Phew! It's been quite a week. Lots to catch up on! Last Wednesday I had lunch at Granite City with Mary Beth (one of the Game Day Girls from Chicago, who was visiting family in MN for the holiday). It was SO much fun to see her. We sat and talked for a couple hours. There was a lot to catch up on! When I got home, I went on a quick walk with Tomkin and Chloe, and then I headed to Weight Watchers. I had lost 1.8 pounds that week, for a total of 11.2 so far. That evening, Tomkin went out with Pete, and I opted to say in. I hadn't had a quiet, relaxing evening alone for a while, and it was really nice.
Thursday was Thanksgiving! Tomkin got the ham in the oven while I set the table. We took Chloe on a short walk to a nearby park and let her run off some energy. Then about 2:00, Tomkin's parents arrived, followed short thereafter by my dad, Sandy, and Alex. I love doing holidays potluck style! Tom and Nancy brought a huge salad, and Sandy made scalloped potatoes. Everything was so delicious! 
After the meal, Alex headed downstairs to watch football, while the rest of us looked at photos and chatted. Eventually we had room for dessert--Sandy had made a cheesecake (yum!) and had also brought along sugar-free ice cream. I had a little of everything, but not too much of anything. And, really, the meal is just a good excuse to get together with loved ones, which was the best part! Everyone took off about 5:00, and then we cleaned up and just chilled out for the evening. We played on our computers and watched a little TV. What a wonderful day!
Tomkin had a wedding rehearsal on Friday afternoon. I got stuff done around the house. We drove to Solo Vino to pick up some wine and browsed around the Paper Patisserie (I love that store!). We went home and got Chloe, then walked down Grand Ave. to the liquor store to pick up rum for our next Third Thursdays gathering. (We'll be serving hot mulled apple cider with spiced rum.) Chloe graciously carried the bottles home for us. 
That evening we went to the Surly Brewery tour. Neither of us had been there before, and it was fun to see the brewery itself and to hear Omar's stories of building his business. Of course it was also awesome to see Becca slinging beers while she had baby Leo strapped to her. 
Christopher and Pam were in town (an excellent bonus of living here is getting to see them more often!), so after the tour the six of us went out for dinner and drinks. We went to Salsa a la Salsa and had delicious food and margaritas. 
We laughed a lot and had a great time. It's so much fun to hang out with all of them!
Saturday morning we slept in, which was heavenly. Luke came over to rehearse an "illusion" with Tomkin, which they later performed at the Scooby Doo Mansion Talent Show. [Note: The photos from my new camera take a few minutes each to upload, so I'm scaling back on the numbers of shots I'm including in this blog post. However, this link will bring you to my album of talent show photos on Facebook.]
Tomkin ran some errands, and I got stuff done around the house. We walked Chloe to the coffeeshop and back, and then Tomkin took a two-hour nap. He had to officiate a wedding, and I headed over to the talent show. We all mixed and mingled for a while, and then the show began (just after Tomkin arrived!). 
There were lots of amazing acts: Tomkin did a couple magic tricks (including the chain trick he had practiced earlier with Luke), Jacqueline demonstrated how to make Pow Wow Buns (hilarious!), Charles did a reading, Roxanne belly-danced, and Mark taught everyone how to do a loon call. However...nothing could really top the fire breathers. We bundled up and went outside, and these two guys started by "manipulating" fire with their hands. Then they "ate" fire. And then they breathed huge bursts of flames into the air. It seemed really dangerous, but it looked really cool. Not surprisingly, they took first place in the voting. (Jacqueline came in second.) My "talent" for the evening was taking pictures. Maybe next year I'll do something more.
When we woke up Sunday morning, there was snow on the ground! We hung around the house for a while, then walked Chloe to the coffeeshop and Kowalski's. We watched some TV, played on our computers (Facebook is such a timesuck! If you're not on it, you should totally join....), and then we exercised while watching the season one finale of "Project Runway." We knew who won before we even started watching the show, but it was still dramatic to see how it all unfolded. I can't wait to start watching the next season! That evening Tomkin read while I worked and watched "Amazing Race." I'm just a sucker for those reality shows!
On Summit AvenueMonday I spent almost the entire day running errands. I hadn't wanted to shop around Thanksgiving because I figured the stores would all be crazy. So by Monday I had a two-page shopping list for Target. I spent three hours there! Ugh. That's too much even for me. Tomkin and I walked Chloe, and then we all went to Syd and Dave's house for dinner. 
Chloe and George hoping that Dave will drop some beef.
Chloe loves going over there, and playing with their dog, George. (She also likes it there because they let her sleep on the bed when they dog-sit!) Dave always cooks such amazing food. That evening's meal was pho, the Vietnamese soup. It was incredible! We also had blueberry martinis and wine. Their friend Bill joined us, and we all had a great time hanging out and talking.
Chloe and George hoping that Dave will drop some beef.
Tuesday was Tomkin's first day working in his new office space. He finally got sick of working in the small, cold attic and decided to find a space he could rent. And he found one that's perfect! It's in a cool old building on University Ave., in an up-and-coming artsy area. His office is really big and has a window that opens. It's five minutes from home and across the street from a funky coffeeshop. He's still settling in and getting it furnished and homey, but he's absolutely thrilled. 
Tomkin's new office building on University Ave.
We took Chloe for a walk, and then Tomkin met with a couple. (He's been booking weddings for this month!) Then last night we went to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner with Peter and Mandy. We talked about their recent trip to Ely (which included a visit to the shooting range and watching the Ice House Parade), local politics, efforts to curb panhandling, Obama versus Bill Clinton, the housing market, exes, and all kinds of other interesting topics. The food was incredible--we had shrimp as an appetizer and then I had salad, scallops, and potato croquettes for dinner, along with a glass of wine. By this time, despite my efforts to be as good as possible all week, I had blown threw all my Weight Watchers points (and then some) and figured the week would be a loss (or not!) weight-wise. But, regardless, it was fun to get together with so many friends during the week and enjoy so much delicious food.
Today I worked on editing my first article for NEED magazine and did some other work as well. I left early for Weight Watchers so I could shop at Barnes & Noble. I think I'm just about done with my Christmas shopping! Good thing, since I leave two weeks from today for Texas! I did not have high hopes going into my WW meeting. I just hoped I hadn't gained anything.... Turns out I lost 1.6 pounds this week! I was really amazed. That puts me at a total loss of 12.8 pounds. Woo hoo! Pretty soon it'll be time to go shopping for new clothes. Tomkin realized today that since I started doing Weight Watchers, HE has lost 10 pounds! I guess we were attending too many happy hours and just not watching what we were eating. Thankfully, Tomkin is a great cook, and I'm learning good lessons from WW, so I don't feel "deprived." 
In front of a well-lit home on Summit Avenue
I hope that your Thanksgiving was wonderful and that you're enjoying the holiday season so far! Until next week...take care, and thanks for reading my blog!
3 comments:
I'm proud of all your WW efforts Julie and how great it is that Tomkin is benefitting too!
But I was really disappointed to learn that Luke isn't ACTUALLY magic, like unicorns. Sigh.
You ARE your mother's child, after all, so you should actually refer to the dinner potato dish as "scalped" rather than "scalloped"...she has been mocked for this for some time. Now it's your turn to be mocked.
Very jealous that you got to see Christopher and Pam, but glad for all of you.
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