Thanksgiving Day 2010

We spent Thanksgiving in the city this year with our friends the Koellings, Hardings, and Alexa.

Thursday morning Johnny and I headed to Central Park so he could participate in the church turkey bowl. While he played, I jogged around the reservoir in Central Park. We were both famished and exhausted by the time we made it home.

I went home a bit before Johnny so I could start making the rolls and corn pudding, which I tried to time perfectly so that they would be fresh out of the oven when we made our trek to the Koellings at 2:00pm.

All the girls split the cooking responsibilities, and it was so fun to converge with all our yummy food.

everyone else patiently waiting while the girls got the food ready

cranberry sauce and rolls

salad

turkey, gravy, yams, and stuffing

mashed potatoes and corn pudding

all the bakers!

sparkling cider!

Mmmm

pumpkin pie for dessert

After we ate, we all took a quiz to test our knowledge about Thanksgiving. I was kind of skeptical of doing such a thing (52 questions!), but it ended up being a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving quiz

After the quiz, we played Catch Phrase, which was super entertaining, and then we all just talked and had a good time together.

playing Catch Phrase

don't know what to say about us...

Overall, this Thanksgiving will probably end up being one of our most memorable!

Last Thankful Post + Macy's Parade Balloons

It's 12:30am. I am so happy that tomorrow is Thanksgiving! The holiday spirit has already begun to creep into my bones this week.

Earlier tonight we went and did some Christmas shopping. The stores were playing Christmas music and a light display hanging from the ceiling of the mall was flashing different colored lights to the beat of the Christmas songs. People were out and about in the city with their loved ones.

On the way home, we went and looked at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons, all blown up and ready for their debut tomorrow morning:

taken from my friend Lindsay's blog

As we walked, Christmas music was playing on outside speakers, and being bundled up against the brisk air felt so appropriate for the season. We almost didn't even stop by, but I am so glad we did.

I am so thankful for this time Johnny and I have off work to spend with each other. Our home is a happy home. Johnny is playing Call of Duty right now and I just stuck two pumpkin pies in the oven.

One more list of thankfuls in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow:

I am thankful

• that Johnny ran to the store to get me evaporated milk at 11:00pm;
• for a warm apartment;
• for a husband who helped me cook dinner tonight---It made me feel so happy;
• for friends to celebrate Thanksgiving with tomorrow, who are my family out here;
• for good books to read over the break;
• for warm blankets and thick socks;
• to have a job doing what I love;
• that Johnny has a job doing what he loves;
• that we are young and healthy;
• for prayer, which I take for granted; and
• for the upcoming holiday season in New York City.

The list could go on and on. I hope this post finds all of you well and happy. Tomorrow is a day to forget all of our worries and just love the ones we're with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Night Revisited

Thanks to some scattered picture-taking throughout the night, I will forever remember the following:

Lindsay's funny faces anytime I took my camera out,

Lindsay's almost immediate decision to make herself at home in Alexa's bed,

Alexa's impeccable style and charm,

 the cutest studio in Manhattan,

the birthday girl with the birthday cake maker,

 

Angie and Casey talking girl talk on the daybed,

the candles that threw sparks at anyone who dared go near them,

 Amanda curled up in the overstuffed armchair,

and me at the table eating the delicious red velvet cake.

Just from looking at these, so many memories from Friday night came rushing back, along with a few laughs.

Moral of the story: take pictures even when you don't feel like it :)

fantastico

This weekend was so great!

I love weekends like this. It has been busy but oh so much fun.

Friday night was a girls' night to celebrate Angie's birthday. Girls' nights are the best, especially when you are with girls like the ones in the picture below. I loved spending time with every single one of them!

Amanda, Casey, me, Lindsay, Angie, Alexa

Saturday morning we went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 with Angie and Klane. Harry Potter makes me happy. After seeing the movie, I was inspired to read all of the books again. I have forgotten so much!

Saturday afternoon my friend Lindsay took pictures of us for our Christmas card. The following is a little peek of where we went and how we looked:

Lindsay did a great job. I feel very lucky to have such a talented and willing friend! You can go to her blog to see more pictures from that day. 

Saturday night we watched the BYU football game with a few friends. Afterward, the husbands played video games and the wives watched a movie. It was a super fun night! We've been very fortunate to make some great friends out here, and it's made our New York experience better than I ever could have expected!


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Giving Thanks: I am grateful for my husband! Johnny has so many great attributes that I admire. He is ambitious and loving and such a great listener. He makes people feel better about themselves when they speak to him. When I am upset, Johnny knows just what to say or do to calm me down and help me realize that everything will be all right.

Johnny's also one of the funniest people I know. He makes me laugh all the time, and I love seeing him make others laugh as well.

