Home for the Holidays

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays,
'Cause no matter how far away you roam,
If you want to be happy in a million ways
For the holidays, you can't beat Home, Sweet Home.

In just 48 hours Tony and I are heading back to Seattle to spend the holidays with family...I can't wait! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

We hate the holidays.


And now we hate Lindsey.

One small step for man...

For those of you who have not been privy to my sewing exploits - it has not been going well.

First, I somehow managed to sew the sleeves of my shirt together. The shirt I was wearing. Yeah.

Then, though I maintain that this was not my fault, I sewed a piece of fabric to the skirt that I was, again, wearing.

All this in my effort to sew a simple, paisley pillow.

Well at long last --

Look at what I have created! I, I, I have made pillow!!

I shall be resting on the laurels of this one for quite a while.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For our first Thanksgiving as man and wife, Tony and I headed up to Chicago to spend a few days with the Illinois branch of the Parsons family.

Recognize the china, Dad?

It was my Grandma Dolores' set - mother to my dad, Uncle John, and Uncle Rick.

My Uncle John and Aunt Wendy have generously hosted Tony and I many a time - including several of the past Easters - but this was our first Thanksgiving with them. As they have previously proven to be such excellent hosts, this trip we brought them my brother Jeff; much like how the Pilgrims brought the Indians syphilis.

On our first night there, Uncle John shared the scared "Parsons Pumpkin Pie" recipe with us and we made two of the most mouth-wateringly delicious pies you've ever eaten.

Jeff carefully guards the family secret.

These geese cracked me up, especially with Tony standing behind me squawking in his goose-voice, "Why?? Why am I not going under?!?!"

Jeff and I up to no good, as usual.

Aunt Wendy engaged in the Thanksgiving pet-picturing-taking ritual, and Hobbs posing obligingly.

Uncle John carving the scrumptious Hickory Smoked Turkey.

I hope everyone enjoyed the blessings of family, food, and fun this Thanksgiving as much as I did.

Well hello there, Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Don't you wish your husband was

HOT like mine...

Halloweening

Tony and I had never carved a pumpkin together as neither of us is a fan of Halloween. In fact, we hate this most stupid of holidays. We have a strict policy against dressing-up or going out on October 31st, preferring to stay inside together - not handing out candy - and just watch a scary movie. This year we screened "The Strangers" and, what with Milo's having learned to knock on our bedroom door, I've been having nightmares ever since.

This year though we tentatively explored Halloweening by attending a fun costume party (the week before Halloween, we stuck to the no-celebrating October 31st rule) at the Whitmire's and by carving two pumpkins.

A before shot.

I got to pawn-off all the icky gut-scooping on Tony as he does not believe he ever carved a pumpkin as a child and I wanted him to get the full experience. Plus it's gross and it should be a boy job.

My contribution: tracing on the design.

Surgeon-like precision.

Little glowing eyes. As is typical, Milo observes from as close as he can get while Sadie watches from afar.

The Challenge.

Scary-face success!

So spooooooky... The one on the left is a cat, in case you can't tell.

As festive as we get.

Well now that all that nonsense is over we can move on to the great holidays: Thanksgiving, my birthday, and Christmas! Fall is my very favorite time of year, all cozy and warm inside while it's blustery and cold outside. This year we're so excited to be heading up to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and we're keeping our fingers crossed that the stars align and we're able to spend a week in Seattle for Christmas. Stay tuned...

All Legal and Such

On Friday I was sworn in by the Indiana State Supreme Court. Tony thoughtfully arranged to take his 10:00 a.m. exam earlier that morning and was there to support me and photograph the entire event for all you lucky blog-readers. Being a Maiolino now, I suddenly had new responsibilities: I was in charge of leading the entire second half of the alphabet. That's right. It was a lot of pressure. Pressure I never experienced as a Parsons - I was FIRST. I'm just saying.

I am the first row, farthest on the left. Blond.

Here I am stating my name before the Supreme Court of Indiana.

Here I am walking down the platform. I'm, on the faaaaaaaaaaaaaar left, behind the guy with the gray ear-hair (you can only see my hand and collar; my left arm and the rest of me is a black suit ). I only posted this picture because I was really worried that the collar of my pink business shirt wouldn't be straight enough (since I had washer/dryer cleaned it, rather than dry-cleaned it) -- but, thanks to Tony's insightful photography, I now know that it was. I'm so lucky to have a husband who anticipates and alleviates my concerns.

Still pretty excited to be sworn in.

Also wondering why my husband has decided not to sit in the "family" section of the auditorium; he later informed he wanted to get "really good" pictures for my parents since they couldn't be there and "the rules be damned!"

We are going to talk about following the rules later Prosecutor Brizzi, I promise.

Taking the oath.

Still taking it... It's a long freakin' oath!
Among other things, I promised not to have an offensive personality...
So help me Jeff, if you comment on this post I'm not picking you up for Thanksgiving at Uncle John & Aunt Wendy's.

Checking the program to see when this un-Godly long event will end.

I'm posting this picture because I think my hair looks nice. And it's my blog, so you readers will look at every damn picture I have to post....

Signing the oath FIRST because I'm a Maiolino now and get to be FIRST on my half of the auditorium. Take that Parsons!

Look who's legal!

A quick lunch before my deputizing. A lunch which will cause me to be late to my deputizing. But, whatever.

Being Deputized with Joe, Kristina, Megan, and Katie. I'm next to the door because I ran in about 3 seconds before this swearing-in occurred. Seriously. I'm amazed Tony got this picture.

Tony, being very supportive, took this whole process totally seriously.

He would never have tried to make me laugh during a super-serious swearing-in...for which I was already LATE....

Alright...in conclusion, I was sworn in and I was deputized.

I hope everyone's weekend was as exciting as mine. And I wish for all of you the satisfaction that comes with dedicating your life to something you truly believe matters.

Here's to spending each day making society a little safer.