Transplanted

Whew! Over the course of 24 hours, Brandon and I hit three Christmas parties, and all were a great time. First up, The Carter Center bash with great food, open bar and dancing on Friday night then a CNN.com gig Saturday afternoon and The Relix celebration Saturday evening to hear our friend Ed’s band play. I haven’t danced that much in a long time and boy are my gluts reminding me of it!

A Houston couple camping in Yellowstone last summer lost their cat, Fluffy. Yeah, I’m not sure why anyone would take their cat camping, but that’s what the Ayers did. Anyway, the cat was recently found and returned to them.  Read about it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28023574/

When he was younger there’s no way I’d have gotten this shot. Now that he’s old(er) and more docile, Mookie just sat there and let me shoot away.

So this site is supposed to be all about moving to a new state and making adjustments (oh and my life), but I’ve decided to throw something else into the mix, totally random and unrelated just because I feel like it.

Since we are so inundated with bad news, (if it isn’t the ecomony and Iraq then it’s speculation about a massive bio terror attack within 5 years) I think it’s worthwhile to remember that there are some great things happening in the world, too. So, I’m going to make it a goal to find one positive news story every day (or other day depending on time constraints) and post them on my blog. Let me know if you like them and I’ll keep doing it. (The first one is posted below.)

Anti-government protesters celebrate court decision against ruling party at Suvarnabhumi airport.

The decision, which effectively dissolves Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s government, follows months of opposition protests in Bangkok that have driven government officials from their offices and shut down the city’s major airport for a week.

The Consitutional Court also banned at least one of the People Power Party’s ruling coalition partners, effectively dismantling the government over allegations of vote-rigging.

Protesters said the siege of the airport would end on Wednesday morning. Passenger flights remained grounded, but cargo, military and emergency flights had resumed by Tuesday afternoon at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport, spokeswoman Monrudee Kettuphan said.

Anyone who spent much time with their grandparents likely endured stories of “when I was your age  “[fill in the blank with horrible scenario that should make you thankful that you even had one coat, let alone the pretty one in the store you really wanted].” And if you were anything like me you made a mental note not to inflict those sort of guilt-laden lines on anyone. Well, I haven’t actually laid them down, but they’re in the works.

Tonight Brandon and I were finishing our grocery shopping and on the way out I saw a candy display and immediately thought about how candy was enough to make a particularly cute and excited toe-headed child happy at Christmas time. LifeSaver Christmas books, in fact, were one of my favorites:

But. Now. A. Days…yeah, those words will stop you in mid-mind rant. I’d just thought “Now a days?” I could already picture myself 70-years old, with kids eagerly hopping up and down for their presents. And likely they would be receiving some pajamas and socks or perhaps a doll or building blocks. And when they forcefully hugged me for the gift they could care less about, I’d sit them on my knee and say, “You know, [insert futurist name like Appletini], when I was your age I used to get games like Pick Up Sticks for Christmas. Yeah. They were colored sticks that you’d throw on the ground and pick up in a certain order. Now that’s not as exciting as your fancy games, but they used to keep me quite happy. Remember that.” And then the little girl would think how I was a crazy old lady who used to play with sticks and actually liked it as she squirmed out of my aging arms.

As the whole scenario flashed before my eyes I looked up at Brandon and said “I’m getting old.” I suppose he already knew that, though.

So Brandon and I spent our first Thanksgiving away from both our families. Usually we split Thanksgiving and Christmas between us and spend one with my family and one with his, but this year it was just the two of us. I even made my first Thanksgiving dinner–turkey and all. And despite hearing horror stories about under cooking or over cooking, I managed to pull it off just fine. And the thing that I thought was going to be so hard turned out not to be, that is, a more quiet affair.

Thanksgiving morning I decided to take a nice bike ride since Brandon had to work, then I watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles and loved every second of it (I still can’t believe that movie is 21 years old!) before the cooking madness began. Now I understand why my Mom gets so “crazy” on Thanksgiving-that’s hard work. But it paid off in the end, especially a yummy acorn-squash souffle dish I found via the Internet. And although we certainly missed our families, it was nice to have a mellow dinner just the two of us.

Here are some photos from the day: