A Very Belated Thanksgiving

I'm back! For the last three months I have been working towards my real estate license with late night classes in New Jersey and as of last Thursday night, I graduated! Woot!

So now I have my nights back  - at least until I start using them to show people houses ;-)

Until then, I think we have some catching up to do. First, lets discuss Thanksgiving....

It was yummy. And fun. Despite these cuties...

Who I want to just bury my face into when I see them but my throat would probably close up, so... 

Anyway, this year we actually stuck pretty close to home, though we did eat out once or twice and went to see Lincoln. 

The rest of the time was spent doing this... 

Yep, shooting in the backyard. Believe it or not, my family isn't hickie and their necks aren't red but about a year ago the raccoon started taking over our farm and "bullying" the cats so it was time to finally take action after a 20+ year war my mom has had with these masked critters. 

Apparently my dad has gotten pretty damn good with this thing. So Bill decided to check it out too. I think he was living out his James Bond fantasy. He probably would have gone out there in a tux if no one was watching. 

But the two of them spent quite a while back there shooting at a prepared target. 

Even I tried it... 

Despite my pose, I was no Charlie's Angel. I couldn't stop shaking and the whole thing was pretty scary. This was about ten times scarier than shooting a shot gun. Something about all that power being in your little, un-muscular hands that seems, ummm, icky. So needless to say, I didn't fire many shots. 

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We also took several walks in the woods and a trail down the road that used to be railroad tracks. That meant we had plenty of time and resources to collect fun, natural elements for our Thanksgiving table. 

(Ok, so the microwave isn't very natural... )

But, more importantly, lets talk about what we put on (and quickly took off ) that table.... 

A perfectly-browned turkey

A less than perfect-looking, but pretty perfect-tasting, pumpkin pie

Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows! 

Fresh cranberries with orange peel

My mom even made me gluten-free stuffing! It was a cornmeal-based stuffing that was actually pretty tasty, though nothing like her amazing recipe sitting to the right. 

And then we ate. A lot. What's new?

Even this one wanted in on the meal...

(Please, sir, can I have sa more?) 

But at least the boys worked it off. My dad bought a new motorcycle and the two of them spent a good portion of the trip working on it. Bill was pretty happy to 1) not have to go through another antique store adventure and 2) be working on something mechanical. I think they had fun. 

And that's that! Stay tuned for Christmas decor pics! 

Happy Halloween!

Ok, its a day late, but whatever. Feliz Dia de Los Muertos!

We had our second annual Halloween party this last weekend, and despite the fact that hurricane Sandy was threatening, we actually were able to go without a major storm during the party (unlike last year's freak blizzard).

So this year we had people show up! Actually, we had a fantastic party and our new upstairs neighbors, who are young girls, had about 70 people walking through the door, which made the whole thing more lively.

Anyway, on to the photos...

The bats are back! 

The fruit plate before we put the creepy crawlies on it. 

Can you guess what they are?! 

Can you guess who we are?! 

Probably not. This is who we are 

Chiquita banana and her monkey pal! 

Our friends John and Mandy - as each other! So great 

Timmy is a Target employee! 

Maverick was there! 

We had some pretty amazing costumes, obviously. 

Just hoping next year's party isn't accompanied by a hurricane, blizzard or tornado. 

Nissa's Visit.... Finally!

That's finally for two reasons: 1) I haven't seen my friend Nissa in about two years, which is ridiculous and 2) Its ridiculous how long it took me to post these pictures as she left over a week ago!

But anyway, Nissa did come to visit me and Bill in our new home in Philly. (New to her, that is)
She actually came in the night of the exhibit and was the most amazing person the whole night. She just did little jobs when I needed her to as if she was getting paid to do it. She seriously made the night go smoothly for me.

Afterwards, we went out for a few drinks at Prohibition Tap Room with a fellow non-profit employee.


Their sign looks like this. Its pretty fun. (Photo courtesy of Veggiecurious.com)

The next day we headed towards Old City for a little boutique shopping, which ended up being book shopping, and First Friday's lineup of galleries and street artists.

