Category Archives: Family

Another Quick Santa Barbara Day (or Celebrating My Niece)

Posted on February 28, 2024 | Comments Off on Another Quick Santa Barbara Day (or Celebrating My Niece)

I don’t go to Santa Barbara too often, even though it’s not that long of a drive. But I do go up at least a few times a year to see my family. I go up for my niece’s and nephew’s birthdays, and I’ll continue to do that as long as their birthday parties are family parties. I don’t know how many years that will go on so I have to take advantage of them when I can.

Since it’s an easy drive, I only go up for the day so I don’t need to pack an overnight bag. I really can’t remember the last time I stayed overnight in Santa Barbara since I’d rather not have to bring all that stuff and like to sleep in my bed. I still end up feeling like I bring a lot of stuff with me, but it’s usually because I’m bringing stuff to give to my parents so I don’t have to ship things to them. And my parents usually have a bag of things to give to me as well. Typically, my dad is bringing me some tools or things that I mentioned would be helpful to have. This last time, I mentioned not having clamps to hold things down when I glue them, so he got me a set of clamps.

I went up recently for my niece’s birthday party and I really didn’t have much to bring with me this time. I did have her birthday present, but that was all I had to remember to put in my car. But I did get a new-to-me camera recently (it was a trade with a friend), so I brought that too so I could practice taking some photos with it since it had been a while since I had used anything other than my phone to take photos. I got the camera mainly to do self-tape auditions, but learning how to do more on it is a good idea in case I want to use it for photos and other things.

The drive up was pretty easy, and I felt lucky about that. The day of the party was supposed to be a very stormy day, but I didn’t have much rain on my drive. I lucked out with the storm because it only rained a little bit going up so I didn’t have to worry about extra traffic caused by people who aren’t good drivers in the rain.

Most of the birthday parties that my niece and nephew have had before only had a few friends there. This time, there were a few more friends than at their past parties (I’m guessing my nephew will have a lot of friends at his birthday in about a month). It made things a bit more hectic, but I ended up talking to my parents most of the time. The kids were doing different crafts like decorating cookie boxes (which had glitter so I was trying to stay away from that) and playing with all the toys they have. Once my niece opened her presents, they started to play with those things too. I got her a dress-up set, but she got a lot of dress-up stuff so she had a lot of new things to open up and try on.

The party only lasted a few hours before all my niece’s friends started to head home. I stuck around a little longer to talk with my parents about a few random things, but once it looked like the rain was about to start, I knew I needed to leave too so I could try to avoid driving in a crazy rainstorm. I don’t love to drive in the rain anyway, but to drive 90 minutes or more in the rain sounded awful. Just like with my drive up, my drive back down home only had a few minutes of rain and then it was easy for me the rest of the way. I’ve done the drive up and back enough to have experienced a lot of random situations that make the drive harder or longer, but this ended up being one of the easier drives I’ve had.

Hopefully, when I go back up in a little over a month for my nephew’s party, it will be just as easy of a drive. And I hope it won’t have the threat of rain so the party can take advantage of the bounce house they have been using for other parties since that is always a big hit with everyone!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailCelebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family) Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!) Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Birthday (or Happy 2nd Birthday Presley!) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Engagement Party (or Sunburn and Rain)

Comments Off on Another Quick Santa Barbara Day (or Celebrating My Niece)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Another Fake Thanksgiving (or A Busy Day Without Many Pictures)

Posted on November 22, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Fake Thanksgiving (or A Busy Day Without Many Pictures)

My family did our Fake Thanksgiving 2 weeks ago. I think we will continue the tradition of doing our Thanksgiving early each year since that’s a cheaper time for everyone to travel. It makes it a little harder for some of our schedules, but that’s probably a smaller problem than the crazy cost of traveling during the actual holiday. It can be a bit tough with my work schedule to spend too much time on whatever Fake Thanksgiving we have, but I do my best to make it work. We have been doing it over Veteran’s Day so that at least gives me time off from my one of my jobs. And I just have to take time off from one job on that day.

This year, we had Fake Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara, so it was just a drive for me. I was looking at possibly spending more than just the day there, but with schedules and other things, it was just going to be easier for me to drive up that morning and drive back home that evening after dinner.

There wasn’t much scheduled for the day that I would be up there. I drove up that morning and spent some time with my parents and the dog before my dad and I went to our Orangetheory class. I was hoping we would have a larger group for the workout, but it was just my dad and aunt joining me. I know my brother wanted to join but he couldn’t at the last minute, and my cousin wanted to come but she was recovering from an injury. But it was still a good workout and I’m so happy that tradition continued!

