The Weekend Illustrated

My long Thanksgiving weekend started Wednesday, when I was let off work a few hours early. I was able to make it out to Irvine and go to a workout training session with Kathleen at her bootcamp. Ouch! Then we went and got sushi. Mmm! Then AJ and I went and saw the last Hunger Games movie. Fun! My throat was starting to hurt at this point.

On Thanksgiving morning I didn't feel very good. My throat was feeling worse. AJ played basketball in the morning and then came over with Anana, and we went to my mom's. It was your standard Thanksgiving - food, alcohol and card playing into the night. We were back there the next morning for breakfast, Christmas movies and then a small hike at Lake Perris, where Anana saw horses for the first time and tried to eat them!

Anana and the horses

We had a lot of fun slow-mo videoing her eating and going for treats too.

Anana misses

That night we went downtown for the Festival of Lights, of course we missed the fireworks (I miss them every time I try to make it) and I was feeling awwwwwful. Achey and fevery. That's why I took so many shots before we went out and then I started to feel amazing. We took more videos feeding Anana.

Kathleen feeds Anana

I feed Anana

We walked around, although not very long. It was verrrrrrrry crowded and verrrrrrry cold (for California). We basically did a loop around the Mission Inn and then went and ate. My shots were wearing off and I was feeling awful again and I think I fell asleep at the table.

On Saturday I couldn't do anything. That night was miserable, I almost got up in the middle of the night to take a hot bath because I felt so horrible. AJ went golfing in the morning and I had wanted to take Anana to the dog park (minus the Mt. Rubidoux hike this time) but I just couldn't. All I could do was sleep and pump myself full of Tylenol, Sudafed, Alka Seltzer, cough drops, tea, honey, and anything else I found lying around. AJ came back with food and lemons, and then picked out a bunch of movies for us to watch and we basically slept all day. I mean I was sick, I'm not sure what his excuse was, but misery loves company! I did get cabin fever in the evening though and insist that we go out to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor to use my $10 off coupon that was expiring soon. We shared a butterscotch malt and ICE CREAM NACHOS. It was three scoops of ice cream (pre-chosen: chocolate malted crunch, animal cookie and mint chip) on a bed of waffle cone "chips" and was amazingggggg. Then we went back home and went to bed.

I woke up feeling muuuuuch better on Sunday but still not 100%. AJ left for home and I cleaned what I could and then put up like all 5 of my Christmas decorations while watching Christmas movies! Part of that included a small tree which needed garland and ornaments, so it did take a little longer than it sounds like.

I was sad to spend the long weekend so sick, but happy to be feeling so much better now.

Memorable Gifts

In looking for a blog prompt (and celebrating Christmastime!) I found this:

What was the most memorable gift you ever received?

I kinda lol'd because you know, "memorable" doesn't necessarily mean in a good way. I think most people interpret that to mean, like, the "best" gift, but I've had some pretty memorable gifts that weren't the "best" gifts.

During my freshman year of high school (2001), this boy Mat and I had been talking for awhile. We would talk on the phone after school and I remember how I had told him that I love Italian salad dressing so much, I could just drink it plain. That Valentine's Day, he brought me a small hand-picked bouquet of daisies and a bottle of Italian salad dressing with a bow on it. I couldn't believe he remembered that, and that he would think to get me that. It was very memorable. And it took a lot of explaining at school, because it's not every day you're walking around with a bottle of salad dressing to 5th period. It was also memorable because I experienced how much more meaningful it is to receive a gift from the heart, rather than from the wallet. Also, it's hard to forget you were gifted salad dressing.

Also, I spent Christmas 2006 in Germany with a friend, since I wouldn't be going home to the US and didn't have much to do around in France alone. My friend's parents showered me with gifts that year, which was just so adorable and sweet and kind and memorable. I do remember the gifts (an original stein from the Hofbrauhaus, a book on German culture, two German cutting boards, and my friend took me to see a musical in Cologne that week) and the gifts in and of themselves weren't so memorable, but the entire experience that Christmas really was, I think it sort of counts.

