Holiday Jumble

Steve O and me in our new Christmas hats.

A gaggle of Organ's.

The sunset behind the cabin on Christmas day.

My name on a stocking!

The beautiful tree.

Steve O. lights our Menorah.

Pop lights a Menorah with Harry and Allison.

H and A


One of my Christmas goodies from Steve O.

Hello. Remember me? I'm baaaack.

Steve O and I just got in from a wonderful Vacay in Corolla, NC.

One of my favorite people, Christine S. is visiting us from NYC and we will spend the day cooking and gabbing - so stay tuned from those pics.

Christmas was beautiful and fun and what a treat to spend that time with my future in-laws.

Chanukah was also fun and we ate so much I will now be dieting like a mad woman in order to fit into any kind of wedding dress. I actually had a "wedding nightmare" last night.

It was the day of the wedding but neither of us had bought rings, I had no flowers and everyone was dressed fancier than I was. Also - I think I was marrying someone else - that was the scariest part - in my dream it was Steve o. but when I woke up I realized it didn't look like him at all.

I am sure that is typical - I have had many "actors nightmares" but no wedding ones until now.

Anyway - we are brainstorming about wedding ideas now so we can get everything done simply and quickly.

There are also many fun pics of the beach trip. Food and crafts and champagne tasting.

Steve O. gave me a pasta maker for Christmas. I just dropped many hints like "I want a pasta maker" and "I would like a pasta maker" - subtle hints like that.

So the night after we got back from Christmas I made some homemade pasta and gave some of it out as Chanukah gifts. I also kept some which we ate the following night. I only boiled enough for us to eat and left the rest raw in bags in the fridge. So the next day at lunch time I called Steve from work and asked him what he had for lunch and said he had some of the pasta. I said "so you cooked some then?" and he said "No, I had some of the pasta you left in the fridge." and I said "so you cooked it?" and he said "the pasta from the fridge" and I said "you cooked it though?" (I guess you can see where this is going.)

He ate raw pasta. I said "OMG -maybe you should make yourself throw up...do you feel sick?" he paused for a second and said "No." so I said "was it any good?" and he said "It was better last night." and I said "Well, last night it was cooked! at any time during the eating of this pasta did you think to yourself..this tastes an awful lot like raw dough?" "No - I just though it was a little gummy."

I did warn him I had to share this story.

I hope everyone had great Holidays!

Pie

Robert's Pie

Cousin Robin's Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Steve P.'s Pie

OK - we all know that Mr. Robert T. can bake himself an excellent pie - but did you know Steve P., my BFF, can also? Neither did I. I don't want to make too bid a deal out of it for fear of embarrassing him. - but probably too late for that on this blog. So -recently I was at a small gathering and we all brought something to eat. Some people (and you know who you are) made fresh pasta that was so good it nearly made me weep. I made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. A recipe I got via email from my awesome Cousin Robin. (thank you Robin) - they turned out well and people seemed to enjoy them a lot. But back to Steve P. - he made a beautiful and yummy pie. He made all of it - even the crust. Yeah Steve P.

Way overdue Thanksgiving update

View behind the house.

Steve O. and Trixie at Cross Junction.

I am thankful for so many things. I am actually one of those crazy people that think about the things I am thankful for all year long, everyday practically, so I love Thanksgiving when I don't feel like such an odd ball. Everyone is thankful on Thanksgiving, right? I mean after the gravy burns and your drunk Uncle drops by and you find the giblet bag inside the turkey you thought was perfectly cooked and then there is always that one family member who just wants to pick a fight and someone ends up screaming..."Well! Happy F- ing Thanksgiving!". I mean after all that stuff when you have a moment to look around and appreciate how much worse it could actually be. None of that stuff has really happened to me but a girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway, like I was saying, I am Thankful for so many things.

(forgive me for the length of this post and for it getting so personal but I know many people wanted the whole story)

This Thanksgiving I returned to a beautiful home just outside of Winchester Va.

Let me start at the beginning.

About 8 years ago I met a guy named Steve O. ( I will keep this short) we dated a couple years and broke up. We got along great but the timing was all wrong.

Over the past 6 years I dated a few people, Some where very nice and are still good friends and some, well one, not so nice. Needless to say I never found anyone else like Steve O.

Last year we saw each other at a Christmas party given by a mutual friend of ours - a couple we had introduced years before and are now married with kids. I think they were being a little sneaky and trying to get us both in the same room together since we were both single - just to see what would happen. Maybe we were the "entertainment" of the evening.

Their planned worked and I am thankful to them for having the "party". The way I see it they owed us anyway, we had introduced them all those years ago - they were just returning the favor.

So I returned to Steve's parents house this year for Thanksgiving. I actually got a little choked up as we drove down the long drive way to their beautiful log cabin home on the side of the mountain. I had so many fond memories there but didn't think I would ever be returning. Thanksgiving was great. I have always loved his family and was so happy to be with everyone. Ma even joined us and brought her yummy sweet potato souffle.

OK - so I don't bore you with any little details I will skip to the best part of that weekend. And even though we went to the Wizards / Hawks game and got to see my brother - which would be a highlight in any ones book - that was not the best part of the weekend!

Sunday night after Thanksgiving we drove down the dirt road from his parents house to the cabin his great grandfather had built. I couldn't wait to see it again. We had great times there including a run in with the biggest black snake I had ever seen outside of a book - but that is a story for a different time.

Shoot - I really was trying to make this short.

So we are in his Grandfathers cabin and I am looking around remembering things and making sure the snake was no longer there - Steve started saying really sweet things to me and then he went down to tie his shoe - or so I thought. I see him searching in different pockets for something, I wasn't paying all that much attention to it. Then he proposed!! - and it all happened so fast it is kind of a blurr. I was shocked and thrilled and of course I said yes.

So that is the short version.

I am Thankful for:

The wonderful community of close friends I have landed in.

My three great parents, Ma who is funny and sweet, Pop who is patient and kind, and Kitty who is creative and caring.

The opportunity to do what I love with people who I am constantly learning from and growing with.

An amazing BFF who never seems to get tired of listening to me.

And Steve O. who makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world everyday.

really, who could ask for anything more.

So much to say...so little time

So - it has been a frightfully long time since I posted anything - but I have a good excuse...I was out of town over thanksgiving week and weekend and a lot of stuff went down. All that I will explain in great detail soon. I am running out of the house to see my dear friend, Jen Massey in the play at the Firehouse. I think she gets nekkid in it so I am surprised it is not selling out left and right - maybe it is - I have been a little out of the loop.

I PROMISE to return soon.

In the meantime here is a video I know you will enjoy. - Especially my Dad who I think has a massive crush on my friend Audra - but who doesn't, right? Please watch and enjoy this video by Audra and Jason. Two of my favorite peeps....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wUY8OWQzU0