After the workout, I went back to the rental house my parents were staying at so I could shower and get changed for dinner. But as I was getting ready, there was a press conference announced regarding the end of the SAG-AFTRA Strike. I was able to watch while I got ready for dinner, but that also meant I wasn’t really being social with my parents. I think they understood why I wanted to pay attention to that, so hopefully they didn’t mind too much.

Fake Thanksgiving dinner was held at the country club that my brother and sister-in-law belong to, which is where we had it a few years ago. And most of my family was able to be there. We were missing 2 of my cousins and one cousin’s husband, but everyone else was at dinner. It was a little overwhelming since dinner was the only time that I was going to see most of the family, so I didn’t really get to catch up with everyone as much as I would have liked to.

But I was excited to give my niece and nephew their early Hanukkah presents. I got them both really cute toddler digital cameras. I thought it could be fun to see what types of pictures they might take during dinner. I haven’t seen all of those photos yet, but we got to see some of the photos on the screen as they took them. The ones I did see were mostly selfies and crazy close-ups of random things. But I think they will have fun as they learn how to use them.

I wish I had taken more photos with my family while I was there, but I only got one photo during dinner of my place setting. Nothing fancy or anything, but it was all I got when I looked back at what I took that evening.

But a lack of photos also shows that I focused on being with my family and in the moment. I was sitting next to my cousin and she and I spent most of dinner talking and catching up on random things. And she was telling me about a road trip that her family will be doing hopefully next summer which would bring her to LA. I would love for her to see my place and get to see her more than just once a year!

And as dinner was finishing up, I started to talk to some of my family about where Fake Thanksgiving would be held next year. And after talking a bit and thinking about some logistics, it looks like I might be hosting it for the first time ever! I never could have all my family at my place when I lived in my tiny rental. And even though I don’t have a huge place now, I have the space to get a rental table and make it work. My parents came to LA a few days after Fake Thanksgiving and we were talking about me hosting it, I think we all agree it’s totally feasible and that’s what we will be doing in a year! My dad is already sending me articles with Thanksgiving ideas so I’ll be prepared for next year.

For tomorrow on actual Thanksgiving, I’m not sure if I’ll have company over. I was talking to a friend about if they wanted to come for dinner, but we both have agreed that we’ll see how we feel. But I am cooking some of my favorite Thanksgiving things and I’ll be trying a dry brine on a turkey breast that I might use for next year.

And if it’s a low-key Thanksgiving Day, that’s fine with me since I already feel like I got my Thanksgiving celebration during Fake Thanksgiving!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family) Default ThumbnailNot Quite Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Time (or A Full Family Day) Default ThumbnailHappy Thanksgiving! (or Just A Quick Post) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of Thanksgiving (or Getting In Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailAnother Low-Key Thanksgiving (or Doing Some Of My Traditions) Default ThumbnailFamily Zoom Time (or Thanksgiving After Thanksgiving)

Comments Off on Another Fake Thanksgiving (or A Busy Day Without Many Pictures)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

One Of My Favorite Workout Weeks Of The Year (or Another Family Workout)

Posted on November 13, 2023 | 3 comments

This past week of workouts, I had 3 of my regular workouts at my normal studio. I usually go Monday-Thursday, but this week I was there Monday-Wednesday. Those workouts were pretty good for the most part. I struggled a bit more than normal on Monday because I was still dealing with pain and nausea, but it was a lot less than what I had dealt with the week before. And I was feeling almost back to normal by Tuesday, so my workouts weren’t affected that much after the first day.

Even though I love those challenges, it was nice to be done with Hell Week. I don’t feel like I can push myself as much during Hell Week by using heavier weights or doing new things on the bike or rower because I’m just trying to get through those workouts. They do challenge me, but because I have had goals to see improvements in my workouts, my goals and how I push myself are different. That meant I was able to get back to trying to improve in normal workouts. I’m still testing out if I can increase the bike resistance level and I think I might start trying to change one of the levels I use instead of trying to change them all at once. And I have noticed my rowing continues to get stronger and faster, so that’s awesome. I still have some issues on the rower because of my foot, but I’ve been adapting more to what I need to do and I’m glad that’s not setting me back too much. I still have a lot of work to do on my rowing endurance, but it’s baby steps towards what I want to do.

But the best workout of this past week was the one workout not at my normal studio. My family had our Fake Thanksgiving this past week, so I did a workout on Friday at the studio in Santa Barbara since that’s where our Fake Thanksgiving was held this year! This was the second time we worked out at that studio, so it was fun to have another repeat studio for our tradition. And this was the 10th time our family had a workout before Thanksgiving or Fake Thanksgiving! Our first family workout was in 2014! And now we’ve gone to 4 different Orangetheory studios and had 1 year with each of us doing a workout at home. I love that this tradition has continued for 10 years now and that my family still joins in for a workout. Sometimes it’s a bigger group and sometimes it’s a small group, but it always happens!

