Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving holiday come and gone. This one was wonderful as well. We had a feast of course, and enjoyed the company of our friends Todd and Barbara as well as my brother Damian.

We also took advantage of the long weekend by doing some fun things together like bowling on Friday then hanging out with friends Jim and Kathy Friday night. Yesterday/Saturday we enjoyed a pancake breakfast, leftovers for lunch and then went to see The Blind Side. Afterwards we enjoyed a spectacular dinner at The Keg. We’ve also played lots of games – Farkle, Loaded Questions, and Wii tennis-bowling-boxing. Today we’ll probably just kick back and relax, watch NFL football and later I drive Damian to the airport.

One thing i did NOT do is go shopping on Black Friday. I guess there were some really good deals out there, but honestly not worth the crowds and standing in a long line. I did accomplish a bit of Christmas shopping online, including getting a great deal on a nice present for Justin. Of course I can’t mention what it is since we want it to be a surprise :)

The coming week will be super busy, with my Mom and Dave coming in on Wednesday night. We also have Justin’s football season party on Tuesday evening and that pretty much only leaves Monday to do cleaning, chores and packing for our trip next week. I’m so excited that next Sunday we will be waking up in Hawaii!

Great day – and Friday to boot!

Great day today. For one, I got a lot done at work. Then as I was on my way to an event, I drove by the construction site for the newest Phoenix Culver’s – only about 1/2 mile from the office! Actually this is both good and bad – good for the tastebuds, terrible for the waistline!

The event I went to was the National Speakers Association’s Fall Conference. One of my associates from Meeting Professionals International asked me to be on a panel of meeting planners, and I was very flattered. The session was fun to do – not the first time I’ve been on a panel, but our moderator was exceptional which made the 90 minute session literally fly by. After the session, one of the attendees – a very well-known and esteemed meeting planning colleague – sought me out to compliment me on my speaking voice. That comment literally made my day!

Today Terry stayed home to drain the pool – something we desperately needed to do. I guess when the water is “old” it’s more difficult to balance, and according to the pool store who analyzed our water sample, it hasn’t been done for a long, long time. At any rate, right now we have an empty pool – which is kind of weird. Tomorrow it will be full again, and hopefully easier to maintain as well.

Of course I can’t believe it’s nearly Thanksgiving. This year we will not have a huge group but there will be 7 of us. My brother Damian is coming for a short visit, and I’m really excited about spending some time with him. I haven’t seen him in about 3 years, most of which he spent in Japan (he’s in the Navy). Also coming to dinner will be our friends Todd and Barbara, who of course are like family to us.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I really need to work on organizing the menu and my shopping list – tomorrow I will be joining the masses of home cooks and stocking up for the big day next week. Woo-hoo!

Halloween festivities

We enjoyed Halloween weekend with a Friday night party (I won the costume contest and $100 cash for dressing as a 50’s housewife!) and a Saturday evening neighborhood gathering/pot luck/trick or treat. Justin went to a surprise birthday/Halloween party for his friend and decided to dress up as “emo”. Not having any daughters, I never thought I’d be putting eyeliner, lipstick and earrings on one of my children! He looks good though – and pretty convincing.

Above – Barbara as a cop and my winning costume. Honestly nothing outlandish but I was thrilled to beat out about a dozen trampy costumes. Nice to know you don’t have to be a tart to win something like that!

For the block party, the dish I brought to pass was the ever-popular Chicken Wing Dip. Also got a new recipe, someone brought an awesome fruit dip:

Caramel Apple Dip

1 tub Caramel sauce ; (used for apples – 16 oz.)
1 package Cream cheese ; softened
1/2 cup Chopped peanuts ; unsalted
4 Granny Smith apples ; sliced

In medium mixing bowl, combine caramel and cream cheese using a hand mixer. Transfer to a glass pie plate and spread with a spatula to smooth and even surface. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top and use the back of a clean spoon to push them into the sauce just lightly enough to make them stay put.

To serve, place the pie plate on a tray or larger plate, and surround with sliced apples.

NOTE: To keep apples from browning, toss them in a bit of lemon juice just after slicing.