Decorations and Dumplings!

I got up a little momentum yesterday and decorated for Christmas!!! I love the holidays and I love seeing Christmas decorations for as long as possible!

All the decorations aren't out yet, but I'm pretty excited about the ones that are!

I also learned a new recipe: Dumplings! Thanks for teaching me Jitin.

There was a dumpling bar called 'Rickshaw' in New York and I have been craving it since I left. They were delicious!

Globe Trekker Update: Bryan is off to New Zealand today. He'll be gone for a week presenting a paper. I'm so proud of him! Grad school applications are going well, from what I can tell. Schools getting applications will be: Columbia, Stony Brook, Penn State, Northwestern Univ., Univ. of Chicago, Yale, Boston College, Boston University, Vanderbilt... I think there's one more but I can't remember. All moms take a deep breath, it doesn't look like we'll be heading to London next year.

Thanksgiving Food Time

We only ended up going to four Thanksgiving meals in 24 hours. We only ate 3.25 times in that 24 hours too. One was just for dessert and coffee because we just couldn't eat two lunches.

I made Gingersnap Cookie/ Butter Pecan Ice Cream Sandwiches to take to my dad's, Pumpkin Cheesecake to take to Bryan's family's, and Bryan made Pumpkin Muffins to take to my mom's!

Our first Thanksgiving Day meal was delicious!
And none of my food touched, just like I like it!After we ate, we took the dogs for a walk... well they just ran around like crazy and we went for a walk! This was meal number three: (I guess I didn't really take pictures of meal number two... sorry guys!)
Sweet Potato Balls (with pecans or coconut on the outside and a marshmallow in the middle!) This was Bryan and me after all four meals! ha

Just kidding! We didn't turn into miniature plump pilgrims!

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country;

he is a bird of bad moral character... The turkey is, in comparison, a much

more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America...

He is, though a little vain and silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that,

a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards."

~Benjamin Franklin

If he was our national emblem, would we still eat him every Thanksgiving? Hmm. Anyway:

Family fun and food to come later! As I sit watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and smelling the ginger snap cookies in the oven, I realize how truly truly thankful I am for my life and all that I have been blessed with in my life. I have an amazing husband who loves and supports me daily, I have a fantastic family with whom I have a great relationship, I have everything I need and I am thankful. I hope you have everything to be thankful for as well, today!

The Holidays are coming! The Holidays are coming!

By "I'll try to update tomorrow, I totally meant 'or sometime in the distant future'!"

Well it was another busy week and when I've spent 10+ hours a day staring at a computer screen, I find it a little bit repulsive to come home and do something else on the computer. And I don't ever want to see blogging as a chore. I enjoy it very much and will continue to update as often as I can. I know things will be slower this week (and many of the coming weeks) because our project deadline is approaching along with the holidays (which I am super excited about!)

Coffee table Thanksgiving motif!

So last week we went to 'Fondren Unwrapped' which is an annual event when Fondren opens all of it's stores and restaurants after hours and displays all of their Christmas decor! Most stores have wine and cheese or in the bakery's case, cider and cookies!

Also, I didn't get any good photos of this event, as seen in this photo:

Friday night, we had a small group dinner. I think some people were busy working late. When dinner was over, we considered having a dance party (like the olden days) but re-considered because our apartment is supposed to be 'a quiet building.' (which none of our neighbors seem to observe.) Our compromise was a pitter-patter party with socked feet instead of a full out dance party! Still fun! We also spiced things up with some egg nog and spiced cider! delicious!

One other special moment this weekend has been the completion of the sofa recovery project! Hooray! It's taken a lot longer than it should have, but now it's done.

It's reversible! Now that it's done, and I've been looking at that purple fabric for months, I don't know what I think about it. I might make more covers for the cushions and then I can change them out as I please. I also think I'm going to paint all the wood pieces including the arms either white or black.

Busy Week

I've had the busiest week. I worked way too much and had a birthday!

Lexie made me a cake!And Sully cut out the 'A' just for me! We also got to go to the river last weekend for baptism! How fun! It was so cold, though. I felt really bad for the people who got wet.

I've been making things left and right! I'm almost finished with the sofa-recovery project. Yesterday I visited my friend Elise at 'Quit Arts' where she works and was blown away by the awesome fabric that they had. I'm stoked about the fabric selection! I got some fabric and made two pillow cases for our bed! I'll post pictures on all of the projects maybe tomorrow.

Mistletoe Marketplace

I think Christmas is coming.

I went with my mom and sister to the Mistletoe Marketplace yesterday. There were Santa suites, Christmas trees, gifts, food, ornaments, wreaths.... No Bryan, though. He said "absolutely not." when I asked him if he wanted to go. I don't blame him. The only men we saw there were sitting on benches waiting for their significant others to come out of the various booths.

I got some great ideas for Christmas decor!

I also got an amazing birthday gift from my mom! A HOBO!!! I'm so excited!

I also got these sweet ear rings when we went to Wil-ai to see Lexie at work.Fun day!

Scooby Doo Anyone?

This morning on my way out the door I grabbed a band-aid because sometimes my cute shoes rub the back of my heel.

I just pulled one out to stick it on and I got a good laugh.

Tasty

OEC (where we ate dinner) in Japanese means Tasty... or so I'm told.

and FYI: hibachi means "little pile of ash that is used to keep a tea pot warm, which isn't even hot enough to half way cook a piece of bacon." That might not be the Merriam Webster definition but from a friend who lived in Japan... that's the legit definition.

Anyway, we'd eaten our entire meal when we noticed a few odd things around us. (the Mexican siesta music was definitely one of the things but how could I have taken a picture of that?!)A fan with no arms.A curtain that I read as "coffee, wet, set, Break soup." But it was really coffee, tea set, tea break, soup. Strange either way.And then I noticed that all of the 'art' in the place was still in it's plastic wrapping.Then Keith suggested we see how high we could stack the items on our table.

Two architects, a designer, and a pianist did pretty well!

Just a Couple of Mavericks

Some of the architecture class threw a Halloween Party! This has been a tradition in Starkville for the past three years and we are so happy it continued in Jackson! We all got ready at our house.

There were Cake Balls (check out the Pioneer Woman's site for the awesome Recipe!)

A Pentecostal-Hair Scare.And some serious Costumes!John McCain + Sarah Palin = A Couple of Mavericks!


Thanks to Tina Fey, I sported a flute all night for "the talent portion [of the debate]"Bryan made me a shot-gun!Look: "I can see Russia from my house!"Daniel Plainview (from 'There Will be Blood') "I'm an oil man."A Go Go GirlRon Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone (from Anchor Man)A BallerinaThe Orbit Spokeswoman! "Dirty Mouth? Clean it up!"Mr. CleanThe Knight (who didn't slay the dragon)Here's John cutting a rug! Everyone enjoyed my old man's moves! Hope you had a great Halloween!