Scrooges aren't welcome here

[Christmas 2009 - husband is super excited]
My favorite holiday is Christmas and it really does bother me that it's now Offensive to openly celebrate your "winter holiday".  You know what I mean?  I always felt like saying Happy Holidays was nice and generic when you weren't sure which holiday people celebrated if any, but I like to send Christmas cards and a couple Hannakah cards because I know the difference.  If my BFF is telling me all about her potato latkes and wearing a cardigan to temple, then you bet I'm going to wish the girl a Happy Hannakah!  I think that people should celebrate freely, there's a little too much political correctness going on.  I can't wait to have a house and put a gigantic scene of Christ's birth on the front lawn.  If you don't believe in that, then it's just a whole slew of ancient looking people and a baby on the lawn right?  I may not take it that far, but I'd rather people go overboard instead of being afraid of offending their neighbors by putting up something Christmasy or otherwise.

Speaking of offensive.
I know this girl, and we were talking about how we had a "floating holiday" which could be used either as a personal day or as an extra holiday.  I just use it as a personal day and really so does everyone else.  She needed to ask me "what do you use a floating holiday for, I don't get it..."  I responded with "you can use it as a personal day or you can make up a really crazy holiday it doesn't matter."  People, I was Freaking Joking here!  She said in a very flat tone "oh well I DO have a really crazy holiday actually."  Normally, I'd probably feel kind of bad, but this time I felt like she was just asking for it and trying to be offended because I totally KNEW the so called crazy holiday she was referring to and it's not that effing crazy!  Instead of jumping into a lively conversation about how fun her crazy holiday probably is, I just said "Well then use the floater for that" and walked away so she could be offended by me forever.  A crazy holiday to me would be like: no present giving, no eating, no clothing, no sleeping, no hair products, and at the rise of the moon everyone turns into a half-sour pickle.  Now that is a crazy mother effing holiday.
 

Celtics Game with celebs

Last night we took a couple friends to see the Celtics play at the Garden.  I've always liked going to Celtics games even more than Red Sox or Patriots, I think it's just a more fun environment.  We had so much fun that we're thinking about buying partial season tickets.  It probably won't happen, but we really love these guys!  The best part is that we won!

We weren't alone, Wes Welker was sitting courtside and Adalius Thomas was there with his son (Patriots players).  See Wes in his white hat in the middle-front?  He kind of caused a scene when the camera went on him and he was up on the jumbo-tron thingy.  People went wild for him, totally ignoring the game and then when he got up to pee, he got the same reaction.  It was pretty exciting though, our seats were so good!  The premium seats are really fantastic, there is a waitress that comes and brings you drinks, and the seats are nice and comfy leather.  I can't wait to go back!     

Because kids can be distracting...

This is my last Thanksgiving post, but I forgot to include it before!

Many moons ago, when we were just little kids running around while the adults cooked and cleaned up Thanksgiving dinner something horrible happened.

We had the holiday dinner at my Auntie's house, so my nana was there and my Auntie's mother was there, and they were all really involved in everything from table setting to making plates for the kids and everything.  When dinner was over my nana, Auntie and her mom all cleared the table away to make room for the upcoming dessert.  We all sat around and ate our pies and Italian cookies, and my parents took us home.  It was one of many Thanksgivings we celebrated just like that growing up.

Spring rolled around, and my Auntie noticed that there were some knats in the house.  She cleaned the tub, the sinks, and the floors till there was just nothing else that could be cleaned.  The spring went on, and it got hotter and hotter in the house (no AC) and the knats were out of control.  They had to find the source...and where was the source?  In the china cabinet there was a casserole dish from Thanksgiving full of rotting and decaying green bean casserole!  Someone had put it back into the cabinet without washing it, and it sat in there for 6 months before being noticed because really who goes into a china cabinet except on holidays.

Today was the first time that I heard this story, and I will be sure to double check my china cabinet in the future when I have one of those things!

