Thanksgiving FUN

Thanksgiving is always fun when you can hang out with friends....

(me and Cindy)


(Stacie, Amy and Me)


Celebrate a CUTE Two Year Old's BDAY

(Claira's 2nd Bday...she is pushing Madeleine around in her new stroller she loved!)




(Madeleine with the dolly my mom gave her since it was Claira's bday and she didn't want her to be left out)




Have fun in the kitchen




Play Games

See a FUNNY Movie that makes you laugh from start to finish

GO SEE "Four Christmases" IT IS LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY!!!

Old Friends, New Friends, Family, YUMMY Food and Memories being made!

And laughing A LOT!!!

How good are...

LEFT OVER THANKSGIVING TURKEY SANDWICHES?

Really?! I love the thanksgiving meal and all the yummy things that come out, but man is the day after thanksgiving food so yummy! Have you ever seen that Friends episode where Ross LOVES Monica's yummy turkey the day after thanksgiving on a perfect sandwich he makes? He loses his job over it...that is how I would be for sure! And yes I did just make a reference to Friends in my blog like they were real people. And in a few seasons of life they did feel like real people...they were my friends who I escaped life with and laughed for 30 minutes. Some call it crazy, some call it healthy coping mechanisms...I am going to go with healthy coping mechanisms.

Little Things To Be Thankful For...

So my intention all week has been to post a "What I am Thankful for" Blog...seeing it is Thanksgiving tomorrow. It has not happened all week! I have tons to be thankful for like my wonderful boyfriend, Sam, my cutest 6 year old roommate Raya, my family that ALWAYS supports me in ever 'free-spirit' move I make, Sea Jay...living with my best friend's family--"mooching" off them as Banning so lovingly refers to it as :) Lakey--enough said. Elli's grown upness that I can't get over. Aims and her girls...they make my smile more times than she even knows. Danielle...what can I even say--she has laughed like crazy with me, let me be crazy, let me watch her CUTE AZ kids--just been my "hang out do nothing" buddy that I have missed the last few years. Working at a place that reminds me to trust and believe in bigger things that are currently in my life. My roommate from college who just seems to check in at the right moments. Ker, who brings a smile to my face because we talk on our voicemail like the other person is really on the other end :) Niki...5:45 comes early every day but so FUN to have her to work out with...catching up with old friends in Redding. Missing my friend in LA terribly, but loving video chat to see Zane and Audrey be CRAZY! Amy's early morning, perfectly timed phone calls and her 'big sister' way just always having the right thing to say. My friends in NZ...really where do I even start when I think back on this year and begin to be thankful....my sis...Mich what would I have done without you, Ali and Unc Nev--really could they have lived without this American girl? :) I know I couldn't lived without them. The Lines...enough said in my book :) My Mosaic friends that ALWAYS made me smile and a family that just took such good care of me.

See I have tons to be thankful for! I just haven't had time to sit down and write out ALL the things I wanted to say. But one of the best things about my week was a "little thing." Trying to save money and all is not always easy, but my mom has taught me so well...do not spend what you don't have, give a portion to god and to your savings then spend, always give cheerfully, ALWAYS do for others...all those things are a part of who I am. This week though I cleaned house unexpectedly so it was goint to my bills, but I really wanted to get my eyebrows done. I asked around and the prices were SO much more than LA and I just couldn't justify it when I was needing to pay bills...There is a difference between a need and a want (my mom, too). So my friend Trisha said one of her students in the school where she works, has her beauty license and used to work in NY and does it on the side while she is going to school. And she is ONLYL $10!!!! So I called her, a little nervous...it is my face and all. She was AMAZING!!! I had such a good time chatting with her and she did such a good job and did all the extras you pay for at a salon but was reasonable. If you live in Redding seriously call me or email me and I will give you her number. She is SO fantastic!

Okay so there are so many things to be thankful for...one of which is my job I have to get to...Yikes I am might be a little late today....I love Holiday Weeks!

Airhead Moment of the Week

So a few years back my roommate from college said to me one Thanksgiving after telling her a couple of air head moments I had just had, "you know Dana I don't think it is that you have air head moments. I think you have have always been like that, and you are now just more okay with who you are." Which then just made me laugh harder at myself....

Well, today I had a classic Dana Air Head Moment. I was at my Bagel Shop that I love!! Manhattan Bagel. I have gone to Manhattan for over 8 years now. I started going when I moved back to Redding in 2000. I met with students I worked with for over 3 years. I met with friends there every Friday for over a year. I was there easily 3 to 4 times a week. When I left Redding to move to L.A. the owner gave me a free dozen bagels and said one of the sweetest compliments I have ever received. Since I moved back to Redding two months ago I have been there EVERY day...truthfully it is the routine, the knowing that I can get the same thing every day and see smiling faces that "know" me. Well, at least they know what bagel I like and how I like it. But seriously I have been there A LOT...maybe missed two days since I have moved back...maybe??

