QUICKLY

Here’s a little Thanksgiving pictorial/blow-by-blow for you. More to come later this week, but for now...

Wednesday – woke up ill. Waited 1.5 hours at the Take Care clinic, located in the nearby Walgreens. Left angry and hungry before I was ever seen. I think the guy in front of me was getting a full-body exam because he was in there for an HOUR. Ridiculous. Took a nice long lunch with C before taking him to the airport. Came home, watched Glee and packed.
Thursday – slept in, drove home. Had a quick dinner with Mom + 1. Waited for Jennie and Jamie to get home. Watched football/Home Alone marathon on TBS. Went to Wal-mart for cake mix to make this Auburn cake!
Friday – woke up early. Headed to Auburn. Watched Home Alone 2 on the way! Realized Pigeon Lady from Central Park = Susan Boyle. Went to Tiger Walk. Tailgated. Cheered myself hoarse at the game. Declared it a moral victory.

Saturday – lunch with Kathryn and Katelyn. Shopped with mom and sister. Went to visit my aunt, uncle and delightful cousin. Leftovers with the family. Paid $12.25 for a headache.
Sunday – slept in. Packed up. Drove home in my pajamas. Almost called the cops on some reckless drivers. Got 20 minutes outside of Nashville and had to pull over. Almost changed it myself... almost. Saw a play with C and then went to dinner. Great end to a long day.

THANKY

Auburn!
Family
Friends!
More Friends!
Shopping!
Fire!
Baking!
Iron Bowl!
Resting!
Home Alone!
Resting!

These are a few of my favorite things... and lucky for me, they are all coming down the line this week! Not one of my favorite things? Taking C to the airport on the eve of a major holiday. Oh well.

If you'll be in Birmingham or Auburn, I hope you'll let me know!

KLEENEXED

I used the last of my tissues the other day, leaving me with an empty Kleenex box. Hmmm. What is one to do with an empty tissue box? Here's a hint:
I’m pretty sure they had to custom make those Kleenex box shoes for Kevin because mine were a little snug.And the red mark you see on my ankle is a nick from when I cut myself shaving... because the day before, when I put my Kleenex shoe on the first time, I had not shaved in quite a while, and well... let's just say that got more laughter from the recipient than my "shoe" did.

NASHVEGASED

Last night we had our November bunko – Viva Nashvegas! MB hosted at her boyfriend’s super-cute house. We had such a good time… don’t we always?

I wish I had been able to put more effort into my costume – I had a whole laundry list of ideas. The Strip, the Bellagio fountain, MGM lion, a breakfast buffet, a poker chip, one of those creeps who stands on the corner flicking VIP cards at you… I just didn’t have time to do much more than a clubber. But, at least I did more than jeans and a t-shirt!

As you can see, we had 2 Elvises (Elvii?), a pair of dice, a one night stand, some clubbers and, in a valiant effort to secure the best costume award, Blue Man Group. Missy looked hilarious!

Only two more months until it’s my turn to host!

SCARFY

Today I really love my....
Infinity scarf! Thank you, the Limited, for this great new accessory. It's just one big loop of coziness, so I can wear it about ten different ways. Or, six different ways if I don't want to run around looking like some sort of creepy hooded lurker.

I bought it Sunday, wore it Monday and got about four compliments on it. And since I'd made good use of a coupon on the purchase, it was a real bargain! Monday I wore it as a vest, as a scarf and as a shawl - all in one day!

Run out and buy... or knit... your Infinity scarf today!

TAYLORED

Maybe I am a week or two behind, but I watched this video about 50 times in a row last night, laughing harder and harder each time. I hope you find it as hilarious as I do on this rainy Tuesday!

FULL

Last night, Evan invited me over for dinner and a backyard bonfire. I hadn't been to his new house yet either; so it was fun to finally see his new (spacious!) digs. He cooked a whopper of a meal: cheesy chicken enchiladas (can you believe until yesterday I had never had an enchilada?), spanish rice, homemade refried beans and a nice cold cervasa. Muy impresionante! It was very good.



