Black Friday Deals

I was going to post about Thanksgiving this year but it ended up being pretty underwhelming. I look forward to spending time with family and cooking delicious food but this year's meal was just a little too drama filled for us to enjoy it. We enjoyed having my grandma here to visit and celebrate with, but I think this will be the last year that we attend someone else's Thanksgiving instead of hosting our own.  So, instead, we move right along to Black Friday.

This year, like the year before, E and I went Black Friday shopping. We didn't wait in line for hours or drive around to a million different stores, just headed to Target 20 minutes before it opened, waited in line, and went in. Amidst reports of people trampling each other, fighting and pepper spray, I found all of the Thanksgiving shoppers to be surprisingly pleasant and polite. A number of them had young children with them, babies in carriages or toddlers in tow, and everyone was patient, didn't push, and took turns. Aside from a little bit of excited speed walking when the doors first opened, I didn't see any of the nationally reported crazy shopping and had no regrets.

Best Buy TV Score

Coupled with some shopping on the actual Black Friday and following weekend, E and I finally scored the TV that we've been waiting to buy since last year. E is pretty much in love with it, and I'm glad we waited for it to come down in price. My family also got a beautiful new TV for the living room, we picked up a space for my sister L's new boyfriend J, and we all picked up some great blu rays, clothes and other holiday goodies. We're really happy with our holiday shopping this year, and pretty pleased with the Los Angeles Black Friday shoppers who were so courteous and considerate. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and got to enjoy some fun holiday shopping this Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Shopping Craziness!

Our new TV in our messy room

Congratulations Mr. President

Congratulations to President Obama on his successful reelection! This campaign has brought out strong emotions on both sides and I'm hopeful that we are able to come together as a nation to support our president.

Our country has a lot more work to do and we have no hope for success without bipartisanship.

Get out and vote!

I confess that this election, though I'm embarrassed to admit it, I have been a lot less enthusiastic or involved. The 2008 election seemed to generate it's own electricity, there was so much passion and fire for the future that it seemed as if the entire country was united under the shared ideal of Hope.

(Source)

After the election, reality set in and it became clear that there wasn't a magic button, all our nation's problems could not be solved in 4 years, especially with a government so divided and angry that it was actually actively trying to derail and prevent progress. Despite the bickering and problems in Washington, President Obama still managed to make wonderful progress; he passed health care reform, the stimulus, passed Wall Street reform, ended the Iraq war, killed Osama Bin Laden, saved the auto industry, repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed the Family Smoking Prevention act,  improved the student loan program, reversed Bush's policies on tortue and stem cell research and did countless other things I can't remember off the top of my head.

Obama may not have an instant fix button, but as a president I support and stand behind him and his vision for our country.

This election has progressed like a firecracker that's fizzed out, with a unhealthy dose of animosity and lying. I swing between angry and horrified that politicians are getting away with outright lies and deliberate misinformation, and I hope that the American people are smart enough to see the deception.

The fire and passion has died down, but it's even more important this election that we protect our fundamental rights that are in jeopardy: a woman's right to choose, the right to marry the person you love,  the right to affordable health care and a safe and effective school system for our children.

Whoever you support today, it's important to get out there and vote. The country can't move forward without the voices of her people, and you have the instigate the change you want to see in the world.

I voted for Obama because I have faith in what he's capable of doing for our country. I voted for a woman's right to choose, equal pay, the right to marry whoever you love, for FIMA, for science and the environment, for education and health care and another four years of progress.

Because I voted by mail and didn't get a sticker, here is Haji (recycled from 2008) telling you to get out and vote!

A Beautiful Park for a Walk

It's my first trip to Meridian/Boise, and I have to say I've been pretty impressed with what I've seen so far. Instead of crowded city streets where every house and business is competing for a postage stamp sized piece of land, things here seem to sprawl out with open space in between and gorgeous mountain ranges in the backdrop. What it lacks in "unique cityness" - old homes and buildings, hundreds of boutiquey shops, museums, science centers and democrats, it seems to make up in nature - golden fields, livestock, hiking, skiing, boating, ATVing, exploring, space to breathe. It's a different kind of city than I'm used to, but not bad different and I can see why city dwellers choose to relocate here.

This afternoon, we drove down to Eagle Island State Park so El could take some senior photos for her baby sitter. The park itself seems to be packed with potential - a water slide for the summer, horse trails, a frisbee golf course (though I've been advised it's not a good one - too much water) and plenty of trees and walking trails. I didn't see too much of it on foot since Will was my buddy for the afternoon, and he preferred a gravel induced bouncy jaunt around the horse trailer area, but what I saw was just lovely. When it hit magic hour, the sun lit up the trees like glowing fiery orbs and the sky looked too blue to be real. There were people riding horses, taking photos, walking with their dogs running off leash ahead of them, and others I'm sure enjoying more of the park that I didn't pass by.