This time, my dad and aunt joined me for the workout. It was a 2 group class, which is something I don’t usually get to take. And it was also a run/row, which is even more rare for me since those only happen in some 2 group classes. I do like that the run/row workouts almost feel like a 3 group class to me a bit since there is a lot of rowing, so I was happy that was the workout we happened to go to.

My dad and aunt kicked butt in class. I know it’s not easy for them since they don’t normally go to Orangetheory so they aren’t used to the pattern and rhythm of class. But the coach was really good about helping to guide them to the right things and I also checked in with them to make sure they knew what to do next. Sometimes in these workouts, my dad and I challenge each other a bit, but this time we were both just focused on getting in a good workout. And I thought it was a really good class with a nice mix of upper and lower body work. I also was able to challenge myself by using heavier weights for chest flys. I felt sore after doing that, but it was a good sore feeling.

And of course, after class, we had to take a family photo with the coach so I could add it to our collage!

There have been a lot of things that I have celebrated about working out at Orangetheory, but this is one of the things I celebrate that involves others. My family doesn’t have to join me for these workouts and I would go on my own if nobody else wanted to go. But for 10 years (technically 9 since one year we all worked out at home on our own), at least some of my family has decided to keep up this tradition and that’s something I’m so happy about and proud of!

Now I just have to figure out how to be the host of my family’s Thanksgiving (or Fake Thanksgiving) so that we can do our family workout at the Culver City studio and my family can see how awesome my coaches at my home studio are!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMy Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts) Default ThumbnailThanksgiving Workouts (or Getting My Family Involved) Default ThumbnailAnother Full Workout Week (or More Family OTF Time) Default ThumbnailA Short Workout Week (or 3 Workouts In 3 Different Locations) Default ThumbnailA 4 Workout Week (or Only A Few More Weeks Of 2015 Workouts) Default ThumbnailNot My Usual Thanksgiving Week Workouts (or Trying To Keep The Tradition Going)

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fitness

Tagged , , , , , ,

Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)

Posted on April 6, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)

When I went to Santa Barbara for my niece’s birthday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be making it back up there for my nephew’s birthday a few weeks later. His birthday was going to be on a weekday and I knew my brother and his family were going to be out of town right before his birthday. So I thought his party might be on a weekday, which would mean I would have to miss it. But after I was in Santa Barbara in February, I found out the party would be the Sunday before his birthday so I would be able to go!

So this past Sunday, I made the drive up to Santa Barbara for the day as I have done so many times before. It’s not a horribly long drive, but with some traffic and road construction it was about 2 hours for me to get there. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that I’d be driving up so I had a bunch of podcasts saved so I could be entertained on my drive.

I knew the party would be pretty low-key since my nephew was turning 3 and he doesn’t have a ton of friends yet. And I appreciated that it wouldn’t be a huge party full of people I didn’t know. It ended up being my family, my sister-in-law’s family, and 2 of my nephew’s friends from preschool. And they set up the bounce house I got my niece and nephew again for the party, so it was fun seeing all the kids having fun on it (and knowing that it was a good gift since not all of the gifts I’ve gotten them have been hits).

Since my nephew was busy playing with his friends, I spent most of my time at the party with my family and my sister-in-law’s parents. Even though I had seen them all a few weeks earlier at my niece’s party, there was plenty to catch up on. And I didn’t realize my sister-in-law’s mom hadn’t seen all the photos from my condo remodel, so I was showing her those and sharing what we did for the renovation and how it’s been since I moved in almost a year ago.

Everything about the party was casual and chill. They had a taco bar for lunch and I was eating outside with my parents (which was much quieter than being inside). And instead of a cake, they had cupcakes. My nephew loves garbage trucks so the cupcakes were decorated with little trucks.

And both my niece and nephew loved them, but I think my niece had a bit more fun making a mess out of the frosting and seeing how crazy she could get.

After cupcakes, the party was winding down. My parents had the dog with them, but he wasn’t able to be inside for the party so I was hanging out with my parents in the driveway so I could also spend a little time with Tucker. We mainly were just sitting in the front of the house for that, but it was still nice to see the dog since I don’t get to see him too often. And after my niece and nephew went down for their naps, my brother and sister-in-law hung out with us for a little bit before we all said goodbye.

