happy new year!

Having a delicious dinner at Melissa's house. Hope that everyone has a safe and healthy New Year.

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christmas dinner

This is the third of three meals we've made from scratch today. I'm not in shape to eat this much!



Here's hoping that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

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a mostly good Thanksgiving

Back from my quick jaunt to grandma's for Thanksgiving. It was excellent. We kept my cousin away from the turkey, and it was delicious. We also had nine desserts, for fourteen people. A bit excessive? Maybe.

The only thing that sucked was listening to my blowhard cousin and his wife tease me and Maxine about not being married. I wanted to smack him. Actually, I wanted to put him in his place, but I didn't want to ruin Thanksgiving for everybody. Sometimes I hate being an adult.

Pictures coming soon.

So now I'm back in Bluff City - for three days. Back to NY on Monday, just in the nick of time.

my Thanksgiving work

I seasoned her myself. Isn't she beautiful?

Deep frying is the ONLY way to eat turkey. Trust me.

back

I'm back, and I'm exhausted. Funny how the holidays can do that to you, huh?

I'm fortunate because I don't have a crazy week next week - just some standardized patient stuff during the week, about a day's worth. Plenty of time to focus on auditions and eat the leftovers I hauled back from New England. And I can watch a lot of football, too!

Hoping that your weekend was as grand as mine...

leftovers

Just finished a rather satisfying meal of Chinese food.

What? Why were we eating Chinese food the day after Thanksgiving instead of leftovers? I'm glad you asked. Two reasons.

1. Today is my dad's birthday, and he basically spent most of today preparing for his mother's birthday party, which is tomorrow. We spent a few hours at the church decorating and moving furniture. My brother decided that he needed something special done for him, so we let him decide on a meal. He picked Chinese with jumbo shrimp involved. It cost $120, but it was worth it.

2. You're kind of not going to believe this one, but my cousin actually took/borderline stole a lot of our leftovers. He and his wife flew back to Cali today, and apparently he brought a bunch of containers with him. He reportedly said that if he was coming all the way out here for Thanksgiving, he was going to be damned if he didn't take some food home with him. I hope security confiscated it all.

This cousin was particularly delightful this holiday. (Sarcasm intended.) Remind me to tell you in the next couple of days about Frying the Turkey.

i would love to put up a longer post...

...but I'm having such a fantastic time with my family that I don't want to leave. I brought Maxine and the Flying Squirrel up with me, and I couldn't have made a better decision. So I'm going to go downstairs and grab dessert #3 and watch some more football (and then American Gangster, which my cousin bought a bootleg of - I'm not sure how I feel about that) and spend some more quality time.

I'll try again tomorrow.

short post

...because I have to shower and finish packing and buy cheesecake and make the train to my brother's house so i can meet my parents to get a ride to Rhode Island so I can finally celebrate Thanksgiving with my family!

Safe travels to all out there on the road.

a much better idea!

An e-mail I received from a friend this morning:

Since Valentine’s Day is right smack dab in the middle of Black History Month I think we should reclaim it and call it National Love a Negro Day.

Best idea I've heard in a while!

So, officially, F&G proclaims today NLN Day! Go out and celebrate!

happy valentine's? not likely

For the record, I hate Valentine's Day. HATE. I've never had a good one, and even back in elementary school, when we had to exchange those little Peanuts-type cards, it struck me as just an exercise in angst. All those dumb questions just flooding your mind:

- She gave me a card with "love" in it - what does that mean?
- Will she like me if I give her the Peppermint Patty one?
- Why don't I have a Valentine?
- Who gave me the anonymous card? Do they really love me?

And then, when you are actually with someone:

- What do I buy her?
- Will she read too much into this gift?
- Did I buy her enough?

It just strikes me as really, really dumb. And I'm a romantic! (as you probably have judged from the PB saga)

So rather than getting all wound up, I just don't celebrate it. This can create some sticky situations when I'm dating someone, but I think that the attention I give my SO's the other 364 days of the year make up for this one.

the holidays were happy

I'm such a slacker when it comes to posting on here lately.

Good reason this time, though.

