Thanksgiving happens to be my favorite holiday. It brings loved ones together over a ridiculous amount of delicious food, and it serves as an awesome reminder of how much we have to be grateful for in our lives. Since the majority of my friends are from the east coast, it’s become an annual tradition to have a giant Thanksgiving celebration together – or in our case, Friendsgiving. This year was no exception! Corelyn (who is now back on the east coast) even flew to LA for the festivities. She and Jennie led the troops in making yet another AMAZING meal, and Paul was brave enough to host the event. You can see photos of the food on J & C’s cooking blog, Garlic My Soul.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of the final kitchen countdown to dinner – including the carving of our 28lb turkey…


This look says, “You’re not even helping! Get out of my face!”





Jennie signs the “What I am thankful for” poster:

This year we included cut-outs from last year’s sign! We were pretty consistent…especially me, with my love for Jeff’s garlic bread…

I couldn’t resist decorating a wall with streamers/glitter paper for a makeshift photo booth! Please note these were mostly shot at the end of the night after eating tons of food/drinking lots of wine/spending hours outside walking and/or smoking cigars…so try not to judge too harshly 😉


























Corelyn’s one request for her visit was that we have a bonfire on the beach. George and I were the first to arrive, so we relaxed and watched the sunset.

Proof that George does, in fact, have a red beard:





This flare was all in-camera!



Melissa arrived just in time to see the gorgeous sunset:



It grew dark so soon thereafter, and the rest of our friends trickled in. We spent the evening talking around the fire on the beach – and honestly, these occasions are one of my very favorite things about living in LA. I think Megan and Mitchell might agree!

There you have it. So unbelievably grateful for all of these amazing people, and for all of my loved ones far away. I hope you had a splendid Thanksgiving as well!