Update:

The first annual Thanksgiving Overnighter and Subsequent Black Friday of Awesomeness is so far going splendidly. It's 1:40am, and energy is still high. We've played two rounds of The Office trivia, and we're back to the second set for Rock Band. Ryan and I are pouring through the Thursday paper, making our lists and checking them twice. Soon we'll be forming our plan of attack for 4am. So far it looks like Old Navy and the free MP3 player are going to win the race for first store.

It's all so exciting!

Thanksgiving 2008

Just some things I'm thankful for currently:

~Down blankets

~Dennison's hot and chunky chili

~Ultimate frisbee on Thursday nights

~A job that challenges me in a field that I actually want to get into

~A holiday dinner with the family that went off perfectly (my family must be growing up!)

~Extra cash just in time for holiday shopping

~Old roommates who just today got engaged and are super excited... and due over here any minute now to tell the story

~A rad little sister that likes to hang out with me

~Awesome friends willing to be guinea pigs for the first annual Thanksgiving Overnighter and Subsequent Black Friday of Awesomeness.

~Stormy days that offer so much inspiration

November 22, In which we scavenger hunt it up at the mall

There was a scavenger hunt to commemorate Jared's 25th birthday. Three teams of four were set loose in Grossmont Center, armed with cell phones, cameras, and a couple dollars each, in the hopes of being the first team back to Shakey's with everything on the list. 

It was awesome. Except Jared is a dirty cheater. And that's all I'll say on the matter. 

Team Jordan: Girl Jordan, Liz, Dan Blair, Emo, and Boy Jordan

The girls at Shakey's

The security guards at Target were great at playing along with the instructions to, "Get an on-duty Target security guard to sign your bicep."

This guy was great for telling us what Jared's team ordered for the task, "Buy Jared's favorite Grossmont Center dessert."

A-G-O

"Dress up in crazy clothes."

"Challenge a stranger to a race." After Boy Jordan beat this little girl, he pumped his fists into the air, and when we questioned why he didn't let her win, his response was, "I can't let a girl beat me!"

"Pose with a manequin."

"Build a pyramid in a grassy knoll."

Good times with those camp people, I tell you. Good times.

Twilight the Movie was almost as bad as Twilight the Fourth Book.

I took Britt on a sister date today to see Twilight, my first time watching, her second.

And, man alive, did they ruin that book. I understand that for movies based on 300+ page books, they have to strip some things out, but generally, they're supposed to leave the important things... such as, oh, off the top of my head, character motivation. Otherwise you're just left with a stupid stock character who falls in love with a creepy vampire for no reason whatsover, and a 100 year old vampire who suddenly has made it his eternal life's mission to protect this human girl... for no reason whatsoever.

You've got to leave in the important details, people. I can't imagine that movie making any sense whatsoever to anyone who hasn't read the book. One of the hardest things about transferring a book to movie is getting across the characters' thoughts through what they're doing, as opposed to reading them straight on the page, but it was like they didn't even try to get in the characters' heads.

Things like this make me sad.

Those Spring Awakening kids are so great...

We didn't get any pictures, despite the fact that I smuggled in, not one, but two cameras into that theater, but we ended up with some fun memorabilia anyway:

I think my favorite part is Sarah Hunt laughing in the background at Chase Davidson's awkwardness. I had to cut off the first thirty seconds of him trying to pull Blake Bashoff into the frame with him and asking, "What should I say?" The kid can perform on a Broadway stage every night, but put a camera in front of him and he's suddenly shy. Go figure.

The Camera Loves You, Baby

Once upon a time, there were some So Cal kids who went to Disneyland a bajillion times a year. After awhile, the magic of the Magic Kingdom began to wear thin.

Until one night.

On the eve of the bajillion and second time.

When a brilliant idea was born.

And this idea was called: Gap Photo Shoot at Disneyland.

Birthday Week Part Three: And the winner is...

Jessica the Best!

(And why not? That's what Jessica says.)

So here's some stuff about the birthday girl:

I specifically remember one of the first times I ever talked to Jessica. We were up at Pine Valley for college retreat, but most of us were just visiting because we didn't want to pay the money to actually stay there. And I was going back and forth between the game room and Worthington Hall, Pine Valley's chapel, trying to get someone to do some late night activity. And Jess and Mikey were in Worthington Hall while Mikey was packing up his music stuff, but now that I think about it they might have been doing a little macking on each other, too. I was just too young and naive to catch on to that back then.

Isn't that a great story?

Anyway, so since then Jess has been an inseparable part of this here group. (See group shot, circa 2005, below.)

Then, in 2006, Jessica married that Mikey kid. It was a fun wedding. We laughed, we cried, we danced, and the boys wrote dirty things on Mikey's car. Good times.

Jessica really loves her some Mikey. Mike seems to like it, too.

Here's Jessica sporting the July 17, 2007 Disneyland freaking 50th anniversary hat. Remember how I said on Jesse's post that we went there accidentally that day? True story. It was a long day in Disneyland and California Adventures, as you can see:

On that same trip, we hit up Hollywood and found this amazing store called the Love Sac. We crashed there for about an hour, watched Napoleon Dynamite, and took pictures. What a fun store.

