run, maggie, run

I made an impulse buy today.  I bought an entry into the Tower of Terror Walt Disney World 10-Mile run.  I've never run more than 5 miles together in my life.  Let's back up for a second, though, and I'll try to explain what's going on.

The idea of doing a half-marathon popped into my brain a couple months ago when I was out running the Gemini Springs trail down to Lake Monroe in Debary.  I'd quit my gym membership right before Christmas because I just wasn't happy with the classes, it was inconvenient to try to get to it, and I was sick of paying out the wazoo each month when I didn't even have time to go.  I figured I could just do some running- I'd always wanted to be "good" at running, whatever that means.  Partly it meant NOT taking 45 minutes to run a 5K.  (That's 3.1 miles for you non-runner folk)  I still remember barely making it through a 5K in high school (back then I just did them for the t-shirt) in over three quarters of an hour with a stitch in my side and shin splints.  So not good.  I never really tried to improve, and gave up on running altogether for many years because, come on, it hurt and I sucked at it.

Anyway, I'd do a little running every now and then when I was having a "fat day" but never more than a couple miles.  I've done a few 5K runs over the past couple of years for work and Thanksgiving turkey trots and that's it.  I decided to run the trail to Lake Monroe because we'd walked it before and rode it on the bikes but I had no idea how long it was.  Something about 4 miles was floating around in my head, so, with no watch and no means of telling distance, I started out.  I had zero concept of time while running/taking breaks to walk and I figured it must have been about an hour and a half.  So, maybe 8 miles, I was thinking.  That's when the idea of doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon first manifested itself.  I was hanging in there out on this trail, I can do 13.1 miles!  I smiled at the thought- running through the Magic Kingdom, feeling good, I mean, I'd already run about an hour and a half so what's just a little more?

Until I got back to the car and looked at the map.  And the clock.

I'd run a total of 4.8 miles, and it had only been 50 minutes.

I felt like a balloon that just got stuck with a pin.  So much for my grand idea of a half-marathon, I was whupped.  And disappointed.  And stubborn and more determined than ever to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I ran the trail a few more times over the next few weeks, with less walking breaks and more running.  I used www.mapmyrun.com to measure out some distances around the blocks from the house and found that what I now call the "big block" is 1.7 miles, and the "little block" is 1.2. I've done 3 laps around the big block twice now, for a total of 5.1 miles each time and am holding steady at 57 minutes.  If I can build up my stamina to get any farther than that, this 10 mile run that I've already registered and paid $150 to do won't be a total embarrassment!  I'll post some more on my progress and it gets closer, and hopefully I'll show some improvement along the way.  Registration for the Princess Half hasn't opened yet so I'm waiting for that announcement.  I'm also going to try to track down some 10K runs this fall to get used to the race environment- not much happens in that department in the heat of the Florida summer!

(By the way, I jumped in the pool for the first time this year when I finished my run and it was effing freezing.  As in, 72 degrees.  Brrrrrrrrr.)

So the Tower of Terror run isn't until October, so I have some time.  It's at night though, 10pm start time, which should be really awesome.  I guess it's okay to be a little excited, we'll see how I'm feeling about it come September.  

One more thought- the magician Houdini could work his way out of a straitjacket while hanging upside down and handcuffed, but he NEVER had to try to wriggle out of a tight-fitting sweaty sports bra.  He ain't got nothin' on me!

lawn ornament take-over

HEY GUYS!!!  MY NAME'S PINKY AND I'M HERE, AS THE NEW LAWN MASCOT OF TRUMBULL STREET, TO SHOW YOU THE PROGRESS THE KIDS HAVE MADE ON THE BACKYARD!  PLUS I TALK IN ALL CAPS!  BECAUSE I'M SUPER-EXCITED TO BE HERE!  AND I LOVE YOU!  I LOVE EVERYONE!

(Don't you just adore him?)

Excuse me while I reel Pinky in for a minute...

