the new thanksgiving.

for as long as I can remember we have gone to southern california for thanksgiving. in fact we all talked about it a few weeks before, we've never spent a thanksgiving in las vegas. one year in high school we went up north to my grandparents (my dads family) just outside of san francisco, and 2 years ago I had to stay home for work (yay, retail). other than that since i moved to las vegas in the 6th grade we have never as a family spent a thanksgiving here.

we were sooo young!

after last year the rumors started flyin that not everyone was planning on coming out to california. it was starting to get more expensive with plane flights, hotels, and, food out for the whole weekend. we used to be the only family that traveled so we had plenty of places to choose from to stay in. things started changing as we all started getting older and this was the year it all caught up. so we decided to just stay in vegas and start some new traditions.

in the spirit of starting something new mom and i decided to sign up for or very 1st turkey trot! i found a 12k (which is about 7.5 miles) out at the hoover dam that was perfect. it was also a trail run, something neither one of us are found of, but we figured we would give it a shot! i picked up our packets at our local running store wednesday evening with ease. afterward I did a few errands and picked one of my favorite per-race/long run dinner, qdoba:) once richard got home that night I was just about asleep so I could get in the sleep I needed for the next day.

i woke up the next morning feeling better than i had all week and was ready to go! we hitched a ride with my parents and my brother was home to come with us too. we arrived in plenty of time (a worry the day before since there's only 1 way in and one way out) and used the bathroom inside the hotel. mom and I headed to the start line and the boys headed up the hill to see us off. it was an out and back course through the six railroad tunnels with a great view of the dam at the turnaround. now to get to that great view they hyped up so much was a hill straight up and back down. i saw mom on the way back and we high-fived. she looked really good and strong! instead of mile markers like most races they had a few out there to count down your mileage instead. it was actual nice on the way back haha. about 1mile out you could see the finish line. at this point we were starting to pass the 1 mile fun walkers and that gave me an extra burst. as I crossed the line I could see my dad, richard, and my brother all in separate spots and the announcer even called my name!

1:07:39!

1:35:09!

oreos and bling, what more do you need!

i felt great after and was almost immediately hungry while we waited for mom. she finished soon after with a great time and we collected our bling ready to trek up the hill to have some breakfast. we ate at the cafe and it wasn't the best ever, but it satisfied the hunger. they dropped us off on their way home and i headed in to shower and nap before we met up with everyone at my parents house for the big feast. i slept for about an hour and definitely could have slept way longer if my alarm hadn't gone off. we headed over to my parents where my aunt nettie and uncle sam already were. richard and I were in charge of soda and the pumpkin brownies i decided to make, a sweet deal if you ask me haha.

we joined in with the family and feel into football, appetizers, and black friday ads. it was a great way to detox from the race that morning. i will say it wasn't the same without eggnog. mom and I were only a week out from the vegas 1/2 marathon and were watching just about everything that went into our bodies. that doesn't mean I didn't eat plenty:) the turkey and sides were ready a little later than we hoped for and we were waiting with our tongues hanging out. it was a-mazing! my mom is awesome cook and did a fantastic job (of course) with her first thanksgiving.

in the lockwood house, you always, always keep your fork!!

richard and i hung out for awhile then decided to head home so we could rest for a little bit before heading out for black friday madness! i got in about another hour nap and we were up and I had coffee in hand on our way out the door to target. the plan was target 1st then the nike outlet and ulta in the same parking lot. then kohls on our way to the mall, with a possible stop at best buy. we lined up at target way down the bend from the front door at about 1130p and the line actually moved pretty quick to get us in. we weren't there for the big things, we were just there for the experience and to hopefully pick up a couple good things. no matter how good a big screen tv deal is, i don't think I could camp out for 4+ hours in the cold for one.

crazy, crazy!

we scored a few good dvds and headed over to nike. i bought a jacket for the vegas race, which I badly needed, plus another one and some arm warmers. afterward we headed into ulta. we weren't quite as successful there as we hoped. the it was off to kohls. this place was crazy! the line was crazy long and we sure did wait in it to buy a few things. by the time we got out of there it was almost 3a and we had a bit of time to waste before the mall opened. so we decided to check out best buy. talk about crazy? omg. the store had been open 3 hours and the line was still snaked through the whole store with people holding big purchases. i think it was this point we decided we just needed to head to the mall then home. as we were getting ready to leave a fight broke out in the back corner causing the police to be called and associates to start running to break it up. yeah it was time to go.