Even though Will was feeling a little cranky, it was a beautiful, chilly afternoon and I'm sure that El got some beautiful photos with such an extraordinary landscape (and her baby sitter's adorable horse!) in the background.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Will, the cutest little dragon ever!

Happy Birthday, Halloween and a trip!

It's been another few weeks and I somehow built up more unpublished posts in my post graveyard. Nothing too exciting has been going on so there hasn't been anything really post worthy. I mean, I carved an owl into a pumpkin and a squirrel ate it's face off, and I got a teeny little mole/blood vessel that exploded and bled like a horror movie while I was shopping at old navy, but neither event was really deserving of it's own post. So, today I'm blogging about birthdays, halloween and my upcoming trip to visit my friend E!

Today, my little sister is celebrating her 22nd birthday with her new(ish) boyfriend, who happens to share her birthday, in Vegas! It's all very exciting since it's her first time there and her first time taking a trip with a boy. Cue the OOOooooOOoooOOooo. This one is actually very nice, quite cute, and they appear to be smitten with each other. A very big happy birthday to L and J, I really hope they have a fabulous time!

E and I haven't celebrated Halloween since the twins we used to babysit moved out of state. We're in that funny in-between space where you're too old to celebrate alone but don't have kids to trick or treat with yet.  This year, I'm actually going out to be out of town visiting my friend El over Halloween! El lives in Boise with her husband and son and I haven't had a chance to visit them since they moved out there. I'm really excited to spend some real time with them and see their house for the first time in person, since I'm sure pictures don't do it justice. El has been dealing with a nasty broken arm which makes it tough to lift her son, so I'm also looking forward to helping out and playing with her little boy.

I leave on the 30th and will be gone till the 6th, so while I'm having a fabulous time with El, I'm unfortunately going to miss my Titos Tacos election night ritual with E. We usually buy a couple boxes of tacos and camp out in front of the TV while the states report, but I'll be in there air when the first numbers start coming in. I've already voted so I don't need to be there to vote, so I'm hoping my plane gets in on time so I can maybe catch the results with E when he picks me up.  This is such an important election and there's so much at stake, I really hope the country pulls through and makes the right decision.

With that said, I wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween filled with fabulous costumes and tons of candy :)

Death Star Pumpkin!(Source)

Hawaii: A Recap

The whole trip I meant to post updates on what we were doing. Instead, I was so busy enjoying everything that I barely touched the computer. Now that I've been home for a few days, I've run out of excuses :)

For starters, we spent 7 days on Kauaii and it is possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We went hiking, took a helicopter tour, spent every morning at the beach, went on a sunset dinner cruise and explored the island and all it had to offer. I would absolutely visit Kauaii again, the pace is so slow and relaxed and the people are warm and friendly. The food was also incredibly and every meal was book-ended by Pina Coladas and desert.

After Kauaii, we hopped to Oahu and spent 6 days at the Ko Olina Resort. It was a totally different experience than Kauaii, much closer to Los Angeles, but we still had a wonderful time. We also went hiking, visited Waikiki Beach, explored the north shore and went swimming with sea turtles at a local beach. The turtles were amazing, so social and friendly and they were absolutely the highlight of Oahu for me.

Hanalei Bay, my favorite beach on Kauai

E and I on Ke'e Beach

Ke'e Beach - the sand covering the roots has blown away

E watching a Ke'e Beach Sunset

Hiking to Hanakapi`ai Beach

Hiking to Hanakapi`ai Beach

E photographing the view while hiking to Hanakapi`ai Beach

The Na Pali Coast on our hike

Tiny stream on our Hanakapi`ai Beach hike

Awesome stone towers at Hanakapi`ai Beach

Poipu Beach

Could the Poipu Beach sunset be any more awesome?

Mango Pina Colada! Virgin of course :) I drank a lot of these

Red Dust Falls along Waimea Canyon

Waterfalls as seen from our helicopter tour

Na Pali coast from our helicopter

Hanalei Bay from our helicopter

Sunset behind Niihau from our Sunset Boat Cruise

Spouting Horn!

Sunset from Ko Olina

Rainbow over Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona Memorial

View from along the Diamond Head Crater hike

View from the top of the Diamond Head Crater hike

Ko Olina Resort sunset

Ko Olina Resort sunset

Alani Resort Sunset

Sea turtles! A group of 4 swam right next to me for over an hour

Gorgeous and friendly, I had no idea they were so social

Beautiful flowers all over the place, this one from Ko Olina

Flowers from Gaylord's Restaurant

Hawiian Chickens

The best residents of Kauaii. These bad boys crowed all day long and strutted around the island like they owned the place. And really, they did, because Kauaii's island chickens are protected and even chill on the side of the highway. One would walk through our backyard every morning, crowing to wake us up around 6:42am and a few more walking down the street would answer him.