I know I could have stayed a little longer if I wanted to and continued to hang out with my parents at their rental house, but I wanted to get home before it was too late. I know that going back on Sunday evenings can be crazy, and I wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible. Even though I didn’t leave that late, it still took me almost twice as long as normal to get home. But that’s ok since it was worth it to get to have some time with my family. I know that isn’t as easy for everyone to do as it is for me, so I like to take advantage of it whenever I can.

I’m not sure when my next trip to Santa Barbara will be, but I’m sure that there will be another day up there at some point soon. I usually plan them around when my parents are there, so I’ll just have to wait until they plan their next trip. And even with this trip up there being short, I’m glad it was still full of family time and it was on a day that I could make it.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Birthday (or Happy 2nd Birthday Presley!) Default ThumbnailCelebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day) Default ThumbnailA Very Fast Trip To Santa Barbara (or Getting To Celebrate My Nephew’s Birthday A Little) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailA Big Family Day! (or A Birthday Party and Meeting Presley) Default ThumbnailAn Unexpected Family Visit (or Making Plans, Canceling Them, And Making Plans Again)

Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

Posted on February 23, 2023 | Comments Off on Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

After my parents were in Santa Barbara, they came to LA for a few days. Sometimes when they come to LA, they are here longer, but this time we had only a few things we wanted to accomplish and we had to work around my work schedule. But we lucked out and the Monday they were here happened to be a holiday, so I had the day off work. So we were able to do a lot in a short amount of time.

Every time my parents are visiting me, I always have a list of projects that I need help on. This has happened at every place I’ve lived, but I think the projects have become bigger now that I own a place. But this time, most of the projects I had ahead of time were pretty small things. I had worked on building a tv stand, but couldn’t get a few of the steps done so I needed my dad’s help to finish it. I also had built a shelving unit for my bathroom and needed help hanging it up and making sure it was secure. And now that I know where most of my furniture is going to be, we worked on making a few things a bit more secure for earthquake safety.

But the biggest project we had to work on was something that I didn’t have until my parents got here. I have a very long wall in my living room behind my couch and I looked online for a few months to find the perfect thing to put there. I found something I liked, but it was too expensive. But I showed it to my dad since it was made of wood and I knew he was learning woodworking. He showed it to his neighbor, who is his woodworking teacher, and they decided that it wouldn’t be the easiest project but it was doable. So my dad was going to make something similar to what I saw online, but more customized for my house.

I had seen progress pictures over the past 6 months of the different stages of the artwork in process. And when I was in Portland we worked on the color design since they needed to stain the wood. The one that I saw online was a single piece, but because of the size of the wall, we knew doing a triptych would probably look cooler. And once the artwork was here and we were able to hang it up, I know that was the right choice.

It doesn’t cover the entire length of the wall, so I might add some photos or something to the sides to make it more of a gallery wall. But it is substantial and really a statement piece. The colors are similar to what I have in my living room, but also a bit bolder so it adds a nice touch. A lot of the things I own are more neutrals and I knew I needed some color. The teal in the artwork really stands out in a great way.

I don’t know if the photos really show off how cool this piece is, but you can see a lot of the texture from this close-up photo.

Most of the visit with my parents was focused on doing all these projects, and I think it was worth it to do that. My place still isn’t fully decorated or complete, but it’s feeling more like it’s not something still being worked on. And the things I don’t have yet aren’t things I urgently need so I’m ok with waiting a bit longer to buy them. I just have wanted to make my place feel like home and every time I get a few new things or work on projects like this, it feels more like it’s mine. I also think the renovation helped it feel like that right away since I designed a lot, but the furniture and artwork helped so much.

I’m glad we were able to get so much done on the day I had off of work since the next day I was busy pretty much until dinnertime. But my parents came over after I was done with work and we went out to dinner. It might have been faster than most of their visits here, but we had some very specific things we wanted to accomplish and we were able to get them done. And even though I have a few other little projects to still work on, those are things that I either need to hire someone to do because we can’t do them or they are very small that I can do at a later date.

I’m not sure when my parents will be in LA next. Possibly at some point this summer or maybe in the fall. But I’ll see them again in a little over a month in Santa Barbara and I’m hoping that maybe I can finally make it back to Tahoe this summer! But whenever they come back to the condo, I’m sure I’ll have more projects on my list for us to work on and we’ll try to be as efficient as we were this time.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailStarting To Move In (or Taking The Roadrunner To The Condo) Default ThumbnailA New Reason To Do Big Cleaning Projects (or Putting Other Projects On Hold For Now) Default ThumbnailA Few More Projects At My New Place (or These Might Be The Last Little Projects I Do For A While) Default ThumbnailThe Projects Might Never End (or I Will Always Be Doing New Things) Default ThumbnailStill Doing More House Projects (or Just Trying To Find Busy Work) Default ThumbnailA Busy Family Weekend (or Continuing To Set Up My Home)

Comments Off on Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

A Santa Barbara Birthday (or Happy 2nd Birthday Presley!)

