Winner

All good things must come to an end and the goofing around and sleeping in and hanging out of the last few days is pretty much over. Well, at least for the three weeks until I sit on my mother's couch for 10 days holding Morgan (I hope his parents don't mind me kidnapping him.)

But the weekend IS ending on a high note. My friend reminded me of this gem of a song that I had forgotten ALL about. It's really too bad MJ went off the crazy deep end because really-do they make them like this anymore? There might have been a dance party in my kitchen...

Pilgrim

This is the first Thanksgiving in many, many years that I will not be spending with any member of my family. Last year I bought a last minute ticket home after the thought of being without them was just too sad but that is a much easier thing to do from California then it is from Massachusetts. So tomorrow I will spend the holiday with some newish and some oldish friends and I'm sure it will be lovely. I get to cook some fun things tomorrow and I have a massage and a Celtics game planned for Friday so honestly, I have few complaints about a long weekend mostly to myself.

My brain is sort of a jumble these days. A few weeks ago I was explaining to someone how I wasn't sure if I was in the right career and he said something about my job sounding like something the protagonist in a chick flick would have and I guess he's sort of right. I haven't been able to shake the feeling that no one who dropped in on my life would be able to figure out why the eff I've been struggling so much this year. I have a good job in a scary economic time, I have a cute apartment and an easy roommate, I live in a nice city that is big without being overwhelming, I'm finding some good friends, I have plenty of really cute shoes. And yet. Having my sister here this weekend was blissful but it gets harder and harder to put the people I love on planes and watch them go away. And I do feel restless. There is just no getting around it. I don't know where the line is between being awfully grateful for the life you have-and I mean really, legitimately thankful for all the chances you've been given and the opportunities that practically land in your lap-and wondering if you could be doing more/better/different if you were just braver or stronger. I suppose I am trying to learn the difference between being content with where you are and paying attention to when you are being pushed to do something else. Gosh it's fun to grow!!

All seriousness aside, if my little sister ever asks to visit you, say yes. You will have f-u-n. Check it...
Jumping for joy at The Breakers
What are the odds that Callie and Carl would be in town the same weekend???
Or that Traci and the famous Di would come up from NYC?
We ate the heck out of some cookies.
Emily and B the fashion queens.
Not telling.

Happy Thanksgiving peeps.

Repeat

This weekend Emily and I made a trek to H&M so she could buy pants for all those poor kids in Salt Lake without a giant Swedish fashion house on every corner. I was picking out some tights when I got a text from my brother Sterling.

A picture text.

Of an ultrasound.

I ran over to Emily who already knew and promptly started to cry while I called the proud soon-to-be parents. So yeah, we were the family with no babies for a long long time and now Morgan is getting a cousin his very own age. Turns out all my fears about whether the second would be as exciting as the first were unfounded.

Sterling and Megan are totally dope. This is one lucky little kiddo.

Sister Sister

There are many, many reasons it is wonderful to have my sister Emily around. We eat Christmas balls and drink Dr. Pepper and laugh the same laugh, she helps me put together the things in my closet in ways I would never think about and tonight she even helped me do this.

it's been an awesome weekend.

Eggs

I am having dinner tonight with a friend who was so dead set against having kids that last month when she asked me to guess who was pregnant I threw out 10 celeb names before she finally said all exasperated "it's me!!". And although I completely respect those couples who decide children aren't for them, my heart skipped a beat for them and for the world. They are just the kind of delightful people who really ought to reproduce. I'm so excited to see how her belly has grown in a month!

Yesterday my sister-in-law sent me a text photo of Morgan. I do realize that I am biased and I don't know for sure if he's the cutest kid ever born but I sure do love him more then I realized I was going to. I mean, I love plenty of people and the way I feel about members of my family is kind of bordering on ridiculous. But I am constantly surprised at how often I'm thinking about Morgan, or craving photos of him, or buying him stuff or just flat out missing him. All those years I kind of rolled my eyes at the baby hungry girls around me going on and on about their nieces and nephews-I just didn't know. I am constantly wondering what his voice is going to sound like and what food will be his favorite and what kind of music we'll teach him to enjoy. And when I think about anyone every hurting his feelings or him being disappointed, well I guess it's just a good thing I'm working through some of my serious meddling mother tendencies now.

Kids are rad, I'm glad people are having them. I'm off to see what I can eat in front of pregnant Angela to make her really jealous (bring me tuna! bring me feta!!)

Panther

I have been really spoiled with good visitors since I moved here. My friend Rudy was in town for work last week and into the weekend. He had all his evenings free so we got to hang out quite a bit. We had lots of interesting conversations about politics and religion and relationships while trying good restaurants, seeing James Bond, shopping and hitting up a show last night. We had a lot of fun. One highlight for me is that Rudy is a serious internet sleuth and he managed to find and download all seven episodes of the Friday Night Lights season currently airing only on DirecTV. I had only seen the first two episodes at a friend's house before I decided that imposing on people who didn't watch the show was going to get old.

I have said this before and I will say it again-this is one of the greatest television shows of ever. It got a little off track last season in it's quest to get more viewers and the first episode of this season felt a little uneven as well. I was worried. But I've spent the last two days laughing and crying and feeling like I was at a family reunion. High drama is gone and we just have our quiet little Dillon, Texas back.

Winter is coming and if you are looking for something to do with your long, chilly evenings, go to Target or put Season One of FNL in your Netflix cue and catch up. This DirecTV season will be on NBC in February and it's well written, beautifully shot and the acting is stellar. It's totally worth getting hooked.

