Giving Thanks

Things that happened during this year's Thanksgiving:

1. Jesse, my brother-in-law, informed us that he will be getting married to his new girlfriend, the one we all thought was a rebound fling. The wedding will take place in Korea this summer. I am excited to take an exotic vacation.

2. I forgot to make cranberries which are mine and Andrew's favorite side dish; also I neglected to make my Grandmother's apple pie.

3. Today, my father-in-law gifted Jacob with a case of Mexican Coca-Cola for his 11th birthday which is on next Friday. He always buys people food products for their birthdays. I think it is strange. Jacob was super into it though.

4. Before our meal I forced people to hula hoop. There is nothing more hysterical than watching grown people attempt to hula hoop.

5. The best thing I ate today was stuffing. I love stuffing. If I were stuck on an island I would be okay with only eating stuffing for the rest of my life.

6. At 10pm this evening Aaron got up from the coach, walked two feet and fell right on his face. This happens to him from time to time because his legs fall asleep and buckle when he attempts to walk. I laughed for ten consecutive minutes. So did my friend Nicole and her brother Danny.

7. This year I made Thanksgiving jars for everyone that came over for dinner. We wrote down our favorite things about each guest and placed them in the jar. We read them during dinner. It was fun. I think I will make it a tradition.

8. It is currently 11:24 and we are watching a film about a drug addicted writer played by Bradley Copper. It's not so good.

Thankful jars

Stuff

While Aaron has been researching fridges, window installation, and drills for our new home, I have been drooling over color schemes, mid-century furniture, and inspirational and low cost design ideas.

I have purchased the following frugal items for our new place mostly from Etsy:

For mine and Aaron's bedroom

For the livingroom, in a cute yellow frame

                                                Two throw pillows for Amelia's room

For Andrew's big kid room, a map chalkboard decal from Urban Outfitters

Jacob's Pottery Barn Teen surfboard shelves.  I saved big time by using craigslist.  His are white and sea green

Today was a Good Day

Today was one of those days where the very idea of being indoors, even for one minute, drove me crazy. I barely managed to hold it together during our hour long church service this morning. Jacob was scheduled to sing along with all the kids from his school in grades 1st through 4th.

While up in front of the congregation crammed with perfumed and khaki wearing parents, bored elderly folk, and the innocent eyes of the ever so pure Lutherans, my son proceeded to persistently poke the ribs of the petite boy standing in front of him. For some odd reason he believed that the rest of the church would not notice what he was doing. My kids never cease to embarrass me. Much to Jake's dismay, I made him not only apologize to the kid, but his parents as well.

But all of this is off topic, what I really wanted to talk about is how beautiful San Diego has been lately.

We've had rain. Not the fake California ran where it drizzles a tiny bit and people go crazy, frantically pulling out umbrellas and rain boots from their attic storages because they fear a tiny drop of water will melt them. The rain we had last week was a down pour. We had thunder and even more impressively--lighting! This was the first time I had seen lighting in my 12 years living here. It was awesome.

Our week of rain ended triumphantly with the most stunning rainbow I have ever seen. It appeared at dusk and the lady across the alley politely knocked on my door to alert me to the beauty I was missing out on.  My neighbors and I gathered outside and stared up at the sky as if tiny white winged angels were circling above. Rain, lightening, and rainbows are miraculous for S.D.

Quickly following all that rain everything turned green. Nearby Mission Trails with its desert like terrain is almost as vivid as Ireland.

Today was a sunshine day. I was super antsy around the house. Aaron took Jake to La Jolla for an intense swim at 6am this morning. As a result they were wiped out afterward. Aaron was lounging around the house lazily watching TV and dozing off on the living room coach. I took the littles out for a bike ride around the hood and finally convinced Aaron to take a beach trip with us. Grudgingly he gave in.  We headed to my favorite spot, Ocean Beach. The following are the pictures from today:

I like how Jake basically melts into the rocks. 

Random adorable red-headed couple who I thought matched the sunset so I took their photo

Making a Buck off the Interesting Life my Father-in-Law leads

 I sold another Reader cover story. I received a check in the mail from them the other day and it is written out to: Siobham Braun. I kind of love their typo. I am huge fan of any and all pork products so why not embrace the idea of having the word Ham spelled out in my name? Maybe I can make it a new pen name.

The article is about my father-in-laws recent move to TJ. I'm wondering if it will amass the same amount of scathing comments as my last article? Which I might add, received the most comments of any Reader cover story ever published. I would be proud, if it weren't for the very idea that nearly all were hate-filled rants. I have a feeling this will be similarly detested. I seem to have that effect on people.

The reader people want Conrad and I to do a photo shoot for the cover. I'm not really excited about my mug gracing the numerous Readers distributed across San Diego. I am a privacy freak. To tell you the truth, I would rather have an incognito pen name to hide behind.  The very idea of my face on the cover freaks me out.

Conrad, on the other hand, is all about it. There was no masking the utter glee dripping in his voice when he assured me that it would not be a problem for him to cross the border in order to be a part of the photo-op.  The man is an attention whore!

"You are aware that along with procaliming how amazing you are I do make fun of you a ton in the story?" I ask him.  He could care less. “I am an interesting man." he proclaimed. I would agree with that statement.

Me and the Rad

Reading: It's What all the Cool Kids are Doing

Aaron, the kids, and I read a lot. We have five bookshelves filled to the guts with books, books, and more books. Also we have boxes of them in our attic storage.

As a result I have started a new project: Found a book. I have been leaving books that I have read and loved in public places. Inside the book's cover I have left instructions on what to do next.

My hope is that other people will pay it forward. The idea is to carry on the trend. Once you find a book you are supposed to leave another book. I instructed the lucky individual that has scored a new novel to go the above website and leave a message all about it. We will see if it catches on. So far I have left behind two books, one on my school's campus underneath a really beautiful tree, and the other at a Starbucks.

If you’re interested in being a part of my experiment let me know and I will e-mail you the instructions you should write in the inside of your left behind book. It would be cool to get people in other states involved.