Funny Faces

Vampire Rabbit:Rabbit:

Rebecca's Business-A True Entrepreneur!

After Thanksgiving, Andrea and I drove back to southern Kentucky to stay a few days with Erika and her family. I got a kick out of Rebecca-she started a book selling business in the foyer of their home! I gave her $2 and taught her what an "investment" is. :) And I bought a few "books."

Thanksgiving in Missouri

After having a great visit in Ohio, I drove to Radcliff, KY to meet up with my sister, Andrea. From there we drove to St. Louis where her family lives (she is living in KY temporarily for a job). I went to dinner with her and her husband, Robert.

On Thanksgiving, the three of us drove to Robert's sister's farm where all their kids were already.
We had a wonderful dinner with tons of choices. I was really impressed with Marina who was such a great help to her aunt, Denise. Here is a picture of Andrea and Marina:Massage train!Here I am with my niece, Olivia!Here is Robert's mom, Deannie. She is a sweet lady. :)Sisters hanging out!We all had a great time!

Nutcrackers

I drove from Kentucky to Ohio to visit with John. I arrived late that Monday night so we just caught up that night and then we went over to the Kidd's (where I was staying).

The following morning I had brunch with Corrine Kidd and Annie Baxter before I headed over to John's.

Our plan was to crack the walnuts he had cured for 2 months. He had four bags. Here he is opening the first bag.

Because the black walnuts were so hard, he had to smash them with a hammer and I would leave the table because pieces would fly everywhere!

Then I would sit back down and start taking the meat out of the shells with John.

One bag produced about 2 cups of walnuts. We only ended up doing one bag together because it took 3 hours! He did the other bags on his own later.

Here are the shells from our work.

Later on, John and I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Here he is enjoying a game on his phone.
I wish I could've stayed longer, but I left the next morning really early.

Kentucky Visit

I flew into Nashville because my sister now lives 90 miles north of Nashville. Erika, Brian and the kids picked me up and we went to Whole Foods, as well as had dinner at Wendy's (in Clarksville which is mid-way point between Nashville and Cadiz, KY. We had to go to Wendy's because every restaurant had an hour wait and Lauren was having serious hypoglycemia issues (I wasn't feeling too well myself!).

The next morning, I gave gifts to the kids. The girls got pink sea shells and Sebastian got a wasp captured in a resin. Here he is checking it out: While I was there I baked 3 HUGE loafs of banana bread to be given to various people on my travels (I gave one to John, one to Andrea and her family and one to Andrea's in-laws). Here is Lauren helping me put in the ingredients!

I also tried a new recipe for pumpkin bars. I made two of them: one for my guinea pigs, I mean Erika and her family and one for Don and Corrine who I stayed with in Ohio. Rebecca helped me frost them with cream cheese frosting.

I bought a bag of apples so that we could go across the way to where the horses corale.

Here are the kids demonstrating how to hold your hand out so you don't get your fingers bitten off.

Notice how flat my hand is-I need my digits!

We had a great time! The house with the grey roof is theirs!

Sharefest Fundraiser Dinner

Normally, I volunteer for the Sharefest fundraiser, which occurs every November. Because I knew this would be my last year, I decided to attend instead. Without knowing it, I replaced myself. I had mentioned to my friend, Liz (on right), that I usually volunteer, so she volunteered and convinced our other friend, Colleen (not pictured) to volunteer as well. Here is a picture of me at the silent auction portion of the evening.

I invited Shelley along so I wouldn't be all alone! We had a great time!

Jenn Yale's Bridal Shower

This Saturday I attended my friend, Jenn Yale's bridal shower. I've known Jenn for 14 years. We met in Boston when I was working at Boston Medical Center and she working for Andersen Consulting from their Chicago office. She and her other Andersen colleagues would fly from Chicago to Boston almost every week to work regular jobs. I got to know this group rather well because we were all the same age (fresh out of college) and I trained most of them on their job duties.

Jenn mentioned one week that she was staying in Boston over the weekend so I asked if she wanted to go to Concord with me. She said yes and that was the beginning of a few trips around the Boston area and of course started our friendship.

She moved out to Los Angeles not long after that to pursue her screenwriting dream. We get together at least once a year (as our schedules permit) to catch up. I'm very excited that she has found such a nice guy to get hitched to!

Here's Jenn laughing with some friends at our table.
Here is Janice (left), the co-host (the event was co-hosted by her and Jenn's mom and sisters) thanking everyone for coming. Jenn is showing off her vintage 60s dress that she "stole" from her mother's things! How cute is she?
Here are three of Jenn's friends. They are part of her "Trashy Teen Novel" book club.

Here I am with Jenn and her friend, Christina, who I was sitting next to and hit it off with. Christina is from New York, so we were talking about the difference between East and Left Coast attitudes and culture.

Jenn and I!

Jenn is gluten intolerant to say the least! Her friend, Monique, who was sitting to my right, brought dessert of Sprinkles. One box said "Tying the Knot" and those were regular chocolate cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate frosting and the other box was "Here Comes the Bride" with gluten free red velvet cupcakes. I tried the gluten free because I am trying to be "gluten light". I also wanted to try it for Shelley who does gluten free and LOVES red velvet cupcakes. It was very moist and delicious!

Here is the gift I brought for Jenn. On the invitation it was asked to bring the gift unwrapped, so I made sure not to use wrapping paper, but I couldn't help but use some decoration! I figure Jenn could use the flower for another gift or as decoration on something if she so desires. I just wanted to make it look pretty!