Sisters!

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of.  

You know whatever you do, they'll still be there.  ~Amy Li

It's the day after Christmas and the gifts of giving keep coming! Rachael, Natalie and I met up in Simi Valley and went to lunch. Rachael and Natalie met at the University of Hawaii Manoa 7 years ago, and have been best friends ever since.  Even though Rachael and I are "natural" sisters, Natalie has filled the role as my second big sister and I completely adore her!

Rach and I drove to Natalie's grandmother's house, where she was staying during her visit for the holidays.  We went inside, I met her adorably sweet grandmother for the first time, and we all sat and talked for quite awhile.  For the first time since meeting Natalie, I got to see pictures and hear stories of her childhood and extended family.  There was such an apparent sense of warmth and love it was almost tangibly encompassing. Rachael and I fawned over a photo album Natalie's grandmother lovingly flipped through, reliving the moments of her children's and grand children's youth.

Rachael, Natalie and I then headed to the natural cafe for lunch and ended up spending the next few hours catching up, opening gifts, and listening to stories of their rebellious college days.  One of my favorite stories being the night they all got extremely drunk and in a daze, Natalie suddenly jumped up to dance and ended up breaking her foot in the process. Then, in her intoxicated state adamantly refusing to go the ER drunk, and limping to Rachael's room to pass out on the bed until the morning.  After several hours of hearing similar tales, we finally stretched our legs and headed toward the car, stopping first to take some awkward family photos in front of a Christmas tree in the square, one of which is one of my photos of the day.  Also, next to this photo is an awesome present given to both Rachael and me from Natalie; a homemade gift of our favorite stop-motion animation, "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On." A gift I'll cherish forever and the spark of a new photo series I'm excited to start: Travels with Marcel.

Natalie currently lives back in Oahu, Hawaii with her boyfriend Ben, so the precious times the three of us get to spend time together always fills me with joy and reminds me that you can't always choose your family, but you can choose your friends...who may become like family!  I love my sisters and the time I got to spend with them this holiday season. 

<3 Michele

Christmas 2011

What better way to start the almost new year than with a photo/writing blog a day! I decided to begin with the end, the near end of 2011 with my first photo selections from Christmas.

It has been a few years since I've been able to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, so it was my mission this year to be completely and utterly free for all things festive. I got to help decorate two Christmas trees where I learned a lot of decorative Do's and Don'ts along the way (Courtesy of Aunt Kathy, Dorothy,  and Aunt Dianne!) there was also the infamous attempt to see the Balboa boat light parade which consisted of a two-mile walk to the pier, smelly snack shops, hordes of people and children everywhere and ending with a taxi ride the two-miles back to Spaghetti factory for a fun dinner (Sorry again Gluck's and Lewis's for the 4 hour trek), several Christmas cookie baking days, and driving around to see Christmas lights (from the decrepit missing light bulbs to the intricate light installations), my holiday mission was more than fulfilled with help from the ones I love.

Now here I've posted two, unplanned, yet eerily similarly posed pictures from Christmas. The picture on the left, taken on Christmas Eve, is a semi-matching, awkward family photo of the Samimi-Gottlieb-Morgan-Markarian variety: cuzisters, sisters, and an amazing family addition.  The cuzisters (Rachael, Rissie, and me), are wearing matching sheep PJ bottoms, a traditional gift from our Aunt Kathy. Behind us is the beautiful Douglas fir 21 year old Andy decided to pick out alone, lovingly telling his family "you'll only slow me down if you come."  Consensus says, he did a great job picking out the tree alone...ah how quickly they grow up! :)

The picture on the right, taken on Christmas day, is of the beautiful Lewis-Gluck ladies. Christmas eve was celebrated with family and friends at the Gluck's the night before, whereas this pictures was taken at the Lewis family's home on Christmas day, during the Christmas day family and friends celebration. *Disclaimer: there are 2 more beautiful Gluck girls (Melissa and Kelsey) that left before this picture was taken, coincidentally leading to the unplanned matching photos.*

I'm so happy and thankful I got to be back in town and able to celebrate this special time of year with the people I love and adore, along with some new additions in my life that I'm beyond grateful for.

And thus, starts the beginning with the end of 2011.  A photo/paragraph a day encompassing my life, in all it's momentary, daily glories.  A snapshot a day, keeps the creative at bay.

Merry Christmas!