Happy (day after) Thanksgiving

I hope you were all well fed and in good company for Thanksgiving. We had a couple friends over to spend the day preparing and eating the big meal. We got started early; shopping over the week, preparing dessert on Tuesday, making snacks and mushroom gravy Wednesday. We cooked all Thursday, got in a few card games, and settled our full bellies with a little dessert and a showing of Tron. All in all, a very good holiday.

In the past I've given Thanksgiving the backseat to Halloween and Christmas, but it may easily become my favorite holiday. It may be the most relaxed and genuinely holiday of holidays. A feast to celebrate union and gratitude. A day of delicious eats leading into a 4-day weekend.

Nathan and I have been blessed this year. We are very much living the lives we together hoped for, though here and there the vision has changed. It can be easy to take these blessings for granted, yet I still look around with amazement on a near daily basis and wonder how I got here.

I am recently thankful:
-for Nathan's job that brought us to Boston.
-that Nathan likes this job and does it so well.
-that my job secured me work in this new city, a built in support system, and fast new friends.
-for the love and support of family and friends, new and old.
-that we live in an age where moving away doesn't mean leaving people behind.
-for the delicious meal we shared and the reasonable metabolism to enjoy it.
-for puppies, and the hope we'll have one soon.
-for you!

Have a wonderful long weekend.

The feast laid out in our dining room:

turkey, tofurkey, herbed corn, mushroom gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes

Nathan's Birthday Weekend

Nathan turned 24 this past Thursday! His mama flew in late Wednesday evening to celebrate with us. Thursday was a beautiful, sunny New England day, so we headed down to the waterfront and finally checked the Aquarium off our to-see list. We took Nathan out to birthday tepanyaki for dinner, and they even surprised him with a birthday gong! I worked through the weekend, but I hear they had a good time traipsing through the city and checking out Boston together. Of course, I only remembered to take photos at the aquarium.

Thanks for celebrating with us, Melinda! Happy 24 years, and a good 25th year, Nathan!

Of the Spinach Lasagnas

Dear Mom,

Although you already make a mean spinach lasagna (there's a reason we have it for Christmas Eve), if you ever feel like switching things up a bit, I recommend this one. Same spinachy idea, sans sauce.

love, Cats

Funny story...After what felt like an already busy day, I decided I should put a hot meal on the table, hence the lasagna. Only later did I realize Nathan would be at a kickball game tonight and would miss out on fresh-out-of-the-oven lasagna. So that gigantic piece that is missing? Yep, I ate that. By myself. Bam.*

Also, sorry for the pathetic lack of blogging. Stuff has been going on, I just haven't been writing. My bad.

*In my defense, that dish isn't quite as big as it looks, not a standard 9x13...if it matters.

Staycation

I'm so excited because my parents are going to be here to visit tomorrow night! :) They packed up the van with some furniture to bring us and are driving through. Today they were in Montreal, tonight they are in Vermont, and tomorrow night they'll be with us. I'm still deciding what fun things we will do. I took 3 days off work next week for their visit, and in addition my boss gave me the whole weekend off just to be nice! It's like I'm on vacation!

Today Nathan and I got a zipcar and went to Home Depot. I have been wanting to do some gardening and this full weekend seemed like the right opportunity. I loaded up on tools, bulbs and pots of mums....and tonight I'm reading up on what the heck I'm supposed to do with those!

Yesterday it rained and rained, drizzle then downpour. Fortunately we're not flooding like much of the East Coast, but it sure made things soggy. Nevertheless, we braved the rains to go out last night and see Portico Quartet in Cambridge--so worth it! I have followed up here and there on this band ever since I saw them playing outside the Pompidou in Paris in 2006. When I saw their name in this week's concert listings I knew we had to go. The sound in the intimate venue was great.

Nathan's heard me say it enough, but if you're British, play unique jazz and travel the world with your buddies, can you really get any cooler? I think not. You can hear "Clipper" below....definitely worth a listen.

Secret Agent Woman

My good buddy out in Seattle has gone back to school for a graduate degree in Criminology. I decided this merited some special encouragement and sent her a package with a few helpful "secret agent" tools. It was really fun making this little themed package. I love how mail can make people so happy.

I typed up a mini document and put it in a mini file folder (with photo of her partner in crime-fighting, Paddington). Stuffed into a padded envelope were: this totally awesome vintage kids book about the secret service; red string for blood spatter analysis (Dexter fans?); a trail mix bar; a small notepad and pen; glassine bags for evidence; a mini magnifying glass; and a secret agent id.

The Return of Autumn

Happy First Day of Autumn!

Summer is struggling to hang on, reaching into 80 degrees today, but for the most part it feels like Fall is here to stay. The trees are turning, the light is becoming softer and more golden, and I could smell burning leaves this afternoon. The true mark of Autumn is that feeling I get, as though my heart becomes a little more tender. I think it corresponds to said golden light and the chill in the air. Is it just me, or is that perhaps what truly calls us to Fall?

And of course, a couple photos:
Nathan's mama sent a box of goodies, and we didn't wait long to whip up some peanut clusters. It hasn't taken long for them to disappear from the freezer, either. Thanks, Melinda. :)

Nathan has expert skills in peanut clustering.

I was excited to hang out in the bleachers and be the albeit silent cheering section at Nathan's kickball game this week. It was darn cold, but I was glad to watch The Wet Bandits kick the opposition to the curb.

There are some great things happening in the sky tonight...the Autumnal Equinox occurs overnight, which means it is the Harvest Moon. Sure enough, the moon is bright and clear, and you can even see Jupiter.

Welcome, welcome Fall.

Antiquery

I'm sitting here at the end of this rainy Monday with a bowl of hot, homemade soup...that's right, we've made it back to soup season, sooner than I had even imagined. I anticipate a few more hot days, and hopefully some crisp yet sunny Fall days, but for now it's back to socks, sweaters, jackets, hot coffee and pots of soup. Not that I'm complaining. :)

While I get cozy, my geek is getting in touch with his rugged side at his first kickball game! Work has kept him busy the last several weeks, so I'm hoping a little athletic time in the fresh air will be a nice change of pace. I can't wait to go out and cheer him on....next time, when it's sunny. Hang tough, Nate.

This weekend was pretty low-key; I worked Saturday while Nathan relaxed at home after a long week. After work Nathan met up with our friend Erin and me for dinner out at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Sunday, we picked up a zipcar and with our friend/birthday-girl Ashley in tow drove out to Brimfield, Massachusetts. Three times a year, Brimfield hosts the largest outdoor antique market in the country, and we made it for the last day. The fair sprawls out for a mile, tent after tent full of the weird and wonderful. We mostly enjoyed perusing and eating, but I did bring home one thing. It's a wooden printing block from Pakistan. Of course I forgot to take photos there, but here is a picture of my block.

Did you have a good weekend?