the family circle

we had a hands-down, down-right wonderful thanksgiving. my only regret is that i didn't take a picture of the assembled loved ones. but sometimes you are just too busy enjoying yourself to think about that. we had grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, in-laws and friends. it was divine. and it took off the last sting of sadness i felt over missing out on seeing everyone this past summer. like i said, hands-down, down-right wonderful.

i am also sorry i didn't take a picture of my two lemon meringue pies, which came out near perfectly despite my forgetting them in the oven. and, i tackled the hellewell family roll recipe with great success as well. turns out it's pretty hard to make something with a whole pound of butter taste bad.

and i might add that all these-- and many other-- successes were managed in a kitchen with two hand mixer bases and six or seven mixing beaters, none of which matched and none of which fit in either of the bases, neither of which worked. just so you get an idea of what we were up against. makes it even more amazing, huh?

a trip to salt lake is always too short, but we squeezed in lots of family time, a trip to temple square to see the lights, a taco from barbacoa and pizza from stoneground and even some patio furniture re-upholstering. i am so so thankful we were able to go, and even more thankful for the time spent with my beloved family. i cherish my time with them more and more.

so, i am calling thanksgiving a big win. up next: christmas cheer! 

crooked teeth

happy independence day, my babies!

i hope you are enjoying a day off work to celebrate and relax.

as for me, today feels pretty much the same as the last five days, which i have spent sleeping in, watching movies, drinking smoothies and eating slightly overcooked macaroni and cheese.

i did make it out of the house a couple of times for "transformers: dark of the moon" (totally worth it), the grocery store (totally worth it) and a dress fitting (totally worth it) and i've had tons of diligent visitors and caretakers, so things are not going too badly.

and now are you ready for the gory details of my surgery?

as a tribute to our founding fathers, here you go.

i actually only remember bits and pieces because i had two valium, two sleeping pills and some nitrus oxide before the whole thing went down. but they tell me that the doctor harvested a pretty big piece of tissue from the roof of my mouth, then peeled back my bottom gums, put the new piece down there, folded up my existing gums and stitched the whole kitten-caboodle together.

awesome, right?

because my existing gum tissue was as thin as a piece of tissue paper, the whole thing took a little more than an hour and a half. whether i'll still need some teeth extracted and replaced with implants remains to be seen. luckily, by the time the doctor makes a decision, AWD will already be married to me and he won't be able to get out of it whether i have wacky fake teeth or not.

i'll have my stitches for another week, but the recovery has not been too bad. little pain and almost no swelling. mostly i've just been really tired and my smile looks funny. oh, and i can't really brush my teeth (though i can use diluted mouthwash) so my mouth tastes pretty awesome.

and that's the recap from here. AWD, my hot compress and i are probably going to hit up a movie this afternoon and then head downtown for fireworks at the lincoln.

hope your day has some patriotic fun in store as well.

simply having

i do not recommend visiting the craft store on a saturday just a few weeks before christmas. unless, of course, you are looking for something to push you over the brink into totally insanity. other than my ill-advised trip to michael's, though, i totally recommend spending your weekend the same way i did.

like baking gingerbread cookies with my new ninja cookie cutters. delicious and skilled in the art of stealth.

and also like listening to a performance of "the messiah" at the national cathedral. talk about a gorgeous piece of music in a gorgeous building. it was a perfect way to celebrate the real meaning of the season.

and, check this out. we have a christmas tree! and it is white and it is wonderful!

my dream of a silver christmas tree was slightly modified, but we really love this white one. plus, it has some silver tinsel on it. and big, colorful ornaments. and even some gold butterflies. and we turn it on every night and bask in its christmas glow. i might not ever take it down. fair warning.

now i just have a stack of fabric to turn into stockings and a bunch of skeins of yarn to turn into a wreath and we'll be ready!

and, the good times continued today. liz and i hit up the holiday market on F street, where we stayed for approximately three seconds before we were frozen to our bones, but luckily that was enough time for a bag of freshly made mini-donuts. and then we grabbed some dinner at ella's pizza. doesn't have anything to do with christmas, but it sure was delicious.

and a happy monday to you!

harvest home

we had a simply lovely thanksgiving here, and i hope you did as well.

EH and i (mostly EH though, lets be honest) managed to pull of an honest-to-goodness thanksgiving feast. we even cooked a turkey all by our little selves. and there was stuffing and pies and macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts with bacon and grilled apples and homemade ice cream. plus a gorgeous table and a house filled with people i love. which was most definitely the very best part.

when we were done eating ourselves silly, we went around the table and each said something we were thankful for. and i don't think it's fair that you should miss out, just because you weren't here, so i am going to tell you what i am thankful for, too.

it is this.

right now, at this very moment, there is not one thing about my life that i would change.

and for a person who worries, oh, let's say all the time, this is no small thing. for the first time in a long time i am not consumed with wondering what is going to happen next and how i am going to get myself there. i don't wake up in the morning feeling panicked about whether i am in the right place, doing the right things to move myself to the next right phase.

instead i wake up every morning in a house i love, and drive to a job i enjoy and feel good at, and then come home and spend time doing things i like with people i adore. i don't feel complacent, but i feel content and at peace with the choices i have made and the place they have brought me.

and that is something to be thankful for, indeed.

