"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 ;)