If you'd like to make this list for next year, I would really cherish a trip around the world. kthxbye!

Countdown to Denver

I'm supes stoked because awhile ago, AJ and I booked tickets to go to Denver in December. One of AJ's best friends lives there, and I have never been. We found a ridiculous deal on Frontier Airlines for about $28 a flight. They're the horrible kind of airline that will nickel and dime you to death, and I fully expect to have a horrible experience, and we plan to wear a lot of clothes on the plane and pack together in one bag. What can I say, we're on a budget. (Still have Europe next year).

I'm not even sure what the countdown is officially, but it's only like 3 days until December, so that's nice. I love going new places!

Festival of Lights 2015

It's officially Christmastime!!

I'm a bigger fan of Cyber Monday than I am of Black Friday (I don't do crazy-ass crowds fighting over material bullshit) so today I'm more looking forward to the lighting ceremony for Riverside's Festival of Lights tonight!

Did you know it got the nation's #1 Light Display from USA Today? Let's see if they can top it this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from me and a fat kitty!

And because we should NEVERFORGET, the best sketch ever...



Roberta's Thanksgiving! You're welcome!

Role Model

...and I don't mean that ironically.

The director of our office is technically one of my bosses. I don't report to her, but she is the director and the head honcho in our department. And I absolutely adore her. The more I learn about her, the more I look up to her and love her.

First of all, she is understanding, kind, empathetic, and she can TCOB. (Take care of business). She doesn't beat around the bush and she will say what she needs to say, etc, but it never makes you feel attacked, uncertain, or less-than. I can't say that I've seen her have a bad day. She isn't always "on" but she is never less than welcoming and willing to speak with you and help you and problem-solve, etc. She is a great boss. I think she's also a great person.

She is so fun. She seems to have a fabulous marriage and her and her husband are always out and about and trying new things and taking classes together, and he'll always help her out with technology when she calls on behalf of our office, ha. They have lots of animals and are active in their church. She herself is always so eager to learn about new things and cultures and is so welcoming to all our students and guests. She genuinely cares about us as humans and tries to incorporate living-well activities into staff meetings and retreats, and always tries to find times for us to have fun too. She is known to buy us Starbucks, silly gifts for holidays, and, like today, lunch. I later found out on the downlow that she does these extras not with our office budget, but out of her own pocket. She is just so generous and nice!

Earlier this week in a staff meeting, our wellness activity was to share something that made us happy. When it was my turn, I brought up animals. I talked about how I just love animals, all animals, and they make me so happy, and being able to spend the past weekend with my boyfriend's dog and seeing her play at the dog park, just makes me so happy. I went off on a tangent (what else is new) about how I was recently in the wedding at the San Diego Zoo and just loved seeing all the animals and about how much I love penguins and blah blah blah.

This morning, not even an hour ago, there's a knock on my office door. She tiptoes in and asks if I donate to the World Wildlife Foundation. I felt sort of ashamed to say no after my ravings about animals haha, but she said "Okay good!" and presented me with a 2016 calendar she received from WWF (because she donates to them because of course she does) that had a penguin on the cover that immediately made her think of me and gifted it to me.

It made me want to cry, because it was so sweet, and I was so appreciative, and I wish I had half the selflessness and cheer that she has. It's perfect too because (fun fact! I'm obsessed with calendars) and my 2015 office calendar has been a San Diego Chargers one that I got from the Chargers/Broncos game I went to last December, and I didn't have a replacement for next year - and now I do!

Mommy Blogs: The Weak Link In Our Society.

I am going to get into some hot water with this one, I just know it. And I try so hard to keep the peace here and not bitch and moan about things (have I done a good job? It's hard to tell, it's my second nature) and I save that for my gchats, but I'm sorry, I'm only human. I have to shout from the rooftops: I. HATE. MOMMY BLOGS! (I'm not crazy about your status updates either, but one thing at a time.) I'm not against mommies with blogs... I'm talking about MOMMY BLOGS themselves; there IS a distinction!

