A Look Back - November 2025
As we entered November, it was time for us to get serious about what was next for our family. I accepted the role at PayPal, and my first day in the San Jose office was scheduled for November 10th. We had a lot of logistics to decide on, including where we would live, who would watch Elle now and after we moved, and how we would handle me working up there. Now, in early December, I can say some of that has been solved, and a lot of it is still TBD. We started the month, though, by celebrating the new job. After seeing Moulin Rouge at Segerstrom, we went to the 1-Michelin-starred Knife Pleat in South Coast Plaza. We had their tasting menu, and it was great, not top tier, but great. We both started with a glass of champagne, and later both had glasses of red wine. The highlights of the menu were the scallops, venison, and wagyu. We did upgrade and had a truffle pasta, the only disappointing dish of the entire evening.
I’m not sure what the impetus was the next day, but we decided to meet Jake and have dinner at Benihana’s for the first time in, I’d guess, nearly a decade. We got a 5 PM reservation, and all arrived assuming it would be a ghost town on a Sunday night. To our surprise, the place was jam-packed, and we had to wait a while for our table. The food was exactly what you remember it being, and Elle enjoyed some of the show.
The next day, Jenn flew off to San Francisco for work, and Elle, Frasier, and I spent the last few days of my being home before starting my new job. It was bittersweet. I’m not always the best at processing things in real time, but there was something final about going back to work that hit me hard. I think combining that with the unknowns of a new job and a move made it a very tough few days. We did have a great time, and Uncle Jake even came over to hang with us.
The day before Elle and I were set to drive up to meet Jenn, Frasier pulled something in his back leg again and was hobbling. I didn’t feel great about making him go to boarding with a bad leg, so it ended up being the three of us driving to meet Jenn at the Westin Palo Alto, right next to Stanford. The drive up to Silicon Valley was relatively easy. Outside of managing the two kids, we made great time, and Jenn beat us to the hotel by an hour. That night, we went out and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and walked around downtown Palo Alto.
For the next few days, we went out looking for a new place to live. We started in Palo Alto and the nearby cities (Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Mountain View) and then broadened our search to San Jose and the East Bay (San Ramon, Danville, Pleasanton). It was a lot of driving, looking at neighborhoods, and nearby things to do. Initially, we had specific houses we wanted to tour, but quickly realized our time would be better suited to narrowing down to neighborhoods and areas rather than particular houses. The process was challenging, especially with Elle and Frasier, but we were able to narrow down to a few cities and areas that we liked.
Jenn, Elle, and Frasier left first thing Sunday morning, November 9th. I dropped them off at the San Jose Airport, where they rented a car and drove home. While they were driving, I went back to Palo Alto for the day, had breakfast, got my haircut, and drove back to San Jose to the Hyatt House hotel, where I was planning to stay for my first week of work. Their drive home wasn’t as smooth as my drive up. Jenn had the tire light come on in her rental car midway through the drive home and had to ask for help to have air put in her tire. Fortunately, they got home safely, and the car was returned to Avis at John Wayne Airport.
My first week at PayPal went well. I was there for an offsite, so I got to meet a lot of the team. I didn’t realize I had Veterans Day off, so I kept myself busy by catching up on work and going to see Nuremberg at the movie theater. That evening I had a team dinner, so it wasn’t a full day off. Meanwhile, back at home, Jenn was holding down the fort. Our new Nanny couldn’t start until the following week, so we had a combination of my parents, Jenn’s Dad, Joan, and Jenn watching Elle that first week. I drove home on Thursday (November 13) night after the offsite ended. The drive home, despite some rain, was easy, and I worked from home on Friday to close out my first week. The next day, Jenn and I had tickets to see Shucked, a musical we missed on Broadway, but it was fantastic: fun, great music, and some solid puns. That night we had Shabu Shabu for the first time in a long time.
I flew back up to San Jose the following week. Because I was booking flights at the last minute, I couldn’t fly out of John Wayne, so I had to drive to LAX, which was not ideal. Fortunately, the flight was less than an hour, and the Uber to the office was maybe 5 minutes. I accidentally booked the wrong Hyatt Place (Downtown instead of the Airport), but otherwise it was an easy, quick three days up and back. The worst part was the drive back from LAX. Our new nanny, Norma, started this week, and she’s been incredible. We’ve been so impressed early on, and Elle seems to be taking to her quite well.
