AmeriCanadian Christmas 2011

Made it through the holidays as Americans- success! We spent Christmas eve at my parents house where my mom made a delish turkey dinner and we watched old home videos (Buddy the puppy stole the show however there were also a lot of Spice Girl songs involved...my 'choreography' has not stood the test of time...awkward). My brother and dad spent most of the afternoon/evening trying to find the funniest meme's..."highlights" were Karate Kyle, Insanity Puppy and High Expectations Asian Father. We slept in Christmas morning and took our time opening presents- we used the iPhone Face Time to see/talk to family back in the homeland (and to totally freak out all the dogs...they had no clue where the voices were coming from)...very cool to be able to see everyone. Speaking of dogs, I love this. 

AmeriCanadian Christmas family portrait

Santacon 2011

I never used to understand why people got so stressed around the holidays...thats because I was Canadian. As a canadian holidays = fun, happiness, lights, snowboarding, good food, friends, family,  gingerbread cookies, shortbread cookies, thumbprint cookies...notice a theme? 

But no, not this year...now that I'm Americanadian the full weight of the holidays has turned me into a stressed out mess. This is 80% due to work stress...why do people want to buy furniture before the holidays?!?! go buy Christmas/ Hanukkah presents and leave me alone!!

How awesome is this?!?!

Christmas decorations

Last weekend I headed home to my parents house to help set up all my mom's Christmas decorations...this is no small feat as the woman has boxes upon boxes of decorations. So many boxes of decorations that we actually lost one this year and some key decor (ahem my angel tree topper) is MIA. I'm sure that since a Christmas store has opened up in town recently, my mom will be able to replace (and then some!) her decorations in no time. 

I like to help because, to be honest, I like things done my way...some call this bossy but I like to think of it as helping people make the right decision. Anyway, here is the finished tree looking all sparkly and pretty (despite the angel at the top which I take no responsibility for...she's not my fav but I was overruled):

Patriotic Apartment

So I decided that these geese weren't really the design direction I was looking to take in the apartment so I opted to go with these:

I found these gorgeous type map prints on Etsy...the company is called Bold & Noble and you can find the Canada print here and the US print here. Frames are from Ikea and my roommate Lindsey and I killed our fingers trying to put these together but I guess thats what you get for a $15 frame.

These are going to look so good once they get on the wall...speaking of which who is going to be kind and help me hang them?? If I do it myself its going to get bad real quick...I can never manage to make things level when a hammer and nail are involved. 

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