Thanksgiving 2012

I know this is a few days late (which is kind of my style I guess) but I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Sometimes with the daily wonders (and struggles of life) we forget about the simple things, like how many people out there we love and are loved by, and how many blessings we have in our lives (especially the ones we forget to count).

This year, we had an extra special Thanksgiving because we had TWO Thanksgivings (two dinners with two families!). Matt drove up the Sunnyvale on Wednesday and we had Thanksgiving with my family for the first time together. He met a lot of my extended family for the first time, and I am thankful he is such a trooper. I mean 35 family members (half of whom may or may not speak English) can be a lot to handle. Plus he had a lot of Chinese food (but also the traditional turkey, honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc). Everyone loved him, and in true Thanksgiving fashion, he bonded with some of my uncles over football. He really is the best guy. On Friday, I spent a few hours at work (because for some terrible reason, Wall Street decided that the market had to be open on Black Friday, even though you really can't get a discount on stocks), and then we drove up to Reno for second Thanksgiving. Matt's mom is such a trooper because she pretty much cooked Thanksgiving dinner twice (they also celebrated Turkey day on actual Thanksgiving). Since Matt and his brother Brandon (plus me and Brandon's wife Caitlin) couldn't be there on Thursday night, his family decided to redo it again on Friday night. Let me just tell you, the amount of food I consumed the past few days has been pretty obnoxious. But you know what? That's not even that important. It was awesome just being able to eat and laugh and play games. My family played Scattergories and Matt's family chose to play mafia.

I wish Thanksgiving didn't only happen once a year because it really makes you put your life on time out for a second to think about what you are grateful for. And I have so much in my life to be grateful for. So here's my Thankfulness Project list (a little late, but worth the wait):

1. My amazing boyfriend of four and a half years (OMG) who has always been my strongest supporter, my best friend, and the love of my life. This sounds corny, but I don't think I'd be as nice or as patient or as accepting of a person without you in my life. You help me become a better person every day, and I love you for that.
2. My loving family who has always loved me despite my faults (which include but are not limited to my non-stop personality, my quick temper, and my constant need for attention). Thanks for loving me unconditionally and helping me through all the challenges I face.
3. My second family (the Evans) who have welcomed me into their home and their hearts. They really are the best people, and have raised the best son and brother, and my love for them continues to grow every day.
4. The best friends a girl could ever ask for. You guys know who you are and I just want you to know that I couldn't get through a single day without you. Thanks for listening to me whine and going along with my crazy ideas, but more importantly, thanks for always making me laugh and feel loved.
5. Starbucks red cups, because they are the first sign that Christmas is here (and you all know how much I love Christmas).
6. The Giants for winning the World Series. Because everyone needs a reminder that we can do anything if we have a strong support system. Actually, thanks for proving to all the haters that 2010 wasn't a fluke.
7. The city of San Francisco because there is no place I would rather be. You are beautiful and delightful and eclectic and vibrant, and I can't wait to call you home some day.
8. Wreck-It Ralph because it is the greatest movie ever. I've seen it twice already. Clearly I just cannot get enough of it. Plus it's been such a great bonding experience!
9. Having everything I need. I don't ever have to worry about whether or not I'll have dinner, or heat, or how I'm going to pay my bills. Sometimes we take life for granted, so it's nice to remember that no matter how rough my day is, it wasn't really that bad.
10. My faith in God. Sometimes I forget that he is always on my side, and it's nice to know that he never forgets about me.

I hope you and your family had a lovely Thanksgiving. Just take a few seconds to think about what you are thankful for (and if you want to share, we can definitely revamp the Thankfulness Project). Here are some previous lists if you want to check them.

SPRING BREAK (for Matt at least)!!

Hello! I know it's been almost a quarter century since I last updated this blog, but I wanted to let you know we are alive and kicking!! Matt is the best boyfriend ever. Instead of partying it up in Cancun or gambling away in Vegas, this guy decided to spend his spring break somewhere pretty low key...Sunnyvale! I know I've already told him a million times, but I don't think he realizes how much I appreciate his visit up here. I LOVE YOU MATT. I know it was kind of boring for him, especially since I had to work the entire two weeks he was here. But one of the perks of my job is that I get off at 3:30. He was so nice about it too, he kept saying he knew he had to spend a lot of time working (for Backen and on his scholarships/portfolio). This man is a keeper! Anyways, even though I had to work, we managed to pack in a lot in our two weeks together. 

