Being Thankful

Al #4 was in California this week for work, so we met up with him for dinner in San Bernardino for all you can eat sushi!!! There was 4 of us and I was the one in charge of the pencil. Between listening to everyone else and me being greedy we ended up with edmame, Calamari, Miso Soup, 10 Rolls, Tuna Nigiri, and Quail Egg shots. Rolls kept coming and coming and unfortunately some went to waste, but at the very end when I thought we were done my quail egg shot came. It wasn't the usual quail egg shot I was used to because this one was in a shot glass and somehow staring me in the eye. I used to get quail egg shots at Kyoto in Utah, but they came in a shell with sprouts, fish eggs, and other things to make the texture less egg like. Anyway I saw Al #4 eyeing it, so I told him if he would try it, I would too. Luckily we captured the moment with pictures.I don't know what was in that quail egg shot glass, but they must have loaded it up with sirracha sauce because when it got to the middle of my throat I thought I was going to die. We have the exact same reaction in the picture below.
Afterwards when I could breathe again I decided I could do another one now that I knew what to expect. Did I have another one......No, but maybe in the future. Thanks for dinner Al, so good to see you.

Next comes Thanksgiving. Since we don't live as close to Utah anymore we spent Thanksgiving in California. We were so lucky to be able to spend it with Tonya, Billy, and her family at their beach house in Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful day and amazing drive along PCH I was giving Al grief before we left home telling him it's not summer anymore and to not wear shorts...lol Well I was dying of heat in my clothes and could've easily been wearing my swimsuit all day.

Tonya and I....she is seriously the cutest pregnant lady I've ever seen.

Al and Billy went surfing or at least tried to

The best part of Thanksgiving was watching the sunset while we ate our dinner. I'm thankful for warm weather and sunsets on the beach.
Here is a picture of Tonya and her family. Thanks so much for letting us spend Thanksgiving with you guys:)

I thought about posting a list of what I'm thankful for, but then I got the flu after we got home and I've never been so sick. I also don't think I will want anything to do with Thanksgiving food for awhile. I am so thankful for my health, junior mints, pink sugar perfume, and EVERYTHING ELSE. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Life

On Saturday we went to Tonya and Billy's baby shower. It was so much fun!! Pictures taken by Tonya's mom.

Has anyone every heard of Roscoes Chicken and Waffles? I hadn't until we moved to L.A. We went to the one in West Hollywood and I'll tell you it was quite the experience. I'm not sure who thought chicken and waffles should go together, but here we are eating it. Not really the healthiest dinner, but it was fun to try. P.S. Kobe Bryant goes there all the time

Yesterday we got tickets to Jay Leno, but getting tickets means standing in line for an hour with your ticket, crossing your fingers that you get in. I think we were 2 of the last 10 people to get in and we got to sit second row!! The Govenator and Lady Gaga were the guests. Lady Gaga performed Bad Romance and it was awesome. I wanted to go to her concert next month and now I don't need to because I was sitting like 10 ft from her...lol
Yesterday my friend Jobi and I had breakfast at Urth Caffe and it was so amazing. Jobi is a star magnet and yesterday we saw Judy Greer who plays Kitty in Arrested Development
Here is a picture of her....
and my delightful spinach and feta omelet.
Last week I had Al take me to FIDM because I wanted to see the campus. In this picture it looks huge, but it's just one little building. We were done with our tour in about 5 minutes.a>

Lastly I had to share this letter because it's so sweet. Al and I just got a new calling in our ward to be primary teachers. The class has had substitutes for a couple months and they are way excited to finally have teachers. Yesterday they gave us letters from the kids and this was one of my favorites.

Tis The Season

Don't be jealous we went laser tagging. It was quite the workout.
Last night we went to the tree lighting at Americana(where I work at Anthropologie). When you tell people you live in Glendale most people reply "why Glendale?" Hollywood might have more going on, but Glendale was where it was at last night. See picture below.

The tree is amazing.....at least 100 ft tall

We were suprised when One Republic came out on stage and performed. So fun

Get ready......here is a picture of the tree lit! Amazing right

To top it off they even had fireworks

Yay for Christmas time

New Moon

I hate to admit it, but I'm really excited to see New Moon on Friday. I think Al has been dreading it, but no need to worry I'm going with Tonya and her mom. Al also gets to go to his very first couples baby shower on Saturday. Here's to cute pregnant Tonya.

Fight On!

On Saturday we went to the USC game. We parked by Greek Row which was like 2 miles away from the Coliseum, but I got to experience what college is really supposed to be like. The entire campus was packed with tailgaters and students acting crazy. I've never seen so many cute red and gold outfits. As I look back on all the games I went to at the U I realize they were NOTHING like this. Oh and I got to see the Kappa house which was also unreal.I'm going to see if they need house parents for next year.If you can't tell by the picture we had great seats.



My two favorite things about USC football games are 1-The hot dog carts all over campus on your way to the coliseum and 2-The white horse with a trojan that rides around the field after they score.
Even though USC lost and I don't really like football I had fun and will totally go again.

After the game we walked by student housing and everyone apparently rides beach cruisers. There were hundreds everywhere.Other then the USC game we did lots of exploring last week in Pasadena, Burbank, and a new little city we discovered called Montrose just up the street. So many good restaurants to try. I also got a Tiffany blue tea pot. Even though I don't drink tea I still love it and like Stacy said "if you're feeling really domestic you can boil water for a cup of hot chocolate."

Going Private

The time has come for us to go private. I think it's great people want to read our blog, but once again there are crepers out there.....probably more than we know. Leave your email address and I will send you a link!!

Stuff

One of my new friends from Anthropologie is a photographer and by that I mean a real one. She is trying to build up her website so I got to have my VERY own photoshoot last week. I probably won't get a 5 page spread in Cosmo, but they turned out pretty good for a beginner. On our way to the beach we stopped for breakfast in Brentwood and sat next to Helen Hunt. I didn't ask her for a picture because A-it looked like she had just rolled out of bed and B- I felt like she needed some time to herself. I did however get one of her backside and side profile
and my breakfast which was amazing
Moving on to my photoshoot in Malibu







If anyone needs a photographer and not just in California, call her because she is THE BEST and will hook you up!! Her website is jobimanson.com
On Friday night we went on a double date with Kathryn and Jeff. Randomly I went to highschool with Jeff and he is in our ward....small world After a yummy Indian dinner we went to the Observatory which is this amazing planetarium that looks out over like 50 different cities.
Jeff and Kathryn
Overlook of Hollywood

L.A. and the smog
Contest for who could come up with the most creative pic with Einstein. I think Al and Jeff tied.



Famous Griffith Observatory
We also went to the L.A. zoo which was fabulous.
Apparently there is Malaria at the zoo.....makes you feel good right before you go in Random animals at the zoo




This zoo has the prettiest grounds. I felt like I was in the middle of the jungle in some parts
Al loves Lions
This guy has this ridiculously big lens and I thought it would be funny to take a picture Al wanted me to know what it's like to be a giraffe, so he put me on his shoulders.
I love giraffes



Al is almost as long as the California Condor
Here we all are at the Los Angeles Zoo......next zoo is Santa Barbara