thanksgiving 2016

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all my friends are cool and nice
all my friends are made out of sugar and spice

- cherry glaser

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despite the absence of most of our usual guest list, thanksgiving 2016 was a hit. less people meant less pressure and the freedom to cook what we wanted without compromise. josh + i don't eat meat and have a mutual distaste for the senseless killing of turkeys on thanksgiving so we always opt for a meat alternative. ironically, the tofurkey we made one year was the worst of all of our attempts. it was so bad we thought it would be more fun to throw it around like a soccer ball rather than consume it. we got a good laugh out of it, otherwise it was just really gross. maybe we need to work on the recipe but i'm not sold on it. i don't remember liking real turkey anyway so there you go.

this year we made 'neatloaf' as the main dish. yup, that's vegan meatloaf and i promise you it is really good! we also made mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, seasoned brussel sprouts, and gravy. josh's mom made vegan stuffing and cranberry sauce. my friend brought a fresh arugala salad from her garden with goast cheese, walnuts and raspberries to share along with THE BEST ginger snap cookies i have ever had. beside consuming a ridiculous amount of food the holiday was spent going on walks around my old neighborhood, hitting up every playground within a 2 mile radius and just simply hanging out.

it was all ridiculously chill and a much needed change of pace. so grateful for the break from reality and an excuse to overeat. a few random photos from our thanksgiving holiday if you'd like to see...

playground stop 1. i was on mom duty while josh did all of the cooking for us. i think i came up on this deal. i mean i got to hang out with BATMAN (max) + ROBIN (knox) all day. the day before max started asking for his batman cape from halloween and i was so busy trying to pack i was like sure! knock yourself out. 

he didn't take it off for the next four days and even wore it to bed. the only way i could get him to part with it was when the bottom part fell in toilet water when he refused to remove it to go to the potty. he at least has the sense to not wear a soiled cape. nothing super about that.

after the park we went for a walk and the boys fell asleep hard. this doesn't happen much anymore so i took the opportunity to go for a long stroll through my old neighborhood and stop by a few of my old apartments...

for a few months that was my balcony apartment with an amazing view of hillcrest! after i left a friend of mine moved in with her husband! this partment has been passed off to friends for decades and i promise you will never see a for rent sign in front of it.

view from gerogia street overlooking florida. this portion of land directly below will probably remain vacant forever. maybe it's haunted?! it has been that way forever. kind of nice how things stay the same but also wtf?

one of my favorite places ever was this bottom unit of a fourplex on florida street. i lived here with my little brother for a few years. i loved this apartment so much i didn't even mind that my room was so small i could only fit a twin bed in it.

eventually i made my way back to the park and met up with my friend and her twin girls. we still had another hour to kill before dinner. good lord i was hungry by this point. so much of thanksgiving is just waiting to eat amirght?

but omg. our first year having a kids' table!

it was sooooo cute.

first helping of many...

and the day after. 

business as usual. 

park stop number 3? something like that. 

us. seriously. i love us. 

before we left town i hosted a little party in my brother's garden for a few of my favorite females. one i've known since junior high (striped hoodie), another high school (chambray shirt) and the other three i really can't remember not knowing them. that night i probably drank too much and definitely gave a truly heartfelt toast to our friendship. because i really don't tell them enough how much i love them and how grateful i am to have them as friends. 

thank you thanksgiving. thanks for the memories. thanks for the food. thanks for the reminding me how good i have it. thank you thank you thank you.

xoxo,

sony

PS our thanksgiving last year here!