Thanksgiving Traditions, or, lack thereof

The truth is, tradition isn't really something my family is particularly rich in. Growing up, we were just as apt to be found asleep when the New Year's Eve ball dropped as watching it on TV; I'm pretty sure we have always been flexible with when presents are opened for Christmas; and, I distinctly remember eating lasagna or manicotti/stuffed shells on more than one Thanksgiving. Call it non-traditional, call it unorthodox, call it progressive... It's probably all of those.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't grow up the Adam's Family or anything (well, not completely, anyway)... there were definitely years we did the Turkey and stuffing thing (or, dressing... potato/potahto) plenty of times. We opened Christmas presents on Christmas morning most years (though I once got them ALL taken away from me just moments after opening them... a blog for another day... and will eventually require therapy). And, I can remember staying up to watch the ball drop a few times as a kid...

So I find myself wondering what traditions Justin and I are creating. My mom created something called a Thankful Tree when we were little... a cutsie little thing that starts as a bare trunk taped to a wall, but grows day by day with construction paper leaf cut outs on which you write something you're thankful for to post on the tree. This is one tradition I've held on to, and I even introduced it at the Simmons Thanksgiving Extravaganza a few times - because it's even more fun with lots of people contributing. But, perhaps because J and I don't have kids, we just don't think to do those kinds of things that much.

So, this year... we spent Thanksgiving at our house here in NC. Tony only had 96 hours of leave from the Marine base in Jacksonville, NC, and so he couldn't travel all the way to Mom and Dad's in Ohio... so Ohio came to us this year. (Except for Dustin, who couldn't make it because he had to work, and whom we missed TERRIBLY... it has been a long time since we've all been together for a holiday... so I'm hoping for Christmas.) And so, our humble little abode hosted 5 people for a "traditional" Thanksgiving feast of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, baked beans, green beans, corn, asparagus, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Mom was very patient in teaching me how to orchestrate the whole thing with only 4 stovetop burners and 3 pots (the microwave got lots of attention!). And then we sat together at our little round table, pulled in the computer chair for a 5th seat... and made like Pilgrims and Native Americans around the table (without the exchange of typhoid and all that...). It was really cool.

The take away for me: Traditions are really fun, and perhaps even comforting to a lot of people. But maybe it doesn't matter if we eat Turkey or Pizza (which also happened at least once)... I want to take advantage of having the people I care about close by, and value the experience above the ritual.

One last note, I really did miss spending the holiday with Justin's family, too. We've been very lucky so far to have been able to split the holidays with both of our families, but that didn't work out this year. So, I'm really looking forward to getting to see them all at Christmastime. J did set up a brief Skype video chat session so that we could say hi to everyone, though.

Oh, and sorry there are no pictures... probably that's a holiday tradition most people have, too. Not us. :) Call on your imagination.

Welcome Home LCpl Little Bro!

After nine long months in a middle eastern desert, my baby brother is home from Afghanistan! We had a great "homecoming" celebration today, and we're looking forward to having him home for a few days. Here are a few pictures from our reunion:

Welcome home, bud! We missed you!! We love you!!

Thoughts as of late...

Ok, I admit, 6 weeks without a blog is a lot, even for me. BUT, now that I'm officially on the bottom of everyone's blog list... something has to give! So, some life updates:

My job in the Office of University Events at UNC has gone really well. I've learned a lot and met some really great people. The event that I was hired to help with was the Installation Ceremony for UNC's tenth chancellor, Dr. Holden Thorp. Well, that event, and the ones that surrounded it. So, last weekend was busy, for sure, but it was also high-energy, exciting, and stressful - all of which I love! Here are a few pictures from the day (and the locals would insist that I point out the "Carolina Blue" sky):

This one is Dr. Thorp with Carolina's ensemble choir known as the Cleff Hangers... They had just finished a rousing rendition of J.T.'s Carolina In My Mind:

So what's next? you ask... well, so do I. Now that the installation event is over, the job search is in full swing again. There are a few prospects out there, and so for now I wait to see what comes back up in the nets I've cast. Uncertain, but ok. I'll keep you updated on this as things unfold...

