thank you thank you thank you

Hello everyone!

I had a really wonderful Thanksgiving break. I had Wednesday off and spent most of the day baking: pumpkin cheesecake, black forest tart and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Thanksgiving was hosted by Elaine and Gina. I went over around noon after talking with my parents on the phone. People began showing up around 2:30 and we ate at about 4. There were 17 people there for dinner! The meal was fantastic! Elaine did the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes and everyone else brought a side dish. I made my family's recipe for sweet potatoes (yams really) with brown sugar and butter. There was so many side dishes and they were each delicious. After dinner some people watched movies while others talked on the porch or in the kitchen or played cards. The desserts were brought out and those were nibbled at all night long. Some people left while others started showing up after celebrating their Thanksgivings with their family. They had gotten a keg for the occasion so lots of people stayed and drank beers and talked. It was a great night!

Friday I went over to Elaine and Gina's for some leftovers for lunch. We played cards for a while then watched "Adaptation". That evening I met Alex, my sister's old boyfriend, at a bar off of Hawthorne. He had just gotten back from a week in Wisconsin. He horrified me with stories of freezing weather. I don't think I could deal with wind chill of 5 below. Alex and I had a great time talking and laughing. We drank more than intended so we shared a cab back to our homes. I actually stopped by Elaine's house for a bit where they laughed at my rare drunkenness and then Erin gave me a ride home where I crawled into bed and called it a night.

I woke up pretty early the next day and Camille & I drove to Jess' house. From there Jess drove us to Newport on the coast. It took a couple hours to get there. We stopped at the pull out for Boiler Bay which has *the best* tide pools I've ever seen. Tide was still in at that point so we just admired the view for a moment than continued on our way. We went to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (what a name). There's a lighthouse there and a wonderful cobble beach. At high tide the stone cobbles roll around and make the most incredible sound. At low tide there's lots of cool tide pools to check out. We poked around a bit but the tide was still too high to see most of the pools.

We drove into the town of Newport to get some lunch. We ate at the Rogue Brewery Public House and had a rather disappointing dining experience: slow and inattentive service, not so warm french fries, overcharges on our tab and total mayhem while running our credit cards. We were happy to get the hell out of there and go back to Yaquina Head.

The tide was out more so explored the many tide pools. The tide pools were full of orange and purple starfish, little crabs, lovely pink and mint green sea anenomes, bright purple sea urchins and wonderful pink coraline algae. I will always be amazed by tide pools. I also watched the huge Harbor Seals lolling around on Seal Rock just off shore, gazed at the huge waves crashing into the rocks and the many sea birds flying about. I just love the coast in the blustery weather of winter. . We drove home and got back to Portland around 7 that night.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I read the Sunday paper and watched some episodes of Sex and the City. I hung out with Elaine and Gina and Dave for awhile. We played some cards and tried to watch Memento but their dvd player decided to stop functioning. We nibbled away at leftovers and watched some tv before I headed home.

So that was my long weekend! Please let me know how your Thanksgiving was and how you are?

xoxo,
carolyn