family « funk in deep freeze

Why this atheist loves her some freaking Christmas…

24 Dec 2011 7 Comments

by meganfinley in holidays, me Tags: christmas, family, religion

This year is the year that I came out as an atheist. I don’t know why it took me so long to admit and and share it with others. But, I feel a HUGE sense of relief being really out and proud about it.

This post is one that I’ve been kicking around for a while, but I never published last year when I started writing it. And now, a year later, I’m ready to hit publish and put this out there.

This is how and why this atheist not only celebrates, but loves her some Christmas. It’s long, and rambles at time, it talks about my views and awkward experiences with religion, but if you feel like getting inside of my brain, you can take a stroll through this Christmas-themed coming out party…
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The best Valentine’s Day I ever had

15 Feb 2011 6 Comments

by meganfinley in love Tags: aaron, coco, dogs, family, valentines day

I was even feeling the doggy love on V-day!

I don’t “do” Valentine’s Day. Yeah, I’m one of THOSE people. But, as far back as I can remember the day made me all uncomfortable and squidgy. Even when my first boyfriend got all crazy romantic and sent me flowers at school, I just felt really weird about it. Ever since then I’ve asked all boyfriends to just not do anything — just ignore it with me.

And so far Aaron’s been amazing at it. He made me something for our first Valentine’s Day (maybe he wasn’t quite sure if it was a trick or not?) and it was the best thing I’ve ever gotten and it is never to be topped. I will hopefully write a post about that later, when I’m not laying in bed about to go to sleep.

And one other year he bought me silly stupid crap just to make me laugh. He went shopping with his best friend who asked, “aren’t you going to get in trouble for that?” Ha.

But this year, this year was all crazy different…
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Highlights from Thanksgiving 2010

27 Nov 2010 1 Comment

by meganfinley in holidays Tags: aaron, amy, clothes, coco, family, thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I chose my outfit according to maximum eating potential — jeggings (elastic waist band ftw!) with an empire waisted flowy top that was ALREADY stained, so I didn’t have to worry about spilling anything. I am a total winner.

After reading Facebook updates from so many family members and friends about how they’re spending the entire day in the kitchen, cooking various and yummy things. I realized that I am REALLY thankful that I won’t ever be expected to make some sort of Thanksgiving meal for anyone. And that I, forever, get to show up and eat delicious foods that other, more capable people, have prepared.

So mahalo to those other family members and friends who have and will continue to feed me Thanksgiving meals. And a special mahalo goes out today to my second mother, Meg Wolf, and her family full of chefs who were in charge of feeding me yesterday.

This is a crappy cell phone photo of (from L – R) Ari, Aaron, Amy and Stephanie, actually using the room that NEVER gets used at the Wolf’s. Crazy times.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from yesterday:

“I think I just took a picture of myself when I answered the phone!” -Meg

Me: So you think you’re going to be work on Christmas day!?
Ari: We’re a bunch of Jews opening up a Vietnamese restaurant… why wouldn’t we be open on Christmas?

And here is just a super cute photo of my boys on Thanksgiving morning.

Hope you all had happy Thanksgivings… I’m going to go eat leftovers now.

What the hell Grandma!?

02 Feb 2010 2 Comments

by meganfinley in the internets Tags: facebook, family, grandma

For some reason my sister’s Facebook page is a magnet for incredibly strange exchanges. I have no idea why. Actually, I know why… because my family is SUPER weird…

Post-Thanksgiving thanks

27 Nov 2009 1 Comment

by meganfinley in holidays Tags: aaron, dad, family, thanksgiving

(Because I think it’s more meaningful on any other day other than Thanksgiving.

The table set by my mother.

We had a little mishap the day before Thanksgiving… my grandma checked herself into the hospital because of some severe pain, turns out that it might have been caused by something she ate, oh well, at least she’s okay! But that threw our plans out the window because we all were supposed to just show up to her place and dig in. For some reason, my sister and my mother both contacted ME to ask what we were going to do now. That was strange to have happen, but I decided, we’re doing the damn thing at Camp Tharpe.

So, at around 9pm on the night before Thanksgiving, there I am shopping for all the fixings by myself while my dad went to LAX to pick up my mother and Aaron relaxed with the dogs after our 2 hour and 20 minute drive from LA to OC.

My first attempt at turkey-buying was thwarted when I walked into Albertsons and got completely overwhelmed by the selection. WAY too many brands in so many different sizes with all these different options… Butterball, Honeysuckle White Tom Turkey, Free Range, Kosher, Tofurkey, Turducken… there were bins and bins of dead turkey bodies from which to choose.

I abandoned my cart and ran out of the store.

I went to Trader Joes. And THANK DOG there were only FIVE turkeys left. I grabbed the biggest one, scooped up some frozen mashed potatoes and a bunch of pies.

Anyway, long story short, we pulled it together, which the late night shopping and my mother’s cooking we pulled off an awesome (possible last) immediate family Thanksgiving. And I’m actually really thankful for that. It was nice to have all the usual suspects together and having a good time.

Plus watching my parents play Modern Warfare (or as I call it “World of Warfare) was awesome! I’m thankful to get to see that.

My dad playing his first video game ever.

And I’m thankful for having my darling dogs…

Morgan with Peezu.

Jackson's impression of the turkey.

Oh, and I'm thankful for my new iPhone too.

And I’m thankful for Coco for letting me borrow her boots!

RIP Birdie Lee

01 Sep 2009 1 Comment

by meganfinley in sad times, travel Tags: family, louisiana, shreveport

Another death in my life… this time it was my great aunt. But it’s sad and it’s not at the same time. She was ready to go, ya know? She spent the last few months of her loooong life in a hospital bed, barely able to speak. It actually pained me more to see her like that, then to know that she was… well… wherever one goes when they pass.

Here’s a picture of me from the trip…

You can see the rest of my Shreveport photos here. I didn’t photograph Birdie Lee because, well, I didn’t think it was appropriate, though, in hindsight, I kind of wish I did. All I have now are memories.

My favorite memory of that trip and of Aunt Birdie Lee was when we went to visit her in the hospital. We had heard that, aside from her NOT being dead, she was actually communicating and seemed to be doing better. Since she couldn’t speak, her only way of communicating was by raising her hands. So we’d ask her a question like, “Can you here me? If you can raise your hand.” And she’d raise one bony, trembling, little hand, which was pretty unbelievable. Out of excitment, my cousin Dana starting asking her all sorts of questions just to see her respond. It made us all happy. “Are you tired?” She’d raise her hand. “Are you thirsty?” She’d raise her hand. “Would you like some water?” She’d raise her hand. Then Dana asked, “Aunt Birdie Lee, would you like a glass of wine?” And she not only raised her hand, but she raised BOTH of her hands and held them both waaaaay up high. Everyone in the room started laughing hysterically through our tears. I love that she kept her wonderful sense of humor till the very end.

She was a great woman. She is and will be missed very much. I hope wherever she is now she’s not in pain anymore, and she has unlimited glasses of good wine and great company.