Fall as officially arrived in North Carolina. Just when I had convinced myself that we might get to skip right to spring, it came. And so, with much grumbling, I have pulled out the sweatshirts. I don't know where the tradition of carving pumpkins came from, but I think that it might have been to give us a chance to create a physical reminder for us to keep a hold of our toothy grins despite the trespass of the frosty conditions. So I've made it a goal for the week to carve a toothy grin into some unsuspecting pumpkin - and I promise to post a picture of my creation.

I'm officially half way finished with my grad classes. For those of you who didn't know, or who had forgotten, that I was even taking classes - don't worry, I do that all the time. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the trek I get to make to Washington this coming summer to take a class on campus. (And also looking forward to the detour to LA on the trip to visit Nate - and Char & Kev!)

Some sad news: my car was violated this week. Apparently the state of North Carolina feels threatened by my "thug-ride" and has decided that the tinting is too dark to pass a vehicle inspection. And so, Justin has done the dirty work for me, and took my car to someone to lighten the windows. I haven't seen the handy work just yet...

Some great news: My brother comes home from Afghanistan Monday! :) After what seems like EONS, I will have both little brothers (relatively speaking, of course) on one continent again. YAY! My parents and I will be on base to meet him upon his arrival Monday night. Will be a happy homecoming, indeed! Here's a picture of the two of us a few days before he left:

Arrival pictures coming soon! :)

Pretend Labor Day Vacation

Ever since our first night here in North Carolina, Justin has been saying that this feels more like a vacation than real life. Granted, this has tapered off over time somewhat, as life gets more settled and work becomes more real. Still, I think it's living this close to the beach that gives him a little extra bounce in his step - and, I appreciate that.

So, in light of this phenomenon, and given the fact that we had no plans for Labor Day, we decided to go on a "pretend vacation". So, while sleeping in our own bed, we approached the weekend as we would if we were actually on vacation here. For starters, it would give us a good excuse to visit places we haven't made it to yet, and also make us feel a little less lame about having nothing to do this holiday weekend. (Now might be a good time to mention that Justin had to work Monday, so going out of town for real wasn't so much an option.)

So here's a quick run-down on what we did:

Saturday we slept in and had a late lunch at a new Mexican place called Cosmic Cantina. Apparently it's a hot spot in the wee hours of the morning for UNC students who find themselves in need of a burrito in the night. But, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, we found it to be quite decent (except the salsa - not so good).

Then we walked the street of Franklin for a while, reveling in the pre-game buzz that was all over and all around campus. It was especially amusing how each tailgate party tried to outdo the surrounding ones in volume and spirit - as it should be. Just before it got too crazy (and before we got a ticket on our expired parking meter), we headed out of to the big city of Durham. Ok, not so big city, but we hadn't been downtown yet, so we set the GPS and off we went! We drove what is called the Downtown Loop and found that is actually just circles about 4 city blocks, which is home to the Durham Bulls minor-league baseball stadium. Conveniently, as we drove the loop we realized that a game was about to start - so in the true spirit of vacation, we just parked, bought some tickets, and saw a baseball game! The stadium nachos were amazing, and it was a great night for a game! Oh, and it turned out to be their last regular season home game, so it was perfect timing!

After the game, we headed back to Franklin Street to see what post-game life is like down there. Wow. Pretty crazy. Pretty intense.

Big day, huh??

Sunday we went to a new (to us) church, University Methodist, which is located on Franklin Street. It was pretty cool - the church does a lot of really great outreach stuff for college kids and the pastor seemed to be right on with his message. Not so modern service, but... anyway, Still in search of the perfect Mexican place, we went to Monterrey for lunch (salsa still not right - what's going on!?) Stuffed with enchiladas, we put our bathing suits on and lounged by the pool for a few hours. And, when the afternoon thunderstorms chased us away, we went home for a West Wing mini-marathon and ordered pizza for dinner from a funky little place called Tomato Jake's.

