Potlucks

About once a season we try to have a potluck. In our circle of friends, potlucks are prevalent and always full of loads of children & babies, great food, and craft beer. Yesterday's potluck was no different.

Here are the beautiful, artisan loaves of bread that one friend made.

Not everyone made it, but today I tallied up the final count and there were 62 people here yesterday!! We had three different soups in crock pots, mac 'n cheese in another, many different sides, and a few desserts. It was quite a spread.

 I just love getting so many great people together. Somehow I always want time to freeze and slow down; there are always too many people to enjoy and talk to. Always a few too many things going on, but I love getting people we love in the same place for a few hours.

 Jim raked two massive leaf piles up from all of the fallen maple leaves and the kids played between the two. There was one little injury, but it's a good thing we always have ten doctors on hand ;)

 Have I ever mentioned that I love our community?

As the night drew in and got chillier, many of us huddled close to the fire and talked. I know it's dark, but it helps me remember the feel. I just love nights out by a fire with friends old and new.

Thanksgiving in Paris

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Mom, Dad, & Willem. Phoebe & James were in Kentucky with his family and we missed them, but we look forward to spending Christmas with them in a couple of weeks!

My favorite meal of the year is BY FAR this feast. Okay, with Christmas Eve's roast beast a close second. I've never taken photos of the food before, I don't think. And, at the point of this feast, I was still feeling fairly well, so I snapped a fair amount of pictures. Unfortunately, I was hit by an unfortunate bug during the Thanksgiving holidays and travels.

We spent the morning visiting with some of my mom's cousins, whom I hadn't seen for years. And then it was soon time for us to feast on a magazine-worthy meal.

 My mouth waters looking at these stuffed mushrooms, sweet potato & apple scallops. mashed potatoes, green beans and almonds, kale salad, turkey, homemade stuffing, gravy, cornbread, cranberry sauce.... so savory.

 Ian took this meal seriously. Who wouldn't? Jim's obviously equally intent ;)

 To make room for pie, we headed outside for our annual hike up to the Paris View. We didn't make it all of the way there due to the limited daylight and how I was feeling, but we made room for pies. Yes, PIES. Pecan and pumpkin and a berry pie (a new addition this year).

 28 Weeks pregnant at this point, I believe.

 Ian hopped up each rock and recently found his pockets, which made his walk look quite proper.

 It's such a joy to watch these two interact. Love them.

 Äma always pulls out a bunch of books, from my childhood, to read and Ian soaks in the new literature.

 Grumps spent the last morning we were there making pretzels. We were thrilled to eat them as our snack on the drive to our second Thanksgiving with the Barlows in Philly. Thanks, Dad!!

Sweet picture. Thanks for a wonderful Thanksgiving, Mom & Dad & Willem!! Won't be long until we are all together again :)

Resume Some Normalcy

It's 5 o'clock on Superbowl Sunday and we're settling down. The past few weeks have kept us on our toes and we are finally feeling our stride again. It feels good.

After a few weeks of waiting, borrowing cars, waiting, returning cars, waiting and borrowing cars again, we once more have a mode of transportation that is stable and our own. When you're a one-car family, it's amazing what turmoil can be caused in your lives by a lack of transportation.

We were extremely close to purchasing a car after eight, full hours at the dealership. We had test-driven, discussed, compared, and settled before grabbing some lunch and running home to check some reviews. The car was going to be ours. As we headed back to the dealership I remembered (delayed and far too many hours late) that a coworker still had her VERY nice car and it would cost less than the one we were heading back to purchase! That was it- we both immediately relaxed those knots in our stomachs. Her car was the car for us.

It's a Volkswagon Passat (stationwagon) and it is beautiful, perfect, and we still can't believe it's ours. Rather than trade our trusty Subaru in, as we had been told to do, we brought it home and dropped it off at a trustworthy shop for a second opinion. Perhaps we will have a second car, yet!

Today we payed the rent, hauled off the recycling, dropped our Subaru off at the shop, took the dogs to the dog park, and picked up some groceries. But tonight we're ready for some relaxation and fewer knots in our stomachs.

So, the fact that we don't really watch or enjoy football as much as the average American doesn't bother us today. Jim surprised me when he wanted to grab some food and some rabbit ears and watch the game tonight. He's been upstairs setting up for our viewing experience for a while now and when I thanked him he said, "It's time to resume some normalcy in our lives."

And I couldn't agree more!

We'll sit back, munch and graze, enjoy the commercials, and root for both teams... enjoy your evening!

Yum!

In the winter, nothing beats eating a good grapefruit. I try not to let the advertisements and the creative displays at the grocery sway and convince me to buy items that weren't on my list. But grapefruits were certainly NOT on my list and boy were they calling to me!

And why shouldn't they call to me?

It's the change in the seasons, the brown of the leaves, and the beginning of cold sniffles that make it oh-so-right to get citrus, even if it isn't on "the list!"

And it's also okay if it isn't on your list the next week you head to the grocery store. They're helping me fight off any colds that may come my way.

There are so many good foods to look forward to in the colder months: hot chocolate, oatmeal, oranges, clementines, grapefruits, yorkshire pudding(!), Thanksgiving turkey and side dishes and desserts, roasts, soups, and more. More than food there are warm fires, down blankets, warm and bulky sweaters, smartwool socks, boots, and most of all, snow days!

I always struggle when people talk about their favorite season because it's so hard to choose. That's saying a lot coming from a teacher who gets her summers off! But there's so much to look forward to during every season and right now I am focusing on the wonders and positives of winter, since summer is so far away.

Thank goodness for grapefruits or I may not have begun thinking about how lovely this time of the year really is!

Panera

Lately we have taken to packing up all of our stuff and heading to Panera Bread. It's a great place to eat, drink coffee, and hop on the free internet to get some work done. Well, today Jim is the only one drinking coffee because he can either still get to sleep after having a few cups OR he goes to bed much later than I am planning and therefore needs to have it to stay up. Anyhow, I enjoy our times in Panera.

We're productive, away from the many things that could be done at home (dog needs, sweeping, organizing, washing dishes, etc), and able to focus on the tasks at hand.

Sometimes I have fun, too.

Tonight I was not planning on getting a bunch of work done and I don't have a bunch of work to do! Jim did have a lot and wanted a few hours of blocked-out time to do so. So, I spent some time applying for a volunteer coaching position for U6 in Blacksburg (Which I know I already have... Yay!), emailing, checking facebook, eating the free pastry we had on our Panera card, and taking the above and bellow picture.