A Thanksgiving Birthday

Giving Thanks

Today we are giving thanks and celebrating my nephew’s first birthday. I started thinking about everything I am thankful for, and I felt an elephant of an emotional mess coming on, so I decided to stop for a while. Ryan is in Chicago, and I don’t like to have emotional messes when he isn’t here to clean them up.

I think it is okay to give my thanks in my head. How do you give yours? By the way: I am thankful for you. And I hope you are having the happiest of Thanksgivings.

Pre-Thanksgiving

"Rules for a successful holiday:

1. Get together with the family 

2. Relive old times

3. Get out before it blows"
- Brian Andreas

A Date

When is the last time you went out on a Monday night?  Never.  Me neither.  Until yesterday when we had our  first Monday night double date with Ashley and Andrew.

Look how big my head is. Do you like it? I hope this fish face picture isn’t true to life. Yikes. Does anyone know of any magic spells to shrink heads? Other than that, the four of us are pretty much in love.

We started our night at Dandelion Market, where Ashley and Andrew had a light dinner and some applesauce drinks. Ryan and I had some applesauce drinks too, but we spoiled our dinner appetites by eating 9,000 calories worth of chocolate cookies that we baked at home. (And by “we”, I mean “Ryan”. He is really good at baking Pillsbury break and bake cookies from the package.) Dandelion Market is super cute – can’t you tell by its name? They have a wall of shoe shapers that Ashley called clogs, and a giant table that lifts up to the ceiling to go to bed every night. Did you think I made that part up? I didn’t.  They also have leather chairs that matched my boots perfectly.  Did you notice?  Or maybe you thought I was just missing the bottom half of my leggies.

After Dandelion Market we made the long hike over to Dixie’s for Karaoke night. Karaoke at Dixie’s on a Monday night – who would have known? (Ryan.) Andrew made friends with some ex-famous rappers that I had never heard of and Ryan serenaded us and we danced.  Ashley got in trouble for not accompanying me to the bathroom, so she chased me and said sorry. And then I told a girl that she looked cute, but we could see her panties when she was dancing on the stage and that she should be careful. And then she got really mad at me and told me she didn’t care. The end.

Alekzoo's First

Yesterday we celebrated Alekzander’s first birthday.  Ashley and Andrew threw him a Pilgrims and Indians themed gathering, complete with the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Indian headbands, and a turkey shaped pumpkin cake.  They also collected 175 pounds of food to donate to a local shelter!  That makes my heart smile.  Alekzander is already starting to change the world – he is even helping to bring a baby from Africa home to his forever family.  This is how cute he looked crawling around on the Mayflower in his special [dirty] birthday shirt:

I really like my little Alekzoo.  In fact, I think I’m going to gobble up his thighs for Thanksgiving [on his real birthday].

Shoe Party

Hi, I'm having a shoe party and I want all of these friends to come.  And stay.  Forever.  In my closet.

Thanks, Modcloth.  I love you.

There will be cupcakes.  And tea.  Please come?

SPF (Not SFP)

Last night I found myself craving sweet potato fries (SPF) at 1:07 in the morning. We happened to be with a good friend of ours, who we shall from here on out refer to as Big Mike – because he is big … and Mike. Big Mike knows the type of people who will make him a special order of SPF at crazy hours of the night, and so this means that he is a good person to be friends with.  And he reads my B which automatically puts him on the favorites list. I will introduce you:

I stole this picture from Mike's Facebook.  He won't care.  Plus, he looks exceptionally big here.

Upon entering the secret SPF location, three things happened. 1) We realized we had stumbled upon a karaoke night. 2) Ryan quickly transformed into his rock star alter-ego. 3) I had to decide if I wanted salted SPF or cinnamon sugared SPF. While Ryan decided what song to sing, I decided on salted, and the manager of the secret SPF location said no. And then he told me he would bring me some samples. (Do I need to point out that this is totally fantastic service for 1:30 in the morning on a Wednesday karaoke night?) So I waited patiently for my SPF samples. And then they came…

Two sweet potato fries on a plate. I was overjoyed at the simplicity. Have you ever been served two fries on a large white plate? It is fantastic. The fries were each accompanied by their designated seasoning in a small clear plastic cup. I held a naked SPF between my index finger and thumb while salt was poured over it. I tasted it. Yum. I’ll take salted ones. And then my life was changed. I held the second naked SPF between my index finger and thumb while the cinnamon sugar combination was poured over it. I tasted it. Super yum. The end. Life changed. Yes please. And then three pounds of cinnamon sugared SPF were brought to our table. Big Mike and I devoured them while watching the karaoke performances of Ryan Taylor. We were serenaded with the musical stylings of Kid Rock and Sublime.

Lovin. Is what I got. I said remember that. Lovin. Is what I got.

1) Please note that all references to Dalmatians or dogs in this song were replaced with “tiger”. As in: “I don’t cry when my tiger runs away.”  2) Please also note that I am neither pregnant or on drugs. Just an innocent desire for sweet potato fries at a strange hour. Plus, I had pumpkin cake for dinner.  3) Please also also note that SPF should never be confused with SFP.  You know?