Posted on February 22, 2023 | 1 comment

This past weekend was my niece Presley’s 2nd birthday. I was happy her birthday fell on the weekend because I was able to drive up for the day to celebrate with everyone. I wasn’t able to do that for her 1st birthday, but I still was able to go up the next day to be a part of a mini-celebration. But I was excited that I could be at her birthday party this time.

It was a small birthday party. The only non-family people there was another family that has 2 little boys around the same ages as my niece and nephew. But I think a bigger party might have been overwhelming for my niece, so a small party was perfect. And it was a really nice afternoon.

For most of the party, all 4 kids were busy playing with all the different toys my niece and nephew have. They have a few different little motorized toys, like garbage trucks and bulldozers. And they are still young enough that they weren’t turning them into bumper cars or anything. But what I think was one of the biggest hits was actually a gift I got my niece and nephew for Hanukkah this past year. I got them a mini-bounce house that was set up in the backyard. It was the perfect size for all the kids to play on it and they all kept going down the slide into the grass.

I’m so glad that my niece and nephew loved the bounce house since it can be tough to pick out good gifts for kids. But I had a good feeling that would be a hit and it was nice to see that it was!

Of course, since it was a birthday party, there were presents and cake (but cupcakes since it was a small party).

Opening all the presents was a bit overwhelming for Presley, so she opened most of them while I was there. But she did open the gift I got her, which was a little flower-building kit, while I was there and she did start playing with it right away. So I think that gift was another hit! I know that she has a lot of toys already, but I wanted to find something fun for her. I’ll probably try to find non-toy presents in the future, but it was fun to find something cute this time.

After a couple of hours, it was naptime for all the kids. So the other family headed home so their kids could nap and then my brother and sister-in-law worked on getting my niece and nephew down for their naps. Both kids were probably over-exhausted and were fighting a nap, but they went down after a bit of a fight. And when they were asleep, that was time for me to head out.

I could have stayed and hung out with my parents for a few hours, but I was going to see them again in a few days when they got to LA, so there really wasn’t a discussion or plan for me to stay in Santa Barbara through the afternoon. And I had things at home that I wanted to get done, so I was fine making the drive home so I could have the afternoon and evening to get things checked off of my errands list.

My nephew’s birthday is only about 6 weeks away, but since his birthday is on a weekday I’m not sure if I’ll make it to his party. I’ll just have to wait and see what day his party is planned for. I did give him his birthday present early since I didn’t want to have to ship it (and he wouldn’t really know the difference between getting it now or later). If I don’t make it to that party, I’m sure I’ll make it to Santa Barbara another time in the future. And I’m so glad that I was able to make it to Presley’s birthday party and have a nice family afternoon with everyone!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailCelebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day) Default ThumbnailA Very Fast Trip To Santa Barbara (or Getting To Celebrate My Nephew’s Birthday A Little) Default ThumbnailA Big Family Day! (or A Birthday Party and Meeting Presley) Default ThumbnailI’m An Aunt Again! (or Welcome To The World Presley!) Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!) Default ThumbnailA Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law)

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Fake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family)

Posted on November 17, 2022 | Comments Off on Fake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family)

This past weekend was my family’s Fake Thanksgiving. As I have mentioned before, this was up in Portland and I was there from Friday until Sunday. I was only able to be there for part of Friday since that was a holiday and I didn’t have work. But it worked out so I was there for dinner on Friday through around lunchtime on Sunday.

After taking the train to meet my parents on Friday, we immediately went to my aunt’s house for a casual dinner. Almost everyone who would be at our Thanksgiving was there for Friday except one cousin who was coming the next day. But it was nice to have a casual dinner with everyone and catch up since I hadn’t seen most of the people there since last year. It was crazy to see how tall my cousin’s kids had gotten since the last time I saw them they were all shorter than me. But one is now taller than me and another will probably be taller than me very soon. I tried to do my best with being social, but I wasn’t feeling great that evening. I know a lot of it was due to the anxiety from flying still affecting me. But being around my family was a good distraction from that feeling.

On Saturday, I had a very chill morning. And it was very clear that my parents’ dog had missed me because he spent his morning leaning against the couch to sit with me (he can’t sit on the furniture, but he can butt up to it and lean).

