Mumble, mumble...

Well, that's the holidays for you I guess. Let's rewind...

We went to Montreal for American Thanksgiving, which I celebrated with an asthma attack. Of course, since I have them so rarely and since I've never had one up north, I hadn't even packed my inhaler. After about twelve hours, I finally got some help (narrowly avoiding a trip to the ER). That was an adventure I wouldn't care to repeat any time soon.

We returned to Montreal a few weeks later for our BIG family Christmas. Adam's Uncle Chris drove up and both my Mom and Dad flew up and joined us, so it was a full house and very nice to have everyone in the same place for a change. You may have seen reports of the crazy snowfall that hit the northeast between Christmas and the New Year... we got a healthy dose of that. Flights cancelled, roads a mess, aging parents flopping around in snow banks like turtles on their backs. Winter wonderland I tell you. In the end though, everyone made it home safe and sound and uninjured. Happy New Year!

Of course, I returned to work after two weeks away and immediately had to dive into some serious insanity. Our office hosted seven events in the first two weeks of January alone. My sleep schedule is only now recovering from that trauma, but I SURVIVED. Moving along now...

At the end of January, we headed BACK to Montreal (yes, again) for a wedding. It was great fun! The bride and groom were so obviously happy, grinning like mad and having a blast. We got to visit with old friends who we don't run into very often anymore and I got to meet some of the Mr.'s friends from "before my time" that I've never met despite having heard countless stories over the years.

At the end of this month, we will return to Montreal once again for a 20 year memorial of the death of the Mr.'s father. With family and friends traveling from all over the world to celebrate his life, it promises to be quite an event. Sometimes it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that he died only a couple of years before I met his son, who is now (and has been for nearly 18 years) my other half. I know so many small details about this man, and yet I know nothing because I never actually met him.

I think that will be enough travel to hold us for a little while. Other adventures await closer to home.

The Christmas That Wasn't

At least, it wasn't what we were planning...

It started so well, too. We had our shopping done, gifts wrapped, vacation days saved up. We breezed through the first two days of highway with nothing more than a light drizzle, and arrived in Oklahoma City right on schedule. The photo was taken from our hotel window the next afternoon (Christmas Eve). If you own a TV and turned it on around Christmas, you probably know where this is going. Bless their hearts, Oklahoma City just isn't equipped to deal with fourteen inches of snow in an afternoon.

We were fortunate in a number ways.

• My Mom had decided, at the last minute, to stay at the hotel with us. 
• We decided to brave the blizzard to pick up our pre-ordered Christmas dinner (we had volunteered to bring the turkey, stuffing & mashed potatoes) just in case the roads would be clear the next day. 
• We actually made it back to the hotel with the food. 
• Our hotel room had a fridge & microwave.
• We did not require a tow truck after all.
• We were able to get out of town and down to Dallas almost on schedule.
• We had no trouble getting to Ponca City to visit Uncle Herb, who had driven through the storm after his flight home from Chicago was cancelled.

We won't dwell on the ways in which we were unfortunate. It could have been so much worse, and it was for so many people that were not as lucky as we were.

OH! And those wacky Canadian sunflower seed flavors? They sell them in Oklahoma City, too.

Happy Turkey Day!

I am thankful for (aside from the obvious):

• the improvement in my career path in the light of the recent economy
• the excellent doctors who have helped/healed our respective families
• a year of many visits and reconnection with old friends
• the prospect of going home for the holidays for the first time in too many years
• Chipotle (yes.. you were saying?)

There's plenty more, but I gotta go pick up some guacamole at Malibu. Thank you Malibu!

Happy Howl-oween!

Left to right: Jeremy, Beth, Hannah, Kelly, David & Adam


We had a most excellent Novo Collegiate Halloween! JC and Beth (and Hannah) came and camped with us, and David drove up from Ithaca for the afternoon. David was a student of Adam's folks back in the day - blast from the past and a genuine legend! He had only just returned from the Charter Class Reunion in Sarasota, and we got an update on the current inhabitants of the Ivory Tower. From all accounts it sounds like they are keeping the spirit alive and doing their best to make us all proud. Warms the heart...

It was a little chilly right on the water, but the guys got a toasty fire going and we had some cheap red wine to help keep us warm. The s'mores helped too. Then came the howling. For real y'all... we decided it was coyotes, and Hannah was ready to party with her people! JC brought out a super cool Jack-o-Lantern, but the photos didn't do it justice so you'll just have to use your imagination.

I've only ever camped once, when I was about 10. All I remember is rocks and spiders and wanting to go home. I never really cared to repeat the experience, but this was actually quite fun! Of course we had a proper cabin, with a space heater and a double bed. And since we only stayed one night, I didn't have to use the public shower... so not really camping. Whatever it was, was fun.

Just Had to Share

Today is March 12. Tomorrow is trash day. On my way home today, I spotted one of my neighbors putting their "live" Christmas tree out by the curb for pick-up.

That is impressive indeed.

Take THAT You Turkey (or Season's Greetings from the Christmas Plague Rat)!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost)! We had a wonderful visit with Adam's folks, as well as his Uncle Chris and my Dad. Daddy wins the Christmas Trials & Tribulations Award for spending the night in Chicago O'Hare airport with three pounds of frozen tamales and no phone charger when his connecting flight to Rochester was cancelled. AND THEN his flight out today was cancelled - so we'll be seeing him off at 4:30 this morning instead. Standing ovation please!

And... WhaBAM! Turkey chili! Courtesy of the Houston law firm Whoosie, Whatsit & Thingimie - the world's cutest little cajun spiced turkey was delivered to our door amongst the holiday loot. The thing that amazed me was that the six of us did not polish it off Christmas Day! So less than 24 hours after Christmas dinner - I used the left-overs to make chili to go with the fabulous tamales Daddy brought along from Dallas. Mmmmmm...