I am so thankful to have someone that knows me for me and sees me at my highest and my lowest and still loves me more than anything. I am super excited to spend the upcoming Thanksgiving in the City with my boy!

side note: Notice the 'stache? Johnny is participating in Movember at his work to raise money for testicular cancer. If you'd like to donate to Johnny's mustache, click here.

Jimmy Fallon

On Wednesday night I went to Jimmy Fallon with Angie. We'd had this planned for a few weeks, and our husbands were supposed to come with us, but that didn't happen. They were busy with work and bailed on us at the last second, so Angie and I just went on our own.

When I arrived at the Rockefeller Center, this is what I beheld:

 

I remained calm, but in my head I was jumping for joy! The Rockefeller tree! It doesn't get lit up until the end of November, but there it is in all its scaffolding glory!

With the mixture of the ice skaters and the tree, I was feeling very festive!

Yes, there are men in the tree. See how tiny they look? They are like little elves! The men were putting lights in the tree and trimming it just right.

tree trimmings

After Angie and I had taken a sufficient amount of pictures outside, we went into the Rockefeller building for Jimmy Fallon.

This show was the most fun I have had at a live taping. While we were in line, members of Jimmy Fallon's staff went around asking if there were any die-hard Harry Potter fans. Despite being a bit wary of what we would be asked to do, Angie and I admitted our fanhood and were ushered over to a corner with about 10 other people. There we were interviewed separately and asked Harry Potter questions. (Angie and I got our questions right, of course!) I was asked the following:

1. Who is Crookshanks?
2. What are Nearly Headless Nick and Moaning Myrtle?
3. If you do the spell incendio, what are you making?

However, we were not picked for the show. Once we saw who they chose, we realized what they were really looking for . . .

. . . nerdy HP fans. How rude!

However, our seats were on the front row! We had a great view of the entire show. I watched the show that night, and the audience wasn't shown even once. There was a shot for a split second in which you can kind of see the back of our heads:

Proof! We were there!

It really was such a fun time. Our husbands really missed out : )

Christmas Card

Don't hate me for this post. In fact, take it, and do it as well!

So shutterfly is giving out free holiday cards to bloggers, which is meant to be since I was planning to send out our very first Christmas cards this year!

So I have never ordered anything from shutterfly before, but apparently they do greeting cards, custom mugs, photo Christmas cards, calendars, and graduation invites. The main reason I decided to do this promotion is that the designs of their cards are actually super cute.

I am contemplating the following design, which can be found here, but I have not made my final decision yet:

And that's just the filler picture. I'm not sure our older relatives would know what to do if we actually sent that.

If you're interested in doing a post like this on your blog, the info is found here. Thanks for reading as I shamelessly promoted shutterfly ;)

Is it super corny that we are sending out a card this year despite being without child? What can I say? All our family is far away from us out here, so I felt it must be done. And it's our fourth Christmas as a married couple, so we're kind of legit. Also, if I don't have your address and you'd like the Galbraith Christmas card, just leave a comment with your address.

p.s. Just one more week until I can really start getting excited for Christmas!

Concerts and Such

On Saturday and Monday night, Johnny and I went to a concert. On Saturday we saw Azure Ray in a teenie little venue on the Lower East Side. On Monday we saw Sufjan Stevens on the West Side. Johnny was the bigger fan at both of these concerts, but I like both bands.

Azure Ray

I am listening to Azure Ray as I write this. Both of their voices are so unreal. I loved this concert. You can listen to my favorite song of the concert below, although I really did love every song:



 And then last night we went to Sufjan at the Beacon Theatre. Sufjan was a much bigger production. He has always had more mellow music, but his newest CD is a bit insane. It was a completely different concert than Azure Ray, but Johnny and I both enjoyed it.

Johnny and me

Beacon Theatre

The following picture gives you a taste of Sufjan's concert toward the end:

See what I mean by a big production? Johnny and I prefer his older, more mellow music, but it was great to just sit back and enjoy the show. My favorite song of the night was Chicago, which is one of his older songs:



The rest of this week? Well, we have Jimmy Fallon tomorrow and Harry Potter on Saturday. I'm excited!

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Giving Thanks: I am thankful for my in-laws. I really feel like they are my second family, which I guess is the point. Johnny's mom sends me thoughtful texts during the week, and Johnny's dad comments on my blog! I miss playing games with Caitlin (the bride in the picture), Jake, and Will (the twins in the back). Johnny's oldest sister, Sarah, is such a good mother, and I know I will look to her as my example when I have children of my own. And Johnny's grandparents... well, they feel like my own! I couldn't have married into a more loving family.