Then a bit later in the morning, we had our family Orangetheory workout. This was the 9th year we had a Thanksgiving workout (although in 2020 we all did workouts in our homes) and it was only my dad and me this time. Some of my family have been dealing with medical things that prevented them from working out. And since nobody else does Orangetheory regularly, doing just one workout when they have been having medical issues isn’t the smartest choice. But at least my dad and I were able to keep up the tradition!

I went a bit easy in the workout since it was my 5th workout in the week. But we still both had a great time and I love that this tradition helps to make me feel a bit more productive on a day that I know can feel a bit sluggish with all the food.

I’m sure at some point, I will have to make the collage multiple images, but at least for now, we can still put all 9 photos in one to celebrate this tradition.

After the workout, we had a bit of time before we had to head over to my cousin’s house for dinner. I didn’t get a ton of photos during dinner, but that just means that I was focused on enjoying the time with my family. But it was a fun night. I had never seen my cousin’s house before and it was really cool! Their basement has a small basketball court in it and they have added different mats and springy floors so you can bounce around and do gymnastics and stuff like that on there. We all had a lot of fun hanging out in the basement and goofing off.

And when we were all upstairs in the main living area, it was awesome to see different things that were my grandparents’ in my cousin’s house. The dining room table my grandparents had is now my cousin’s. And there were also little things like vases or decor that I recognized. I think pretty much all of us have random things from my grandparents and it’s cool to see how each of us has incorporated them into our homes.

And of course, we had to do a family photo. But with so many of us (including my niece and nephew who are still little), it’s not easy to get one photo where everyone looks good. I got the photos we took and used the photo stickers you can do through iPhone and was able to do that to photoshop people into the photo and make sure we got one where we all looked ok. And the photo above the fireplace was originally of my cousin’s immediate family, and I changed that to be a photo of my grandparents. I think the end result looks pretty good considering I don’t have real Photoshop.

My last day with my family was on Sunday, and I had to be dropped off at the light rail around 1pm in order to get to the airport on time. That morning, I went with my parents to take the dog for a walk and explore the neighborhood we stayed in. And then my friend Dani, who lives in Portland, came over to the rental house to hang out for a bit. Even though we had just seen each other recently when she had to stay at my place, it was nice to have a hangout that was much more chill.

And that’s pretty much it for my Fake Thanksgiving weekend. I got to spend a good amount of time with my family and have a lot of the traditions that our family has had for a while. I think we are going to continue doing Fake Thanksgiving since it is a lot cheaper to travel when it’s not the holiday. And it doesn’t really matter if we celebrate a few weeks early as long as we still get to have our traditions.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailNot Quite Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Time (or A Full Family Day) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of Thanksgiving (or Getting In Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Week (or Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailFamily Zoom Time (or Thanksgiving After Thanksgiving) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Trip (or Being With My Family In San Diego) Default ThumbnailRecapping My Thanksgiving (or A Few Days In Sacramento)

Comments Off on Fake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged , , ,

A Busy Building Weekend (or Having My Parents Help Me Continue To Put My Place Together)

Posted on October 26, 2022 | Comments Off on A Busy Building Weekend (or Having My Parents Help Me Continue To Put My Place Together)

My parents have been able to come to LA a couple of times since we bought the condo. They hadn’t seen it before it was officially ours, which was a little odd, but they had been on Facetime with me a lot so they had an idea of what it looked like. Plus they trusted the realtor we used and looked into all the inspection details so things weren’t a big surprise for them. They also were here before the remodel started so we could finalize details such as the stone and tile we would use. They came down during the remodel to ensure things were working the way they should. And then they were here when things were technically done and I had moved in, but that was before the floors had to be redone. So they have seen my home in all different stages.

As I have gotten new things, I have shared photos or videos with them so they have been aware of the changes I’ve continued to make. But they hadn’t been able to see the place in person since right after I moved in (which was the time we found my new couch). They usually have planned their visits down here around the time they would be seeing my brother, but they had a trip to Santa Barbara earlier this where it didn’t make sense for my parents to see me because they could only be here on weekdays. I work all day, so I knew if I really wanted to see them it would have to be a weekend. So they planned a weekend in LA and then planned to see my brother around that. And we had a pretty busy weekend.

My parents brought some stuff down for me this time, including a new bark planter for me to put in my backyard.

I had bark planters at my old place, but they were really old and brittle so it was time for an upgrade. And my dad was able to make me this one and then they found a little stand with wheels so I can move it around (it’s too heavy to really lift and move). My dad also helped me out and planted the new plants I bought in it, so hopefully, I will be able to keep those plants alive.

We also had a trip to Ikea. My parents hadn’t been to Ikea before, so I figured it would be fun to go in person instead of me just ordering some things I was looking at online and having them shipped. Plus, there were a few things I was undecided on and wanted to see in person before I decided what to buy. On my list for this trip was a new vanity for my room, some storage for my bathroom, and a big full-length mirror.

