Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend has been a busy one!  Ben and I have thoroughly enjoyed the company of these two:

Dinner was great at my parents house on Thursday as usual we had way too much food!  Ben and I brought green bean casserole, jello, and mashed potatoes.  It was hard for me to gage how many pounds of potatoes we needed to mash, in the end I think I mashed about 6 lbs too many! I always forget that there are so many "side" dishes for Thanksgiving meals and therefore a little bit goes a long way.  Oh well, left overs are always nice! 

Lydia was very excited to have the drum stick!

After dinner on Thursday Ben and I decided to stay up all night and go out shopping at 4AM with all the other crazies.  Somehow we convinced our friends Tyler, Stacy, and Joseph that this would be a good idea too!  My sister Bree and brother-in-law Colin were much smarter and slept a few hours before all the madness started.  The shopping was great, much more crowded than past years.  At one point Stacy, Bree, Colin, and I were waiting for Target to open their doors and it was about 2-3 minutes past when they were scheduled to open.  One woman ran up the line and began banging and yelling!  It totally made my "Black Friday!"

Saturday was the big rivalry game between University of Washington and Washington State University.  Ben and I decided to host an "Apple Cup" party so we could cheer on the Dawgs!

We had lots of apple themed food it was lots of fun!

My favorite the Apple Spritzer!  Sour Apple syrup mixed with Sprite made quite the tasty treat.  Lydia liked to refer to it as her "Fiona" (from Shrek) Coke. 

The fam.

And one with Mames.  :)

The Dawg hat everyone is wearing Ben got from our friends Tom, Shannon, and Andrew for his birthday.  Thanks for the great gift guys!  I think just about everyone tried it on today!  Our friends Tyler and Stacy came over for the game too, but they made it out of the house without a picture with the "hat"... you two got off easy!  I'll get ya' next time.

You tell 'em Lyd's!

Shakey

Last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the host did an impeccable impersonation of the great Neil Young singing the theme song to the '90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel- Air. It's truly creepy how accurate his portrayal is, Fallon is notorious for yucking it up in sketches but he plays it so serious it forces you to pay attention. Now if we could get Fallon's Young hooked up with Ben Stiller's Springsteen imagine how cool that video would be!?

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Rocktober

Put this one down for Top Five moments of 2009!  Last month I was able to meet one of my favorite authors at a book signing at the Central Library.  Nick Hornby was in town for a reading of his new novel Juliet, Naked.  Since first reading High Fidelity in the late '90s I was surprised to find that someone can write the way I think.  I've read everything he has published (with the exception of two anthologies that I own but have not read; I'm saving them Lost-style).  In all of Hornby's novels there is at least one character that I completely relate to and it is almost always unflattering.  While almost every book of his centers on relationships, he is at his best when he writes about music, sports, movies and pop culture in a way that shines a light on how ridiculous yet rewarding the obsessive nature of fandom can be.

Mandy's parents gave me Juliete, Naked  for my birthday (thanks again) and I plowed through it as quickly as I could finishing it while in line for the book reading.  Mandy and I were about the fifth in line and I was curious as to how many people would show up.  The auditorium was filled to capacity and the library had to turn people away and guess which nerd(s) had the front row...

That's right somehow we managed to get the first two seats in the front row.  The reading and question and answer period were very entertaining and Mandy can vouch for me when I say that the question I asked did not embarrass myself.  When it came time for us to meet Mr. Hornby he couldn't have been nicer.  We talked music (Bruce of course) and he managed to make 60 seconds feel longer, he's a very sincere guy.    

P.S.  Last weekend Mandy and I caught a screening of An Education of which Hornby wrote the screenplay and his wife produced.  We liked the film (B) but we were even more impressed with newcomer Carey Mulligan, look for her and Alfred Molina come Oscar time.

Best. Episode. (Of Survivor.) EVER!

What a season for Survivor!  The 19th (wow) installment set in Samoa has yielded three of the best consecutive episodes of the series.  What with Russell finding multiple hidden immunity idols, Laura getting served, Foa Foa staying alive, and Shambo being her delusional self this season is fantastic.  Mandy and I had our Thursday night crew over for TV night and all (most) of us were on our toes the entire hour.  When this season began we all couldn't stand Russell and Shambo and now we find ourselves pulling for the rejects.  Of course the scenes from next week do not fair too well for Russell so here's to hoping he can live to entertain us for another Thursday.  

P.S. Joseph informed us today that Shamwow and her glorious mane are from Renton, WA!  Hometown Hero!         

BIG MAN!

There are many reasons to love The Daily Show. After last Thursday's episode (11/5) involving Jon's dead-on impersonation of GB I thought the show had reached its peak. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in last night to see sitting next to Jon none other than the minister of soul, secretary of the brotherhood, auteur, sexaphonist, the biggest man on the NJ turnpike and star of two episodes of season three of The Wire... Mr. Clarence "Big Man" Clemons.! He was there to promote (of which I can't wait to read) his new book "Big Man".

Mandy and I have been feeling pretty down that we couldn't be in Jersey with the rest of her family this week (due to school, work, life etc.) but this helped bring the Jersey to us.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Clarence Clemons
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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Twinners!

Ben and I showed up to "Family Dinner" tonight, (Sunday night dinner at my parents house) wearing this:

We didn't realize we coordinated so well until Carrie bluntly commented across the table "Hey twinners!"  

Well, they say when people have been together a long time they start looking like each other, what about dressing alike?

Leaves are Falling To the Ground...

... Red, Green, Orange, and Brown.

Ben and I have been watching our friends dog this last week.  They live right off the Burke Gilman trail so we had many an opportunity to take in all the fall colors while taking Spike for a walk.
Yesterday William and I took Spike for a walk along the trail and discovered some of the BIGGEST leaves we've ever seen!

Peek-a-Boo!

Spikey Hair

I've had a few requests for this hairdo lately. 

 

 He tells me all the time, "I'm NOT cute!"  

You be the judge!