Today I was waiting for my bagel as my favorite bagel girl, Jennifer made my bagel. I was staring at the menu on the wall just thinking about which ones sounded good, which ones I might pick if I was getting a salad or a sandwich. And I really thought that the "Bronx" one sounded yummy, as well as the Central Park Salad. I though it was weird that there was an Empire State Sandwich, too. "Weird," I thought, "they all have New York names...."

Yep...then it hit me! Oh my gosh I really just thought that thought and for 8 years have not realized that they have NY names and it is because it is called Manhattan bagel (which, for my Kiwi friends, is also home of the BAGEL). So I giggled all the way out and called my friend Amy, who immediately started laughing. I laughed all the way to work and then made Sam call me so I could tell him the story. I sometimes amaze myself that I actually think things like that. I am not making it up, those types of things are really in my head.

Hopefully my air head moment made you at least smile today...

Gifts in a Unexpected Package

I was reminded today that sometimes gifts are in the most oddest of places. Like finding a $20 bill in a sketchy parking lot in LA or finding a gift card in the back of a drawer and finding it when you are looking for a bill that you realized you forgot to pay. (come on you know you have all had weird moments like that....they make you smile and feel like you just won the lottery)

Today I went to clean house (one of my side jobs I have currently). On my way there I was already complaining that I wish I was finished and I hadn't even started. I turned on my iPod and listened to this story of a man that had walked through a pretty intense cancer. In the midst of his cancer he learned some things he never thought or imagined he would or could know about himself and God and goodness. He shared how each day there seemed to be a gift in it, but that didn't mean he liked his cancer process. He challenged the listener to have an honest conversation with God, whether you believed in Him or not, and ask God to show you the little gifts He gives. He didn't assume the listener had a relationship with God or assume that they would do what he said simply because he had cancer. It was much more subtle and humble than that.

He, in fact, just told his story which in a weird way left you wanting something else....as if he put salt on your tongue and made you thirsty for more. As I listened to it tears streamed down my face. It had to be a funny sight, me in my work out clothes after a morning jog, cleaning in this obscure house in Redding, with my iPod on and tears streaming down my face as I sprayed windex on window after window. And in that quiet moment I realized something: this was my gift. I dreaded cleaning house, but when you are in need of money you are faithful with what is put in front of you. But in that moment it was not just a means to pay bills, it was a instance that I just wonder if God constructed. Not only does the family pay me WAY MORE than they should, but it created a couple hours of quiet for me to sort through some pretty big stuff going on in my life. And I left the place I dreaded, with a sense of renewed strength and security in who I was, a calmness, a love that wasn't there before and experiencing the goodness of the God of the universe.

Processing life and relationships while in transition is tough...but my wonderful boyfriend reminded me this week in a moment when my character was lacking a bit, that friendship and relationships take work. There are different seasons in a friendship and sometimes we have to give more than we take and some times we have to see beyond the moment and see our friend underneath the current situation they are in. He is an amazingly gracious man that teaches me so much about, not only seeing people's uniqueness, but realizing that there is always more to a story and because of that we need to give people the benefit of the doubt. I am pretty lucky to have a man like him...again sometimes the best gifts come in unexpected packages....a house cleaning job and even a trip to Fiji that might have changed my life forever.

Room Rules

So this is how my roommate woke me up this morning:

Raya (aka Roommate): Dana here our the room rules....
Me: What? (with my eyes still shut)
Raya: Mommy and Daddy got me this note pad that LOCKS! So I wrote down our room rules. Wanna hear them?
Me: Sure...(still with my eyes shut)
Raya: No being mean, no crushing other people's cell phones on purpose, no cats in our room, no wetting the bed on purpose--on accident is on accident so that is okay, and no open mouth kissing...
Me: What?! (now with eyes open)
Raya: yeah, dana no open mouth kissing.
Me: Okay...good thing my boyfriend is in another hemisphere....
Raya: yeah, anyway here are the rest of the rules....
Me: smiling and said in my head...."I love my life, i bet no one else was woken up in this cute way"

Raya showing me her cute new locking notebook

Rediscove(RED) Love of Winter

I know, I know....if you follow my blog at all you know that love and winter NEVER go in the same sentence. And this week I wore a wool shirt three days...I was not very happy about this. While thankful for my New Zealand Moreno wool I was sporting this week, I was bemoaning the fact in my head all day that I hate winter. I am so sad that it is coming, I was having flashbacks of how cold I was for the last few months in New Zealand (well, minus those 10 glorious warm days in Fiji...AH Fiji a few good things came out of that trip that make me smile, not just the memories of the warm sunshine). Pretty much I was whining and complaining to my self with a very unhopeful attitude.