I'm not sure what it is that makes me LOATHE it so. I'm not sure if it's because I just can't relate, or I just don't get it, or it's just so boring to me because it doesn't apply, or because it's just too much math for my brain to consistently try to figure out how old 34 months is.

I've never been particularly into babies. I don't know how to hold them, I don't know where the throw-up rag goes, and I don't know what they're thinking. In the words of Chandler, "may I interest you in a sarcastic comment?" I'm better with older kids. The ones I joke around with and playfully make fun of without damaging their psyches, like high schoolers. Anyways, back on topic.

Mainly... I just don't care. And WHO DOES? I don't care if you breast feed or use formula. I don't care if you let your child cry it out or not. I don't care if you hold your kid with a wrap, your arm, like a football, or with one of those claws from the claw machine games. The only ones who care are those who are also doing it, or purposely not doing it. I feel like it's just like political statements - you believe what you believe, you're not going to change anyone's minds. And I don't even have a kid to have an opinion about this over, so even more so... I don't care.

And the TMI posts! I don't need to hear if you used IVF or "the old-fashioned way". I don't want to hear about your dilated cervix, your spotting, cramping, bathroom habits, birth story, midwife, doula, amniotic fluid or the way you ate the placenta. Suddenly someone gets pregnant and all decorum goes out the door. It's natural and it's life, I get it, but I just don't care, and I don't think the world suddenly wants a free pass to a play-by-play on your most recent OB-GYN appointment.

I think I've identified two reasons they really bother me, and the first is that I can't escape them. Suddenly they're EVERYWHERE. Everyone I knew became a mother and they've multiplied and they drown me in their stories and rants and things that I don't care about. Secondly, it bothers me that a woman will be on some great trajectory in her life and overnight her identity literally changes to "mommy2connor" on all her social media and suddenly that's all she is and all she tries to be. Yeah it's life changing, and now you have a life dependent on you, and it's noble and it's great and we need good mothers... but who are YOU? You can still be a mother and still be you! But hey, you do you girl.

The mommy blogs love to rant and rave about how exhausting life is, and how you give and give and aren't noticed and how you've done everything and have nothing left and you keep going blah blah blah. I mean I get it, but... this isn't a new invention. You're really not the only one doing this, people have been mothering for literally thousands of years, and there are millions of you around, and everyone seems to treat it like some unique struggle that the rest of the world needs to bow to. Being a mother is sacred and deserving... but stop it with your mommy blog. I don't know, maybe we're just over-saturated. And I'll re-iterate: a mommy with a blog is different than a Mommy Blog!

For the record, I'm not against mothering or children or bettering society. I would love to champion maternity leave (we have the most antiquated policy in the developed world and beyond... we're on par with Papua New Guinea. Go us.) and I don't mind breastfeeding in public at all. I'm not against mothers or babies or the species procreating and sustaining itself, I just don't need to listen to you yap on all day about what mothering is like and why you deserve a bar of gold and how you're bonding with your baby and your uterus lining is gluten free.

I'm sure in a great twist of irony, my 15 minutes of fame will be a mommy blog I end up starting. Until then... shush!

Friendsgiving Weekend

This past weekend was very full and busy. On Friday it was the second anniversary of my car, and I'd been wanting to buy the new Florence and the Machine album since it came out on June 2nd of this year (I had just been streaming it at work for forever) and when I remembered I worked across the street from a music store, I decided it was a present for both my car and me, and finally bought it. The amazing thing is that, listening to it with the sound turned up and not whispering in my office, it sounded even more beautiful than I realized! PLUS it was the DELUXE version and I got 3 new songs out of it! My God she is amazing. Her songs are so whimsical and beautiful and storytales and conceptual and mesmerizing. My favorite new song is Which Witch.