After dinner, we went outside and Evan made a great big fire. We got bundled up, collected the smore necessities, our cervezas and some chairs and promptly realized... we were locked out. Oh well. Good thing the marshmallows and chocolate made it outside first.



After Evan ruined salvaged the fire, it was smore time! I like to melt my chocolate on the graham cracker, next to the fire, while my 'mallow is roasting. Evan has discovered another way to make a smore involving chocolate chips stuffed into the marshmallow itself. "When the 'mallow's flaming, you stick it on the chocolate and cover it with the other end. Then, you scarf. Messy, but good!"



Eventually, Elliott got home and let us inside, but only after he pointed out that the door was never locked to begin with. It's just a stubborn knob. Oh well. How was I to know that?



Thanks for dinner Evan!

BURNED

1. Christmas wish list alert: look who is coming out with a DVD of her concert! I want it, to say the very least. Beyoncé, you’ll feel right at home in my media cabinet in between Justin Timberlake and Sugarland.

2. I burned the shitake mushrooms out of my arm this week. Over a baked potato, I’ll have you know. I’ll do anything for carbs. I was opening the oven door to get the spud out, when the door bounced back up and burned my elbow to smithereens. My reaction? Shriek and thrust my arm forward… off of the door… into the rack. Exhibits A and B:
3. Over the weekend, I watched Some Like it Hot. What a lovely old movie. It’s On Demand right now if you want to watch it too. And even though I wouldn’t rank it as the Funniest Movie of All Time (American Film Institute), it was pretty silly and funny.

4. Funny site of the week: Regretsy.com. Ever wonder “who would buy that?” while trolling Etsy? Not me, because I’m hardly ever on Etsy. But if that thought has crossed your mind, Regretsy’s the site for you.

5. TGIF!! This was a super long week. I hope you have a good weekend! War eagle and peace out.

THOUGHTFUL

There's really not a lot I can say that would top the last post with the fondue. I reheated some of it two days later and yes - still just as good. I wanted to jump in and swim around in it.

No stories to tell, no news to share... why not just some random information/thoughts?

*I lost a Netflix movie this month. Duplicity, starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. If you saw it, was it good? I let it sit around too long and somehow it got lost. You can let Netflix know and they'll just bill you for it, but $14 seemed like a lot to me so before I took that plunge, I went digging through my trash to make sure it didn't get tossed out with the circulars and random ads that get mailed to me. Lots of old coffee grounds; no Netflix movies. The weirdest part about it was that as I was coming inside to take off my plastic baggie gloves, after digging through disgusting trash, I was still not content to leave well enough alone. Was there more trash I could dig through to find it? I STILL wonder where that thing went.

*I am obsessed with this cheese - Boursin. It is so good. $3.99 at Trader Joe's! Do I eat too much cheese? I sure have talked about it a lot here lately.

*Jennifer and Wes just spent an entire WEEK in New York City and I am so jealous. Eric was on syndication last night on the Office on TBS. Star almost burned her house down. My friends are so much more interesting than I am.

*I am really close to getting off Facebook. Like, really really. It's driving me crazy and right now, the reasons for deleting it outweigh the reasons for not. If everyone would stop inviting me to stuff, that'd be a big start. Especially when I don't live in your city. That's my biggest pet peeve right now. Quit wasting my time. I've started unfriending the repeat offenders which has helped a little bit.

*I am thinking it's time to grow my hair back out. I miss it. It's been two years.

*Speaking of growing hair, I think I will add to the List of Things I Am Saving For: Laser Leg Hair Removal. I hate shaving my legs with a fiery passion. Have any of you had this done?

*I've been at work since 3 am today!

CHEESED

Last night, several good things came together in what ended up being a super fun, super relaxing night with my boo. And after a day that began at 4 am, some R&R was just what the doctor ordered.

