Christmas Break in California

 

My cousins and I got matching PJs for christmas. 

 

 Presents!  And new earmuffs from Derek.

 The fam bam playing games and eating massive amounts of desserts on Christmas. 

 Huntington Beach...I took my lovely friend Lisal and her fiance, Scott's engagement photos here. 

 I flew out of Orange County airport.  And was unaware of their "unique take-off procedures".

Basically the airplane shoots straight up into the air and once its up they kill the engines as to not disturb the newport beach residents.  Once the plan reaches the ocean the engine starts up again.  Right after take-off the engine went silent and the pilot went on the intercom and whispered "shhh, we're flying over rich people's houses".  Oh Orange County.  

All I Want For Christmas Is Some Mini Schnauzers...

I've always felt a special connection to dogs and babies, much more than normal people.

Maybe it's because I am a young soul.

Maybe it's because I am socially awkward.

Either way I post in honor of my favorite pups.

I love them.

Meet Ally. 

And dear old savan:

 

 

 

Merry Christmas! 

The snow is divine.

It astounds me how incredible beautiful snow is.

I feel like I've missed an integral part of my childhood not growing up in a place that snows.

Not experiencing the sheer excitement of the first snowfall.

There is something so purifying and peaceful about snowfall, especially in new york city. 

 For a short time the hussle and bussle of the city seems to pause, and the dirtiness of the city seems to be covered up by a blanket of white.  The snow assures me that there is a God up there, because these beautiful lovely little flakes are heavenly and simply divine.

Bhagavad-Gita

In the last three days I have written 23 pages of double spaced, MLA format text.

And quite frankly my brain is fried.

 ...

Also it's freezing, literally freezing.

Today was 18 degrees and I walked around nyc for 3 hours in the cold spreading the news of yoga

Good thing I love my job.

...

In better news...

The Bhagavad-Gita.

(The subject of one of my 12-pagers this week)

Enjoy the inspiration!

"Your own duty done imperfectly is better than another man’s done well.  It is better to die in one’s own duty; another man’s duty is perilous" 3:35

"Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self is enduring, indestructible, and immeasurable"2:18

"Be intent on action, not on the fruits of action; avoid attraction to the fruits...be impartial to failure and success" 2:47-48

"Detached from external contacts, he discovers joy in himself; joined by discipline to the infinite spirit, the self attains inexhaustible joy" 5:21

I love this stuff.  The thing that has grabbed me the most is being intent on actions and not the results of those actions, because in all reality that is all we have control over.  We have complete control of our actions, and zero control of the results of those actions.  All be can do is our best.  It's empowering when you think about it.  To be able to live your life as best as possible, but at the end of the day let go, and completely detach yourself from success or failure.  I think my goal in the new year is to apply this to my life.  To not worry about whether I'm good enough, or if the world approves. To live my life the best I can, and focus on what I do, and let go of the rest! 

Things I have done instead of my paper:

Ped Egged my feet

Taken a nap

Gone grocery shopping

Looked at the Mexican/Californian border of google maps

Made a giant sandwich

StumbleUpon

Bought 2 Christmas presants online

Laundry

Went to a show at Adler

Talked to both sets of Grandparents on the phone

Looked at flights

Baked cookies

Vaccumed my room

Ate ice cream with oreos

Perezhilton.com

Made french toast with Nate

Danced with Fish (the dog)

Looked up  rescue websites for French Bulldogs

Wrote this blog post.

I am so close. Yet so far.

My front yard:

Have I mentioned I love Christmas?

The only reason worth leaving my apartment in 9 degree weather:

 

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

When I woke up this morning one thing was clear...


Winter had arrived. 


And had made sure to make itself know.  There was no going back, so I begrudgingly unpacked my northface coat, gloves and hat from the storage bag and welcomed them to a long winter.  I used to love the cold because I never grew up with it, but now that I've lived in new york for three years it has become significantly less excited.  

In more exciting winter news, 


I have officially done Christmas shopping for my family, with the help of retailmenot.com -- a VERY useful little website that has discount codes for almost every shopping website.  


This weekend was the Christmas Ball at Nate's school, which was so fun.  I spent the weekend in Long Island (where I learned I am just not cut out for cold weather).  Although it was just Nate and I, we have both come to love and depend on his barely functioning, highly impulsive, but very awesome jeep Lazerous, which I endearingly nicknamed "Laz".  On the way to the Ball, Nate and I all dressed up and ready to go, Laz decided not to start.  But don't worry, this happens all the time, all Nate has to do is go under the car and knock on the starter with a wench.  Mind you, it is snow-raining below 30 degree weather.  So he slaps on his bowler suit over his uniform and prepares to fix the starter.  Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who is not cut out for cold weather, because this time Laz refused to start.  


So there we sat for a good 40 minutes until the 7th of 8th try, when Laz magically decided to start as if nothing was wrong.  I love them, both the car and the "mechanic" who fixed it.