Family Dinner

I was pretty bummed to be missing out on Thanksgiving this year (okay...being in Cabo wasn't half bad) since turkey dinner is my favorite! Being in my new house with a nice big open kitchen, I really wanted to cook a turkey with all the trimmings. I decided to do a Thanksgiving redo when my grandpa was in town and had the whole family over.

I woke up that morning and got right to work. I prepared the turkey to go in the oven with a recipe my mom told me about from Martha Stewart (of course!). You soak a cheese cloth in butter and wine and cover the turkey with it as you roast and baste, then remove it about halfway through. It worked out pretty well, and fairly easy to do. Next year maybe I'll take a stab at brining the turkey first.

ginormous 16 pound turkey all ready to go

With the turkey roasting away, I started preparing everything else. I made stuffing out of the box (Trader Joe's brand), got the potatoes peeled for cooking and mashing, boiled the yams for another recipe I found online (I added walnuts, yum), and boiled some cranberries in orange juice with sugar for cranberry sauce.

By that point, Clint showed up to help watch the Vegas Bowl on the couch. My mom and grandpa showed up shortly after as well. Mom made a green bean casserole and brought a pumpkin pie for dessert. I had also taken a shot at the delicious pesto meatballs Jingle had made at the cookie exchange party, but they just weren't the same. I think the problem was I cooked them in the crock pot, so they came out a little mushy. Next time I'll do them on the stove top (and use smaller balls).

Papa using the panorama feature on his phone,
Clint digging into the meatballs

basting

Uncle Bub, Sara, and the boys arrived, and things were getting closer to being done. The turkey came out of the oven, and Mom showed me how to use the drippings to make gravy. We first made a stock with the turkey giblets and neck, then added some of that to the roasting pan to scrape up the drippings. We then added that back to the stock, added flour mixed with water, salt & pepper, and some Kitchen Bouquet. I put the rolls in the oven along with the side dishes to warm them, and Clint started to carve the turkey. Then we were ready to eat!

dishing up

turkey for days

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and I had a great time preparing it. This will definitely need to become an annual tradition!

family :)

The next day, I noticed that my ungrateful cousin and uncle had defaced my car and home with Cougar crap. After cooking them a nice meal, this is the thanks I get? Okay, maybe I started it by calling them losers before the Apple Cup game even started (hindsight is 20/20)...but still, am I really wrong that Cougars are still losers in general? Those little punks...

this was not easy to scrape off

December Birchbox?

Turns out posting on my blog that I'm going to cancel my Birchbox subscription is not the same as actually going online and doing it, whoops. Much like when Michael Scott "declares" bankruptcy, nothing actually happened with my subscription, so I received another box in the mail. I have since logged on and cancelled, but it was nice and even more surprising to get some goodies this month.

I received some shampoo, tea, lash enhancing mascara, under eye gel stickers for dark circles and wrinkles (supposed to take the place of using cucumber slices), a perfume sample, and a coupon for Rent the Runway. I've actually rented a dress from them before, and it turned out great...only problem was the price. Still a little too spendy for me when you don't even get to keep it. Plus, with my arsenal of dresses, I could probably start my own dress rental shop.

Overall, it was a nice surprise to get one last box, but still happy with my decision to discontinue for the new year.

West Seattle brunch

A couple Sundays ago, my friends Sarah and Anne Bosse came out to West Seattle so we could all grab brunch. I hadn't seen Anne in forever, so this was a fun chance to catch up. She's also been wanting to chat about job opportunities in HR at Boeing, so I was happy to look into it for her.

I had been to Ma'Ono for dinner before with Mom when we ordered an entire fried chicken between the two of us. It was amazingly delicious, and I had been looking forward to going back since. I checked out the brunch menu, and thought the girls would think it sounded good too.

We got there just as they opened for brunch, and the place quickly filled up, definitely a popular spot. I ordered the french toast with fried chicken nuggets and gravy. Noms! We also shared some sweet bread with Nutella, heavenly.

Delicious food, and a fun time catching up. Here's hoping we start doing this more often, great seeing your girls!