First up, fondue. My sister makes this amazing cheese fondue straight out of the Melting Pot. It's one of my favorite thing she cooks. She makes it for her visitors that request it (me and my mom) and so I was lucky enough to get some when I visited in August. My mom was just there last weekend, and my sister told me she'd made her some, which had me thinking it was time I gave it a whirl. So yesterday, I went on a cheese shopping spree which resulted with this at my fingertips:
Voilá--crusty bread, a glass of wine, and a big pot of fondue to share. Chris, God love him, doesn't like really pungent, stinky cheese. I know--but I'll keep him anyway. So like a horse, I went to town on apple after carrot after bread piece all dipped in that glorious, glorious pot of cheese fondue. All I needed was a salt lick. In the rare moments when I didn't have my fondue fork hand in the bowl, he managed to get a few bites in.

Since he was in charge of our real dinner (even though clearly my real dinner ended up being the aforementioned ensemble), he whipped up a pesto chicken pizza from scratch - crust and all!! Such a show off, that one. It was very delicious, but I was too full to enjoy more than one slice.
Here he is, taking a big whiff of his pride and joy. Good job, boo. But my fondue was better.

When we weren't gorging on something covered in cheese, we were also enjoying the fire he built me - MAN do I love a good fire. We've addressed that pretty sufficiently in winters past, I think. The first fire of the season was the perfect backdrop to such a great night.

And completely off topic, one last picture from my camera phone - as I was setting off on my cheese spree yesterday, I passed this Nashville establishment, or what remains of it:
Yes, Lonnie's West End has gone the way of the dinosaur. Rest in peace, you awkward, out-of-place little karaoke bar. Guess we'll have to settle for the original Lonnie's, in a closet downtown.

TREATED

Uh, is it already November? Holy cow. This year has fah-lown by. Is it just me? Surely not.

Saturday was the long-awaited Auburn return to triumph trick or treating! I went over to help C get Thing 1 and Thing 2 ready and I must say, they turned out pretty cute. We went to a nearby neighborhood with some friends and their child and had a blast.
Trick or treating ain't what it used to be, kids. Or maybe you just see things with a new perspective on this side of the stroller. For starters, if you are young enough to still get away with trick or treating, then that's too young to be dressed as HOOTERS WAITRESSES. I cannot imagine what parent let their tween out of the house looking the way these tweens did. They looked like they were really after more tricks than treats, if you know what I mean.

Secondly, there were way more cars than houses. Meaning, people like us drove to the neighborhood (don't judge; we had a legitimate "in") except that we parked the car and walked. Other cars were just idling along, letting their kids hop in and out in between houses. If these houses were miles apart, I can see the logic behind that. But rather, these houses were spaced very appropriately if not closely and the excess of cars only served to make me anxious and get on my nerves. When there is free candy on the line, Dorothy and the Lion don't understand why you have to look both ways before crossing the street (and rightfully so). We made it out happy and alive, though, so I consider it a success and was proud to be a part of two little munchkins's first trick or treat.

Sunday, C and I had a long-standing date to see This Is It!, the Michael Jackson documentary. My sister saw it Friday and told me it was amazing, so I had high hopes going into it. YAWL. Three songs into it, I turned to Chris told him, "this is just making me mad." HE. WAS. SO. TALENTED. He still had it - and it translated very clearly across film, even though that was not the medium in which he intended us all to realize that little boys or not, he was and will always be the King of Pop. Phenomenal. If you are able to still get tickets to this show, you should. You should also buy the DVD for your favorite blogger, but we'll worry about that in 2010 when it is released. In short, it was very encouraging and made me mourn for the spectacle and comeback that could have been. And funny - he was funny. He was a human and without the glare, without the public eye in which he was so uncomfortable, the walls were lowered and the shield was dropped and for the first time - I felt like I finally experienced Michael Jackson on my own. Not through the news lens, not through the tabloid pages, but as a sweet, gentle person and talented, dedicated performer. I'm trying not to oversell this because I am really bad about overselling things, so I'll just say GO SEE IT.

Hope you all had a great weekend!