a turkey tale...

one week ago tim and i left on an exciting adventure. since our flight back to houston was set to take off at 620am on thanksgiving morning, we started our travels the night before. after work we took BART (the public transportation system of the bay area, for those of you back in tejas) to an airport hotel in oakland where we would only have a mere 5 minutes to travel early the next morning. we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine, and like old people, turned in about the time the sig house started study break (1030pm, for those of you not associated with that era of my life).

i was woken up mid-dream about something i can't recall at 4am and groggily got ready to fly home. we had a direct flight there and were even served "breakfast" on the plane. the movie sucked, so i passed out in 20 minute intervals until we started to land. by the time my mom picked us up and we drove back to my mom's house, my stomach was mumbling things like sounded like "feed me turkey."

now, i say "mom's house," because i returned to a house that i had only seen once. as i mentioned before (for those returning readers), since my family moved across houston over the summer i have never called this dwelling "home." so, until i fully adjust to this new place, i'm not sure i'm ready to call it "my home" just yet. give it time...give it time. anyway, so when tim and walked in the house we were greeted by a barking weimeraner (simon), my youngest brother running for a hug, my sister screaming my name loudly, and an average 14 year old high school freshman (my other brother) tromping down the stairs. it was a greeting i have come accustomed to and love. my grandmother and aunt and uncle were also there to share the feast with us. and feast we did. i still don't really want to see turkey any time soon.

i opted out of battling the crazies on friday and slept in. we all then went to market square, a cute little shopping area in the woodlands that reminded me a lot of the w.c. we went to see RENT, which rocked my socks off...and also led to a few interested discussions led by my 7 year old sister. try explaining why two boys (one who was dressed like a girl) were kissing. after that we ate at this great place jasper's and celebrated my birthday coming up next week.

on saturday, i got to meet the rest of tim's family and had lunch with his sister and her family (husband, 2 kids, and one on the way). it was great (1) because they are really a great crew. i think tim's nephew has got to be the cutest kid i've ever seen and (2) we ate at papasitos and i got to enjoy queso. that night, annabelle (my "adopted sister from france") and i went to the mall and did a bit of christmas/birthday shopping and dined at the cheesecake factory.

sunday i got queso again at this local hole-in-the-wall tex-mex place down the road and went back to the woodlands mall. it's funny, because when i arrived on thursday i had no clue where i was in relation to jack crap. not only did i return to a new dwelling for thanksgiving, but i was also thrown into a town that until now, i had only known as an exit off the freeway and the home of my former college roommate. but, miraculously 3 days later i could drive to the mall with my eyes closed. ha!

anyway...at the mall more christmas shopping was done, i spent a while eyeing the apple powerbooks and ipod nanos, and after enduring zillions of "tweens" running about, i was glad to leave. tim had gone to spend some time with his mom who (fortunately) only lives 20 minutes away so he met back up with us in gadzooks while i was blowing money on a new scarf and some cute sale items.

from there we made the trek back to the side of town i have, until now, called home. i gave tim a tour of the many houses i have lived in and the places i hung out during various times in my life and then we had dinner with my dad. he's moving to new mexico soon, so it was a little strange seeing his house decorated with a "for sale" sign instead of the usual christmas lights, but i suppose it's the thing to do in my family. hell, i moved 1500 miles away, and my mom migrated north, so i guess it only makes sense my dad has followed suit. we enjoyed olive garden bread and salad and then began driving back. on the way, these funny little drops of water started falling from the sky and i was reminded that not everywhere enjoys nearly year-round sunny weather. after dropping tim back off at his mom's for the night, i drove the monster of a vehicle i got to use all weekend (a ford f350) back home and crashed.

monday was spent packing and bumming around the house, having lunch (yummy chick-fil-et) with tim and his mom, and having my last family dinner until i return in 3 weeks. then came the airport fun and a long ass, nearly 4 hour long-ass, plane ride home. followed by 30 minutes of standing in 40 degree drizzle and a $60 cab ride home. i'll spare all my bitchy details about that, and end on a happy note instead:

in summary (in case you skipped this f'ing long-ass entry): my turkey day trip was great. along with getting to visit the family i've always known...i was also introduced to several new things - new houses, new malls, new people, new restaurants, new schools, and new roads. i'm glad to report that everyone back home is happy with all this "newness". and it was that fact alone that gave me comfort during the times i ever felt lost. while it was tough sometimes and on occasion i felt a little out of place, the smiles on their faces were the only things that really truly felt like home all weekend. and i think that it what i was most thankful for this year.