Yes, we've done a lot with the yard so far this spring.  The weather in Florida has been stupid this month though- 80 degrees, 35 degrees, tornado, 60 degrees, drought, fire, freeze, sunburn.  It's driving me batty.  Ready for summer already!  Anyhoo, Scot's relatives from Finland and his mom are all coming to visit next month so we've been working on getting the house looking like 2 mature, respectable adults live here.  (btw, if you know 2 mature, respectable adults who can step in for us, let me know...)  Anyway, I came home from work the other week and Scot was digging up the backyard rambling on about putting in plant beds along the pool screen and fence and whatnot.  So we did!

CHECK OUT WHAT THEY DID, YOU GUYS!  IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO BE HANGING AROUND OUT HERE IN THIS BRAND-NEW FLOWER BED!!!  IT'S AWESOME!!!!

 Before- board for the beds laying about haphazardly, power tools scattered about (those aren't normally there, but the dead-looking grass and color-less lawn is pretty accurate)

After!  We put 17 croton plants along the pool screen (right), and grounded the corners with pittosporum bushes.  The bed stretched along the left side beyond the veggie garden, and I put in some colorful flowers and handing baskets under the newly-mulched area under the tree

 Here's a better view of my tiny little veggies- hey I planted everything from seeds this year so it's taking a bit longer.  That's broccoli in the back...

The flowers!  

THAT'S MY FAVORITE PART!!!  I LOVE FLOWERS!  AND I LOVE EVERYONE!!!

Easy there, hang on to your mouse ears, Pinky

Before- equally pitiful area behind the pool screen.  Not much more to say there

CAN I DO THE NEXT ONE?  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN I TELL THE LOVELY READERS THAT I LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT THIS ONE?

Fine.  Knock yourself out.  Use a rock if you need help.

OKAY SO THE GIRL HUMAN FORGOT TO MOVE THE BAG OF MULCH BEFORE SHE TOOK THE PICTURE (Pinky!  Focus!)  OKAY OKAY, BUT HERE'S THE AFTER!!!!  THE PRETTY PURPLE PLANTS AND LOROPETALUM AND THEY MAKE AWESOME PINK FLOWERS THROUGH SPRING AND SUMMER!  I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM AND LOOK AT THEM ALL DAY LONG!!!

HERE THEY ARE AGAIN!  PURPLE PLANTS!  PINK FLOWERS!  IT'S AWESOME AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!  I LOVE EVERYONE!

OOOOO CHECK OUT THE GIRL HUMAN TRYING TO GET ALL ARTISTIC WITH THIS CORNER SHOT!  I'M SO HAPPY I GET TO LOOK AT THE POOL ALL DAY TOO!  IT'S SO PRETTY!!!  YAAAAAAAAY!!!!

I'm exhausted just listening to him.  Pinky, time for bed.  

BED!  I LIVE IN A BED!  A FLOWER BED!  GET IT?!?

Good God.

Anyway, I got some more inspiration from the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival yesterday (where I bought you-know-who) and everything was really lovely and we had a fantastic time.  This year they added food and alcohol to the festival so I had lots of frozen vodka drinks, sparkling wine, and some pineapple soft serve topped with gold rum.  Lawd it was a good time.    I mean, I may have gotten some garden inspiration, but I was also inspired to want to drink sparkling wine with elderflower liqueur and mint for breakfast every morning.  Which got shot down as soon as I remembered I fly airplanes for a living and they frown on that sort of thing.  

 

13 years and still alive

January marked the 13th anniversary of my very first training flight in a small aircraft.  Cessna 172 out of the Downtown airport in Shreveport.  I immediately got hooked and never looked back.  I went to a 4 year college and majored in aviation, got my private license, my instrument rating, my commercial license, a multi-engine rating on top of that, then high-tailed it to Florida to work on my flight instructor certificates.  None of my training came naturally to me- I had to work very hard and fortunately I'm very stubborn, else I know I would have quit.  It took a long time for me to pick things up and understand concepts (a lot of the time I didn't understand most of it anyway) and I went through so many different flight instructors and got so many different points of view and opinions that no one ever sat me down and explained WHY I needed to know certain things.  Just- here, memorize this.  Why can't you?  It's easy!  (Uh, no it ain't buddy.)  I decided that when I became a flight instructor, I'd never forget what it was like to NOT know anything about flying, and to always explain the reasons behind the maneuvers and procedures we do to my students.  I admit, sometimes I get a little frustrated with a student but then I sit back and think about something I know absolutely diddly squat about- sailing and boats.  If someone put me out in a sailboat and tried to explain what all those damn ropes were for in a half-assed sort of way, I'd be hanging on to the tail (or whatever the back of the boat is called- see my point?)  

