I love...ornaments.

Ta-da! My Christmas tree is officially decorated!
 

See:

 

It's actually been decorated for over a week now, which is pretty good for me. Normally there is the long process of bringing it in the box down from the attic and letting it adjust to the hallway for a few days; then taking it out of the box and letting it adjust to standing upright for a few days; then I start to put on the lights but get annoyed when one strand goes out so I leave it in the corner in shame for a few more days; then one Sunday I finally fix the lights, add the ornaments, and...BAM: it's Christmas all up in my apartment.

Nope, this year I made it all happen in one day. It's probably because I'm getting to be more mature and responsible with age...ahem...



Disco ball ornament

When it comes to decorating my tree, for the past few years I've used purple lights and a set of silver ornaments. They consist of round ones, skinny ones, big ones, little ones, and sparkly ones.

There's even a few small ones that look like this disco ball ornament (did someone say "tree par-tay"?!):










However, wanting to add a little extra "Jenny" to my tree each year, I have happily acquired new ornaments that I throw into the Christmas tree decorating mix. Here are a few of them:



Save the Date ornament

My friend Colleen and I handmade this ornament in 2007. The bug (on the left) is a tribute to a small bug that we saw the previous summer. We were sitting outside our friend's house in Little Italy during the Feast and it was hot...really hot. We saw an adorable little bug on the sidewalk (and for me to call a bug adorable takes a lot), it was one of those little wooly/fuzzy bugs and it was just inching along. Suddenly it started flipping around like it was dancing. Then...it stopped. It died right in front of us! Of course we'd both seen dead bugs before and seen others or ourselves squish bugs, but never seen one die all on its own. For weeks after that we told all of our friends about the story of Little Bug (as we dubbed him) and his story became a part of our group. We drew him on magnets that we made for our birthday party invites...then we drew him on this Save the Date ornament, which was an invite to a joint party we threw for our friends Rachel & Matt that year. A few of our friends tell us that they still hang their ornament up every year...and so do I!



Chicago ornament

This ornament was a favor from my friends' wedding in Chicago several years back. It was a great weekend - we sang karaoke at their rehearsal dinner (hosted at a delicious pizza restaurant), celebrated their beautiful wedding in the Sears Tower (I know..."Willis Tower"), and toured the city. I thought that this favor was a sweet idea and now every Christmas when I hang it up on my tree I think of them and that great weekend.














S'more ornament

I got this ornament at an ornament exchange party a couple years ago. A bunch of friends were back in town for the holidays, so we all got together to catch up, eat, drink, and exchange ornaments! The ornaments were all wrapped so we didn't know what we might be getting and we passed them back and forth until finally whatever ornament you were holding was the one that was yours for keeps. I unwrapped mine to find this adorable marshmallow guy! And up until the moment when I leaned in close to take this picture, I thought it was simply that - just a cute marshmallow guy sitting on a piece of wood. Upon closer inspection...I have now realized it's actually a s'more guy! Even cuter! I guess you learn something new about your Christmas tree ornaments every year. That's a saying, right...?








Youngest child ornament
 

Last year my mom got me and my sisters each our own ornament. This was mine and it says "youngest child", because, well, I'm the youngest child. My ornaments don't lie!

 



Pickle ornament

And then there's this one. It's a pickle. I think my mom also gave me this ornament one year and said it is a Christmas tradition for people to hang pickles on their Christmas tree and that it brings good fortune in the year ahead. I didn't question her, though have since Googled it and confirmed that it is indeed true. So now, every year, I have a pickle on my tree. Yay! Bring on the fortune.



And that is the tour of my Christmas tree ornaments. Now for the next few weeks I get to enjoy the lit up Christmas tree each night as the holiday spirit takes over my apartment. Until, of course, I need to start the process of UNdecorating the tree: removing the ornaments and getting annoyed when they all don't fit in the very same container I kept them in the year before; taking off the lights; waiting a few days then folding up the tree and getting annoyed when it doesn't fit in the same box that it also did NOT fit in the year before; then tying it up and putting it back up in the attic.

