Thanksgiving weekend

Ahhh... such a nice, much needed long weekend!

Even though it was just Sam & I for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to take on preparing a feast for oh, 20!  Okay, maybe not 20, but definitely enought to ply us with leftovers for way longer than we would like.  I'm thinking next year, I may just take Michelle up on her offer to have us over for Thanksgiving. 

 
I was a little sad throughout the day, as I was really missing my family.  They were all together in Eastern Washington. My brothers, mom, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  And I was here.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that we're here, and that I have my wonderful husband here with me.  I was just a little homesick, I guess.  However, I was NOT sad that they had 20* or colder weather, and nearly a foot of snow at my uncles house.  I'll gladly take our mild 70-ish weather any day! 

I decided to stay home, and not partake in the Black Friday craziness.  We're not planning on buying any big ticket items, so I  bowed out.  Friday night, we met up with some friends at my favorite restaurant, Nando's.   It was delicious, as always!

Sunday, we went to church, and I had plans to meet up with my friend, Vanessa, for a movie date.  Unfortunately, the cold I've been battling for the last week or more got the best of me.  Instead, I stayed home & we decorated the tree.  Behold our fabulous tree:


Before



During

Ta Dah!! After


Please excuse the crappy iPhone photos... I seemed to have misplaced the real camera. 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend too!

Cirque du Soleil: Alegria

A couple weeks ago, the hubs & I were watching tv, and a commercial for Cirque du Soleil's Alegria came on.  We hopped online, to see what tickets were going for, and decided to go for it, and minutes later we had two tickets to the show the following Saturday night.

i've been fortunate enough to be able to see two other Cirque shows:  KA and Beatles Love.  Alegria did not disappoint! It was absolutely amazing!  The music, the costumes, the performers... Seriously, there are no words that can begin to describe it!  The hubs and I were absolutely mesmerized. 



On the way out, we stopped and bought the CD and the program.  I have been listening to the CD pretty much non stop since we went.  I love it! 

This show did not disappoint, that's for sure!

First Friday Art Walk

For the past several months, we've been trying to make it to the First Friday Art Walk with two other couples.  Sam & I have taken advantage of the Phoenix Art Museum being free on the first Friday, but we haven't made to to the art walk portion. 

Finally, we were able to make it happen the first Friday of November!  Unfortunately, Monica & Shawn had sick kids, so they wound up bowing out at the last minute, but Michelle & Ty were up for it.  We had planned on grabbing a quick bite to eat, then heading to the art walk.  Unfortunately, traffic was terrible, and dinner took a lot longer than we anticipated.  Thus, causing us to get a much later start than we were planning on.  We caught the trolley at the art museum, and got off at the Trinity Cathedral.  It was amazing.  Such a beautiful sanctuary!  We happened to be in the sanctuary when one of the church members/volunteers for the night  came in.  He was kind enough to give us a personal tour, while telling us a little history. 



After we finished up at the Cathedral, we hopped back on the trolley, and headed back to the museum.  Unfortunately, we got there right as they were closing, so that was pretty much the conclusion of our First Friday experience. 

We're hoping to go again this weekend, and see a little more than we did the last time. 

Belated Birthday Recap

Wow, I haven't posted for entirely too long!  Seems I'm starting most posts that way these days.  Hopefully I'll have more to update with the holidays and all that fun stuff.  I have a couple fun things we've done that I've been meaning to blog about, so I'll (hopefully) do that in the next couple days. 

But first... a birthday recap:

On Friday (my actual birthday) friends of ours hosted a bbq for me.  It was pretty low key, but so much fun!  We had delicious food, and lots of laughs.  They have an adorable 5 month old little guy, which allows me to get a bit of a baby fix when we hang out with them! 

Saturday, Sam & I went to breakfast at the Farmhouse in Gilbert.  It was so yummy!  With Sam being such a night owl, and therefore the furthest thing from a morning person, it was a treat to be able to go out to breakfast for a change. 

Afterwards, we went to Barnes & Noble to get me my big birthday gift... a Nook!  I LOVE it.  I've been reading so much more with that.  It's super easy to just toss in my purse, and take with wherever.  I know, I could do that with an actual book, but this is even smaller & I never have to worry about losing my place!

For dinner we went to Ra for sushi.  Another thing that I rarely have, as Sam is not a fan.  He enjoyed some chicken teriyaki, and I devoured some amazing rolls! Shawna Day concluded with seeing Life As We Know It.  All in all, a very good birthday weekend.  :)