We made it to some all-you-can-eat buffets (one in San Francisco called Kome with my coworkers, and a sushi buffet called Jazmine with his brother in Reno).

We babysat for one of my coworkers. Seriously, this guy is like a baby whisperer. Or at least a charmer to the boot. Look at him and that baby girl (isn't she the cutest???)! And her brother is a cutie pie too. Surprisingly, we had a blast. Jackson (the boy) is a handful, but in the most fun way possible. Matt and Jackson spent Jackson's last waking half hour running around like maniacs. Jackson probably thinks I'm boring because all I do is read with him. Clearly, there may be some favoritism in the future. 

After work one day, Matt met us in Menlo Park so we could take him to our favorite happy hour spot, the Dutch Goose. Surprisingly I have never had a burger here before, even though everyone I know swoons over them, so it was pretty appropriate that Matt and I both had our first one together. And everyone is right, these burgers are amazing!! Plus they have great sweet potato fries (not pictured). And everything is pretty cheap! Considering how close it is to work, we love their 10 dollar pitchers! We also squeezed in a trip to Yard House with my coworkers, Rica and Maddie. Did you know they have a secret beer menu? Next time you go, make sure you ask for the Berry Crunch beer (yea, it tastes like Captain Crunch with berries).

Dutch Goose!

We also decided to spend some nights in cooking. We made pizza and rice krispies (that looked like Easter egg baskets) and coffee cake for a picnic. I must admit, my own culinary skills continue to surprise me. I used to cook a lot more in college, and I think my love for the kitchen is slowly coming back. And it's stuck around even after Matt left (this week alone, I made No-bake Energy Bites, Smashed Avocado and Chickpea Salad, Rice Krispies (my signature go-to dessert), and even meat loaf for the first time!!! My mom wanted to make sure Matt was well fed, so she packed a bunch of food for him in a cooler for him to drive back down to San Diego. I'm pretty sure she gave him some quick cooking lessons too. 

Making pizza dough!

We took a weekend trip to Reno to see Matt's family. They really are one of the greatest family and are slowly overtaking my best friend's family as my second favorite family (just kidding Amber and the McCormicks). His sister, Abby, is a senior!!!! I know it's a little crazy, especially since I've known her since she was an eighth grade (wow). And it was her prom weekend. I went dress shopping with her and her mom (Abby, you are such a procrastinator) while Matt hung out with his brothers. His mom also threw a small birthday party for Matt, his dad, his brother and his grandpa. And by small, I mean spectacular with decorations, order-up grilled cheeses, and ice cream sundaes. This woman knows how to throw a good party. O and did I mention it snowed? No joke. We drove back in a snow storm. As you can guess, I had a slight panic attack. Who has ever heard of snow in April, right? 

Matt...driving.

Nice find in Matt's closet

We also managed to find some time to squeeze in a date night and an impromptu wine tasting trip. We had a date at Pasta Pomodoro on a Wednesday night. Did you know they have half off wine Wednesdays? Date night plus yummy wine. Matt even let me order white wine since I'm not much of a red wine person. We also had a lunch date on Good Friday, because I'm lucky enough to work in finance, which considers Good Friday a good day to take off (another perk of my job). We grabbed lunch at BJs to watch some of the opening day baseball games, and then decided to drive up to Santa Cruz for some last-minute wine tasting. We stopped at two wineries we had never been to, Villa Del Monte and the Burrell School. Of course, we mostly tasted red wine, but I think my palette is slowly (but surely) growing to like red wine (a little bit at least). And we even made it back in time to catch the first pitch of the Giants' Opening Day at Bowlmor (that bowling alley I've managed to make my favorite bar). I thought it was pretty special that we were able to share the Giants first game together :)

Our friends, Courtney and Tyler, also hosted a Beer Olympics tournament. Yes, it is kind of like the Olympics with lots of beer consumption. Overall, this was one of the most fun days of the entire break. We love Tyler and Courtney...mostly because they like to have fun as much as we do! In case you can't  tell, the four of us were so excited we made t-shirts. Did I mention that there were other people there? Because there were, but we were the only one with team shirts! Of course, our team won!