 

But who wants to think about that, so for now I'm just going to enjoy this wonderful Christmas tree night light filled with lots of happy memories and disco dance party possibilities. Tis the season...to disco!



I love...being thankful.

This Thanksgiving I had a lot to be thankful for:

My family

My friends

My new car, Tootsie

Pizza

Prince

Leopard print

Carly Rae Jepsen

Bubblewrap

The word "love"

Laughing

Jimmy Fallon

Blue Gatorade

The ability to j/k

Heart shapes

Empty gyms

Instagram

The #37

Pillows

The list goes on and on...so I'll just pick out a few to discuss here:

My family
My family alternates between three different relatives' homes that host Thanksgiving. It's the one time of year that we get together with aunts, uncles and cousins to catch up and laugh our faces off. This year it was at my aunt & uncle's house in Cincinnati. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to Cincy to be with everyone this particular year, so my parents were nice enough to drive up to the CLE to have dinner on Thanksgiving-eve with me and my sister Lisa. We went to Light Bistro in Ohio City. The food was delish and we had a lot of laughs as we discussed everything from confit to the time my mom and I got in the wrong van in a store parking lot. Then Thanksgiving morning they all headed down to Cincy to see the rest of my fam for the weekend. Fortunately I'll be able to see them all in February at my cousin's wedding - thank goodness for love!

Empty gyms
After sleeping in a bit I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, watched some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, then got the urge to go to the gym (in anticipation of what I would be eating later in the day). My gym has 24-hour access and upon entering I found that I was the only person who had this "go to the gym on Thanksgiving" idea. I had the place to myself! I decided to use this opportunity to do all the things I don't normally do at the gym when other people are there.

As I started running on the treadmill a Beyonce song came on my iPod and I was inspired to see if I could run, dance and sing like Beyonce all at the same time while keeping my breath. I could! Well, for a few minutes at least.

Once my treadmill concert was done I decided to attempt playing with the big ropey things. They're those large ropes that are bolted to the ground and you're supposed to work out with them...somehow. I'd never tried them before, cause there are usually too many people around and I don't understand what I'm supposed to do with them. I picked them up and shook them up and down. I twisted them in circles. I crisscrossed them. I still didn't know what I was doing, but I was sure I was getting stronger-ish.

Then I went downstairs to the weight room. I'd used the room before, only a few of the machines that are close to the front - some arm ones, the leg ones. Today, since I had the whole room to myself, I did what I've never done before...I walked all the way to the back of the weight room! It was amazing- there was a different floor back there. Then I saw it, a large silver bowl full of chalk! This changed everything. I now know that I'm welcome in the weight area anytime. They have chalk there, I'm Chalk...get it? In fact, even though I'm sitting at a coffee shop typing this right now...it's good to know that I'm actually at the gym right now, too. I feel even stronger!

My friends
There is a lot to say about this topic. I often stop and think about how lucky I am because of the great friends I've met in my life. I've met so many people who are kind, thoughtful, hilarious, fun, helpful, caring, and did I mention hilarious? Instead of going through all of those people in this post, I'd like to touch on one instance of friendship over this Thanksgiving holiday.

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't able to join my family in Cincinnati for the holiday dinner. Upon hearing this my friend Colleen immediately invited me to join her and her family for dinner. (And after that, several other friends also invited me if I still needed a place to go.) So I joined her, her boyfriend and her family that evening. We drank wine, sampled cheese, discussed fingernails and movies while researching topics on our phones, and then we ate...everything from turkey to rutabaga to pumpkin pie...to anything else that falls in between at a Thanksgiving feast. It was a wonderful dinner, accented perfectly by the tiny salt & pepper shakers that we each had at our own seat.


I hope you had and are having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family, friends, and possibly your own personal gym for an hour or so. Go ahead, shake those ropes...and if you need me, I'll be in the weight room.

I love...birthday weeks.

