There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Ack...2008 is techncially over as I write this entry, but I've gotta document the last great thing of the year, which was spending the holidays with my family in Ohio and New York. I was lucky enough to be able to spend THREE weeks at home this year and during that time I visited my cousin, Sarah, and her husband, Doug, in Illinois (which was by accident and due to a cancelled flight in Chicago); attend both the Oberhauser and Damschroder Christmas gatherings; spend lots of time hanging out with my immediate family; visit local friends like the Allisons and Britt (who is local when I'm local!); and ski and relax at my cabin in New York with my dad and brother.

Me, Doug, and Sarah at their house in Crest Hill, IL.
Grammy & the Oberhauser cousins.

The Damschroder clan on Christmas day.

Me, Matthew, Mom, Anna, and Dad after church on Christmas Eve.

Matt & me at Peek n' Peak Ski Resort in New York.

I leave 2008 feeling that yes, indeed, it has been great--because I have been so very, very blessed. I am so often overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing people in my life--my Mom, Dad, sister, and brother; my WONDERFUL girlfriends all across the world; and my fun and funny coworkers. With all the economic woes of 2008, I was strongly reminded that it is people, not things or money, that truly do bring happiness to our lives.

Of Giblets and Turkey Necks

I hosted my very first Thanksgiving dinner on my own this year and it went off without a hitch! The whole long (best-weekend-of-the-year-since-we-get-two-paid-holidays-in-a-row) weekend was wonderful, actually.

On Wednesday I went to Elizabeth's house for a fun Thanksgiving Eve party with pretty much some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for.

Britt, Carrie, & Elizabeth

Therese, Carrie, & Jen

Carrie & Jessica

On Thursday morning, Britt and I ran in the Dana Point Turkey Trot, which was a lot of fun. We were worried when we woke up early in the morning and it was pouring rain that we'd have a repeat weather incident like we did for our Feb. half marathon, but luckily, the sun was shining by the time our race started.


After running 5K, we were ready to chow down. Jessica, Karl, Sabina, and Kraig, joined us for a day of eating turkey (sans giblets and necks though), stuffing, and enough food to feed an entire Ethiopian town. Here are some pictures of all the yumminess.

On Friday, well before the plumbers crack of dawn, Jessica picked me up and we went Black Friday shopping, which mostly entailed me shunning the materialism and consumerism of the holidays by buying myself new clothes and house decorations. I'm planning to give my family the gift of my presence and perhaps some knitted potholders for Christmas.

On Saturday, I tried once to appreciate football by spending the entire day tailgating (without the tailgate again) and going to the USC vs. Notre Dame football game. I can honestly say that I do have a newfound appreciation--only it's for Saturday morning cartoons, sleeping in, padded seats, and the Notre Dame marching band.

Carrie & Kirstie

All in all, I really had a GREAT weekend and, thanks this time to Abraham Lincoln's proclamation, am reminded of some of the very important things in my life that I am thankful for, such as:

• My family, who, amazingly, love me and support me no matter what. I am so thankful that not only do I have a loving family, but that they are fun people with whom I really enjoy spending time.


• My friends, who are my home-away-from-home in California. I am blessed with the most amazing, beautiful, smart, funny, fun, interesting, all-around-awesome girlfriends in the world. I would be lost in Cali without them.


• My job. I'm thankful just to have a job in these hard economic times. I'm even more thankful that my company lets me make my own decisions, hires cool people to work with, and gives me a fair wage.


• Opportunities. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to go to school and get good degrees, move to the OC, buy a house, and make a life for myself in California. I'm also thankful for travel and fun opportunities. Life is really amazing and really good.


• Soft things. I'm obsessed with soft things and that's why I am giving myself carpal tunnel syndrome from twirling my hair all day and why I lug my old ratty pillow around with me everywhere like Linus.


• The leftover marbled pumpkin cheesecake that is in my refrigerator and which I will eat for dinner at 9pm tonight.

What more could anyone ask for?

