I had a delicious, restful holiday weekend full of family and fun!

My Thanksgiving dinner was yummy – I love mashed potatoes, missed having tofurkey, fell madly in love with creamed onions and realized that I actually like yams. In my effort to avoid my mom overcooking the green beans, I took them off the heat too soon and they were a little under-done. Oops. But my brother agreed that they were better than usual. And I scarfed a slice of pumpkin pie ~ with vanilla ice cream and whipping cream on top, which always makes me feel so good. Warm and tired, like I could just hibernate. We then gathered around the table and played Apples to Apples, my two 90+ year old grandmothers included!

The next day my whole family was tired and lazy, so finally I took off into the town to see what I could see. I wandered through two stores, but was uninspired by the commercialization of gift-giving, so I took myself to the movies instead. I highly recommend Bolt! I wasn’t sure about it based on the billboards around LA, but it warmed my heart and made me want a dog…

On Saturday, I gave my dad a yoga lesson. Even though I have never been through training, I was able to give my dad some pointers. My dad does the sun salutation most mornings and said my tips helped him a lot when he did it by himself again today. We had a good time and I even got my dad into a headstand!

Here is my former yoga teacher, Elsie, teaching the basic sun salutation…

Finally, on Sunday I returned home to Hollywood where R and I went to a screening of the amazing film Revolutionary Road. I wasn’t sure about this movie, either, but wow. Just wow.

For a Brit, Sam Mendes is a genius when it comes to telling the story of suburban America. First, American Beauty and now this. R and I both suppose that we invented the suburban existential problem here in America, but I’m sure it has since spread across the pond and beyond.

Here are two lines that reverberated throughout my whole body and stuck with me…

“If being crazy means living life as if it really matters, then I don’t care if we’re completely insane.”
~April (Kate Winslet) to her husband Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio)

“All I know is, April, I want to feel things, really feel them, you know?. How’s that for an ambition?”
~Frank to his new wife, April

The performances were breathtaking. And the story was real, honest, heartbreaking, familiar…a movie I completely relate to.

Then, last night we went out for dinner to celebrate two of R’s sister’s birthdays, where his niece Scarlett decided I would look fabulous with a bow on my head…

Over the holiday weekend I meditated a great deal on things for which I am grateful. Here is an abridged list:

*my family
*my home, however disjointed at the moment
*my best kitty friend, Marceau
*my health and the health of my family
*the pole
*warm blankets
*my friendships
*my recent discovery that I actually like pickles
*my black hooded sweatshirt
*the beach
*love in all it’s forms
*the re-discovery of my yoga practice
*the ability to read
*sunshine and rain
*my ease with using chopsticks
*the growing consciousness about the need to go green
*dancing, dancing, dancing
*good stories in all forms
*open communication
*my always evolving life journey, however many ups and downs it brings

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay grateful…
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