The thing I’m most thankful for is the abundance of wonderful people in my life for me to love! *hugs*
The chocolate factory tour was educational, interesting and yummy! Lunch at their cafe afterwards was tasty, and we followed that up with wandering 4th Street in Berkeley and then Emery Bay Street Mall and dinner there at Askew (a kabob place – I got yummy grilled artichoke and butternut squash soup).
I don’t recall too much of Sunday, we watched some anime and avatar online, and then went to get the ring! After that I was kinda in a giddy cloud. We did stop by REI which was nearby and they had a hang board of the right color in stock! We’ve been looking for a month or two now for one in a color I wouldn’t mind installing. So now we just have to find a couple studs above a doorway to install it. I dragged my pirate around the Expo Design Center some too before we headed home.
Monday night my friend JG took me out and got us both french manicures (since I’ll be showing off my hand for a while yet!) and then to dinner where we looked mostly at wedding dresses in magazines. We have a lot of similar tastes we discovered when discussing wedding ideas.
Tuesday night I cooked my carrots vichy recipe and my sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. I replaced have the sweetpotato with a butternut squash I needed to use up, and I accidentally dropped somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of pepper in (I was trying to only tap one shake in) but luckily I had decided to use the black and white pepper I have which is milder. So it actually turned out really well. I think so at least, which is good since I’m going to be eating leftovers from it for the next week.
Wednesday night we were allowed to go home early, which for me ended up being around 5:30. By 6:30 we left to drive to San Jose.
This morning we all piled in the car and headed to Santa Rosa. It took about 2 and a half hours and traffic wasn’t too bad. Getting onto the Golden Gate Bridge and the Novato Narrows were the only bad spots. My brother was able to join us in time for dinner, and we just barely managed to fit everyone at the table except for my future step-father. He stood in the kitchen next to us eating and serving the food. Everything was good and we all had a good time talking and laughing. I think if we can eat together and laugh together, our families are going to get along just fine. We went for a walk after dinner and my pirate gave the dogs a run like we’ve gotten into the habit of doing when we’re with my mom. The dogs love it and my pirate usually has the energy to spare. We had pie and Belgian chocolates for dessert and then headed out. I got dropped off at home to take care of the kitties (who are all curled up in bed with me now) and my pirate and his family headed back to San Jose.
I’ll miss him, but I want to go through the wedding books my mom lent me and also get my Christmas cards done, along with laundry and some other chores and projects.
Time to do some reading and kitty cuddling!