Becoming friends, or at least less like enemies

Bella and Jack have started to get along better. They chase each other and can be in the same room. In addition, Jack has taken to coming downstairs again. Overall, this is great news. But for our black furniture that showcases cat hair really well, this isn't such great news.

Recently, Bella and Jack have even begun hanging out. I found that if I open the back door, Jack goes and sits by the screen. Once Jack is over there, Bella slowly walks over and sits and watches as well.

They really aren't watching anything in particular, but for some reason they find it enjoyable, and I find it makes for cute pictures. Enjoy!

 

Our First Thanksgiving

Shawn and I spent Thanksgiving in Durham. It was our first Thanksgiving away from my family, which means it was also our first experience with hosting and cooking. Although I was nervous there would be some sort of kitchen fiasco, my fears were misplaced.

The day started off early for me, but not because I was cooking. I spent from 6 until 7 a.m. finishing up a media law paper and sending it off to my professor. I wanted to have my vacation media-law free, and finishing my paper allowed me to do that.

After finishing the paper, it was time to start getting some things ready. Shawn and I had picked up our good friend Hollie from the airport the night before, so before Hollie got up, I wanted to get a few things accomplished. I went ahead and made the brine for the turkey. The brine was actually really easy to do. It just involved dissolving salt and brown sugar into a soup pot of water and then submerging the turkey after the water had cooled. I had heard that this made for a really moist turkey, and we were not disappointed. Shawn of course had to handle the turkey, because anyone who knows me knows my dislike of handling raw meat.

While the turkey sat in the brine in the fridge, I made some appetizers. Cassie showed up a bit later, and she, Hollie, Shawn and I ate appetizers and played some board games. For appetizers we had deviled eggs, prawns and cocktail sauce, spinach dip in a bread bowl and a veggie platter. One appetizer per person may have been a bit excessive, but I enjoyed making and eating them, so it worked out.

After that it was time to get the turkey going. Shawn buttered the turkey as directed and put it into the oven. He felt just the turkey with butter wasn't festive enough, so Betsy (a.k.a. the turkey) got a headdress made of butter and carrots.

As we worked away in the kitchen, Bella played with Cassie and Hollie until it was time for her to rest. Thanksgiving for her was pretty much like any other day.

After the turkey was in the oven for awhile, it was time to make the sides. With the help of Hollie and Cassie I did the stuffing, green beans and gravy. Cassie made some excellent and very creamy mashed potatoes and Hollie made some delicious roasted sweet potatoes. We also had three types of cranberry sauce including our family friend Christa's amazing chipotle cranberry sauce that she sent all the way from Washington. I did forget to make the rolls however.

Overall, I would call Thanksgiving a success. After dinner we had pecan pie that I had made from Shawn's grandmother's amazing recipe. We also had some strawberry shortcake. We then just spent the evening hanging out and having a good time. Aside from many things I am thankful for such as my family's health and happiness, this Thanksgiving, I am also definitely thankful for good friends! 

A day in the garden

One of the great things about North Carolina: 65 degree days in mid-November.

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day last Saturday and took Bella out to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Of course we forgot that football could be happening, and it was a game day. After sitting in traffic and watching all the tailgaters drinking beer at 10 a.m. we made it to the garden.

Bella had a great time exploring the area, and she had a few people approach her because she is adorable. Shawn and I tried to check out some different trails from the last time we came with Arianna and Tim, but there is still a lot more to see. Below are some pictures for our trip out.

(Here is what they are of: Bella walking me through the garden; this great bridge in the garden that always has so many people by it is hard to get a great picture; Bella walking much nicer for Shawn (after he made me hand over the leash when she tried to case a little girl and scared her); Shawn and Bella in the trees; and Bella, just so you can see how much bigger she has gotten).

We then went by PetSmart on the way home, and they were having Adoption Day. Although there were  a lot of cute puppies, we already have one of our own, so Bella just enjoyed playing with the other pups and got some treats to boot. She also got a nice new pet bed that she is currently snuggled up in.

