Christmas Wishlist (just in case someone wants to be generous):

1) Kitchen Aid stand mixer
2) a laptop
3) Allure (I'm running out)
4) new pjs and slippers
5) Caphalon saucepan
6) earrings
7) new cell phone
8) vanilla scented candles
9) West Wing, the complete series
10) a really good drum and bass cd

That's it for now. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment.

Break's almost over. Thanksgiving has come and gone. It really doesn't feel like the other Thanksgivings...probably because I don't have any leftovers to stuff myself silly (they're all at my parents). Dinner went very well. In fact, it was pretty awesome. Andrew says that my dinner was better than his mom's (we had two dinners that day...OY...). Yep. Once again, a successful Thanksgiving dinner, made from start to finish by yours truly.

Let's recap on the happenings of this lovely Thanksgiving break:

1) Tuesday night a couple friends came over and we drank and played GameCube stuff. Bryan and David brought nasty beer and got drunk, Natascha brought over pumpkin pie (she made it here) and Andrew was schooling all of them on the ways of the Game Cube. It was nice and relaxing. By the end of the night, David and Bryan were passed out. The next morning, we all went out for breakfast at IHOP. I had pumpkin pancakes...mmm...

2) On Wednesday night I went over to my parents to prep for the next day. I put the turkey in the brine, but I pretty much spent all night baking. I made apple pie (my first one!) and pumpkin cheesecake to take to Andrew's parents' house. They were good, I guess. I didn't puree the cottage cheese that goes into the cheesecake enough so the texture wasn't quite right, and I sliced the apples too thin for the pie, so they got too soft...but overall, it tasted good. Baking's so hard.

3) Thanksgiving day! I got up around 8am to start cooking. I got the turkey in the oven (*side note: I saw a thing on one of the cooking shows where they put wine and butter soaked cheesecloth over the turkey to keep the moisture and "encourage" it to brown evenly, so I tried it, and it worked really, really well...I think it was the best turkey I'd ever made), starting cutting up some of the veggies and such. Really, I didn't cook all day. I mean, yes, I was in the kitchen all day, but I wasn't cooking the whole time. I had little breaks here and there. I couldn't really do much until the turkey was out of the oven (which is why I need a house with a kitchen that has two ovens in it...ahem...). Thanks to my boyfriend with high tolerance of my bossiness, we got everything on the table only 10 minutes behind schedule. Man...it was a lot of food. Andrew looked at the table and was like, "Baby...this is SO MUCH FOOD." I really cooked everything that I had on my previous menu posting (minus bread pudding and souffle). We ate the hell out of everything and everyone was pretty much ready to pass out within the next hour. We still had half of everything leftover. Man, I can't wait till I go home today...

4) Yesterday we just hung out. Andrew and I went to go see Casino Royale with Bryan and David. It was a really good movie. It definitely exceeded my expectations. We also went to eat...a lot. Andrew and I had lunch at Whole Foods ( I heart Whole Foods), then after the movie we ate at Taco Mac (because Bryan wanted beer, duh). After Taco Mac, we went to my parents and rescued Coco (she was NOT happy about being at my parents, and I don't blame her). I made pumpkin ice cream with ginger snap cookies while I was there, and Andrew played chess with my nephew-ish people. Then we came home and watched Episode VI. Yay.

Last night I went out with my boys (friends from high school). We went to Intermezzo, which could probably be considered out regular hang out spot. Alcohol was consumed and conversation went...how do you say...scandalous? Well, it can't be helped, really. They're both guys in their early twenties, one's gay and the other one's just discovered the joys of...scandalous things just a few years ago. Anyways, things were said that just totally turned me off from boys. I told them that they were going to turn me asexual, and during one part of the conversation, I actually left, mostly because I had to pee, but it was still effective because when I came back, they were talking about music, which honestly wasn't a better topic (that's bad, isn't it? I mean, I am a musician afterall, and I should really like talking about music and all that, but to tell you the truth, I really need to be in the mood to talk about that stuff).

So I came to the conclusion that boys are gross.

Two days till school gets out! Yippeeeeee!

The past couple days have been strange...a little out of the ordinary. I'm not sure if it's because Thanksgiving break's coming up or the half days we had this week, but something's a little off. I've been feeling weird and thinking about things that I don't normally think about. Hmm.

Today I had to break up a fight between two boys who are taller and bigger than I am. That was...interesting. Actually, it scared the crap out of me. I had to physically get in there and break them up. And earlier that morning, I had to prevent a fight between two girls from happening. During my last class, I found out that one of my students got into a fight. What's with all the kids fighting today?? It's like they all said, "Hm...let's pick a day to be violent. How about the 17th? Yeah, that seems like a good day for picking fights."

Sometimes you just don't know what people are thinking. I almost wish that people were just really blunt all the time so you know exactly what they're thinking or thinking about. Would life be easier or harder? I can definitely see the benefits, but it would probably cause a lot of problems too. Relationships probably wouldn't last very long, there would be more fights...but what if things were always just like that, and people learned to deal with it? Would the world be a better place?

Maybe it's not that I want everyone to be blunt all the time. Maybe I just want to ask questions that would not normally be okay to ask and get an honest answer without the other person feeling uncomfortable or weird about it. Ah, well...I probably wouldn't get the answer that want anyway. That's just how my life is.

It's a pity I don't blog that much anymore. I was reading what I wrote a couple Thanksgivings ago, and man...I was reeeal angry about something (hmm...family, perhaps? The holidays seem to bring out the worst in family). I honestly don't think that i'm going to have anything to be angry about this year. I have my own place, a good job, a rediscovery of my faith, great new and old friends...I've got it pretty good, if I think about it. Of course, tomorrow when I have my 7th graders, I'm sure i'll be thinking otherwise. Dang chilrens...

For those of you who know me, you know how much I love to cook and even more, eat. And you also know that come Thanksgiving every year, I FREAK OUT. So, after careful consideration, here's what I'll be cookin' up next Thursday.

*Thanksgiving Menu*

- honey brined and glazed roast turkey
- green bean casserole with fried shallots
- mashed bourbon sweet potato
- four cheese and macaroni
- corn on the cob
- garlic mashed potato
- brussel sprouts and chestnuts
- creamed spinach
- pumpkin bread pudding
- apple pie
- sweet potato souffle