The final Americanadian..

my brother!! Can no longer be deported...way to go little bro way to go!

Bummed he didn't dress the part in something a little more like this:

People keep asking me what it takes to be American so here is the inside scoop. First you have to fill out the intense application (do you remember every single time you left the country in the last five years?!?! well you better if you want to become a citizen) and swear that you are not a 'habitual drunkard' (hope they don't count college ;-)) and are not part of a terrorist party. Then you have to read out loud a sentence in English (mine was 'Who lives in the White House?') and then write a sentence in English (mine was 'The President lives in the White House'...and no I'm not joking). Then you have to answer 10 civics questions of which you only need to get 6 right...check em out, they're not that difficult. After that you're done!! Lots of paper work (and repeatedly swearing I was not a habitual drunkard) and it was all over...try and deport me now suckas! Just kidding :-) Glad my family is all Americanadians!

Thanksgiving 2011

First Thanksgiving as an American was a total success!! Typically we don't get to see our Canadian family for holidays so its become a tradition that we go over to Christine and Dieter's to celebrate with our 'fake family' as I call them...its been 11 years and counting of holidays but the first as Americans :-) My mom and Christine are all over the food situation, my dad and Dieter talk about beer and biking, my brother and the boys talk about video games and sports and Elizabeth, Emily and I talk about whatever...this year we talked about Elizabeth's wedding since she just got engaged!!! Very exciting stuff...we immediately started pinterest-ing. 

Holiday appropriate decor...love it

Dieter carving the turkey

Gravy, cabbage and potatoes on the stove

Thankful...

For my awesome family and friends...both American and Canadian :-) Since it won't be Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow, this is like over a month late for them...my bad, I love my Canadian fam and friends and miss them All. The. Time.

One huge thing that makes up for missing my northern peps (and Vancouver) is that I get to live in San Francisco!! I'm so thankful that I live in such an amazing city...here are some pics I've taken while wandering around SF (taken and edited with my iphone...hence the weird borders). There are A LOT of pics and to be honest this is a pretty selfish post (awkward to be selfish on Thanksgiving) but its going to get cold and foggy soon and I would like to remember why I love living here. Pretty soon Muni will be insanely crowded (like 'busting at the seams' crowded or 'no concept of personal space' crowded) with sick people (ugh) trying to escape the rain. 

Justin Herman Plaza- pretty then but now the temporary home of Occupy SF

Last minute Thanksgiving ideas

I'm pretty lucky on Thanksgiving since all I really have to do is show up, eat as much as possible and help clean up...I'm really good at the eating as much as possible part. If you aren't quite as lucky and are scrambling to get ready you're in luck because I love reading cooking blogs (which make me nice and hungry at work) and there are some great ideas in the links below.

Tracy at Shutterbean put together an awesome last minute Thanksgiving post with some of her recipes. She has a cool alternative stuffing idea that looks amazing- baked apples with stuffing. I made the Roasted brussels sprouts and butternut squash dish for my lunches this week and it was delish. Keep in mind I grew up HATING brussels sprouts and had to be talked into eating just one at every big family meal by my uncle (obviously I covered it in gravy, salt, butter and mashed potatoes to make that one bite edible) so for me to love this is a big deal...like totes big deal.

Pre-roasting goodness

Heidi at 101 Cookbooks has a quick and easy green bean recipe...just in case you're not a fan of the traditional green bean casserole. Emily with Daily Garnish has a great recipe for rosemary and sage mashed potatoes...plus she just had a baby so super cute photos in all her posts. She also came up with a vegan pumpkin pie in case you have any vegan guests coming. Continuing with desert, Joy over at Joy the Baker has come up with an awesome looking sweet potato pie for all the non-pumpkin lovers. And Deb from Smitten Kitchen has a drool worthy Baked Pumpkin and Sour Cream pudding...I will be making it as soon as humanly possible.

Lastly if you're stuck setting the table, Apartment Therapy has a cool post about sustainable tablescapes using produce (bonus factor- relatively easy since all you have to do is fight through all the other shoppers at the grocery store to pick up supplies then fight your way out of the parking lot..done and done).

Good luck!!

Staying patriotic during the holidays...

This year will be the first year my fam and I will be celebrating the holidays as Americanadians. Its going to be a tough adjustment..no moose for Thanksgiving, no Canadian goose for Christmas, no building igloos, no opening presents by candlelight...juuuust kidding! I have been asked if Canadians do any of that and as far as I know (being from Vancouver) that would be a big 'negative!!'...maybe if you're waaaaay up north. Anyways, my Aunt Judy has been on the lookout to help our family stay 'American' during the holidays. She heard that Americans love Ugly Sweater parties (awesome recon on her part) but since she really wants us to be as authentically American as possible she went one step further and found these bad boys: Nauseating Holiday Pants by Betabrand.

Patriotic from head to toe...

I'm winding down from a fun weekend (my headache this morning indicated that maybe I had too much fun) by watching The Notebook and online shopping. Looove that movie and yes, I cry every single time I watch it. Now, I was supposed to be looking for things I can buy other people for Christmas buuut after some creative googling I came across some fabulous footwear that would be a perfect addition to any AmeriCanadian girl's closet...just sayin'

I wear through running shoes pretty fast walking around the city and bootcamping- as it turns out that there are many options which are both patriotic AND functional.

#15 Make an apple pie

So I had to be reminded that today was election day and I wasn't in SF to vote...major American fail. But I am about to write about apple pie (if I can tear myself away from watching Sister Wives- so ridiculously addicting for some reason) and apple pie is totally American so it evens out?? Well it's my blog so yes, I vote that it's an American wash...I'm not more American but I haven't lost any of my American cred.

Now to talk about pie. Delish apple pie. To be honest I don't really like pie and I especially don't like apple pie but I figured it was super American so I had to make it.

All of the ingredients...mmm ice cream

Nov 8th Election Day!

Make sure you get your American on and vote! (Unlike me who forgot about it and won't make it to SF in time to vote...oops). In American related news, who thinks I need these geese for my apartment?

Update to #11 Donating Blood

So it turns out you can get a pretty nasty looking bruise if you donate blood so I'd recommend doing this when its cold out...this is not a good look for short sleeves:

#11 Donate Blood

Today I kicked off 11th month of the year by checking off number 11 on my list. In case you haven't seen the list, the first part of the list can be found here and the second part here.

The idea of donating blood has always kind of freaked me out but after being assured that its not that bad I decided to give it a shot. Bonnie was awesome and spent her lunch hour hanging out with me for support and was the official photographer (with input on camera angles from Ava).

It started out as I had expected...my technician Olga couldn't find a vein! No surprise there since its always a problem whenever I need to get blood drawn. Olga called in Ava 'the expert' who kept asking if I drank enough water (48 oz that morning- yup might have been overkill) and if I had eaten.

Olga (left) and Ava (right) shaking their heads at my teeny tiny veins. Keisha in the background going through boxes.