Thanksgiving

Tomorrow I head off to my homestate of Ohio for the beginning of a Thanksgiving celebration. My sister and her fiancee are driving back to Cleveland so the boyfriend and I are hitching a ride with them. This is the 1st time the boyfriend is coming home for an actual holiday, which I am very excited about. We will be in the car for most of Wednesday, since it takes about 6 1/2 hours to get there but there is usually a lot of traffic around the holidays.

My aunt is hosting Thanksgiving this year at her house which I am excited about. She makes really good food and lots of it! I think this year we will have 20 adults and 1 kid. My Grandparents are coming, my whole family, my Mom's sister's family and most of my Mom's brother's family. My sister is bringing her fiancee, I'm bringing my boyfriend, and last I heard my little sister is also bringing her boyfriend as well.

Friday early afternoon is a wedding shower for my sister that my Aunts are throwing her. I'm very excited and hope she likes my gift! Saturday morning the boyfriend and I have an early morning flight to St. Louis, where we will then spend the weekend with his family and celebrate Thanksgiving part 2. I have never been to his house for Thanksgiving, in fact, I have only ever been to Thanksgiving hosted by my mom or her sister, so this will be a big change for me. I just hope I'm not Turkey-ed out for part 2. We will spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday in St. Louis.

Once I get back, it'll be less than 3 weeks until Christmas. I better get shopping!

Racing

Last Sunday, I ran a Valentine's Day race called "Love the Run You're With". My sister ran it with me and pushed me the entire way. The boyfriend, who ran and finished before me, jumped in with us for the last 100 feet or so and we finished together. The pictures were finally posted, and here they are (I have on the red shorts, sister has on the gray shirt, and the boyfriend has on the white shorts):

Weekend Recap - 3Day Edition

This LONG weekend was great! Friday I got off work early, and the weather was amazing - 70 and sunny. The boyfriend came over and we just chilled at home with my roommates. Saturday we hung out with my old roommate and her husband, met their new cat, and had a nice time catching up. Sunday we went to the American basketball game (the boyfriend's neighbor works for AU and got us free tickets). The game was very intense, came down to the last minute, and American won! But more importantly it was bobble head night, so we made sure to get there early to get ours. Monday I had off for President's Day and I was in super clean / re-organize / de-clutter mode. I donated 2 huge boxes of stuff to Goodwill (and thanks to my roommate for taking me there) and I feel so much better. I did all my laundry and everything has a place, which is such a nice feeling. See below for some pictures:

The middle shelf had been full of my hardcover books, which I moved out to the unused bookshelf in the family room. Now the bookshelf looks a lot less cluttered:


I re-organized my entire closet:


The boyfriend and I at the AU basketball game:

Happy Valentine's Day - Update

Last night was so much fun, even though we didn't do hardly anything we had planned. I got over to the boyfriends place around 8 was just having a bad day for absolutely no reason. I was hungry and crabby and we decided to forgo the cooking and just go out to eat instead. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, which was surprisingly not crowded at all, and had a very nice romantic dinner. After dinner, we headed back to his place and he gave me my present.

Before I tell you my present, I need to fill you in on the story of how we met. My co-worker Jesica double-booked me and the now-boyfriend for lunch one day (May 13, 2009). Jesica and I had brought food to eat, and it was really nice outside, so we decided to eat out on the Navy Memorial, which was only a block away from our office at the time. The now-boyfriend works just a few blocks up from there, so he walked down and met us. We hung out as friends for about 2 months afterwards, and had our first real date in July, and have been happily together ever since

Needless to say, the Navy Memorial now holds a very special place in my heart. The boyfriend surprised me with a gorgeous, stunning, amazing picture collage of the Navy Memorial and Archives in a floating frame. He took a bunch of different pictures of the scene at different times of the day, and put them together into a collage.

I just want to preface the pictures below with the fact that they do not do it justice, the collage looks way more amazing in real life and it was hard to photograph because it was so reflective:

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all you out there reading this! Have anything special planned? The boyfriend and I decided to cook dinner together tonight. On the menu so far is broiled scallops, asparagus, hummus with veggies, and the treats I made him for dessert. In addition to the desserts I made him, I also got the boyfriend an early Valentine's Day gift of slippers for him to wear around the house when he's at my place (our wooden floors are old and falling apart a bit, plus the floors not always the cleanest).

Tonight I will be receiving my Valentine's Day gift. I have absolutely no clue what this secret project is that the boyfriend has been working on. He has given me numerous hints about the present, but none of them make any sense. When I showed up semi-unannounced at his place, there was a rectangle-shaped box that he said contained something that was shipped to him as part of the gift. He also had gotten some pictures he had taken developed, and I thought it was strange of him to get pictures developed (he loves photography but in the entire time I've known him, he hasn't gotten a single picture hes taken developed yet). My guess was he was either making some sort of picture collage or a scrapbook. He said both guesses were wrong, and even followed it up with "do I seem like the scrapbooking kind of guy". I am very intrigued as to what I am getting, and hope that it's blog-worthy. It better be after keeping me in suspense all week!

