A Nack Thanksgiving

This year, with it being our first Thanksgiving in the new house, I wanted to go all out and make Thanksgiving dinner. Sean's not a huge fan of turkey, and I hadn't used the new stove yet, but we decided we were gonna go for it!

Tada! Thanksgiving Dinner!

I used a brine recipe I got from my boss, the turkey was delicious, and so easy to do! It was small, perfect for just Sean and I (and our ghost, but that's another post....). Add some stuffing, mashed potatoes (which were terrible), corn, and rolls, and we had a small but wonderful dinner together.


Our meal was finished off with some delicious pies (thanks Dad and Becky!), and my parents, Jace Face, and my aunt and uncle came over. Good times!

All in all, our Thanksgiving experiment turned out really well, but we've decided from here on out, since Sean still isn't a turkey lover (though he did say it was the best he's had), we will be having Thanksgiving Tacos. Or steaks. Probably Tacos :) We also want to start a Nack family tradition of going somewhere to help volunteer on Thanksgiving Day. Excellent idea babe!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I feel so blessed to have been able to spend today with Sean and my family. It has been a crazy year, but I have so much to be thankful for and they mean the world to me!

And now, without further ado, CHRISTMAS!!! :) Hoorah!

Twilight, aka The Shiny Vampire Movie

Ok, Twilight...

I asked Sean to go with me, because he teases me mercilessly about my young adult "shiny vampire" books. :) I told him I would be more open to criticism once he had a knowledge base, so he was a trooper and went.

All in all, it wasn't a bad movie. Glowing review, right? But that's how I felt about the book when I read it. Not bad, not amazing, just not bad. I didn't really get what all the fuss was about. I firmly believe all the excellent stuff is to come, and I LOVE the series now.

I appreciate that the movie stayed so true to the book, though it seemed to have a really brisk pace and I felt like a lot of the backstory was left undeveloped. But the acting was great, the casting was RIGHT ON, and I love Edward a little more now. Still Team Jacob all the way, but Edward won me over.

I'm definitely excited for the next one, I think it will be a lot easier to be excited as the plot thickens! And even though he was trying to hide his hysterics half the time, even Sean didn't hate it. He was disappointed the "shiny" turned more into "sparkly" though...... :)

25 Things To Do Before I Turn 26

Ladies and Gentlemen, The List:
Items in red have been accomplished, click on the number to see a recap!

1. Plant tulips along the front of our house
2. Make my running schedule habit
3. Spend an evening out with my brother
4. Get Christmas cards out before Dec 15th!
5. Plant strawberries in our planter boxes
6. Read Jane Austin
7. See a Broadway Across America show in Portland
8. Go to Zoo Lights
9. Get our recipe book organized
10. Run the Eugene Marathon
11. Read our entire 1st bookcase
12. Become one of the top 10 loan officers in the CU
13. Organize the photos on our computer
14. Find an occasion to wear my little black dress
15. Get a new stamp in my passport
16. Go to the beach
17. Attend Yoga 3 times in one week
18. Take a day off, all for me
19. Start working on my bachelors
20. Establish Fancy Fridays
21. Learn one new recipe a month
22. Go to the airport and watch planes
23. Do my wedding memory book
24. Take a vacation with Sean
25. Buy a lemon tree

Theft for the sake of advancing one's self....

Thanks to my habit of stalking blogs of people I have not talked to in forever (and people I've never met), I have found some lovely direction in my life. Thanks to Amanda Hornibrook, whom I have met and love tons, even if we haven't talked in 7 years, for "shamelessly copying" the List Idea from Andrea, whom I have never met, so that it may also inspire me.

Andrea is a super fantastic photographer/mother/person who lives in Portland, and every year on her birthday she writes a list of things she hopes to accomplish before her next birthday. Big things, little things, fun things, all of those little things you always mean to do and never get around to because life gets in the way. I've decided I don't want life to get away anymore. CJ and I always talk about how hectic things are, how we never have time for the fun little things in life, and I don't want to look back in a year and think "Wow, I wish I had made it to the beach once this year." How can I be so busy that I can't make that happen ONCE in 365 days??? It doesn't make sense to me, and I don't want my life to be that hectic.

So I am composing my own list. I love the list, it makes me happy, it gives me purpose, and it's somewhere to be accountable to myself for the things I want to do. I've never been one for goals, and I've realized that's because I have always been too busy to try and achieve them! But I'm not going to be too busy for myself anymore! Stay tuned for THE LIST, it's sure to be exciting!

Thwarted...

So there I was, up early and ready to start my day. I had my list of errands to run (Jerry's, get the oil changed, etc) and then I was on my way north to visit my best friend and her fabulous baby girl. A few hours of fun girl time, and then I was to be off again, this time even further north to pick up my husband, do some fabulous shopping (HELLO Nike employee store!) and then back home....

What a great day it was going to be.....

Instead, I got up later than expected. Not good. But still ok, Oil Can Henry's and Jerry's both open at 8, and I can be there and done by 9, still on the road at a decent hour...

Oh wait. The car is out of gas.