I am typing this while curled up on my couch in a leopard print Snuggie, thinking of the birthday week that was last week. I know, a birthday is only supposed to be for a "day", but this year there was a lot that happened, so I used a week: I aged. I wore leopard print. I was on TV. I ate pizza...lots of pizza (I love pizza).
"How could all this activity have been packed into one week?" you ask.
Well, I'll tell you. Let's start with Monday...

*****

 

DAY 1: Scarf
 

MONDAY
With my birthday quickly approaching, my sister Lisa invited me to join her for pizza and beers at our favorite pizza spot, Edison's in Tremont. We ordered a pepperoni and banana pepper pizza plus several beers. As we were winding down the night I decided to use my newest addiction to record the night: Instagram! Then I realized I was wearing a leopard print scarf and since the week was leading up to my leopardy birthday party (see "Saturday" below) I decided to wear a dash of leopard print everyday for the rest of the week, Instagram it, and call it "7 Days of Leopard Print".

*****

 

DAY 2: Bracelet

TUESDAY
Tuesday, September 25th, was my actual birthday. I woke up feeling older, wiser, and ready to take on the day! My friends and family sent me birthday wishes. My office bought me a cake. My birthday was off to a great start. Not only was I aging on this day, but that evening was the premiere of a new season of one of my favorite shows...New Girl!!! I planned a watch party for the event at Rivergate in the Flats. This watch party was to serve several purposes: 1) so I could watch the show and hang out with friends at the same time; and 2) because there was a possibility that I would be shown during the show as the New Girl Fan of the Week (an honor I had applied for several weeks earlier)! So there we were, I was wearing a pink boa (cause why not), the show was playing on several TVs, I had my friends around me, we were eating calzones, and the sound for New Girl was on full blast. Then...BAM...during a commercial break: "Jenny is the Fan of the Week"!!! I nearly fell off my barstool. This was the icing on top of my birthday cake. (And aside from all that, the show is laugh-out-loud hilarious! I laugh every time I watch and re-watch it. If you don't already watch it, you should!) Then I went home and ate half of a leftover slice of pizza.

*****

DAY 3: Sweater

WEDNESDAY
Still high off my New Girl moment of fame, I woke up ready to celebrate my post-birthday day. That evening I finished the other half of my pizza slice for dinner, then headed to the Winking Lizard for bowling league. My team entered me on the scorecard as "bday" and my first game started out awesome, with spare/strike after spare/strike. Then that ended and the rest of my game was...eh. But the popcorn at the Lizard tasted great.

*****

DAY 4: Headband

THURSDAY
Some friends and I went downtown to watch the Cleveland Browns game. While the game didn't end as we might have liked, our night was a good time. We ended the game at Map Room, where a friend and I split...pizza! Surprise! Someone jokingly asked me if I'd had pizza every day that week. I laughed that I hadn't. Then I stopped and thought about it and realized I had indeed had pizza every single day of the week. Awesome...and oops.

*****

 

DAY 5: Shoes

FRIDAY
For lunch I had leftover Map Room pizza (I couldn't stop myself). Then that evening I went with a coworker to a candle party. We ate some yummy food, smelled some yummy candles, drank some yummy white sangria, and made it an early night. I was home and in bed by 11p.m., and I loved it.

*****

SATURDAY

DAY 6: Dress

I woke up early and decided to immediately go to the gym before I could change my mind. After a week of eating pizza and drinking birthday drinks, a gym visit was needed. That evening I had plans to gather with friends at the Speakeasy in Ohio City to celebrate my new age, and in doing so I asked that everyone wear a dash of leopard print (because, well, I love leopard print). My friends didn't disappoint. One by one they walked in with scarves, shirts, shoes, dresses...Ohio City was oh so fashionable that night. We spent the night drinking, dancing and just being leopardy! As the night ended, I did not eat any pizza - but I did get Taco Bell, which is an excellent second choice in my book.

