What
an awesome month…SO much to be Thankful for…
After
getting to catch up with my girls, Rachel and Alanna, over lunch, Chad and I
headed to Paso Robles on Thursday night en route to Cambria. Cambria is a cute little town on the central
coast, and it’s probably best known for its location just south of the Hearst
Castle. It was a perfect weekend with a
trip up to Big Sur, walk along the beach, antique shopping, (too much) good
food, and a nighttime tour of the Hearst Castle...
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| Lunch view from Nepenthe in Big Sur |
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| Morning stroll |
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| Spot the seal lion! |
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| CA sunsets are the best. |
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| Chad's Christmas tree ;) |
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| Grand Room |
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| Dining Room |
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| Library |
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| Just Hearst's own personal movie theater... |
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| My favorite, the Roman Pool |
Sunday I headed back to Houston for a week of training. I was actually super excited about the week
because Jenna was in town taking a training at the same location in Katy. Carpooling with her made the commute in
Houston traffic bearable.
On Monday morning, I walked into class sleepy-eyed avoiding
the initial networking part of the first day of class. Some tall guy sitting in front of me turned
around and cheerfully said Alli?! I
looked up and there was a vaguely familiar Jacob Weaver in front of me. This is going to be a very confusing
explanation, but bear with me….I lived with an adorable girl, Amanda Henderson,
when I interned in Bakersfield the summer of 2008. She was just a baby freshman at Texas Tech,
so naturally we bonded immediately.
Amanda had grown up all over the world (Chevron baby), and I was so
fascinated with her international life.
She had recently fallen back in love with her elementary school
‘boyfriend’ from when she was living in Indonesia, Jacob (also a Chevron
baby). I got to watch their love story
that summer, and for the next few years (they are now happily married). So flash forward to 2010 while I’m sitting in
some training in Bakersfield (probably sleepy-eyed), and this tall guy turns
around and cheerfully says Alli?! Not
Jacob this time, but his older brother, Tyler.
I immediately made it clear to Tyler that he and his precious wife,
Christine, were basically family – and over the next 3 years they did become
part of my Bakersfield family (several of my blogs include Tyler’s babies Curt
and Rosalie). Since then, I have met the
other two Weaver boys and solidified my adopted place in the Weaver clan…at
least in my mind. Anyways, Jacob AND his
now wife, Amanda, were in Houston for training, so I was able to get together
with them one night for dinner. Again,
there’s nothing better than catching up with good friends!
The weekend following my training meant it was finnnnnnally time to spend a day celebrating and #kickinitwiththekilcreases! After a two year engagement, my unofficially adopted cousin (Laurel’s best friend), Kelly, was marrying her longtime love, Robbie. Needless
to say, Kelly looked absolutely beautiful, Robbie was very handsome, and it was
a perfect wedding!
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| getting fancy for the wedding! |
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| The Kilcrease's!!! |
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| date/bestie/sista |
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| obligatory bathroom selfie with the bride. |
On Sunday, I headed up to Dallas for a short trip to spend
some time with Nana and Papa for an early Thanksgiving…the commencement of my
holiday eating and subsequent 9-lb. weight gain (true story, Chad and I weighed
in before and after the week). Chad and
his family were in town, so he cooked an early turkey meal at his
grandmothers. He was also able to bring
his grandmother over to Nana and Papa’s house for dinner. Not only was it an amazing meal (as usual,
Nana can do no wrong), but being able to have 3 people that are so special to
both Chad and I in one room was something I will forever cherish!
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| LOVE |
Wednesday we hopped in the car for a family road trip (plus
Chad, minus Brian) to head to San Antonio.
After our usual pit stops at Whataburger and Dairy Queen (Texas’s stop
sign, according to Dad), we made it in time to take a nap before heading to
Floore’s County Store for A Braun Family Thanksgiving concert – complete with
Muzzie, Micky and the Motorcars, and Reckless Kelly.
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| family who dances together, stays together |
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| kids |
Finally, Thanksgiving Day was upon us. I would call it a success – 60 people, 3
turkeys, 2 sad football games (Longhorns and Cowboys let us all down, AGAIN),
and several bottles of wine made for a great day.
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| Freund Family Thanksgiving |
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| Lisa's mandatory jumping pic - clearly the ladies are much more talented than the boys. |
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| My great-uncle Robert (Left) and my Pa (middle) acting like goofballs |
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| My Pa (Left) and uncle Robert (right) STILL acting like goofballs |
After an unnecessarily large breakfast followed by probably
too many family stories for Chad to bear and a box of old photos, we headed to
the airport to get back to Bakersfield.
Saturday morning was Christmas lights time, complete with a morning full
of carols (Celine Dion Christmas Pandora Station is TOP notch). Chad is a semi-professional Christmas light
installer – he ran a side business in high school and college hanging lights
for people – so the job only took us about an hour, without a single Griswold
moment. My friend, Elena, is expecting a
little girl in February, and Rachel planned a baby party Saturday afternoon
(Baby party meaning that boys and booze were included).
