Soakin' Up San Francisco

In addition to the scrumptious turkey dinner and festive beverages that our family enjoyed today, there are countless things that I am thankful for as I lie on the couch, reflecting, amidst a dessert-induced food coma. I'll narrow it down to the top ten at the forefront of my mind before today slips away. I'm surrounded by sisters, adopted ones, blankets, and kittens. We're indulging, as is so fitting on this holiday, in one more luxurious treat: Gatsby. The thankfulness only just begins here. 1. My Mom & Dad. The ones who started it all; I'm grateful for their traditions, discipline, and insistence upon family-time. Now, it comes natural.  2. My sisters, Kirb & Chlo. The youngin's are the accomplished and inspiring ones.  3. My first friends: Britt, Bre & Jenn. No matter how many years, or miles, or weddings pass, we always have just as much fun.... and trust in each other. 4. My oldest friend: Chels. She's 400 miles away these days, but that's

The reason I feel that this is official is because this week put us in the 20s, amidst the month of November. This puts us nearly only 30 days away from Christmas itself, and though Thanksgiving falls quite late this year, the holiday season feels... present. My friends and I were chatting tonight about our distressed capitalist society, in which retailers this holiday are concerned about their profit margins' potentials, being that Black Friday is as late in the year as physically possible - leaving only about 26 days of heightened consumerism for Christmas shopping and retail therapy of the depressed-holiday-sort. What will we do? This time of year is also marked by my yearnings for:  Hot chocolate at all hours of the day  Christmas songs from every corner of the musical genre spectrum  Scarves, boots, leggings within every outfit  Holiday cards of all shapes and sizes  Friends' addresses and life updates from all around the world  Friends at my side constantly 

Yesterday, being the autumn end of Daylight Savings Time, was a day about falling back. Luckily for me, we gained an hour of sleep - having been sick for what feels like forever. In the spirit of recovery and starting fresh this fall, I feel like I should admit all of the things I had to fall back on during my moment (more like week or two) of weakness, in order to heal. I fell back on family. I guess this is the way in which they're the ones who love us unconditionally; it turns out that something I needed was a Mom & Dad day. On my rare Saturday off-day this weekend, I decided to resort to the confines of our house - and, mostly, the couch - in order to finally rest off my sinus infection. First, we watched Mom's AYSO soccer game. It was dewey and chilly, and nostalgia-inducing. As difficult as it's been to live with my Dad lately, I couldn't resist his pot of coffee that morning, or his invitation to a neighborhood bike ride. I don't have anyone to ride bik

The Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas during the last weekend of October was a celebration of much more than just music. It highlighted so many of the riches in its name, Life: art, rock and roll, social entrepreneurship, community, and best of all... FOOD. One of the best parts of Chelsea's and my weekend in Las Vegas during LIB was all of the amazing eating, snacking and drinking we did throughout the Festival. It all began with our decision to stay in on Friday night, in preparation for the two straights days of debauchery and music-intake that we had ahead of us. We settled on ordering pizza and hydrating - with water only - because we thought we had a valid excuse to carbo-load. Pop-Up Pizza , circa LV, brought us two individual (yet definitely 12") pan pizzas that night, mine with spinach, soft white cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted POTATOES. What?!    Some of the local places we tried included Nacho Daddy on Friday-day, the hip Tex-Mex bar and gr

A new phase of Fall is beginning, and it only took me thirty [-one] days to realize the true potential of this time in my life, these... circumstances. I'm 24, and I have this awesome opportunity to make money (while serving a company that I love) and also save some of it, throw some at my student loans and my credit card debt... maybe add to my ATW travel fund. This month, it took me four separate concert-outings and about 20 or 30 different musicians - particularly at Life is Beautiful , of course - to truly realize my passion for new, revolutionary music. From John ( classic favorite ), to Fifth Harmony, to Ellie and Katy and Tegan & Sara, to Poolside and Empire of the Sun and Imagine Dragons and Killers! It was insane. It took me a super uncomfortable infection, an STD scare and a definite cold/ sinus infection to realize that I absolutely NEED sleep, more water, and less living-on-the-edge in my life in order to stay healthy. In order to maintain. Without these things