On Friday night my boyfriend finally came home after being out of town for work for three weeks. To celebrate, he left before sunrise on Saturday morning to go play golf with his friends, lolololol, so I got some alone time with Anana! We hiked Mt Rubidoux and then went to the dog park, but she was so exhausted. She went to go play with the dogs for a few minutes but then just came and laid down at my feet, she was dunzo after the hike in the heat.

That evening we went to a Friendsgiving in Rancho Palos Verdes where there were over 100 people there!! The house was beautiful with a huge backyard overlooking LA. They had pulled out all the stops from food and drinks to bonfires and cigars.

Someone had brought their pug who had lost the use of their hind legs and instead just zipped around the house in this little wheelbarrow wheelchair, which was so adorable.

We were still there at 2am, eating and watching Clueless with the rest of the stragglers, and AJ was finishing up scotch from the $160 bottle that was opened and being distributed. We got to his mom's at 3a, then had to wake up by 8:30a, get coffee and head back down to Orange County for football (oh joy).

This group of friends has just started getting married in the past year or so, so there are no kids, only lots of dogs and fur babies to juggle and watch. This was cute, because Ara was the only one on the ground and the dogs huddle silently and watched every bite. A fly flew by and two of the dogs followed it, and so he snuck a bite to the one dog still watching him, haha! Suckers.

It was a long day of football. One of girls is from Chicago and that's her Bears hat she left lying around. I entertained myself by coming up with "celebrity names" for the games that were being played. My favorite was the Chargers against the Chiefs and I kept asking them to turn the Charfs game back on hahahaha it still cracks me up.

We left at the very end of the Packers Vikings game. We got sushi and went back to his house then literally fell asleep in front of the TV, and this was like, 6p, oops. I know it's only a three-day week but I'm sleepy already! Is it 5 yet?

I Love This Week

I know that today is Sunday, which by default makes tomorrow Monday, but I ain't even mad. This might be my favorite week of the year. I love Thanksgiving week! It's only 3 days, and those 3 days are generally light, and there's the glow of the holiday on the horizon. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is one of my favorites too. Excited for the time off, for the holidays to kick off, for the partying that evening, for lots of people back in town, to sleep in, wake up to cool weather and a warm indoors, and lots of eating! Om nom nom.

Bring on the week!

Accomplishments

Another day, another blog prompt. Today I will share with you some select accomplishments from my life.

• In 2nd grade, I was the first student to memorize and recite the poem "18 Flavors" by Shel Silverstein. Pretty sure all I got was a ticket for a class drawing.
• In 4th grade I won my group's Oregon trail for us. We had 3 wagon teams and got various diseases and death, and then in order to actually survive and make it to Oregon (I guess) we just had to have the team leaders toss a bottle of white-out into a trashcan. I don't remember the logic behind this, but I remember the joy of winning.
• In 5th grade I won 2nd place in a track meet for the long jump. In 6th grade I did not even place hahaha. What happened that year??
• In 6th grade I won a contest for a short story I wrote.
• In 7th grade I made the middle school dance team. It was competitive!
• In 8th grade I made captain of the middle school dance team.
• In 8th grade I won 2nd place in the state of California for a science project on hummingbirds.
• In 9th grade I made the high school dance team.
• In 11th grade I was in show choir... really as a dancer and not as a singer. For one of our finals, we had to one-by-one go stand by the piano with the teacher, he would hit a few notes, and we would have to sing them back. He did a weird combination for me that included a high note that wasn't on the same scale as the rest. I got nervous and sat there silent when it came to that note. He said I could take my time. I must have stood there for 5 whole minutes completely silent, by this time the sound of the note out of my head, and I finally was like well I'd really like to go sit down now, better do something, and I actually hit the note! It was touching that he was just as excited about it as I was. My senior year I had to make a decision between show choir and AP French, and I chose AP French and guess what, I don't regret it at all, that was one of the best classes in my life. But I retain very fond memories of show choir.
• In 12th grade government class we had to divide into 3 groups for a long-term class project. Everyone wanted a good name for our group. The night before I had been watching The Chris Rock Show and he had a sketch called "Def Emergency Room Jam" (off of Mos Def's "Def Poetry Jam" if you didn't get it) so I suggested "Def Government Jam" and not only was it a hit, that group, and group name, became a LEGACY. I'm not joking, we all still talk about it, and I still consider it a shining memento on my social resume.
• College was one big shining array of academic, social and personal accomplishments, to be quite honest. I think I'll always remember getting an A in my French class that first quarter (I used to have regular anxiety before having to go to that class), setting the curve in my historical-comparative linguistics class with a perfect midterm, came up with the idea of me and my other 5 roommates dressing up as the characters from Clue for Halloween, and never throwing up from drinking too much. Also, sometimes my boyfriend at the time and I would be bored and we would just go crash house parties and make friends. That was fun too.
• I studied abroad for a year in college. That was a huuuuuge bucketlist.
• I took my first international trip completely solo in 2007. That was a goal that I had set for myself, was scared about, but did it and loved it.
• German police once had to detain me and run a background check on me as a suspicious persons because I was taking "too many" photos of the Amerika Haus. I hope to never be a suspicious person again, but feel proud it happened at least once.
• On a flight to Prague I taught myself formalities and how to count to 10 in Czech and successfully used them throughout the city.
• I got a studio by myself in Manhattan. I also moved twice all by myself within New York City.
• I actually met and shook hands with the inspiration of my life, Stephen T. Colbert!
• I visited the house used as 111 Archer Ave in The Royal Tenenbaums
• I almost ran a half marathon once. Trust me, given my affinity for running, that was an accomplishment in itself.
• I substitute taught French in my exact same high school French classroom. Talk about full circle!