(i am also thankful for days' and days' worth of delicious leftovers, which you are welcome to come and share with me any time. seriously. please?)

three strikes, that's a turkey

last night EH and i went to the grocery to get everything we need for thanksgiving dinner. this was a lot of things, but we pretty much found them all, so you just rest your pretty little heads about that.

when we went to check out, we decided to just sort of divide the goods up so what she payed and what i payed were roughly even. and get this. we got it within $2.

two dollars!

(i want my two dollars!)

if that is not a thanksgiving miracle, then i guess i don't believe in thanksgiving miracles at all.

add to that the fact that i saved $16 (sixteen dollars!) using my "very important customer" card, which represents more than half of my savings using said card for this whole year (the WHOLE year), and i think we can all agree that it was a highly productive trip to the grocery.

then today i went to the library and checked out every "friends" DVD they had so we can watch all the thanksgiving episodes. it is going to be epic. and hilarious. but don't be jeal. i bet your thanksgiving is going to be awesome, too.

bounty

the bennett thanksgiving of 2009 began like this.

as soon as i walked in the door from work on wednesday afternoon (hurrah for early release!) aunt joyce started shouting, "help! help!"

i didn't smell fire, so i wasn't super worried.

but i still (sort of) rushed into the kitchen to find the counter, the floor, the carpet and aunt joyce all soaking wet with brine mix, which was continuing to spill out of the bag aunt joyce was precariously grasping to keep it all from crashing to the floor.

first, i laughed.

then we got the bag (and the turkey that was inside it) safely up on the counter, and used approximately three full rolls of paper towels to deal with the rest of the mess. (sorry, environment!)

and so thanksgiving began.

the infamous brine incident was really the only mishap though.

we started off turkey day itself right by delivering some meals for the knights of columbus...

... and the rest of thanksgiving was just a string of lazy days with kids and cousins and dogs running around. mixed with scintillating conversations about reality shows (the product of pride! says uncle bob), blogging (the product of pride! says uncle bob), healthcare reform (which no one dared ascribe to pride! in the presence of uncle bob) and various other worthy topics. and, of course, we put up the christmas decorations.

i also got a special thanksgiving treat in the form of shopping and dessert (because what do you need after thanksgiving more than cheesecake?) with anna, who was in town enjoying the holiday with her family in leesburg.





and so, my cup is full.

home (and home again) for the holidays

despite the travel annoyances that led to my trip home being extended (not to mention approximately 10 hours of driving to and from the airport for my parents), i was really, really glad to be home for so long. it was, in fact, the longest i have been at home for probably years, and since i didn't make it home last christmas, it was especially nice.

my family has never made too big a deal out of christmas, but we do have a few traditions. one is watching "love actually" on christmas eve. (this year, or i guess i should say last year, we watched it on the 27th, but same diff.) also, my mom always makes this breakfast, which i love with all my heart.





the big highlight of the holidays this year was a trip to aspen for new year's, because sometimes we are just fancy like that.



if you are planning on visiting aspen, i recommend you invest in a large, ostentatious cubic zirconia ring, with the stone being at least the size of your eye ball. you should wear this at all times, even if you are skiing or going to the grocery store. everyone else's (elses'?) rings will have real diamonds, but if no one looks closely, a little cz will help you fit in.

the big highlight of the aspen trip was an entirely decadent and heavenly christmas present in the form of a half-day at the spa. we are talking full body exfoliation, hot oil massage, deep scalp treatment, hot packs, hand and foot massages, facial... the works. plus lots of lounging around in the steam room. and, as if it could get any better, i didn't have to wear clothes for any of it! like i said, decadent and heavenly. when it was all done i was so relaxed i literally could not stand up. my "technician" had to get me a drink of juice with extra electrolytes. now that's being relaxed. you know?

the lowlight of the aspen trip was a bomb scare that shut down the whole commercial core (aka: downtown aspen) on new year's eve. it was pretty wild. all the people staying in those swanky condos at the foot of the ski mountain had to spend the night in the high school gymnasium. (that may or may not have included paris hilton. we haven't been able to determine one way or the other.) all the restaurants and hotels and private clubs (including the famous caribou club, where our eccentric "homes of the rich and famous" tour guide, elizabeth, had invited me to join her) were shut down. so we rang in the new year with hot dogs, frozen cheesecake, "the bourne ultimatum" and carson daly in our non-swanky but also non-bomb-threatened, out-of-the-core condo. since the real highlight of the trip was being with these people, it didn't really matter what we did.




