New Mass Translation

Thanks Katie for helping me put this into perspective! :)

Tidbits

1. I feel guilty for not posting often enough. I feel like I should be using my time more efficiently, but work takes what little strength I have out of me, and at the end of the day it's easier for me to just zonk out watching the television or sleeping.

2. Love this post by Nikki on being Thankful. 

3. Please congratulate Mandi over at Catholic Newlywed on the birth of their first child, Lucia Rose! I'm so happy for you Mandi - I'm looking forward to reading about this new stage in your life!

4. I am so over watching terrible football teams play on Monday night. It's really just not a good start to the rest of my week. Tonight, however, I will be watching Marshawn Lynch because I need him to score less than 12 points so I can win my fantasy football game. Seriously. These things are important to me.

5. Christmas Shopping - how I loathe thee. I have no idea what any of these relatives want and I know I'm going to spend too much money trying to figure it out. I should just spare myself the insanity and get everyone a gift card to Amazon. Which, incidentally, is where I will be purchasing all your gifts.

6. Every year I make homemade ornaments for friends and family. They are made by folding cloth squares over and over again and pinning them down into a pattern. I haven't started making any yet. Christmas will wait until I get around to it, right? Oh crud.

Thankful

I'm going to be honest - I've had a real hard time finding things to be thankful for in the past couple of months. Since I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis [link warning: includes descriptions and pictures that are not for the faint of heart or squeamish], returned to a stressful job full time after many months sick at home, and made not one or two, but THREE medication changes...well, let's just say it's hard to be thankful when your sick.

But I'm still here. And I'm thankful for that, and more:

Pumpkins for Otters at our Zoo

Beautiful, full lakes

Unexpected visitors

Hilariously ironic wildlife (Wild Turkeys on Thanksgiving)

Sushi dates with my husband

I'm sorry I'm not around as much as I used to be. I still enjoy reading all your blogs and try to comment occasionally. I hope your holidays have been full of joy and thankfulness!

7 Quick Takes

I set this to post last Friday. It didn't. Blogger stinks.  

— 1 — 

My 24th birthday was last Friday, November 4th. I'm thinking this year is going to be pretty good for me - I've always preferred even numbers. Plus I'm looking forward to a lot of great things to come in 2012! Brian took me out to dinner to my favorite restaurant and I got some lovely presents. I'm excited to see my family when we travel down to Los Angeles this weekend.

— 2 —

Speaking of my birthday dinner, we ended up sitting next to an older couple who were very nice and seemed interested in what we were celebrating (at least the wife did, the husband wasn't very talkative). Just as we were finishing our entree and our server came over to us, they tapped our server on the shoulder and told her they would be paying for our dessert! I've never had that happen before! It's always nice to have something sweet and unexpected happen.

— 3 —

I would love to live where the leaves change.

 Fall is my favorite time of year. I love football, the cold weather, and Thanksgiving. I can't wait for it to start raining here! Although, compared to most places in the US, we get very little rain here in Southern California. Still, some is better than none.

— 4 —

We got some exciting news this morning. Brian's brother and his fiancee have eloped! They got married at the courthouse on Wednesday and landed in Kauai as of Thursday afternoon. They will be having a short beach sunset ceremony tomorrow night, on 11/11/11. Although we are a little sad that we were unable to share the special moment with them, we are nonetheless excited to welcome Sasha into the family.

— 5 —

But wait - there's more! Sasha is eight weeks pregnant! It's a little hush hush right now (they don't read my blog so I'm not worried about saying anything here), but I had a feeling that might be the case when they got engaged. We are so excited for Robert and Sasha, they are due in June! Hopefully their little one will have a cousin not too far behind as well. :)

— 6 —

Yes, he is still this cute. And tan. Not fair.

 My little brother is also 21 today! Happy Birthday Christian! Can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend!

— 7 —

Skyrim. It's coming. (For those who don't know, I am a huge gamer girl). I sense game of the year. I will not sleep this weekend.

  Please head over to Conversion Diary to get your fill of 7 Quick Takes and discover great blogs!

Happy Halloween

Can't wait to have a little munchkin someday so my husband and I can dress them in Star Wars costumes. Hope your Halloween is full of candy, fun, and lots of love!