December Advent Blog Celebration

It's Christmas season and I LOVE Christmas season....  no wait.....

I
LOVE
Christmas season!

I'm not kidding.  I freaking love it!  Even with what happened last year (which was the worst Christmas ever).....  I still love it.

I love the music and the festivities and the decorations and the general excitement.  I'm a little sad that I will not get to decorate my house this year (since it's all in the POD), but I know it's for the best.

I got an email a few weeks ago from the company that makes my cutting machine that they had a cool limited edition advent calendar (complete with templates for the boxes).

(Advent Calendar)

Since I don't have anyone to make an advent calendar for... and at this date, it would have to wait until next year anyways... I thought I would do something a little different.  So, I present to you.....

The BLOG CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN.

What is the Blog Christmas Countdown you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  Starting tomorrow (December 1), I will countdown the 25 days until Christmas with one of my favorite Christmas songs each day.

It's going to be Christmas-palooza on this blog!  And I know I'm not the only one that's excited! :)

P.S.  There will still be regular blog posts throughout, but every day will have a special Christmas post.

A return surprise

I know I mentioned previously that I have most of my belongings safely stored in a POD storage unit in my parking lot.  It was holding up just fine there, but I knew I would have to move it eventually.  I guess I was just waiting to hear about the house before I had to move it.

Apparently, a neighbor of mine had a different idea.

I received a call from my realtor while I was driving home yesterday.  He said a neighbor called him (since his number is the only sale sign out from) to tell me that I was "fined" for my storage unit.  Thankful enough that my house wasn't broken into (which was my first concern), I was just angry.  I knew that my HOA does not make enough visits that they would've seen it.  So it HAD to have been a neighbor calling to complain.

Of course, when I finally got home, the POD had one of those "orange" violation stickers on it that they put on abandoned cars.  One with a notice that I have to move it within 48 hrs.  Honestly?

So thankfully, POD was able to come and pick it up on Wednesday (within the 48 hour window) and Jennifer and Rich were able to come and help me finish putting the last few things in the container.  Now, there are three rooms that are completely empty, one room that is mostly empty, and almost nothing in the kitchen as far as dishes and utensils go.  I'll be living like a college student until I hear what's going on with the house.  :)

Bring on the plastic silverware and take out!

Goals Update: November

Can you believe that November is essentially over already?  That's 11 months of the "year of megan".... that's just crazy.  Anyways, on with the update!




1. SAVE MONEY, REDUCE DEBT: Deja vu from October.  I seriously feel like I am hemorrhaging money right now, and it's not because I'm shopping.  I really hope things with the house work out so that I can stop paying so much money for this place... and get rid of the storage unit.  At least I am continuing to pay off debt without spending on it.  

2. GET BACK IN SHAPE:  I laugh at this one.  No excuses.... I need to get back on the horse.

3. STEP OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE:  This is turning out to be a really tough one for me.  


I am struggling with these goals right now.    While these goals were helpful for me to begin the year, they are really uninspired right now.  One more month to try to make the most of it, and then I can reevaluate for 2012.

The Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Sorry, I didn't post yesterday.  I do have several things to update on now that my trip is almost over.

So, Wednesday night dinner with the girls I went to grade school with was amazing.  I had an absolute blast.  We are going to try to do another one over Christmas.  Here's a couple photos I managed to get.

First, my outfit for the night.  Ended up more rocker chic than I originally planned, but it works.

Sorry... took this at the only full length mirror in my parents house... inside the closet.

Here's a photo at the restaurant of all the girls.  It really was so nice to see everyone.

 From the left - Me, Meredith, Megan, Jes, Ellen, Nicole

A couple of the girls actually brought some things from grade school which for a hilarious start to our dinner. Jes brought a photo album and a folder covered in "inside jokes".  Megan brought these jeans that we wrote jokes all over AND her puffy headband in the uniform plaid.  We all had a good time passing it around and taking documentary photos.  I was going for the "8th grade photo" look.

Of course, we were there until they kicked us out just before 1am, so I had a late drive back.  And of course, a rough night of sleep before getting up early to prepare for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving dinner went great!  My turkey actually finished cooking early, so I let it rest for an hour (recommended by Alton Brown, my BFF).  Then, when everything else was done cooking, I put it back in the turned off oven for 10 minutes to warm it up again before my dad carved.  It was the juiciest turkey I have cooked.  We ended up only having a few leftovers.