i rounded out my extra days with first-time viewings of the old "indiana jones" movies, a trip to target, that favorite suburban mecca, dinner with some of my most favorite denver friends, steve and sarah, and copious use of the "that's what she said" joke. as in, "this could last all night." "that's what she said." or, "i hate it when they pop up." "that's what she said." and, in case you were wondering, the answer is no, that joke never gets old.

delta, delta, delta cannot help ya, help ya, help ya

hello, internet friends! and happy new year! also, my apologies for a recent lack of blog posting (though judging by my recent lack of comment traffic maybe no one cares?)

the thing is, you see, i went home for the holidays. not for christmas, exactly, because i arrived in denver on dec. 27th, but because i have a rad family who loves me lots, they waited to have christmas until i got there. all together now: awww.

i know. there was also lots of watching of movies, hanging out in aspen, attempting to shop in aspen and one heavenly spa treatment (all of which i will tell you about soon) and all of that added up to a pretty perfect trip. the only trouble was getting to and from said trip. and i am not usually one to point fingers, but it was all delta's fault.

first my flight from salt lake to denver was delayed. by many, many hours. it was weather in spokane and then it was a mechanical problem. i actually watched the mechanics take apart some of the wing and work on it. this does not instill confidence. also, all that waiting in the airport makes me cranky. really cranky. at least i didn't have it as bad as the people, also waiting for the same flight, who had been trying to leave portland since the 22nd. merry christmas to them.

then, on friday, just as i had checked in and was sitting down to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate in the terminal with my mom, i got a phone call from delta telling me my flight back to salt lake was delayed. by many, many hours. this very annoying information would have been useful a little earlier, but my mom and i hatched a plan to see if the ticket agent would let me change my ticket to a later day with no penalty, since my flight was already delayed. and he did! it was sort of like magic. actually, it was exactly like magic. so i got two extra days at home and an exit row seat.

which was perfect.

until.

i got on the plane on sunday, settled in with my book and my extra leg room, and the pilot came over to PA to announce that there was a major mechanical problem and he was cancelling the flight. cancelling it. that is nothing like magic. unless it's dark magic. either way, it was super-duper bad.

so, off the plane we came and everyone rushed into line at the gate to get new flights. we were also advised to try calling delta reservations to arrange for new flights, which i did and was told they couldn't help me, which was fine until i heard other people in the gate area saying they had secured new tickets by calling.

and then i was mad.

i know it is probably hard to believe, but i can bust out "irate customer who better get what she wants" when i need to. so i did. and i got the next available seat out of denver. which didn't leave until today.

so, my indefatigable father made the one-hour trek back to the airport to get me. again. to go back to my parents' house. again. unfortunately, we made the trip without my suitcase, which had already been loaded onto another, full flight leaving for salt lake. it's cool. i don't mind wearing my underwear two days in a row. (not true.)

when i walked in the door, again, my mom said, "how can we miss you if you won't go away?" she was only kidding though.

things went a lot more smoothly today: on-time departure and my suitcase was waiting safely for me when i arrived back in slc. whew. though i have to say, after all that trouble to get here, i sort of wish i was still back where i started. i guess there really is just no place like home.

troll the ancient yule tide carol

{spreading cheer}

to celebrate the eve of christmas eve, we put together a little group and went caroling around my neighborhood. at first mention, caroling always seems like an embarassing, cold and generally bad idea, but in practice it is just the opposite. actually, still embarassing and cold, but it always turns out to be a good idea, and definitely a good way to celebrate the season. as elliott said, it's not really christmas-time until you've sung some carols.

our adorable neighbors were delightfully surprised to hear us singing on their doorsteps. we heard the exclamation, "i thought this only happened in the movies!" more than once. the darling hispanic grandmother across the street sent us off with the blessings of God, in spanish. only one man turned us away, claiming he couldn't listen to us sing because his mother had just had surgery. as elliott pointed out, unless it was surgery on her ears, that was a weak sauce excuse.

but, it couldn't dampen our holiday cheer as we went up and down the street, singing and smiling and giving and making new friends. then it was home for wasail and other christmas treats. baby kyle also barfed on me, but since it's christmas-time, i didn't even care.

and so, in the glow of the christmas tree, a warm cup in my hands, i thought about how much i love this season that brings us all together. this season that inspires us to do good things and be good people.. and i thought about how i wish it could just go on and on.

a merry, merry christmas to you. (and you, and you, and you.)

chance of (creative) flurries

on friday it snowed. and snowed. and snowed. it snowed literally all.day.long. i shoveled the driveway three times. the roads looked like this.