Gemma's Trunk Show

December was another good month for my Stella & Dot biz. My friend Gemma hosted a party at her home in South Lake Union a couple weeks ago, and everything turned out great! Gemma was quite the hostess and put a lot of work into planning. She invited everyone she knew and even posted up flyers at her work (Overlake Hospital), and in the lobby of her condo building.

flyer I designed for Gemma

She ended up having a great turnout, and we all had a fun time visiting in her beautifully festive home and eating all the delicious treats she prepared. The girls seemed to love the jewelry as well. I was even able to book a trunk show for February for one of her friends that was there. She had heard of the company before, and has even considered becoming a stylist herself. Maybe this will be my chance to grow a team of my own!

jewels on display

It turned out to be a great party, which means more rewards for Gemma. I love being able to get my friends free jewels!

bluLink holiday party

Clint held his second annual holiday party for bluLink a few weeks ago. Last year we gathered at someone's home for some wine tasting, white elephant gift exchanging, and some Rock Band-ing. This year, we made it a night out on the town. We had dinner at Tokyo Steakhouse in Bellevue, then saw a comedy show at the Parlor. We also fit in the white elephant gift exchange, and the whole night was full of laughing and fun times.

Clint's employees and their wives all made it out, so there was a total of 10 of us. Once we were seated for dinner, we started our gift exchange before the chef came out. The gifts this year were great...a shake weight, HD aviators (cause apparently real life isn't "HD" enough), a singing elf, wine, and the highly coveted Clapper. After stealing this, I was happy to be bringing it home. I now have it installed in my bedroom so I can be an old lady and turn off the lights by clapping from the comfort of my bed! I know you're jealous.

Justin explaining the rules he didn't understand

shake weight, go-to white elephant gift

book full of translations to rap lyrics

the Clapper!

After gifts, our chef came out and prepared us a delicious meal and put on quite the show, I just love Japanese steakhouses!

our chef the art student

fire!

Clint's favorite part, onion volcano

volcano on fire

aww :)

fire throwing

Tokyo Steakhouse entertainment crew

After dinner, we all left to meet up again at the Parlor for the comedy show. The headliner was Kevin "Dot Com" Brown from 30 Rock, although I was more impressed with the other comic, Willie Barcena. He had us cracking up. The Parlor was also a great venue. Made me think we should be going to more comedy shows, so I'll most likely be back! It was a fun night with fun people. Here's hoping we can get together more often than just once a year!

All Out for Orphans

A friend of Anne's puts on a charity event each December to raise money for orphans in Cambodia through the Pacha Youth Foundation called All Out for Orphans. I've attended a couple in past years, and they are always a blast. This year, Colleen mentioned we should go again, and Jenni just happened to be arriving home for the holidays that day. The three of us gathered at my place beforehand to get ready. We ordered pizza (of course), drank some champagne, then called for a cab to take us to South Lake Union where the event was being held.

The party ended up being a fun time, I love an excuse to get dressed up! We purchased some raffle tickets and headed to the prize section to distribute them into the boxes of the prizes we wanted to win. There were quite a few...salon packages, M's tickets, ski lift tickets to Stevens, yoga classes...lots of fun stuff. We waited around to hear the winners announced, and what do you know, I won! I was the winner of the Date Night package, $100 to El Gaucho, 2 movie passes to the Big Picture theater, and a voucher for a dozen roses. How exciting?! I'm definitely looking forward to that night out.

big winner!

Colleen, me, and Jenni

After the party, we went next door to Republic to meet up with college friends Henry and Matt Swett. We spent the night bar hopping and reminiscing about the good ol' days in the sorority and frat. We even made our way to Ozzie's for some dance offs and karaoke. The night was a blast, and fun to see everyone.

cheers!

Girl's night holiday style

This year, Blaine held a holiday party for just us girls...Blaine, Reese, Liz, my mom, and I. We all met on a Thursday after work at her home for dinner. It was great to see them and get a chance to visit with Reese who is just absolutely adorable. She entertained us all night with how funny and personable she has become. My mom and I had brought some presents for Reese, so we had fun opening those. My mom got her a cute penguin knit hat and mitten set as well as a slinky. I got her a Little Mermaid doll (her first "big girl" doll), which she just loved.

cheese!

Bootsie wanting in on the present action

not amused that we neglected her

Reese and her slinky...Bootsie
the creeper cat

cheese, again!

look Mom!

Reese and Ariel

Dinner was delicious, a scallop lasagna. Apparently the recipe came from my grandma, and I will definitely be attempting it on my own since it was so yummy. We topped it off with cheesecake for dessert, it ended up being a very rich meal.

The four of us have had countless get togethers, dinners, trips, etc together since Blaine and I were born, and we always have a great time. It's been fun to now include Reese in our girl's club. Happy holidays, ladies, and hope to see you all soon!