O Christmas Tree...

Nothing of particular note has occurred in recent days, other than the acquisition of a rather stunning fir tree which we will decorate shortly. There's this place near our house that is a crazy huge garden-supply/nursery during the warmer months. At this time of year, they serve as Fir Tree Mecca and Purveyors of Poinsettias. They also have a miniature electric train set-up that takes up more space than our living room.

Nothing gets you in the spirit more than a tree that makes you feel short...

We're not talking about the soup.

Black Friday, Turkey Soup

We are partaking of a time-honoured family tradition this year and have made the leftover turkey soup. Last Thanksgiving, we had intended to make the soup, but forgot and left the turkey out on the counter all night. Ah well. So this year, the Mr. jumped on the soup-wagon straight off and got it boiling before the dishes were in the dishwasher. We'll just have to wait and see if we uphold the remainder of the tradition, which is apparently to do absolutely nothing with this turkey broth until we are so frightened of its potential that we have to toss it out. I've heard tell of this road... it's paved with good intentions.

And yes, I worked the bookstore today. We'll just say the customers were friendlier than my coworkers today, and THAT'S saying something. I'm wondering how I'll make it through the season. I do believe I shall be dependent upon the kindness of strangers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers, y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

So the Mr. has been working in up Montreal for longer than I care to contemplate, and lucky for me, I had the forethought MANY weeks ago to request off several days in a row so that I might attend Canadian Thanksgiving for a change. So, new tires on the little Golf, and off I trundled on Friday... up I81 and across the 401, in a blaze of glory. It was beyond lovely to see Adam, and to NOT be at the bookstore. We had turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes, courtesy of Malibu. I even made cheese grits. I think the cranberry sauce may have eaten a hole in my tongue...

There is really no adequate segue... so I will just say that Monday morning, Adam's step-dad Jim had a small stroke. We are thankful that it was a small stroke. We are thankful that Prue noticed something was not right. We are thankful that he agreed to go to the hospital. We are thankful that he is OK.

I am home now, sans husband.

Please be Seated

Chairs! We have real and proper chairs, with cushions and all! All around the dining table! This Holiday Season, we will all be able to sit down to the table without worrying someone's chair will topple - ah, we're living the dream now!

As the vast majority of you are likely unaware, we have for the last six years been using antique wooden folding chairs around the dining table. I "rescued" them from a slow rot in the basement of a certain art center, the first year we decided to host a holiday meal at our apartment. They are quite cool for folding chairs, but genuinely old and increasingly decrepit. One of our guests last year had a very narrow escape, so we retired one of the crew and set about the quest for Dining Room Chairs.

I feel like a real live grown-up now! Reminds me of the New Year's Eve we sat around the table arguing the merits of broccoli at five minutes to midnight...

Book of Love

Well I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Adam had to go to Paris on business for the first half of the month (oh the things we must endure for a paycheck...), so he and I met up in Montreal just in time to celebrate the day. The photo is of the book of chocolates that Adam brought me from France. Yes - I said book. Leather-bound and all. What... you've never seen a book of chocolates?

I wish I'd seen the look on the shopgirl's face when he declined to taste a sample because he doesn't "really like chocolate". Apparently every single person in the shop stopped and stared at such a declaration. What a giggle!

THERE'S NOTHING WRETCHED ABOUT IT!

The excess that is...

As you can see from the photo above, we had an EXCESSively lovely Christmas here on Raeburn Ave. Prue and Jim made the trip down, and Prue's brother (aka Uncle Chris) came over from Pittsfield, Mass. This was our first time to do Christmas in our very own house, so it was particularly special. It was a RAWTHER grand affaire which began with a delightful selection of imported cheeses (one of which went straight in the bin after I smelled it, eewww nasty foot medicine smell, eeewwww I AM NOT eating that!), various olives and crudite (and rather a lot of wine), followed by the exchange of many lovely gifts and a fine meal catered by the elite Pittsford Wegmans. Dessert was courtesy of our many lovely friends who bake, featuring the elusive Martel cookie. Daddy assures me that David slaved over those cookies, and boy are they worth every calorie! We rounded things off with a rousing "Cracker Concerto" of Christmas carols (so sad, no recording was made...) before the visitors returned to their hotel (by which you can read that the guest room is still a work in progress).

David, if you're reading this, we need more Martels!

Winter Wonderland

Well - winter is certainly in effect! We are on our third winter storm warning of the season, and it's so pretty! I'm not looking forward to the heating bill, but I still get excited to see the falling snow. I probably wouldn't feel quite the same if we didn't have a snowplow contract in place!

We spent a cozy Thanksgiving Day here at the hacienda, just us two and the cats. Adam got the house decorated before the real weather hit, and has been working on the inside ever since. We now have a very impressive, if tiny, cedar-lined vestibule closet (as well as a freshly painted vestibule!) and we are just a few solid days work away from a proper guest room. I am humbled by the amount of work Adam has put into this house in the last year - it has come so far so fast!

We will be celebrating Christmas in our own home for the first time this year, so we just went and got our first real tree. So far no kitty catastrophes (no pun intended)! I think we've decided to go with the "riotous" decorating scheme...

Here's wishing you all Happy Holidays!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from Kelly and Adam (click the image above to see the full "scary" animation). We got fewer trick or treaters at our house than in previous years (more candy for me) and, mercifully, we were passed over by the usual assortment of sullen high school students dressed as hooligans.

I AM SO MARTHA STEWART!

I've taken a brief break from wedding planning to decorate for Halloween. Due to the roving gangs of tulip thieves we had last spring, I decided not put any decorations on the outside of the house...