I know, really, I live in a warm bed, in a beautiful house with my friends, I have moreno wool, I have lots of Jackets--thank you Sally Lines!--and I have heat indoors (YAY FOR AMERICAN CENTRAL HEATING!!!) Nevertheless, I was whining up a storm. Then it happened. I was sitting in the Bagel shop waiting for a friend that was running a few minutes late. It was as if time stopped for a second and heavenly music started playing when I saw it. I smiled, I got excited and my eyes lit up. The Red Cup.



I know, I know....I hear what you might be thinking, "it's a cup. it's Starbucks, I mean it's no Slow Fish, c'mon. It's a marketing scheme. you don't even like coffee." Yes, yes those are all true. But it's the red cup. I don't know what happens to me when I see the pretty little cup with white snow flakes on it. It makes me excited for Christmas, and Christmas music, and Christmas lights, and it reminds me of all the good talks I have at the time of year when people are holding those red cups. It makes me feel nostalgic and we all know when we are nostalgic we are remembering only the good parts and moments of the past, so it is such a nice feeling. I like good, I like nice...I need more of that in my life. Starbucks are marketing genius'. Second only, of course to Apple (seriously why do I feel like I NEED the latest Apple product that is out...I am not even techy, I mean I am an IT assistant, but come on! It is the shiny new, cool factor that those marketers at Apple have going for them...but I digress)

Anyway, the Red Cup just got 100 times better this year....I know, did you even think it was possible? Starbucks just upped their game and I have to say, "Nice play Starbucks, Nice Play." They joined with Bono (honestly, enough said I can end the blog now, but I will continue for sake of clousre) and his Product Red.

"Each time you buy a (RED) product or service, at no extra cost to you, the company who makes the product will give up to 50 percent of its profit to buy and distribute antiretroviral medicine to our brothers and sisters dying in Africa."

I love Bono's Product Red Campaign....brilliance I tell you, shere brilliance. To make Americans aware of the many crisis' in Africa and giving them a way to do something good with their spending (well...the economic crisis probably doesn't help, but again the genius of Starbucks and Bono to join forces in this time. People are addicted, pure and simple to Starbucks. And people like me melt at the Red Cup and at Product Red...Brilliance....Genius...I wish I thought of that idea....)

So needless to say, I rediscove(RED) why I don't totally hate winter. I am still not happy about the fact that I was in a wool shirt for 3 days and this is the beginning of my winter, but I am not going to lie...the RED cup helps and I have a feeling this little wanna be activist will buy more Red cups this year than she ever has. The irony: I DO LOVE the red cups, but really.....I don't like coffee so I more like the experience that comes with the Red cup and the nostalgia surrounding it...I know I am a hopeless romantic at the end of the day for sure....

Go buy the RED cup and don't feel guilty this year....50% of your yummy drink goes to help people in Africa...pretty sweet deal if you ask me...

I love getting the sticker

So...my favorite part of voting is getting the sticker when you are done. I love it! I love the feeling of accomplishment. It is like that little sticker says "Well Done You Did Your Part." Funny that I love verbal affirmation so much I make it up...do stickers really talk to you :) I know I have issues.... But it makes me smile and makes me feel proud to wear it all day. I have been to many countries where the people's vote isn't even taken, and it is not a right for them to vote. I love that I live in a country that it is a right, and for me what that does is remind me to vote on election day but to remember and take action for people around the world that aren't fighting for their life to cast a vote. I walked up, gave them my name, the sweet lady behind the table smiled, the next sweet lady gave me my ballot, I drew ONE line (very big deal here...one line one vote), and I handed in my ballot and got the ever coveted sticker. No guns, no people yelling at me, no unrest. It reminds me how lucky we are, but that it isn't for me to just keep to myself. I now am responsible on a world level to interact and learn what others around the world are going through. I just love the whole voting process....

Just to make you laugh a little....This is how crazy I am. I was sad that the only sticker I found on line was NOT the sticker I was wearing :( But at least you can see a sticker....

HAPPY VOTING

Dress Up

Sometimes we play dress up for Halloween....

Judah--Danielle and Derrick's boy being a Black Widow Spider


Zoe--Danielle and Derrick's little girl--as the cutest crayon in the box...



Sometimes we come home from work and see little ones playing dress up just because the can....

(Raya in my boots, Sea Jay's scarf, and in her PJ's....gotta love how coming home from work is always a surprise!)


Then she posed...