Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Dinner was a hit this year and, as always, went off without a hitch! I know everyone has some exciting story about Thanksgiving, and I guess I do have one but it always slips my mind-- I'll throw that in after the pictures.

In addition to us, mom, David, and Casey, mom's friend Sharon and her son Alex came, as well as Michael and the kids and Emmy-- a fantastic crowd! We spent the day cleaning, cooking, and watching what ended up being a mini-Rourke marathon with Iron Man 2 and The Expendables. I cooked a sweet potato casserole (which everyone said was the best they'd ever had!), and did the turkey and stuffing/dressing, plus the cranberry sauce-- all of these were first time experiences for me and they all came out amazing!

Pictures, of course, for your viewing pleasure:

Belle perked up when she saw mom with ham
So we treated her-- it's Thanksgiving after all!
The tongs from the ham fell on the floor-- guilty much?
mom's pretty mantle. Even if the teensy lightshade is tippled...
Jeremy and Sharon work the logistics of getting the bird to the carving plate
VICTORY!
I carve the turkey!
Everyone waiting for dinner
Violet used my old records as weapons of mass distraction
"I can have some, yeeeeeesssss?"
FOOD! (without the sweet potato casserole, that was warming in the oven)
Pretty table
Violet instructs Uncle Jeremy on the finer points of what will eventually go in her belly
Michael's been beaten and Violet realizes that there's food on Aunt Meg's plate to steal now!
We shall see this mischievous look more than once in her life!

It was a great meal and great company, I'm so glad we all got to come together!

My fun Thanksgiving story, for posterity:

It was my first year at the airline and I was living in Memphis. I had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so I'd flown in to Atlanta a couple of days before and flew back on Thanksgiving day (fantastic day to travel, btw, business class was just me and another FA!). As the plane was taking off in Atlanta, I realized that I had not bought a turkey or even turkey breasts! When I landed, I called Amy to see if she knew of anywhere that would still be open and the only place we could think of was the Middle Eastern market so I went and got chicken breasts. We were having Jeremy and Ashley over for dinner, and I think Zac as well, and we'd been cooking up a storm when Ashley called to say she was there-- I went out to meet her and then Jeremy got there and I completely forgot about the chicken in the oven! It was sooo dried out it was nearly inedible, and we dug through the fridge and covered them with BBQ Sauce and Ashley opted for ketchup. It was still a great Thanksgiving, though!


Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's your list of things I'm thankful for this year-- how about you?

* My wonderful husband-- for doing the dishes and putting out a lot of heat since our heat is broken!
* A home-- it may not be a great apartment, but we do have our own place this year which is infinitely better than where we were a year ago!
* Wonderful neighbors-- John and Paige are so much fun and so nice to us, definitely an improvement over Jimmy... they even took us bouldering last weekend!
* A team worth rooting for-- keep up the good work, Thrashers!
* My staff-- they really do make my job easy. Yes, sometimes they're not perfect, but if they weren't so great then my stressful job would be even worse!
* A job-- I may hate my job, but I have one and that's worth a lot these days!
* Our godchildren-- Julian and Violet are crazy off the wall, but they're wonderful children who love us dearly and we love them, too!
* All of our amazing friends and family who have made our (almost) first year of marriage so fantastic.

Until later this week when I pull the pictures off the camera, I wish you all a wonderful rest of Thanksgiving and a joyous start to the holiday season!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Wonderful day

Our weather here was perfect today and I couldn't have been happier-- we had our first "people over" party today and it ROCKED.

Menu:
Chicken (Drumsticks)
Pomegranate Syrup Glazed Leg of Lamb
Hot Rub Ribs (a la Central BBQ)
Garlic Honey Hamburgers
Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Chips and Salsa
Ciabatta Bread with Olive Oil
Bacon Macaroni and Cheese
Green Bean Casserole (Paige)
Mediterranean Salad (Michael)
Brownies
Apple Crisp
Sangria
Pinot Grigio
And more beer than you can shake a stick at

It was pretty great, even if it DID almost start by me being stupid and burning the tips of my fingers off with the meat thermometer probe... I have to get the pictures converted on Jeremy's computer since the camera was being ridiculous, but it was a great day filled with friends and food and great weather.