730 Days in Photographs: 11.2009

11.29.2009

Day 440 // November 27 // Just Another Night at the Bollenbachers...

(yeah, those are definitely delicious PUMPKIN pancakes)

11.27.2009

Day 439 // November 26 // Today I Am Thankful For...

My old neighbors who helped me when I locked myself out of the house at 9 AM this morning (I'm house-sitting on my old street this week). Times like this make me miss my old street / my old neighbors tremendously.

My Auntie who cooked an amazing meal for 25 hungry people.
See pumpkin pies below for a preview of her inner Martha Stuart....

My Nana & Papa because they're the greatest Grandparents in the world.

My amazzzzzzzzing family.
(& ichat for making it possible to see them on Thanksgiving)

My goofball cousins.
(Austen included, but she didn't want to in any photos)

Sweet Potatoes!!!
(look Mom, I helped cook)

Turkey.
(& Logan who joined me in the holiday kitchen help)

& before bed, I was thankful for
Wii Fit
(to help us burn off all the feasting calories).

Last year, the Bollenbachers (who I didn't get to see today, but am ALWAYS thankful for) & I joked about it being Captain's last Thanksgiving. I am HAPPY to report that he made it another year to Thanksgiving 2009! What little faith we had in him!

(photo courtesy of Kate)

11.25.2009

Day 438 // November 25 // S + M = BFF Forever

This is Sarah, my very best friend all throughout my childhood.

Sarah & I grew up on Mountain Street & got into all kinds of trouble together.

We enjoyed pretending we were spies & spying our neighbors.

We thought we were "tom boys" because we wore our hats backwards.

We especially enjoyed sneaking into 1 specific neighbor's backyard
& hiding her cigarettes in the hopes of helping her "stop her bad habit".

Our favorite way to spend summer nights was to play a big game of hide & seek
(hiding in various neighbor's backyards & under cars)
with all the neighbor kids until our parents called us home.

We'd ride our bikes through the condominiums down the street
(even though the signs said no trespassing) & we'd have sleepovers in her
(amazing) tree house & pretend we were all grown up and living our own like adults.

We were best friends & we carved "S + M = BFF Forever" in the bottom
of a tree in my front yard to prove it (it's still there, I checked).

Her family moved to Arcadia when we were in 6th grade (& even though it was only a 10 minute drive, Arcadia still felt like it was across the country).

We've stayed friends over the years, catching up through letters (we were big fans of the snail mail) & more recently, facebook. But, today was the first time we've seen each other in about 2 years. I wish I was home so I could scan some awesome photos of us as kids, but I'm not, so here is us today:

Day 437 // November 24 // Kogi Night.

Every week, Matt & a few of his friends track down their favorite taco truck (wherever it may be in LA) for late night Kogi taco dinners. Tonight the whole gang (plus some) joined the Kogi fun for the first time in a long while. I haven't seen Matt so excited to have everyone together since the last Confide show. It was a great night with all the boys.

(we weren't the only ones with the Kogi idea...look at that line!)

11.23.2009

Day 436 // November 23 // Manal's Productivity.

I didn't have any today.

Day 435 // November 22 // Matinee.

Matt's mom & I read the first couple of Twilight books together last summer, so this afternoon we left the boys at home & went to see if the second movie was as any better than the first. It wasn't great, but we still had a fun afternoon out!

11.21.2009

Day 434 // November 21 // Zoo.

11.20.2009

Day 433 // November 20 // 99 Cent Shoot

Matt & I ventured into a wash near his house today to see what a roll of 99 cent film (from my trip to the 99 cent store last week) would turn out like. (Depending on the situation), I typically prefer film to digital photography (I love the natural graininess that film produces) & the fact that this $.99 film didn't print too badly, I think I will continue to play around with it.

Day 432 // November 19 // Spiced Cider.

Sometimes all you need to make a bad day a little better is a room filled with Christmas scented candles.

11.18.2009

Day 431 // November 18 // Away We Go.

Manal & I went shopping at TJ's tonight & found a delicious pre-made chicken and pasta meal that we brought home & split for dinner.

Away We Go came for me today via Netflix so we had a dinner & a movie night !

Day 430 // November 17 // Meteor Shower Fun.

Night 2 of the meteor shower.

Last night the roomies + Albee & his roomie went up to a park in Porter Ranch, hoping to get away from the lights/sounds to enjoy the shower.

We succeeded in getting away from the lights, but instead, we got a group of loud high schoolers who had no respect for the meteor shower (ok, maybe we were taking the shooting stars a bit too seriously...).

Tonight we grabbed our pepper spray (just to be safe) and the 3 of us went out to the parking lot to see if the rumors were true that the falling meteors were continuing tonight.

THEY WERE.

We saw the BIGGEST green shooting star pierce the sky.
It was pretty amazing, but then we got cold & called it a night.

Day 429 // November 16 // La Grande Orange.

Matt met me at work today.
After he caught up with Schlenker & the kids in 4th period,
we headed over to my old place of business (can I really technically even call it that?),
La Grande Orange, for some delicious lunch.
Ahi tacos = yummmm.

Day 428 // November 15 // 99 cents.

Manal & I took a trip to the 99 cent store to pick up a few necessities. You know, like Arizona Green Tea, note cards, laundry detergent & lastly, Manal was reallllllly hopin to find a new water bottle.

Unfortunately, Princess and Super Hero were the only themes to chose from...

(look what I found, Mom)

Day 427 // November 14 // Memory Lane.

Was planning on spending the day doing homework and getting ready for my Geology test next week.

But, me being the procrastinator that I am, I ended up spending a majority of this Saturday NOT actually doing homework, and instead taking a trip down memory lane & looking through the 2006-2008 files of "pre-730 days" photos that I have on my old computer.

Here's a few: