Thanksgiving recap

So this year, I didn't get to post 30 days of being thankful but it's far from meaning that I wasn't thankful. Even though we are doing the dreaded long distance relationship, we've seen each other 4 times in the past 2.5 months. I've been able to visit with old and new friends and find new hobbies. And to cap it, my new job is very flexible. I was able to work from home in Birmingham for 1.5 weeks.
I left Boston early on Thursday morning (Nov 20). I was able to see friends, attend book club and craft night, and watch two Packer games with hubby. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the beach this year.
We decided for low key Thanksgiving. Tom picked up two great steaks from the local butcher, Mr. P's, and grilled them perfectly to medium rare and I made green bean casserole (yes, the fine china came out).

Two pies, pecan and pumpkin. I may have eaten 80% of the pecan pie, and yes, I'm a few pounds heavier in this fourth quarter of 2014.

Tom made his family recipe for artichoke dip in a bread bowl, and I made a wrapped baked brie with homemade jalapeno pepper jelly.

 

On Saturday, we attempted to replicate the seafood chowder from the Pump House, a restaurant that we went to in Fairbanks. It was very yummy, with our own twists.

It was great to be home, with family and friends, enjoy great food and be comfy. We managed to finish most of our Xmas shopping and I completed a few craft projects, including these fingerless gloves with the yarn from Kelly and Molly.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.

Snow?

This was a first for me: Driving in snow in New England. Well, it was just a dusting but I was glad for my scraper/brush thingy.

Yes, I will post about Thanksgiving soon.

Weekend Update

Lately, my days have been full of meetings and Friday was no different. Earlier in the day, I had joked with our admin that all this running didn't even get me a balloon. What a surprise to come back to my cube in between meetings to find this: 

After work, I met up with a co-worker and checked out a burger joint in my part of town. At 12: 10 am -ish, Tom landed in Boston and I picked him up from the airport.

Saturday started early - we toured 11 apartments trying to find our next rental, starting at 10 am and skipping lunch. We found one that had everything we were looking for and by 4 pm we were tired and done. We got a late lunch/early dinner, then stopped by the Home Depot where Tom got me a snow shovel and a snow brush. 

Sunday started early again to meet the owner of the house and sign the lease! So we have a place! 

We then went to hangout with family and watched the Packers game. Tom's aunt, Katy, had a birthday about two weeks ago and I knew that she wouldn't let me treat her to lunch. So instead, on Sunday, a bit late, she received a cowl from the merino wool I had purchased. 

We traded gifts as she had a nice cookbook and spices for my birthday that I can't wait to try. She had also ordered a chocolate cake and a raspberry mousse cake. Yum! 

And soon again, it was Monday morning 5 am, and Tom had to go and my meetings had to start again. 

Finally Friday

My favorite cake:

I brought this in and it was gone within 1 hr. I guess other people like it?
And Tom made up for not being here today by sending me this:

It's a heavy (about 2.5 lb) pillow (think the U-shape travel pillow that's really heavy) that I discovered at Massage Envy, which Tom and I joined a few months ago after hearing great things from friends. This, heated, and placed on the neck, back, legs, is just bliss. Can't wait to try it.

Weekend update

I tend to be a hermit so last week was a bit more social than others.
As the apartment search continues, I found myself driving by a house that I found on Craigslist to check out the parking situation after work one evening. That place would not work for us but since this was close to where cousin Ben lives, I met up with him for a couple of drinks and food.
Then on Friday, I met up with friend Jennifer who was in town for a conference, for dinner and drinks in Boston. This time, it only took me about 50 mins to get from work to downtown. It had taken me 1h45mins when I met up with Mike, Kate, and Ben for a comedy show (Jim Gaffigan is awesome) to celebrate Kate's birthday.
On Saturday, I went back to Boston twice. First in the morning for some window shopping and then again to check out an LSU bar... yes, I found an LSU bar, and yes, it is awesome. It reminded me of my college days and the South in general. I met up with some friends from UAB and much fun was had.

On Sunday, I went back in that direction to participate in a 5K walk with work folks to raise money for Autism Speaks. It was a bit cool but I got to see the new outlet mall in Somerville and found the Christmas Tree Shop. After the race, we caught a quick lunch and you guessed it, I went to check out my favorite store.
After all this socializing, I was glad to be on the couch to play with this:

I found a yarn store on Saturday, and purchased my first merino wool skeins. If I remember correctly, the owner of the store dyed those herself. It's a variegated blue. I already made a gift out of it so it will be gifted soon, after which I will post pictures.
It is getting cold and it will be very cold soon. Too bad these amazing boots will have to be returned - these Sorels are not comfy especially with thick socks on. I don't think that I will be ordering shoes online anytime soon. I can only hope that I can find something in stores but that should be easier now that I've had input from mom-in-law and friends Anne and Megan.

Lately

Hmm, where to begin.
Two weekends ago, I met up with Zak and Megan for the last day of apple picking. I reluctantly bought a bag to fill but we had a lot of fun. I even tried these apple donuts, which were delicious. I've been managing to eat an apple or two a day and this weekend I got a few cooking supplies to make some apple crumble and apple oatmeal. Will post pictures when (if) this happens.

