Thankful

A couple of peculiar things happened on Thanksgiving this year - I cooked the entire meal all by myself, and I didn't take a single picture of anything all day.  

Since there is no photographic evidence of the holiday, let's just pretend that it looked like this

Preparing the meal wasn't too difficult, I used some of my sister Sabrina's recipes, kept the menu simple, and since I was only cooking for 6 people it wasn't stressful at all.  I cooked a turkey breast in the slow-cooker and that was amazing, everything ended up on the table warm and at the same time so I felt pretty great about the whole thing.  We had Steve's dad and his wife join us and it was an intimate, lovely meal.  Every year we have much to be thankful for, but this year I think we all felt an extra bit of thankfulness for each other and that we have had yet another year together. 

Jersey Girl

Dagny has wanted a Giants jersey for forever.  Last year I promised that if they won the World Series I would buy her one. They didn't win last year, but they did this year, so I had to pony up. It was a promise I enjoyed keeping.  We took Dagny to the Dugout Store in Walnut Creek and let her pick her jersey and have it customized.   She had them put CHAMPS 12 on the back. Pretty clever, don't you think?   

Doctor Who Costumes

The price Dagny pays for me putting together her costumes is letting me take lots of pictures of said costumes.  A small price for such amazing costumes and one I am pretty sure she enjoys paying.  This year she talked her friends into dressing up with her and then she talked them into a photo shoot.  That's my girl.   

Amy Pond

Amy and Rory

 The Pond's

River Song, Amy, The 11th Doctor, Rory

Amy's Boys

Doctor Who at High School

Count Rugen

“As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. Really that’s all this is except that instead of sucking water, we’re sucking time. We’ve just sucked one hour of your life away. We might one day go as high as five, but we really don’t know what that would do to you. So, let’s just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?”

Deja Vu

Second World Series championship in three years, that means San Francisco gets another parade. I think this one was even louder and more crowded than 2010, it was such a party.  Steve and I were on our own this time, neither one of the kids could get out of school. (there are no words to describe Dagny's devastation) We got there early and got an excellent viewing spot and then had fun people watching before the parade. (Giants parade on Halloween in SF, you can bet there was a lot of interesting things to see) I loved watching the players go by, they were having as much fun as the fans. The atmosphere all day was pure joy, it was love and madness all dressed up in orange and black.  An entire city gathered in celebration, completely amazing. Oh, and Tony Bennett was there. What city could possibly be more awesome than San Francisco?

Whovian Halloween

The Halloween costumes this year require a bit of backstory.

Last spring I got sick. Some nasty bug Dagny brought home from school got me and I was out for about a week.  If my kids were younger and needier I couldn't have spent a week in bed but because they are old enough to (mostly) fend for themselves and they have such a helpful father, I was actually able to be sick.  My head hurt too badly to concentrate on a book so I decided to just watch stuff on my iPad to pass the time.  I went through my Netflix cue looking for something that wouldn't be too involved and I settled on Doctor Who.  The next thing I knew I had watched 6 seasons of the show. (I may, or may not, have stayed in bed a day longer than I needed to just so I could finish season 6) So much for not getting involved.  For the next month I talked about Doctor Who in hopes of getting some member of my family interested in watching it so I would have somebody to share in my Doctor love. (I did get some of my friends to watch but what I really wanted was an in-house confidant)  None of them were buying it and they actually made fun of me. (like any of them have room to talk, being as geeky as they are) One day Dagny makes a comment and I realize that she has secretly been watching Doctor Who and she just didn't want to admit it to me. Now that she had been outed her love for the Doctor was in the open and we could obsess together.  (Dagny found out that most of her friends watch the show and she talked her boyfriend into watching so she feels very cool about the whole thing, but lets just remember who started it) Over the summer she discussed The Doctor with her Doctor obsessed friends and they came up with the idea of dressing up as characters from the show for Halloween.  The idea stuck, and they even talked other people into dressing up as Who characters.  So, there is the background. Me watching Doctor Who has turned into Dagny dressing up as Amy Pond and Austin as Rory Williams.  I have been working on their costumes and they are going to be authentic and amazing.  (I think they are even cosplay quality and they can wear them to WonderCon next year, how exciting) 

These are the looks they've chosen -

Rory from Vampires in Venice

Amy from Time of Angles/Flesh and Stone

(Dagny may have picked that particular look because it

 means she will get a brand new pair Converse, smart girl)

Giants Win The Series!

For us, the Giants 2012 season was 162 regular season games either watched or read about, and then thoroughly discussed over the morning paper. There were afternoons spent together at AT&T Park seeing it all live, and there was the night where we watched every pitch of a perfect game.  Giants games were a family gathering and a shared passion.  We followed every up and down from April through September and then watched on a tiny TV at the hospital by Steve's bedside as the clinched the NL West.  And finally, it was 3 epic post-season battles that ended in the Giants sweeping the Tigers and becoming the World Series Champions.  What a ride.

After the last out of the World Series Dagny and Dane rushed outside and ran around screaming.  Dane took his shirt off and was swinging it around over his head and then, before you knew it, Steve had joined them.  Two shirtless screaming guys and a completely ecstatic girl whooping it up for all to see.  Best Celebration Ever.