Christmas 2011

I was very pleased that my husband and I were able to make it down to our home state of New Mexico for the Christmas break.  My parents and sister picked us up at the airport, dressed to impress and complete with blinking lights.  They even made it on the local news with their garb.

We spent Christmas with them for a total of 3 nights in at my sister's place.  We then went to my mother-in-law's house for a night.  Then we took a 2 night trip up to Albuquerque to see more family, and then back to the southern part of the state for another 2 nights to see friends.  It was fun trying to fit in visits to so many people.  I'm pleased with all the people we got to see and look forward to seeing those who we didn't get to see next time.

Video footage of our trip can be seen here.

My 28th

Monday I turned 28!  :)  I celebrated with friends on Saturday by having a Holiday Dessert Birthday Party.  Most of the desserts weren't particularly holiday themed, but there were plenty of them, and they were delicious!

On my actual birthday I just took the time to do stuff that would make me happy.  Whatever I felt like doing, I did.  I slept super late (an extra 4 hours), went for my run, took a relaxing bath, rented a chick flick, and made one of my favorite meals for dinner (manicotti, garlic bread, and caesar salad).  It was a wonderful day!

Washington Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! My husband and I had our first Thanksgiving that wasn't with either of our families.  We had a few people over for Thanksgiving dinner! My husband and I made the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, cider, and some cookies.  We also, of course, had to introduce our friends to NM green chile!  I've had Thanksgiving at my home before, but this was actually my first time to make a turkey and stuffing.  Luckily, it turned out quite perfectly.  Our friends brought over a couple of more side dishes, some pie, and wine!

We had a really fun time talking, playing video games, board games, watching TV, listening to Carlos play guitar...  I definitely missed my family, but it was a wonderful day!  I have so much to be grateful for, and I definitely took the time to remember all that I have during this wonderful time of year.  :)

Above is a picture of our sage and garlic turkey!  The seasonings look kind of dark, but inside it was moist and delicious!  We cooked it in a bag, and my mom gave me some tips for the stuffing, which came out to be amazing! (And yes that is an aluminum pan... I have a roasting pan, but not one large enough for our turkey and we didn't want to splurge on another pan at the moment.  Made no difference in the deliciousness of the turkey though).

In the spirit of the holiday:  Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

It snowed! Or should I say iced?

It snowed last night!  Not for too long, just long enough for some a small amount of snow to accumulate, and then start to melt, and then freeze...  I still enjoyed it!  Here are some photos...

11/11/11

So last weekend we went down to Seattle for an 11/11/11 party.  The party in itself was not nearly as cool as we were expecting.  It was supposed to be New Years Eve style, with an 11 second countdown to 11:11 on 11/11/11.  The venue was not as supportive as they led the party throwers to believe.  However, we had a great time!

We started out at a friend's apartment (he lives in a really neat building in the hub bub of it all in downtown Seattle).  We met up with people there, had some snacks and drinks, and then headed to the party.  The party ended up such that it was just like going to a bar with a DJ, nothing special.  But it was fun to be out and about and having fun with people.  We left the club, got some food, then headed back to our friends apartment.  We played games, and hung out, and stayed the night there.  The next morning we headed down to Pike Place Market and enjoyed some crepes at a French place.

This is a picture of us playing Uno after the party.  Our friend just barely moved into his apartment, and didn't have any furniture yet.

Part of the view from our friend's apartment.

His apartment patio was on a courtyard surrounded by tall buildings.  From the hallway window you could see the Puget Sound.

This was at Pike Place.  There are these men who dress up in gold or silver, and then I think they pretend to be statues...

Next year, 12/12/12 will be a great one, especially since it will be my birthday.  :)

Halloween Weekend 2011

Friday my husband and I met up with the same people with hung out with last weekend, and have a few more people join the group.  We enjoyed some food, drinks, and games of pool.

The real fun was Saturday!  My husband, three people from the group the night before, and myself, went into Seattle for a Halloween pub crawl.  We had to figure out some last minute Halloween costumes.  My husband went as the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, but sans rabbit ears.  I went as a metal/punk rocker.  It was our first pub crawl.  Basically there was a route mapped out and certain times to be at different bars in downtown Seattle to coincide with specials they were having.  The people and tourists of the area really got a kick out of the hundreds of people dressed in costume walking around midday in Seattle.  The people were very friendly and sociable, drink prices were good, and there were specials on food as well.  We ended the night listening to a Led Zeppelin tribute band and some more games of pool!

New "Friends" and a Hike

This past weekend was a ton of fun.  My husband met a couple of guys in a class he was taking and we got together with them and another couple on Friday night.  We were all new to town and looking to make new friends.  It feel kind of weird making new friends... In a way it's kind of like dating again... haha.

Saturday was uneventful, but Sunday was awesome!  I had been reading about the wonderful fall colors at Mount Rainier, so we decided to go for a hike over there.  It ended up being about a 3 hour drive from our home, and well worth it.  It was gorgeous!  The weather was awesome!  The hike was incredible!  We did a hike that was about 5 miles round trip, but it took us about 4 hours, which apparently is the average hike time for that route.  Anyways... I loved it!  I look forward to going back in the summer!  (Tire chains are required starting Nov. 1., for the only road that is open, most of the roads are closed Nov. 1-June 1)

After the hike we met up with the same people we hung out with Friday night for some chicken wings.  It feels weird to say, "we met up with some friends"... at what point does someone really become your friend...?  I still feel like I don't really know them, but I guess they're the closest things we have to friends here at this point.  :)  So... I suppose "friends" they are!