Thankful in so many ways

We had such an amazing Thanksgiving this year! Ryan's family was able to come and we spend the first part of the week just enjoying each other's company. The girls got to treat themselves to manicures and pedicures on wednesday, then we met up with dad's family at Papa Dino's for dinner. Afterward, we went back to dad's and set up the tree with the kids. Because we won't be together for Christmas, the kids got their traditional pajamas that night. The next day was spent with Dad's family at Aunt Sherma's house. I think most of these pictures speak for themselves.

Thankful Thursday

I'm so thankful that in just over two weeks, I GET TO SEE THESE LITTLE MUNCHKINS!!!! I mean, how cute are they? These are, of course, my brother Ryan's kids, and I'm totally poaching these pics of my sis's blog. (The other niece, Danny's girl, isn't here yet, but I will post pics when she's born!)
Oh, and by the way, in exactly two weeks from today, another thing happens that I can't wait for. NEW MOON!!!!! Wow, November's the best month.

Thankful Thursday

How is it possible to suffer yet another bout of a bad flu within a matter of months of my last one? Heaven only knows. But it will bring out some very key points of gratefulness, for whatever it's worth. For instance, I'm grateful for immune systems. 'Nuff said, right? I would be dead if I didn't have one. I'm also extremely glad for Tylenol. I can honestly say that yesterday I felt like I was dying and Tylenol made it all better. Well, not ALL, but it certainly took a major edge off. And last, but absolutely not least, I'm grateful for flu vaccines. If I'd been smart and paid the damn $30 dollars to get one (I was mad because my company usually does them for free but they for some reason canceled them this year) I wouldn't be going through this. But, lesson learned, so I'm grateful for that too.

Bringing Back Thankful Thursday with Fine Fall Days

I find it amazing how our lives intersect with past friends that we never thought we'd see again and somehow pick up our friendship right where we left off. Such was the case this week. I've known Heather since the second grade, I believe. We were in the same classes in church and though we weren't ever in the same classes together at school, we did stay friends until I left in the spring of 1995. I never thought that I would find her again, but low and behold, we not only found each other (thank you facebook!) but she took me up on my invitation for a visit! I picked her up at the crack of dawn in Philly and we decided to explore the city. Even though I live an hour and a half away, I've never done so. We started off at Penn's Landing with the gorgeous sunset....


We wanted around downtown (at one point, when we had our map out, a nice lady actually told us about a nicer road just a block away-I guess we looked like we were asking for trouble). Here are some choice shots from downtown Philly:



We hit the Market:

Then we hit the historical sites:

Independence Hall


We also went to the Mutter Museum, but they didn't let us take pictures.
We meandered home through Lancaster county...




The next day we went to Hershey and the outlets, then headed up to mom's place.

It's the milk chocolate (TASTY TREATS)

On our way up, we hear this horrible scraping sound, so we pull over and find my exhaust pipe completely broken off from the muffler. So we strung it up with an old belt and headed to K-Mart. We tried an epoxy-that fell right off after a few minutes driving- then we tried duct tape-that only last a little longer- So we finally got a metal dryer vent and some more glue. It's still detached from the muffler and you can hear me coming from a mile away, but it doesn't drag! Here's the before and after of our efforts (well, mostly Heather's).


We spent the night in New Haven and then headed to NYC the next day. Here's some choice shots from our day in the city:
With Mommy

Pretty fall colors in New Haven. Connecticut is gorgeous this time of year!

We stopped at the beach briefly on the way.



We walked all around the southern tip of Manhattan.
Ground Zero hasn't changed much in a year.

Lots of "Self Inflicted" shots around the water and on the ferry.....





And then of course, Times Square:



Needless to say we were home a little late and fell right asleep! The next day I had to work, but on Wednesday, we met up with another childhood friend, Dessi, at a local pretzel factory and then we headed over to Gettysburg:

I should probably have posed for this one side saddle, but oh well.



Oh, and we did manage to get over to this small little town about 15 minutes out of my own town. This isn't a joke, people:

We were thinking of you during Intercourse.


Ok, I'm really sick of this post. Hope you all enjoyed it. I'd better get back to work!