The thing with flying is, during training we always drill emergencies- what to do, where to go, what to say, memorize memorize memorize!  The idea is that, when the shit hits the fan, you react quickly and automatically as you were trained.  But you never really know how you're going to handle something until it happens.  So, for your reading pleasure, I've listed some crazy shit that's happened to me while flying, and I've detailed a few incidents below that stand out:

Oct 31, 2008
My first big incident.  I managed to get away with 8 years of little drama (a few scary night flights with bad weather, but nothing to write home about.)  I remember this because it was on my birthday- the basic story is I was with a student practicing landings at the Deland airport north of Orlando and the nose gear of our retractable-gear Cessna 182 folded up on us after landing.  The airplane went ass-up and skidded down the runway while the propeller continued to force its way around a few more times, making a screeching, thumping, grating metal on concrete noise for about 500 feet before coming to a stop.  It only took a few seconds, but I remember clearly what I was thinking- holyshitthisisnotreallyhappeningisit?  It was totally surreal.  When the aircraft came to a stop, my student and I sat very still, then silently and calmly cut off the fuel and electrical systems, unbuckled our seat restraints, and (very awkwardly) crawled out of the aircraft.  The ambulances and firetrucks showed up a few minutes later, I had to make some phone calls to the FAA and fill out some paperwork.  No one told me how to handle this situation or the aftermath of legal crap, but I managed it okay.  I had to keep myself together and project confidence because it would be a disservice to my customer for me to be rattled or to pass any feelings of discomfort onto her.  I had responsibilities to take and to this day I don't think I could have handled any of it better.

August 2012
This incident happened on a Sunday- I remember because my boss is off on that day.  I was doing a rental checkout for a customer in a brand-new aircraft we'd gotten on the flight line...a light sport Cessna 162 Skycatcher.  I had maybe 4 or 5 hours in this aircraft and thought it was one of the most fun little airplanes to fly.  I still do!  It's so light weight, about 1,200-1,300 lbs when loaded up and has large doors that raise up under the wing on pneumatic arms so that you can taxi it around on the ground and still get a nice breeze with them open.  It was my customer's first flight ever in this little airplane, so we took it nice and slow and easy getting it started up, practicing the taxiing, and I explained some of the differences on this aircraft as opposed to the Cessna 172 he was used to flying.  We got cleared for takeoff in Orlando from runway 7 with instructions to do a left-hand turn to the west afterwards.  We shut the doors and headed out and up.  Everything was showing normal after takeoff when we leveled off at 1,100 feet on our westbound heading when BAM!!!  I felt a scrape on my arm and a big rush of air and the loudest bang I've ever heard.  Immediately, my hand went to pull the tightening strap on my shoulder restraint.  I looked over and at first thought the window had blown out.  My hair was blowing about and it was windy in the cabin.  And then I noticed that the WHOLE DOOR was missing!  I was able to look straight down to the ground and that view made my stomach turn.  I don't remember my exact words but they were probably along the lines of "what the fuck?!?"  I then noticed that my door wasn't missing but had blown open from the front latch only and had peeled backward and was now bent out at a 90 degree angle- the plexiglass window had shattered and pieces had blown into the cabin and were sitting on the dash- they had scraped my arm when they blew out.  I took control of the airplane from my customer immediately, reduced the power, and called the tower and told them I was landing immediately on the crossing runway, which we were perpendicular to at the time.  The airplane handled, as best as I can describe it, really wonky.  When the airflow is different from one side to another because you have a giant drag element sticking out of the right side, it tends to make things a bit unstable.  I managed to limp the aircraft down onto the runway and get it back to the flight school, where several people had heard my distress radio conversation with the air traffic control tower and had to come check out the damage.  The door was eventually repaired, and a secondary latching mechanism was installed to prevent this from happening again.  After it was all over- again, it happened so fast and my reaction was so immediate- I couldn't think of a better outcome.  This was reaffirmed by the approval of how I handled everyhing from my coworkers and boss.  Of course, more paperwork!