Ryan's Friday

This is how Ryan is spending his Friday afternoon in Florida:

I'm totally jealous - but his little bit of relaxation is more than much deserved.

Creep

Today as I was doing my usual rounds on Facebook (I really need to quit), I noticed something in the far right corner that said: What are you wearing? And here is what I thought about that: Wow, Facebook, that is very forward of you.  And also super creepy. But, if you must know, I am wearing a navy blue dress, a yellow scarf, dark gray tights, and blue, green, and yellow argyle knee socks that are peeking out of my brown mini-wedge boots. And, by the way, where does this information go? To the clothing polls? To deep dark scary vaults to be stored forever and ever?

Then I realized that Facebook actually asked me: What are you planning? As in: Why haven’t you responded to these events and what else are you going to do that we can make public? And here is what I thought about that: Oh, Facebook, I liked you so much better when I thought you were asking me about my clothes.

And what are you wearing today? (Is it possible to ask that without being a total creep? Because really, I just want to know. And I want you to lie to me and tell me you are wearing something so fashion, even if you are actually sitting around in your unmentionables reading my B.)

Creep is a really weird word.  Have you ever used it four times in one sitting?  Circle yes or no.  If you circled no, I don't suggest you try - it'll leave a weird feeling in the back of your throat from all of those long e sounds.  Yuck.  I hate this conversation.  The end.

Halloween Leftovers

Let's be honest: it would be completely unheard of for either Ryan or I to have leftover Halloween candy. We're the kind of monsters who would snatch mini Snickers bars and snack sized bags of peanut M&Ms from small children just to get our chocolate fix. Instead, we have these leftover Halloween pictures that we are more than willing to share with you.

Jason and Chris as Fred and Wilma Flinstone, Lindsay and Zac as the Wayne's World duo, me and Ryan as Ke$ha and Kid Rock, and Ashley and Justin as a jockey and Brett Farve.  What kind of leftovers do you have this Saturday? Do you have any individually wrapped Halloween Twizzlers to share with me?

For Raegan

Dear Raegan,

I love when you leave me notes on my B! And I love that you spell your name a special way. And even though I was all “Hooray, I’m okay with November!”, I think I need to admit that I am a little sad too. Although it is nice to hibernate under heavy blankets (isn’t that the best?), there is just something so refreshing about October that is no more. But, here we are in November, and I think these things should make us happy:

• Seasonal coffee creamers

• Fireplace fires and the smell of burning leaves

• Snuggly socks, scarves, and hats

• Mini potatoes

• Children bundled up so thickly that they have to waddle when they walk

• Giving thanks

• Pumpkin bread and other sweet treats

• Unpacking sweaters

• Spending an entire weekend inside with books, crayons, and imaginations

• Warm Vanilla Sugar scents from Bath and Body Works

• Day dreaming about Christmas

And I’d also like to add to the list: oohing and aahing over pictures of Ryan’s nieces and nephews. I’d love love love to see your cuties all dressed up in their lion and ninja costumes! You can email them to me (tessa.markovitch@gmail.com) and then I can spend the afternoon thinking about how I need to meet – and snuggle – little Lydia.

And I do love lions! Really, any big cat will do. I’m not sure where my fascination with tigers started – maybe it was when Ryan took me to Tiger World? He’s really good at playing along with my tiger (and other) quirk. He even bought me these organic tiger mints because he noticed I’d been using an Altoid tin as my traveling jewelry box to and from his place.

Cinnamon tiger mints are good for November. Let me know if you need us to send you some.

Love,

Tessa

PS: Raegan is Ryan's little sister.  She has four adorable children and she leaves me sweet notes on my B.  One day, I'm going to convince her to start her own B since she is living happily ever after and has babies that I want to see lots and lots of pictures of.  The end.

My November

November is here. I feel okay about it. So far this November has been pretty regular. At midnight last night, I woke up and thought someone was breaking into my front door. I hope it was just a Halloweenie neighbor who got confused about which door was his after he got home from a big Halloweenie bash. Rex didn’t even want to save me – he was too busy sleeping. So guess who didn’t get their dental treat this morning? R.E.X. When I told Ryan that Rex had dental treats that cleaned his teeth by being crunchy and delicious, he said that he wanted some too. They come in all kinds of flavors, and Rex is more than willing to share.

Back to November, I have done the following this month: snuggled hard with my cat, almost got stolen, tried on three dresses this morning, braided my hair, sat in a bunch of Monday traffic, ate a toast with organic peanut butter, drank a coffee, did some works, ate a yogurt, did some more works, ate a lunch, went to Trader Joe’s, unpacked my Ke$ha gear and did a laundry, let Rex play on my computer, and put on some pajamas. Not too shabby for November. Plus it is ultra chilly outside, which means pajamas are long sleeves and pants. It also means that I need to winterize my bed, which makes me super happy. Some people winterize their cars – I prefer my bed.

I do like November. Indeed. And I have 29 more days of it. Plus, I found a sack of potatoes called “minis” at Trader Joe’s. And they are super mini. I want to bring them to Thanksgiving. Or keep them as pets.