we got to the mall and it was definitely time to eat. now a mall food court isn't always the best place for a runner 1 week away for a 1/2 marathon to eat. i was sooo tempted to have a pretzel or cinnabon cinnamon roll but made the right choice and went to subway instead. i had a egg breakfast sandwich and some chocolate milk, it was delicious! i felt so much better after eating and was soo glad i picked the right thing. we headed shopping in the few places we were hoping for. richard made the big purchase he was waiting for all night, a black hoodie from express. i also found my best and biggest purchase of the night at jcp, a grey toggle cost with a hood that I had my eye on for a few weeks. i got a smokin deal and even had to buy a smaller size then I thought:)

england, get ready ill be there soon:)

we made the collective decision to leave after we paid for that. i was ready long before, but i think richard forgot what we were doing, as he was looking to "just browse around." this is black friday, you don't browse, you go in, get what you want, and get out! turned out to be good we left then because as we were walking out a local newscaster from channel 5 asked if we would be on live tv! of course we said yes and went for our few minutes of fame.  im pretty sure we both fell asleep that morning before our heads hit the pillow at 6a. we set alarms for noon so we didn't sleep away the day (according to richard) and we were meeting my family later that day for the movies.  

noon seemed to come awfully quickly and we were back up before we knew it. my whole body hurt all day, sore from the race and the lack of sleep plus all the walking during black friday. we decided to meet my family at town square later in the day to see the muppets! i was seriously sooo excited. i grew up watching that show, so the fact they were coming out with a movie now, i could not wait. we met my parents there a little early since they wanted to walk around a little bit before. just before the movie started we headed to the theater to meet up with my brother and erik and his family. we took up almost a whole row and there were definitely more adults in that movie than kids! ps it was amazing! if you havent already seen it, please go. its sooo funny.

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saturday, richard and i decided was going to be for sleeping in and decorating. thats exactly what we did. with all the craziness of the last few days we gladly took the lazy saturday to do whatever we wanted. last year we decorated and it was weird and rushed after the whirlwind thanksgiving in california. this year we were able to take our time and enjoy the process (for the most part :) ). the tree came out beautiful and richards idea of wrapping the center with white lights gave it a really cool twist.

merry christmas!!

sunday afternoon richard had to go to work:( its the absolute craziest time of the year for his job and they offer sunday double time to a few guys to help get ready for the week. he takes advantage of the bonus every year, who wouldnt! so i got to be extra lazy on the couch curled up underneath my blankets with flannel pjs on:) it was a great end for me to the 4-day weekend. we started new traditions, and had a whole new kind of thanksgiving in las vegas. we survived another year of black friday and am not totally sure that i will do it again. we also got to escape to our own house and do the things that were important to us, like decorating for christmas:)

the thanksgiving weekend adventure part 1.

while it is my favorite time of the year, thanksgiving is one of the best things about it.  instead of trying to coordinate a gathering at christmas, in my family it is the one true time of the year that we get together.  we have been going to southern california to my grandparents forever, the only time i remember anything different was the year we went north, and it felt really weird.  we drive down late wednesday night once dad got off work and stay until early sunday.  when i went away to college i always flew there, no question.  once i started working in retail it all changed.  the first two years i would literally went down for about 24 hours, long enough for the actual day of thanksgiving and then quickly came back for black friday.  last year i started at a new store the week of thanksgiving and couldnt go down to california at all.  so this year i was so excited to finally see my whole family again.

this year was also going to be interesting, because richard was going to come with me and meet the whole family.  he had met and spent time with my parents a ton.  and had met my dads parents, but this would be the first large family gathering he would participate in.  my family is a little nuts, as are all families.  i would leak a little bit of information here and there to richard as thanksgiving got closer, just enough not to scare him.  we decided that we would drive down early thursday morning and be there around 12 noon.  he had to work the night before and it seemed silly to drive down and midnight and be tired the whole next day.

