giving thanks

What a lovely holiday, Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed the day, as we were able to be with both of our families, and the whole day went very well. It was only made better when we decorated our Christmas tree on Friday night while we watched Family Man on TV. It's times like these that remind me how enchanted I was growing up with the thought of having my own family and starting our own holiday traditions. The romanticism that inevitably comes with this time of year always warms me right up. And to top it off, Mike bought me It's a Wonderful Life on DVD- does it get any better?

We're quickly approaching our trip to Europe, and it typically becomes a topic for discussion at dinner. We're both maddeningly excited for it, and thinking about everything we'll see makes me crazy with anticipation! I hope that everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and was able to take a rest from everyday concerns. Best wishes for the holiday season.

les reves

I ate a lot of food in Casper this past weekend. It was all absolutely delicious. My body punished me by waking me up at 5 this morning to barf my guts out. Lovely, huh. No more delicious food for me. And no work today, either. So a little while ago I sat on the couch and watched the only thing worth watching on the network stations in the middle of the day. Martha Stewart. Note, her competition was the news (which was scratchy and hard to hear), some educational children's show on PBS (mildly tempting), or a soap opera (I'd rather stare at the ceiling and hum to myself). The show was okay I guess. She did make a trip to Paris- where she used to be a model, which seemed a little strange to me. I mean, when she showed up on some agency's doorstep at the age of 19, didn't they say "Mais non! Tu es Martha Stewart! You make ze cookies, and ze holiday doilies!" I guess Martha Stewart wasn't such a "buzz" name back in the 60's.

But she toured a few "ateliers" in the beautiful city of Paris, which are the shops where seamstresses work on the elegant and extravagant pieces of clothing that are worn in the haute couture fashion shows of Le France. And I wondered to myself if I could ever enjoy/find my way into such a job. Mike and I love to throw around the idea of living abroad, and one option is France, where he could teach at the Orthodox institute there. I always characterize our future children as products of whatever place we may end up- in England, they will be pushed in a pram, and they will call me "mummy". In France, they would say "mais oui" a lot, and would prance around town in little jumpers, much like the title character of the Eloise books. But I truly love to wonder what such a life would be like, and imagining myself as a trendy seamstress, putting my work into gorgeous gowns made by top designers, is certainly a fantastic dream. My love for crochet and for trying different creations (even though my products now are FAR from those designs seen on the runways- I don't think they wear many wool hats with stripes in them) makes that dream a little closer to possible. I hope I never give up on dreams.