THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Ahhh what a fantastic long weekend it was.

Minus the fact that I spent some time working... but that's what happens when opposing counsel serves approximately 200 pages of motions on you the day before Thanksgiving, due the Monday after Thanksgiving, and refuses to grant you an extension. KTHXBAI.

It wasn't even actually my case, but I'd asked the lead attorney on it for projects that day (baddd idea, haha). It wasn't too bad, the motions were easy enough to write, and we divided and conquered. Still will probably lose a few of them, but oh well. Enuf with the boring lawyerstuffs, Thanksgiving was great!

Thanksgiving we went to my aunts, and while about half the family was missing, I kind of enjoyed the smaller group. We stuck around longer than we usually would, and although it was a bit more quiet, it was nice. My dad and I went for a walk after dinner, in keeping with his cardiac rehab, and since my aunt lives a block off White Bear Lake, it was a chilly but pretty walk along the lake path.

I spent a lot of time lounging with this dude:

This also begins the season that TJ, aka Dennis the Mennis, gets shot in the face with a water bottle for attacking the Christmas tree approximately 5 times a night. The worst part is he has no interest in it as far as I can tell when it's not lit, and we're not in the room. The minute it goes on? He sits underneath it and just chaws down on the lowest branches, while maintaining eye contact. You may laugh or think I'm crazy but I'm dead serious. He's such an antagonist. I will sit up and look at him and he crouches into his "do it. I dare you." mode, ready to run.

Bloggers are all busy showing you their holiday home tours this week, but this is the best you get from me:

When we have kids, I'll start more fun holiday traditions, like elf on the shelf, and buying an ornament for my kids/our family to symbolize each year. For now? I'm enjoying the SHIT out of my clutterless, pottery-barn-esque (HA, but sort of), grown up christmas. We have our tree, some mini garland, and that's it. There may be a DIY addition or two, but for now this is perfect. I love curling up in my cozy redesigned living room (which I still need to share.. maybe when I put up the new gallery wall..), with my favorite fuzzy blanket from Mel, and wine, and reading (finally actually reading the Hunger Games- I said I'd go to the 2nd movie a few weeks ago, so I watched the first movie quick, saw the 2nd one, and then naturally got sucked in and had to go back and do it all backwards and read the books. I JUST finished the 2nd book last night, so I'm onto new material now! MEEP!)

Went to Target to get a tree skirt in an attempt to keep TJ out from under it, saw Target is stepping up their game: 

Friday night we went over to M's mom's for Thanksgiving 2 (after watching a Harry Potter marathon most the day).

Saturday, M and I went on a date. A real, planned, date. With all the family nuttiness going on and splitting shifts watching my parents (sounds so weird to say) we haven't had much "us" time. So M was scouring the internet for ideas and suggested a wine and canvas place. They were painting a rural barn that night. I liked it, but I also didn't want 2 barn paintings for our one house, so I suggested a slight modification: Paint Your Plate. It's a place you can go and pick out unpainted ceramic pieces (plates, bowls, cups, figurines) and paint them. They then glaze and fire them for you, to be picked up a few days later.

M picked out a goblin chalice.. because, duh.

And because I'm a perfectionist and didn't come with anything else to paint in mind (and therefore was not about to free-hand it), I did a little "N" (our last name) plate. I'm either going to get a tiny plate stand, and put it in the kitchen, or just use it as a small serving dish. Or both!

M, with his love for his alma matter, painted a U of M goblin chalice. The finished product was actually pretty cool- I'm excited to see it done.

After painting, walked across the street to Mozza Mia for dinner only to find out they'd taken the pizza that I FANTASIZE about off the menu. I was seriously upset. Their bruschetta aalllmooostttt made me forget (another favorite) and our substitute pizza was tasty, too. They do a ridiculously good job. It's artisan pizzas in a wood fired oven.

Sunday was a bit more work, and overall relaxing. Hard to work at home with TJ alternating between howling for dinner (he has an auto feeder now) and crawling into my lap.

Back to reality today, but we've got M's Christmas party this Thursday - it's at Aria this year, a fancy venue in town, and will be "formal" so I bought a new dress to fit in with the ad world Glamazons, as I've nicknamed them. Friday is a going away party/ugly Christmas sweater party that M and I are hosting at a friends' house (they have a bigger house), and Saturday is Pete's (of Syndal and Pete) birthday! So it should be a busy week! I MAY even bust out my real camera. O_O. it's been a while.

Hope you all had a good thanksgiving! And I'll post the remaining wedding posts the next few days (yes, that's still a thing).