Christmas Pics...

I've started a Christmas photo album. So far there are just pictures of my apartment decorations up. I'll be adding more pics as I take them this season. Enjoy! :)

I Want:

So Eric was up over the weekend and we got to hang out for a bit (good times) and he showed me the wonders of the Froogle wish list.

Here's My Wish List.

I had an Amazon wish list forever, but recently was no longer content with it. What if I wanted something that was (gasp!) not on Amazon or one of their partner stores? This is what makes the Froogle list so great... You can stick stuff on your wish list from any one of the many, many stores that Froogle searches - you can even stick eBay items on there!

So, what's on my list, you ask? Lots of stuff... some books, cds, dvds... iPod mini, iMac (17" G5 with a Superdrive), PowerBook G4 (12" with a Superdrive)... (I'm having an Apple obsession right now... it's all so stylish and pretty... I will switch... hopefully soon...)... some furniture, kitchen accessories...

I'm having way too much fun to daydreaming/shopping and adding things to my wish list...

Stick Figure Warning Signs

"This is from a tractor-mower at Home Depot, and seems to convey "don't run over your child with the front of this tractor." Note that the child's leg is being pulled into the tractor blades; because, you know, simply running over the child is not enough of a mistake in parenting."
I was laughing so hard at some of these that I was crying in my cube at work.

So Thanksgiving went very well. :)

I baked the night before Thanksgiving... made 2 pecan pies (one to bring to my parents' house, one to bring to Alex's parents' house) and 4 dozen white/dark-chocolate-swirled-chips cookies. I was quite the little domestic... I really enjoyed baking and everything came out really well.

The Cookies...

...were from the recipe on the back of the Nestle swirled chips bag. They came out SO good... I freaking make awesome cookies. I was just timing them perfectly for taking them out of the oven... they got golden and crisp on the edges but still soft in the middle... Mmmmm... and I actually got a little over 4 dozen out of the recipe - which is what the recipe actually yields, but I never get that many. So I was rocking. I brought them to my parents' house and they were gone that night. In fact, when I dropped by the house last night, the first thing that my brother said to me was "did you bring more cookies?" So on the way home last night I did pick up a bag of chocolate chips (plain ones this time) from the store and I might make some cookies before I go up today.

The Pies...

...were from a recipe from Cooking Light. I made Pecan Pie with Spiked Cream (Cool Whip Free mixed with some bourbon). They came out EXCELLENT. Mmmm. They weren't too sweet like pecan pies can be, and the bourbon cream really added something. I was going to make my own pie crust, but then I wimped out at the last second and used the Pillsbury Roll Out pie dough (which was very simple to use and tasted great!). I got many complements on the pies, so I'm definitely keeping that recipe and will use it again. In the future I hope to not wimp out and make my own crust... So easy to use the premade stuff though... ;)

So yeah. Alex and I went up to my parents' house for appetizers (Wham makes this curry pumpkin soup that's awesome) then we went to his parents' house for dinner - which was excellent. Got to see Beck and Kevin and congratulate them and marvel at Beck's ring. It's just absolutely gorgeous. Looks like the picture posted below only the picture really doesn't do it justice. Kevin had it made and all the diamonds in the channels to the sides of the center diamond were picked to be exactly the color of the center diamond. Is very beautiful. :) After dinner, Alex and I stopped back at my parents' house for a bit and then went home and watched Gone With the Wind (Alex kept making fun of it but when I tried to change the channel he stopped me). Beck and Kevin dropped by after they left his family's house and we hung out for a bit - Alex and Kevin farted around on the computer while Beck and I browsed through my collection of Martha Stewart Weddings magazines that I loaned her. It was, altogether, a fabulous day! :)

And now it's Sunday, the last day of the 4 day weekend. Sigh. I'm so not ready to get back to work tomorrow. :( Ah well. Guess I better get a move on and get started with my last day of freedom before it's back to reality...