Song of the Day:
Killing You, Broods
Providence Stuff: Shout out to the college bball fans - Providence's Dunkin' Donuts Center
will host some of the 2016 NCAA tournament.
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I'm facing a fantastic problem: I only have forty minutes to get through this update because I'm going to my very first Celtics home game tonight. I'd rather the blog suffer a lack of its characteristic over exposition than be late, so here we go...
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Jasmine finally left Providence for greener pastures in NYC. Whereas we're happy for her new adventure, both Kenz and I are sad to see her go. Our first friend in Providence, Jasmine not only helped us transition into Lil Rhody but was a source of warmth and comfort for us. We enjoyed our routine of Monday Night Family Dinner. Three Fridays ago, I helped her pack her car, looked at the depressing, empty apartment she was going to sleep in that night, and said you're staying with us tonight. She capitulated and the three of us had a big brunch before Kenz went to school and Jazzy to Manhattan.
Other than Jasmine's departure, life was fairly (wonderfully) boring in the run up to Thanksgiving:
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| It's cold up here. |
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| Apollo doesn't understand ice. |
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| I got tickets for Kenz and I, but she had to work. I went solo. She made the right decision. |
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| The animals are never really a help around the house. |
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| I've filled countless lawn bags. |
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| I've learned that flocking is a thing. |
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| But I don't know what flocking is - just that it's a thing. |
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| Bruce Bruce and Willow rotate sunspots. |
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| And sometimes Bruce Bruce holds court on a dog bed. |
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Kenz is nearly nocturnal these days, returning home anywhere from 3-6am, sleeping until 11am, waking to eat something absurd for breakfast (since Thanksgiving it's been pumpkin pie), sip on half a cup of coffee, and then she's out the door. The entire process takes about forty minutes. We thought she was busy during the first two months, when she was averaging seventy hours in the studio, but the end of the semester takes its toll on everyone and she's not exempt. She'll send me pictures every now and again, as per usual. And I'll try (and fail) to explain the pictures, as per usual.
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| I had to drop off a package at her studio; figured I'd take a pic of where her real home is. |
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| She's been using a laser cutter (read: living in the future). |
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| "I've never actually seen myself with all my gear on! It's scary!" |
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| She has to make a table for one of her classes; she's cutting hers in half in order to fit her braided metal in the middle. |
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| Gluing some sort of something or other. |
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| Working on her table. |
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| Creating a bend in the metal. |
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| Makes sense now? |
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I'd been...anxious...about this year's Friendsgiving. With Kenz spending so much time in the studio, I assumed I'd be doing all the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. On top of that, we'd planned on about eighteen guests, but - surprisingly - our new house hadn't felt as 'big' as the London flat. The floor space is different and I was worried about where everyone would be eating. There was also the pets vs. kids thing to worry about - the cat hadn't ever been around anyone younger than twenty and the dogs are sometimes skittish around unpredictable folks (kids). Needless to say, I'd spent a fair amount of time thinking about all the things that could go wrong.
As it turned out, nothing really went wrong. Not only did Kenz take the entire day off to help cook and clean, but we met up on Tuesday evening to go grocery shopping together. She can find in twenty minutes all the things that would take me two hours. We wound up with only about eight people over for dinner, so there was more than enough food. And all the pets and kids got along perfectly.
In fact, everything was so nice that I wound up having a bout of empty next syndrome the next day.
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| We hadn't planned on wearing matching outfits to the grocery store... |
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| The makings of leftovers. |
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| Tom spent the night in the fridge. |
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| Getting ready for stuffing loaves. |
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| Apollo hung out underneath me, catching cornbread (not always in his mouth). |
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| The annual "night before Thanksgiving pizza party because there's no way we're cooking anything else tonight" |
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| The good thing about popping the turkey in the oven at 5am is getting to watch the sun rise with a nice cup of coffee. |
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| The street was packed; everyone had family over that day. |
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| Galileo meets Bruce Bruce |
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| Lisa and Galileo meet Josh, Courtney, and Sawyer. |
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| Kenz meets Sawyer |
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| The seven of us spent most of the day together, holding kids... |
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| ...relaxing... |
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| ...entertaining... |
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| ...cooking... |
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| ...until it was time for Kenz's school friends to come over and eat! |
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| Dinner is served. |
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| Kenz, Lisa, Galileo, Maria, Diego, Christina, Sawyer, Courtney, and Josh! |
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| Friendsgiving 2014 |
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| Success! |
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| Kenz's banoffee pie was the best yet. |
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| The dogs got the turkey legs... |
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| ...and were in heaven. |
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| But, Kara was the one that won the day; she sent this to me later that evening. "No I did not steal the turkey!" |
The next morning, Lisa, Galileo, and I had enough time to eat a luxuriously slow breakfast together before they departed back up toward Amherst.
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| The dog bed subs as a great kidcouch. |
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| Get used to this face; I'm going to see them again in February! |
All in all, it was a delightful holiday. What was I so anxious about? Since then it has been back to life as usual, with the slight exception of getting rid of leftovers and ready for the holidays...
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| Breakfast of champions. |
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| The dogs aren't allowed on the couch but I catch them every time I come home. |
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| Kenz isn't allowed to help with dishes anymore. |
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| It took me four hours... |
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| ...but I finally hung the lights. |
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.
