Thankful for Friends & Family!!

Thanksgiving is that wonderful time of year where we celebrate parades, football, overeating, days off from work, and some other things I've entirely forgotten about. Here are some things I'm giving thanks for in 2010...

10. The old man in our toll booth lane who was wearing a stuffed turkey on his head making our Turkey Day drive that much more enjoyable.

9. O|A|R playing on my iPod. My love for music and amazement of advancing technology has been crammed into one spectacular device. If it weren't for my iPod it's possible I would not survive some days at work, I might never clean the house, and I would be bored stiff on road trips!

8. Sweatpants and my leather couch. Oh, what would I do without the world’s best comforts? I didn't manage to escape the winters by moving to Boston, so when days get cold, I grab a book, get in my jammies and crawl under a blanket as if snowmageddon was taking place outside my door. It is one of the most relaxing, most comfortable feelings in the world!

7. Pizza Fridays: Not only am I thankful to have a job in this economy, but I love having an employer who treats me to lunch every Friday. I look forward to pizza on Fridays for many reasons, one being that I don't have to make lunch in the morning, which means I can hit that snooze button a few more times. That extra sleep is precious going into the weekend!

6. All the things I couldn't live without on a daily basis... Diet Coke, the internet, perscription strength deoderant, etc.

5. Sampler Packs. It is fun testing out different varieties of beer and the sampler pack is the perfect way to do so without spending a fortune on just one beer. And even if there's a bad one in the bunch, you don't have to choke down too many. This time of year is notorious for seasonal brews. Which reminds me, have you tasted the Sam Winter yet this year?

4. Red Box DVDs. Thank you Red Box for making it so convenient and affordable to spend the perfect night cozied up at home with my wonderful boyfriend.

3. My at times crazy, but mostly lovable yellow lab - Kenzie. No matter how angry, frustrated or irritated I am from the day, her wagging tail and “miss you” licks melt it all away. Who wouldn’t be thankful to have such a wonderful pet? And the best part is, she doesn't talk back!

2. My good health, which has allowed me to live the life I love... traveling, hiking, golfing, snowboarding, etc. I like the outdoors and exploring everything it has to offer. There is great joy in seeing the world from the summit of a mountain you just worked so hard to climb.

1. And finally, I am thankful for having such great friends and family!! You are all brilliant, inspiring, and can make me laugh out loud even on the worst days. My relationship with each and every one of you has molded me into the person I have become today.


This year we spent Thanksgiving in Sunapee, NH. We went with Mike and Hannah to Hannah's family Thanksgiving. There were lots of people, all very welcoming, which was very appreciated since we had to spend the holidays away from home. We ate too much food and desserts (of course), played some two hand touch football in the backyard, and had some entertaining conversations into the night. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. Much thanks to Hannah and her family for inviting us and making us feel so welcomed!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!

Brewing Beer

Two weeks ago, we did our annual fall beer brewing outing with people from work. We go to a place called IncrediBREW in Nashua, NH - it is a brew-it-yourself brewery. It's pretty cool! They have six brew kettles that you can rent out to brew your favorite beers. They have over 80 recipes to chose from! Once you decide on the beers you want to brew (and that may be the hardest part!) you weigh out all your grains, hops, and malts and the brewing process begins. It takes about 2 hours to brew... and in the down time, it leaves plenty of opportunity to socialize, eat pizza, and sample some beers. Last year we rented all six kettles, this year the number of people was down slightly, so we only did three kettles. Each kettle holds about 14 gallons of beers... which when you come back in two weeks for bottling turns into about 72 (22-oz) bottles of delicious goodness. Tonight was our night to go back and bottle the beers. Now our fridge is officially stocked for the holiday season. We cracked one open tonight to test it out and it was really good... now I can't wait to try the other two! Cheers!

Happy Halloween from Gillette Stadium!

On Sunday we attended the Halloween match up between the Patriots and the Vikings at Gillette Stadium. It was a 4 o'clock game, so we arrived at 11am with about five car loads of people all decked out in purple... that way we had plenty of time for tailgating. We had an awesome tailgating setup with a prime front row spot in the parking lot since we arrived so early. We had multiple grills, banners, flags, balloons, bags, and even an inflatable Vikings player. We had an amazing spread of food... hot dogs, brats, steak tips, state fair style pork chops on a stick, taco dip, spinach dip, chili, cheese and crackers,and plenty of coolers full of drinks. We even had some MN people fly out for the game and they brought us some Michgolden! I was actually surprised by how much purple I saw in the parking lots, but we were by far the biggest Vikings crew. Tailgating was definitely a success... and lots of fun! Makes me wish we could do it more often. My all time favorite part was getting everyone together for the group photo and we all broke out in song, "Skol Vikings, let's win this game..."

In the spirit of Halloween, there were also quite a few people dressed up for the game. Some of the costumes were pretty amusing. I saw everything from Bieber Fever in a Tom Brady jersey to Brett Favre's cell phone and of course tons of Randy Moss afro wigs! Some of my favorites were a mummy wrapped up in bandages wearing a #4 jersey poking fun at our old and injured quarterback. Another person in the crowd was dressed up exactly like Childress. They showed the fan in the stands up on the big screens, then showed Chilly on the sidelines, and went back and forth between the fan and the coach - it was pretty funny.

The first half of the game was great. The stadium was packed, but we had good seats with a good view - second level on about the 10 yard line. Favre started despite his busted ankle, as we all knew he would, to keep his streak intact. The Patriots debuted their throwback jerseys for this game. An interested stat I heard, our throwback QB was actually in the league when the Patriots really wore these jerseys! Watching the game live was fun... I got to see Adrian Peterson muscle in for a touchdown. We were either ahead or tied during the first two quarters which made for an exciting game. We were surrounded by some fun Pats fans, so there was lots of giving and taking in the taunting department. After halftime, the Vikes came out and got a field goal, and the Pats responded with a touchdown. We got the ball back and Favre throws an interception, which the Pats converted into another TD. And it was all downhill from there. I was really hoping Moss would have been a bigger factor in this game, but Tom Brady and his Patriots team proved to be too much for us this time around. Despite the loss, I think I can speak for everyone and say we still had a great time!! There were too many pictures to post for this one, so check out the slide show below:



HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND SKOL VIKINGS!!