Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

I spent my Thanksgiving yesterday with a few friends in my apartment. Here's a picture of the spread! We went in on one of those grocery store Thanksgiving meals. For $50, you got an 11-lb turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, dinner rolls, cranberry relish and a pie, all ready for reheating. I'm not sure it was such a great deal. We thought it would be super convenient and cheaper than any other option and I guess it was but the mashed potatoes and stuffing came in one of those microwave-safe packages you find in the refrigerated food section... which, in fact, is what I bought for myself when celebrating Thanksgiving alone last year. Silly me, I was expecting food prepared by the people behind the deli counter. Regardless, it was nice to have friends over and we had a good time and it was convenient and quick and it did sort of feel like hosting a real Thanksgiving because I had to time everything correctly and did make spinach-artichoke dip as an appetizer for everyone as well as corn and a non-pie dessert. Hope everyone else had a great holiday!

Friday randomness

This is the first of my four Memorial Day weekends in DC that I'm actually spending in DC, I think. And I'm being welcomed with amazing summer weather - not. It started pouring rain shortly after I got home from work. It's supposed to rain most of tomorrow, too. But that's all right because I have about six movies to watch between Netflix and the library. Why is it if you put a bunch of things on hold at the library at all different times that they all come in at the same time?

Today I went to the post office to finally apply for my first passport. I've left the country before, probably at least a dozen times, but I always only needed my birth certificate before. No longer and I'm supposed to go to Ottawa for work in August. But, I didn't realize that to get a passport, they take your birth certificate and mail it in with the application. You get it back when you receive your passport, apparently, but it makes me nervous. I feel like I'm going to be the one person who doesn't get theirs back.

Last night, I had such a crazy dream. I don't remember the dream at all but it must have involved me thinking something bad was in my bed because all I remember is basically waking up as I was frantically crawling out of bed. I was awake, my heart was beating really fast, it was pitch black, and I was standing beside my bed, yet I had no idea why I was out of bed. It was really crazy. Stress, perhaps? After a few minutes and I calmed down and sort of reassessed the situation, got back into bed and did not get eaten or anything so I don't even know what I thought was there.

Christmas holiday 2009

Yesterday was Christmas with my parents and it was a good day. I got some clothes, a Nintendo Wii and a portable external hard drive, which will be great for my laptop.

Today, my brother and his family came over. My niece and nephew got a lot of presents (of course!) and I think really enjoyed themselves. Ben's playing with a robot on the left. On the right, Mia seemed to have more interest in my dad's cane than she had in any of her presents. But that's okay, she's only 15 months.

The kids at Christmas

Thought I'd share a pic of my niece and nephew from Christmas...

And here is a link to a few more pics.

Merry Washington DC Christmas

I stopped by the National Christmas Tree madhouse last night before heading home from my day downtown and here are some pictures of the tree all lit up at night. It was prettier than last year. And also way more crowded.

Home for Christmas

I went back home for about six days for Christmas, but was able to use only two vacation days, which is good since I don't have a lot. Now I'm back in DC. Here is a picture of our family tree on Christmas Day, before the gifts were unwrapped.


While I was home, I slept in, did some laundry, watched some movies, did all of my Christmas shopping and also tagged along while my parents did some of theirs, helped babysit my nephew one day, hung out with my family, wrapped dozens of presents for my mom, and relaxed. It was nice and just long enough to make it tough to come back to DC. Now it's back to work for a few days and then a family vacation in South Carolina! Oh, also, on my flight back in to Baltimore, my pilot's name was Captain Morgan! That's calming. But actually I loved him because he got us there nearly twenty minutes early, allowing me to catch the earlier bus!

Merry Christmas from United

I'm sharing the Christmas e-card I got from United Airlines. It's the virtual version of displaying my Christmas cards on my fireplace mantel.

National Christmas Tree

I went down to look at the National Christmas Tree the other day, in front of the White House and it was kind of neat. The tree itself, with the red bows above, was big but otherwise not that impressive. On the other hand, each state gets its own tree decorated with handmade ornaments and I thought those were much cooler. I took a picture of the trees of all the states I've lived in: Ohio, New York and Virginia. Here is Ohio on the left and New York on the right.

Work Holiday Party

The holiday party that I've been dreading for weeks was last night and it went okay. I knew it wouldn't be as bad as I was imagining but it did have its crappy moments. I do like enough of my coworkers to know that it wouldn't be all bad. Everyone said the night is made or broken by who you sit with and well, I got stuck sitting next to possibly the person I dislike the most in the office and her husband. But I made the most of it. The food was pretty good. The drinks were good. Actually, the drinks were too good. I had a lot to drink. I had two glasses of champagne and four whiskey sours and then a beer later when we went to the local sports bar. Most of all, I'm glad it's over for a year!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone had a good Turkey Day! I had a really quiet Thanksgiving Day and Weekend. I stayed in DC, away from the family, and since no one I know here was willing to invite me to come celebrate Thanksgiving with them, I ended up being all alone. But it was fine! I made many of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, cranberries, pumpkin pie) and mostly just sat around and watched movies. I did go for a walk to enjoy the nearly 80 degree weather. Which is way better than the snow my family experienced in Ohio! My roommate was out of town from Weds. until Sat. morning so that was a rarity because she never goes anywhere. I enjoyed actually pretending to live alone again.

For a few hours on Friday and maybe 30 minutes on Saturday, I went shopping. Not for Christmas presents but for myself since I could really use more winter clothes. I was surprised by how unbusy it was in DC on the Day After Thanksgiving, particularly since DC is tax free on apparel and accessories for the week following Thanksgiving. Not that I'm complaining... I prefer unbusy.

My first holiday card

The Syracuse University Office of Alumni Relations sent out its holiday e-card today and it's the lamest thing ever! It's actually an advertisement for pavers that they are trying to sell under the guise of holiday well-wishings. That is not a way to get my money!

Halloween Party!

A friend invited me to a Halloween party at a bar she likes this Saturday night. Costume required. And a cover of at least $10. They say they will charge more as the night goes on, to get people there early, I guess. I REALLY hate Halloween and hate dressing up but I guess if I think of a decent and easy costume, I will go. Any ideas anyone?

I'm dreaming of a White.... Easter?

So yes, we've been deluged by snow here in Cleveland. It's kind of insane that we have way more snow now than we did at Christmas. The poor Indians have had five baseball games cancelled this weekend, although two of those were makeup games to begin with. Personally, I'm not affected too much since I would be busily in front of the computer working on my paper regardless of the weather, but we did cancel our plans to have Easter brunch with some relatives. My brother got about 18 inches of snow at his house and it was still snowing there, which is where we were going to meet up before heading here for brunch. Instead, I went here with just my parents. The snow finally seems to have stopped here at my house, but I wonder how the other areas of town are doing. We are not in the "Snow Belt".

Anyway, I'm honestly kind of relieved to not go since this paper I have due tomorrow is turning out to be a mess. (see other post today) Thank God she gave us a one-day extension or I would be screwed.

Happy Easter!

I hate April Fool's Day

Sure you sometimes hear funny stories about how someone was fooled but overall, I despise this so-called "holiday". It's 1 am, just one hour into the day, and I've already seen three different online gags... none of which I thought was the slightest bit funny. Mostly they annoy me. I like when people are just genuinely funny rather than when they try so hard to fool others. Just a rant, no foolin'.

What should I be for Halloween?

Not that I'm going to be wearing a costume for anything this year (thank God, I hate dressing up), but I thought it appropriate to take the Blogthings quiz and get an answer:

Your Halloween Costume Should Be

Candy Corn

What Should You Be For Halloween?

Happy Halloween!