Thanksgiving Thanks

I'm in Anacortes, Washington visiting my parents and sister for the holidays - Darin is back in Orlando with Jake enjoying some peace and quite, his family-time, and getting to sleep in late. I flew in on Thursday (Thanksgiving day) on a pretty uneventful flight and got to Seattle around 2 pm. It's nice to lose those hours in the air - too bad it takes me 80+ hours to get back...

My sister picked me up from the airport and we headed up to my parents' new place. They just moved up here (in September) and it's my first visit.

Yea!

Dru's friends, Matt and Glenda, also came up to enjoy dinner with us. It's always wonderful to have extra people to (1) eat the huge amounts of food my mom cooks and (2) to talk to!

Tina the Turkey

(We always name the turkey with a 'T' name. It's a tradition...)

It's ready!

(They brined the turkey - so good!)

Mom making the gravy - one of her specialities.

How fun! A little table for us to eat at... we all fit quite well.

Cricket being the happy dog that she is.

The spread.

For Thanksgiving this year, my mom let my sister and me choose two dishes. Dru choose spinach (yak) and butter beans (double yak). I chose cauliflower and sweet potatoes. Much better ideas. On top of that we had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (my Dad's choice), stuffing, and turkey.

Here is my plate.

Here is Dru's plate. (She's not as picky as I am).

Dru, Mom, Glenda, Matt, and Dad.

Post dinner.

(We are very full.)

Dessert!

Uncle Jinx's pecan pie and Whole Foods cheesecake.

(I swear we waited for a good 30 minutes before we ate dessert.)

Matt. Full.

Matt, I think, ate a lot. Dru and Glenda were competing with each other on who could eat the most - and though I think Dru might have done a good job, Glenda won with a steady fork and some patience.

We were all very thankful for the excellent dinner, good friends, and pecan pie.

Thanksgiving has gone and past, and it is almost December!

Time to Celebrate, Part 2

Ethiopian Style.

On Monday night, a group of us (bigger group this time) took Kerry out for another celebration/party/get-together.

He had one on Saturday too, but I had to miss it because of work.

We decided to try something new - Ethiopian food.

Their coffee setup...
(that nobody got because it was 7 pm at night.
Who drinks coffee that late?)

We went to this restaurant on I-drive called Nile Ethiopian, which is like the only Ethiopian food here in Orlando - or so I've been told. If you want to read a very funny review about the restaurant, click on the above link. It's quite stupid.

Anyways...

Anu, Frank, Darin, Craig, Kucku
(Kerry was late.)



Kerry



Darin

I've created a monster (or two really) when I started taking the 'fake' smile pictures. Now it's so hard not to do when smiling - and Kerry and Darin started to it as well. Super.

Craig, Anu, Kerry, Darin, Del, and Kucku



Frank
(The happy German)

If you look in the background of Frank's picture, you will see the TV we were all watching (patiently, I might add) while we waited for our food - we were all h.u.n.g.r.y. So hungry.

And rugby was on. Man. Rugby was one tough sport to watch. The All-Blacks were on, though so definitely worth watching.

And then... we got this.

Our food.
I don't know what it was. It was good though.

5

4

3

2

1

But then it was gone.

Ethiopian food was fun to eat - especially in a group. It's kind of like playing a game of survival of the fittest or trying to get to the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving time at my house with my sister guarding them.

You had to be quick.

You have this rolled up bread stuff, injera, you take with your hands and kind of scoop up the food in it. Good times. And no utensils. I would definitely suggest trying it if you get the chance.

But we were still hungry.

So we celebrated some more at the Cheesecake Factory.

Anu, Kucku, Del, Darin
(I was happy because we were getting cheesecake!)

Honestly. Boys.

My precious.
(The tuxedo cheesecake)

Frank before the sugar coma.
(It's a giant hunk of fudge)

That was the evening. It was fun. And the food was interesting and good!

Congrats again to Dr. Kerry. Good Job!

Funny Jake

Just wanted to mention...

Jake was so funny the other night. After he ate his dinner, he became pretty lazy and wanted to sit on Darin.

(Actually he will sit on anybody on the couch - normally me because I'm his Mama and he loves me. But Darin and Kerry are good too.)

Somehow he gets into the strangest positions - and then he won't move a muscle. His butt was almost straight up in the air.

How cute is this? Man-o-man, that dog is so entertaining.

Time to Celebrate, Part 1

Wanted to first congratulate Kerry, our roommate and very good friend, for finishing his dissertation and obtaining his PhD in Chemistry!

We have smart people that live in our house... and a smart dog too.

Congrats to you Kerry!

On Friday night, we went out for the initial celebration - to Woody's Barbecue. There was just something about a Friday night eating baby back ribs for dinner.

Dinner - there were ribs under that bread...

Let me share a story with you at this point - earlier that day, I went with my friend Janice to see the wonderful, every popular movie "Twilight" (which was great by the way - go see it, especially if you have read the books...). I kind of had to leave Kerry's defense a little bit early, but he understood because he's a Harry Potter fan... So at the restaurant, I 'pretended' to bite Frank.

But he didn't do the right face... He almost looked happy. Hmm.

Here was the rest of the group. We all had a great time. Good food.

Frank and Nicholi; Paul, Kerry, and Darin



Me (cleaning my hands)

We were all quite full because Frank and Nicholi (his friend visiting from Germany) got one of those 'sharing' platters - but for four. They were really trying to ahh beef up. Ha ha. We all helped them finished their meal. It was a good night with good bbq.

More celebrating to come!