I'm Back!

I'm back in DC after an amazing break. I spent a few days in Chicago with the family, and then headed down to St. Louis to meet the boyfriend's family and spend a few days with them. Meeting the family could not have gone better. I felt right at home with them and they did a wonderful job of making me feel like a part of the family.

Chicago:


Before Christmas my mom and sister had been in India for my sister's friend's wedding. They got stuck in Frankfurt for 2 days, when they were finally able to make it back to the US on they day before Christmas Eve. My dad was sick with a sinus infection and my sister and mom were jet lagged, so there was a lot of relaxing going on. Since my sister Amy couldn't make it home for Christmas, and my sister's friend, also named Amy, was going to be around Christmas weekend, we had a replacement Amy for the holidays (see picture). We did a lot of shopping, eating, chilling, and relaxing.

My little sister got me a head wrap for Christmas, which I am obsessed with:


I spent a lot of time hanging with the cats. My sisters have 3 cats - Chloe, Marley, and Lo, and they are such little piggies that they are in your face every time you have food. Here they are giving me the stare-down while I'm in the kitchen:



A few days later, the boyfriend drove up from St. Louis to pick me up. We had a few hours to hang out, so we walked around the city, stopped by the bean, saw the ice skaters, drank hot chocolate, and tried to stay warm.


Then we were off to St. Louis with a short stop over in Champaign, IL to see the University of Illinois (the boyfriend's alma mater) and to see his friend Derek and his family.

When we arrived in St. Louis, the main thing I wanted to do was to see Scott Air Force Base, because I had never been on a base before. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I had no idea that it would be as big as it was. The base was like it's own little city, it even had a Burger King! See below for some pictures:






Before I knew it, it was time to head back to DC.

Bye St. Louis:


Hello DC:

Just a Typical Work Day

Today, my Caps obsessed co-worker got a group of us together to go watch the Caps practice on our lunch break. (For those that don't know the Caps are the Capitals, DC's hockey team).




Then we went to Panera and ate back at the office. Not bad for a Wednesday afternoon.

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow, and won't be back in town until after New Years, so I probably won't be updating until then. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Plans Shake-Up

I leave for Chicago on Thursday December 23rd to celebrate Christmas with the family. This year there will be different, mainly because there have been snafus along the way so far:

- Not a snafu, in fact quite the opposite, but I found out last night my roommate Emily and I are randomly on the same flight out there!
- My sister and my mom are on their way back from India today, where they went for my sister's friends' wedding. They are stuck in Frankfurt, Germany for the next 3 days due to weather, so they won't be arriving home until Christmas Eve
- Another sister isn't coming home at all for Christmas. She has to work (didn't really understand the whole story on why she couldn't come), but will be spending Christmas with her boyfriend's family in Pennsylvania. She also didn't make it home for Thanksgiving due to her friends wedding.

This is the 1st year ever that we will all not be together for Christmas. It will be the start, I think, of us not all being together for the Holidays, something I am not yet prepared for.

My Travels: New York Addition

As promised, I have a recap and pictures from my trip to New York:

We got to the bus stop early, so we waited around for a bit:


But, we got the best seats in the house (top row, front seat). Going through the Lincoln Tunnel:


This was the view from our hotel room. Yup, that's the Chrysler Building!


Saturday morning, we rode the subway:


Hooray, we made it to our destination:


Which was the Brooklyn Bridge:


After taking our obligatory jumping pictures:



We shopped, ate, walked around, and stumbled upon this:


And then we hit up the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree:


And Times Square:


The next day, it was pouring rain, so we tried to spend most of it indoors. We went to Madison Square Garden and saw the Knicks take on the Nuggets (I'm sporting a Knicks shirt I picked up at the NBA store the day before):


I think this picture sums up the trip:


All in all it was an amazing time! Many thanks to my little sis for making it all happen, you're the best! Hope you enjoyed the recap!

It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday and I could not feel more loved. My facebook wall has been blowing up all day with everyone wishing me well. My phone has been getting texts all day long with birthday wishes. I've been getting mail all week long from my family. My wonderful amazing boyfriend sent me flowers at work . My co-workers took me out for a wonderful lunch and decorated my desk with balloons . Tonight my boyfriend is taking me out to dinner, and says he has more birthday surprises in store, which I cannot wait for. I am so happy and thank you everyone for making me feel extra-special on my special day!