Last weekend, I went to Birmingham. It was great to see the hubs and friends. Trips like these make it so much harder to come back to Boston. But I had a few things to take back with me. Take a guess... yarn! I picked up some yarn that I needed at the store and Kelly and Molly surprised me with some luxurious and soft yarn that they dyed, in my favorite color. I'm a lucky gal!
This weekend was cold and windy and overall yucky. I was supposed to check out a yarn store, go buy winter boots, and hang out with Anne. What's a girl to do but drink wine and Irish coffee and tackle chores and crafts.
It even snowed for about 5 hours on Sunday:

I finished the green potholder for my cousin's wedding present (roughly the same size, washed and dried and ready to be mailed):

 Then I decided to make a hat for me using the yarn from Kelly and Molly (it's more of a purple than a blue):

The basic hat pattern was very easy and decided to be a bit more adventurous and make a hat for my cousin's daughter in Texas as she has a birthday coming and like me, she likes pink. I hope that it will fit. The instructions were a bit more complex for the last rows and after two attempts, decided to keep it simple.

I have another skein of yarn from Kelly and Molly and I printed the pattern already so I have another project coming up soon.

In the garden

Remember this from previous post:

Here is the updated picture:

The smaller cutting didn't take. But when I watered, the perlite collapsed and exposed ROOTS! If you look closely, the leaves are bigger. Please continue to grow little cutting. It has been indoors for about 2 weeks now, out of an abundance of precaution.

Crafting update

A lot of crocheting has been happening. I have one project almost done (can't show it until Xmas).
So remember these potholders from previous posts?

So, I had left the red one in Bham during the move but knew how many stitches I had, so made the blue one in Boston. So these are part one and part two. Then, I had to make an emergency 24 hour visit to Birmingham and amidst the travel delay, started working on part 3, the yellow potholder. I finish the yellow one on the flight back to Boston and brought the red one back too. When I measured them, the yellow and red ones were almost the same size. The blue one was bigger.

Bummer. So I made another blue one this week and will keep the previous, larger one for another project.
On Friday, I had a Bones marathon and four episodes later, this happened:

I ran out of green yarn for part 4 of 4, with less than a fifth to go. Noes! I don't have the label anymore but I'm pretty sure this was from Hancock Fabrics, which doesn't have a store-front here. Since I will be going back next week, I will have to stop in and get another skein. Fingers crossed that they have the same green.
So a sneak peak at this project: 4 potholders in the colors (close to) of the Mauritian flag. In the picture, it looks like they are not the same size but they are (or at least very very close). These will go to my cousin who is getting married in December.

I've also been working on another project and after measuring on Friday, I now know that I will run out of that color yarn as well. Also I figured that my gauge isn't right. I increased the number of stitches because I was afraid of the fit and it turned out to be the same length as the pattern. Go figure. 

Weeks 3 and 4 in review

So week 3 featured a UAB reunion with my former classmates. The Drankas hosted and we watched the Alabama vs Miss State game. Then, I got sick. With rest and self-medication, I bounced back in just about 5 days.
Week 4 kicked off well by hanging out with family on Sunday. At work, I had a few exciting projects and I put in a lot of hours. I didn't mind because I was having fun :). But this conversation happened (my cube is close to my boss's office):
Boss: Kajal, you are working too many hours. Just because Tom isn't here doesn't mean that you spend all your time here. You need to find a balance.
Kajal: hmmm...I'm doing fine. Plus I figured I can bank all my hours now and next year when Tom is here I will leave everyday at 3 pm.
Boss laughs and says okay.

I got a free flu shot and health screening on Tuesday. Because of health issues in my family, I was worried but my cholesterol and glucose levels were normal. Woo hoo! UAB BFF Kedria convinced me to register for 6-week fitness classes: starting in the first week of November, I will be doing yoga, boot camp, and Pilates at work. I ate mostly well this week (today and Friday night were the exceptions).
First seared salmon with steamed veggies (sprinkled with a little bit of cheese). There were two portions of salmon so it was dinner and lunch.

 Then I made steak, sliced with steamed veggies drizzled with Hoisin sauce.

 I still had two more portions left, so one went with Ramen (my mom wouldn't let us eat noodles plain, so we always had noodles with veggies and protein). Yes, Ramen isn't low carb but I was craving it.

 




What I am grateful for: my in-laws. I received this amazing assortment of spices (13!) as a housewarming gift and it goes hand in hand with my low sodium diet. Pleasoning seasonings are low sodium alternatives for great dishes.

Also, my mom-in-law was great at calming me down today after having scoured 6 stores for winter boots. I am totally clueless as to what to get. I have dress boots and comfy boots (they are warm with no traction) but not a utility boot. Do I need the down boots or with super duper thinsulate? Ahh...was so ready to give up. Oh, why am I looking now? I was told that now is the time to shop when the inventory is still up because once the snow comes, everyone starts to shop and the selection will suck. Plus stores are already thinking about spring (apparently).

Friday bits

So it's no joke that the new job wants to keep me sane/healthy. I will elaborate more in the next week in review but for now let's just say that my boss told me that I work too many hours. So I left work early-ish @4:30 this afternoon and stopped by the Home Depot (yes, i know that I probably shouldn't shop there because of their data breach stuff). Why you ask? Well, if you know me, I like being prepared. I've always had DIY emergency kits in my car and at work and of course our camping gear fits that category. Having never lived in the north, I don't really know what to do about winter. I know I need a shovel. The following text ensued:

Kajal: are gardening shovels the same as snow shovels?
Tom: No (I imagine Tom shaking his head and laughing at the same time)
A few minutes later,Tom: I'll be there soon and I will choose one. I know which type to get
Kajal: ok. I was told I need a small shovel for the car. Would it be better to get that online?
Tom: you don't need a shovel in the car (Still probably shaking his head)

Should I ask him how many pounds of cat litter I need or the electric snow blower thingy that's in the infomertials? The >$150 snow boots? How about the super huge winter coats that make you look like the Michelin man?

Happy Friday!