Where does the time go?

Alright, so it's officially been a month since I blogged, and I apologize for that.  I keep putting it on my To Do List and life keeps getting in the way.  Other things take priority and I just never quite get to it.  So now I'm back-logged.  Or back-blogged, as it were.  So, back we go in time aaaalll the way to Thanksgiving.


My friend Jaime was celebrating a birthday that could be divided by 11 on November 24th, so I went to Naperville, IL and met her for a celebratory sushi dinner and martinis before heading to Jan and Ron's:

I wasn't sure how well a cake would travel seven hours by car, so I made her this pan of pink frosted brownies with sprinkles instead:

We slumber-partied that night and spent the following morning drinking coffee (once I received confirmation via text--straight to my bed--that it was ready) and watching something on the Travel Channel about fried food that made me swear I'd never eat anything fried again.  It was disgusting.  Fortunately Jaime also introduced me to the brilliance of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel.  The host lost to a 6 lb. burrito, which was all the inspiration we needed to head to a local burrito joint for lunch.


I know what you're thinking:  What about Bella?  Well don't you worry--Auntie Trish had a little photo session with her festive friend, and to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday I got to see this:

You're welcome.


Wednesday afternoon Jaime and I fought the Day-Before-Thanksgiving-Chicago-Traffic out to Jan and Ron's, where we made pies.  It took us about three hours to get them in the oven, but that's because we were making the crusts from scratch.  Or it's because of this:

One or the other for sure.  (Thanks, Ron, for the fabulous margaritas!!  You're already hired for next year!)  We took photos so you could see the finished products.  This is Jaime's pie:

And these are my pies:

Now I don't eat pie (I know, it's totally un-American, but it's true.  I hate pie.), but no one else seemed to have any trouble eating it, so I guess they turned out alright!  We're hoping to make the pie-baking (and margarita-drinking) a new day-before-Thanksgiving tradition.


The rest of the weekend came and went quickly and I was a bit of a delinquent with my camera.  I'm sad to report that the annual Rockettes kickline did not take place in the new kitchen Thursday morning because I was so busy making the stuffing that I forgot all about the parade until about 10:30.  (I think I'm getting senile!  Who forgets the parade?!)  Dinner was delicious, and of course the company was great too.  We had my aunt and uncle from Michigan and Ron's son Tyler and his fiance Debbie as well.  For about an hour after dinner the house looked like this:

...but after a little nap Family Game Night commenced!  I can't remember who won at Balderdash, so it was probably me.  The following night we played Pit, which we haven't played in years but is definitely a favorite in my family.  Ron and I lost miserably, but got a good laugh the next morning when our waitress at breakfast delivered The Bear (the equivalent of the Old Maid) to my uncle with his eggs!


It was sad to leave after such a fun weekend, but it helped knowing that I'd be back in just a few weeks to celebrate Christmas.  And, needless to say, there would be plenty to keep me busy when I got home!