Turkey Trot and Food Overload

I started my morning with a 4 mile Turkey Trot in Davis Square this morning!  I'm super impressed with myself because sleeping in is perhaps my favorite holiday activity.  The race itself was more challenging than I expected.  I'm used to distance, but I'm also used to a very paced distance.  You know what passed me today?  2 people dressed as turkeys in big outfits where walking would be difficult - they were able to smoke me.  More impressive is the amount of parents pushing toddlers in running strollers who passed me...going UP HILL!  Besides all the people handing my ass to me at 9am, it was a really good race.  The course itself was really organized and the finish line was packed full of runners who already finished and who were cheering everyone else on, I would totally do it again.  What I didn't love about it was the pain, I felt like I was dying, but actually my ipod said I averaged 9 minute miles so that's not terrible.

We went to my parent's house for the turkey dinner.  It was one of the better Thanksgivings because my mom used a lot of new recipes that I would consider to be more gourmet.  Normally we kind of throw the standard mashed potatos and gravy with squash and turkey at people and call it a day.  There was so much food today that we could have fed half the country.  My brother had to work, and this is his favorite holiday just for all the gluttony.  It was pretty obvious that he wasn't there when we saw all that was leftover.

My family discussed gift giving for the first time since all us kids grew up.  It was a little chaotic with many ideas on how to proceed with it like yankee swaps, secret santas, just giving the little kids gifts, no gifts at all, etc.  We called up one of my aunts who lives down south, and discussed it over speakers phone after we had kind of gotten a rough idea of what we thought was best: secret santa.  We had to explain what a secret santa was about 5 times too many for someone of my dad's IQ.  He's very super smart, but little things like secret santa kind of get right by him.  In the end we decided that everyone will bring a $20ish gift to do a kind of a grab-baggish type thing.  I think this is a much better idea for us.

Another example of little things that get by my dad.  Like when a daughter wants a dollhouse, you should probably just go out and buy her a plastic one she can play with in the toy room....

Awesome Uncle: what happened to that dollhouse you guys had, who's was it?
Super Dad: it was laura's.
Me: it was dad's.
Super Dad: no it was yours.
Me: no, you built it and put it on the living room on display in the window so I couldn't play with it!
[true story]


Anyways, happy turkey day everyone!  I'm off for some leftovers : )

Pineapple upside-down cake: yeah!

Check this shit out!  I am partially disabled when it comes to baking, I measure things incorrectly and I don't cook things for the right time, and my kitchen looks like a tsunami hit and the outcome is never worth all the pain and suffering.  This time, everything worked out for the best!

I used the Paula Deen recipe:

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 cups cake flour, plus more for pan
• 1 cup butter, softened, plus 1/2 cup, melted
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups whole buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 (20-ounce) cans pineapple slices in juice, drained well (reserve 2 tablespoons juice for frosting)
• 1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained well
• Pineapple Buttercream Frosting, recipe follows
• Chopped pecans, for garnish, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and coat with flour.

In a large bowl, beat 1 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and set aside.

In a small bowl, add the 3 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the brown sugar evenly into each pan. Pour the melted butter equally over the brown sugar. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries over the brown sugar. Reserve remaining pineapple slices and cherries for another use.

Pour equal amounts of batter over the fruit and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

To assemble the cake, carefully arrange 1 cake layer, pineapple side up, on a cake plate. Carefully stack the remaining cake layer, pineapple side up, over the first layer. Frost the sides of the cake with Pineapple Buttercream Frosting. Press chopped pecans into sides of cake, if desired.

Pineapple Buttercream Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined.

Yield: about 2 cups

-----------------------------

I used low fat buttermilk by accident, but I couldn't tell the difference, the consistency seemed so close to the same.  I chose to omit the frosting because it's Really sweet and delicious without it!  Many people mentioned that they overflowed their pans, so I only used about 95% of the batter and I even put a baking sheet underneath the 2 round baking pans to catch any run-off, but for me it seemed like I used the perfect amount with that method.  At the very end when you go to flip the round pans onto the cooling rack.... 1.  make sure you have paper towels under the baking rack to catch some liquid that will probably spill out from the bottom that hasn't yet hardened, and 2.  prepare yourself for the spill, but it's OK, all is well inside the cake.

This cake is fantastic!  I mean really, I know Paula likes her butter and I don't, but today she changed me.  I love that freaking butter.

