Thanksgiving 2010



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      Any other Thanksgiving, you'd find me in my sleepy Arizona town getting ready for a gathering with about 50 of my closest family members. My grandmother the matriarch and her 8 daughters and 3 sons will be waking up to get their families dressed, and  food cooked. We'd mostly likely be in charge of a side dish and one of the turkeys. Yes, that's right, one of.  We usually have about 3 although we will probably barely only get to eat two. The last one will get divided up or given to my Grandma, and a few people will "finish it up" at breakfast the next day or three. All my family will show up with their dishes 30 minutes to an hour late, because that's just how they are. But the food will be delicious, the house will be warm, laughs will be loud, Grace will be long, old family videos will be embarrassing, and the evening ending Scrabble game will be competitive. The kids will play out side, color turkeys, and only come in to eat some pumpkin pie, *Extra Whipped Cream*.

     The best part will be seeing my grandmother smile and enjoy her day. Because she is in fact, the reason our large family still gets together.

     This year I'll miss all that. My immeadiate family will be traveling today. My mother, (7th born child, 5th born daughter) brother and I will be joining my sister in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving. After having a rough two months, we knew it would be neccesary for us four to be together. So as soon as my brother gets off his 24 hour shift as an EMT, we will be driving west to Los Angeles. Usually it takes about 7 hours from Phoenix, but we're expecting to get there in 8 or 9 since we have to drive all the way through THE PHX. Its gonna be rough, but it'll be worth hitting up the hotel and making our way to my sister's apartment. I can' wait to have some fun with her.

    But I wish I was going to be here to see my grandma!

Happy Thanksgiving!



Lol.. I love FRIENDS. via



Come on people now, smile on your Brother

Timeless

     Timeless is used to describe something that's value or message stays relevant, and just as classic no matter how many years go by. When you're talking about heirloom pearls, its a good thing. But when we think of another way to use it, in a historical aspect it can be both good and bad. The good would be the promise of The Bill of Rights, which at the most part has remained 'timeless'. Americans, after all still get the liberties bestowed upon us from our Founding Fathers. That is a good kind of timeless.

     On the other hand, history shows us that battles we thought we've once fought, sometimes come up again. There has always been a matter of inequality, hate, oppression, and neglect that has shown its color through out our country's history. And more than often, we find ourselves using the words people of the past to relate to the future.

     The fact that we can still use Robert F. Kennedy's speech, "On the Mindless Menace of Violence, given over 40 years go, and relate it to things happening today, doesn't give the word 'timeless' a great meaning. Given the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Kennedy speaks about violence in America. As seen in the slide show of the video, not much has changed in America since then, leaving Bobby's words timeless.

God's Coffee

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A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.

God brews the coffee, not the cups.

Enjoy your coffee!

Unknown Author

Don't Forget Thanksgiving!

I love the "holiday season". But I also appreciate celebrating any holiday on its own. I once heard Thanksgiving/Christmas/NewYears nicknamed "The Trinity". (Which brings up something else that I don't afree with, because as any Catholic knows, the Holy Trinity consists of the Father, his Son, and The Holy Spirit.) Some people lump it all in one. I like to keep the individuality of each occasion. Although I celebrate the occasions with basically the same people, there are differences. I understand that it is easier for people to just lump it all together, but I believe there is a line that shouldn't be crossed.

Most specifically, holiday music, I feel, should be reserved to the week of Thanksgiving and after. Don't get me wrong, I love me some 'Jingle Bell Rock', but I like to harbor the songs until Christmas is 100% percent of my holiday focus. I guess this blog can be considered my advocacy for Thanksgiving, because when you stop and think about it, it is definitely overlooked.

I used to work at a Michael's, and I know that in August, we set up for Halloween. And by Halloween we already had Christmas music playing, annoying glittered pinecones, cinnamon and pine scented everything, all out on display. That was annoying. I distinctly remembered customers getting angry that glitter from the gold dusted poinsettia's had made their autumn leaves sparkle. What I really wanted to say to them was, "I KNOW, right? Who forgets about Thanksgiving?!" But of course I couldn't. To this day I think Thanksgiving is the red-headed stepchild of holidays. I guess I just don't wanna get burnt out on the Christmas tunes too soon. With Thanksgiving coming up soon, I'm getting excited to hear those sleigh bells infiltrate my radio and holiday spirit.

I leave you with this quote :

"While these other holidays may not have their own catchy tunes, they deserve the same respect and reverence that we afford Christmas.Thanksgiving and Halloween should have their own turf, but Christmas and its music are taking over. It needs to stop."
From this article

Happy Veteran's Day

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

~ Elmer Davis.



Army cake my bff and I  made for
our friend who was leaving
for the Army.



The population of my town is probably less than ten thousand civilians, definitely less than fifteen. At my current age of 21, I know TWELVE people my age give or take a few years, that are currently serving in the military.  That's a pretty large number for me being one person, in a very small town. I'm proud of each of them.



 8 Army
4 Airforce

There should be more than one day a year devoted to these men and woman.

A dress mess!

In approximentally 2 weeks I will be attending a special occasion, and I have yet to purchase a dress. The event is a 60th Wedding Anniversary, complete with renewing wedding vows and a huge fiesta. The couple is my best friend's grandparents, and I've grown to know and love them over the past five years! I'm honored to be taking the trip to New Mexico for their celebration!!

I've rated how much I like each of them. I have to purchase on soon!!!



6/10





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Fall Festivities - Part I







Halloween

Fall festivities are always fun. Of course I was excited to see the costumes of my little cousins. In my family there were cowboys, pirates, and gangsters. When I was in elementary school, I frolicked around that October evening as Snow White. That's the only costume I really remember, and I recall that I chose Snow White because she had black hair like me. Nowadays, girls who look like me can opt to be Jasmine or Pocahontas, if they are going the Disney route. But at the time Snow white was a hot trend, so I went with the flow.

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My favorite is to carve pumpkins. I did carve this year and I dedicated it to my state university loyalty. Here is the story of the pumpkin I carved. 

My inspiration was the Arizona State sun logo,

 but I wasn't skilled enough to make they sun-ray dimension.

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So I threw in a pitchfork, a la Sparky.

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 I thought it was pretty good.