What a random compiling, I don't even know why those things stood out. I'll bet that if I had put this list together on a different day, it would be an entirely different set of accomplishments! I do have a lot to be proud of in my life, and that is a great feeling.

1-800-HOTLINE-BLING

On the way to work I heard a cover/rendition of Drake's "Hotline Bling" that actually made it sound so beautiful! It was quieter, "talked" a little bit more than sung, and had both male and female vocals. It really made the lyrics stand out more to me and made it sound so beautiful! There are so many remixes of this song out that I can't find the one that I heard. But read these like the poetry they are...

Ever since I left the city you

Got a reputation for yourself now

Everybody knows and I feel left out

Girl you got me down

Cause ever since I left the city you

Started wearing less and going out more

Glasses of champagne out on the dance floor

Hanging with some girls I've never seen before

Ever since I left the city you you you

You and me we just don't get along

You make me feel like I did you wrong

Going places where you don't belong

Ever since I left the city you

You got exactly what you asked for

Running out of pages in your passport

You used to call me on my cell phone

Late night when you need my love

I love Drake. I started loving him when everyone was hating on him at Coachella 2015 ha.

International Education Week

Well this has been International Education Week and our offices have been pretty busy with all the events and whatnot that goes on around here for that time. Yesterday was UCR Goes Global, which is an event I really enjoy, because our whole office goes out to table at the bell tower nooners, hand out cupcakes, talk to students, and connect them to global resources and let them know about our office and international community.

Mmmmm cupcakes...

Our head Peer Advisor's frat bro brought his dog over to hang

I'm sauntering down the walk in the distance #imastar

I also enjoy it because we get to partner with Study Abroad, which I really enjoy. Those are the 2 sides of international education - the international students here, and sending our students abroad, and I really believe in all of it!

The students are fun and it's nice to interact with staff outside of the regular office routine.

Goodbye Thanksgiving

Well I think it's finally happening, this is the last year of Thanksgiving. By next year, the Christmas ruckus will officially have overtaken it all, and Thanksgiving will cease to exist.

