A California Thanksgiving

I wasn't sure how to feel about spending Thanksgiving in CA. I have spent every Thanksgiving with my immediate family in Richmond, VA before today. I was assured that I would be home in a few weeks anyways in time to celebrate Christmas, but there still was a part of me that wanted to be in Richmond.
I had three Thanksgiving celebrations at Fuller. The first was at my neighbor's apartment--an incredibly random group of students from Fuller. The neighbors hadn't ever made Thanksgiving before so it was fun to test out their food--very yummy!
The second Thanksgiving feast was at my work. I orginally wasn't going to make it because of class, but I got out early just in time to hear the "I am Thanksful for..." Cheesy as the game may be, it was really cool to hear what people said and think about what I was thankful for.
Finally today--on Thanksgiving I had feast #3. And it was a feast. The Presbyterian Student Group on campus had 25 people over to have Thanksgiving lunch together. At 5:30pm last night I went over to the professor's house we were eating at to help cook. My tasks were cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Well..cooking a full Thanksgiving meal for 25 people is A LOT. And for 5 people who haven't ever cooked that extravagant of a meal for that large of a number of people-we were in for a surprise. At 3am, after cooking 36 regular potatoes, 2 apple pies, 3 batches of cranberry sauce, and many more dishes--we were all spent. The lesson of the night: when cooking sweet potatoes, know they can bubble over and explode in an oven... hehe oops. After cooking till 3am, I came home, woke back up at 8:20am and cooked until 1pm. The feast was ready and everyone came and was hungry. And it was so much fun!! We sat around and talked, ate, watched football, shared stories...good times. And now at 9:30pm I am totally exhausted...major props to all of you who cook big meals--I appreciate you in a whole new way!
Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

The mess in the oven...oops.

bowling

group picture of the presbys bowling

becca, reese, sophie, denise, me
Bowling!! This weekend the Presbyterian Student Group at Fuller went bowling and then out for appetizers and drinks. It was so much fun. I love the Presbys, it's a very random group of people--ranging in age from 22 to 70! It's cool to get to know a smaller pocket of people on campus, especially people who are dealing with the same craziness from the Presbyterys in the ordination process.

looking away

Last Sunday I was sitting in a Starbucks in San Marino working on some homework.
San Marino is a small suburb south of Pasadena with wealth comparable to Beverly Hills...aka very rich. In my comfortable chair with the soothing music playing and my laptop I looked out to the window to see a homeless man sitting on the curb of the parking lot. Dirty, skinny, dragging a large blanket behind him, he began animatedly talking and gesturing. There was no else around. Over and over he put his head in his hands and yelling. My first instinct was to look away. Easily I could turn around in my chair and not look, I could go back to the inner world of Starbucks and sip my Chai peacefully.
In CA I have seen so many homeless people that I have become much more desensitized to them. It is warm in CA all the time, if you had to be homeless, Southern CA is a good climate to be in. For some reason passing a homeless person on the street near Fuller doesn't bother me-it's the city, there are tons of homeless people. But in San Marino, a squeaky clean suburban area--it just didn't fit. After watching the homeless man for awhile in Starbucks I did look away. Why is that our first instinct--to ignore and look away?

real world 101

Oh boy...i think my life has been filled with transitions lately--same with the rest of you '05 grads. A transition to CA, a transition to grad school, and what I'm realizing even more, a transition to the real world. I swear they should have a class in college about things like budgets, cooking, how to choose health insurance, how to change a Brita filter (haha ok maybe that one is just me)... One of my biggest adventures here has been learning to cook. Because I lived in a dorm for four years I was able to rely on dhall, but now it's me, a kitchen, a grocery store, and some pots and pans. I've been getting 1 new recipe each week from my mom, cooking it on the weekend and then eating off of it all week long. I have successfully cooked chili and beef stronganoff...last week's attempt was meat loaf. NOTE: do not use eggs that have been expired for 3 weeks and make sure ground beef is not pink when you eat it. Oops...yeah I didn't eat that meatloaf anymore after that fun time with my stomach. I'm not sure of what this weekend's attempt will be...anyone know of any yummy and EASY recipes?

Oh the lessons I've learned in the last 3 months. But, as crazy as it is--I will be in Richmond in less than a month. That is both terrifying (I have sooo much work to do in the next couple weeks) and very exciting! I'll be in Richmond from Dec. 10-31, so if you're there or nearby let's hang out! Ok time to do some homework. Have a good one!

the happiest place on earth

On Friday I went to Disneyland! My first Disney experience since I had never been to Disneyworld! My awesome downstairs neighbors--Sarah and Alicia invited me to go with them because Alicia had 3 free tickets! We got to CA Adventure park first and grabbed some lunch. Alicia and I rode Tower of Terror and then we headed over to Disneyland. Never have I seen an amusement park with that amount of detail on every ride. From the beautiful costumes the characters wore to the jazz band playing on the river in New Orleans Square to the tiny details on the walls of the rollercoasters...I was in awe. Sarah and Alicia went to ride a rollercoaster and I took a break and watched the Parade of Dreams. When they came back, it took them 10 minutes for them to get my attention...I had been transported (along all the 3 year olds) into the magical world of Disney. The fireworks show and Fantasmic (a lights show) were also amazing. I think I want to be Tinkerbell one day--how cool would it be to fly over the castle through the fireworks? At any rate--I loved Disneyland and cannot wait to see Disneyworld since it's suposed to be so much bigger. Saturday we all decided we had "Disney hangover"--we were all exhausted and I had no voice (hey, those rollercoaster aren't that tame:) ). Miss everyone lots--hope my Spiders had a fabulous Homecoming weekend-wish I could have been there with y'all!