Jessica has been an awesome friend these last few years. Whether it's boy talk or opening her house for movie nights/game nights/St. Patrick's Day parties or having cute babies and letting us hold them for an hour at a time, Jess has got it covered.

Happy birthday, Jessica!

(Sorry it's so late!)

Birthday Week Part Two: Jesse Jay Schworm

This is my friend Jesse.
(He's the one on the left. Hopefully you figured that out.)




Sometimes he's a little weird.




But most of the time he's a pretty cool dog. Today is Jesse's birthday. He's number two in our birthday line up for the week.

Here are some fun memories I have with Jesse over the years:

1) Getting our cars towed at 11:30 at night and having to chase them down in Lakeside.
2) Brianhead trip and driving the van home from Utah. (He drove. I sat shotgun to keep him company and read To Kill a Mockingbird.)
3) Visiting Disneyland on the actual 50th anniversary day on complete accident. (Okay, so everyone was there for that, not just Jesse, but for some reason I didn't think of it when I did Justin's birthday profile.)
4) Him being the only one I could convince to try sardines. (Which, I'll have everyone know, he claimed weren't nearly as bad as he'd anticipated.)
5) Random picture trips down to La Jolla coves and Starbucks and the UCSD library to take awesome pictures with my new camera of four years ago.
6) The awesome night when I received that camera, which spiraled into an obsession with picture taking. Everyone chipped in for it, but I know that Jesse paid far more than everyone else, so I always think of it as his present.
7) Big Bear trip of '03, just us kids, no adults! But we're good kids, so all we did was go jet skiing and play Risk. (FYI- that's where the third picture above comes from.)
8) Jesse playing the movie star to my blonde assistant in one of our reality show movies... and something about banana ice cream... it's all kind of fuzzy.

And oh, so many more great times that are too many to count.

Happy birthday, Jesse Schworm!

Birthday Week Part One: Ode to Justin Michael Aubrey

Or, as his friends affectionately call him, Jgushin Michelle.

24 years ago today, a person was born. This person was my good friend Justin.

Say hi, Justin.

(This is Justin's gangsta look.)

Now, Justin has been my friend for quite awhile. Quite. Awhile. To give you a reference point, Justin wrote this in my high school yearbook when we were fifteen: "So I've lost track of how many years I've known you now... too many." And that was nine years ago. 

Justin and I met at the ripe old age of eight, at good ol' Meridian Christian Elementary (the pre-uniform years). We were desk mates in fifth grade, when Justin got me my first detention ever. (He claims no recollection of this, and will plead not guilty to this accusation, but don't listen to him.)

Now, some fun facts about Jgushin.

The kid loves him some Pepsi. (Photo circa 2001)


Justin was voted most likely to be a millionaire in senior year. (The expectation of this prediction is the main reason I've remained friends with him so long. So hurry up and make that moolah, Justin!)

Justin and I are the only really normal ones from our high school group of friends.

Exhibit A:

(In which everyone else looks ridiculous. And we look sane.)

(Photo circa 2001)

Exhibit B:

(Photo circa 2002)

Then again, I suppose he has his moments.

(Photo circa 2002)

Justin really likes guns. He also has no sense of safety. But really, who does in this group?

Some of my favorite memories with Justin include the Best Senior Trip Ever. Here we are on the third breakdown of the day, and Justin is still SO PUMPED!

Workin' the yearbook on all weekends, holidays, after school, and on off days. This picture rocks because what you can't see is the no food or drink near the computers sign right above us. Rules schmules.

Disneyland trips!

(Photo circa 2005)

Other great moments include our snowboarding trips to Big Bear, fighting over the alphabet game and the validity of street lamps as a 20 questions item; making movies at the Aubrey's house, usually until about 2am, Matrix-style, reality show-style, and Scooby Doo-style; the night I made him help me with my first big college project which involved puffy paint and sprawling out across the floor like ten-year-olds (his mom even came in to take a picture of that Kodak moment); giving me love advice (ha, seriously); helping me on numerous occasions to thwart the advances of unwanted pursuers; memorizing all the Taboo cards and being able to guess each card off a one-word hint, thus making us the awesomest team ever at that game; tagging along to Frye's to watch him handpick the parts to his new computer and then watching him put it all together in an afternoon (before this, I didn't know you could do that); spending hours and hours playing Halo with the group; spring break of our senior year where we did nothing but watch movies on the Aubrey's couch; and o so many more good times.

In all seriousness though, Justin is the greatest kind of friend you can have, and I will never ever ever (there aren't enough evers) be able to really express how much I appreciate him. 

And now that I've talked him up, and all you girls are like, "Who is this guy? I must marry him!" -- too late. He's already been snagged by the awesome Jenafer (see the cuteness below.... not Jarrod... behind him.)

Yes. He is awesome. Make sure to comment your birthday wishes for Jgushin on this post!

All hail the birthday princess!