"Chalk it up to a starry night"

The night before Thanksgiving I won Carbon Leaf tickets! We had not seen them live before (although I attempted to see them at a local festival once before and failed), but if I have my way we'll see them again. They were fantastic live just like I imagined they'd be. They played a mix of old and new songs, and even a few Christmas songs which I promptly began singing and changing the lyrics to while we drove home. We also learned that VA is their home! Who knew!

Look what we passed on the way home!

They're popping up everywhere and I couldn't be happier. We count the number of houses with festive lights we see each night while driving and the count has been going up each day! Everything counts: holiday light bulbs, trees and candles in windows, and lights hanging both indoors and out. We counted 14 on Thanksgiving night, 28 the night after that, and 43 decorated houses in a 15-20 minute long drive last night!

Thanksgiving

Since our families live in the same town, we are lucky enough to be able to bounce back and forth from house to house to see both of them. We're certainly thankful for that. Hopefully someday soon we'll live in the same town too!

We did our annual Turkey Trot, which Jason walked all of but I cut short so I could cook pumpkin pancakes for everyone! I didn't take the camera out much this year, but the ladies cooked up a great feast.

One of my favorite things about spending time with my with my family is hanging out with my brother. He keeps me young!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We are most thankful for you - our family and friends.

Photographs

Oftentimes I find myself thinking, "this would make a great picture" as I go through life. Then I don't take the picture because I'm embarrassed to squat down or contort my body to get the shot I want in public. I don't know what my problem is. I almost always carry my crappy little point-and-shoot and yet I miss photo opportunities constantly because of this embarrassment. Walking to the bus stop after work today I found a sidewalk covered in leaves. Something about it called to me. I walked on to the bus stop, knowing I was passing a great photo opportunity. But then I got over it. I turned around. I squatted on the ground in front of people waiting for their bus and cars sitting at a stop light. I took my picture. And you know what? It was worth it.

I liked the color version because it's orangey and you can make the leaves out a little better, but with my terrible point-and-shoot's quality (especially at night), its terrible grain looked much better in black and white. Almost like some good ol' TMAX film... but not quite as good looking ;)

Twinkle, Twinkle

I get excited for the holidays early. We put these pretty lights up last weekend. I might be your worst nightmare if you don't like people that start bringing the holiday stuff out early... but I'm super happy with my lights. They put me in the best mood! Even Rufus' eyes sparkle to match their glow (haha). See our tiny Christmas tree on top of our bookshelf in the corner there? That is where it lives in the non-holiday months. Once it comes down, we'll light our pine-scented candle and pretend that we have a real tree... but maybe not until after Thanksgiving :)

Does anyone else get excited about the holidays this early or is it just me?

Anniversary Cake!

Continuing with tradition, Jason and I ate the anniversary tier of our cake on our anniversary.  A little unsure what to expect from a frozen year-old cake (we heard some people say it was terrible while others said it was great), we rescued it from the freezer at my parents' house.

Last year, we cut the slice of cake a little too small for the cake knife to get it out. Here we are trying to figure out how to get our slice out without ruining the rest of the cake.

This year, we learned from our mistake and cut the piece bigger but had issues getting the knife through the (frozen) cake. Here we are muscling our way through it.

Last year, we went the clean route and used forks to feed cake to each other. That was the only bite of it we got that day... oh how I wish I ate more.

This year, in less expensive clothes, we went the messier route.

Last year: Delicious cake. It was a white butter cake torte layered with fresh strawberries and a

Grand Marnier accented whipped cream.

This year: Same cake. Not the same taste. It tasted like freezer and frozen strawberries. The frosting was actually pretty good but we're not the type to eat frosting without cake.

We had a really nice dinner with my family regardless of the not-so-delicious cake. It was fun to reminisce about the wedding, and doing so with our families made it that much better.

♥