Catching Up November

Hello readers! Ya, this going private thing is a little annoying, but thanks for hanging in there!

Has anyone seen Julie and Julia? I feel like my blog is really really boring now!

Anyway, it's catch up time yet again. I never realized how much free time I used to have until I noticed I have no time to blog =p Sorry!

November was filled with visitors! We had Kato, Janelle's brother, with us for an entire week. He just joined the military and will be leaving January. He wanted one more visit to CA before he has to leave. He got quite the visit too! Knotts, Universal Studios and Disneyland!

We also had Summer and Dan over! Summer wanted to go to Disneyland one more time before heading back to Australia. Well, that and to see me of course! Dan hadn't been to Disneyland since he was a child, so he was the perfect companion to drag along! They came up to L.A. to have dinner with us at the Americana. Then we drove down the next night to have dinner in Downtown Disney with them and Nathan. Has it not been just wonderful having Summer so close again, if only for a little while?!!


Next, was my Dad! He drove up for Thanksgiving, which was fantastic! This was the first year I made dinner! Usually I just helped my Mom with a dish or two... but this year, I did it all! I was a little nervous, but I soon realized that it
wasn't hard at all. Not nearly the drama I expected! Did I mention that our oven is like half the size of a normal oven?! I could hardly fit the turkey in it! I intended on buying a 5 pounder... and yet walked out of the store with a 20 pounder! How does that happen?! It was so much cheaper to get the bigger one! Luckily, I like waking up early on Thanksgiving to watch the parade, so I just threw it in there before the parade started. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful husband- he got up and pulled all the guts out of that thing. YUCK! And because of my accident, he actually put it in the oven =) It's a heavy bird! I didn't really think about spices when I bought it. So I just threw on some Pampered Chef Jamaican Jerk Rub I happened to get free with one of my purchases! haha! Once the turkey was done, I threw in the casseroles, two at a time. So, buy the time we ate, the turkey was still warm. Yay! Our menu consisted of turkey and gravy, corn bread muffins, green bean casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, cranberry sauce (not that jar crap, real boiled cranberries), candied yams with marshmallows, and items Janelle's boss sent her: mashed potatoes, stuffing, and carrot pudding. My Dad also made cranberry relish. We don't have a kitchen table, so we had a picnic on the floor =) We were stuffed!


I LOVE Black Friday shopping! I love the chaos, I love the grumpy people, I love the lines, I love the deals. I've done it every year since I can remember. I love it. Well, this was the first time I did it in CA. Usually I'm always in AZ. This time, Janelle wanted to brave the world and come. It was her first time and it was a success! She LOVED it and can't wait to go next year! My poor husband came with- but forgot his phone. He was left/lost a few times. Oops! But we all managed to make it out alive =)


After shopping and a nap, we went to the El Capitan to see A Christmas Carol. It was in 3D and because we went to the Disney theatre, they had a live stage show! It was my Dad's first visit to the El Capitan theatre. He just laughed at all the extra and free things that were included in seeing the movie. "Leave it to Disney to go over the top"-Dad. After the movie, they had props/costumes from the movie to view. The movie was really good. In fact, it was a bit scary at times! haha!


During my Dad's visit, he and I took a father daughter day and had high tea in Pasadena. This little tea house was voted best in L.A. Apparently, even dignitaries go there! So we went to this charming tea house, bought Cadbury, and had tea! It was really fun and a wonderful experience.

Thanks for visiting! Who wants to visit next?!