You know how each year the Christmas stuff comes out sooner and sooner? I mean it's done, it's officially done. This year I saw Christmas stuff out WITH Halloween stuff, and there are no Thanksgiving decorations or anything that I'm aware of, nothing I've seen promoting Thanksgiving, and here is the real kicker: on Sunday night, I went out running, and I happened to pass by an apartment with open blinds and do you know what was inside? A Christmas tree, FULLY DECORATED, and STOCKINGS UP and CHRISTMAS EVERYWHERE. This was on Sunday, November 15. November 15! Halfway through November! I even know people who are already taking their kids to see Santa Claus!

I happen to know that in London at least (maybe the rest of the UK?) a place that doesn't have Thanksgiving, even they wait until December 1 to kick of Christmas festivities!

I feel like Elaine in that episode of Seinfeld where everyone starts eating all their desserts with utensils... cutting their Snickers bars and cookies with a knife and fork and scooping M&Ms with spoons, and Elaine is looking around her freaked out and shouting "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL YOU PEOPLE?!" That's me.

I really liked you Thanksgiving, but somehow you've been vilified like a red-headed step-child orphan in a Dickens novel.

More Cat Videos

Well this is about to get real annoying real fast isn't it? Here are more videos of Khaleesi jumping in slow motion.

In this video, watch the way she falls down sideways, so cute!


In this one, watch the way she catches the rubber band on her claw, so cute!


In this one, watch the way she swipes with both paws crossing in front of her, so cute!


And just so I can say that I talked about something other than my cat, I led the international discussion group last night, and we had a great talk on the recent events in the world, as well as studying abroad, global dexterity and international exchange. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get discussion, but it was a really great group with a lot to say!

ASSERT DOMINANCE

My cat Khaleesi has this really odd trait of always laying on my side of the bed, exactly where I sleep, sit, lay, etc, close to my nightstand. She lays in bed with me every night on the other side, so you'd think that she'd get territorial over her own. But if I get up to go to the bathroom, I will come back and she has repositioned herself exactly in my spot. When I am doing stuff in the living room and she wants to lay down, she lays down in my spot. When I come home after work, if she is sleeping, she is sleeping in my spot. I've never really had a cat do that before.

I looked it up last night, thinking that it would say that this means your cat loves you so much they need to be where they can smell you and think of you and remind themselves of you. (One article did say that if you routinely use a similar spot, the cats will understand that it is a very safe place and therefore will seek to be there). However, most of them said that cats do this to...

ASSERT DOMINANCE.

Basically, you're fighting for alpha with your own cat and if you lay claim to a territory, they're going to assert dominance by trying taking it over every chance they get.

Not exactly the warm, fuzzy, sense of devotion I was hoping for with Khaleesi. But now that I know, I can fight her back! I will be alpha!

Also, guess who finally is figuring out all the features on her new phone? ME! I had a fun time this weekend with the slow-mo videos, and got this one of Khaleesi.



Sorry it's so dark and hard to see. It's shockingly hard to throw her rubber band and film her at the same time, so this was the best that I could get... for now. Get ready for the barrage of cat videos coming your way, starring Khaleesi!

Apartment Cleansing

I was trying to go to Sacramento this weekend but it didn't work out, so I've been home being verrrrry productive. I did a huge cleanse in most of my apartment awhile ago, but the bathroom and my closet did not make the cut yet.

The bathroom is now completed, but I'm currently taking a break from the closet. I should have taken before and after pictures. 

I love downsizing. I have such pack rat tendencies, it's so nice to go minimal. I also did some shopping yesterday and am getting closer to having a cute gallery wall in my living room, so I'm looking forward to getting that up too! 

And this comes on the heels of going out with Kathleen and her friend Pacey last night. We played shuffleboard and pool, had 2 jello syringe shots, and even checked out the newish bar Wolfskill downtown, which was cute.

Riverside is cute sometimes. Back to my coffee and watching When Harry Met Sally... It's a weekend tradition I started with myself when I lived in New York City when I was able to stay home or had nothing else to do. It still lives!

#prayforparis

Most of the advisors were at work late last night, scrambling in the aftermath of learning about the Paris attacks to reach out to our French students, account for our students in France at this time, update our website with crisis/emergency information and wait for confirmation of the support group in order to post and circulate. I was happy to help serve how I could in that time. 