Now I just need some sun!

I came home from a wonderful sushi dinner tonight to a really strange package.  It was labeled from somewhere in New York and it had my maiden name on it, so it was like...what in the world could it be?  I don't remember ordering anything or using my old name... but it turns out that I won Nia 24 mineral sunscreen from Self Magazine!  I entered this giveaway a Long time ago, but of course I'm still pretty excited about it.  I love beauty products and I love things that won't make me break out!  This sunscreen actually claims to reverse hyperpigementation and sun damage.  I have a good amount of hyperpigmentation left over from a bad acne outbreak so I'm pretty curious as to what this can do for me!

Bye Bye Becca

My BFF is leaving this week, and she's having a lot of going away events.  Tonight was kind of the pinnacle of the farewells, not that she's going to be very far away!  But I got to spend the night with my favorite girls and my husband even came out, it was bat-shit-crazy.  I can't tell you where we went for fear of ridicule - but it was a bit of a throw back to younger years.    

The party princess herself and my hilarious husband, there were lots of drinks flowing, and I somehow remained sober!  I decided it would be best if I drove us home so I let Abe run loose.  I think he had a really good time.  After we sat on the couch for 2.5 hours in the evening playing the new Super Mario Brothers for Wii, it was good to get out of the house and socialize for a while. 

Kerri is either singing to me or telling me a vivid dream involving something spicey and delicious.  On an unrelated note: the color of her blouse is fantastic - love it.

I'm not sure what's happening here, but it's about 20 minutes before we left so I am pretty sure they are all yelling: WOOOOOOO!  Abe probably asked for another gin and ginger ale.

Abe is telling Natasha a story, and she is looking to me for verification.  Unfortunately, I have no idea any words that came out of his mouth.  I'm sure that one of the word was probably "Karaoke" though.

We ended the night with Abe buying an $8 sausage in Fanuiel Hall from a 16 year old running a street cart, and then we went to a McDonald's drive through for chicken nuggets....Ok, so it was actually 2 orders of nuggets, fries, cokes, and a #14.  Luckily for us, they forgot to put in the #14 because I had no idea what it was that Abe wanted....and I might never know, it's like the mystery sandwich.  This was the first time I've gone through a drive through in years!  I was kind of wishing they had a veggie drive through, you know something open late night that sold things like salad or veggie pita pockets!!  Unfortunately, people generally don't crave healthy foods at midnight after hitting the bars.  I might be the only one.

Mare...again

Tonight we had one last dinner in the North End with my BFF at Mare before she moves out of Boston and into the Sunny world of Philadelphia!  Hopefully it's not like the show, and much less clinically insane. 

For starters we got the pan seared diver scallops and the grilled octopus.  It turns out that I'm really not a fan of octopus but Abe thought it was terrific.  The scallops were perfectly cooked and very tasty.  I would recommend ordering these! 

For our entrees me and my BFF both ordered the wild mushroom spaghettoni with black truffles and spinach.  It was amazing, really creamy and full flavored, although it appears like a small serving in the photo and it felt like a small serving in my tummy.  Abe got the grigliata di pesce, which was a variety of chef chosen seafood - the langostino is what is a little excited looking... he was also slightly undercooked.  All around this dish was nice, and much too small for my husband's healthy appetite!  This was the perfect size for a light eater.    

Our main entrees were good, but they did not fill us up in the way that we like to be so we went for dessert.  Oh dessert, if we had left after the entrees I would have been happy, but no I let my stomach order tiramisu and apple bread pudding.  Which one is the tiramisu?  Is it difficult to tell?  Is it because tiramisu shouldn't look like custard on a plate that's throwing you off?  The first one is the tiramisu and it was Not good.  I do not like inspired classics when it comes to certain things like blueberry pie, pot roast, vegetable lo mein, and tiramisu.  I am actually much more upset about this dessert than I should be, but I feel as though an $8 dessert should be Good.  On the other hand, the apple bread pudding was quite good.  I enjoyed it very much, it tasted just like a nice apple pie.  So excellent job there! 

