Winter is here.

The perks of working at a golf course? Awesome views, no matter the season. The downside of working at a golf course? I am currently the only person on the entire property, unless you count the Grounds crew, which I don't because I never see them. So, while I'm waiting for my new desk to arrive (which probably won't be today, unfortunately) and for the server to come back up (meaning I literally have nothing I can do until it does), I suppose I'll write a quick Thanksgiving post.

I was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning, as I do every morning (I love Elvis Duran!) and they went through their entire staff, with each person saying what they are thankful for. I think a lot of people forget to do this on Thanksgiving - I know I certainly do. Instead, Thanksgiving has become about eating way too much and shopping. So, here is what I am thankful for this year:

1. My family (generic and overplayed, I know) - I have one of the craziest and most disjointed families ever, but every one of them is perfect and I honestly wouldn't want it any other way. I have the world's brattiest and most beautiful sisters and 2 little brothers that are too cute for words and will become serious heartbreakers one day. I have a bevvy of parents and grandparents, and too many aunts, uncles, and cousins to count. I'm thankful for all of them and I can genuinely say that my life is better because of them. I've recently been able to reconnect with some family from years passed that I haven't talked to in a very long time and it feels so good, so here's hoping for a rekindled relationship!

2. My friends (obviously!) - I also have the best friends a girl can have. Even though they're all over and visiting them means driving 4-6 hours, it's worth it every time. These people are my family as well and I truly would do anything for them. Do you realize how crazy that is? To have so many good people in your life that you would do absolutely anything for because you love them that much?! That is absolutely something to be thankful for.

3. Mark - my fiancé. He is one of the best things that has ever happened to me and he is absolutely perfect for me, in every possible way. My life would not be the same without him and I never want to find out what that would be like...ever.

4. My life, in general. I truly believe that no matter how horrible you think your life might be and no matter how many crappy hands you've been dealt, there is always a silver lining and there is always something that you can be thankful for. I am thankful for my life every day. I have a roof over my head and a fridge full of food that I can cook. I'm surrounded by people whom I love and who love me and I get to sleep in a warm bed every night...so yes, I consider myself to be supremely lucky and I am incredibly thankful to be able to have these things.

Take a minute this year to remember the good things in your life and give thanks for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the life.

For those who haven't heard of this movie, watch the trailer here. Then do yourself a favor and go see it. We saw it this past weekend and it was simply amazing. It has the perfect combination of humor, drama, and romance and I'm pretty positive that mostly anyone will be able to appreciate this movie. I think this overall review from Rotten Tomatoes does a great job of portraying it...

"Beautifully filmed and unabashedly sincere, About Time finds director Richard Curtis at his most sentimental."

 It really is just so genuine and sincere - new favorite movie!


On an entirely different note, we tried a new place for dinner on Tuesday night, which was amazing. It's called Jasmine's Asian Fusion and it's on Ridge Road in Webster. Anyone who lives or has lived in this area knows that Webster is strange. It's completely out of the way and parts of it are weird and trashy, while others are super rich and gorgeous. The only reason we even know this restaurant even exists is because Mark works in Webster and has driven past it a few times.

 

 

A new thing that I've noticed I'm doing lately is ordering drinks almost every time we go out for dinner. I never used to do that and now, for some reason, I don't think twice about it. Con - Among several cons, our dinner bills are much higher, which sucks. Pro - I'm discovering a lot of really awesome drinks with flavor combinations that I would have never thought of.



Anyway, Tuesday night was no different and I got a Lychee-tini. I don't remember everything that was in it, other than lychee and they don't have cocktails listed on their website, so fail. You'll just have to take my word that it was good - not amazing, but good.
Dinner, on the other hand, was quite amazing. I ordered the Thai Style Coconut Red Curry with Chicken and pretty much died and went to gastronomic heaven.

As an aside, (I mentioned this in the first post I did) I've never been one of those people who loves to take pictures of their food and that probably shows in the pictures I have taken for this blog. I also forget that I should take a picture until after we've already started eating, so yeah...sorry about that. Anyway, the quality of the picture not withstanding, this dish was awesome for dinner and even better re-heated for lunch the following day.

Mark got the Stir Fried Spaghetti with Chili Paste Sauce and Chicken, which was equally as delicious as mine.

Again, he had already started eating before I remembered to take a picture, which resulted in this slightly gross looking picture. It really was delicious though, I promise!


As for fantasy football, I refuse to give an update unless I'm doing well, which I'm not. Weeks 9 and 10 were a bust for me. Let's hope I'm able to gain some ground on Week 11! The Mr. McGibblets will make it to the playoffs!

The Revelry

 

“We are the champions of joy;
we are the fosterers of revelry.
Here, we uphold the sanctity of sustenance;
here, we delight in the art of serving our fellow human beings. “

 

 

Time for a restaurant review! This past Saturday, a new restaurant that I had never heard of was recommended to me, so when we came up short with dinner plans that night, we decided to try it out. The place is sort of awesome. You first walk in and the floor by the hostess station is clear, so you can see right down and into the wine cellar. It turns out there's also seating down there so on the way out, we saw people eating, which I guess is a little weird. Still cool though. The drinks are awesome - I ordered The Vega, which is vodka, fresh strawberry & blackberry puree, St. Germain and fresh-squeezed lemon juice...and it was amazing. It is easily one of the best drinks that I have ever had.

 

That's a mint leaf on top. So good!

 

The food, however, is a different story. Their menu is mainly comprised of upscale Southern food, which I think is a great idea in theory. In practice, it didn't turn out quite as I had expected. Granted, I got a burger which was probably a rookie mistake because who gets burgers when you're at a place like this...but in the same sense, if they can't pull off a burger, then what does that say? It wasn't horrible by any means, but it just wasn't really up to par. Mark's meal was a different story though and he quite enjoyed his quail and collard greens.

 

 

I did try a bite and wasn't crazy about his meal either. We did get dessert -  maple brown sugar bread pudding with homemade cinnamon ice cream for me and two scoops of their homemade toasted marshmallow ice cream for him. The ice cream was good, but the bread pudding? Not so much. It was cold...who eats bread pudding cold? So maybe I'm being picky, but if you pay a certain amount for dinner, you have expectations and those expectations just were not met at The Revelry. I would gladly try it again simply because the place itself is so cool and the drinks were awesome, and who knows, maybe the chef just had an off day? Who knows!

 

 

Fantasy football update: Week 9 didn't work out so well for me (as many had predicted) and Mark did win. That's okay though - The Mr. McGibblets will come out of week 10 with a victory (hopefully). And yes, that is another team name change, inspired by The League, as always.

 





Boston didn't end up happening this weekend, unfortunately. We missed a lot of great costumes at that Halloween party, not to mention all of the work that we put into ours and then didn't even end up wearing. Next year! I'm ashamed to say that we did dress up the cat and dog on Halloween night. The trick-or-treaters definitely enjoyed it, even if the animals didn't. And really, isn't this for the kids? Small sacrifice to pay for the happiness of children!

Princess Sophia was a cowboy (Mark insisted) and Kadee was a dinosaur. Halloween success!