Happy Thanksgiving from the Galles

This Thanksgiving we spent the day with our dear friends, the Colbys.  Dan and Sam decided they wanted to deep fry a turkey for the first time so Sam bought a deep fryer and both a turkey and a duck.  We had decided we were going to have spaghetti and meatballs - and apparently duck - for dinner, so Sam and Dan made a traditional Thanksgiving lunch for us all.  

It was totally delicious! Especially Dan's amazing cranberry sauce.  Seriously, it put all previous cranberries to shame.

Even more amazing than the fried turkey was the duck - I think we were all pretty impressed with how that turned out.  And the cranberry deliciousness went extremely well with that, too.  

All in all, it was really nice to spend our first Thanksgiving as "the Galles" with Dan and Tina, who were with us the first time we hosted Thanksgiving at our apartment during Sam's last year of med school. It felt like coming full circle. And now, we both have our little dogs - Hunter and Lando.  It was really, really nice. 

Welcome to Orange County Fall!

My little guy is such a handsome puppy!

Fall has finally arrived here in Irvine and I couldn't be happier!  

Fall makes me think of Northern California and I love celebrating the change of the seasons.  And now that we're into October, Sam and I are anticipating Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

It rained yesterday for the first time this fall and it was magical.  The smell of the wet pavement and dirt.  The way the air has a bite and chill to it.  Maybe this fall is especially magical because I'm celebrating my engagement to the most amazing future-husband in the world.  

And wedding planning is going fantastically.  This week we pulled the trigger on a videographer and a DJ/Emcee who will also handle our lighting.  So now we've got a couple more big things crossed off our list.  The only things that we have left are to decide on an officiant, string trio or quartet for the ceremony, the cake, our menu, a hairdresser, a makeup artist and my wedding dress.

My sister is going to be in NorCal this weekend and she and my mom and I are going to check out a bridal salon that has "the dress".  There's been one dress in all my perusing that I keep coming back to and thinking that it's just perfect.  Yes, I'm nervous about what will happen when I put it on, but I am really excited to share this moment with my mom and sister.

Black Friday 2012

Last year was my first experience with Black Friday.  My mom took me out to Fashion Island and we had a pretty good time- not a whole lot of clothing purchased, mostly homegoods and eletronics.

This year, Sam and I got up and too Hunter for a walk on Black Friday before heading to South Coast Plaza.  Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! 

We definitely had to stand in some long lines, but more often than not we just avoiding the places with the crazy lines and chose to shop where there were less crowds.  Here is Sam being a trooper in front of the three story Christmas Tree near Macy's.


When we got home, it was time for another new traditon: changing out the holiday decorations and switching from Fall to Christmas! 

Last year, I did this with my parnets while Sam was at work and he called us "Team Disney" when he came home to the decorated tree, wreaths, candles, etc.  This year, he and Hunter got to be part of the magic...

Or at least keep me entertained while I decorated.

First Sam thought it would be funny to put Hunter into the Santa hat.  Then I got the idea to put the tree skirt around him like a cape.  I was pretty sure Hunter was not going to be a big fan of Christmas by the end of the day.

Luckily he and Sam ended up taking a nap on the couch and he got a little break from our torture.  By Friday night we were sipping Peppermint Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Marshmallows and listening to Christmas Carols amid our decked halls.  Very festive!

Since we'll be gone the first week of December I wanted to make sure our decorating was finished this weekend.  By the time we get back, our first weekend home in December will be the 15 and that's already half-way through the month!  We will be busy with holiday parties and getting together with family and friends. 

Feeling Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving from our little family!

This year I am incredibly thankful for these two boys who complicated and enrich my life in ways I could have never imagined. 

I am also thankful for the friends who have become our Southern California Family.  Nick and Amy stopped by on their way to a family dinner, and Sohrab, Jenners, and Kanwar came for dinner. 

Having so many people to spend the holiday with certainly made it more enjoyable and festive. 

My mom usually helps coordinate the side dishes, but she and my Dad stayed in NorCal for Thanksgiving and this all came down to me.  For the first time, I made the entire Thanksgiving dinner without any assistance.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely!

I will admit the turkey was a little more dry than it has been in years past, and the stuffing could have been drier- but when all was said and done it was a pretty great meal.  And when feeding residents the bar is pretty low thanks to the UCIMC cafeteria, so I think everyone was satisfied! 

Most impressive, was that I had all the dishes in the dishwasher (which was running) or hand-washed and drying on the counter by 9:30 Thanksgiving night.  As Sam pointed out to me the following morning, I really did the whole thing- start to clean up- on my own.  I even found time to take Hunter on an hour walk and make it to the 9:15am Spin Class at the gym on Thanksgiving before I started cooking!

MNF with Kaepernick

So what can I say?  Today I worked a 9.5 hour day, went shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, & cranberries down; sweet potatoes and asparagus to go), and got dinner started in time to watch the Niners Monday Night Football Kickoff.  Oh the life of a modern woman! 

We're almost to the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter and the Niners lead the Chicago Bears 27-0.  Boo-Yeah Bears! 

Colin Kaepernick is looking really good tonight, and it's his first pro start so I'm proud of him.  In fairness, the Bear's quarterback is out tonight as well so both quarterbacks are backups. 

I should really start folding Sam's laundry, but I just don't feel like doing housework tonight.  I already cleaned up everything from dinner... can't that just be enough tonight?  LOL.  He has a very light workload this week (thank you Thanksgiving!) and he was home by 6:30 tonight.  MNF is so much better when I have Sam to watch with instead of just Hunter.

Hunter, by the way, is doing much better since his run-in with my underwear.  I think he's completely back to good in fact.  We all went to Hunter's obedience lesson last night, followed by Chinese food take-out because we were craving soup.  :-)

I'm so excited to have the long weekend off, even if I have to work a few hours to keep from getting behind, it will be so nice to be able to go to the gym during the middle of the day, take Hunter on some longer walks (the poor guy hasn't had too many since the time change), and get some quality time in with Sammy.

Holidays

So the holidays are upon us!  I'm not someone who skips over the Pilgrims & Indians, Thanksgiving is still a VERY big holiday in our home.  In fact, I don't decorate so much for Halloween as I do for Fall in general.  We have lots of pumpkins and colorful leaves around the house, and cornucopia candlestick holders.

This year, Sam's on call the day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I have my fingers crossed that he's got Thanksgiving-Saturday off completely, but even if he just has to go in for the morning and then gets to come home early that would be okay too.

It's kind of nice that we would be able to spend the holiday together since Sam will probably have to work Christmas Eve/Christmas since the residents try to switch off.

Anyway, here we are gearing up for the holidays and to celebrate, we've invited all of the residents we know in SoCal to Thanksgiving dinner at our home.  We'll see how it turns out... good, I hope!  We went with a Pilgrim & Indian themed evite and I'm going to make some cool hats like in elementary school so we can take a fun photo of the festivities. 

Obviously, even if it's just Sam, Hunter, & I we will have a great time.  :-)