National Recycling Day

I guess today (Saturday) was National Recycling Day - or at least we celebrated it today in Orlando. (And many others did as well.) Side note: as I read more about this, I think it might just be an Orange County Celebratory Day. But whatever.

Darin and I went because we were interested in how the country recycles, and I had never been to the landfills.

What else was there to do on a Saturday? Come on.

It says rubbish. Joy.

Did you know... I can't think of anything really. I have to say it's very impressive though - this whole trash/recycling concept. Seems like a good business to get into. Just my opinion.

Anyway, onto the festivities...

This was the cardboard crusher/maker-into-cardboard-cube thing.

Cardboard!

The best part was the landfill tour. And no, we didn't have to walk around - though I definitely would have. So cool! We took a bus ride around the 1500 acres (wow!) that were currently being used. I think there were like 5 current landfills (with different grades that the guide guy kept talking about) and lot of room to grow. He said they make $33000 per month from the methane gas they sell to the power plant! Crazy!

They had birds everywhere. We saw bald eagles and turkeys. I would have been impressed to see some of the deer they have - but they sensed the hunter in Darin and hid. (kidding)

Here's a landfill they just closed/topped off.
(We drove up there - one of the highest points in Orlando. Like 160 feet?)

The view from up top!
It's a hill!

It was fun. Or at least I had fun.

Darin being patient

We got free hot dogs, got a cool tour, and got our new recycling bin (our third). We recycle a lot - can't figure out why we always have so much. Probably because Darin is addicted to Diet Coke and drinks like 4 a day. Bad Darin. Or Kerry too for the matter. Bad Kerry.

Go recycle. Yo.

Night Launch

Friday night there was a night launch out at NASA. The Cape was about a 25 minute drive from where we live - or Titusville was, for the matter. We go there to watch the launches - it's about as close as you can get without getting stuck in really bad traffic.

We took off about 1.5 hours before the 'time' 7:55 pm - you have to get there early because there was always a large turnout in the past - plus - it's a Friday night and gorgeous out.

Frank and Kucku met us at our house, where Darin, Kerry, Jake, and I jumped into their car to head off to get a good spot to park and sit.

Jake in Kerry's car.
For our enjoyment.

He was howling because he wasn't too fond of the flooring in the bed of the truck.

So as we're driving there, my sister called and asked what we were doing. I told her we were going to watch the launch and she asked where it was going.

Hmm.

To space, I answered.

Duh?

I guess she was wondering where in space. Oops.

The ISS, in case you were wondering.

Here's Darin chillin'.



Crazy!

Jake and I took a long walk meeting some people - he was a little nervous (he gets concerned for the astronauts). By the time we came back we only had to wait like 10 minutes.

It's very very incredible. Something everyone should see in their lifetime. It's beautiful and magical. And scientific and wondrous. Fan-tas-tic.

Enjoy!
(And I apologize for my random chatting...and that's the moon!)

Three Mini Martinis

Just a quick adventure...

Went out last night to Houlihans to celebrate one of my old coworkers birthdays.

Happy Birthday (again) Debbie!

It was fun. So much fun, but I ate way too much.

The best thing about Houlihans (in my opinion) were the mini martinis. So good. In fact, funny story, I had just gotten some for myself last Friday night... key lime pie was my favorite.

Michelle and Debbie
(This was how they carried the little guys. So cute!)



Ahhh. Want one now.
(In case you're wondering - chocolate, apple, and key lime.)



Here's the group that went out.
Front: Del, Raji, Cathy, Paul - with eyes closed...
Back: Ushu, Debbie, Michelle

And we were mean to Debbie. We made her wait until most people were there before we let her drink her chocolate martini (because we had to sing to her and decided that the chocolate was the best one in the group...).

Can't you tell she's enjoying this?

We ate dinner then had a wonderful dessert including creme brulee. O.M.G. So good.

Raji, Cathy, Paul

Del and Debbie

Love going out to celebrate after work - makes the day easier to handle when you know there might be mini martinis to drink...

UCF versus...

Yesterday we went with friends to the UCF vs Southern Mississippi football game.

(I knew who they were playing, just didn't care much. Sorry guys. It's only if/when they play Tulsa...)

Anyways, Kerry (the roommate), Al (Darin/my friend, but Darin's tennis buddy of recent), Brad and Karen, and Dan, Angela, H., and C. came along for the fun. Actually they all came to tailgate and drink beer.

Or that's my opinion anyways.

Kerry, Del, Al.
(I'm standing on my tip-toes - I'm not that tall...)

I went for the ice cream.

It's called Maggie Moos. How cute?!
(That's my fake smile.)

Now it was super hot yesterday. Okay, not too hot - but I had for some reason worn jeans? Don't know why... it was a beautiful day though and we all had a really great time.

How gorgeous?

Kerry, Al, Darin watching the game.
(And he's all mine.)

We were with the normal crowd Darin, Dan, Angela, and others have been sitting with for a long time now. (This was UCF's second season at their new football stadium, and everyone got seats together from before.) It's always nice because we see the same people!

Angela and C.

I got to finally hang out with Dan and Angela and the girls - H. (who's almost 3) and C. (who's almost 18 months, and who Darin and I met for the first time when she was four hours old...). We hadn't seen them in awhile and it was so fun to see them!

Here's Karen and Brad.
They were in front of us - but we tailgated with them at their car.

The whole family - Angela, Dan, H., and C.
The girls were so well behaved. It was crazy!

The moon. Can you see it?

Overall the night was fun. We left early, but that's fine. It will be our last football game this season - or mine actually - so, I'm glad I went.

That's all she wrote!