I was successful in finding a new vanity, but it actually wasn’t the one I expected to get. When we looked at them in person, I found one that I liked more and that I think fit into my room better. The storage thing I was looking at for my bathroom was the right thing so I got that too. But the mirrors just weren’t the right thing for what I needed, so I’ll have to find something at another store.

Because of how Ikea is set up, we spent a while walking around and looking at the different areas and what things might work for me or inspire an idea. And while we were walking around, I found a cabinet that I had been looking at for a while but hadn’t gotten. I wanted some more shoe storage and something near my entryway to have a place to display things and just to ground the space. So I showed my parents what I had been looking at and they agreed it would be perfect as well. I wasn’t sure about the color since I had originally looked at the white one, but we decided something a little darker would be nice and a good contrast against the paint color.

When we got home from Ikea, we had a list of things to get through. There were a few other tasks I wanted some help with, like hanging some art that I hadn’t put up yet. But most of our afternoon and evening was filled with building the new cabinet and vanity. And I have to say after the cabinet was done that it was exactly the right thing to put in that space.

I haven’t put all my shoes away yet and I might use one of the drawers for something else, but it really fills in the space that you see when you walk in the door and I love that it’s really shallow so it doesn’t block my hallway too much. It really was the perfect thing for that space and I’m so glad that I got it!

Because my parents were only here for the weekend and we had a lot of things to get done, we didn’t do much else while they were here. But that’s ok since I knew this visit would be one that was spent doing a lot of random work. We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to, but a lot was accomplished. And I know the next time that they are here, I’ll have more things for us to put together and to make my home feel even more complete.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAnother Busy Condo Weekend (or A Working Visit For My Parents) Default ThumbnailA Busy Family Weekend (or Continuing To Set Up My Home) Default ThumbnailBusy Building New Things (or At Least Some Of This Was Easy) Default ThumbnailSaturday Evening With My Parents (or I’m Posting A Little Out Of Order About My Weekend) Default ThumbnailMinor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation) Default ThumbnailEnjoying A Family Weekend (or Adventuring Around LA)

Comments Off on A Busy Building Weekend (or Having My Parents Help Me Continue To Put My Place Together)

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

Finally Having A Trip Planned (or It’s Been A Long Time Since I’ve Been Away From LA)

Posted on September 23, 2022 | Comments Off on Finally Having A Trip Planned (or It’s Been A Long Time Since I’ve Been Away From LA)

I know I’ve written about this before, but I haven’t really gone too far from LA for almost 3 years now. Since November 2019, I have not been further from my home than Santa Barbara. And I do know that doing day trips up there does count as being away from home, but it’s not really the same. It’s a 90-minute drive to get up there and I haven’t been gone for more than a day trip. The last time I was further was when I went to Thanksgiving in Sacramento.

I know that a lot of people didn’t travel anywhere in 2020 due to the pandemic. But since then, so many people have traveled. Some people have gone to places they can drive to but they were there for a weekend. Others have flown out of state or out of the country and have gone on a real vacation. I was due for a vacation before the pandemic. Now I feel like I am very overdue for a trip and getting to explore a new place.

It will probably still be a while before I plan a trip somewhere I haven’t been before. I have ideas of places I’d like to go, but I am still a bit anxious about traveling. I know that if I do get sick, I might not be too sick because I have been vaccinated and gotten the newest booster, but it still makes me nervous. I also don’t love the idea of being on a crowded plane with a lot of other people.

I might not have a big trip planned just yet, but I will be on a plane in about a month and a half. My family is continuing our new tradition of doing Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving because it is less expensive to travel then and it’s usually easier to find places to stay. Last year, we did this in Santa Barbara and I was just up there for the day and drove home after dinner. I originally was going to stay longer, but it is easier just to sleep at my own place when I know I’d be driving home early the next morning. But this year, our early Thanksgiving will be up in Portland so I’ll be flying up there for a weekend in November!

I haven’t been to Portland in a long time. I’ve been up there to visit friends who used to live up there and I’ve been there to be with family. But it’s been a very long time since my last trip up there. We have been trying to do Thanksgiving in Portland a few times, but it just didn’t work out before either because of travel issues or the pandemic. Even though I’ll only be there for about 48 hours, it will be nice to get away from home and see my family. And at least I’ll be hanging out with my family longer than I did last year when I was in Santa Barbara for less than a day.