this was bad news primarily because i hate the snow. hate.the.snow. it was also bad news because getting in my car and driving south on the freeway seemed like a pretty bad idea, and that meant i missed laura's gingerbread house-making party.

a whole evening inside the house did mean plenty of time to work on my project for the art exchange, though, and that was super good news. i had been stressed out about the art exchange for the past week or so, worrying about what i would make and when i would find the time to make it. creativity has never really been my thing so i needed something simple, but still expressive and worth giving away.

that old friend, the interweb, solved my first problem when it blessed me with this adorable pattern for fabric birds. and that sneaky enemy, the blizzard, did me a favor for once by giving me the time to sew those little birds up.

the original idea is actually for a bird mobile, with a dozen birds and twigs and wire, but i didn't feel like i had the skill or the confidence to pull that off (and i had to use whatever leftover fabric there was in the house because, again, no driving in the snow) so i went with a scaled down version of just one string of birds.

and, wouldn't you know it, they actually came out pretty well. i can sew! who knew? janelle drew my name, and she promises that she really loves those birds and isn't just saying that to be nice. she even had the perfect little hook for them and they are hanging up happy as, well, little birds.

elephant in the room

today was the annual office-only christmas party aboard the good ship enterprise. we had a nice, catered, family-friendly affair a few days ago, but the office-only party is where all the fun happens. and by fun, i mean gambling.

first, though, we had the obligatory white elephant gift exchange. (oh, that old chestnut!) i never really care what i get at those things. my goal is always just to get rid of something lame that's been cluttering up my house. this year it was a wooden craft of unknown origin. i believe it said something like, "family: our greatest gift." the person who got that should feel lucky indeed. and i feel pretty lucky about my take-home as well.


{i am keeping the foreign coke for sure. the spam, strangely, did not make it home.}

once presents are done it's time to break out the petty cash and go wild. (are you starting to see why this is an office-only affair?) this year it was "crap on your neighbor" and "acey-doocey" or something like that. the important details are that there was lots of hooting and hollering and table pounding and shennanigans, the COO lost everything on a big and ill-advised bet and i came home with all these quarters.



do you have any idea how many diet cokes that will buy me at the sev? and may god bless them, every one.

frances cake, take 13: the it's beginning to look a lot like christmas edition

i was so busy enjoying my evening with chuck that i completely forgot to take a picture of him. i did, however, remember to snap these chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and peppermint candy on top. beauties, eh?




nothing says "holiday season" to me like peppermint. and on the night of frances cake with chuck, "holiday season" is just what i wanted to hear.

chuck grew up in a big family in the midwest, minnesota to be exact, so we have that whole growing-up-in-midwestern-states-that-start-with-M thing in common. (did you know that was a thing? well, now you do.) though this was only the third time we had ever met, i can tell you that chuck is remarkably intuitive and interested and gives good compliments and asks good questions. por ejemplo: what is the best gift you have received? (me, a framed picture of my great-grandmother the christmas after she died. him, a guitar from his mom which he has played every single day since.) we also talked about super powers we would like to have. (me, invisibility. him, ultimate empathy.) and that led to a really great discussion, over frosting, about how we can develop some "super powers" right here and now. invisibility maybe not so much, but empathy for sure. i think i often fall into the trap of thinking, "well, this is just the way i am so take it or leave it" and it's nice to be reminded that we can, in fact, change for the better.

and, being that this was the day before thanksgiving, chuck also helped me put up the christmas tree! hurrah. it was pretty easy since chuck is actually taller than my tree. and he put on all the lights, which is my least favorite part.



it was, if i do say so myself, a wonderful way to welcome the season. and, f your information, chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and peppermint candy on top make a delicious breakfast.

come ye thankful people, come

i spent thanksgiving at my parents' house for the first time in 10 years last week. i loved being there, and it was oh-so-hard to leave. in fact, every time i go home it gets harder to come back. but, back i came. luckily, i have these highlights to think about.

1. my mom taking the turkey out of the oven and spilling the inside-juice all over the floor, the oven and her slippers, due to an improperly sealed oven bag. trust me, it was funny.

2. loading up on good music and movies from my dad and brother, who are infinitely cooler about those things than i am.

3. three kinds of pumpkin pie.

4. seeing santa claus.

5. putting up the christmas tree.

6. sorting through old photographs with my mom. and erasing all evidence that i was ever in the seventh grade.

7. having my grandparents and uncle john along for the ride.

8. a snow storm that made the trees look like they were dripping with magic. and i didn't have to drive in it or shovel it.

9. going to primary with my mom, and witnessing the following exchange.

teacher: what did we learn today about making good friends and treating people kindly?
adorable six-year-old: resurrecting!
mom: what class was she in?

10. finishing my christmas shopping. that's right folks. my christmas shopping is done. d-o-n-e, done. and it feels so good.

11. knowing i'll be back home for new years in less than a month.