notes on the news...

just a few observations on some news i stumbled upon today.

and the winner of the most obvious headline ever goes to MSNBC:
xbox 360 sells out quickly.
christmas season + really cool gaming system = quick sales.
duh.

does the judicial system hire kindergardeners to draw court scenes now? "here bobby, here's some crayons. draw what you see. and don't forget to stay in the lines!"

bob dylan's college poetry sold for $78,000.
i wish the shit that i wrote drunk at 3am were worth that much...

the worlds ugliest dog died today.
no offense to what i am sure is his loving family...but good god, i'm glad that thing isn't roaming earth any more!

okay, i'll stop regurgitating the news now. go find some on your own.

the leaves are turning...

napa valley, ca

the niebaum-coppola winery

napa valley, ca

WANT MORE??

points of thought...

just a few things floating around my head the past few days...

• you know what i hate? old navy boy cut jeans. really people - just f'ing roll up your old pair and you're in style. that way, in 2 weeks when the look isn't "in" any more, you haven't wasted $24.95. personally, i'm still a fan of the boot cut.
  
• i've been attempting to get my dialy dose of calcium lately. i've never consumed so much cottage cheese in 3 day period of time.
  
• grocery store music entertains me. it also reminds me of one of my communication classes in college that taught us how they use certain types of music at specific times of day because it makes people shop differently. this morning, for example, it was what i like to call "mid 30's pop." (you know, mix 96.5 in houston or the type of shit you hear at the dentist's office.) sure enough, the store was full of soccer moms pushing their todlers around in strollers attached to the grocery cart.
• i heart baths. with oils. and girly things. they are all good for the soul.
• i am amused that my "sandwich blog" got so much attention. guess the random things i come up with at work actually are worth publically admitting.
• LOST is the best t.v. show ever. and i love that i have TIVO so i can watch scenes over and over.
• after living in california for almost 4 months i've realized that it's very "anti-chain restaurant." and they don't like advertising that they exist if they are present. i'm used to the mcdonald's arches towering 50ft above the freeway. here, they are embedded in a brick sign. chilis? hidden between two quaint, local restaurants. and there's only one within 15 miles of me. in texas there'd be 5 within 5 miles. hell, tim and i had to drive 30 minutes to find an arby's. mmmmm....arby's.
  

texas turkey day...

well, it looks like i will be returning to texas for thanksgiving...postponing my first out-of-state-turkey-day until a later date. my mom called this morning to tell me that she would fly both tim and i back to houston for the holiday. and so we are.

to be honest, i had kind of resigned to not having a "real thanksgiving" this year. i mean, sure, i was going to be sure to eat turkey and green beans and mashed potatoes, but i wasn't really feeling the holiday so much. i guess because it's just not the same without a family gathered around a table stuffing their faces until they have to all unbutton their pants. i had even thought about volunteering at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter instead of gorging myself on delicious food. then, i figured i would spend the rest of the weekend bumming around watching movies and doing a bit of christmas shopping. but alas! thanksgiving will be spent like every year before...except that the first half of it will be spent on a plane.

and i'm glad. every year during november you can often find me scowling every time somebody mentions christmas is closing in and immediately changing any radio station that plays holiday tunes. but, like every year in the past, i lose. as much as a try and be a scrooge every holiday season the lights and songs and decorations and cold weather always win me over.

let this be my white flag to the holidays. you win. again. and you probably will every year from now on.

you know, now that i think about it, i think i'm more excited about going home than the thanksgiving holiday itself. when i moved to california i not only said goodbye to texas, but also to the area my family used to live in. the same weekend i drove across the country they hauled their lives across houston. i will get to see the new house fully decorated for the first time next week, as well as return to a house that i no longer call my "home."

sad, if you think about it. but at the same time it reassures me that i'm living my own life. i have my "home" here. and yes, while it may only be a 550 square foot box, it's still home. returning for thanksgiving will probably be weird in some ways, but i'm glad that i'm going back after staring to establish my own ways of the world. i guess it's evidence that i've started a life of my own...and although i didn't expect to, i think i'm liking it.

sandwich...

am i the only person that likes putting potato chips on my sandwich? you know, to make things crunchier...

a wino's weekend tale...

once upon a time, in a land far, far away (well, at least it's far away from most of my regular readers) a boy and a girl took a day trip up to napa.

i love living an hour away from the wine country. especially at this time of year. you see, growing up in texas i only read about this season they call "autumn." i was only allowed to see pictures of what leaves do when summer ends. never, until now, was i lucky enough to see trees turn to fire and light up all over hillsides.

