thanks, again.

it's hard to believe that it's time for another thanksgiving.

this year, e + i are welcoming people to our home - a first for us. we'll be making the turkey, adding some sides, downing some wine + building a fire. all with an intimate group of friends and, for the first time in four years, my sister. that's right, i will finally share the table with another beale again.

i've said it before, and i'll say it again, thanksgiving is my favorite (juuuust after halloween). there's no stressful gift-giving, no nausea as you watch your credit card balance slowly rise and (for us at least) no travel anxiety. as long as you remember to take the giblets out of the turkey and turn the oven on, it's a piece of cake, well...pumpkin pie. it marks the beginning of my holiday season for sure and i actually find it the most fun day of the span.

i do miss my home - meaning my mom + dad - and the years i had with them, at their house. since those times, thanksgiving food just hasn't tasted the same. i know it never will. but i don't let that distract me from being thankful for everything else in my life. my cup runneth over. and i hope yours does too.

so cheers to a day of family, friends and delicious food. take a minute to count your blessings, hug the ones you're with and give thanks to whomever will listen.

happy thanksgiving to you + yours!

it's the first of the month

happy november 1! while october 1 officially marks my favorite time of year, after the halloween festivities are over, i find myself even more excited than before they began.
it's true, tearing down the cobwebs + packing up the pumpkin lights makes me a bit sad, but i'm excited for what's to come in the following two months. the stream of holiday fun that is upon us is so...well...just plain fun.

i look forward to the following highlights that will help me close out this year:
law review winter event complete with dinner + dancing (any excuse to get dressed up with my husband is fine by me!)
harvard/yale game with nyc visitors (sister + rob!)
thanksgiving dinner with friends here in cambridge (food + wine with good friends can't be beat)
bachelorette party in nyc to usher out a dear friend's single life (congrats katie!)
champagne + cupcakes celebration to close out the semester for e (two of my favorite things unite)
sister's birthday in nyc (fried chicken dinner + karaoke anyone?)
my big 2-8 birthday in nc (hello mid-late twenties)

of course this sporadic chain of events is punctuated by homemade eggnog, ice skating, the season's first fire in our fireplace, decorating with lights and holiday shopping. really, what's not to love about now?
while my calendar is pretty open at the moment, i know the agenda will certainly fill up, guaranteeing that these last two months will fly by just as fast as the first 10.

the pursuit of happiness

this weekend was a long one (thanks to the columbus day holiday) and it brought us perfect fall weather. e + i took advantage of the cool, sunny days + decided to go pick a few apples. we headed back to the orchard we visited last year (we're partial to the wine + beer tasting we can do there after we pick), and we grabbed a bushel of numerous crisp varieties. we spent the late afternoon on the porch, looking out over the orchard at the changing leaves + a few quintessential new england steeples dotting the skyline.

a quick reading of the forecast confirmed that saturday would be just as nice + i was SUPERexcited to finally take out my bike. she's a beaut and was one of my roadside treats that i stumbled upon a few months ago. i know, i know, i too am surprised someone would choose to let her go. my friend alyson + i took advantage of the day with ride + picnic along the esplanade. we gathered our group + grilled out in the north end before we headed down to the riverside bocce courts to get our game on. the chill that night reminded us that winter was not far off.

e + i did a little bike loop on sunday as well - dodging octoberfest traffic that morning, before we headed straight for the crowds that afternoon at charlie's beer garden. a re-group on sunday night for yet another grilled dinner was wrapped up with alyson's homemade cider doughnuts + some hot apple cider (with bourbon of course!).

happiness...found.

country grammar

although fall technically began almost two weeks ago, i feel like i just got the official kick-off to the season this past weekend. we piled two cars full of people, food, drinks and warm clothing, and headed to a friend's house in upstate new york. our saturday was filled with ATV rides, target practice, oh-ing + ah-ing over the changing leaves, exploring the few + far-between houses of the countryside, and preparing a family feast. it couldn't have been more different than what we do in our day-to-day routines and we couldn't have been more happy about it. we ended that saturday toasting smores over a bonfire and checking out stars that we can never see in the city.

last night i arrived back in cambridge to (much) cooler temps and an excitement for my favorite season. seeing fall's arrival each year has been one of my favorite things about living up here in MA. it's something i feel i never really got to experience down in NC and it's something that will be hard for me to leave when it's time. but for now, we're celebrating the fact we have another year here after e finishes law school. he'll begin a clerkship after graduation that will keep us around until 2012 + we're so excited to stay. on the list of things i just wasn't ready to let go of yet, were the definite changing of the seasons.

so long summer. i'm ready for mums, pumpkins, boots, chunky knits, halloween and some hot apple cider.