The beauty that is Covina...

You know the quote, "You never know what you've got till its gone?"...

I feel like that sometimes when I come home to Covina.  I feel like I have given it a bad rap and haven't been appreciating the beauty around me... To combat this, I have been taking pictures of the beauty in my backyard that I have been too blind/ignorant to see :) Enjoy!

Front of my mom's house :) love the fall colors! 

San Gabriel Mountains 

My street! 

More of our mountains after a week of rain down here and snow up there! 

More snow! Taken right by my dad's house

The view every morning when I go to the gym- can you blame me for going so often? :)

Conclusion: There is so much beauty in our day to day lives.  Take a minute to appreciate it!

Ps. I really wanna hike these mountains! Man I miss backpacking... any takers!? :) 

Hannukah and All Things Merry

Hannukah (like most Jewish holidays) are sneaky little buggers.  They come in and out of life without a second glance because they aren't monetized, commercialized and "Americanized" like most Christan holidays out there. Not that I have anything against Christian holidays!  I am a HUGE fan of Christmas as I grew up 1/2 in a Christian home and I love the idea of creating your own holiday traditions so who knows what mash up of Christian/ Jewish/ Buddist/Hindu/Agnostic/ Pagan ( ;-D) holidays I will celebrate in the future! 

In any case, I realized that my few and far between Australian readers may not know what Hannukah is so I have compiled a little info and pictures to help explain! :) According to wikipedia (the go-to site for info, yes I am rolling my eyes as well) Hanukkah , (the Festival of Lights) is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the second Temple in Jerusalem.  Direct Link to the Article here.  The story of Hannukah has to do with a lack of oil needed to light the eternal light that burns in all synagogues.  The miracle of Hannukah is that the oil that should have lasted for only one day lasted for eight.  To honor this miracle we eat lots of goodies fried in oil (potato pancakes, donuts etc) and light a candelabra called a Hannukiah for eight nights.  

Our latke before and after pictures :) 

 Makeshift Hannukiah at Liz's house because we didn't have enough candles... 

 Hannukiah at my house (I made that when I was little!) :) 

Ps. I got a new camera recently so more pretty pictures to come!