Massive pizza to end the night

We also made a trip to the church picnic for Easter Sunday. Matt specifically stayed later on his last day to go to the picnic with me. We were lucky enough to catch a beautiful day in San Francisco at the park. He was supposed to leave around 1, but he got sucked into watching the Giants game, so I got to hang out with him for a few more hours.

And we drafted for our fantasy baseball team!!!! He stole Brian Wilson from me (which is realistically a blessing in disguise for me....sorry honey!!!). Thanks for spending your break with me Matt. I can't wait to see you soon...for our four-year anniversary (a little scary right?)!!!!

At least our league name isn't Last Place Margaret again.

Matt and the Munchkin

Last last weekend, Matt and I hung out with my good friend, Marie and her son, Landon. Marie and I used to love going to the farmer's market, so on that beautiful (but chilly) Saturday morning, we decided to grab some coffee and walk around the farmer's market. It was Matt's second time ever hanging out with them, so of course Landon was kind of shy. But within 20 minutes, the four of us were running around the farmer's market acting like idiots, especially Matt and Landon. It was nice because I got to catch up with Marie, and Matt had fun because he was able to act like a kid (mind you, Landon is only one and a half, so I guess Matt was acting more like a toddler). We were able to sample lots of fruits (and lots of real food too, the hummus man is my fave!!). I think it must be because it's winter time, but the fruit didn't taste as spectacular as I remember. But we did score a free samosa (I bought two and the lady threw in an extra one for free!).

After we decided that we had had enough of the farmer's market (aka all the vendors started giving us mean looks for trying to snag more of their samples), we decided to head to Target, because no one loves Target more than Marie and I (and apparently Landon). This kid love the place. Marie had to ask him multiple times to get up and stop trying to lick the floor. Funniest thing ever. Plus we spent at least 20 minutes in the toy section. I could hear Matt mimicking Landon's babbling from 4 aisles away. Those two are probably going to be best buds some day.

I think the real plus was Landon opening his present at the end of the morning. What an excited kid he was!!

After hanging out with Marie and Landon, we grabbed some Philz Coffee (best coffee in the entire freaking world) with Brandon (Matt's brother) and his wife, Caitlin, and walked around downtown San Jose. What a great way to spend our last morning of 2011. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year (like last year) we are spending Thanksgiving with Matt's family. His family makes five turkeys...two for leftovers, three for Thanksgiving dinner, so clearly this was an easy decision. We are about to get tryptophan-ed out, so wish us luck! We just wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving! Nothing makes for a better day than family, friends, turkey, food, drinking, football, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (Congratulations to the Homestead cheer team and marching band...I saw you guys on TV. You make me so proud!!), and being together. Hope you guys are enjoying time with your loved ones and being as gluttonous as possible.

We are ready!!!!

Happy Birthday Abby!

On Saturday, Matt's younger siblings, Abby and Josh came out to visit us. Abby was turning 17 on Monday, so they came out to SF to visit us and go to the giants game. When they got here (two hours laters than we anticipated), the first thing they told us was that they were starving. So we asked them what they wanted to eat....and we expected a "I don't know" or a "I don't care" but Abby blurted out, what about deep dish pizza? So we tried this Chicago-style pizza chain called Patxi's, the one in Hayes Valley. I think Hayes Valley is known as a trendy mini shopping area. Cute ritzy stores. Good food. Patxi's pizza....is awesome. We were starving, so we ordered a lunch special (pizza slice + salad + soda) and a large pizza. Josh was so hungry, he practically licked his salad plate clean (best salad ever). And the waiter gave us an extra slice of pizza because we had to wait a little longer (since someone else took our slice). Overall, a great experience (plus the giants game was on).

 

After eating, we decided to walk around a little in Haight Ashbury. They had never been there before, so of course, they had to experience the one place where it's practically cool to be homeless. I was on the hunt for a new pair of Toms, and Josh was on the hunt for some new sunglasses. We stopped in pretty much every store that sold sunglasses for 10 bucks. But Josh couldn't find anything!! We did check out some cool shops and met some interesting people. Nothing like a good dose of Haight Ashbury to get you acquainted with San Francisco. We also took them into Amoeba Records, the world's largest independent record store. It's just cool to see all the records/cds/tapes and learning about this place's history. There are also a ton of stores that sell giants apparel. Awesome.

       

Haight Ashbury sign!