Falling behind as the semester moves forward

Time keeps flying by, and yet no blog posts appear. I actually have a few drafted, but what always trips me up is finding the time to add pictures. See, I can draft these anywhere, but the only place I have the pictures is Shawn's computer--or in this case, in the camera.

The semester is getting busy, but that always happens as it gets closer to the end. I have papers due, readings to finish and presentations to prepare, but I will make a point to get some pictures added and some previously drafted blog posts up.

As a general update, Shawn is enjoying his job. It's hard to believe he is going on week 4 here shortly. He really likes the people he works with, his commute isn't too bad, and he finds the job itself interesting.

Bella keeps growing. Last time we took her to the vet she was 15 lbs, so she has finally outgrown Jack (and she doubled in size from her last visit). The vet thinks she will be around 30 lbs when she is fully grown.

Jack is still living upstairs mostly, but he has taken to chasing Bella around the bedrooms and seems to be getting along with her a bit better.

As for me, I read and write and go to class, then repeat. Hopefully I will get some more interesting blog posts up soon.

Happy Halloween! (Also a week late!)

Had a nice Halloween here in Durham. Shawn and I were hoping for trick or treaters and we weren't disappointed. We went through our first two bags of candy with the first three groups of kids. Shawn had to run to the store so we were stocked for the next round. Of course less kids came after that and we ended up with a collection of left over Starbursts and Hershey Kisses (the Peanut Butter Cups were gone pretty quickly!)

Although it was Halloween, it wasn't much different from every other Sunday. I spent the day working on a media law exam while Shawn helped John, our neighbor, work on his car. Then it was time for puppy class, dinner, and a ringing doorbell with a variety of vampires, princesses and animals behind it.

Of course our little animal was prepared for the holiday. Bella had her pumpkin shirt on before the kids came by, and a number of them asked to pet her. She was very well behaved. Jack, of course, did not wear a costume. One Halloween in a t-shirt a few years ago was enough for him, so we avoided putting him through that again.

Above are the jack-o-lanterns we did at the pumpkin carving our neighbors had. Shawn did Mario (on the left if you couldn't tell) and mine is a dragon).

Anyway, hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

The Clayton Fear Farm--Frighteningly Fun!

Although this post is more than a week late, I still felt it was worth adding to the blog.

After our first haunted house with Arianna and Tim, Shawn and I wanted to try to find a haunted house that was really worthwhile. Now, something you should know about me upfront if you don't already--I am not really a big "scary" fan. I don't watch scary movies, and I don't particularly enjoy being frightened. That being said, I do think haunted houses can be fun, and I went to the Haunted Palouse every year we were in Pullman and absolutely loved it.

I decided to turn to google for some help finding a haunted house. Of course that is where I found out about the last one too. While browsing, I came across the Clayton Fear Farm. A farmer took his 150 acre farm and now only uses 40 acres for farming. The rest is used during October as a haunted farmground. It has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and they call this type of business AgriEntertainment. (If you are avid Office fan, you might be thinking of Dwight and his beet farm here--that was AgriTourism, a separate but similar branch of the Agri-Industry).

Right when you get to the farm you can tell they have gone all out. They had a really long line for tickets that stretched past the "fear farm" hurse.

Shawn and I went with my office mate, Laura, and her girlfriend, who really enjoys haunted houses. Laura happens to not be a huge fan either. However, we all had a great time. They had so many different activities. We went through a haunted school house, a slaughter house (gross--and not my favorite), a haunted dark walk, a corn maze and a haunted hay ride--just to name a few.

Here is a picture of Shawn from the corn maze. Although this wasn't haunted, it was still a really great corn maze. It was 3 miles long! We didn't take the 3 mile route and opted to go to the right, which took more like 20 minutes according to the woman who provided some guidance.