Overall, I had a much better visit here at Mare back in March when I went for Restaurant Week.  This time when I was paying full price and the meal was just So/So I had a different kind of experience.  I would go back, but I think that there are so many good restaurants in the North End that this one will not be at the top of my list...

 

Summer Shack - Holla

Tonight was a special night!  It's not everyday that we go to The Summer Shack for some seriously awesome seafood.  We went on a date tonight with Natasha and it did not disappoint.  Did you know there's such thing as BOGO oysters?  Well there is at The Summer Shack on Mondays: buy one oyster, get one free.  This didn't really do it for me, but my husband loves those creatures.   

I forgot my camera...so Blackberry it was...photo taken by Abe : )  

On my plate is the 2 pound wok seared lobster that's cooked Asian style with a side of white rice.  You might think it's spicy, but it's actually very sweet and salty...the sauce is a variation of soy sauce with scallions.  On Natasha's plate is the 2 pound pan fried lobster, which is THE lobster to get there.  I didn't get it because I just happen to crave soy sauce all the time, but the pan fried one really is the best one on the menu!  Lots of butter, lots of flavor, super saucy, all over your hands and plate and face...and worth all of it. 

Go here on a weekday, it's practically a ghost town, but the weekends are pretty busy.  The servers are nice, and it's a clean fun environment.  Sometimes you see Jasper White walking around or sitting at the bar.  When is the last time that you dove into a plate full of butter and lobster?  You should try it sometime!  

The Sloth In Me

For lack of anything better to talk about, because I spent 2 days sitting on the couch, I thought I'd post another Halloween photo because it's hilarious.

I watched so much TV over the weekend, it was disgusting.  I went to the gym once on Saturday but it wasn't really all that great, I shouldn't have eaten pancakes before working out!  There is some really bad tv on during the weekends: a lifetime movie with Candace Cameron and Fred Savage, every Matrix ever created, A Haunting - all of which I've seen before but I kept watching each episode anyways, Dodgeball, and pretty much a whole plethora of entertainment that I would never watch unless I was close to dying of boredom.  I spent most of my day organizing and cleaning yesterday, although it really looks not much better in here.  I hate this apartment and it's lack of storage. 

I wasn't trying to lay on the couch all weekend but I'm having some strange pain on the top of my right foot.  It's not bad, but it's very annoying so I decided to lay off it today.  It mostly hurts when I'm sitting and not standing though, which is very confusing.  I'll give it two more days to shape up before getting too concerned.  I'm not sure that I was prepared for the amount of rest that it would get.  Insanity was creeping in half way through the day.  I got off the couch and used a weight to do some squats and arm lifts and standing ab work, but it was nothing close to actual cardio!  Nobody should be this sedentry, it's a lot harder than running ever was, I'm not even kidding.

     

Oh It's Blinding

Behold, the Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask.  I like to think that I have great hair, it's long and silky and overall pretty awesome.  What it's not is indestructable!  Running has kind of tortured my hair, you think it's like no big deal right?  Wrong, you probably pull your hair back tighter for a workout than you do for a casual ponytail event.  I need a tight ponytail because my hair is so heavy and then I have clips to keep my bangs back, and you know it gets messy.  So the hair is tighter and it's being bounced around and it's breaking and pulling, it's not happy.  An easy way to fix this is to use a deep conditioning mask like this one.  You only use a tiny bit, maybe a tablespoon and then I use a wide tooth comb to comb it through my ends.  I let it sit on there for maybe 5 minutes and rinse.  See the photos below from my sorority event?  That is the result: Very Shiny Hair.  I totally suggest it to anyone, and it's only about $6-$7 so it's worth a shot!  I've seen hair masks out there for $45 so this is a fantastic deal.

Sorority Alumni Fun - no pillow fights

Saturday night my college sorority got together for an alumni event in town with girls living in the Boston area.  It was a good time, we sat our butts by the food table when we got there per usual and then we slowly got our drink on.  Maybe 5 years ago the 2.5 beers I had would have been more like 6 but some things have changed and many things haven't.  It's still really nice to see friends that I don't get to see all the time, and it's fun to bar hop in our old college area.  There was review of the handshake, memories of hilarity, and way too much food. 

