Thanksgiving!! (I am such a dork)

 

I'm a dork because I can't believe I almost didn't blog all this.
So this picture isn't actually of Thanksgiving or that weekend. It's from Jonmark's birthday weekend, which was the weekend before. It happens to be my favorite picture of us ever and makes me smile all the time. This is us at True Food Kitchen where once again I was a horrible blogger and didn't take pictures of all our excellent food because I was too excited to eat it. I had amazing sea bass with brussel sprouts and purple potatoes. Jonmark had Salmon with Quinoa. Our desserts were organic non-dairy chocolate pudding (amazing) and ginger lemongrass frozen yogurt (yum!) It's such a fun and healthy fancy place to eat, and it was so fun to celebrate. (And isn't that shirt great of his- yep, that was a birthday present.) :-)

These other pictures, however, are of Thanksgiving weekend. On actual Thanksgiving Day, we hung out at Jonmark's sisters house and watched the Cowboys win and A&M lose. :-( We were there until Midnight when I decided it was time to go shopping. Unfortunately, I don't work nights anymore so my energy level was not what it was when I rocked it in 2009. Nor did I really need anything. BUT! I ended up with a 2" memory foam topper for my bed that was 70% off and it is incredible. I've been sleeping like a baby since I got it. (Not that I ever had trouble sleeping before....) But somewhere between an exhausted Jonmark trying to wheel through the crowd and me traversing the entire mall with a humungous box, I thought, "This is ridiculous. I'm buying everything online from now on." Oh, and Friday and Monday I totally did. But yes, it makes me feel kind of old.
Friday was errand/clean house/sleep/grocery shop day/oil change day/get a great deal on tires at Sears/online shop day.
And Saturday we headed to California. See, Jonmark grew up in Lake Elsinore, which is about an hour away from L.A. And his friend had a car part we needed to pick up nearby. So off we drove!

His friends were so sweet and we stayed and talked to them for a couple hours, and then realized we were only about 30 minutes away from his hometown so we were off again! Lake Elsinore is kind of a crazy little town. There is definitely a lot of character, and, according to Jonmark, a lot of people never leave. Is it the classiest town I've ever been to? Um, no. But in driving around I realized what an awesome place it would be to grow up. There are so many hills and trees and "adventure spots" that it was no question why Jonmark grew to love bikes and dirt bikes and pretty much any other adventure. And I loved the lake. Which was beautiful.
We then did a short little drive over to Temecula, which is a very quaint and a little more "snobby" of a town. (With, of course, better restaurants.) We ate at a place called Texas Lil's, which used to let you cook your own steak, but now, does not. Which we were totally disappointed about, but dinner was good anyways. We then drove around the cute little downtown and stopped in front of a picturesque little fire station to take a picture for Tate (my nephew), where I got pulled over for the 7th time with Jonmark. No, I did not get a ticket. I just had to politely tell the officer that, yes, I planned on driving away if the fire trucks got a call and yes, I was watching closely for other cars that might actually decide to drive down that tiny street. Ridiculous.
Later, we met up from some of his friends from back-in-the-day. It was awesome, to say the least. We met them in a little bar called "The Hideaway," while random people came up to hug him and grill him on his teenage years. (Picking out the Mormons in The Hideaway was about the easiest thing ever. Just find the 2 people wearing some sort of white in a sea of black and neck tattoes.) We listened to a fun little punk band and then headed back to Beaumont to the first friends' house.

Those first friends, Jeremy & Marci, you see, were having a belated Thanksgiving 'cause Jeremy is a cop and had to work on real Thanksgiving. So we went to Target and bought some toothbrushes and I bought some ELF makeup (which is super-duper cheap and I was so proud. Jonmark was less impressed that I thought we needed so much stuff for one night. Anyways, now it's in my gym bag so I can use it all the time.)
So the next day we sat around and ate an incredible Thanksgiving meal and talked about life in Cali as a teenager. Jeremy was actually there for Jonmark's accident so I made him tell me all the details of what he saw. Jeremy was actually the person who loaded up Jonmark's dirtbike into the truck after his accident. (yeah, it almost made me cry a little bit.) So after tons of talking and chilling and eating, we finally got back in the car and drove home.
And basically, it was an awesome weekend that I absolutely loved.

Ripped.