Yesterday:
Yeah, yesterday.  I was with a student again in the Skycatcher (a different one this time) and we'd been doing landings at Orlando for almost an hour.  After our 6th takeoff at about 800 feet, just as he was making a right turn perpendicular to the runway and still climbing, the engine started shaking, sputtering, and vibrating so badly it sounded like it was about to rattle completely apart.  His first words were "wait, I didn't do that what'sgoingon?" and I knew something was majorly wrong.  I reduced the power, started to make a u-turn, and again radioed the tower that we were landing immediately on the crossing runway.  The same one I'd made my door-less landing on.  The engine vibration stopped when I pulled the power out, but got much worse when I played with the throttle and tried to add it back in.  I figured I didn't want to damage the engine so I completely cut the fuel supply and shut the whole thing down.  We were now gliding with zero power toward the runway.  There was no doubt in my mind that we'd make it just fine, but the thought that was going through my head was "Dammit this is my favorite airplane and now it's going to be down for maintenance for a really long time!"  The propeller completely stopped moving before we touched down, but I managed to glide in, execute a perfect landing, and roll down the runway, through the intersection of the main runway, and coast to a stop.  The entire experience from the initial vibration to the aircraft coming to a stop safely on the runway was probably about a minute.  Again, when we came to a stop and I assured the tower controller we were okay and requested assistance to tow us back to our tie-down spot, I shut everything down and turned my main concern to my student, who was in complete shock.  He turned to me and said "That was awesome, thank you!!!  You...you saved us!"  Once my leg stopped shaking a bit, I gave him a calm smile and said "Well, it's my job to keep your ass alive."  (More paperwork ensued, but I think it was an amazing lesson for my student)

Yesterday's incident got to me the most out of everything for a few reasons- if we hadn't been as close to the airport as we were when this happened, we could have literally had to land in a swamp, a golf course, a lake...our options would have been a lot worse than runway 13.  And there's no telling the outcome of any of those scenarios.  Also, it could have been ANYONE else in that airplane- a solo student pilot, a renter...anyone!  I'm not saying I'm Super Pilot (although I sure as hell felt like it), I just don't know how anyone else would have handled this situation and we're very fortunate no one was in any real danger of being killed.  I've known people who have been in aircraft accidents, I've known people who have been killed in aircraft accidents.  It's part of this industry- if you don't know someone personally, you know someone who does.  I've been very lucky to have been doing what I do for the amount of time that I've been doing it.  As I get older, I do become more aware of my own mortality, but not so much as to have it scare me out of the skies.  I admit I was a little nervous when I went up in the air today, but doing that is the only way to move past this.  

For anyone who's doing flight training though- LEARN your emergency procedures!  Memorize them.  Train for them, take them seriously.  Do some research, read up on some accident reports- see what has worked for others, see what hasn't.  Hopefully you never ever have to experience anything like what I have, or worse, but if you do you'll be glad you worked so hard for your privilege to fly.   

i blame bobby flay if my ass gets huge

Oh, Food Network, how I love thee and hate thee at the same time!

It's Chocolate Week, if you haven't heard (the foodie equivalent of Shark Week on Discovery Channel).  Most of the shows are centered around my second drug of choice (You know my first.  Oh you don't?  Uh, what blog are you reading, again?)  Anyway, my man Bobby has this show "Throwdown With Bobby Flay" where he challenges cooks who are really good at cooking pretty much just one thing, to see who can win over tasters more.  Tonight, it was 2 women making huge-ass 5 ounce chocolate chip walnut cookies vs Bobby and his thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies.  It all looked good, my mouth was watering, I was annoyed because Scot had eaten the last of the bag of Hershey's chocolate chips I'd hidden behind the flour jar on the counter (note to self, find a better hiding spot), and I was really craving dessert.  Alls I had for dinner was some leftover Velveeta shells and cheese and a slice of peanut buttered bread and I needed something sweet to tell the tastebuds "Aight, that's enough, eatin' time's over."  