*****

SUNDAY

DAY 7: Hat

After sleeping in, I met friends for brunch at Southside. Bloody marys and mimosas flowed and I pointed out every leopard print item that people we didn't know were wearing. After that my friend Niki and I started walking home, then got sidetracked by hot chocolate and a two hour walk around the pretty streets of Tremont. The weather was perfect, the trees were Fall-ish, and you couldn't NOT be outside. I didn't eat any pizza on this day, but I did pass by Edison's, so I was hugged by its delicious smell. Finally, I was ready to head home and spend quality time with my couch, and that's what I did.

*****

 

YAY: Snuggie

Now I'm nursing a leopard print hangover with my leopard print Snuggie and feeling very thankful for a great birthday week, great friends & family, great TV shows, great pizza, and a great year ahead in my new age.
"What is going to happen in the year ahead?" you ask.
I don't know for sure - that's what makes it exciting.
However, I'm sure it will be filled with dashes of leopard print - that's what makes it Jenny.

I love...my dad.

When I see a spider, the first person I want to call is Denny Chalk. Denny Chalk is my dad and the reason I want to call him is not to say, "Oh my, I just saw a beautiful spider." It's to say: "Ahh! Creepy spider! Save me!"

However, if I see a spider today I will not bother my dad with it, because today is his birthday! So I'm letting him off spider duty.

The thing is, my dad is the first person I want to call in lots of situations. Car issues? I call my dad. Life advice? I call my dad.

This is probably a good time to point out that my dad now lives in North Carolina and I'm in Ohio. Sure we're miles apart, but I've always known that no matter how far away my dad is he'll always be there for me. And I hope he knows I'll always be there for him.

It's been that way since I was little. When he was outside doing yardwork he'd be there to take me for a quick trip around our house in the wheelbarrow. And in return, I'd be there to help smash the leaves and grass down in the garbage can with my feet.

My dad is a great golfer and he golfs any chance he gets. Unfortunately I have not (um, at least not yet) picked up on that skill from him. Though he did once take me to a driving range. He was there to give me tips on hitting the golf ball. I was there to make him laugh as I missed the ball on my first, second...and third swing.

When it came time for me to learn how to drive, my dad was there to take me to an empty, nearby parking lot and start teaching me the basics. I was there to keep him safe by hitting my head on the rolled-up window as I tried to double check that no other cars were around and then slam on the brakes when I saw a dog walking on the opposite side of the parking lot (yep, I brake for animals).

As the father of three girls, I have to admit we didn't make things easy for him. As we each went through our teenage phase, he couldn't win. The three of us, plus our mom and our female family dog - my dad was completely outnumbered. But he took it all in stride. He just zoned us out when necessary and sat in the car waiting, somewhat patiently, as we each changed our outfits and fixed our hair for the millionth time.

I learned a lot of lessons from my dad while growing up. He taught me that slowly repeating directions out loud as though you're asking a question makes them easier to remember.  Me: "Dad, can you get that box with the green lid out of the attic?" Dad: "The box? With the green lid? From the attic?" My sisters and I used to think it was hilarious. Now I find myself doing it all the time.

He also taught me to never let my gas tank get so low that the gas light comes on. I stuck to that, until about a year ago where I started pressing my luck, and ended up out of gas in a parking lot after work. And who did I call? Yep, my dad.

I like to think that I also taught him a thing or two over the years. Like when he joined Facebook and asked me how to clean all the comments off his wall, and how everyone knew it was his birthday.

Well now even more people know it's your birthday, Dad! Happy Birthday! Thanks for putting up with me all these years, and for always helping me realize that everything is going to be okay. And like I said, don't worry about getting any emergency spider phone calls tonight. If I see a spider I'll just be an adult about it. I'll relax, take a deep breath, put a cup over it, and call you tomorrow.

Love, Jennifer

My dad and their new dog, Tolya - the most recent female addition to his life.

I love...hugs.

Have you hugged today?

After a recent hug, I found myself pondering the "hug". Where did the term and action come from? Who were the first two people to say: "Let's wrap our arms around each other and squeeze - and then call it a hug"?

