We survived...

Thanksgiving weekend turned out quite well, if I say so myself. Despite being on-call (and called in on Thanksgiving Eve) everything was a success. Michael and I did a ton of prep the night before so that Thanksgiving Day would be smooth. I certainly have a new appreciation for all of my parents hard work over the years. Michael prepped the bird (and made sure it was defrosted) and I set the table using Michael's mom's china. It's tradition in my family that everyone gets a taste of champagne at the holidays so we even gave the kids little glasses for a champagne taste. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I also introduced them to Clams Casino (anyone who's been to the beach knows what I'm talking about) which is another Range tradition. The kids (and Michael) absolutely loved them!!

Dinner went off without a hitch...on time and warm, which was my goal. Christian really enjoyed her turkey leg. Where food goes in that skinny child, I will never know!!

We even managed to squeeze in a quick photo of the four of us.

Top Ten

So, my last post was a bit whiny so I decided to make a top ten list of things I am thankful for this year to make up for it.

10)Project Runway. I'm not kidding...I LOVE THIS SHOW! I was desperately sad when Bravo and Lifetime were fighting, preventing me from my Tim Gunn fix. Thank you Lifetime for bringing it back to me.
9) Buffalo Blue cheese sticks from Carolina Ale House. They are like crack to me.
8) Workout buddies. Initially it was cross fit and when that became too expensive it was meet-up groups. Regardless, I have met some wonderful ladies to run/workout with (when I have the motivation).
7) Weather. I absolutely love that I have all 4 seasons here. I made snowballs, smelled lilacs , swam in the ocean and caught falling leaves.
6)My house. It is by far the most expensive purchase of my life. I love that it's mine to come home to and its mine to clean, to decorate, to be.
5)Daniel and Christian. It's been an adventure getting to know the kids. From Daniels' life observations to Christian's Pre-teen drama...I covet the little moments of "look what I made" or "Can we paint our nails?"
4)Friends-New and Old. In this transition, the hardest thing has been missing my friends. I have been lucky enough to have old friends visit, to have new friends to celebrate with and hopefully I can continue to build a community here.
3) New Adventures. From attending my first pig-picking to watching my first Tarheel game. From the beach to the mountains...I have done a lot in my first year-plus here.
2)My family. My brother went through some job ups and downs, my sister went through relationship ups and downs, and my mom had knee surgery and we are all here to tell about it and love each other.
1)Michael. Plain and simple, it took leaving a city of almost 3million to find the one person who REALLY gets me.

Low-carb...Bah humbug!!

So, I have been a bit of a slacker lately...not really having much to blog about or the motivation to do it. I feel like I am in the middle of a huge transition and its like being in the eye of the storm...you can see things around you flying by and you don't want to make any steps cuz you may just get swept up. Most things going on are good but still relatively scary and full of change. I struggle with change although, at the same time, I enjoy it in some weird way too.

This year I am cooking my first Turkey. It's just going to be Michael and I and the kids. They are venturing to my house for a two night sleepover, complete with blow up beds and lots of movie watching. My house isn't as exciting as their dad's...no individual TV in their room, no Internet (I know, what century do I live in?), no personal space. I admitted to Michael last night that I am worried that they will be bored. For some reason his, "they'll be fine" didn't calm my fears :)

The past two days I have been running around like a mad woman...cleaning the house, defrosting the turkey in the tub (don't' ask), grocery store twice (that's after our BIG thanksgiving trip last week), picking up clams for appetizer, getting haircut (hey, that's important for T-giving too!). Tonight we are injecting the turkey (pending its thawed) and making the peanut butter cheesecake...low carb of course.

Oh yes, I neglected to mention that we are having a low-carb T-giving. Michael and his coworker made a bet about who can lose the most weight before their Christmas party (Dec 12). We eat the majority of our meals together so I jumped on the wagon and let me tell you, its been tough. We are in induction phase where we limit our carbs to 14 a day. I did well for the first few days but yesterday, I was GROUCHY. (Jess, thanks for the warning!!) Our whole T-giving dinner was re planned to accommodate our new dietary restrictions. The only carbs we will be having are mashed potatoes. I cannot imagine a T-giving without them. I will eat them sparingly and savor every morsel that I feed myself...we'll see how long I last :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Seriously?! Seriously?!

Hmmm...where in the parent handbook does it say that its a good idea to leave your 10 year old child at the Cardiology clinic by himself so YOU can run an errand. Mom's response to the inquiry was, "Well I told him to listen to what the doctor said so he could report back to me."

I can't make this shit up!

34 Years Young

We celebrated in true Halloween fashion.  We dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

I forget how much I like to dress up for Halloween! We saw some pretty funny costumes when we were out on Saturday including a woman with 8 little dolls attached to her arms...she was the Octamom!

 I had an amazing birthday weekend of tasty eats, playing with friends, pretty presents, loving texts and phone calls that included some entertaining versions of the birthday song.  I am a lucky girl!