stanford ward and it was good to see old friends...and then we took the red eye back Sunday night! It was quite the trip!
So back to what i'm thankful for...
My heart has been full of gratitude this whole month thinking about all of my blessings. There is so much to be grateful for I think its really easy to forget all that I have. I'm so grateful that I got to take the time this year to really think about my blessings and remember all that I have. It makes my perspective on life so much better! And i'm much happier when I'm grateful.
What a fabulous thanksgiving...