This is my "little sister", she just completed her first half marathon as well.  It's funny because for the longest time, we're talking like 10 years, this is the only thing that we really have in common!  We both ran a half marathon in the same year.  Previous to this, we'd always had fun but we're so different.  She's so funny guys!  I wish that I had taken more photos.  Maybe the alumni girls there will have some...

Anyways it was a wild night out - can't you tell by my buttoned to the top outfit?  Honestly, these days that really is what I wear out to a bar.  To make things even more formal, I was wearing sneakers, but everyone was so jealous of my comfortable feet.  Heels look good, but not if you're standing for 4 hours!  I had 2.5 beers and I couldn't even finish the third, I don't like to drink anymore...  I can't remember the last time I had that much to drink.  I wanted to hang out with Abe before bed since he's working on Saturday so I went home and had a piece of pizza and we watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Later in the night, I talked and talked and talked in my sleep.  I knew that I was doing it, but my dream kept going on and I couldn't stop until Abe woke me up.  I never do that, I blame it on the beer...or the Plate of Meat!

It was a great time, and it reminded me to pay my alumni dues.  Apparently they lost track of me since I've had 4 different addresses since graduation, but I swear I would have paid the $19.17 if I'd known, hahaha!  It just makes me sound so cheap - and I'm Frugal, not cheap, there's a serious difference.

 

How much mayo can one family eat?

What a hilarious week so far.  I got a check in the mail for a book sold on Amazon and it was wrapped in this super funny sandwich list from the midwest.  I appreciate the recycling of paper, but I hope they know that I'd read it.  This family Really likes mayo and bologna!!  I can't judge though, I've never had mayo with bologna before.  As a child I would often have bologna and mustard, but somehow the mayo makes it so much more midwest-cozy.  On an unrelated sidenote: the artist formerly known as Prince is totally from Minnesota.

I bought myself a present at Lululemon!  I got black arm warmers for running.  They're basically like tube socks that have a little thumb hole cut out and pull up to your mid-bicep to keep you warm during cold weather runs.  It's pretty exciting, Kara Goucher wears them and lots of other cool runners.  I think I paid too much for them but Lululemon is on the pricier side, the Asics pair go for about $10 and mine were about $28 because they're thicker.  I will take extra good care of them, I plan on testing them out this weekend for an outdoor long run!  My face might be freezing but my arms will be toasty warm.  These little comforts are what I really need to get motivated to get outside because it seems that we will be in New England for a long time, if not forever.

Today, I got a headache for the first time in ages.  You know the kind that just makes the world shut down a little bit?  I marched myself to Starbucks to get one of the holiday drinks, I figured it wouldn't hurt my headache and might improve my mood.  I ordered a tall non-fat peppermint mocha and a petite vanilla scone.  Turns out that I don't really like the peppermint mocha - I only drank half, but I devoured that petite scone, it was terrific: pefectly moist with a sweet vanilla glaze.  I'll admit that it didn't help my headache, and it may have made it worse, but it made me happy so it was worth it at the time.  I need to try not to reward myself with food!  That is a terrible habit... so then for dinner we ordered Thai takeout...dah, I know!!  I could have fixed something light and healthy for dinner, but 99% of the time we eat at home during the week but today it just didn't work out.  Atleast nothing was fried, I have that going for me.  

You Tube Champions!

On the right is our friend Scotty holding a bottle of wine sideways wrapped in a kitchen towel.  On the left is my husband swinging a large rubber mallet.  What is the point of this Idiotness?  Well Abe saw the video of the French guy opening a bottle of wine by placing it into his shoe and banging it against a wall.  The cork gets pushed out by the pressure of the motion.  The boys tried that first, but it didn't work out mainly because they were kind of scared they'd just break the bottle.  I'm not sure how they found the courage in 10 minutes, but soon enough this became their solution...to swing a rubber mallet indoors at the bottle. 

Check it out if you feel like watching some crazy shit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvsmYf8xQ-c

I filmed it on my super cute pink blackberry so it's totally poor quality, and when I shake it's because I'm trying to quietly suppress my laughing...I wasn't encouraging it, I just wanted to capture their moment of triumph!  Please do not try this at home, unless you are in someone else's kitchen.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - WTF!

