ping pong and turkey

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful, long Thanksgiving weekend. I spent the holiday with Elaine and Gina. I went over to their house around noon to help with any prep work. They were expecting about 20 people for dinner. Later in the afternoon more people starting showing up, each with a dish to share. I made a french silk pie & cheescake brownies. Elaine & her mom each made a turkey so there was plenty of food. Right before dinner it was controlled chaos with everything coming together and a billion people in the kitchen. Everything was delicious and the food was certainly abundant. I even tried tofurkey for the first time. what an odd substance! I helped with clean up too which gave me access to leftovers! Afterwards some people drifted home to sleep off the food coma and others showed up after their family dinners. There was lots of ping pong being played in the basement. I was introduced to beer pong where the purpose is to hit the cup or better yet land the ball in the beer. good times. It was great to be a part of such a huge feast with so many friends.

The next morning (I stayed over) we woke up and ate leftovers and played a round of shanghai rummy. Later that evening I met up with Jess to go to a movie downtown. We saw "I heart Huckabees" which I would give a mixed review. We left the theatre and walked to Pioneer Square where they had just held the annual tree lighting ceremony. We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate at the busiest Starbucks ever and walked around the square and looked at the nearby department store holiday windows. Is it christmas season already!?!

At home I ate leftovers for dinner and then went over to Gina's house. We played some skip-bo before walking to her neighborhood bar to meet up with some friends celebrating Seth's birthday. I had a great time talking with people and gina got to play some pool which always makes her happy.

Saturday morning Chris picked me up for breakfast. We went to our usual place, Marco's. Afterward we took his dog, Otis, for a walk in Gabriel Park. The summer off-leash area was closed so we just walked him around the trails until we stumbled upon the winter off-leash area. We let Otis loose and he ran around and sniffed all the other dogs. I love to see the dogs running in packs.

I spent the rest of the day watching movies, reading my book and taking a nap. later in the evening I went over to Elaine's house to play some ping pong and shanghai rummy with a group of friends.

Sunday I volunteered at the musuem. It was extremely busy because it was the last day of the Edward Weston photography exhibit. I like it better when it's busy as it is more interesting. In the afternoon I read my book, talked with camille and made a bunch of cards. It was a relaxing long weekend but I always want it to last longer. work beckons me back though.

Please let me know how you spent your holiday and how you are!

much love,
carolyn