Spent the last few days with the fam. It was amazing. I had loads of fun with everybody, got a couple of cool gifts, and ate some TREMENDOUS food. My brother made a brunch so good, I think I could have eaten forever. Crab quiche, creme brulee french toast (with Grand Marnier syrup), ham, and a giant fruit plate. I'm salivating at the memory.

And now I'm hip-deep in packing. I've managed to do something remarkable - I think I may actually leave here with LESS stuff! That would be sweet.

Headed to LA immediately after the show to ring in 2007. See y'all on the other side! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I'll be with the fam, so I know my Christmas will be great.

Here's hoping that you and yours have a fantastic holiday.

still here

...just not so much going on. My family is coming out to Cowtown for Xmas, which is tremendously exciting, so I've been running around trying to get things ready for them. I feel kind of dumb for not putting any decorations up, but what's the point? I'm leaving here in two weeks. I think I'm just going to find a picture of a tree on the internet, print it out, and put it up on a wall. That will be festive, right?

I'll try to get one more post up before they all descend on Sunday.

A Sad Thanksgiving

We're in a glum mood this Thanksgiving at F&G, because this is the first time I haven't been able to be with my family. Thanksgiving is the big holiday for us, too - generally the only time my branch of the extended family gets together.

To add insult to injury, it's also my dad's birthday.

I'll make the most of my day. One of my best friends from Sleepy Hamlet is a Cowtown native, and Suri and I are headed over there for their traditional Thanksgiving brunch. And I've also been invited to accompany the owners of the Guest House to their celebration. And I'm very grateful.

But it won't be the same.

The one bright spot, I suppose, is that I realize how truly thankful I am for my family, and the role that they play in my life. I'm also thankful for a lot of things, including:

- the ability to make a living in my chosen profession

- my fantastic friends

- The Steelers - even though they're 4-6, they did win it all last year

- the Democrats taking over Congress and hopefully starting to turn this big cruise ship of a country slowly in the right direction

...and, last but not least...

- all of you.

Thanks for sharing advice and opinions, and for your own stories on your blogs, and for the random e-mails, and for sticking up for me. It's nice to have a place to share your desires and feelings and thoughts, and it's even nicer when someone reads and appreciates them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

in the dumps - but moving soon

Short trip to Sleepy Hamlet this weekend. I needed to see a doctor, and it was a lot easier to pop over there and see my old doc rather than explaining everything to a new physician who I didn't know or trust. Saw the important peeps, which was great. Suri drove me up - I always believe that true friendship is surviving a long car trip together. We survived.

It's been kind of a rough few days, which is why I haven't posted. I'm kind of tired of always putting negative stuff up all the time. I mean, this reflects my life, so if I'm in a funk, that's what you're getting. Wynter mentioned a while back, however, that there seemed to be a lot of frustrations and such, so I've definitely been looking for the positive.

In case you're keeping score at home, these past few days I:

- found out I probably won't be making it home for the holidays (both Thanksgiving and Christmas) for the first time ever

- broke things off with the X after two grueling, heart-wrenching two-hour-long conversations on consecutive days

- saw my bank account dwindle down close to zero

- watched the Steelers lose...again

- had a near meltdown in rehearsal - a story that I can't really get into on the blog for security reasons - let's just say that the play, while on track to be very good, is veering off in a direction that I never foresaw, and I can't quite get on track with everybody else

But, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'm pretty tough. I've got most of the next two days off, so I can concentrate on working on my script and exercising and eating all of the healthy food I got from Trader Joe's (my favorite grocery store). Maybe even sit in the hot tub of the Main House.

Hope that all are doing well.

no gobble

If you thought I wasn't happy last night...well, that doesn't compare to right now.

I was on the internet looking for plane tickets (on kayak.com, my new favorite site for my travel needs) and I can't get to Grandma's house for under $500. And, for that $500 ticket, I wouldn't even get to be there for 24 hours.

I've never missed a Thanksgiving with my family in my life. The thought of not being there...well, I wouldn't call it devastating, but it's close. Extremely close.

When it rains, it pours, I guess.