feeling festive.

Thanksgiving happened.
And before you think this post will be full of photos of turkeys and rolls and pies, let me tell you right now that is not the case. In fact, I did not take a single picture of the day.
I struggled with Thanksgiving this year. Not the part about being thankful, I'm totally into gratitude, but just the holiday part. A large part of me wanted to spend the day alone. Weird? Probably.
In the end I knew mid-day would roll around and I'd be wishing I was eating carbs somewhere, so I made fruit salad, rolls and pie and joined a gathering of people. The right decision? Probably.

But here's the thing, while I wasn't feeling Thanksgiving this year, I'm totally digging Christmas.
The Christmas spirit has already rooted itself in my heart, which is due in large part to Jenny and I spending the weekend getting the house all festive for our upcoming holiday party.

A few weekends ago we hit up Hobby Lobby for Christmas decorations. Did you know every other weekend it's 50% off? I didn't either, but it's pretty amazing. And it's a good thing we went early because it's all picked over now. We decided on Peacock Blue and Copper as our colors.

You can't tell from the photo, but it's totally adorable.

On Saturday Jenny ventured out and chopped us down a tree.

 Setting up a tree is a PROCESS but thanks to the internets, Jenny had it all planned out.

 A Noble Fir. Sounds fancy.
And it's 10 years old, which makes me just want to give it a hug.

A trip to Target and some overspending later, it was finished. It's delightful. I just want to turn out all the lights and stare at it while listening to Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis.

We also decorated the mantle with real garland (a first for me), made wreaths and watched White Christmas. It all looks much better in non-iPhone photo life.

And topping it all off, Jenny cut out lyrics to Christmas songs and we strung them around the dining room.

Trust me, it's awesome.

It's cool, December. You can come anytime. We're ready for you.

give it all back.

I saw Noah & the Whale last week and haven't been able to stop listening since.
This isn't my favorite song of theirs, but every time the chorus comes on I can't help but bop around.

conversation of the (yester)day.

Me: I actually used those words.
Me: By the way, I appreciate that you know I'm crazy but you never call me out directly.
Other Person: The thing is, it's not that I don't think to say the things you say...
Me: ...you just don't actually say them. Yeah, that's not possible for me.

Related: this post.

a sail.

Another video, folks. (Sort of.)
This song is my latest obsession.

call your girlfriend.

Is it any surprise that I love this?

Didn't think so.

Thanks, S. Reale!

the pit of despair.

My neighbor looks like this. I mean, more or less.

We had a little run-in over the summer where he and his wife fairly aggressively confronted me (I may have cried) about how we had been parking in the driveway even though it's technically shared. In our defense, our landlord had told us they had an agreement with the neighbor and we were free to park there. According to the neighbor no such agreement existed and they had essentially been bent out of shape about it FOR A YEAR AND A HALF.

Well, now I'm bent out of shape (still) about their aggressive confrontation and what's making me even more bent out of shape is the fact that they are now parking in the driveway. Every day.

Please tell me how that makes any sense.
And please tell me I shouldn't key their car. Because the thought has crossed my mind once or twice.

it's the most wonderful time of the year

Raise your hand if you thought of Johnny Mathis singing a Christmas song when you read that title.

Probably only my family. Awesome.

Well, Johnny was wrong. The most wonderful time of the year is Fall, when it's done right.
And Seattle is doing Fall right this year.

Crisp, sunny days (my favorite!) have been delivered to my doorstep more than once. The leaves have changed, cider and donuts have been consumed, pumpkin patches visited and daylight savings depression was delayed until November. I mean, what's not to love?

Saturday was one of those perfect days. My roommate and I took a little stroll around the neighborhood and I couldn't help exclaiming, several times, "I love this day!".

I carried that leaf for several blocks before realizing it was pointless.

Moral of the story, things have been good around here. Real good.



And my gift to you is this awesomely bad video of Johnny Mathis.

clever title: halloween.

Facebook is ablaze tonight with photos of everyone's kids looking totes adorbs (translation: totally adorable) in their little costumes. But for us single folk, Halloween felt like it was over by the time today rolled around.

I impressed myself this year. I had not one, not two, but three - THREE - costumes. 
Why is this impressive?
1. I have a love hate relationship with Halloween and even coming up with a single costume is very near rocket science in my book. Real hard.
For your reference, I've recapped my recent Halloween struggles adventures.
2008
2009
2010

2. I'm somewhat socially awkward, so the fact that I participated in three activities needing costumes is worthy of giving myself a high five.

Friday
A dance. In a gym. At a church.
It sort of hurts to even write those words, but whatever. It actually turned out to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the weekend.

I had zero intention of going to that dance so that costume was not planned, but my roommate Jenny is like Mary Poppins and just always has what you need. Oh, you need a beret? Got one. You need some red fabric for a scarf? I just happen have some lying around. I'm excited to find out what else she's hiding in that carpet bag.

Saturday
A party. At a house on the East side.

Snowflake & Leslie Knope.
Also? Am I really that much shorter than Stacey?

I accidentally took this picture of myself (front camera as a mirror on the iPhone, anyone?) but I sort of like it because you can see the makeup a little better, which for the record I did not do myself.

Again Jenny and her bag of tricks provided the inspiration for this costume. She pulled out that headband and it just snowballed from there. (Get it? Snowball...)

 Marty McFly, Ron Burgundy and Sexy Sax Man.

Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone

And let's just throw in one more photo from Friday night of Adam looking disgustingly awesome.

Monday
A dinner party. A mad scientist theme.

I was told it was hard to talk to me because I looked like a cartoon, which might be my favorite thing anyone has ever said to me.

 PS - Second white wig of the weekend. Apparently a girl can never have too many.

And I stole the idea of unzipping AB's face from LL's sister on the internets today. I think it worked out well.

So there, you have it.
Three costumes. Three events. And I'm glad it's over.
Until next year, friends!