I’m sorry everyone, I failed.

Lil Lucius Lee Kitchens. Huge baby! Love. (Taken with instagram)

I want to be Tami Taylor now.

(via itsshowtime)

Laptop party y’all!!! (Taken with instagram)

Rejoice! God with us…Emmanuel (Taken with instagram)

Lori gave me my first stocking! (Taken with instagram)

I totally already did a New Thing this week! Stay tuned. I need to acquire a picture or two because my phone had died, but this New Thing was seriously awesome!

So I know, I’m WAY behind. Like a month. I don’t even really remember what my new things have been, but I’ll try to give it a shot. I tried to take pictures so maybe those will help jog my memory.

Ah…here we go. New Thing #19. Week of 11/13-11/19

Went to the Civil Wars show with Milo Greene opening. They were FANTASTIC. But I was racking my brain as it was Saturday, my week was ending and I hadn’t done anything new. But I HAD seen the Civil Wars before and I HAD been to the Wiltern and saying that it was my first time seeing Milo Greene would have been a total cop-out because I hadn’t even heard of them until we got there. So long story short. Here is a picture collection of my New Thing that night:

Yes. We ordered drinks from our seats by emailing in our request. New Thing. Boom.

The Next Week was Thanksgiving and I finally got to do a New Thing (#19) that I have been wanting to do for the past three Thanksgiving seasons, but hadn’t had the chance to do. I volunteered at CCCO for Shoes That Fit. I prepared a science test, math review and a kick-butt word search for my students and took the day off work. Then, I went down to Skid Row to help out at this amazing event.

For those of you who do not know what Shoes That Fit  or CCCO are, let me give you a little back story. CCCO (Central City Community Outreach) is an organization that my church, Ecclesia Hollywood, partners with who serve the underprivileged youth of Skid Row. They have daily programs to encourage kids and give them one on one tutoring after school and fun activities throughout the year. Shoes That Fit is an event that this organization puts on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, to provide shoes to hundreds of needy children and feed the families of these children by providing a hot meal and a take-home Thanksgiving meal. There were a lot of ways that people could give their time on that day from setting up to entertaining the kids to cleaning up. It was such a blessing to be a part of that day!

Setting up cookies with this guy!!

Aren’t they magical?

We had a bit of a fridge mishap…SAVE THE TURKEYS!!!

Cooking chili!

The families started lining up up to 5 hours early…

New Thing #20 was a combo deal. First, it was the first time that I was able to make MICK AND CHRIS’ COOKIE EXTRAVAGANZA!!! How funny that at this party last year, neither of these guys were married (or dating, even!) and this year, they were BOTH married to two unbelievably incredible women. Amazing! Then after the cookie party, I attended an “after party” at the Melting Pot. It was great! We ordered the 4 course meal that came with an appetizer cheese fondue, followed by a salad, then LOBSTER, the ending with a Bananas Foster dessert fondue. YUMMY! (sorry…no pictures…)

We were going to try to make it to ice skating in Pershing Square for the after after party, but the Melting Pot took too long and the rink was closed. Boo. That New Thing could wait for another day. :)

I have about 16 hours to think of New Thing Number 21. Whew, time is moving quickly! We’re almost halfway there!

The Civil Wars at the Wiltern (Taken with instagram)

Not all new, but this has been a full and good week. A little stressful, I won’t lie. I had an emotional breakdown earlier last week, but I have some really great people around me to lift me up when I can’t seem to lift myself up, both in my personal life and my professional. I cannot begin to tell you how blessed I am.

On Wednesday, I got to see a new band called M83, who I had never heard about until a friend told me he had an extra ticket and nobody to go with. So after meeting with a very encouraging and supportive colleague who helped me plan for the next 6 weeks of my science curriculum, I was able to go home and unwind for about 15 minutes before I was on my way to the Music Box in Hollywood. The band was great. They put on a great and fun show….the only issue was that I wish I had my earplugs with me! I’m not sure I’ve discovered a new love in the music world, but I had a great time.

Thursday, I got to meet up with two of my favorite people on the planet, Cassie and Felisa and we had a lovely home-cooked dinner (Thanks Felisa!), talked shop and then headed out to the Ahmanson Theater in Downtown to go see Bring it On: The Musical! It was not the best musical, but it was HILARIOUS and we all had a blast. It was nothing like the movie, but it had some really awesome moments and hilarious one-liners.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a full day because my friend, Naphtali got married! YAY! Then I went to the Cat and Fiddle for two friends’ birthday party where I experienced New Thing #18: Darts! I was pretty terrible, but Paul and I did win three games in a row until we were dethroned by the birthday boy, himself. Here are a few pictures of the day.

With the beautiful bride:

The Kenya team with the newlyweds:

New Thing #18: Darts at Cat n Fiddle!