Some Thanksgiving Thoughts

The picture is Martha Stewart's - obvi.

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving because I had to work and church commitments on Thursday. We had 20 people, mostly my international students plus three church friends, crammed in our little house and I made all the food. Like, all of it. For the first time in my life. 


I had nightmares about it for about a week and was really worried about things that realistically could have gone wrong but didn't: what if Tesco didn't have turkey, what if we don't have enough room in the refrigerator for all of the food, what if the turkey doesn't fit in the crock pot, what if we run out of food, what if they hate it, what if all these people just don't fit in the house, what if... ? You get the picture. 


Much to my relief, my international students genuinely liked the food, and I was so relieved. Many of them had never eaten turkey before, and none of them had ever had stuffing. It was everyone's first Thanksgiving, except for Nathan's and mine, which I found really exciting. Anyway, good times were had by all, and we had plenty of delicious food left over.


I couldn't have done it without Charissa (who pretty much just chopped things for three hours yesterday), Pamela (even if she did forget to put the sugar in the pumpkin pie), Nathan (dish washer and potato masher extraordinaire), and Nat (gravy whisker), who each helped me so much. Thank you!


It feels super weird to go about normal life on such a big American holiday. No time off of work, no big boxes of chicken broth or jars of cranberry sauce or cans of pumpkin to see on display by the front doors of the grocery store, no Black Friday shopping, and no Christmas card envelope stuffing. 


Normally the day after Thanksgiving I drop my Christmas cards in the mail. Confession: I LOVE when someone says, "We got your Christmas card, and it was the first one of the season! You are so organized." *Pat pat pat* Mental pat on the back. 


This will not be happening this year. I did order them this week, but I had them shipped to my parents' house because it was waaay cheaper, not to mention that posting them all from the States will be waaay cheaper than spending $1.50 for each stamp to send them from here. So anyway, they'll get to you, don't you worry. 


I love Christmas cards. Love, love, love. It's a tradition that I don't think I will ever give up, even as we move into a more digital and environmentally friendly world. If you are planning on sending us a card (pretty please?), make sure you send it to the right place! We've moved, remember? I'm not going to type our address on this here post for security reasons (although it would be practically impossible to find us because we don't have a street sign on our street or a house number on the house), but you can request it from me in the comments section or on Facebook. Or you can mail it to my parents or my in-laws, whichever is easiest.


Now, I have to think about where to display all of these beautiful cards you will be sending our way...


Happy Turkey Weekend.

Papa Mike Bear and His Girls

I love these pictures because 1) it warms my heart to see my dad with his granddaughters and 2) my sister and I always did the choking move when getting our picture taken. June calls my dad Papa Mike Bear, which just kills me. I love these girls! 

This Week's Fave Pins

This just says "Thanksgiving" to me, even though it doesn't have any food in it.

I'm tempted to recapture my California blonde color when we come home for Christmas. My color right now I would call, "It's dark in England by 3:30 p.m."

I made some chocolate chip pumpkin bread with a box of Trader Joe's mix and some Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Yum-O!

This makes me think of my sister and my cousin Misty and the ginormous bruise I got at an *NSync concert being crushed against a barricade by screaming girls. Good times.

Nathan and I went running for the second time since our race. This pin sums up my thoughts about it.

Have a great weekend!

I Should Win Wife of the Year

So, I got some free tickets through school to a Christmas craft fair put on by Living North, which is kind of like a Martha Stewart's Living kind of magazine. I was pumped about the huge white tent full of Christmas-y crafts and gourmet foods, but I was really pumped when I read that it was being held at a race track and that people could buy driving time on it.

Four laps on the 2.17 mile track. In a Porsche. My husband's dream.

When we got in the car to go home from work last week, I said, "I've got the best surprise for you!"

"What is it?" he asked. 

"Guess!" I giggled.

"Is it driving a Lamborghini around a racetrack?"

My face fell. "Is a Porsche okay?"

"Huh?"

"How did you guess it?!"

"I GUESSED IT?!"

"Yeah. I got tickets to a craft fair at a race track and you can drive a Porsche around the track and I want to buy driving time for you."

"What? Really?"

"It's a Porsche though. Is that okay?"

"It'll do."

He was never so excited to go to a craft fair. We were one of the first few eager beavers there last Friday, and we headed straight to the driving circuit. 

