I think I just had the best Thanksgiving weekend that I can remember. The past few Thanksgivings were less than ideal because of the drama that was always present between and within the families that attended. This year was fantastic because everything was very chill and to top it off, Rob made us French Toast in the morning! He followed my recipe and they turned out great.. I didn't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner because we got a precooked meal from Whole Foods, which was yummy. My family behaved (though my dad still filled our ears with his stories). It was eventful but relaxing at the same time. Here is a lovely example of me trying to take a picture of all of us and failing miserably because I was sitting in the middle and I didn't have time to get there before the timer snapped the picture.

I just love the reactions on each person's face!

After dinner, Rob, Bridgett, and I went to go see The Departed at AMC. The movie was good and I enjoyed the storyline that was full of surprises.

On Friday, we went to Stacks for breakfast. We dropped Bridgett off at Nordstrom Rack to shop while we went to our dental appointments. I finally got the crown to my implant and Rob had his cleaning. We went back and picked up Bridgett and got ready at Rob's apartment for dinner. The dinner at Alexander's that night was planned many months in advance. I requested Devin as our server and he was perfect. The food was great as usual and my friends popped by throughout the night to hug me and ask how I'm doing. I miss them all: Josh, Cynthia, Angie, Devin, Brian, Scott, Javier, Al, Aurelio, Sabrina, Sean, Randall, Enyu, Chris, Travis, Rosiana, Nathan, and others that I might have forgotten to mention here. At the end of our meal, Travis came out with a plate of white and dark chocolate covered strawberries and biscotti. The plate was beautifully and painstakingly decorated with liquid chocolate. I really appreciate him and Rosiana doing these elaborate surprises for me every time I have dinner there. It truly makes me and my guests feel special.

Bridgett left on Saturday morning and a follow-up phone call from Rob revealed that she has positive feedback for me. I enjoyed getting to know her and I learned a lot about Rob and how his brain works through her. I probably wouldn't have found out such details any other way.

On Sunday, we went to Trader Vics for the first time after visiting my mom with some flowers. It's funny how I've never been there before and it was only a few blocks from my high school and where I used to live. We each tried their Mai-Tai which apparently is the original recipe. We also checked out Any Mountain later that night because Rob needed snowboard gear. He purchased Burton boots and bindings and is going to buy the snowboard later. We saw a cool one called the Burton Royale with a spiffy design on the front. We might go to Tahoe the weekend of New Years Eve. I calculated a rough estimate of how much I'll be spending in presents this year and it's about $800. I already spent $100 so far. I don't think I even have that much extra cash to spare, especially not before my next loan dispersement. Maybe I can find some work that'll only need me for a week or two. That'd be nice...

I got home at 5:15pm tonight after taking public transit from LAX for 2 and a half hours! I only paid 25 cents for it, but it took waaay too long. Next time I'll look into taking a shuttle instead.