I really, really enjoy helping however I can after disasters- natural and otherwise. I helped in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, I helped in Brooklyn after Hurricane Sandy, and if I had had a way to make it to Nepal after their earthquake, I would have loved to. The atmosphere in places in aftermath like that is astounding- it's how we should always live, with compassion and a willingness to understand and use helping hands. The only problem is that I don't have much to offer. There are usually plenty of people willing to help, but really what they need are skilled technicians and laborers, ones with medical degrees and HVAC clearances and electricians and construction workers. And I'm here like uhhhh I took a CPR and First Aid class in college... But it's been expired for like 6 years now. So sometimes it's nice just to do what you can where you can.

I went to Paris countless times when I lived in France... Either for better flights or to take visitors to to pick people up. I was going to look for a picture but then I realized it didn't matter. What good is a picture of me having fun in a city that was great and happy now that that's passed and they're mourning?

I know I'm really cynical and pessimistic, and all I really think is "so where next?" Because this shit happens all the goddamned time and it gets worse and nothing seems to change, it just seems to keep happening...

TED Talk: Multipotentialite

I don't remember how I stumbled across this, but I love TED talks and I found this one and I really like it because it really feels like me. Everyone talks about "finding your passion" or your "calling in life" as if there's just one. I don't really have one. I don't even know if I have twenty, but I know that I like to try as many different things as I can and can never seem to stick to just one.



Are YOU a multipotentialite or a potentialite? Ha.

Wedding Rehearsal

As photos are still being circulated and coming through, I got two the other day from the wedding weekend that were badass. Rafael was my aisle partner, which was so appropriate since me him and Pam all met the same time in France and had many an adventure together. The wedding party walked down the aisle to Trumpets by Jason Derulo and Pam wanted us to enjoy it and just boogie down. Raf and I had no idea what to do, but here's what we had freestyled at the rehearsal.

We got a good round of laughs from the actual wedding walk, maybe because it included a mock elephant trunk, but I don't think we have any evidence of that.

And then this one of me and AJ when I finally got to see him... not until the reception!

Can it be Pam's wedding again?

The Red Cup

I have the day off - yay! I love when Veteran's Day fall in the middle of the week. It kind of forces me to really relax and take the day off, since it isn't mashed into three-day weekend that I try to use up with a vacation, I really do just have to hang out and relax. I like it.

You know what I don't like? The controversy over the Starbucks red cup this season. I think what annoys me is that everyone is treating offensiveness as a crime worthy of capital punishment. You're offended. Move on. EVERYTHING becomes such a THING. I remember in my government class in high school, our teacher told us "You do not have the right to not be offended." AMEN!

To me, the annoying part has nothing to do with what it "represents" politically, religiously or otherwise. It's a goddamned red cup from a coffee company. It was their choice to ever issue any red cup, what the hell makes you think they owe you anything with their chosen designs?!

I probably belittle myself by even weighing in on this topic and stooping to such moronic controversy, but I'm too broke to go shopping and take advantage of Veteran's Day sales.

The Mystery Postcard

In early summer of 2014 I got a postcard from Cuba delivered to me when I was living at my mom's house. It was really perplexing because I had moved to my mom's on a whim for only a month or two, and I didn't recall ever telling anyone that I had even moved, let alone gave out the address. It was maybe the biggest head-scratcher of my life. I contacted anyone and everyone I thought may have been capable of something like that, and anyone who had been traveling, but no one knew what I was talking about. I didn't forget it, but I gave up wondering about it, although I kept it on my vanity as a small reminder of the mystery.