That was my last trip up to San Jose for the month. The following week was Thanksgiving, and so I was able to stay down in Orange County and work from home. Jenn and I alternated between working from home and her office at Fashion Island. My favorite memory of that week was having lunch together the day before Thanksgiving. We met at R&D Kitchen and had cocktails and lunch. It felt like we had “made it.” I’m not sure what it is about having lunch out on a workday, but it was fantastic.
We had Jenn’s Dad and Joan over for Thanksgiving. It's the first time I’ve cooked turkey since we lived at The Colony in Newport Beach, which was over a decade ago. We bought the turkey and stuffing from Williams Sonoma, and I cooked the rest. The meal started with a charcuterie board and champagne that we enjoyed while Elle napped. The main dinner was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans, and dinner rolls with a beautiful Napa Cab. Jenn had complete creative control over the place settings/dinnerware, and I handled the cooking. I think it all turned out well, not perfect, but for one of my first times, I was proud. We purchased a delicious crumble apple pie from The Flaky Apple Pie Co. and ice cream for dessert, which was a hit.
Black Friday is always one of my favorite days of the year, and it's not for the deals. This is the day each year we decorate the Christmas tree, or as was the case this year, Christmas trees (plural). With our current townhouse being over double the size of our New York apartment, Jenn bought a few more trees to decorate with some of her Mom’s ornaments. We started the day decorating Elle’s room with a beautiful flocked tree. Elle got in on the decorating this year, helping Jenn not only with her room but also with our main tree downstairs. Jenn has been channeling a lot of her Mom lately, and never more than on this day, when she decorated the entire house and the outside with stunning lights. We did our annual family tree with Champagne, popcorn, and mixed nuts.
And that’s how the month ended. I’m writing this recap from a perfectly decorated house, ready to celebrate the holidays. The first few weeks of the new job have been good, and we’ve been managing the travel between the two of us quite well. Only one month left of 2025, where did the year go?
The Szerlip Family Christmas Tree 2025
TV WE WATCHED
It was a very light TV-watching month. The go-to pick was The Pitt on HBO, and it was phenomenal. We finished the last ten episodes of the season and honestly loved every second. We are so excited to see where Season 2 takes the emergency room team. We also finished the second season of Nobody Wants This, which was nowhere near as good as the first season. The chemistry of the two leads was still great, and the supporting cast was fun, but the show went nowhere. I watched a few episodes of Murderbot, and we watched an episode or two of the latest season of Only Murders in the Building, but nothing to write home about in either.
BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)
November could be described as a very diverse month of reading. I started by finishing up Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell. This book didn’t work for me, mainly because the characters were rather off-putting. I think the love story and their journey were beautiful, but my interest in their outcome was nonexistent. There were parts of 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin that I loved, but I found it far too in-depth for what I was looking for. I thought it was a great book, well-written and researched, but my interest in it waned over time.
Far and away the best book of the month (and maybe year) was The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. A book told almost exclusively from letters and e-mails, I found it beautiful, sad, funny, and the perfect audiobook. It's the rare book that I am positive I will listen to again. The final book of the month was The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. I think it’s a book that gets in its own way. It is so beautifully written that, at times, its eloquence gets in the way of the story.
MOVIES WE WATCHED
I ended up having Veterans Day off on my first week at PayPal, so I went to a nearby mall and watched Nuremberg. It was a great movie, and I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know much about the trials. The only Friday Night movie night we had this month was on November 22nd, when I picked Sorry, Baby. It’s a sad movie and doesn’t really go anywhere. On the positive side, the performances were fantastic.
My favorite movie of the month was, surprisingly, Guillermo Del Toro's incredible take on Frankenstein. It took me two sittings to watch it (nearly three hours long), but I was captivated. Not only are the performances phenomenal, but the visuals are stunning as well. We watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles after decorating the tree (the day after Thanksgiving), and I finished the long weekend by watching the moving, slow, methodical, and heart-wrenching Train Dreams.
GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING
Almost a copy and paste from October. For quick game sessions, I’d play a quick game of Madden, and during Elle’s naps, I’d play an hour of Ghost of Yotei. It’s been the perfect one-two punch.
2025 GOAL TRACKING
Goal #1: Read 50 Books: I’ve read 54 books and exceeded my goal of 50 books this yearl!!!
Goal #2: 12 Monthly Recaps: 11 for 12!