The Day We Almost Did, but Didn't

 

My friend Angie and I got tickets to see Rachael Ray. This is a picture I took while standing in line... right before we were turned away. They cut the line off about five people in front of us and so we trekked back to the subway and returned home, not really sure what had just happened. We looked GOOD that day. Really good. Hot, even. (I may be getting carried away.) All for Rachael, and she shunned us. Rachael, you don't get a second chance. We are through with you.

Anyway, it made for kind of an off-putting day. I had been looking forward to it, so I got home kind of bummed out. I worked all day kind of needing something to cheer me up. So I decided to make myself some delicious chocolate chip cookies. I have mentioned these cookies on here before. They are THE BEST. And just as I hoped, they cheered me up. And then I got the following picture and text from Angie:

I am making THE cookies. I just felt like you should know. ;)

What??! I guess we both needed some cheering up after Rachael let us down :)

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Time to give thanks. I kind of failed after forgetting to add it on my last post, but I will try again.

Giving Thanks: I am thankful for my siblings. I love having so many people that I know care about me, and I love being a part of all of their lives. Sometimes I was embarrassed at how many siblings I had growing up (especially when we all went out grocery shopping together), but now I want to have a big family of my own as well---well, maybe not as big as eight, but big-ish. My siblings are all so unique and talented and genuinely good people. They inspire me to be better.

Boo for Mondays

It's Monday already again.
I am drinking hot chocolate right now. Supposedly it was sleeting this morning, so I think hot chocolate is very appropriate.

For some reason I am a bit obsessed with the weather. Every morning I check AccuWeather first thing. Saturday's forecast was particularly informative:

Good for hunting, you say? All right...

Lately I've been thinking that I need to do more with my life... live a little more purposefully. I'm not doing a lot to improve myself. So I think I am going to set some goals. Johnny and I just made some financial goals last week, and it felt so good. So I think I may make some other goals as well. We'll see if anything changes.

Conan is on tonight. We are excited! 

But for now, I must work. Ta, ta.

It's About Love

This is Holly and Sam. I don't usually--or ever, really--do this kind of blog post, but I wanted to do a post for Holly today. Holly and Sam are looking to adopt. Their adoption profile can be found here.

I work with Holly, and she and I carpooled to Salt Lake City together everyday. Holly is amazing. She's just one of those good people with not one mean bone in her body. And she has the most contagious laugh. Half the reason I would laugh in the carpool was just from Holly laughing.

Holly and I rode in the carpool with two other girls. You put four girls in a car for an hour together and pretty much every topic comes up. One day we were talking about pregnancy and mothers and I think I made some comment about how I'm afraid that once I do start trying to have kids, I won't even be able to! When I found out Holly had been trying for five years, you can imagine how somber I felt.

Lately I have been really thinking about families and how they are everything. That's what our whole life is about and, really, nothing else even matters. Sometimes I forget that not only are Johnny and I married now, but we are also our own little family. So when you get a chance, please look at Sam and Holly's adoption profile and keep them in mind.



Giving Thanks: Today I am thankful for my parents. I learned the importance of family from them. We had family prayer and scripture study together every day. We always had family dinners together around the kitchen table. I grew up knowing I was loved. I didn't really enjoy high school, and my home felt like a sanctuary from all my fears and insecurities. I have not been home to see Mom and Dad for over two years, and I cannot wait to finally be with them this Christmas.

**Officially Fall**

I can't believe we have already been out here for four months! I mean, I guess that isn't really that long, but it seems like just yesterday we were unloading our moving van in the suffocating July heat.

It's November now, and overnight we have gone from kinda fall to really fall. This morning when I walked to the mailbox to drop off Netflix, it was in the 40s.

I snapped a few shots of what our neighborhood looks like right now. I can't believe how many leaves are still on the trees. It is so much different than I remember Utah being this time of year.

(our trees still have a few leaves to lose)

I am really excited for this month. Johnny and I actually have plans, which is a big deal for us. We have a couple concerts to look forward to and we are hoping to take a weekend trip to DC. We also got tickets to the BYU basketball game in Glens Falls, NY, Jimmer Fredette's hometown. Haha, for us that is exciting.

And then there is Thanksgiving. We are spending Thanksgiving out here this year. I've never been in charge of my own Thanksgiving, and this is a big deal to me. We are hoping to celebrate with a few friends, so the cooking responsibilities will be split among us. I am sure I will write more about this topic in the coming weeks :)

p.s. Even though this is super cheesy and cliche, I want to try to post what I am thankful for on my blog posts this month, so here goes.


Giving Thanks: Today I am thankful for the sunlight. Sunny days just make me happy. It's much harder to be sad on a sunny day. The sun is streaming in through the windows right now into my bedroom and little Persie is laying in it. It also reminds me that I need to dust!