I began some serious research on this subject. And by "serious research" I mean I Googled it and found this link to Merriam-Webster's page, scanned the page briefly enough to see that the origin dated back to 1567, then got ditracted by listening to the audio pronunciation of "hug" - which made me want to listen to some other words like "chalk" - and my research was done.

Instead I decided to consider the hug based on personal experiences. So while I'm still not sure who the first people to hug were, I'm glad they did - and I'm glad they told other people about it - cause I've been enjoying hugs for as long as I can remember.

When I was little, my mom read an article about the positive effects of hugging. It suggested people should hug a certain amount of times a day. (This was an article I was happy that she read, as opposed to the article she read about the negative effects of eating raw cookie dough - ugh, making Christmas cookies was ruined after that.) Anywho, she read this hugging article and we decided to make sure we hugged that certain amount of times a day from then on.

With so many things to hug, and so many reasons to hug - there's no reason not to do it.

You can hug a person, an animal, a tree, a stuffed animal, or even (as I recently found myself doing) a bag of chips.

You can hug hello, goodbye, congrats, sympathy, welcome, or I love you. The simple act of hugging can make you feel better, it can make the other "hugger" feel better, it may even make a bag of chips feel better.

A hug is like saying: "It's so good to see you!", or "Welcome to my personal space.", or "Watch how bendy my arms are!", or "I think you're all that and a bag of chips!".

Whatever you want to say today, try saying it with a hug.

PS: Did I mention that hugs are free?

I love...my mom.

Today is June Chalk's birthday! And June Chalk just so happens to be my mom.

There are a lot of things that come to mind when I think about my mom, starting with one of my first memories of her putting me into my crib with a nightlight glowing in the room behind her.

When I was little she would lay in bed with me, telling me stories she made up until I fell asleep.

The first time I swore in front of my mom was after I had watched the movie "Clue". She was trimming my bangs and let me look in the mirror as she asked how I thought they looked. I, quoting the movie, replied: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." She didn't like that.

The first time my mom swore in front of me was when we were driving home from the grocery store. Someone was quickly backing out of their driveway not paying attention, my mom tried to swerve out of the way, but they hit us. She said the "s" word and then started crying. She denies the swearing part ever happened.

My mom always keeps me laughing. In fact I started tracking her "Momisms", which are the funny random things that she says - whether she intends them to be funny or not. Like the time we were on a family vacay, my sisters and I were laying by the pool and my mom walked over to us carrying a bag of animal crackers. She went to ask us if we wanted one, and mixed up the words of crackers/cookies as she yelled: "Do you girls want a crack-cookie?!"

As a fan of the Usher, Lil Jon & Ludacris combo, my mom likes singing along to (the chorus of) this song. And (thanks to the Ellen Show) she once asked me "Do you know that song that goes 'Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur'?". To which I replied, "Yes...but why do you?"

Anytime I worry and my mom tells me to stop worrying, I remind her that I got it from her. In fact, I'm worried right now about writing this and that she will worry about me being worried about her worrying...

My mom has been through a lot in life, but she's still one of the most positive, loving, silly, caring and giving people that I know. And if I have even a little bit of that in me, I'd be as happy as a kid eating a crack-cookie.

Happy Birthday, Mom!
Love, Jennifer

(p.s.: also happy birthday to Paul McCartney, who my mom always reminds us that she shares a birthday with.)

I love...past homes.

They say: "Home is where the heart is". Sometimes I think it's nice to remember where your heart has been.

Yesterday I went to a friend's house for a late brunch. It was a lovely afternoon of wine, lasagna and cannoli, while myself and four girlfriends caught up on everything from backaches to boys to babies. My friend lives on the east side of town and while driving home I couldn't help but slow down as I passed my old apartment on Mayfield Road. I looked to see if anyone was out on the balcony or if the balcony was decorated or if there was an "I miss you, Jenny" sign hanging from the railing. It looked pretty quiet there though.

It got me to thinking about past living spaces - past homes - and how I can't help but be reminiscent when I'm near them.

