Ohio | 2013

If you've been reading here for awhile, you know that for the past few years, we've road-tripped to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with Kendrick's extended family. It's a trip that we really love - it has historically included things like seat dancing, Quaker Steak 'n' Lube wings, stops into the Cracker Barrel gift shop, and sometimes a pregnancy announcement - but this year that trip is obviously not in the cards. All the stuff that we've "traditionally" done around the holiday season is going to be a little different now (we've decided, for example, to have my parents come out to stay with us before Christmas and then fly to see Kendrick's family right afterwards), and I guess that's a little sad...but it's also going to be fun, figuring out what our new traditions are in this new life we've landed in.

Anyway, for this Thanksgiving we're doing something we've never done before: staying at our place and hosting a few East Coast friends who are driving up from LA. Our own kind of little displaced-New-Yorkers-gone-Californian party.

{ Our Speak Love dog tag necklace (it's SO pretty on) ... }

So I had two unusually cool food experiences over the past couple of weeks, and wanted to write about them mostly because I had no idea what I was doing during the ordering process and would love some suggestions.

First, last weekend we went on a trip to a pumpkin patch that landed us in a part of San Jose that we've never been to before, and when we were driving back we noticed that there were a ton of Vietnamese places in the area. So we Yelped to find out which one was the best, and went, and it was awesome. I've only ever eaten what I assume is fairly Americanized Vietnamese food, and this menu was like nothing I've ever seen: all tripe and blood soup and tendon stews. I wanted to try all of it.

So we ordered way, way more than we needed to. Except about half of the stuff that landed on our table didn't appear to be anything that we'd actually asked for. And then, when we asked our waiter what the dishes were, he said "I don't know." Innnneresting. But whatever, fine by me. They were good (like, really good) anyway, and the whole bill came out to something like thirty-six bucks.

My body has never been particularly good with piercings. Every time I've pierced my upper ears - and I've done this three separate times now - my body has basically rejected the metal, creating infection or just flat-out refusing to heal. But upper-ear piercings are notoriously tricky, and I was hoping my nose would be different.

Ehhhh, sort of. That thing took a long time to heal. I think it was largely a result of this little incident (and oh my god do not click on that link if you're squeamish), but either way: I tried everything to get it to heal completely. Salt-water soaks, cleansing with Dr. Bronner's, all of it. And when I was in Canada I mentioned this to my cousin, and she said, "Oh, I know what you need," and took me to the drugstore, where I spent something like five bucks on a very unexciting-looking little squeezy bottle. I did not have especially high hopes.

 When my friend (and glam | camp partner) Erin and I first met in person, I knew she had read my site before. But I didn't know the whole story until some time later. I'm fully aware of the presence of communities on the internet that exist to slam bloggers (and me, specifically); that's just par for the course, and while it's no fun, it's also something I understand. Getting to know someone who used to dislike me and mock my work - and then who, over time, became one of my closest friends - has been a pretty amazing experience. (How I Went From Internet Troll To BFF (And Business Partner), via Bustle.)

 Really cute crossbody for a GREAT price.

 Tear. (Farewell, America's Next Top Model, One Of The Greatest Reality TV Shows Ever, via The Cut.)