So, folks, the next time you have a weekend with nothing to do, might I recommend a pretend vacation? Here are some pointers:

1. No cooking - cereal for breakfast is ok, I guess.
2. No cleaning - don't wash that cereal bowl... just rinse it and stick it in the dishwasher.
3. Get out of your house. This is not a pretend Honeymoon (that would have an entirely different set of rules, of course). Go somewhere you've never been before.
4. Surround yourself with people - on a vacation, you want to taste the culture of the place you're visiting. Still true.
5. Buy yourself a t-shirt to commemorate the trip.

Hope you all had fab Labor Day weekends!

Breakin' Out the Bubbly

So I have a new job. So far, I love this new job. I'm getting to watch people do exactly the job that I want to be doing. (I know, go with me.) It's good experience. But, it's temporary - through November. So, in a temporary job, especially, it's important to be impressive. Even if I'm not in this office long-term, I want to be within the system long-term. So, I go early, I stay late, I'm eager, I take out people's recycling... and I don't turn down a task, no matter how menial.



Then I am introduced to this cabinet:

Turns out, I need to know a little something about liquor. More specifically, if our office happened to be hosting an event with, say, Portuguese Octapodi grilled with micro organic greens, olive oil and red wine vinaigrette for dinner... I may have to come here and choose the - beverages - that would most appropriately accompany such a meal.

Truth be told, I'm ill equipped for such a task. However, this is not information that I choose to share. In fairness, it wasn't on my resume, and wasn't brought up in my interview. So, untruthful I have not been!

I don't have to serve it. I don't have to drink it. I don't even have to watch too-wealthy benefactors drink it. And so, I shall choose their - beverages. But first, I'll research.

Here's to being a star employee, and to learning new skills. Oh yeah, and to temp work. Cheers.

Updates

Ok, so it has been a while. And, yes, I know that my third blog shouldnt start out that way. To be fair, I never claimed to be good at this.

Still, if late is better than never, here are a few things that have been going on in my world lately:

1. I'm really excited about the developments in the City on a Hill Project arena - the Lord is really blessing it and us from every angle, and that's pretty cool to watch.
2. My parents and Justin's parents have come to visit (along with 3 of our 4 brothers, collectively), and it was great getting to show them our new place and around our area. Even better - there's a place for them to sleep here! :)
3. I'm happily, albeit temporarily, working at UNC in the Office of University Events. I'm helping to plan Dr. Holden Thorp's installation ceremony and University Day. I'm really excited about it - I happen to like planning stuff. :)
4. I met my first NC friend - she & her husband just moved here, too... It's been fun getting to know her!
5. I got my first dog-sitting gig. Only a 1/2 day, but it just might be the start of a great new business!
6. I really want a dog...

More about the new job later... but I have a funny story about an 8 ft. tall metal cabinet of high priced liquor that I am apparently responsible for...

Hot tub at 95 degrees

So this morning we had a free hour, so we thought we'd spend a bit of time by the pool before we started running our errands for the day. You know, start that NC tan that I've been wanting...

So we get to the pool and - even more exciting - there's a hot tub! When I was younger, one of my favorite things to do was jump from the pool into the hot tub, and then back again. It was a TON of fun seeing how messed up we could get our body temperatures. We thought that if we did it enough, we might pass out. For some reason, that was appealing when I was 8...

In this case, though, we didnt quite have the same fun I remember jumping back and forth from the hot tub and the pool. Here's a picture of Justin enjoying a minute in our hot tub... :) If you look closely, you can see the sign in the back that says, "Adults should not swim alone." But, dont worry, after I took this picture, I got right in there with him!