My husband thought I really had to see this movie.  His sister brought it home one day back in the 90s and he thought it was hilarious....10 years ago.  He put it on our Netflix and tonight was the big night.  I watched the whole thing and I'm honestly not sure if I loved it or not.  What I do know is that there are so many famous people in this movie dressed in serious drag and lip synching their hearts out. 

Guy Pearce from Memento. 

Hugo Weaving...aka The Elf Dude in Lord of the Rings OR Agent Smith.

Terence Stamp aka Yes Man, from that movie with Jim Carey and the cuteness of Zooey Deschanel.

And now all of them dressed in drag.

So did I like it?  Yeah I still don't know.  It had a lot of really good moments, but it was also the strangest movie that I've ever seen!!  I'm totally not sure if I suggest it or not.  Their costumes are seriously awesome though.

Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff

Did you want to make really delicious and creamy pasta without burning your house down or waiting 3 hours?  Do you love mushrooms...because I love mushrooms much more than the average person.

Try the Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff recipe from Williams Sonoma.  It's so fast and easy, you will be thrilled.

To make beef stroganoff, use 1 lb. cooked leftover steak, such as beef sirloin or tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes. Add to the sauce along with the broth.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 2 lb. mixed fresh mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster and cremini, thinly
    sliced
• 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 lb. wide egg noodles or pappardelle

Directions:

Make the sauce
In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and sauté until lightly golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they have softened and released most of their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir to incorporate. Stir in the wine and broth and cook until most of the alcohol has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sour cream and the 2 Tbs. parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add 2 Tbs. salt and the pasta to the boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until al dente, according to the package instructions. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Warm briefly over low heat to blend the flavors. Add as much of the cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce, garnish with parsley and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, One Pot, by Carrolyn Carreño (Oxmoor House, 2008).

Looking for Adventure

So many things are bothering me already and it's only Tuesday!  I've been pretty down and depressed since the Nike race.  I spent 4 months training and looking forward to it, and when it was over it was like: now what am I supposed to do?  I'm sure this is totally common, but that doesn't make it any easier to get through.  I know that I have a half marathon in May/June and then I'm going to try to get into a full marathon for October, but it's all so far away right now.  My next adventure is going to be moving in April, and that's actually not all that fun.

I guess I've sort of lost my direction again.  This happens a lot...

To try and remedy this trash bag full of blues I've done a few things.  First, I scheduled an appointment for a massage at Melt on Newbury Street with a gift card.  Who wouldn't enjoy a free massage?  Then I made it a goal to keep hitting the treadmill (even though I've come to despise that stupid machine) for 10 miles per week so my legs won't forget how to run over the long horrible New England winter.  I found podcasts that I really enjoy: The Gomers and Running with the Pack, but really how into pod casts can I get without becoming strange.  I got really into nesting, and I was baking and all that like a madwoman and then I got kind of bored and stopped.  Our place is now a disaster with too many baked goods. I'm sure there's a better solution somewhere out there and I'll come across it soon enough.

Happy Halloween, would you like a lapdance?

We were Chris Farley (me) and Patrick Swayze (Abe) for Halloween this year.  Can't you tell?  The theme of our party being: Remembering Patrick Swayze.

I know I said that I didn't want to dress up, and I didn't, but Abe went out and got part of our costumes last week so I felt obligated after that.  We were able to finish up our costumes pretty easily so you know whatever, we do look pretty awesome though.  We weren't the only people in wigs:

We still don't really know what Dave the guy on the left was.  Creepy is kind of what he was with that real mustache.  He had a full beard and then just shaved it off leaving like a science teacher mustache on his face.

My favorite doggy was there!  Cute Cute Cute, I wanted steal him.  Too bad he's like the heaviest dog I've ever held, I was actually really straining to hold him, but I could probably still run! 

The party ended with some jamming in the barn.  My husband thrilled the ladies with his guitar playing, also he played the drums.  I didn't know he knew how to play the drums...

It was a long night and a long drive home, but it was fun.  It was much easier to stay warm when I had a giant pillow stuffed into my outfit!