Vintage Finds

While taking my bedding to by laundered last weekend, I made a stop into the local thrift store. I found a handful of cool things, an old plastic necklace of bright blue baubles, an original Barbara Streisand self titled album, and a set of Japanese tea cups.

Thanksgiving is good, mac and cheese is good, friends are good.

This will be my first Thanksgiving away from home. As depressing as it seems at times, I have decided to put my pity party on the back burner and focus my energy on creating a most fabulous meal for my husband and a few friends.

If you think I am going overboard, my husband agrees, but what beats the holiday blues better then homemade mac and cheese?

The Menu

Drinks

Cranapple Spritzers

Appetizers

Tomato basil baby elephant ears (Ina Garten)

The Main Event

Tomato Cucumber Salad

Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Sweet Potatoes, and Parsnips with Rosemary

Corn Bread Souffle

Baked Mac & Cheese

Mashed Potatoes

Curried Mahi Mahi

Rice and Dahl

Turkey Breast with Maple, Sage, and Bacon (Tyler Florence)

Mom's Dressing

Fresh Cranberry Compote (Emeril)

Desserts

Bonnie's Pumpkin Roll

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie

Lucky Readers Book Club Discussion Tomorrow Cancelled

Discussion will be held on Friday December 1st.
I obviously underestimated the fast pace of this read so the format for the book club will be changing. We will discuss the novel once everyone has completed the book in its entirety.

Log on to the blog that morning for discussion questions.

Wouldn't my dog look good on this bed?

Cute bed....

My Dog ...

Book Club Participants- I want a name for our group, what shall we call ourselves? Suggestions please!

Hopefully, all of you are in full swing and ready for some reading. To get things started, why don't we read Chapters 1-3 for Wednesday Nov 22.

This may be a slow start, but, we can speed things up as we get into the book a bit more. I have snagged a couple of great reading guides and I am totally stoked for good discussion. I will post a question early on Wednesday morning and then we can discuss it up via the comments feature on my blog as long as we want. You guys can also look for and ask good questions as you see fit, anything goes!

Thanks for participating and if you have anyone in mind who you think might be interested in joining us, get them on board soon!

Where is he?

Owl Hide and Seek.

Available at Anthropolgie

The Owl from Snowy River

I love, love, love, this lovely silver owl ornament from Anthropolgie.

Ten on Tuesday- 10 ways I relax

1. Take a hot bath with my allergy therapy bubble bath, candles, and my lavendar sleeping balm.
2. See Melissa at Cloud 9 spa for a kick ass massage. She is the best!
3. A glass of wine, or two, or three.
4. Listen to Charlie Brown Christmas cd and lay on the couch.
5. Take my dog for a walk.
6. Bake.
7. Watch marathons on tv. ex- Rocky i, ii, iii, iv on spike television, sex and the city on tbs, six feet under on bravo.
8. Convince my husband to play with my hair.
9. Read a magazine
10. Naps...

Book Club Participants

The book has been chosen....

Please make your way out to the bookstore to purchase "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Read up on it on Amazon.

The BookClub will begin Discussions on this blog on NOVEMBER 22. This falls on a wednesday. Every Wednesday, feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section of the blog post that day. On wednesday mornings, i will post a question for thought and discussion. If you would like to pose a question to start off the wednesday discussions, please email them to me at the email addressed listed to the left on my blog.

Yee Haw, Democrats sweep mid term elections.

George W. is disappointed with election results and Donald Rumsfield quits.
Britney files for divorce.
What more could go right ?

Banker to the poor wins peace prize

Fairly old but good news, the Nobel Peace Prize was divided into to equal parts to Muhammed Yanus and Grameem Bank for their humanitarian efforts to provide credit to the poorest in Bangladesh.
Check out more information here.

Ten on Tuesday - Things on my to-do list.

1. Take down the wallpaper and replace.
2. Finish my research prospectus.
3. Finish my masters degree....
4. Complete the recipe book.
5. Travel to NYC soon.
6. Join a civic organization.
7. Get the book club started.... (I am working on it)
8. Lose 15 lbs by the new year, then lose a bunch more.
9. Reorganize the garage.
10. Take back my home office space from my dog and my husband.

Hooterific

and no, I am not referring to the chics who wear nylons, polyester shorts, and ugly tanks.

Check out these darling kitchen accessories, perfect for a Thanksgiving debut.

Available at Anthropologie

To Insure Promptness- TIP

First off- a definition of tip - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip

If you are one that loves to hit up the bar scene, dine out, travel, or catch a cab instead of driving yourself around, chances are, you have spent a nice percentage of your annual income in gratuity.

As time goes by the pressure to tip any and everyone for services rendered is becoming increasingly popular. I can understand why you would tip your waiter, your bartender, the hotel bell hop, the cabbie, and the nice guys that work at Autozone who help you install your outted tail light. Many occupations such as these are paid very poorly- waitress waiges are below the minimum wage. But why on earth do I have to tip my hairdresser? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my hairdresser. I also understand that people have been tipping hairdressers for decades - but WHY? I understand she pays rent, she pays for product, and she pays her taxes. However, let's say I wanted to treat myself at the salon : I would spend $120 for my relaxer and $35 for a cut. That's $155 for three hours of work. Now that is a nice chunk of change. I am not sure what she pays in booth rental or for product expenses, but i feel quite sure that with over $50 an hour, she could cover her expenses without my 15% tip. And now i have even heard that certain repeat service providers, specifically the hairdresser, deserve a special christmas tip. I am still waiting on my christmas bonuses for the last two years of hard work with my employer.

Hairdressers of the world, leave your comments. I will keep up my end of the tipping bargain but some good explanation into this would be interesting and none the less educational. When did the hairdresser gratuity become customary?

So who do you tip and who do you not tip? If the acronym TIP means, to insure promptness, why is there an expectation that you still owe someone a tip if they do not insure promptness. For instance, the guys from Lowes delivered my range two hours outside of the range of time that was quoted - should I have tipped anyway? What if they were late as a result of poor planning on behalf of the management?

I read an article online that says outside the normal "to be tipped occupations" these can be added to the list.

painters
movers
plumbers
mechanics
appliance delivery guys
grocery baggers

who is next - the mail man?

I want this one too

WORDs

Two words that I like very much now. Thanks to my friends with broad vocabularies.

Camp (in reference to a culture or style)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_(style)

Apparently Madonna is "campy" and so was Mommy Dearest.

Kitsch (when things appear kitschy)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch

Garden gnomes are a bit kitschy.