I'd seen a recipe online before for a 2-cookie chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Like, that's all it makes, a perfect portion.  So I found one and decided to double it because I never eat JUST 2 cookies.  Well ya'll, doubling this recipe made 6 of the biggest damn cookies I'd ever seen in my life.  I couldn't imagine eating 2 of the regular recipe, holy crap!  Take a look...

(Imagine the following in Paula Deen's voice)  

That is a reg-u-lay-tion- size cooling rack, ya'll.  

Butter.

Mayn-aise

Ooooo don't that look goooooood son!

Ahem.

(Again, Food Network, you haunt my dreams!)

But for realz, yo, look at the size of those cookies!  I admit by the time I took the pic I'd, uh, eaten one already, but you can see the normal-sized bite I took out of the right one there.  I only ate 2, and that was a struggle but hoo boy they were delicious!  Stick with the regular recipe, which I have provided below, for the perfect couple servings of normal-sized cookies.  

Makes 2 of the biggest damn cookies you ever saw, or 4 or 5 normal-sized ones  

2 Tbsp butter

2 packed Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp white sugar

pinch kosher salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup flour

3 Tbsp chocolate chips (I cut up Baker's squares, like I said, Scot at the chips)

Oven to 350

In a small glass bowl, melt butter til soft

Stir in sugars, salt, vanilla with a regular spoon

Add egg yolk and stir

Add baking soda and flour and stir

Add chips

Recipe says to make only 2 cookie dough balls and put them on the baking sheet lined with parchment.  I DARE you.  Then show me a picture of what they look like when they're done.  

I baked mine for about 12 minutes- make sure they're spread far apart because these things get HUGE.  Cool on a rack.  

Busy weekend ahead- it's time again for Mardi Gras so I've gotta get to cooking all my Louisiana food.  Which I haven't even remotely started shopping or prepping for yet.  Bought another bottle of Rose from World Market today so that should help with the impending stress ;)

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

  

a quick note on wine

I hate red wine.

There, I said it.

I guess what I don't like about it is that it all tastes the same to me, kind of like beer (also not a fan.)  White wine has a light, crisp, taste which appeals to me and red has an oak-y, spicy, and (weirdly out of place) chocolate-y taste, but not in a good way.  Even when I chill it for forever in the fridge- which I know is proper red wine treatment, more about that in a second- it's still bleh. The only time I'll tolerate it is when it's made into sangria.  

Back in August when Sunnykef came to visit, we went up to St. Augustine and visited the San Sebastian winery, which was a longer-than-expected walk from historic downtown.  It wasn't the real winery because there was no vineyard, just an empty lot next door with overgrown weeds and broken glass.  Sketchy.  Anyway, I think it's where they just made the wine with grapes brought in, we didn't stay for the tour but sort of latched on to the tasting group at the end.  And that's where I found that there IS a red wine out there for me!  It's called Vintner's Red and it's sweet and not at all like any other red wine I've ever had.  It's not like sangria and it's not like fruit juice (er, I mean, Arbor Mist) but it's just really good!

So I went home and promptly forgot about it.

Now here's an interesting thing I did learn about chilling wine though- the general rule that people know is that red wine should be served "room temperature."  That temperature just happens to mean 55* Fahrenheit!  The reason?  "Room temperature" refers to the temperature of the wine cellar!  Who knew?  So, when you're ready to crack open that bottle of red, pop it in the fridge for a half hour and THEN it'll be ready.  

Yesterday, Scot and I were in Publix planning dinner- Fedora was coming up and we were going to do steaks and taters and stuff- and I saw a bottle of San Sebastian Vintner's Red for $10 so I picked it up.  It was just as delicious as I remembered, we ended up putting a couple ice cubes in our glasses anyway, but Fedora and I drank that whole bottle.  I feel ok about it though because red wine has anti-oxidants and is supposed to be good for you right?  I can now add that to my health regimen.  My pollen allergies have been kicking my ass this week so I even felt good about washing down a Claritin with my glass of red.

