That Year When I Had No Idea What Thanksgiving Is

It's that time of year that my family gets together, eats a one whole meal throughout the day and be extra thankful for what we have in our lives. This is also a good time to share what I thought on my first Thanksgiving ever (back in 2007). Now that I think of it, I feel pretty stupid.

At the company I worked in that time, I was at entry level and had to talk about a grocery chain's offers for Thanksgiving. When they gave me the briefing packet for the campaign, I immediately Googled "Thanksgiving" because I had no freaking clue what it was.

As Thanksgiving got closer, my mom made plans with her friends - this entailed them coming over with prepared food that was ordered from Ralph's and then we will pick up my mom from her work that night then have dinner. By the time we were discussing this, I was still very confused about this holiday. Why do we need that much food?

Then I learned that during Thanksgiving, Americans would eat turkey. This baffled me. From where I came from, my grandpa had his own lot where he had lots of turkeys. He would either deep fry or roast one for any occasion where we do not have a roasted pig although sometimes we have both like when it's my grandma's birthday. Of all things, why turkey?

Then I read somewhere that people who do not like turkey eat ham on Thanksgiving. No. Ham is for Christmas.

My mom then taught me about Black Friday. I was like whaaaaat?! Shopping? LET'S DO THIS, MOM! Then Black Friday became my favorite part of the holiday and/or long weekend.

Don't get me wrong, it's been six years since then and I now value the meaning of Thanksgiving. I am always thankful for what I have and for the people I have around me but today, I am extra thankful. I am unemployed but I have enough to live off of and receive so much support and cheer from my husband. I have a very understanding family and I have reconnected my ties with a few family members that I have not been in contact with for so long. I have friends that I can count on. I have a wonderful li'l dog that makes my every day brighter. To me, Thanksgiving is a reminder that despite life's challenges, there are still things that we can be thankful for.

Stay thankful. :)

Camping #ILikeThatShit

When I thought about camping, this is what I imagined...

via Classic Road Trip

But no, it was not like that at all. What it really was...

Read more »

I Love Alone Time and Long Weekends

via

Today is the start of my long weekend! I just kissed Ron goodbye (damn he smelled good!) and now I'm on the couch watching Desperate Housewives on Netflix while eating my bowl of oatmeal.

My plan today is to have a cup or two of tapioca milk tea, do our laundry, bake, tidy up the house, read magazines and blogs. I also did some purging last night. I cannot wait until my friends and I have our yard sale. Oh well, today should be fun...in my own way. A trip to the mall is not mandatory in my list but it would be pleasant treat, it's Memorial Day weekend anyway! ;)

True story? via

Lovely Long Weekend

Like all three-day weekends, I had an extra day but it still felt short. We had a busy weekend, celebrating my mom’s birthday [this will probably be in another post], going to a friend’s party, the NBA All Star weekend and Ron’s basketball games. If you saw my tweets, you probably also know that my butt and some muscle on my back I did not know existed were sore last weekend [but of course, that did not stop me from doing what I did on Monday].

#SaturdayWalk

#BleacherWifeStatus #ILoveBasketball

#NBAAllStar2013 #KobeFan

I spent my Monday dealing with Ron being carless and rewarding myself with a little trip to the mall and finally getting new clothes. Two LBDs, a sweater, a couple greeting cards, a scarf, a few accessories and a red coat later, I decided that was enough. Oh and by the way, the majority of the clothes I got were Smalls [in other words, I only bought ONE Medium item.] *happy dancing*

#DonutRun

#Shopping

#MondayBasketball [again]

It's Over

Sooo if you have not noticed yet, I've been slacking on blogging. On the other hand, I'd like to look it at it more like a hobby...to make me feel better about not responding to emails. Gah. Cold weather makes me lazy.

My 5-day weekend break is over. I think it was enough but of course, it's human instict to ask for more. I was literally saying "I don't want to" everytime my alarm woke up from snoozing this morning. Oh wells, life if good and I thank God for another day to spend with people I love.

It's been a week since Ron proposed but I'm still in awe. It suddenly felt like our life was actually on track. LOL No more asking Ron if our presents should come from just me or the both of us this year! Everything's from Ron and Jan this year, regardless of who bought it. I also got done with our "love story" video. Yay! I'll share that very soon :)

Saturday was pretty random. Ron went to the gym and I... I played Just Dance 4 by myself for that day's workout. I also had a craving for frozen yogurt so we went to Yogurtland.

Sunday as another trip to the mall because Ron had to get some stuff. I have no idea what because he kept on making me just walk around the mall alone.

I was alone so I tried on stuff at J Crew.
Scarf: Forever21
Sweater: H&M
Leggings: Cotton On
Boots: Mom's Closet Studio Pollini
Bag: Steve Madden

At Victoria Gardens for the Magic Snow.

At It's Sugar.

Made Ron pose by Santa's Cottage.

A gummy cola, gummy bull frog and a few sour strips later, we went home and had Nilagang Baka (Beef Stew with Clear Broth) for dinner.

Yes, that's bone marrow. It's pretty good but VERY high in cholesterol.

 How was your weekend?

Yummy in the Tummy

If last week I had an unstoppable urge to shop, this weekend, a long weekend, instead of shopping, I could not stop eating!

Friday - for lunch, we had Panera catered in the office, we had 3 kinds of salads which was pretty healthy but then again, I love dressing AND there was mac and cheese as a side. I LOVE mac and cheese so I had 2 helpings! For dinner, the family headed to Rustic Spoon for Mommy's birthday dinner - of course, I ordered Warm House Noodle with Medium Steak.

Saturday - we went to the LA Fashion District to eat street food. Their hotdogs are AMAZING! Then to Sushi Mac for dinner. Ron and I missed both places!

Sunday - we were supposed to go snowboarding, I woke up at around 545 to take a shower and we left my place at around 630am. When we got to Ron's, we checked the conditions and they were not very great so we got lazy and ate at Denny's for my waffle craving. For our second meal for the day, after church, we ate at this Thai place, Green Mango - House Fried Rice, Drunken Noodle and Seafood Boat.

Monday - I cooked sausages (longganisa) for breakfast and ate it with rice and leftovers from the Thai place. We went to the mall in the afternoon where I had a craving for Cinnabon! They had this new thing called center of the bun (I think) so I tried it - it gave me toothache. Haha!