needless to say, our random day trip to napa was beautiful. i broke out the "real camera" (you know, the one without a digital screen) and took over a roll of pictures. i'm sure they won't actually capture the true shades of orange, red, and yellow we saw, but hey...that's what photoshop is for, right? as soon as i get them developed look for some samples here, as well as here: theblackstripe.com (currently invitation only).

for those of you who aren't up to speed on the coolest, up-and-coming photo sharing and/or networking sight, this is my shameless plug for scott. if you're cool enough you'll get invited. if you're interested in knowing more, let me know...i got the hook up.

anyway, so in napa tim insisted we visit this cultish looking winery he's been wanting to stop at every time he passes it. i'm up for whatever that day, so we turn onto this long, olive-tree lined driveway to discover it is none other than the opus one winery. now at this point, all i really know about them is that my mom has a bottle of opus one sitting in her wine rack and she would often mention that she was saving it for a really important day...never to be specified. but, the way she said it made me think that that bottle was not just something you opened one night while watching movies. my suspicions were confirmed when (a) i realized that you had to have reservations to get a tour of the odd looking winery and (b) i saw that it cost $25 for a sample (i.e. 2 oz). so tim and i shared a glass and enjoyed a few $5 sips and left.

during our drive up highway 29 the sounds of my shrieking filled the car. i was kind of like an 8 year old driving around disney land for the first time. i can say with 100% certainty that i have never seen leaves the colors i saw then. every 10 minutes (tim would probably argue it was more like every 5 minutes) i would yell "STOP!" so i could stick my head out the sunroof and capture what i was seeing out my window. i was comforted when i saw two or three other people doing this same thing throughout the day.

after a stop at the niebaum-coppola winery where our sample pourer sang us opera, and a slow, stoplight-filled drive through st. helena we arrived at the CIA. the culinary institute of america. we sampled some interesting, yet so pretty i didn't want to eat them, items and dined while watching america's finest future chefs cook.

upon our return to the easy bay we spent the rest of our weekend curled up watching movies. a list of the films, accompanied by a brief review of each, follows:

millions: great movie. upbeat. makes you think about what you would do if you won the lottery. and makes you love kids with british accents and freckles more than you already did.
me and you and everyone we know: all i can do is quote part of this movie. you'll have to see it yourself. my words do it no justice. "Say, 'You poop into my butt hole and I poop into your butthole... back and forth... forever.'"
the amnityville horror: bad remake. crap actors. i should have been able to tell this from the cover.
childstar: odd sundance film about what it's like to be a childstar. makes you wonder if it's realistic or not. brought up thoughts of macauly culkin and leonardo dicaprio. worth $4 at blockbuster.

so that about wraps it up. friday i drank wine and took pictures. saturday i watched movies and drank wine. and sunday i wrap it up with a blog and a few hours of work. and truthfully, i'll probably have a glass of wine and watch another movie tonight.

all this talk about wine makes me miss my old roomie...

recent adventures & conclusions about life...

• i adore hot, green tea.
  

• sushi is alright as long as it doesn't have any creatures stuffed into somewhere.
  
  
• i can't wait to live in a house and get out of the 500 ft lifestyle i've grown accustomed to.
  
  
• i have now experienced a true turning of seasons. the trees are on fire here and it's beautiful. even though i know that the next 3 months of my life will be full of seatle-like misty rain crap causing every native californian to drive worse than they already do.
  
  
• i hate teenagers. i hate the way they dress, walk, act, smell, talk, and exist. i hate more that i used to be one.
  
  
• i have (sadly) come to fully understand the meaning of the phrase "living for the weekends."
  
  
• i know now that i LOVE the foo fighters. last weekend i went to see the weezer/foo fighters concert. it rocked, i rocked, and my world was rocked. and i was also reminded that i should appreciate music a lot more than i have in the past. five stars to the performance (which included practical jokes leading to men in g-strings on stage with weezer), but 1 star to the cost of fake nacho cheese and hotdogs. overall it was good times had by all.
  
  
• making friends in new places requires you to put oneself on the line.
  
  
• for a while i didn't want to celebrate thanksgiving with a feast because i am not going home for the holiday. i changed my mind when i walked into williams sonoma yesterday to buy muffin tins and smelled a homecooked thanksgiving dinner. i get to make the mashed potatoes!
  
  
• i'm going to try and bake more. and i'm going to ignore the fact that i have become much more domestic in the past few months.