D and I have very different feelings about the holidays. I love them, and he does not. This has been something that we have both adjusted to as a couple. He kind of let's me make a bigger deal out of things than he might like, and I try to restrain myself a bit in order to make him feel more comfortable.

For me, the holidays are about tradition and family, and they are pretty soft traditions in a lot of ways. Generally they meant piling into the car and driving for several hours to eat a large meal with my extended family. Sometimes we would all sit around the table to enjoy the meal and other times we would grab a place on a sofa with a tv tray. The setting that I remember most is my aunt tinas old house that had a basement where the kids could hang out. I don't know if it was a holiday or not, but I have been told that one time my sister fell down those long dark steps to the basement in her baby walker, and she survived...

For me the holidays are not about gifts. They are about loud people that I only get to laugh with a few times a year, and trying to sneak some of my grandmas cookies before dinner time. It's been years since I lived on the same coast as my extended family. I know that since then I have really not spent many thanksgivings with them. I spent a few with my sister out here, which was nice, and one in Chile....or I think maybe on a plane to Chile and that was a pretty surreal experience.

Last year david and I cooked more food than it was possible to eat and had leftovers for days. I think I remember it being a quiet relaxing day which is kind of a new one for me, but also a good thing.... I guess maybe we are starting our own traditions now, which is weird to think of... I think that whenever I get the chance to spend the holidays with my extended family, I will cherish their novelty, and when I am with anna and mommers I will usually feel the most at home. It's comforting to establish a new familiarity with david... and also because he is not super into the holidays I don't think he will be quite so sad when I chose to spend the time with my mom and sister. So cheers to new traditions, definitions of home, and in about a month, a very Bulgarian Christmas...

It Makes Me Smile

These days I am taking less time to smile, and more time to 'manage' time and stress. I don't think my management of either or the two has been so great as of late, but what can I say?

This is essentially my last heavy quarter of coursework, and I am struggling through it. I think that the workload combined with the fact that I am having to coordinate with so many actual live people this quarter- and am really struggling with it- has made things so difficult. I really want to be an effective writer, researcher, etc. and do good work for the people I am working with, and yet it still seems really difficult to coordinate things sometimes, and I am so limited in my time, that it makes everything seem so much heavier.

One way I am trying to manage stress is to think about the fact that in less than two months I will be visiting my sister in Bulgaria. And all of this will be over. In the mean time, I look at pictures like this, and they make me happy. They make me wish that my job was to organize pumpkin carvings too, but at the same time, I know Anna's role there is a lot harder than that.

Anyway, here are some lovely fall pictures from Bulgaria- they will be getting an American taste of Halloween this year, with the candy corn and rite aid decorations that I sent them all the way from California. I wish I fit into a priority mail flat rate package sometimes. =)





These days, I

Adventures Con Mi Familia

Formal night on the cruise ship. Hold on girls, its waiter time! This is much more significant when you have seen the sign that says Sacramento 3073 in Ocean City, MD. I have seen the MD sign countless times, and this one only once.

Best pizza and SD. (But really people go for the hot chicks.)

Oh, I haven't invited you to our park yet, have I ?

Mas aqui!

St. Patty's Weekend

I suggested that we make Reuben Sandwiches in honor of the holiday and my Irish heritage. My name is Bonny O'Neill you know, and it doesn't get anymore Irish sounding that that. But since all my sister has been talking about for the last week is corned beef and cabbage, so I thought we'd try a veg version of that, and we did, and it was pretty yummy. Unfortunately the picture above is not my own, but it comes from the website where I got the recipe..It seems like it could be good with real beef too...


Thankfully this year good Catholics will not have to worry about all the discrepancy that comes when St. Patty's day is on a Friday during Lent, and they are not supposed to eat meat. I believe that although that article only talks about the archbishop of Atlanta saying it was okay to eat corned beef on the holiday, I think I have heard something about the Pope himself saying it was okay to eat... I am not Catholic, so I don't have that problem...

One of my favorite things about the holiday and this dish in particular is that it was the last thing that my mom ate before she went into labor with my little sister who was born March, 18th 1987...

I hope that you all particularly green Tuesdays and have some Irish stout to celebrate.

Three hot mamas...

Well, actually only one of them is a mama and we hope to keep it that way for at least a few more years.

We all matched on XMAS this year, which I think was sort of planned/unplanned- I don't know, but it made for a fun photo shoot.

I thought that these pictures would be especially appropriate to compare to the first picture on my Birthday post. We are three strong women . I love my family dynamics and growing up in a house with so much estrogen was so empowering. And sometimes a little emotional.

This rest of this fun photo shoot (with the goofier pictures) are here.

by catbonny

The Value of Time with Friends (Thoughts on the Holiday Season)

This picture was taken by John, who is linked on my sidebar at Mind on Fire. It was taken during a post-Thankgiving Anti-Consumer Party, which makes a point of spending time with friends playing games, eating good food, and enjoying each others company instead of waking up at 5am to hit those huge black Friday sales.

As Christmas is just around the corner, I have been thinking about how most of the gifts I purchase for people will ultimately be bought with student loan money, which isn't the most comforting thought. A friend of mine called me yesterday and asked if rather thank buying gifts for her and her husband, D and I would want to get together with them and make dinner and have a game night. I liked her proactive approach to this and the fact that her idea took the emphasis off purchasing something for each other and put it on spending time with each other, which is really the point of the holidays.