i was really nervous to take him down there with me.  this would be the first time my family would meet a serious boyfriend i had been with for a significant amount of time, and we lived together.  as if i wasnt nervous enough, we had been fighting what seemed like more than normal that week.  it was just little things that didnt even matter, but for some reason that week they did.  i snapped at him about stupid things.  so he would get mad and i would just get more mad cause he was.  then i felt like an idiot for even snapping and it would take me a long time to apologize.  and being the amazing boyfriend that he is, would always tell that it was ok, when i knew it wasnt and i was just being mean for no reason.  i was almost afraid he was going to say he didnt want to go and would just stay here.  thank goodness he still went.

this thanksgiving felt very different for multiple reasons.  i was bringing a boyfriend, we were staying in a hotel, we didnt all drive down together, grandpa and myrna were doing thanksgiving and saturday dinner at their house, and still grandma was not here with us.  she passed away in 2004 and whenever we go down, it still feels weird she isnt there to celebrate.  luckily grandpa found a really great new partner named myrna, who definitely keeps him on his toes. 

once we finally got down there we went straight to grandpas house.  we arrived just about the same time as everyone else.  as we went in, i was getting really excited to show off my boyfriend, and i think richard was just getting more and more nervous.  the family took him well and never really drilled him with questions.  he spent a lot of time watching football with the guys and i spent a lot of time with my other uncles, aunts, and cousins.  there was lots of new family drama to catch up on.  i kept checking on him to make sure he was ok, and he did really well holding his own.  which i by the way, never had a doubt.

later that evening we went down to the hotel in laguna with my parents.  we had convinced them to let us stay with them and save everyone money in hotel.  it was a tight fit to say the least.  we had brought richards air mattress with us, one because there were 5 people in the room, and two because he and i couldnt sleep together.  we escaped the family for a little bit and walked around in hopes of food, didnt find much though.  i really just wanted to go to bed so we could get up early to experience our 1st black friday shopping, but he wasnt tired at all, and it was nice to just walk around with him.

the next morning at 3am the alarms started going off so we could get up and start the shopping!  this was going to be quite the adventure, number one it was my 1st black friday on the customer side.  number two he and i were going by ourselves.  number three 2 of my other aunts, mom and cousin all decided they were now going to go experience black friday since we didnt let them go with us.  we left pretty close to 330am and after getting lost and having to turn around and miss the 4am opening of target, we made it to the costa mesa target with a pretty empty parking lot.  we were stoked, thinking we had found the best target.  turns out that store specifically didnt open till 7am!  this meant we were already late and now were going to definitely miss out on the $3 grill cheese maker i desperately wanted at any other target.  we found another one super close and actually closer to south coast plaza.  we entered and made mad dashes to the electronics and kitchen areas.  my mission was to see the tv on dvd sales and his mission to find the $3 grill cheese maker.  i found sex and the city 2 for $10, but no big bang.  he came up empty handed with a grill cheese maker.  we were trying to decide whether we were going to brave the line for sex and the city 2 when we saw a huge george foreman grill on sale for $28!  we definitely decided to stand in line after that.  then while standing in line i found big bang season 3 for $13 along with 2 other movies for $4 each.  i also found the entire series of friends on sale for $10 per season and legit had all 10 boxes in my hand with richard looking at me like a crazy person, i realized i may have gotten a little caught up in the craziness.  i put friends back and joined richard back in line to pay for our awesome finds.  target was definitely successful.

we moved on to south coast plaza where we really didnt find that many lines.  i think the line i stood in at starbucks was longer than any line we stood in for a store.  i made great purchases at victoria secret and h&m where richard said the best thing to me, "you can never have too many coats."  (i think you may need to understand my obsession with outerwear to fully know why i loved that so much, but its ok.)  many stores werent even open and the line at gap looked like a club with a bouncer to get in.  we made our way across the street to old navy where i just shook my head and chuckled the whole time we were in there, reminding myself how glad i was to be on the other side.  we even braved best buy, which by 9am wasnt even bad at all.  we walked to our car with our fantastic purchases we damn near could have sold our rockin parking spot and gone back shopping for more.

our next stop realistically was phillys best for the most amazing cheese steaks and chicken phillys on the planet.  we just had to make a walmart detour, it was only 930 in the morning.  on our detour though, we ended up buying a christmas tree.  it was just like the one we had been looking at in vegas.  richard kept saying we can just go buy it on sunday when we get home, but i kept saying, why go out when we can buy it now and be done.  in the end the tree rode all the way home in the backseat.