Sunday morning we got the most beautiful tree, and the house
was officially ready for Santa. Chad
marinated a brisket all night and got it ready for a long overdue thank you
dinner for Alanna for helping us get that 700-lb slab of granite into Chad’s
backyard…
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| Chad's actual Christmas |
From Bakersfield I headed to New York City! Ever since watching Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at the age of 6, I’ve been
dying to go to NYC during Christmas time to see the city transform into a
winter wonderland. Lucky for me, I got
he added bonus of staying with my good friend Maru and getting to catch up with
her and her friends Devon and Ann (which I have latched onto over the years,
and now claim as my own). I woke up
early Thursday morning, grabbed a bagel and coffee from the super friendly
Italians (not) at the bagel place across the street, and headed to Rockefeller
Center. I walked around the tree, ice
skating rink, gigantic ornaments, Saks Fifth Avenue windows, and did some
serious people watching for a few hours before my 11AM show of Rockette’s
Christmas Spectacular! I quickly
realized that they early show was reserved for little girls below the age of 12
and adorable couples above the age of 65.
Needless to say, there was lots of excitement in the air. The show was wonderful, and if it didn’t get
you in the holiday spirit, you’re a Scrooge.
After the show, I walked up 5th Avenue towards
Central Park and window shopped at Harry Winston, Tiffany’s, Bergdorf Goodman,
and Louis Vuitton. All the store windows
were decorated so beautifully for the holidays, so window shopping was almost
as good as the real thing…almost. Ever
since I went to London, I’ve been really into high tea (also thanks to my
friend Marius) so after more people watching in the park I headed to the
Mandarin Oriental Hotel for tea with a beautiful view of the park. I cleared the table of scones, followed by
sandwiches, followed by assorted desserts, so decided to walk through the park
for the rest of the afternoon but didn’t get much further than the ice skating
rink which was endlessly entertaining.
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| Central Park |
After a dinner of authentic Japanese Ramen, we went home and
I was telling the girls that I had bought tickets to the 9AM tour of the 9/11
museum the next morning. After mapping
out my route and figuring that I would need to get up at about 6:30AM to shower
and get out the door, they reminded me that I was on vacation and should be sleeping
in – not getting up earlier than they do to get to work. It was at that moment that I realized, yet
again, that I am turning into my mother…seems to be a reoccurring theme these
days.
The next morning I walked down to catch the East River Ferry
(after getting my usual from the bagel place).
The ferry ride was so beautiful, watching the sun come up over the
city. Unfortunately, my fingers were too
frozen to snap any photos when I walked outside to take in the view. I got to the city and walked along Wall
Street towards Ground Zero just imagining what that horrible day would have
been like in Lower Manhattan. The
memorial area has two reflection pools that are footprints of the two towers,
and along the edges of the pools names of all the victims from the flights,
Pentagon, and the World Trade Centers.
The grounds are beautifully kept, and there is someone that continuously
cleans the edges to keep the names visible at all times. Entrance into the museum is $24, and worth
every penny. I was so impressed by how
well the museum not only honored all the folks that were affected by the day’s
events, but also presented the facts in the months leading up to the
attack. I spent about 3 hours walking
around the building, but could have easily been in there for several more hours
just reading through all the information on display. It gives me chills just thinking about my day
spent remembering, being reminded how blessed I am to live in the great US of
A.
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| Freedom Tower |
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| South Tower reflection pool |
I needed to recuperate from the museum, so I took the Staten
Island Ferry out of the city and took in the beautiful view of the city with
Lady Liberty herself! I realized that it
was my second day in NY and I hadn’t had a slice of pizza, so I went back to
Brooklyn for some pizza pie (and a little snooze…). I met the girls back over on the Lower East
Side for cocktails and some serious, authentic Jewish Deli sandwiches at Katz
Delicatessen. After getting to sample
the pastrami, brisket, and corned beef, I opted for corned beef, and it was
amazing.
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| NYC with Lady Liberty on the left |
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| powering through |
Saturday we woke up to a “typical” NY winter day – gloomy
and rainy. The good thing was that it
was the weekend, so I had Maru to spend the day with. Our first stop was Bloomingdale’s to get rain
boots (totally necessary). We went to a
delicious French bakery for breakfast before my first (off) Broadway show –
amazing. Maru had to swing by the office
to do a few things for work, so I drooled over the new merchandise while she
worked. By 6 it was STILL raining, so we
went to warm up with cocktails at the Viceroy, which would have had a beautiful
view of Central Park if it wasn’t so yucky outside. Ann kindly made us a cozy dinner at home,
which was amazing! It was the perfect
end to my trip, a grown up girls night – selfies included.
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| but first.... |
So I’m back at work, whoommppp wommpp, and back in the 100
degree, humid heat – which I actually don’t mind too much because it makes
missing the holidays a little easier…no white Christmases here! I’m only here for a whopping 25 days this
rotation, so I’ll be back just in time to head to Steamboat for a week of
jamming out and hitting the slopes….I’ve got some good motivation this time
around J
5 days down, 19 to go!
xoxo…
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