Giving Thanks

Well, it's that time of year again. American Thanksgiving. This year is a little different, though. In years past we've gone to Brian's parents' house in Houston for both xmas and thanksgiving. This year, however, we're hosting thanksgiving at our house. We're bot very excited becaue not only do we get to celebrate with Brian's parents, but we also will have Jen and Ethan over. The last time I had thanksgiving with Jen, she told me she was pregnant! Obviously it's been too long since I had thanksgiving with her.

I invented a new recipe for the turkey, which includes Ginger, Garlic, and Rosemary, and will be basted with Woodchuck Apple Cider. We will have blue cheese mashed potatoes, roasted rosemary potatoes, steamed broccoli, glazed carrots, sage and onion stuffing, yorkshire puddings, bread rolls, and today I made home made cranberry sauce with brown sugar, honey, and orange zest. It came out well, I think. For dessert, Joan is making white chocolate orange surprise, and for appetizers she's making spinnach cookies! I love those!

This evening I will make another batch of my Bailey's cookies for Brian. I'm experimenting with a low fat butter to cut down on the unhealtyness of them. Though the other day we observed that my cookies were healthier than Brian's breakfast cereal... now he thinks it's ok to have cookies for breakfast (sigh).

So things to be thankful for:

• Brian - Every day is an adventure.
  
• Nikki and Onyx - Unconditional love. Need I say more?
  
• My family - They're so far away, and I miss them so much, but I'm so thankful that they are the way they are. Wouldn't change a single thing about any of them.
  
• My chosen family - my mum always said "you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family". My friends have become my family, and they are so important to me. So in a way, you can choose your family.
  
• My new family - They're wonderful! and I'm gaining a brother. It doesn't get much better than this.
  
• My health - I'm in excellent health. Every check up for the past 6 years has revealed low cholesterol, low blood pressure, low resting heart rate, and well within ideal weight range.
  
• My job - It had to go on the list simply because it affords me the means to do the things I enjoy in life. Without it, life would be much, much different. Though it has to be said that I work to live, not live to work. I find people who live to work sad.
  
• Austin - Aside from the fact that it's surrounded by Texas, it's an awesome place to live. Running trails, world-class restaurants, lakes, biking trails, diversity. This city has everything (except proximity to the ocean).
  

one last thing... Hi Wassim. Brian tells me you no longer need to ask him how his weekend was because you read all about it here. I'll be sure to post any embarassing stories for you ;-)