Sending the Good Thoughts

My grandma had surgery today...thinking of you Grandma! Hope you feel better soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...

...to Chrissy. I think you got the best gift exactly a month ago!

Christmas, Here We Come

We had a great Thanksgiving, but now that it's over it seems that we all have permission to step right into Christmas, and rightfully so since it's a month away. So I've had shopping and baking and decorating on my mind - I think the snow we got on Thanksgiving helped.

I felt motivated to get a jump on some holiday gift-making, so I attempted to go to JoAnn's Fabrics later Friday morning; my only foray into "Black Friday." Big mistake. I went in and immediately grabbed a number for the fabric counter. They were on number 25. My slip said 02, which translated to 102. Only 77 more people to go before I could get my fabric! Back home I went. I went back today and actually got the same sale price for one of my cuts, and I had a 40% coupon for the other. The extra 10% off I would have gotten on Friday was not worth the hours I would have spent in line.

I decided not to haul out the Christmas decorations until next weekend, so actually the remainder of this long weekend was quite leisurely. We saw a couple of movies; "The Mist" in the theater with Husband (some interesting concepts, but not really that great), and "Are We Done Yet?" as a family movie at home with Brandon. We also had a nice surprise this weekend. My cousin Kristi had a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis on her trip back to Iowa from the D.C. area, so we picked her up at the airport and we all had dinner together. It was so great to see her, especially since we won't be seeing her for Christmas this year.

Aside from that, we caught up on housework and laundry, and I am currently catching up on some of my saved episodes of "Heroes" on the DVR. Tonight, maybe baking some banana bread and getting started on a craft project. Tomorrow, back to business as usual!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Today we are getting our first "real" snow of the season. We've had a few flakes and some sleet before, but today it's coming down in big, fluffy flakes and sticking to the ground.

Hope you all have a wonderful day, and you are able to celebrate with those close to you. A big Thanksgiving hug to our family back in Iowa.

Cuddle Bug

This weekend I traveled down to Storm Lake for a little open house we held for my nephew Dylan. This was a chance for some of our relatives to meet him for the first time. We had a nice little turnout, and he was held by a few aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as his great-grandma and great-grandpa. No worries, Auntie got some nice cuddle time too!

This picture isn't from this weekend, but I stole it from my Dad's photos because I think it's cute. He seems quite comfortable in this position; he fell asleep like this on my shoulder yesterday!

Aside from the open house, I was able to visit an old friend of mine from high school who recently moved back to Storm Lake. Jason and Erika have a beautiful home on the lake, an adorable daughter, and he just started a surgical practice. Life is good! It was so nice to catch up with them after several years of emails and cards. They were previously living in the southeast U.S., so it's nice having them back where there are more opportunities to visit.

All in all a nice weekend, but I'm tired. Lots of traveling lately! I also missed Husband and Brandon - Husband had his office holiday party to attend, so they didn't come along this time. As we roll into the holiday season, I hope we have some more time to relax and enjoy being together.

Hope everyone else had a nice weekend as well!

Want Some Chowdah?

Well, I returned from Boston lastnight! Kristy and I had a great few days in Beantown. Enjoy my full photo tour here, but below is a little itinerary with links to more info if you're interested, followed by some general observations.

Friday, Nov. 9th

Granary Burying Ground

Lunch at Durgin Park Restaurant at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace

Walk around the marketplace, visit to Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall

Boston Common

Public Garden

Dinner at Fajitas and Ritas with our friend Steph

Saturday, Nov. 10th

(we slept in a bit on this day!)

Lunch and shopping in Prudential Center with Steph and her daughter Olivia

Walking tour of Beacon Hill

Dinner at Artu in the North End (fabulous Italian food)

Pastries at the infamous Mike's Pastry

Sunday, Nov. 11th

Boston Duck Tour

Snacks at Prudential Center

Train to Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Back to Boston for walking tour of the North End

Paul Revere Mall

Old North Church

Copp's Hill Burying Ground

Paul Revere Home

New England Holocaust Memorial

Drinks at Bell in Hand Tavern (oldest continuously operating tavern in America)

Dinner at Union Oyster House (oldest restaurant in America)

Monday, Nov. 12th

We intended to make a quick visit to the harbor before we had to go to the airport, but our transportation did not work out. So it was just a traveling home day for us!

