the cheer family

it was an honor and our privilege to open our home again this year to the cheer team's holiday party.
the connection morgan, sara and i have with many of these girls (and their moms/families) and the coaches make our lives better.
we really are rooting ourselves here in santa monica so much more than i ever gave a thought about until this year.

mandela, #scandalthursday, 1800

proof that one person can make a difference.
team liv.
1800 enough said.

let's see what tomorrow brings.
soulcycle with paula tomorrow afternoon. bring it.

the beach walk

look what carol and i found today on our beach walk.
this was a special donation that glenn's cousin drew golden made in his memory. 
"looking out at the ocean" was one of the last text messages i received from glenn on january 3rd.

i'll be at circuit works in the early class.

remembering

starting to think about a year ago. 

last year, i made latkes for the first time ever (never as good as my sister's), and glenn and girls said they were good, but not like aunty's. i was good with that then and now. changed my recipe a little (made a batch tonight) and got better reviews, but my brisket was the star of the meal.
so happy to have my roosevelt pals, and carin and lexi (she is a bright star in my world) with me & morgan (sara isn't feeling so great and went to bed early in my bed, no less) at the table tonight with the hanukkah candles glowing.

i wonder if glenn started to think about ending his life, a year ago. when did his process begin. i wish i knew.

the double workout today kicked my ass. going to either burn or cw in the early a.m., and then walking with carol.

not fat

monika left today with her vilinus pals. we will miss her very much; she touched our lives in a way we never expected.

when monika was talking about me to morgan and sara a few days ago, she couldn't find the right words. she was surprised at how "not fat" i was. i'll take "not fat" any day of the week. 

thank you monika. so grateful for you.

CW at 5:30a (gonna try this again, slept through my 4:45a alarm today) and then to Kinetic with Dr Jay at 9:30a.

the gift of thanksgivingkah

tonight after the final program for our guests from israel and lithuania, the girls and i took monika to ralph's so she could stock up on american cookies (can you guess how many packs of oreos we bought?), candy (sour patch worms, twizzlers, jelly bellys, pop rocks, skittles and hershey bars) and other bad-for-you-but-taste-so-fucking-good snacks (cheez-its, cheetohs, lucky charms). 
when we checked out, our guy asked us if we were having a party, and the girls thought that was so funny.  small pleasures.

when morgan and sara came home from wty several weeks ago asking if we could participate in this twinning program and host a foreign exchange student. they were really excited, and half asleep, i agreed to it not really sure what i was getting us into.

days before monika, and friends, arrived, i still really didn't know how this was going to go down in our new world. would this be a total disruption? chaotic? or a nice distraction? frankly, it was none of those things. monika changed the way we are approaching this holiday season. with new eyes. we are doing it all new. not even trying to make things different because they just are. her visit these past 10 days have been warm, and sweet, educational for us, fun, enlightening, but most importantly, we feel like we gained new friendship, and bonded with a sister. all things we are grateful for. because of the language difference, i'm not sure she understands just how thankful the cooper girls are for her. 

heading now into the new week. lunches made. practices for both morgan and sara tomorrow.  alarm clock is set, and going to workout at 5:30a at CW in the a.m.

11-30-13 in photos