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! I was in Cleveland visiting the family, my sisters came into town from Chicago, my cousins came from Seattle and Phoenix. We did a lot of eating, drinking, sitting around, playing on our iPhones, and relaxing.

My sister and I with our cousin's babies. Am I a natural or what.

Babies playing ball with each other

Isn't she adorable!

Great Lakes Beer

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention that I saw Harry Potter with my cousins! It was amazing, left off right at the moment where I am hooked and can't wait to see the last one. Anyone know when it's coming out?

Planes & Turkeys

Tonight I'm packing because tomorrow afternoon I'm off to Cleveland for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see the family and eat lots of turkey, and celebrate my birthday upon my return. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

Today at our Thanksgiving Potluck, we had to tell a story of our favorite Thanksgiving memory, so I thought I would share it with you all:

About 5 years ago, we had Thanksgiving at our house. My mom had the idea to make the tablecloth be out of paper, so everyone could draw on it. It was a creative idea, so we went with it. My Grandma had one too many martinis (she usually has 2 a day, so that's saying a lot) and she was drawing Christmas trees and singing Christmas carols down on her end of the table. We had to keep reminding her that it was Thanksgiving and that she had the holiday wrong.

Can't wait for the shenanigans this year. Can you believe Thanksgivings is ONE WEEK AWAY!

Cooking Recap and This Just In

The cooking adventure last night went fairly well. I made the mac and cheese with chicken and the coconut chicken strips. The mac and cheese was delicious, and I decided to take my friends advice and bread the chicken with rosemary, and pan fry it. Then i cut it up and put it in the mac and cheese, but there was way more mac and cheese than chicken. The coconut chicken strips were tasty, and super duper easy. I made a dipping sauce to go with it, which was key.

I was supposed to also make the soup, but forgot to get the potatoes for it, which is the key ingredient. Oops. Postponed to later this week.

Lunch was also a success, with a ham/salami/pepperoni sandwich, gigantic grapes, and individual-sized Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn. Yum.

Tomorrow is our company's Thanksgiving Potluck which I helped plan (I'm on the Social Committee), so that should be fun and filling. And tonight is my second official non-work related outing with work friends.

In random celebrity news, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker are getting divorced. Not sure if I should be sad about this, but I never really saw them as a good fit in the first place.

All About Meeshell

My blog has gotten visitors from:

- United Kingdom
- South Korea
- Sweden
- Norway
- Mexico

I've been getting some Google search hits (although they are for boring topics including "salahi white house invitation" and "i got new glasses"), but still, very exciting!

Besides the blog news, nothing new or exciting to report, but I bought my ticket home for Christmas this morning, and it was quite the fiasco. I found a semi-reasonably priced ticket, entered in all my information, and after I hit "purchase" American Airlines informed me that the price went up by $40. What! I put that ticket on hold and then scrambled to try and find something cheaper. After many frustrating searches, I gave up and bought the ticket on hold. Sigh. At least Christmas Break will be fun and relaxing and (hopefully) less stressful than buying the ticket home.

Did I also mention after spending Christmas with my family, I'm heading down to the boyfriends to meet his family. I've never been invited home before by a boyfriend, and especially not for the Holidays. I'm very excited and nervous, but think it will be a great time. If you have any gift ideas and/or tips let me know!

Holiday Traditions

Today I was reading another blog where they were discussing holiday traditions, so I thought I would share mine.

Halloween - Ever since college my mom sends me and my sisters a plastic orange pumpkin full of Halloween candy and goodies. We have to save the pumpkin each year and return it.

Thanksgiving - Nothing too special here, either my mom or my aunt would cook Thanksgiving dinner with the usual - turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing (some made inside, some not, otherwise there wouldn't be enough), sweet potato souffle, corn bread pudding, canned cranberries (my favorite), and of course pumpkin pie for dessert. This is making me hungry.

Christmas - If we have it our house, we always have lasagna (my dad's family is Italian), garlic bread and salad. If we have it at our aunt's, she usually does Honey Baked Ham with potato casserole. For presents we always open presents to each other on Christmas Eve night, and then Santa presents on Christmas morning. We open our Santa presents one at a time, in order based on where we're sitting around the tree. When we were little my mom would give us each the same amount of gifts so it would be fair, and they usually took a picture of us coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.

Easter - My mom would hide our baskets in the house and we would go find them. The baskets are quite large and so there were only a few options as to where they could be. We would always get the same 2 toys in our basket - an egg that was cracked at the top and when you open it the chicklet would squeak, and a thing where you had to push the piece in with your thumb to spin open the cracked egg to view the chicklet inside. When we were younger, there was much more candy in the basket, and as we got older there were more gifts than candy.

Birthdays - My mom would cook us our favorite meal (with dessert).

What about you, what are you favorite holiday traditions that you do with your family?