Oh, that's not a good idea?  Riiiight, the whole "don't drink alcohol with meds" thing.  Coulda fooled me, I felt great!  Come fall, when the Epcot Food and Wine festival is back, I'm gonna tear it up.  All other reds excluded, I can officially say-

I love red wine.

But I'm all out so I'm gonna go crack open the bottle of strawberry Riesling in the fridge.  And it's time for another Claritin...

  

confessions of a shop-a-phobic and other midnight ramblings

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday- I went home to Louisiana and it was cold as hell.

Relatively speaking of course... I've adapted to Florida quite well.  No one ever threw their back out shoveling sunshine, if you know what I mean.

Whenever I go back (lately it's been once a year) my mom always takes me shopping.  I think it's because I never give her a Christmas list.  We hit up the pre-Christmas sales and I think I almost had a mental breakdown in the dressing room of the Loft because I couldn't decide whether or not I liked a black and gray cardigan with the faintest of cheetah prints.  I wanted to like it (because, seriously who wouldn't??) but I think I literally sat behind that locked door for 15 minutes while my mom tried to convince me from the other side how cute it was and how she'd get it for me.  Reluctantly, I let her, knowing full well I wasn't happy with it.  Which is dumb because it was just a stupid cardigan.  Which makes me think there might be some underlying issues about myself that I can't pinpoint because I felt utterly depressed walking out of there with that little tissue-paper filled bag.

And then we went to the White House Black Market, where I never shop because I can't afford it and I live 6 days a week in khakis and polo shirts anyway.  Which is super lame but very practical.  Lord help me if I dripped oil or avgas on a $60 shirt.  JCPenney special all the way, baby!

I found my groove at WHBM and finally succumbed to the fact that half my closet is composed of black and white clothes and I should just quit trying and give up on color, period.  Let's just say that the little cheetah print cardigan is returning from whence it came.  My friend Sunnykef gave me some absolutely delicious earrings for Christmas too and I'm wearing them every chance I get.  Seriously, look at these things!  

I'd never pick them out for myself, but if they didn't weight about 3 lbs apiece I'd wear them to work out in, too.  And to work, if my headset would fit over them.  But any other time- bring it!  Housework?  Sure, these earrings make swiffering and cleaning the toilet much more fun!  (Actually, I don't clean the toilet, Scot does... but I'm not letting him wear my earrings.  I'd have to pierce his ears to do that and I hate blood and needles, and even if we did get that far I wouldn't be able to even laugh at him wearing them because I'd be passed the efff out on the bathroom floor.  Assuming the piercing takes place in the bathroom.  Normally I don't pass out on the bathroom floor for other circumstances.  Except last year's Mardi Gras party, but you'll have to check with him about that because I don't remember...good god MAKE ME STOP TALKING).

Anyway.

I'm damn lucky to have a guy who takes toilet duty.  AND cat litter box duty.  Heh heh.  Dooty.

Anyway.

I shouldn't blog in the middle of the night.

Now that my train of thought has left the station without me...I think what I was trying to say is that I got some kick-ass ear bling.  Alrighty then.  I also got 2 decorative wine stoppers, which must mean my family thinks I drink a lot.  I say, define "a lot!"  

Oh, that reminds me, I have a new found obsession with Rose (not, ROSE rose, but "Rose-AY"- like the sparkling wine?  I don't know how to type accents, sue me.)  I must purchase some for New Years, without the repeat of the consequences of downing a whole bottle of champagne (see "Christmas Party Oh-Twelve" aka, the post before this.)   It's probably a million dollars a bottle though- one glass cost me 12 bucks when Sunnykef and I went out over Christmas.  But it's bubbly and pink (one might call it rose-colored!) and delicious.  

