Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I was up late last night cooking a HUGE amount of my favorite holiday dish, creamed corn.

My family has used this recipe for years, minus the msg. 

What are your favorite holiday gifts and traditions?

Fab

I have developed a major addiction to Fab.com.

Have you joined this site? They have so much fun stuff! And, it is so reasonably priced.  I wake up every morning so excited to check my iPhone app for the new fun things they're featuring that day.

The boxes above are just the shipments I've received this week. It's getting out of control. It's a good thing I am homeless. Otherwise, I would have no money for rent, food or clothes. I would just be surrounded by fun stuff from fab.com

I've done the majority of my holiday shopping using their site. They have a 100 gifts for under $100 portion of their site right now that has so many great finds!

My brother is such a difficult person to shop for and I have a plethora of gifts for him. So many that I'm giving some to my mom to give to him.

It's crazy, yo. Click on this link to join and say good bye to all of your disposable income.

Life Update- Work part 2

One of my favorite parts about my job, besides working with my family, is the food photography. 


It's so fun playing with my 50 mm lens and the gorgeous natural light in the restaurant. 


Two of my photos were even used in a local paper. It was a big day for me. 


I'm attending Alt Summit in January and am SO excited to imrpove my skills. And to meet some of my favorite bloggers like Jason, Kathleen and Ryan. 


A group of fellow attendees who 'met' in a webinar last week have started browsing each others blogs so that we can get to know each other before the conference. 


Check out their web pages and show them some love! 


Amanda
Caryl
Emily T
Emily W
Jeanne
Laura 
Katie
Marie
Shannon
Jordan
Melanie
Amy
Melissa
Becca
Colleen
Kait


I'm excited to be in the company of such talented people and can't wait to meet them in person! 


*********************************


I'm starting to gather (very last minute) *I Believe* blog posts. If you'd like to participate this year, please email me! Ltkalander(at)gmail(dot)com.


********************************


Photos are of our;


catering menu
sweet potato fries with bacon chive aoli
shishito peppers
butternut squash ravioli

Life Update- Work

Fall Foliage at the Red Table. What is the Red Table, you might ask? Oh, just the delicious restaurant that my mom opened. I do their marketing and social media. Here is our website, twitter feed, blog and facebook page. Just in case you'd like to become a fan. 


If you're in Southern California, please come visit us! The food is incredible. It's a daily struggle for me to not become a two-ton-person who can no longer fit through doorways.


*I started a facebook fan page for my blog. You can find it here!


*photo taken with the iPhone istagram app. Are you instagraming? If so, my username is totallytay.

Life Update: I am homeless

When the opportunity to work for my mom's restaurant came up I moved from Palm Springs to the coast. I haven't found an apartment yet because;

1) There is talk of opening another restaurant or two in 2012. The possible locations have ranged from Ventura to Dana Point, which is at least a two hour span of Southern California. I'm going to wait until we break ground on our next location to decide on a place to call home because I HATE commuting. When I lived in Arizona I made sure I never had to drive more than 20 minutes in traffic to get to and from work. I'd like to keep it the same here.

2) Apartments at the beach are expensive and I'd like to put off paying rent as long as possible.

For the time being, I'm bouncing between my mom's, my dad and step mom's and my grandma's. When one gets sick of me (usually my dad) I move on to the next.

It's kind of annoying because I like having all of my things in one place, but it is totally worth the trouble for the money I am saving.

Baby Love

So, let's start with some big news. 

I'm going to be an AUNT! 

Little sister is pregnant. She and baby daddy surprised us with the news in February and we are thrilled. I already love this baby so much it's crazy. She is arriving in about one month. CRAZY! 

It's a girl. 

Her shower is this weekend and I can't wait for the photos. It's going to be very pink, very chic and very bubbly. She requested a very non-traditional cocktail party shower. We're going to party, yo. 

Little sister is pretty clueless when it comes to baby stuff. Luckily, she has a seasoned veteran (me) to help her. I feel like I'm about as close to being a mom as you can be without actually being a mom. 

She has done some pretty funny novice stuff that has made me want to laugh and cry simultaneously. 

Example 1: She and baby daddy thought that babies couldn't see for a few weeks after they were born. Like a puppy, or something. 

Example 2: She didn't realize that the baby could move around in the womb. She thought its back was attached to the wall of the uterus. Seriously. 

Example 3: She listed me as her co-registrant on her baby registries. I had to call and explain that while I do consider the baby to be partially MINE, she should probably list baby daddy as the co-registrant. 

Example 4: She uses the belly bands I bought for her as tube tops.

There have also been a few things she has done that just make me want to cry. Like when she says she is going to, 'just give breastfeeding a shot, but she doesn't think it's going to work out because it gives her the creeps.' I'm praying that those maternal instincts kick in immediately and that she has a super easy labor and even better breastfeeding experience, but we'll see. 

It has been a true test of my patience to answer her questions and have conversations about these things. I am trying to be a neutral non-judgmental doula, but when it's my little sister the bossy big sister in me tends to win out. I'll be honest. I've yelled a few times.

Hey there, kiddos.

Well hey there. How are things?

I am well.

I hope you are too.

I'm coming back. Starting today.

Lots of stuff has changed (new job, new city, new adventures, a few new outfits).

Lots has stayed the same (I still love booze, snowcones, butter and cussing. I'm still tall).

I'm about to dump the last year, or so, of my life on you in the next two months, along with some current happenings. Then, starting in January, I'll only blog about current events in mi vida. Unless I find some super sweet 80's youtube videos.

Looking forward to catching up with you all.

xo