You Do Not Need an Actual Tailgate to go Tailgating

I did something on Saturday that I've never done before--I went tailgating and attended a college football game (USC vs. Washington). I know, how can I call myself a Midwest girl if I've never been tailgating or to a college football game until now? Perhaps there are others out there who have not gone tailgating. If so, let me tell you what it entails:

• Getting up before the crack of dawn
• Dragging all the comforts of your living room (including your flat screen TV and satellite dish) outside
• Setting up a camp kitchen in the middle of a university campus
• Watching people from 18 - 80 drink copious amounts of alcohol starting at 7am
• Knowing where there are non port-a-pottie restrooms on campus
• Watching random football games on TV outside all day (my suggestion for watching Saturday morning cartoons was shut down)
• In our case on Saturday, huddling under the pop-up tent waiting for the rain to stop so that we could pack up our outdoor living room and go to the actual game where the actual team who we were going to root on was actually playing
• One thing that it does not necessarily need to entail is tailgates--who knew?!?

Now, I know that that list above doesn't really include many activities that I would normally enjoy. However...I love doing new things and experiencing new things and the people that I was tailgating with were fantastic and so I had a great time. It was homecoming weekend at USC and so the campus was packed with people having a good time. After we packed up our tailgating gear, we followed the mass exodus of people through campus, kicked the base of a flag pole at the edge of campus on Exposition Boulevard to ensure good luck for the football team at the game, and then watched USC humiliate Washington by winning 56-0. I thought the stadium (Coliseum) was very cool and the view from our seats was awesome--not only could we clearly see the field, but we could also see the downtown LA skyline and the mountains. I'm not a huge football fanatic, so the most excited I got at the game was when USC's mascot, Traveler, the white horse, rode around the stadium after USC scored. He was so pretty!


All in all, it was a fun day with fun people and I'm glad that I got to experience tailgating and college football West coast style.

I did not see a walnut or a creek in Walnut Creek.

Last weekend Sabina and I shared a ride up to the Bay Area so that she could visit her friends and I could visit my friends. We arrived super late on Friday night and crashed at her friend, Jen's, house in Santa Clara. After breakfast at Hobees in San Jose on Sat. morning, they dropped me off in Fremont with Megan and her girls, who are beyond cute! We went shopping and then spent the day hanging out with the kids and catching up.

In the evening Megan and I went out in downtown Walnut Creek and my friend from LA, Ed, met up with us. Good times!

On Sunday the Bells and I went out to eat in downtown Walnut Creek and then Ed picked me up and took me down to San Jose to meet up with Sabina for the long drive home. I had such a fun time with Megan's girls, especially Madison, who is now 23 months old. It was also nice to get in my girl time with Sabina and Megan--I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Disneyland

I got to go to the "happiest place on Earth" yesterday--woo hoo! I spent the entire day at Disneyland and California Adventure and went on all the fun rides. I think my favorite ride is Space Mountain. I had only been to Disneyland once before (five years ago) and Space Mountain was closed for renovations. All in all, it was a very fun day!

Also...I went to the Long Beach Museum of Art this weekend, which I had never been to. It was small, but the location of the museum is amazing, so it was fun too!

New York, New York!

Oh my gosh! Sabina and I had a BLAST in NY this past weekend. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much and so hard. Our trip was one of the most fun trips I've ever taken and Jeff and Liz's wedding was, I'm pretty sure, the most fun wedding I've ever been to. The band alone was amazing--it was like being at a small concert. This entry contains some of the pictures that I took throughout the weekend, but it doesn't contain any of the pictures that Sabina took, so I'll have to add those later.

When Sabina and I got to NYC on Thursday, we had about ten hours in the city. And this is what we did: Battery Park, Bowling Green, Wall Street, NYSE, Federal Bldg., Trinity Church, Ground Zero, East Village, lunch with Tara and kids, Chelsea Market, Canal Street, MOMA, Times Square, Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. Can you believe we did all of that?!




After our whirlwind day in the city, we drove up to Fishkill in the Lower Hudson Valley. On Friday we went to Jeff and Liz's wedding, shopped in Cold Springs, and then partied at the reception and after party.


On Saturday after breakfast we toured Liz and Jeff's house in Ossining and then walked around Roosevelt State Park (so pretty!!). Then, it was back into the city for dinner with Nicole and her friends Kit and Roselyn and a walk around Washington Square Park, NoHo, and Greenwich Village.

Visiting the Nixon Library & Birthplace

On Sunday I went to a BBQ at my uncle's niece’s house in Placentia (yeah for extended, extended family!) and since I was up in the area, I checked out the Nixon Presidential Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda. Politics aside, the museum was interesting, his birthplace was quaint, and the gardens and reflecting pool were beautiful. I only had 1 1/2 hours to spend there, so I'll have to go back sometime to see the inside of his birthplace and explore the museum in more detail.