Take this apartment on Mayfield, where I spent about four years of my life and met some of my best friends. It was there that I realized it was possible to miss central air as I spent several summers melting into my sofa. I cried in that apartment, I laughed in that apartment, I continued my non-cooking streak in that apartment. The back fire escape stairs are where I spent several weeks being terrorized by a mysterious raccoon who would climb up and down them while leaving trails of garbage behind him, until the day I actually saw him teetering on the tiny rung of a ladder to the roof and I nearly fell down the stairs as I tried to escape the situation. Sure, I've moved out of and moved on from that apartment, but my heart will always remember how it felt to live there.

Whenever I'm back at Bowling Green State University I of course feel a little reminiscent when I pass my old dorms and apartments. The memories of late nights, parties, new friends, walking back and forth to classes, and getting in trouble for being too loud while playing "would you rather" seem like both forever ago and just yesterday.

Then there is the first home that I lived in while growing up (well, officially it was my second home, but we moved in there before I was one year old, so I'll call it the first home I remember). It was in a development in Strongsville, Ohio, tucked back on a cul-de-sac. It was where I spent nearly 18 years of my life growing up with my two older sisters and my parents. I learned to walk in that house, I learned to ride my bike in front of that house. I decorated Christmas cookies and Easter eggs in that kitchen. I played Barbies and had countless sleepovers while staying up too late watching scary movies in that basement. We have family pictures standing in front of the fireplace in that living room and home movies on the back deck of everything from graduation days, to proms, to when my sisters and I just wanted to test out the new video camera after school. When we moved out of that house the summer after my first year in college I went into my bedroom closet and drew a small heart with a little note as high as I could in one of the corners, with the hope that the new owners would never find it and there'd forever be a mark of me in that house. Since we moved, I still have reasons to drive through Strongsville and when I do I try to allow some extra time to drive by that old house. It's now been painted blue (used to be tan) and the wooden tree fences that used to line the edge of the driveway have been ripped up (which our friends hated when they first got their licenses and had to carefully back out of the driveway) and I know that most of the neighbors I grew up with have since left as well. But even with those changes it still feels the same when I'm in front of it. It still feels like the place that my parents, sisters and I grew into our family and it's still the place where I started on the path to become who I am today. I imagine my little drawing still intact in the closet as if saying "Jenny's heart was here".

As I type this I am sitting on the balcony of my current apartment - my current home. Years from now I'm sure I'll pass by here and remember the stories of what happened in my life while I lived here. And now I'll remember this moment of sitting on my balcony remembering all my past homes - all the places my heart has been.

I love...Christmas.

You've probably been thinking: "What did Jenny do for Christmas this year?!"
Well, relax, I'll tell you.

The long holiday weekend started early, with me being sick. Thursday I woke up not felling well. I'll spare you all the details, but I spent some quality time with my bathroom that morning. I then proceeded to sleep...all day. Not exactly sure what was wrong, but I didn't get my appetite back until Saturday evening, so I have decided to call it a "Christmas Diet"!

After a long Thursday nap I was feeling well enough on Friday to venture out and finish my Christmas shopping. I visited Room Service in Ohio City, the new shops on East 4th Street and Big Fun in Lakewood. Then I stopped by the grocery store to pick up ingredients for a dip I wanted to take to a Christmas party that evening. The recipe included cream cheese and pepper jelly relish all mixed together in one bowl of yumminess. However, I blanked on the ratio of relish to cream cheese, so once I mixed it together it came out bright pink. And I mean pink as in Pepto-Bismol pink. Or as in kinda scary looking to eat with a cracker pink. I was running late, so decided to still take the dip and hope for the best. The party was a great time. It was a gathering of the Hunt Club Pool Rats - a group I managed to sneak my way into during college when I met my good friend Rachel (aka: Moose). She brought me around enough that the Hunt Club friends she grew up with couldn't get rid of me. I should also note that one of the Pool Rats, Ryan, managed to earn 1,000 From Chalk With Love bonus points by mentioning my blog a gazillion times throughout the night.

