a whole foods thanksgiving

"I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. I will show forth all His marvelous works." -Psalm 9:1
"for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." -1 Timothy 4:4-5

on thanksgiving morning, lauren and i woke up to a beautiful day in la jolla, CA. here is a couple pictures of the view from her window.



we turned on the macys thanksgiving day parade and enjoyed some of our favorite musicals and performers (memphis, american idiot, the rockettes, and so much more!)

after the parade, we were ready for lunch! yes, we do prepare our meals on top of the clothes dryer.

on the wednesday before thanksgiving, we went to whole foods and bought all of our favorite thanksgiving foods. everything was already prepared for us and all we had to do was warm it up! just like last year, the entire meal was DE-licious! if youre ever unable to cook on thanksgiving, i highly recommend doing what we did: buy your thanksgiving at whole foods.



and for dessert: PUMPKIN PIE (of course) from trader joes! so yummy! and it must be somewhat healthy since joe made it right?





we were very excited for pumpkin pie and attempted to document our experience.







sees was only slightly perturbed by me taking pictures of her eating.

after lunch and a long time laying on the couch while letting our food digest, we headed out for a walk on the beach.





and of course i had to get a picture of myself jumping.

after we got back to the house, we had a small photo shoot. i thoroughly enjoyed taking pictures of my beautiful seester. it was way too easy to get a bunch of great ones.










"give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. let the whole world know what he has done." -Psalm 105:1

lala-land friends

"for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." -Proverbs 23:7
"I set my affection on the things of God." -Hebrews 12:1

on monday, lauren, emily and i decided to take a day trip to LA to visit some friends.

our first stop: cha cha chicken. this is where we met aaron and his mom and brother. for anyone in the santa monica area, i HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. it was absolutely delicious!



the restaurant also had really fun decorations - so many colors and patterns! oh! and the music made me want to get up and dance.



another plus: they had watermelon lemonade. this was my first experience with watermelon lemonade and i think i may have a new favorite drink.

the food made me feel like i was right back in el salvador!



great times with great friends!



aaron was in the juilliard program with lauren and emily is in the UCSD grad program with lauren - friends from across the US together in one place!

after lunch it was essential that we visited our favorite cupcake shop in beverly hills.

i loved all the decorations inside and outside the store! my favorite cupcake was definitely the pumpkin one - it was scrumptious!





seester was very excited about cupcakes - per usual.



after the sun went down, we piled back in the car and headed to...

...the lululemon store in brentwood where RACHAEL FINE works! it was so wonderful to see her! but after purchasing 3 items, i decided it was time to leave before i spent all my money. here are rachael and i in the store (and im wearing my new lulu jacket)!

a night in the life

"I am blessed because I believe, whether I see or not." -John 20:29

on friday, nov. 19th, i arrived in la jolla, california where my seester lives. she picked me up from the airport and on our drive home, we ran into a little bit of traffic. apparently there was a walk for breast cancer going on right in her neighborhood. i decided to take a few pictures, but could only fit about 1/1000th of the people that were actually participating in the walk.



lauren is currently in grad school at the university of california san diego. she is studying stage management and was closing a show this past weekend when i arrived in california. i had the opportunity to see "kasimir and karoline" on friday night and even got to play backstage with her before and after the show!



i tried to take some pictures of the show, but without a flash, they didn't turn out so well. heres a blurry one of a couple characters on the stage.

and here she is in action. this is her serious face.

lauren is pretty much my hero in the world of theatre. congratulations on a wonderful show sees! love you so much!

color me happy

"the King is enthralled with your beauty, honor Him for He is your Lord." -Psalm 45:11

a little over a week ago, i decided to color my hair for the first time. my awesome roommate, stacie, is also an awesome hairstylist in raleigh (id be happy to give you her information if you need a haircut/color/etc)! anyway, she brought home some color and went to work.

BEFORE

AFTER

i am soooooo happy with my new color! the picture doesnt really do it justice, but my hair now looks much darker and richer in color! and now that ive let go of my virgin locks, im ready to keep trying new colors in the future.

THANKS ROOMIE! you rock!