So I am thinking of extending this offer to some other friends because to cook dinner and hang out just sounds so much better than shopping for junk and worrying about money. Perhaps nearer to the holiday and when my finals are finished I will get a creative spark in me, but recently during the holidays I have kind of lacked the energy for that, so I guess we will see.

My Christmas present this year is going to be all about spending time with loved ones, and will include a trip back east with D to meet my family, and take a road trip cross country in the new/used car that my mom has to kindly decided to gift me. So yeah I am getting a big gift, which is really great, but I will honestly be more excited to spend the time with my family then to have a new car.

I value the time I get with friends and family so much and parties like the one in the picture are just a reminder or how much fun that time can be. = )

I am thankful for...

- canned cranberry sauce. Whenever people gush over the homemade stuff I tell them that I grew up eating in the can, and love it that way. My sister and I used to open up a can and eat it with a spoon. The first thanksgiving I spent away from my family they had homemade stuff and I felt like there was just something missing.

D and I were invited to several places to have Thanksgiving this year but have opted to stay at home and cook a huge meal only for ourselves. The goal is to relax, roll with the punches, and not have any stress over this holiday. In fact, right now he is making me lunch (which I am also thankful for) so that we can relax a bit more before we start cooking the fake turkey log and dressing in a few hours. Other dishes include creamed corn, mashed sweet potatoes, and a pumpkin cheesecake. I know it's a lot of food for two people but I think leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving, so I am willing to suffer for the excess of food.

I am thankful for many other things.
I am thankful for Christmas I will be able to spend the holiday with my family and David.
I am thankful that I will spend tomorrow playing games and eating more yummy food with good friends.
I am thankful that the quarter has almost come to a close, and I have a manageable amount of work to get done in the next few weeks.
I am thankful that I got to spend time with Jare on her way to Portland.
I am so thankful for this relaxation right now. It feels nice.

Look how happy we were and how pretty the sky was on the 4th of July.

We were happy to get away from all the drunken craziness in Newport Beach. It was such a pleasant afternoon in San Clemente. Good food, good company, good music, and we didn't have to fight traffic at all. (Smile)

Vegan Corned-Beef and Cabbage?

I am not making Vegetarian Beef and Cabbage, but I am celebrating St. Patty's Day by making a Guinness themed, Vegetarian Irish meal tomorrow night. The menu includes

• Vegetarian "Beef" and Guinness Stew
• Irish Apple Mash Recipe
• Irish cheddar and Stout fondue
• Vegan Irish Whiskey Cake

I am excited about making all of this, but I also get kind of nervous when I make new things. I am wondering how strong the cake is going to taste of Whiskey. Also, generally I make vegan recipes with non-vegan products like real butter and milk and eggs. I am not a vegan and I figure that generally speaking real butter is better than fake butter.

We'll see how this Irish feast goes. My name is pretty Irish so you have to give me that. One the same hand, I cannot really drink beer like an Irishman (woman). I wish I could.

P.S. My mom always said that it was the corned-beef and cabbage that put her into labor with my sister, who was born on march 18th, 1987. I actually just remember that.

On Love

Love is patient. Love is kind.
It does not envy. It does not boast.It is not proud.
It is not rude. It is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered.It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.
Love bears all things, believes all things,hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
L o v e N e v e r F a i l s.
Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8

So I know that this is the typical Valentine's day verse, but these is something about these verses that always resounds with me. Because love is selfless, kind, and powerful- and that really moves me. I don't look at it in the context of romantic love as much as parental love, which is where I am going with this. (I don't think I mean parental love to be specfically parents, but maybe that desire and drive to care for someone else.)

Anyway regarding love I wanted to say that this morning I was telling David that I am so very thankful because I have never been without love. From the moment I can remember I have felt so truly loved and cared for by my mother that I never questioned that there was a strong poweful and pefect force that exists within people's relationships between each other. I have always felt valued and cherished and special. My sense of god and spirituality and the way I treat others is so very strongly rooted in the love I experienced via my mother. I know that I am more fortunate than many to have grown up in such a loving a supporting environment, and I really do try my hardest to share that influence with others in my daily life.

I want to share it with my husband and children one day. Today I am thankful to share with with my boyfriend, and friends, and family (from a far).



P.S. David loved his present. He smiled and laughed mutliple times- but I still need to get his persmission to blog about it. What do you say babe?

Happy Hearts Day! (Almost)

I told David that this year the rule for Valentine's gifts was that they had to be handmade and cost less than $20.00 to make. Last year I think that he went a little bit overboard- I am NOT complaining in the slightest. He gave me a board game, but my absolute favorite thing was the box that had 30 hand written dates in it. I think that we did a few of them. I still have it, and should bust it out in the near future. He also got me a housecleaner for a day because I was always stressed about my house being dirty. They were all super sweet.

I have to say that I love, love, love the gift I made for D last night, and I am really excited to give it to him because they are funny, creative, and useful. I will have to ask him if I can reveal what they are after I give them to him. I really want to take pictures and post them, but I am not sure if he would be down with that.