But first, we headed to Franklin Fountain, Old City's retro soda shop for some root beer floats, followed by a trip to their sister store, Shane's Confectionery, which boosts a Victorian-era grab bag of goodies.

We bought a caramel apple that took us a week to finish!

We both ended up picking up some silly, old, sex how-to books and some vintage photographs before heading home for a little Mexican & Margarita night.

Bill spent the night in AC for a friends birthday, so that night was girly, and silly, and very pink, as you can see. 

The next day, Nissa and I went to Midtown Village's Fall Fest which was just an excuse to eat a lot of food and drink some spiked cider. 

Yummy bites from Barbuzzo and Jamonera! 

Look at that nice man looking over us all! He sort of looks like God with that halo of light. 

And here we are! We basically both wore these two scarves all week. 

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Nissa and I spent the rest of the week watching movies in our PJs, walking around downtown Philly in pursuit of warm food and drink and finding ourselves always a little out of time and money. But we did get to eat at some great places... 

Like Continental... 

...and Bistot La Minette, and Tria, and the Twisted Tail. 

We also went to the Mutter Museum, which is a museum of medical oddities, many very grotesque, and the Penn Museum for their Maya 2012 exhibit. Of course, the only pictures I was able to grab were of worry dolls at the end of the Maya 2012 exhibit. I thought they were visually stunning, not to mention presented in mass quantities!  

And here's Miss Nissa at the reflecting pond at the Penn Museum or Archaeology and Anthropology. 

We also took advantage of the fact that it was the week of Design Philadelphia and hit up the opening party. It was held in an architectural warehouse and featured some genius, green designers who were able to create chairs and tables from cardboard and igloos from paper circles! It was pretty fun.  

We ended our visit with a night on the beach, which sounds very romantic but ended up being more like boy scout survival. It was extremely dark and Bill had to create a sand, fire pit and start a fire in ungodly winds. 

All the same, we had fun, singing songs around the campfire and eating picnic foods. They may have been covered by sand, but they were good! 

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And that was that! We just need to make sure its not another two years before I see my best friend! 

Speaking of best friends, stay tuned for my other one's wedding! 

The Event That Took Over My Life

This last Thursday, we finally had the event that has been taking over my life for the last month and a half - the exhibit of art therapy for the non-profit I work for.

I envisioned this event a few months ago, and pitched it to a less-than-enthusiastic boss who was jaded by previous fundraising attempts. But I moved forward with it anyway.

Planning an event that was only a few months away, I basically did the whole thing myself, minus the art work. Luckily, I had a few amazing therapists helping me generate art work for the event and piecing everything together.

In the end, it was a pretty fantastic event. It was held at the Art Sanctuary, a local gallery and art space that focuses on African-American art. It was a beautiful space and the team there was a dream to work with. We had a great turn out and even the weather remained nice. My friend Nissa was in town and was even able to deal with some of the crap at the event so I could play hostess.

Everything went smoother than imagined and we even got a few Philadelphia papers to report on the event, including my own City Paper!

Anyway, on to the images....

The nice outdoor space that people loved. 

The outline was done by a child who had recently lost his father. When he was asked to create a self-portrait, this is all he did. He stopped with the outline that is reminiscent of a chalk outline on a crime scene. 

Amazing painting done by adolescent girl about her loss and her mother's aid through it all. That's her mom's hand sewing up the broken heart. Amazing. 

T-shirt made in adolescent therapy group with angel wings and "Peace In Paradise" - Islamic R.I.P. 

Our silent auction items

That's my back as I watch our Executive Director introduce the therapist. 

Our child therapist explains art therapy and trauma therapy to the audience. 

Our adolescent therapist, her client and her client's painting which represents the good times and the bad. 

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All in all, a great success. I'll try and remember to post when the newspaper articles come out! 

A Celebratory Weekend

Last weekend, Bill's family came together at our house for a very good reason: his sister and her long-time boyfriend got engaged!!!

What ensued was a lot of celebratory eating, of course. Cupcakes and all!

Aren't they a good looking couple?!