Giving Thanks

What a great four day weekend! So sad that it is over. I thought that I would start with my list of 10 things that I am very grateful for.

• My abfab family whom I miss dearly and keep me smiling and laughing through email and g-chat
• My fantastic boyfriend whom I love dearly and is my best friend in life
• Our two beloved dogs - one who is all loving, the other is mostly all loving
• All of our awesome friends that fill our lives with happiness and support
• Enjoying our wonderful Mother Earth who graciously overloads us with her beauty
• Eating yummy food and our ability to cook it whenever we want - we don't ever have to worry about going hungry, what a blessing
• Sleep - I love sleeping! On Sunday we slept in until 10:30am and it was sooooo satisfying
• Reading the paper on a Sunday morning with a hot cup of coffee and trying my darndest to do the crossword puzzle - Dad I need your help!
• The ability to continue learning about myself and keep focused on what I consider to be my growth areas
• Feeding my crazy desires to be creative whether it's through my writing on this blog, or through my art, gardening, tap dancing or christmas tree decorating!
• Facing my fears - how exhilirating!

I love the holiday of Thanksgiving. What better than to get together with your friends/family, break bread together, eat till you're sick and have a day that is solely devoted to being grateful. And most of us have so much to be grateful for. I think of those who are less fortunate and I just have to say thank you. Thank you that I have a roof over my head, a loving partner, plentiful food, hot water. I mean, just the basic necessities. How tough life would be without those. And both Rich and I have such beautiful families and friends. We are just so blessed and I am incredibly grateful for those blessings.

We didn't grow up with this holiday although I wish we did! Not just because of the value of this day but also because of the awesome FOOD! This year we went to our friends' Kyle and Denise's house in Tempe. Oh man was it a feast! They cooked the turkey, a couple of sides and dessert whilst everybody else brought in the sides. I made Sweet Potato Casserole. Sweet potatoes are my favorite so it was a no-brainer for me. I got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated which of course produced such a simple yet scrumpiously delicious recipe. The casserole was a hit! I am so glad! It would have been awful to bring a dish that didn't quite taste up to par. :) Here is a pic of the casserole.

I did half pecans and half marshmallows to please everybody's tastes. This is pre-baking so the marshmallows haven't melted as yet. And yes I painstakingly placed each one of those marshmallows and pecans. Sigh...it took forever but it was SO worth it!

The rest of the weekend was busy with a trip to the mall, a little bit of shopping, a wedding, a birthday party, hanging out with friends, the auto show and errands. And oh of course my favorite - decorating!! Poor Rich let me have it as I turned the house in to a Winter wonderland.

Wreath on the front door. I put this together and it's my best concotion so far!

Garland around the entrance to the living area.

The naked tree

Sexy Tree! I've had this tree for years and I love it. It always looks so filled in and voluptuous. It's pre-lit and only a couple lights twinkle which really gives it a magical look.

On Saturday we went to the local car show. I saw the event in the newspaper a week ago and knew instantly that we had to go. I've always had a strange knowledge/fascination with cars so it was awesome to go! They unfortunately didn't have any futuristic looking cars which is what I was most looking forward to but it was fun to sit in all of the swanky looking ones. It's rather ironic that I like looking at sexy looking cars considering that I would never be caught dead in one!

Rich in a super pimped out Mercedes. I think the starting price was over $100,000!

The new Acura decked out in a gorgeous Umber color. Look, so beautiful! Although I will say that I don't like the new grill on the 2009 Acuras.

The headlight on the Audi.
Hot.

This was a welcome platform! Very nice to see. Kinda funny that the screen has "Silverado" on it which is a huge truck!

This was just too funny! Can you even see Rich in this pic??

Isn't this Hummer so me?

I also went to the dog park with Mama (a.k.a. Shila)...

And we went with Mia...(I had a tennis ball in my hand which is why Mia looks so eager!)...

And my dear friend Donna! Unfortunately this is the only pic I took of Donna!

And last pic I promise...this is of us at the wedding...