Thankful Giving

I am so thankful that I was able to go home for Thanksgiving. It was so great to see my family and friends and eat wonderful, flavorful food. I was able to spend time with my older brother and introduce him to my favorite Indian restaurant back home. And I went and saw Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day with my dad and my brothers as well as The Blind Side with most of my extended family on Friday (I wanted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but somehow got shut down.... but The Blind Side was a really good movie too). I had a beachfront Thanksgiving and didn't have to really wear warm clothes all weekend. And I was able to hang out with most of my chamber choir from last year (and sing Christmas carols and Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day while making s'mores and goofing around). I ate at In-N-Out yesterday and had coffee with one of my really good friends and I somehow managed to visit my church this morning for a little bit before I had to run to the airport in order to go back to school. It's been a great visit and I can't wait to go back in a few weeks for Christmas Break and see everyone I couldn't see and spend even more time with people other than a few rushed minutes.

Wednesday:

(driving to the airport)

(waiting for flight #1 to Portland)

(getting a head start on Othello for Reading)

(flying over Oregon. watching random mountains pop out of the ground. quite different from the nearly continuous hills and mountains of California)

(Facebook for 3 hours....)

(goodbye Oregon!)

(flying so high, you can see the moon mid-afternoon above good ol' California)

(getting picked up from the airport-HOME!)

(I missed my puppies so much!)

Thursday:

(palm trees and sail boats and sunshine on Thanksgiving)

Friday:

(Starbucks in the morning=love!)

(banana stickers are so awesome these days!)

(reading Time magazine....)

(we play Canasta all the time in my family)

(the neighborhood cat, Calisto)

(driving to see The Blind Side. my cousin is quite odd....)

(at the movie theatre, I discovered that my 8-year-old cousin and I can basically wear each other's shoes. and that my 13-year-old sister now has bigger feet than me. why am I so short??)

(I got my younger brother for the annual cousin Secret Santa. it's not so much of a secret anymore because I couldn't really read his handwriting and had to ask what he wrote down....)

(we drove home so I could go to my choir reunion. my camera decided to essentially fail me and almost none of the pictures I took were in focus. but I had lots of fun with my friends.)

(my little brother tagged along 'cause most of them are his friends too)

Saturday:

(IN-N-OUT!!!!!!)

(I've been craving it for a really long time and I finally got my In-N-Out cheese burger)

(good things)

Sunday:

(driving to the airport)

I'll be boarding soon for my final flight back to school. I've been spending the past 4 hours sitting at my gate in Portland with a cold. Having a stuffed up nose on an airplane is not fun. I thought my head was going to explode when we were landing in Portland....