Then yesterday (Friday), I drove back out to the suburbs to meet my favorite teacher from high school.  He gave me a tour of the new things at the school and then we grabbed lunch.  It was nice to catch up with him since I haven't gotten out to the school to see people in a while.  I usually try to get out to the school when I can so I can see the few teachers that remain there.  I guess that's the nice thing about small high schools.... it really was a "family" environment and it's nice to be remembered.

Today we will just be doing a lot of hanging out.  And then tomorrow is Kayla's baptism.  This is a little later than usual in the Catholic Church but Melissa and Justin wanted to wait until they were at their place they would be living for good.  She is getting baptized in the suburbs at the Church/school we all went to.  When I got here on Saturday, Melissa and Justin asked Brendan and I if we would be the godparents.  I, of course, am honored to have the responsibility.

Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post when I get home next week.

The day before the feast

I did my nails last night.  Same colors as last week, but a different pattern.  I like it.

Today I am driving out the my old hometown to get dinner at a local hang out with a few girls I went to grade school with.  Yep, grade school.

There will be six of us.  The six of us that were the best of friends in grade school and did everything together.  It's been 15 years since we graduated from eighth grade and while some of us went to high school together, it's been a REALLY long time since we've all been together.  In fact, most of the girls I will see tonight I haven't seen since high school.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was never a big holiday on my radar when I was younger.  Sure, I remember plenty of times when my mom cooked, or we went to one of the grandparents house to eat.  Then in high school, we all started to become pretty busy.  In college, I was lucky to be home for Thanksgiving... that's what happens when you play college athletics.

It wasn't really until I was done with school and in the "real world" that I came to appreciate the holiday.  I LOVE spending time with my family.  And I actually REALLY enjoy cooking.  Yes, I love cooking in general, but I love cooking for Thanksgiving.

My Thanksgiving cooking experience has been on the smaller end (between 3-7 people).  This Thanksgiving I am cooking for 13-14.  Not a huge increase, but big enough.  Also, all four grandparents are coming.  I use a lot of my Grandma Markowski's recipes and this Thanksgiving will be the first Thanksgiving that she is not cooking in 58 years.  FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS!

I'll let that sink in for a moment.....

So yeah.... 58 years.... and I'm cooking, with her recipes.  I'm a tad nervous, but I've done these recipes for 5 years so I am confident I can pull everything off.  I just hope I have enough food. :)

Today I finished drying out the bread for the stuffing and started making my "ranch crackers" as a snack for the day.  I'm planning to eat around 4pm.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I'll report back afterwards.

The Long Drive

I am sure I have mentioned this before but the drive from DC to Chicago is looong... 12 hours long.  It is compounded by the fact that Samson is NOT a good traveler.  He is the antithesis of a good traveler.  He is a pain in the butt.

Some of it could've been from the first few trips he took when I tried to sedate him.  He fought it the entire trip and then was completely out of it for three days afterwards.  I stopped that practice a couple of years ago.  He just is antsy.  He gets nervous and shaky, he pants A LOT, and he can't seem to sit still.

He LOVES to stick his head out the window, which is fine in the summer, but in the winter - YIKES!  It's cold.

So on Saturday, I packed up the car on Friday night, set my alarm for 4:30am and was ready to go.  We were on the road by 5:15am.  I'm not going to lie.... it was MUCH better.  First, there was barely anyone on the road.  Just me and the hunters through MD and WV.  Then, I hit Columbus (the halfway point) by 11:30am.

We stopped once at 8:30am because we both had to go to the bathroom.  I filled what I needed to of gas, and we were back on the road.

This is how he spent the first 9.5 hours of our drive on Saturday.

And yes... that is his lips flapping in the wind because we were going 70.

Finally, around hour 10, he laid down.  This lasted maybe an hour.

Sigh.... it was good while it lasted though.

So, all in all, the trip was actually pretty good.  We arrived to my parents around 4:15pm and it was still light out!  I think when I drive back, I will leave that early again.

I am looking forward to the week with my family, LOTS of family.  I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner and all four grandparents will be joining us.  No pressure! :)

I missed this little stinker!