A few weeks ago during the World Series, I was texting with my old New York City roommate. He is from Brooklyn and a huge Mets fan. He loved that I went to school with Lucas Duda and used to ask questions and ask me to connect them (which is impossible because no one from school is connected to him anymore that I can tell - he's too cool for us haha) but he eventually asked if I had gotten some sort of surprise last summer and long story short - he was the culprit! I think I must have given him the recent address for some housekeeping close-up with our apartment, but anyways, it felt amazing to solve that mystery - it was over a year old! Nancy Drew and the Mystery Mail

The Wedding Weekend

And it was a full weekend! The festivities for me kicked off early Friday morning. I was packed and coffee set to delay brew Thursday night, and then I was up and on the road before 8a on Friday for San Diego. The first stop was the nail salon for... oh, everyone. Girls, guys and family. Pam had called the salon in advance and arranged for them to allow us to have champagne and bagels, so we took up that whole place and were drinking and eating away.

After that we headed to the venue site (the San Diego Zoo!) for the rehearsal, which took a grand total of like 20 minutes, and then to a small Mexican restaurant that hosted us for the lunch. After that everyone headed to the resort that we were all staying in, Paradise Point near Sea World. It was fun because it was all bungalows. By the time we checked in and unpacked a bit and the girls were choosing our dresses (we all had had major problems finding some and everyone had 2-3 options!) I was ready to crash for a power nap but had to go pick up AJ from the airport. Everyone hung out at the resort's bar til it closed, chatting and catching up, since we were all coming from all over the place! This bird was also hanging out and hoping for scraps.

Girls had a report time of 8a in Pam's bungalow to begin the getting ready process. Pam had bought all the bridesmaids these cute kimono-style robes to wear as we got ready. I can't wait to see all the professional pictures from this day!!

We took an Elvis limo to the zoo where the guys were waiting, and we headed out for their First Look pictures.

Pam's wedding present to Doug was a behind-the-scenes tour of the gorilla exhibit (his favorite) so at this time, the wedding party went to our waiting room to continue to champagne, and Pammy had brought along tons of zoo-themed props for us, including animal masks, little animal-head sippy cups and blow-up animals. When Pam and Doug got back and we went out for wedding party pictures, we brought all the props with us. It was so cute, I can't wait to see! Although, walking up and down and all around the San Diego zoo in my heels was not the best way to begin the day.

The bouquets and boutonnieres were all wrapped in SDSU game tickets, and Pam made sure that I got the bouquet with an SDSU v UCSB and SDSU v UCR ticket! So special!

Shortly after it was ceremony time. Look at this adorable welcome board they had had made. Can you find me? My name is Kristin "It's My Birthday!" Kelley... couldn't be more accurate! Haha!

And look at these adorable bridesmaids.

The reception was in a separate location from the ceremony, so we got a tour of the park on the bus that took us, and it was incredible, because by this time it was about 5p, the sun was more or less set, and the animals were all out and active! I didn't have my phone on me at this time, although AJ got some pictures. The tiger was out, the gazelles were out, we walked by the lion cage and the lion was pacing back and forth all over his cage, it was crazy beautiful! The anteater and capybaras were out and wandering around, it was so neat. The reception itself was right next to the elephant enclosure and there was an elephant out the whole time who would play in his cage and play with his barrel and stuff, it was so amazing to see!

Look in the background and you can see the elephant!

After this, we all got the shuttle back to the resort where we went back to resort bar. I was dying by this time. After the bar closed, people went to Pam and Doug's for the after party, but AJ and I crashed with a capital C.

The next day was predictably rough. What made it better was knowing we were all heading to Doug's parents house by 12:30 for a hosted pizza party lunch featuring a gourmet pizza catering company that literally pulled their woodfire oven up in the driveway and made delicious pizzas all day, there were also homemade cookies, mai tais, leftover donuts from the wedding dessert bar, coffee, and more friends!

I was getting really sad about the wedding coming to a close. For some reason it felt like the end in the sense that we wouldn't all be together again, which is ridiculous because even though we all live all over the place now, we still all get together regularly. Maybe it's just the let down after looking forward to this for so long? Either way, it was very bittersweet to say goodbye to everyone. It was such a fun wedding though and I can't wait to see more pictures.

This officially closes out the 2015 wedding season for me!