Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was lovely.  It was low key, which was something I needed.  We hung around the house. Lisa's friends cooked dinner(and it was probably one of the most delicious Thanksgiving meals we have ever had).  We went to Half Moon Bay one day and the weather was beautiful.  Half Moon Bay is one of my fav places. We cut down our own Christmas tree(for Lisa).  We ate too much and spent time together and overall had a wonderful time.

The only thing I would have changed was the drive home.  Suckage.  We left too late.  Won't be doing that again.

I didn't take too many pictures but here are a few.

The weather was so beautiful.  It wasn't windy or cold for once.

Heaven

The waves were scary huge as usual

I like this picture. Too bad we are so squinty in it.

Christmas tree lot. This place was awesome.  Been avery long time since we cut down a tree. I think Cameron was a baby the last time.

It was dog heaven.

Checking out the choices

Nothing about this seems like a good idea.  

It actually turned out fine and the kids had a blast.  O.K., I did too.  But you won't be seeing pictures of that.  You'll gave to take my word for it.  It was fun.

Cutting down the ONE.

We put our own tree up and I love it.  We haven't had a tree in two years.  We got a live one and the house smells so good.  All of my decorations are in storage so I got some cheap new ones at Target and went with a solid ice blue and silver theme.  It's so pretty.

Now I must try very hard not to stress too much over Christmas, which I tend to do. The tree is up and some lights are outside.  A couple of presents are bought and I am not buying many more this year.  I must not stress about the rest of it.  I spend too much time worrying about things that I don't enjoy them.  I am going to try not to do that this year.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry I haven't been around much.  Been grieving and feeling a little bit overwhelmed.  I can't believe the holidays are upon us.  I always seem to struggle a bit around the holidays.  I feel stressed just thinking about Christmas being in four weeks.  How come after Halloween everything goes by so fast?


We are headed for a very quick trip up North to spend Thanksgiving with Lisa and the kids.  Seems like such a long trip for such a short period of time but it has become tradition.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.






For my Canadian friends, well, happy thursday!  One day closer to Friday.  LOL.

Last week Joe and I lost a friend to suicide.  Our hearts are broken for her family.  She is gone too soon.

We were supposed to make Christmas cards together.  I don't know if I have it in me to make them without her.

We will miss you S. You were kind and thoughtful and smart as a whip.

I can't imagine how sad your family must be knowing they won't ever see you again.

I'm sorry that you felt so alone.  I'm sorry if I wasn't as  good of a friend as I could have been.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression,  please get help.  You are not alone.

 Here is the number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline:

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Here is the link to the Kristen Brooks Hope Center

Kristen Brooks Hope Center




No family should have to lose their loved one in this manner.

She will be greatly missed.


To live in hearts we leave behind
 is not to die. ~Thomas Campbell

Disney

Last Friday while Lisa and the kids were here they went to Disney.  You know how I feel about Disney so I got off a little early and we joined them.

It was raining.  A lot.  And I got sick.  Which was no fun.  But a half day at disney in the rain when you are sick is better than a day at work, right?  

Or not.

We still had a good time.

Here we are om Tower of Terror.  This ride still scares me.  I love it.  But it scares me.

The rain did stop for awhile and cleared up that night for World of Color but it was wet and chilly.  And I was sick. (whine much?)

This was our first time going on the new ride "The Little Mermaid".  My new favorite ride is born!   I love, love, love The Little Mermaid!  It was one of the very first movies that Joe and I went to when we were dating.  Gee, he humored me even then.  I'm pretty sure The Little Mermaid would NOT have been his first choice for a date night movie. 

I'm not gonna lie.  I was singing. Throughout the whole ride.  And most of the rest of the day too.

I loved it.  I went on it two times in a row. No one but Grace wanted to go the second time with me.  Too bad for them!

Toy Story.  I have no idea what Grace is looking at.  I have yet to go on this ride. It always has the longest ride in the park and we are disneyland snobs and never want to wait.

CA Screamin'.  One of our favorites.

They had only a few Christmas decorations up. They were kind of between Halloween and Christmas. I'm sure the Christmas decorations are out in full swing now.

I think she was re-enacting Tower of Terror here.

So pretty at night!

Was supposed to show her glowing ears.  Camera fail.

Glowing mohawk

Waiting for World of Color.  It is stunning.  If you have never seen it, the off season is a great time to go.  Although from now until Christmas it's probably crazy.  We were there at the perfect time.

Aside from being sick, it was a fun night.

At Lisa's hotel we went to the gift shop to buy Grace some gloves.  While we were in there I saw two kids in bathing suits with towels wrapped around their waists and they were buying ice cream.  It was 55 degrees at most  and had been raining.

I looked like this:  Note the scarf and big jacket.  I also had a hat and gloves tucked into my pockets as well.  

I  said to their Mom "I can't believe they are buying ice cream and have gone swimming in this weather.  Brrrrrrr!"

She smiled and said to me "Oh, we're from Vancouver. This weather is balmy for us!"

Heh.  We Southern Californians sure are wimpy!

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave

Thank you to all who serve and have served our country.  

Freedom isn't free.

Thank  a Veteren today.

More Catch Up

I am back dating these because I want to get them on the blog but I simply didn't have time to get to it in October.  I seriously don't know where that whole month went.  In two weeks it will be Thanksgiving.

Two.  Weeks.

Don't even tell me how long until Christmas.  I don't want to hear it.  SO not ready for that.

Anyway, this post is all the way back to Joe's birthday, which was Oct. 17th.  We went into San Juan Capistrano for his birthday lunch.  It is so pretty there.

 

 

We went to Ruby's for lunch.  Grace sent me her "flat grace" project for school so we took her with us.  The things I won't do for my niece!

We wandered into an antique store while we were there.  It was really neat.  I found some old postcards that people had sent to each other.  I must have spent a half hour reading the backs.  I wish I had bought some of them.

Joe thought this globe was pretty cool.

 

I thought it was even cooler after he opened it up and showed me what was inside.  

It's a bar!  That is made of awesome.

 

More cowbell!  But not forty two dollars worth.  It must be really old!

One of the vendors had this really creepy booth. 

There was some pretty cool stuff in there. But creepy! 

Look at these old dolls. 

 

These gave me nightmares.

 

There was this old apothecary cabinet with all sorts of creepy things inside each drawer.

Doll parts.

Whoever was the owner of this stall was a little twisted(but we loved it).

 

Antique children's leg braces.  Have I mentioned it was creepy??

Flat Grace got in on some of the action.

Afterwards we walked around a little. 

Isn't this the cutest little coffee shop you ever saw? 

We went to the petting zoo and saw this Llama(is your mama a llama?  Sorry.  Taught preschool for too long).

He(she?) was quite handsome/beautiful.

Flat Grace checked out the pumpkins.

I thought these pumpkins were neat.  They are called Fairy Tale pumpkins.  Interesting.

Flat Grace and me posing with the corn.

It was a fun day.