Scot's stuck in Punta Gorda tonight being a hero and all and fixing an airplane so I'm getting in some quality time with you fine folks.  He got us annual passes to Walt Disney World for Christmas-which I am totally over the moon about, remember what I said about the end of the world last post?  Toldja.  But I'm super excited and am trying to decide to take him to Epcot first or MGM studios (Or Hollywood studios, whatever.  It'll always be MGM to me!)  I don't know if Tower of Terror is a good kickoff to his Disney indoctrination though.  We'll see.  

Have a fun and safe Happy New Year, and don't blow yourself up! (it's the new "Don't shoot your eye out," it'll catch on, wait and see)       

have yourself a tacky little christmas...

The other night I threw what was probably my most complex party yet-at least when it came to the variety of food.  My friend Jenn and I collaborated to host an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and oh lord did our friends come up with some amazing creations!  

This year I was informed that when I go back to Louisiana for Christmas that it won't be the normal routine that I'm used to.  Usually, on Christmas eve, my aunt and uncle have a big party at their house and I get to visit with everyone and see all my cousins.  On Christmas day, everyone meets at my grandparents' house for turkey and dressing and opening presents.  It's been that way as long as I can remember but this year there's a shake-up.  2 of my out-of-town cousins aren't even coming in so the Christmas eve party?  Cancelled.  The turkey and dressing on Christmas day?  Exchanged for a brisket.  And the presents?  Now it's going to be (sort of a?) Pirate Gift Exchange thing.  Which reminds me I have to go find a $25 or under gift for a girl.  No one in particular, because we don't know who gets it.  Yeah, makes me really want to put thought in to this project (NOT!  Yeah, you hear the grumpy teenager in me coming out, too dontcha?)  Anyhoo, since my holiday is being turned topsy-turvey, (except the new tradition I started with Kelly last year- pre-church margaritas at Cantina Laredo.  Klassy, I know) I wanted to have as many friends as I could over for some good get-together time.  Here was my menu-

Deep-fried cajun turkey (god bless friends who own a bbq joint!)
Rolls and homemade cranberry sauce to make that turkey into mini sammiches
Succotash
Pepper Jack grits-stuffed sweet bell peppers
Spicy marinated shrimp
Sausage puffs (these are always a hit!)
Rotel dip
Homemade spinach artichoke dip
Homemade saltine oyster crackers (found the recipe on Pintrest and I don't care if I never eat anything else in my life- these were awesome!)
Fruit and veggie platters
Cherry bourbon pecan balls
Raspberry pound cake balls
A tri-color bundt cake in xmas colors (cute and simple!)
Red velvet peppermint swirl brownies
Key lime shortbread cookies
Nutella sea salt fudge (as delicious as it sounds!)
Homemade peanut brittle
Various little candies and pretzels I bought to spread around

I'm trying to remember it all- my friend Fedora ('memba her from the male stripper episode?) and I drank 2 bottles of champagne together ($5 a bottle Verdi Spumanti- it's delicious!!!)  

I almost feel like Christmas is over already...the party is done and I'm back to work.  The only thing reminding me is that we have presents under the tree (which my freaking cat will NOT stop eating.  Seriously, she's already ingested and re-deposited some curly ribbon in a slobbery mess on the bedroom floor).  A selection of my friends keep telling me there's a sparkly ring waiting for me under that tree, which I say is a load of crap lol.  Tell you what, the odds of that happening are the same as the odds of the world ending tomorrow (oh Mayans, ya'll and ya'll's silly calendar!) so hey if it does end no one will know what's under my tree anyway.  The plan Sunday is- presents, then brunch, then pack because we both have flights to catch...me to Louisiana and him to Pittsburgh.  I plan on gorging myself with crawfish etoufee and meat pies (and spell check just tried to change "crawfish" to "crayfish"...uh hellz no!) and hopefully fit in some visiting time with the few relatives that WILL be around town.  I leave you with a Merry Christmas if that's your thing (if it's not, Happy Thursday), and some sweater photos-   

  We dressed the cat up,and note the Christmas equivalent of the tuxedo shirt

 Me and Baby Bird- of course she did feathers!

Co-host Jenn and her hubby with his awesome homemade sweater