After eating and shopping and people watching, we decided we wanted some ice cream!! Abby had looked up this place called Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission. It turns out that Bi-Rite Creamery is also on the Big Eat SF List so of course we had to go. There was a long line and we must have waited at least 20 minutes, but I think it was worth it. Matt got the trifecta ice cream trio, which included the flavor on the Big Eat SF List, salted caramel. For the most part, I think it's a really great flavor and it's yummy, but it wouldn't be my cup of tea all the time. It's definitely worth trying once though. I ordered the balsamic strawberry-vanilla swirl soft serve...and it was the BOMB! I love soft serve ice cream, so I'd probably be just as excited about McDonald's soft serve ice cream. We walked up to Mission Dolores Park and took some pictures of the awesome view of the city. But it was getting dark...which means time to get out of the Dolores Park (pretty sure it's a major hang out for druggies and dealers...uh-oh). For some reason, Matt was craving coffee (weird right?) and so we stopped at Philz Coffee. Yes I am embarrassed about how much eating we did that day. Philz is awesome. They individually brew each cup of glorious coffee. It's definitely a little bit more $$$ but well worth it if you're looking for a coffee treat. Plus they were closing and kind of rushing us out, so they gave us some free donuts because they felt bad. Good customer service...well good save anyway. Afterwards, we were too tired to do much, so we just came back to the house and hung out.

On Sunday, we tried a new place for breakfast called Howard's Cafe. The food was pretty good and decently priced. We picked Howard's because it was the only place with a tv and the giants game was already on at 10 in the morning. We'll probably be back. Looks like it's been around for a long time, so they must be doing something right. Afterwards, we took the N-line to Union Square to the Ferry Building. Abby was super excited because it was her first time riding public transportation!

first time riding the muni!!!

We walked around a little bit in that area because there was a really cool waterfall water structure. Sunday morning was also the day of the SF Marathon, and there were tons of people at the Ferry Building who had just finished up their 26.2 miles. Very busy. We tried to take the cute little bus to Fisherman's Wharf but we ended up going the wrong direction. Worked out for me though because I stopped in forever 21 and bought a pair of sunglasses. We finally took the right bus to Pier 39 and walked around the shops in that area. I think Pier 39 might be one of my favorite places in SF. There were a lot of seals out that day, making their crazy seal sounds. Matt and I totally pretended to be seals and made embarrassingly loud seal sounds. It was awesome. We also saw a magic show because there was a magician performing for "free." I think from now on, whenever I go to Pier 39, I will just put 10 dollars aside to pass out to worthy street performers. We tried on some hats in the hat store, played around in the left-handed store, bought some salt water taffy, and grabbed some coffee. Being a Sunday afternoon, it was super crowded. We walked through Fisherman's Wharf a little bit and saw a group of guys break dancing for a crowd. We also saw some pretty lame silver/gold "robot" men. I've seen some pretty good ones, so these guys were just mediocre. Abby really wanted to see the "bush man" who hides behind a fake bush and pops out at unsuspecting tourists, but apparently he was taking a break. Sad :( We meandered through North Beach, finally making our way to Chinatown, the neighborhood that I think Josh and Abby were most excited for.

seals and alcatraz!!!

magic show. yes he is throwing knives.

trying on hats. best place on pier 39!

i wanted to buy everything!

we love america!!

break dancers!

We walked around and stopped at all the stereotypical Chinatown shops. Josh bought some fake Ray-Bans finally, so at least he was successful in his shopping. We stopped in our favorite Chinese restaurant, Snow Garden, where we had last gone with Amber and David before a Giants game. I think I like this place so much because the food is super cheap and the people are really nice. Plus there were other white folks there (and the inside of the restaurant is orange...and who doesn't love orange walls!!). We got some chow mein, orange chicken, mongolian beef, and some potstickers. Overall, big success! Abby said they were the best potstickers she had ever had! I think the highlight of our trip was Matt's purchase: this man bought a fanny pack. No joke (I wish I were kidding). He also bought an alcatraz shirt in anticipation of our trip to alcatraz in August. He plans on bringing a camera and wearing his fanny pack. Embarrassing I know. 

he's so cultured.

we're not tourists... 

we don't monkey around!!

Nothing quite says tourist-y like Chinatown. After all the neighborhoods we had perused (did you lose count...i did), the kids were tired and we headed home. Quite a crazy weekend. So much that on Monday morning, I was almost late to work after waking up 20 minutes before I had to leave. Too much partying ;) just kidding parents.