Sigh... again? Really?

Yeah... for real. I am restarting my blog for the umpteenth time. I really like to change my blog name each time I dive back in. It helps to reinvigorate me. But... Layne and I have been noodling on it for the past half hour or so and nothing has really come to us. A lot of names lay dejected at our feet, fallen with our laughter at how ridiculous and stupid blog names can be. Some of them were half serious, some too completely horrible to even imagine using.

Either way, I'm doing this blogging thing again. The name still might change. Get ready for some awesome stories about watching TV and way too much detail about everything I eat. YAY!

Let's Talk Turkey.

Due to my extremely busy schedule (read:laziness) I haven't posted yet on Thanksgiving. And while I know most of you have moved on to Christmas, I have to recap what an amazing Thanksgiving I had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the second year, we drove up to Boston to spend time with my brother-in-law James, his wife Marne, and their three little munchkins Olivia, Bowen, and Jane. With four chefs, we divided up the cooking and all agreed it was the absolute easiest Thanksgiving we had ever experienced. And everything was delicious! I'll spare you the blow-by-blow, but highlights included the free range organic turkey, cornbread, stuffing, and Layne's bacon wrapped shrimp. 

We also ran a 5k the morning of Thanksgiving. And by ran, I mean I walked and Layne ran the whole thing! He seriously damaged his ankle and has been limping around ever since, but he killed his previous best. I am SO proud! 

On the way home, we stopped in NYC. It was a quick trip since Layne was on crutches, but so much fun! We hit up Santaland in Macy's and checked out a lot of store windows. We went to "Peter Pan and the Starcatcher" - super cute. We also hit up Junior's for cheesecake again, and stopped in the Italian District where we picked up a cannoli and some some other special treats. In all, we bought dessert from three separate places. #fatties

(But isn't getting fat the whole point of Thanksgiving?)

Layne's Birthday Week

I apologize for the EXTREME tardiness of this post. I'll try to get back on track in coming days. 


We are BIG into birthdays at our place. So even though it's just the two of us and we're getting older, we go all out when we celebrate. Hence, birthday week.

Previous birthday weeks have included a trip to Vegas, lots of shopping, even more food, and some sort of nightly entertainment. It is basically just a week for me to spoil my man and I love every minute of it! There's planning, and shopping, and organizing. It's wonderful.

This week as we neared birthday week, we were both pretty sick. Also, there were rumors of a hurricane barring down on us. So while I normally plan some big activity every day, this year I copped out and got Layne a gift for every day and we watched a lot of movies. It was so much fun to hand him a surprise every day and watch his face light up as he unwrapped them!

We did manage to make it out to Alexandria for a Ghost & Graveyard tour with Amy and Andrew, though that was more for Amy and me than for Layne. He was sweet to indulge us!

The weekend after his birthday we went to The Palm for Layne's big birthday dinner and what may have been the best meal of our lives. We had kind of a disgusting amount of food... First of all, bread basket. I hate restaurants that don't give me free stuff just for sitting down. And The Palm had the most incredible butter I have ever tasted. I wanted to just dip my spoon in it. The basket was reduced to crumbs in no time. We started with the beef tenderloin carpaccio and baked clams casino. I love a nice, earthy carpaccio and this did not disappoint! And the clams casino were so flavorful and - oh my gosh. I'm too hungry to write this post; my mouth is watering just remembering it! Then we moved onto the salad, a capri with these thick tomato slices and the most incredible mozzarella I have ever had. Onto the main course, where I got a causal 14 oz filet mignon and Layne got the surf and turf, which consisted of half a lobster and a boneless 18 oz rib-eye. HOLY. We also got two sides - goat cheese mashed potatoes and green beans with pancetta, pine nuts, and pepper flakes. After we had both gained about five lbs, we decided that we each needed dessert. Layne got the cheesecake with raspberry sauce and I got the chocolate cake. Aaahhhh.... SO. GOOD.

We finally finished (officially) celebrating Layne's birthday mid-November with the Wizards vs. Jazz game. Both teams performed horribly, but we had AMAZING seats so it was all very worth it. A great ending to Layne's birthday celebration. Love you, Baby!

Halloween or Bust

I am sad to report that this year, we went bust. :/

The plan was this.

Hall and Oates

Unfortunately, Layne and I both got sick the week before Halloween and we didn't make it to the ward party, the only valid excuse we had to dress up. I had the cold that would not die (literally, ten days of being a snot factory), and Layne was out flat on his back all week. Translation: We are super lame.

We did manage to make it over to a friend's place the night of Halloween to enjoy some candy, popcorn, and guac alongside a scary movie. We had planned on watching "The Shining," but when we selected it from the DVR it was the BRITISH version. As if we wanted to watch THE BRITS on Halloween?! Do they even celebrate it?

Instead, we watched a scary movie very accurately titled "The Hole."

A cheap, made for TV vibe, but sufficiently creepy to get that Halloween fix. (Still hoping to follow up with Paranormal 4 to put the cap on my scary movie count for the year.)





Also, I had to look it up. The Brits do celebrate Halloween. For like, 6 days. Maybe we're not doing it right.

Deep Creek Lake

I know this was a long time ago, but for Memorial Day we spent a few days at Deep Creek Lake. I wanted to share some pictures that I took in the morning fog because I thought the fog was SO COOL!

Autumn

As I say good-bye to summer, I can barely hide my anticipation for fall!!! Here are a couple of things that I want to do as the weather cools and the leaves turn...

Mount Vernon
Smithsonian (I live in the coolest city)
A trip up to visit the Boston Fletchers
Celebrating Layne's birthday week
Thanksgiving - the day we celebrate obesity
And lots of warm nights cuddled up with Mister Fletcher!


I've already enjoyed my first scarf day of the season,

carving pumpkins (epic fail),

my first batch of pumpkin bread,

and my first hot chooclate. Though I never really stopped with the hot chocolate... I LOVE whipped cream far too much.

Good-bye Sunshine

Good-bye Sunshine!

I'll miss you through the nipping chill of winter. Though I first have a warm, amber autumn to enjoy, so I suppose our parting is bittersweet.

The last few months have flown by. Summer has seen its last sunset and schoolkids are slogging through homework and planning their Halloween costumes. Last year, Layne and I were Marty McFly and Doc.

We rocked it.

In the last few weeks of summer, Layne's mom visited and so did my dad. We took a trip to Deep Creek Lake with family friends, and  Layne visited his brother and family in Boston while I spent a few weeks in Utah. And then we turned around and it was October!

What did you spend your last few weeks of summer doing? I hope you made the most of it before cold weather sets in!