Day one of my 20 days of working out - walked 6.12 miles! Part of the walking was at the lovely Huntington Gardens, where I took my mom for a holiday tea this afternoon.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did, but ate too much, so I'm signing up to do the holiday exercise challenge at iowagirleats.com and exercise 20 times between now and Christmas! (Starting tomorrow!)

Today I took a very big step and bought new kitchen appliances. Keep in mind that my dishwasher hasn't worked for over a year, my oven only occasionally will light, and my refrigerator is leaking, so this is a very over due step. I'm excited, but slightly nauseous over spending a substantial amount of money, but it will make Thanksgiving (and Christman, and day to day living), a lot easier!

Decided to do a post about my weekend.

In the last year, I've tried to get out and enjoy all that Southern California has to offer. I realized that I had memberships in New York City Museums, but hadn't visited many local offerings. So, in the last year, I've visited LACMA, the Huntington (twice), the Norton Simon, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the San Diego Zoo.

I've also enjoyed going to ballet and theater at the Music Center. I've learned to take the Blue Line downtown, and to go early enough to enjoy lunch at Kendall's or Pinot on the Plaza. Yesterday was Kendall's, including some really good sorbet (pictured).

I went to see Vigil, starring Olympia Dukakis. It was quite good. An older lady, living alone receives a visitor, her long lost nephew who's come believing she'll die any day. A year later, he's still there.

Today woke up to rain, and decided it was a good day for cooking. Baked Oatmeal for breakfast, Snickers Peanut Butter Brownies (pictured), Trader Joe's tacos for lunch, and Potato Soup with a side of roasted brussel sprouts for dinner. Fortunately, my brother and my neighbors were available to help me eat all this!

Otherwise, did some chores, and hung out with my little buddy, Samantha. Cold today, so we brought out our sweaters.