I am still anxious about getting on a plane, both for my normal reason of not liking to fly and because of being around so many other people in a tiny space. I know that masks aren’t required on planes anymore, but I will be wearing one for sure on my flights. When I was looking at flights, I picked ones that were non-stop, so I only have to be on one plane and I don’t have to worry about making a connection. So that should help make my anxiety a little bit less. But I know I’ll still be very nervous flying and I’m just hoping that it’s not too overwhelming like some panic attacks have been for me in the past.

I still want to do a lot more traveling. It’s something that I have said so many times that I want to prioritize again in my life. I usually don’t have the time or money, but I feel like there are ways I could work around it. Some of the things I want to do aren’t that cheap, but I could find alternative trips that I could take. I’m still working on figuring out the perfect budgeting system, and I know I’m spending less and making more than I did before so I probably could afford a trip soon. Maybe this short weekend away to Portland in November will help kick off getting things together so I can go on a trip. But even if it doesn’t, I’m glad I have a little trip planned so I can have a break from my day-to-day life and have some fun away from where I spend pretty much all my time.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailTrip Planning (or Keeping Panic To A Minimum) Default ThumbnailMissing A Trip (or I Know There Will Be More Chances In The Future) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Trip (or Being With My Family In San Diego) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of My Maryland Trip (or More Family Time) Default Thumbnail10 Years Later (or A Good Memory and A Bad Memory) Default ThumbnailTrip Prep (or Guess I’ll Find Out Who Reads My Blog Soon)

Comments Off on Finally Having A Trip Planned (or It’s Been A Long Time Since I’ve Been Away From LA)

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged , , , , , ,

Getting One Nice Dinner In With Family (or Finally Bringing My Parents To My Favorite LA Restaurant)

Posted on May 18, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting One Nice Dinner In With Family (or Finally Bringing My Parents To My Favorite LA Restaurant)

When my parents come to LA to visit me, we don’t usually do fancy meals. We do tend to eat out at restaurants since my old kitchen was so small and tough to cook in (hopefully I can start making more meals for my parents in my nice kitchen!), but we don’t go out to anything super nice. We’ve done a lot of simple meals like ordering salads or going to a cafe or casual restaurant. But it’s rare for us to go out for a nice meal since we are usually busy with other things.

But for my parents’ trip this time, I knew we wouldn’t have a ton of things we had to get done so I decided we should go out for a nicer dinner one night. And I wanted to finally take them to my favorite LA restaurant: Wood & Vine.

I have only gone to Wood & Vine for dinner once that wasn’t a time I was also going to a musical and had a specific time that I had to be out of there. So I knew we’d be able to relax and enjoy our time there. And I also knew that we would probably be spoiled because the manager Wally always sends over things for me to try that either I didn’t order or aren’t on the menu yet.

We went to dinner on Saturday on the earlier side, so we didn’t have too much traffic to deal with. And we lucked out into a parking meter that was just a block away, so we didn’t have to pay too much for parking. And since we made our reservation for when they opened, there weren’t a lot of people there when we arrived and we had the patio to ourselves!

We ended up ordering most of what I got the last time I was there. We had the spinach dip, caesar salad, risotto, and short rib. All of those were amazing and just as delicious as they always are. And my parents agreed that everything was so good!

And we got one off the menu dish sent over for us to try. It was oxtail served over potatoes and had spicy greens on top of it.

I don’t know if I’ve had oxtail before, I don’t remember having it but I might just not remember. But this was delicious (but a bit spicy for me) and I am so glad I got to try it because I don’t know if I would have gotten it if I saw it on the menu.

And even though we didn’t order dessert, we were sent some. We got this incredible dessert plate with ice cream sandwiches, chocolate mousse cake, and ice cream.

We were all so full with everything we ordered, but of course, there is always some extra room for dessert so we tried a little bit of everything on the plate. We all were so full and probably ate too much, but it was worth it! I always love everything I get at Wood & Vine, and this time was no exception. And I’m so happy my parents enjoyed it as much as I did.

I don’t get a lot of chances to share some of my favorite LA things with my family, so I’m glad we got to do this when they were here this past time and have a nice celebratory dinner after doing all the random work we did in my new place.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailThe Bodyguard and Bone Marrow (or An Amazing Dinner At Wood & Vine) Default ThumbnailGetting Spoiled At Dinner (or Another Musical Night) Default ThumbnailAnother Dinner And A Show Night (or Classic Musicals And Yummy Food) Default ThumbnailPart 1 Of A Family Visit (or Letting My Parents Relax A Bit) Default ThumbnailBelated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore) Default ThumbnailBook Of Mormon and Marrow (or Another Night Out At The Pantages)

Comments Off on Getting One Nice Dinner In With Family (or Finally Bringing My Parents To My Favorite LA Restaurant)

Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,