Boston is a very interesting city; a mix of old and new not just with its buildings, but also with its people. It's much more diverse than I imagined, with active Irish, African American, Italian and Chinese communities, but also more recent Mexican, Vietnamese and West Indian populations. At first blush it might seem quite a contrast to the stiff, wealthy country club ladies...but in actuality Boston is an academic city with Democratic politics that really do follow in the footsteps of its Revolutionary founders. It's a city very proud of its history, and they have made it very easy to find landmarks by making the city very walkable and the transit system easy to use. The Freedom Trail literally leads you to various landmarks by a red line marked in the sidewalk; all you have to do is follow it. A person could spend days and days combing through all of the history here - we only experienced the tip of the iceberg.

Overall our experience with Bostonians was extremely pleasant. People are pretty tolerant of tourists and were very friendly giving directions, snapping a photo, pointing us in the right direction for the subway, or just making general conversation. Often we did not even have to ask; someone approached us. The Boston accent is fabulous, and we really got a kick out of listening to people talk. There seems to be no letter "r" in the Boston vocabulary...such that words like "chowder" sound like "chowdah" and "apartment" sounds like "apahtment." We especially loved when people could guess where we were from, because of our "accent."

Speaking of the chowdah, the food was fabulous. I'm not a big seafood fan, but I did have some clam chowdah. The best was by far at Union Oyster House, where we also tried scrod, a traditional New England fish that we found out is just a really unappealing name for baby cod. The Italian food in the Italian district was, as you might expect, excellent.

Overall, the best part of the trip was that Kristy and I got to spend a lot of quality time together, talking and laughing and just catching up. I could sum it up in one conversation, had Saturday night as we were walking back to our train stop after a leisurely Italian dinner, with Mike's Pastries in our hands:

J [scarfing a cannoli]: "Do I have powdered sugar on my face? Because I don't want to look like an jerk on the train."

K [looking at my face, while holding her toffee bar]: "No. Do I have anything on my face?"

J [looks at her face] "No." [double take] "Wait, yes! There is a big chunk of chocolate on your cheek!" [wipes off, wild giggling ensues]

Thank heavens for girlfriends!

This is the State of Hockey

The Wild won 5-2!

I forget how much I love hockey. It's such a Minnesota thing (maybe because we're so close to Canada, eh?) It's so ingrained into the culture here, as witnessed in the video. I don't even fully understand it being a transplant, but I've definitely caught the bug. Minnesota truly is "the state of hockey."

We were raised
With the stick
And a pair of blades
On the ice we cut our teeth
We took our knocks
In the penalty box
Our mother was the referee

This sport was here
Before we came
It will be here when we're gone
The game's in our blood
And our blood's in the game
Lay us down under
A frozen pond

We will fight to the end
We will stand and defend
Our flag flying high and free
We were born the child
Of the strong and Wild
In the State, the State of Hockey

A big blue line runs around our state
A line that can't be crossed
The day they try to take this game
Is the day the gloves come off

We will fight to the end
We will stand and defend
Our flag flying high and free
We were born the child
Of the strong and Wild
In the State, the State of Hockey.

It's Going to Be a Doozy

This week is going to be BUSY. Granted, many of the things are fun, but there are also lots of things leading up to a big event on Thursday night. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Monday night - hockey game, our first of the season.

Tuesday night - jewelry party at my friend Jacquie's house.

Wednesday night - any last-minute catch ups, laundry, packing, hopefully some time with Husband...

Thursday night - WTS Minnesota 25th Anniversary Gala. I am the current president of this organization, and get to speak in front of 80 people. The planning has been...challenging to say the least. Let's just say I have learned a lot about leadership and patience this year.

Friday 7:15AM - I am on a plane to BOSTON!

I got a lot done this weekend, and after a mini-meltdown this afternoon...I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be for all of this. But forgive me if the blogs are light this week!