Thanksgiving Weekend Picture Post

I am really overwhelmed with work, personal projects, and the holidays right now...  So here is another picture post instead of a lengthy description of my holiday weekend.

We had J's friend over for a semi-traditional American Thanksgiving.  She has treated us to traditional Chinese food on more than one occasion and this was the least we could do to return the favor.  Ever since J and I started going to one another's family functions I have been in love with his Grandmother's Sage Stuffing.  I asked him to ask his mom how to make it - and for his first attempt at stuffing, he did an excellent job!  He also wanted to do most of the food on a grill, so we grilled potatoes instead of mashing them.

Our table for three.  We skipped the turkey (see the last post) and aside from stuffing and potatoes we had steak, vegetarian squash tart, salad, and grilled corn.  I was the only one who wanted the pumpkin pie, though... More for me!

A better view of our feast.  We sent our friend home with a ton of food and we still have leftovers.  I guess that's the American tradition- overkill.  (She liked the sparkling cider.  Personally, that is always one of my favorite family traditions.)

J and I went on a day-date on Saturday.  We decided to go to South Beach.  We hit up Bolivar again (we went their on a food tour with my in-laws).  We've both been craving their fried plantains and we decided to give tapas a try.  I've never had tapas before, but I think that it will be how J and I dine from now on.  We had a lot of fun, got to try a lot of different things- all wonderful, and it was reasonable ($40, tip included, for two people).  By the way- we did not touch the ketchup, the sauces (in the background) were amazing!

The purpose of our SoBe trip was to visit the Wolfsonian Museum.  We've been wanting to go to more art museums, but sometimes it is hard to justify the price.  This one was free for us.  It was a pretty small museum and had more of a "design" aspect than a straight-up "art" aspect.  It was neat, but we don't have to go back.  Me with the Wolfsonian Museum's famous "Wrestler" statue. 

J in front of the "Lo and Behold" or "Miro y Ve" fountain.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

It wouldn't be a blog post by me if I didn't include my babies.  This is an older picture that J took when walking the dogs.  Now Lily is as big as Ruby.  They are a funny duo. 

What a doll.  I like the way she crosses her paws.  You can tell how much bulkier she is than Ruby just by her paws alone.  This was after a particularly trying day at work a couple of weeks ago.  (You can tell because my hair is frazzled.  It likes to do that when I'm stressed.)  I love coming home to a full house.

Lily loves everyone.  Equally.  And she doesn't take the hint.  Tashi is an opportunist though, so if she thinks she'll get some nice cuddles out of it, she'll stay.  Lily is in her new sweater that we bought her last week.  Ruby has the same one in red.  I don't know WHAT we will do with them when we move to a colder climate.  They are wusses.

Saturday was a good day.  We had our day-date, went to the dog park, and then I came home to my Etsy package.  I had been spying on this little creature for several weeks and I decided that because I've made two sales (plus the ones to my mom) that I would treat myself to an Etsy item.  She's custom made and all the way from Australia.  You can't really tell, but she is sitting on a half-shell.  (You should check out the artist's work- she's great: http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarletsbones?ref=search_shop_redirect)  It has been a long time since I have ordered something online, so I was anxiously waiting for her arrival

 

 

So, that's my holiday weekend in a nutshell.  (Minus the top-secret holiday preparations for work and family/friends... and the two loads of laundry... and the massive cleaning on Thursday... and the grocery shopping... you get the picture- I just gave you the highlights.)

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your loved ones.  I am glad that J and I were able to host our first successful psuedo-Thanksgiving.  We had fun.  I don't know what we'll do for Christmas, but honestly, I'm not even ready to think about that.  Now, I'm off to pull my laundry out of the dryer.  Fun stuff!

Picture Post

I have been busy with work and preparing for the holidays.  J and I will be hosting a guest for Thanksgiving and we want to show her a semi-traditional dinner (sans turkey because -hey- we're not the best of chefs and what is the chance of finding a heritage, free-range, ethically treated bird down here for less than $25 and how the heck can three people eat something that big anyways...).  I'm a bit nervous because she has had us over for traditional Chinese food twice now and she is an AMAZING cook. 

I have also been working on Christmas gifts.  I submitted some stuff to Ramble Art Festival down here again this year, and some sold.  I'm not sure how much because I haven't picked my things up yet, but it did take me awhile to pull everything together.

Instead of writing a long missive on what has (or hasn't) been happening in our lives, I figured I'd do a picture post.  I'm not the best photographer and I'm using J's camera (some of these are from his iPhone).  So please, disregard the quality.  I make no claims to be an artful blogger.  Just an honest, and hopefully sometimes funny, one. 

My Halloween costume inspiration.  Every year J and I watch something for Halloween.  The last two years we watched Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  This year, in honor of my Classic Movie Challenge, we watched the first season of The Addams Family television show (circa 1964).  They are a loving family through and through.  Gomez and Morticia are sickeningly romantic (they'd take that as a compliment).  John Astin is my favorite incarnation of Gomez, but Christina Ricci is my favorite version of Wednesday.  I loved Wednesday as soon as I saw the movie as a kid (circa 1991).  I have always had a soft spot for Cousin Itt, though.  In college I had The Addams Family comic day planner.  I wish I would have kept it.  That dark humor oddly brightens my dull Miami life.

 

 

 

 

This isn't my best costume ever, but it was just for work.  People kept saying I looked cute.  They didn't realize I was in costume.  All I could think was, "Wednesday would be mortified."  The only thing I had to do for this costume was braid my hair.  I guess I have a dark wardrobe if no one noticed the difference.  :)

What do you see in this picture?  I see three sunbathing cats.  Sassy puppies.  For the record, their mommy doesn't let them lay on top of the couch cushions like that.

My lovely Lily.  I wish a camera could do justice for her beautiful hazel eyes.  I adore her so.

I took these pictures a couple of nights ago when Trini and I were lounging in bed, wasting too much time on the Internet.  I have had her since I was seven.  This is what 18 years of friendship looks like: love, slight annoyance, and complete understanding of one another.  She is experiencing some difficulties lately due to age.  Her one eye is completely covered in a cataract (and the other one is going too).  She used to keep it closed all of the time, but after a couple of visits to the vet we seemed to ease the irritation for her.  Now her legs are giving out to arthritis and she doesn't move much.  She tries hard to make it to the litter box, but sometimes she doesn't realize she's in it and she misses.  My mornings are messy, but I would do just about anything for this cranky old broad.

Happiness is warm puppies.  My lap, and my heart, are always full thanks to a house full of animals.

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Weekend!