Girl Time

Last week I got to have lunch with Brigitte and Kami- we were celebrating Brigitte's birthday. We had some great veggie sandwiches from a new place near us and sat outside at the park eating while the kids played. It was such a nice day. I can't believe this is the end of November! We gave Brigitte a massive chocolate bar and the book "A Town Like Alice" since she likes to read. I hope she enjoys it! By the way, she just had a baby girl six weeks ago, whom she named Mia.



That night, I got to go to Blogger Book Club at Kelly's new place in Provo. The month we read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," which I enjoyed very much. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking about my Grandma Maher, my dad's mom, who grew up very poor in Manhattan. She was born just a little earlier than the main character in the book, and she and her sister were raised in an orphanage. Reading this book made me so thankful for the things I have, and the life I have enjoyed. I thought it was written really well and even though the story itself wasn't exciting or riveting, I really grew to love the characters and wanted to finish and see how their lives turned out. At the bookclub that night we had a great feast with so much good food.

Wednesday I got together with Kaylyn and Stacey to work on a Christmas project. We were surrounded by kids and it felt like we were in Grand Central Station, but that's the way it goes, isn't it? It was still fun to work on the project together and to have lunch and chat. I brought the leftover butternut squash ravioli that I had taken to bookclub and Kaylyn had coincidentally made spinach ravioli- we enjoyed having a little of each along with some salad.

Thursday I got my haircut by Lori's adorable friend, Whitney. She does a great job. I love the color (and the fact that my greys are now covered again- phew!) I always enjoy chatting with her. Last time we watched a comedy DVD and this time we listened to Hotel Cafe and the beautiful voices of Meiko and Ingrid Michaelson, etc. She cuts at her house which is closer to me than where she works at Sassy's salon in Orem. I loved my hair for a couple days, then I had to wash it and style it myself and I was once again reminded of how unbelievably handicapped I am when it comes to hair! I am hopeless.



Friday I met Jared's cousin, Elise, for lunch. We lived right next door to her in Australia, so she became a good friend to me and we actually served in the Relief Society presidency together too. Her husband, Don, is American, so they are here visiting for Thanksgiving and for her SIL's wedding. I got to meet her new baby, Annabelle, who is a total angel.



She is always smiling- if you even look at her she breaks out into an enormous grin. What a doll! It was nice to catch up and hear what's happening back in Australia. We also chatted about Twilight which has hit Australia by storm. She is so excited to be able to see the movie before it opens in Australia. We had a quick lunch at Kneaders and squeezed in all the conversation you can with two 2 year olds and a baby present.

That night we couldn't go to Game Night at Jill's b/c Olivia had some spots which we suspected were Hand, Foot, Mouth disease (not Hoof and Mouth), it's going around our neighborhood. We decided not to infect our family, or anyone else, and stay home. So Olivia and I did some crafts at the kitchen table. I decided I wanted to do the muffin tin Advent Calendar that I didn't get to do at Craft night last Friday. Olivia settled down next to me doing some scrapbooking and paper crafts. About 6 hours later, I finished. It took forever! I love the outcome but I never would have guessed that it would take so long.



Last night I rounded out a long week of girl time by going out with 19 ladies from my neighborhood to see Twilight! Kaylyn was kindly the head honcho and organizer of the whole thing. I think the subject came up and a few people said they wanted to go, but then it just grew and grew. She was so nice to order all the tickets and call everyone, organize carpools, etc. I loved the Edward t-shirt she made for $4 ($2 tee at O.N. and $2 iron on letters). Very nice!



We all met at Olive Garden for dinner. We had a huge table at the back. I tried to get a good photo but we were so crowded the angle wasn't great. It was hard to get all our dinners and finish eating within an hour and a half, but we just about did it. We raced to the theater and found our seats JUST as the movie was starting.





It was a lot of fun. I couldn't decide if I was glad to have read the book before or not- I just read it this weekend. It might have been nice not to have any expectations, but at the same time I liked knowing the basic plot, even if the movie veers off now and then. I have to say I was searching for the "chiseled Greek god" named Edward and didn't really find him... but he does grow on you by the end of the movie. After we got out we were all chatting excitedly and comparing notes and talking about what we liked or didn't like. I almost thought we needed to go out for ice cream and review the whole thing. My visiting teachers came this morning (both of which were there last night) and we spent 20 minutes going over it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'll be getting up early with Austin to do the 5K Turkey Trot sponsored by Fleet Feet. I wish I had known that there is a local 5K just down the street, but oh well. Landon is meeting us to do the 5K as well so Austin will be happy with that and thankfully my knee seems to be on the mend so I can run too! I am slowly working my way up again in the mileage but things are looking good. Definitely something to be thankful for.

After that we're headed to my aunt's house in South Jordan. Every year we meet my mom's extended family there for the big celebration. We all get assignments. This year I had to make Broccoli Casserole. The fun part is that we still carry on the tradition of the Talent Show we used to do when we were kids. Last year, my kids sang a Primary song, but this year Austin is playing some Christmas songs on the piano and the girls are going to dance (which should be really interesting). After dinner, my family all go back to my parent's house and we eat dinner, play games, etc. Good times. Have a great Thanksgiving!