Awesome. Head to the gas station. No worries, this only adds 5 minutes to the trip. Pull up at the Oil Can Henry's. Hello Oil Can Henry's man. What is that you're saying? You open at 9? Your website says 8. It's 9? Ok...

So I sit in the car and wait for them to open... can't just let the engine run without oil.

So now I'm waiting until 9, which means I won't be done until 915 ,and I still haven't been to Jerry's. So I decide to go to Jerry's tomorrow, not as productive as I would have liked, but that baby is waiting for me to come love her!

I say thank you to the Oil man, drive away, and realize I am starving. I will not make it an hour and a half up the freeway without sustinance. Hello Starbucks drive thru. One venti hot chocolate and a blueberry scone later, I am on my way again.

Hello giant fog bank that makes everyone go 30 miles an hour on I5. You're awesome. I will never get to CJ....

Oh look! People are driving the speed limit! I can accelerate! Well... I'm trying to accelerate... it's not working... why is my car going 40.. now 30... now 25... on I5? So I pull over. On I5. In a giant fog bank. In a grey car. This feels safe...

And now the car won't move at all... it's as if I have no clutch... this has happened before. On a high, narrow bridge, over the middle of a Great Lake, at the Canada/US border. We were stranded in Michigan for four days. With a foreign made car. In the US car capitol of the world. It took a while to find a mechanic who could fix a Mitsubishi....

So, after calling my dad to rescue me (Thanks again daddy!), and the tow truck guy to pick me up, I call CJ to tell her that I will not in fact be coming to see her. Because the universe hates me. And apparently my car. If I had known the car was going to die anyway, I wouldn't have worried about the oil change, and slept in a little bit more...

So now I will try and salvage the day, thanks to a loaner car from mom. I will pick up husband, and we will think about the fun we would have had shopping...

Did I mention my cell battery is about to die, and my charger is at work, and I have to go drive two hours up the freeway, again, with MY luck?

Today. Is. Awesome.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. It's my husband's day, and the day for many more of you out there, those of you who have served, and those of you who are still serving.



I can't begin to describe how proud I am of Sean. Duty and honor are a huge part of who he is, and his commitment to his country is both inspiring and humbling. After everything he has been through: the deployment, the stop-loss, and then his injuries from an IED exposion, he still wants to be out there, fighting the fight and serving his country. I am proud of his patriotism, and am grateful that he will pass that on to our children someday.


I want to say Thank You to him, and to the rest of our troops, who do what they do so that others don't have to. Especially in my thoughts are our 10th mountain friends: Jakey Hayes, Dan Steciak, Brandon and Tara Schneider, Eric Carr, and all the rest of you guys who are getting ready to go again soon. We love you and we miss you.

Lastly, because it is my husband's day, and it will make him smile, I give you Sean, gunner extraordinaire :

Alphabetical Ambition

I love reading. It's my favorite thing to do, but it seems like I never have enough time. So lately I've been reading on my lunch breaks at work and at night, and I am so much happier! It's nice to have some relaxing time. Last night Sean and I were unpacking all of our books (and that's A LOT of books) and I decided that I want to read all of them. The ones I've read, the ones I haven't, every book we own.

This. Is. Crazy.

We have a million books. It will probably take me years to read all of them. But I'm going to do it. I'm going to finish reading "The Echelon Vendetta," lent to me by my boss, because it's a library book. And I'm going to finish reading Pillars of the Earth, cause I promised to lend it to someone when I'm done. But once those are over, bring on the bookcases! :) This is gonna get out of control!

Location, location, location....

I'm writing this from my couch, in my fantastic new living room! I'm exhausted, and sick, but we have some rooms painted and a lot of stuff moved. A super huge THANK YOU to my mom, dad and brother for their help this weekend, and a shout out to my fabulous husband, who is working WAY harder than I am! The heavy stuff is for boys :)

Pictures soon!

KEYS!

In just a few short hours, we'll have the keys to our new home! The seller has moved out, it's empty and ready to be ours! I can't wait!

Did you know?

That in 2 hours and 40 minutes we will be signing the papers for our new house?

I did.

And that in 2 hours and 40 minutes the first polls close, kicking off our election party and an amazingly historical night for this country?

I can't wait.

Happy Election Day to everyone!

Allies, Axes, and a Gargoyle Cat

Saturday night, Sean and I decided to take advantage of our plan-less evening and break out our favorite board game: Axis and Allies. For those of you who haven't had the chance to engage in this fantastic endeavor (or those of you who aren't crazy history buffs like us) it's a lot like Risk, only you play on a world map during WWII and compete for total world domination. Because there are two of us, we divide it up between the Axis (Husband, who stands at the helm of Nazi Germany and The Empire of Japan) and Allies ( yours truly, the fearless leader of the US, Britain, and the USSR!). When set up, our battle looks like this:


We played till 1 am, and sadly, the Germans were the winner. :( None the less, I LOVE THIS GAME!

I also love this cat:


That was her contribution to the game, other than trying to eat some British soliders stationed in Australia. She cracks me up. While we were setting up, she decided she needed to get on top of the closet in our living room and survey everything:


It was hysterical! She sat right at the corner, turning her head as we moved around... she completely reminds me of a gargoyle!



What a crazy Loki! :)