I then spent Saturday-Monday in Columbus where my sister Susan and her family live. The rest of my family met up there for the weekend, too. We laughed. We ate. We rationed Great Lakes Christmas Ales. My dad made some repairs to my slowly dying car. My 2-year old niece taught me that the word "mine" can be used to answer just about any question. And I was given the new nickname of "butter pockets" (I can't remember exactly why, but it was funny).

For Christmas I got several great items, including a crockpot and pink leopard print mixing bowls that I'm sure I'll eventually use while wearing my apron. I got Tina Fey's book "Bossypants", which I've heard a lot of good things about and can't wait to dig into. I also got Shel Silverstein's newly released book "Every Thing On It", and as I've previously stated - I love Shel Silverstein - so this was especially exciting.

All in all, it was a great weekend (minus the opening Thursday sick-nap scene). I hope you all had a great holiday weekend, too!

Now that the Christmas weekend is over it's time to focus on planning a 2012 NYE celebration for this weekend! I know I'll be with some good friends downtown, but need to pick the place(s), the props (like last year's drink hangers), and the outfit.

Are you ready, 2012?

I love...Thanksgiving.

"Bloggle, bloggle!" That's the sound I think my blog would make if it was a turkey.

But my blog is not a turkey, it's a blog. That's why tonight the sound coming out of my blog is "type, type, type" as I recap a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. A lot happened, so grab some leftovers, sit back and get ready to use those fancy reading skills...

Wednesday night (Thanksgiving Eve) I went to a birthday dinner with some friends at Crop's new location in Ohio City. The space is awesome and the food was yummy. After dinner we went to Market Avenue Wine Bar for another drink. There we saw a man that we were pretty sure was Cleveland Browns' player Peyton Hillis. As he left I joked that it wasn't him because he wasn't holding a football and he was wearing a belt. My friends pointed out that football players wear belts while they're playing. I suggested they should instead wear some sort of bodysuits. As we discussed the "belt vs. bodysuit" topic we lost track of the Mr. maybe-Hillis, and that was that. Later on we said our goodbyes and I found out that some other friends were nearby at Dragonfly. I stopped by to say hello, danced a quick salsa dance, then we walked down the street to Speakeasy to dance some more, and then we walked around the corner to Touch to dance even more. Looking back, this night of dancing was the perfect way to prepare for the day of eating that was to follow.

Thursday morning my sister Lisa picked me up and we headed to the airport to fly out to Washington, DC where our aunt and uncle live. At the airport ticket kiosk I went to enter the first three letters of my destination city and my sister and I were quite amused when the option of "Batman" appeared on the screen (mainly because of this Crank Yankers phone call that my sisters and I are obsessed with). After the flight, our parents picked us up and we went to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. There we were greeted by our sister Susan and two of her kids, Sean & Ryleigh (we missed you, Bill & Conor!). Ryleigh has finally remembered my name without prompting, which made my afternoon as she ran down the hall yelling "Aunt Jenny". We all squeezed into my parents' van and headed to our Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Mike's house. I walked in carrying a cooler my parents had packed up, which resulted in my relatives asking if I was ready for a Thanksgiving tailgate (actually, it didn't sound like a bad idea). I helped in the kitchen by rolling the crescent rolls with Lisa (a stressful and important job) and filling the water pitchers. Not to toot my own horn, but that was some of the best bread and water any Thanksgiving has ever seen! We ate, we drank, we Thanksgiving-ed it up.

On Friday everyone did their own thing during the day. Lisa and I visited the National Portrait Gallery, then wandered a bit and visited the very rarely seen Starbucks. That evening all of our cousins met up for happy hour in the Georgetown area. Then we headed back to our aunt's house for some pizza, which was eventually followed by our goodbyes since we were all headed our separate ways on Saturday morning.

The 2011 Thanksgiving weekend is now drawing to a close and I'm thankful for every deliciously wonderful part of it, from my friends to my family to the dancing to the laughs.

I hope your holiday was deliciously wonderful, too!