Countdown to T-Day

Well, not much is happening here.. My commitment to Thanksgiving this year is negligible, but there are a couple of exciting things happening. I might get to see Sara, our roommate from Chicago. She moved to Portland when we moved to SF, and will be visiting some friends here this week! Another friend, Rihoko, mentioned a while ago that she might also be visiting.. it would be nice to catch up with her, too. Carmen, our neighbor's cat, is keeping me company again this week, and I'll also be checking in on the four other cats (and kittens!) staying in the building. Our people are away for the holiday, so we're going to have fun while everyone else deals with flying!

Speaking of, Vanessa finally arrived in Louisville after spending the night in the Atlanta airport.. due to (I believe) a wrinkle in the universe, she waited at the wrong gate and missed her connecting flight yesterday. I hope she catches up on some rest today and enjoys the deep-fried turkey she hasn't stopped talking about since she decided to go!

I went to the store this morning to get a couple more survival supplies for the week, and came back with some cheeses I've never tried before, sparkling cider and prosecco in case I need to bring something to a T-Day feast, ingredients for a pumpkin pie made with hazelnuts and coconut milk (and puree from a real pumpkin!) from a recipe on 101 cookbooks, my favorite food blog.

I decided to treat myself to a recommended bottle of Oloroso sherry to complement the pie! I'll probably be prepping the crust and puree today, then putting the pie together tomorrow. Oh, and the crust will be made from my new Tartine cookbook.. that's the bakery where my birthday cake was from, everything we've had there is heavenly (dessert-wise, anyway). Exciting, indeed!

Otherwise, I'll probably be working on my dozens of little projects that have been forming themselves and keeping me busy since I've moved. Oh, and I finally got my workspace set up, so that will make things a lot easier! I got a solid wood countertop on the cheap from Ikea and used the legs from the desk I already had (that doesn't really work anywhere in our apt.).. I had to rig up a system that put the work surface at the same height as the drafting table, so cutting through a 4-inch beam with a hacksaw and using my crappy battery-powered drill stretched the project to an all-day, tiresome affair. And at the end, I had to flip the darned thing myself! Lucky I didn't pull or break anything or die.. Well, I did break a lamp in the process, but I think I can fix that....

A bunch of FLOR samples are on their way to make a cheap but colorful rug, and I'll probably put a few things on the wall to make it a little more cheery. Fun! Functional!

And to end, please send me any extra karma or luck or good thoughts.. I'm finally getting some responses from job applications and I hope something works out soon!