short and sweet

Note: this blog is a multiple entries endeavor as i kept running out of time and had to continue here and there. HOpe it still makes sense.

My parents left last night. It has been a short but also sweet visit. It was not too long, yet also not too short. :) It was an unexpected teary and sad moments when I dropped them off at the airport. I could see from the outside my caring and loving mother walking towards the gate with her head turned back to look out for me and make sure i was stil ok, not even looking at where she is going. It was a heart wrenching snapshot of our mother's love for us. How tearful for me, especially as there was a sad song playing when i drove away.

Parental trip recap: Friday night, we hung out in the swanky Scottsdale area. We had Japanese food and also walked around Phoenix's biggest mall, Fashion Square. I bought my mom an affordable top. For some odd reason, she has become this mini-shopaholic. With that in mind, the next day, I was thinking about taking her for some outlet shopping, but we chatted with a retired couple during breakfast who mentioned Sedona.

Sedona was also named this.

It was about a 2hrs drive away, which meant we sat in the car for about 6hrs of our day on Saturday, which includes our drive back to Tucson. Sunday afternoon, we stayed in and wrapped wontons and enough to freeze for a few more meals. Sunday night, we went to the TCBC Thanksgiving service and dinner, which was some very yummy turkey, cranberries and yams. Mmm.

(continued on Wed pm)

I am in LA from Wed-Sun. We drove from 11pm and arrived at 5;30am PAC time. I stayed awake with my friend the driver the whole time. This means I have been awake for over 24hrs. I am tired but not too bad. We went to old town Pasadena today and walked around. After that, we hung around my friend's parent's place. They live in a suburb called Duarte which is in San Gabriel Valley. It's very suburban here which means i haven't seen or experience much of what is stereotypical LA.

I'm ok with it, it's been fun hanging out with my friend and her family. I am very glad to have met her. :)

(continued Fri pm)
Yesterday was a quaint US Thanksgiving celebration with some homemade Chinese food. We went for a hike in the morning and played cards when we weren't eating. Today, we had dim sum and braved the local mall even though it was "Black Friday" shopping. Actually, the mall wasn't that bad, still not as bad as Boxing Day from my previous experiences. Although on the TV news, there was some ensuing violence at Best Buy at other places.

(continued Mon pm)
whoops, had to stop short from my last entry too, anyways, i'm tired and safely back in Tucson.
Can't believe it's December.

will reblog an LA re-cap entry later this week, might as well put this one up since it's done, haha.

Keep warm up there, no consolation i know, but it's chilly down here too!

Grace to you, Vien