from raleighwood to hollywood

1. i am thankful for look-a-likes

oh hey zoro...

wait.

i wanted to give you a recap on my first thanksgiving away from home, and it ironically starts with a cat that looks just like one of my own! my friends cindy and brian have two adorable persian cats, which was strange enough because my family has always had persian cats, but what makes the situation even weirder is that both of their cats looks as if they are the distant relatives of our cat zoro! and by zoro, i mean shambi.

...don't ask.

i realize it's not like they're twins or anything (cindy and brian's cat hershey is the one pictured first), but they certainly do share a lot of similarities. pictured below is zoro as a kitten and i think that hershey looks closer to this. i also think that their older cat benji looks kind of like what zoro's grandfather would look like. again, it's not as if you'd have to paint all three cats tails to tell them apart, but it's pretty funny that on my first holiday away from home, i ended up in a house with two cats that look like my own cat at different time periods.

onto the food! the restaurant we ate at was called off vine and the entire meal was amazing. so amazing in fact, that i forgot to take pictures of the salad and dessert course. but i got the rest! the first course was carrot and ginger soup.

they had different options for dinner (turkey, steak, or salmon) but it was thanksgiving so...DUH...

i ate my pumpkin pie with cinnamon gelato so fast that a photo op really didn't stand a chance. however, when it comes to leftovers...

i was camera ready! of course i woke up early the next morning craving last night's meal. however, because i did such an impressive job on my plate, all that was left was some turkey and about two bites of stuffing. so i had to get creative. this...

is a turkey melt with stuffing, cranberry orange cream cheese spread, and smoked gouda on top. and seeing as i was out of sweet potatoes, i had to find something else that was orange.

harvest cheddar sunchips, you complete me.

2. good eats

normally after thanksgiving, most people eat turkey leftovers for weeks. as for me, my tiny little box of holiday remains went faster than i could say why didn't i remember to save more cranberry sauce? as for other meals from this past thanksgiving weekend...

after years of living with a thai-food-crazed roommate, my body adapted to having pad thai at least two or three times a week. every now and then, the cravings return.

it's pretty obvious why totino's pizza made my list of things to be thankful for this year.

i mean...just look at it.

LONG tiring days of work/running errands in an overpopulated town that only has enough parking and street lanes to accomodate half of the people here...

require ending your day with grilled cheese.

as i walked back from completing my early morning saturday work duty--going to the coffee bean (my boss literally doesn't hear a word i've said until i come back with coffee)--i saw a produce truck that had left someone behind.

i wondered to myself why i felt bad for this lonesome little idaho potato, and then i remembered...it's in my genes. you'll have to read this exerpt from my dad's blog here to understand. he wrote this post about his mom (my grandmother)

"Whether its someone who is cleaning the floor or washing the dishes, there is something in my mother’s personality that makes her want to make sure that no one is left out. She wants to know everyone’s story- not in a gossipy kind of way but to be present with them and to listen to them tell their tale.

Recently I went to a conference with about 20 people in a very fancy hotel in Cary, North Carolina. It was mostly business men and woman who were mingling about before the conference started. I noticed a somewhat awkward photographer standing in a corner and I walked over to him to talk. I shook his hand and introduced myself and we talked about digital single lens reflex cameras and the latest photo lenses. He wasn't the important businessperson I was there to network with but I felt as if he was somewhat invisible to the others. I felt uncomfortable that no one was talking to him. I guess I this habit has become part of my being too."

so thank you bea bea and dad, for passing along the habit of being compassionate towards those people and things that seem to get left out or left behind.

potatoes included.

speaking of brunch...

you'll have to click here to get the full story on this!

3. let the re-arranging begin!

so, this went here.

and then this went here.

and then these went here.

and then this went here! that's right, i finally have a working microwave :) bring on the popcorn!

highlight of the day:

first paycheck. no explanation necessary.