Tuesday, November 16, 2010

"they've got something it's so hard to find"

the song: "Friends of Mine" The Zombies

Woowee! We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Puerto Vallarta where we spent three days...


Laying on the beach.


Drinking drinks with silly names like "Swimming Pool" and "Miami Vice" (our poolside waitress' description? "Pina colada with red.")


Getting too much sun. That's me out there teetering on the edge. You can see the husband's feet, too.


And eating delicious Mexican food that was almost-certainly-not-vegetarian. Seriously though, how could I resist those chilaquiles?

It was a really amazing way to celebrate 5 amazing years of marriage, and I feel extremely fortunate that we got to dedicate time to relaxing together in a beautiful place. I'm also thankful to be home in one piece with very few travel problems.

Now you know what time it is, right? It's my favorite time of year...Thanksgiving! It's a good thing I'm relaxed because boy oh boy do I have some work to do. For the past three years the husband and I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner with our friends who stay in Austin for the holiday (read about last year here.) We both look forward to this so much, because it is one of the first traditions we've created for ourselves. 

We moved into our home (with the help of a dear and super strong friend) on Thanksgiving day 4 years ago. After a day of moving, which obviously was more stressful than the average day, said strong friend had us over for an amazing Thanksgiving feast. We didn't bring a thing. I don't even think we brought beer. That night, I was able to forget the boxes to be unpacked. I was able to forget the mortgage we'd just signed and all the "am I really grown up enough to do this?" thoughts that had been racing around in my mind since we started the process of buying a home. Surrounded by our small group of our beautiful friends, eating delicious vegetarian food, I started to feel like we were doing something right. 

My confidence grew as years rolled on. The next year, we moved the party to our home. The following year we branched out and invited even more people, rearranging our kitchen and living room to accomodate everyone. This year I feel so little anxiety going into the holiday that it makes me a little nervous. 

My eerily calm state comes from having the most wonderful friends on earth. I sent out a somewhat vague Thanksgiving email to see who was around and who was interested. It was immediately met with many excited "yes" responses, descriptions of food that will grace our table next week, offers to help, and thank you's. And I'm happy to say that our awesome friend who started this tradition will be attending as well. Just like they did 4 years ago, my friends fill me with a sense of peace. We may not have it all figured out, but we're all in it together. That goes for dressing and cranberry sauce, too.

Recipes and menu to come! Stay tuned.

~eeg

1 comment:

  1. This was so sweet to read. I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving with you guys. xo

    ReplyDelete