Enjoy the pictures and video of my handsome husband in the fancy car. 

After the driving experience, he said, "The only thing that would have made it better would be that I could keep the car."

Today I Miss Winnie

Credit: Lorie

See you in five more weeks little one!

Nathan Makes It Rain... Men

I can't stop chuckling, even as I type this. Nathan unintentionally did one of the funniest things I have ever known him to do.

First, a few facts.

1) Nathan is cheap. You probably already knew that. 

2) Nathan loses things a lot. Since we've moved to England, it's been Nalgene bottles and umbrellas.

3) Nathan hates cats. He's really allergic to them and thinks they're of the devil.

4) Nathan is completely ignorant when it comes to pop culture. I'm sure many of you have heard the classic story, "Who's this Bianca [Beyonce] person I keep hearing about?"

So, Nathan went to Yorkshire Trading Company, the same place we got wellies and his grandpa hat, and he bought himself an umpteenth cheap umbrella in his usual classic black. He didn't open it until a few days later when it was raining fairly steadily. It was only then that he realized that it wasn't just solid black...

This is his attempt to look gangster (?!?!?!), but when he showed me the umbrella for the first time, I couldn't even catch my breath. I was laughing so hard on multiple levels. What was even funnier was that he didn't know that It's Raining Men was actually a song and, what's more, sort of a gay anthem. Later that night, we watched a little bit of the music video on YouTube (Creepy! I will not be posting it here - lots of men in speedos. View at your own risk.), and he said he had never heard the song in his life.

I'm not sure what he's going to do when it rains again, but it's bound to happen quite soon, and when it does, I'll be laughing wherever I am, thinking of him opening that umbrella and walking around town with it, which he insists he will do. 

He's too cheap to buy another umbrella... until he "loses" this one. :)

Daughters

When I see this picture,  I just think about John Mayer's song, Daughters. 

Fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

If I can be 1/10th as good to people as my mom and dad are to me, I will be happy.

Lorie, thanks for the pictures. They are amazing.

They also take 10 minutes to load - each - so instead of me overwhelming you with 100 mind-blowingly beautiful pictures today, you might get one for a treat once in a while.

This is Frighteningly Us

I got home from the States to find a sweet card and flowers from Nathan on my bedroom dresser. I busted up laughing when I read the card, and I just had to share. It's just US...

Minus the cigarettes.

Happy Monday.

The One Where I Show You the Rest of the Pictures from Home

I went to work last Thursday with a sore throat, so I bought some sugar-free cough drops before leaving for the big surprise. By the time I landed in LAX 36 hours later, I couldn't hear out of my left ear, I couldn't smell anything, I couldn't taste much, and my eyeballs were trying to scratch their way out of my head (my contact solution got confiscated at Heathrow and I had no choice but to keep them in until I got home). I was sleep deprived and pretty miserable after breathing the same contaminated, recirculated airplane air for too long. 

I gave my sister and June a quick hug, so as not to get them sick, and we went to the car, where I opened the driver's side door thinking it was the passenger's. We stopped at In N Out by my request, where my cheeseburger with no onions and extra pickles tasted amazing... in my imagination. The best part of the night, besides seeing my family of course, was sleeping in my sister's king-sized AMAZING bed. There is no other word to describe it properly.

The next day I was tired but felt a million times better with the anticipation of seeing friends and family at a baby shower and then my dad's party. After that, however, I struggled with the remnants of the cold (Why is it that teachers get sick the second they go on a break?) and never really got around to feeling myself. I was disappointed but okay with that for two reasons: 1) There are worse things than being sick at home with your mom and dad taking care of you, and 2) I'll be back in less than seven weeks for Christmas.

Here are the best of the rest of the pictures from my visit. Thanks to Amy for letting me borrow her camera for the week. Did it make it back to you yet, Amers?

My sister giving Winnie bunny ears, which reminds me of this picture.

My grandma and I at her new place

Ariel in her costume that my sister and Aunt Deanie made

Winnie got my mom's blue eyes.

Cupcake awesomeness

Coloring: my fave

Dad doing hair. This always makes me happy.

White bean chicken chili also always makes me happy, especially when there's avocado on top.

Friends, family, and food! 

Daughters with their daddy

The Best Part About Halloween

The best part about Halloween is seeing pictures of other people's kids dressed up on Facebook. Here are my faves this year. No surprise...