The music on the show is always so great too, one of my favorite finds from these last few episodes is this one by Scott Matthews.

Offering

Katie made a really great point that with Thanksgiving so late we really won't get the full amount of Christmas music listening time. So that means I should really start on my mixes this weekend.

And since some of you have expressed interest in getting your hands on one, you can send an email to the address on my profile. But be warned, no artist is off the table when it comes to holiday music.

Special

I really, really love Christmas music. I like the traditional hymns and carols, I like modern interpretations of old songs, I like new christmas songs as long as they aren't just lame pop songs with Christmas lyrics. During the holiday season I listen to so much Christmas music that I almost irritate myself with all the good cheer.

However! I hold fast to my mother's rule that you DON'T PLAY CHRISTMAS MUSIC UNTIL THANKSGIVING. So it was with a certain amount of dismay that I discovered the radio station here in Boston that has already started it's "all christmas all the time" rotation way, way too early. Imagine how torn I was last night when I turned on the car and heard the lovely beginning strains of Nat King Cole's "Christmas Song"-a song that is not only perfect and timeless on it's own but still has the power to make me feel like I am seven years old and watching my mother put that record on the turntable and oh it's the most wonderful time of the year!!!-and while my heart was all ready to give in and start singing and charging down nostalgia lane, my mind was saying, "no no no!! it's not time! it's NOT TIME! I AM NOT READY!". It was awful. I had to change stations because I can't possibly taint such a perfect song with so much internal conflict. As much as I wanted to go home and start dusting off my playlists and getting my mixes ready (I might even send one to a lucky reader or two) I knew that in this world of instant gratification, I want to stand firm on my decision to wait. I want to save my ears so that when the time is right, I can properly enjoy U2 covering "Baby Please Come Home" and driving through the snow to "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains of Wayne. I want The Oak Ridge Boys Christmas album to feel as special as it always did when I memorized every word as a kid. I get so excited thinking about Harry Connick Jr, and the MoTab Choir and that fantastic "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" that the Barenaked Ladies did with Sarah Mclachlan but I will hold out. I'm pretty sure it's totally going to be worth the wait.

Do you realize

Last weekend I was looking for some good sweaters to get my wardrobe ready for the long dark winter. There happened to be an American Eagle on the street so I popped in thinking they usually have cute winter things and that's when it happened. I realized that I am too old for American Eagle. And not in a "oh sad! I'm not cool enough anymore" kind of way but in a "ugh, I hate this place and I would rather have one nice piece from J. Crew then four from here" kind of way. And in a year when I'm feeling my age way more then I want to, it's kind of nice to have those moments where I feel like the good kind of adult.

(Thankfully I'm also the kind who rushed home from the gym to watch Gossip Girl so there's that too.)

Holly Berries

Just bought my tickets home to Utah for the holidays. It will be delightful to see everyone but mostly it will be good to see this guy.

New Edition

Several members of my family have joined the blog world recently.

My mom is blogging about her spectacular garden. You seriously have to see it to believe it-her yard looks like she's got an entire staff.

My brother Christopher is blogging about Urban Planning and it's terribly interesting stuff if you like things like the earth and ways to make it better.

And my brother Logan is blogging about life in general.

That makes seven of us with blogs. We are taking over the world you see.

Royalty

My musical preferences are all over the board. The last few purchases in my iTunes include K-os, DJ Antoine, Martin Sexton, Brett Dennen, Leona Naess, Bill Conti, Ryan Adams and Adele. I like a little bit of just about anything. But I have this photo of me when I was just old enough to sit up, on the floor in front of my pops playing his electric guitar. The foundations of my education were built by a guy who liked to rock.

So while I adore my swedish pop and my hip hop and my singer/songwriter friends, give me guitars, give me drums, give me loud music through giant speakers and I am a happy, happy girl. Kings of Leon is such a band and their newish album Only by Night is just chock full of songs that will fill up your whole body. I found this live version of "Use Somebody"-it's rich and full and the lyrics are pleading and the guitars are insistent and it's about to make me go tear it up on the five miler I feel like I need today. I really recommend you watch this with your speakers up as high as possible. Songs like this are the reason groupies exist.

Rock

Although I've been planning to vote for Barack Obama for quite a long time now, I wasn't prepared to be as emotional as I was last night and continue to be today. Watching his beautiful family come onto the stage last night I burst into tears. I had some things I wanted to say but I feel like my sister and my dad both did it better.

I hope that regardless of who you voted for, we can all send our prayers and good thoughts to the man who will be leading us for the next four years. It's an unstable world right now and he will need all the help he can get.

Tears of Joy

Hooray for Change. I am awake too late and should be doing other things but I sat and watched President Obama make a really wonderful and inspiring speech tonight. I'm ready to see what he's got in store for us.

V-O-T-E

I'm so excited to vote tomorrow. I hope you are too.

I brought some work home from the office and although I'm not that excited about doing it, I did get in a workout and a good episode of Gossip Girl and I get to listen to whatever I want while I do it.

Tonight it's all Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. The new album came out this week and I'm so in love.

This song is super sexy people, 5 seconds into it I was hooked.



I realize that I have what borders on an unhealthy attachment to Mr. Adams but seriously! Listen to this stuff!!

And then get up early and VOTE!

You Betcha

I decided to take advantage of the many comparisons I've gotten to Tina Fey over the last year or so and I did this for Halloween

More gems from last night