I've been working out lately. Like a lot. It all happened when Bridget alerted me to this picture:

This is our friend who lives in Utah (I think. Ok- so really, we're not that close, but I do know her.) after getting all ripped doing Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer. Which of course made me look it up.
This is it: LiveFit Trainer. So far I've done these workouts for about 3 weeks- and have eaten a ton of protein and veggies. Most nights after work, Jonmark and I will meet at the gym and do our workouts together.Some days, I don't think it's made a huge difference, but really, it has. Jonmark always tells me I'm looking so strong and that my back looks totally ripped at the gym. And even Vanie says she can tell a difference. Now, I'm no Jamie Eason yet (even though we are now facebook friends :-)), but I've never worked out quite like this before, and I love that I know what workout I'm doing every single day. And she changes things up so I don't get bored, and every month is a little harder than the last. I'm really excited to do the whole thing. I still need to take my own before and after pictures, but evenings after dinner are not the best time to take them I've decided, even though that's usually when a spare photographer is available. Anyways, it's been fun. And I'll post a picture eventually when I'm done and all crazy ripped. whoo-hoo!

p.s. My favorite part of this so far has been this conversation with Bridget. I had done the leg workout for the first time when I had a 2 hour lunch and had been whining and crying about how much my legs hurt for about 3 days. Bridget called. I told her I was doing this workout.
"Have you done the legs?" she said.
"Yep."
"Can you walk?"
"Um, nope."
"I did it last week. In the morning, I stood up next to my bed and then fell on the ground."
heeeheee. yeah, it's kinda hard. But it's getting easier.

Glendale Glitters

On Saturday, Jonmark and I took a little detour over to Glendale (which is really only like a 15 minute detour from his house) to "Glendale Glitters." Basically it's just downtown all lit up with games and booths and some really terrible dancing (terrible as in well, at least it gives these people a healthy habit). We just kind of strolled around, drank hot chocolate, and watched Home Alone on a screen outside. I, of course, had to confuse the whole concession stand when I asked to have a hot dog cut up in a bowl of chili and cheese instead of a bun. It ended up being the most expensive chili cheese hot dog ever, but it was absolutely delicious. AND!! I had my first caramel apple. I mean, I think I've had one before- maybe at someone's house or something, but I've never bought one at something like this where they are all lined up looking all beautiful and delicious. Jonmark and I shared a beautiful green one with pecans. And it was delicious. And mostly I was super impressed that it didn't even start to fall off the stick. And it kind of was the start to Christmas-time (and now, I really need to decorate...)

What Happens When You Leave Me Alone...

I have a lot of my best nights, I think, when I'm by myself. I also, of course, have some of my worst nights then, too, but that would be another post. (Which likely will not be happening.)
Tonight, I cleaned my room and the kitchen like crazy (to the point where I found a new places for purses and vacuumed). I adjusted the temperature of our water heater so I no longer have to have lukewarm showers. I also changed out my shower curtain liner and hooks-that-have-always-been-terrible, and washed all my workout clothes. Yay! And took out the recycling. Tomorrow I need to call the apartment office and complain that we need another recycle bin. It is always, always full.
Tomorrow night is Jonmark's company's Christmas Party, and I offered to help make dip and peppers. The pepper recipe I found in SELF magazine. And again, I will love Fresh & Easy forever for actually making it easy to find peppadew peppers and cheap goat cheese. They are so delicious!

And lastly, well, before most of that, actually, because I've been starving for 2 days now- I made my first Juevos Rancheros. I don't think I've ever baked an egg before. And even though it kind of looks like it is surrounded by snot, it was completely delicious. (Should I be worried that the avocadoes that I bought TWO MONTHS AGO have shriveled a little but were actually not completely ripe when I sliced them tonight? It freaked me out. I ate them anyways.) I think this is breakfast tomorrow. Good-night!

I Miss Her

So once upon a time in Seattle,  I got a custom-engraved ring that I just thought was the coolest thing ever. And I lost it about 4 months later.
But now I constantly think about what I would have a new ring say. I've come up with several phrases over the years and have always thought about ordering another one.
However, I think they've gone up in price. And etsy now exists. I found a girl on here who will custom-make rings to say whatever you want. I was so excited when I found them and thought and thought about what they should say. And I finally decided on these.
The "Integrity" one is like my version of a "CTR" ring. It kind of makes me think about how true I am in the things I do all day.
The other one says, "A LITTLE BIT LIKE VERNA," who was my nana. Who was the best ever. She loved and was happy and served so many people. And sometimes I wear it because I want to be like her. And sometimes I wear it because I miss her. And I definitely wear it on every holiday. Because she loves them.

p.s. The girl who makes these goes by the name on etsy "monkeysalwayslook." If you use the code "monkey15" you can get 15% off. Love you guys! (And even if you don't necessarily order one, what would you have it say?)