Happy Black Friday!
To those of you working... my condolences...
To those of you shopping... my double condolences...
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving... and those overseas or in Canada, I hope you had a great Thursday!
I had a very nice birthday celebration!
We started on Wednesday, as I wrote. We went to Johnny Rockets for dinner and then to Beowulf in 3D! I highly recommend Beowulf, it is a great action movie, and has the historical flare. The CGI (computer generated imaging) was awesome... it was realistic, but also 'more', if that makes any sense!
Yesterday morning the kids gave me their gifts! They had been teasing me all Wednesday night, giving me hints for one of them!
It was smaller than a bread box, but larger than a jewelry box. It was not jewelry. It was not coffee related. It was similar to something I owned, and they 'guaranteed' I would love it.
It was a Yoda bobble head!!! Very cool! They kids refer to me, especially Hammer, as their Yoda, so I was delighted with it!!!
Also, from Hubby and kids was a gift card to....... wait for it.....
wait for it.....
Borders!!!!!!!
You know... books are my crack (yeah, coffee, too) so I was thrilled!
My mom and dad had treated us to Johnny Rockets for dinner, but I also received a pillow from my mom that said, 'I smile because you are my daughter, I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it'!!! I have several 'fun' pillows already, and this is a welcome one for my collection!
We hit some traffic on the Garden State Parkway on the way down to Kathy's, but it was worth it. Dinner was fabulous! I was sooooo happy to find she was making the delicious buttery onion casserole that she made last year! Yay! First, Butternut squash soup. Then, the turkey, the tenderest ever, and professionally sliced by her hubby, and served with her yummy maple gravy.
The sides were my maple glazed carrots, a Rachel Ray green bean cider dish, cauliflower with Italian seasoning, mashed brown sugar sweet potatoes, mashed garlicky Yukon Gold potatoes, raisin bran muffins, corn muffins, stuffing/dressing with cranberries, and the aforementioned onion casserole.
OMG, it was AWESOME!
Then, dessert! My sweet nephew, J, decided Aunt Dawn had to have candles!!! So, we did on top of a sinful dark chocolate cake! There was also homemade apple pie, pumpkin pie and angel food cake with crushed strawberries and cream. Oh yeah, it was great!!!
My sweet J (and Kathy, of course) gave me an adorable set of Starbuck's Christmas tree ornaments and a Starbuck's gift card! Yay! So, my other addiction was duly satisfied for my birthday as well!
I am so thankful for all of the birthday wishes that I received, in comments, and in email, from all of my J-land friends! Thank you again, you are the best! I am so happy to have found you all!
Today, we are hanging out at home. Pumpkin has a friend over, and Hammer's GalPal is also here. Aside, from Fuzzy going to get a haircut, and Hubby getting an oil change for our suv, we have avoided all the shopping insanity that is Black Friday!
I do about 90% of my holiday shopping online now anyhow. Works for me!
Maybe I will back later... I have a funny story about J!
be well,
Dawn
28 comments:
I am so happy you had a fantastic birthday and thanksgiving Dawn.You so deserve it.I love the pillows too.The last one I got was from my Sis being the avid gardener I used to be.it said ."My family tree is full of nuts" LOL!! Well I think she made a wise choise.Because we are all mad ha- haaa.What lovely presents you got.Yeh.Sorry I didn't send you an E. Card for some reason they never work for me .So I leave them now,they frustrate me,so much when i have chosen and sent and then they ask for lots of info.Grrrr Love the kitty graphics.Enjoy your online shopping.Have a fabulous week/end.Be well.Take Care God Bless Kath
astoriasand http://journals.aol.co.uk/astoriasand/MYSIMPLERHYMES
What a great birthday celebration you had! Sounds fun to me. And that Thanksgiving spread sounded awesome. Yikes, I'd have loved to have tried all those dishes. LOL at Yoda...too cute.
No Black Friday for me. I had to work but didn't mind a bit. Hope you have a good weekend. Love ya, Chris
It sounds like you had a terrific birthday & Thanksgiving too, that's great! It's adorable your kids refer to you as their Yoda, cool. Your dinner sounds great but you really got me on the desserts...they sound wonderful!!!
Lisa
Hi Dawn Ü,
I'm so happy you had such a wonderful Birthday Ü. I too am addicted to Cofee and Books! How cool we have the same things in common Ü. I am not sure we have a Borders here in Florida, but we have a Books A Million~which I live in AND it has a Joe Mugs coffee shop in it! So I get both coffee and books lol.
Have you ever heard of www.paperbackswap.com before? it's a great way to swap out books and get one's you don't have for free!
I have never heard of a restaurant called "Johnny Rockets." What's it like and what kind of food do they serve?
Hubby has been wanting to go see Beowulf~hopefully this weekend we can go see it. We did watch another great movie the other night that we bought. Called "Live Free Or Die Hard" with Bruce Willis in it. It was a great movie. I could have done without the language though.
Your Thanksgiving meal and desserts sounded wonderful. It's so nice just being together with family and friends and sharing that day together Ü.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I hope you enjoy your weekend Ü.
HUGS~Donna
many happy returns
Marti
What a great Birthday...Thanksgiving, it doesn't get better than that!
Glad it was such a good one...Now you'll have to decided what books to buy with that Gift Card.
Bethe
So glad it was a happy day -- you deserve lots of those!
Russ
I hope you had the happiest birthday ever.......... Hugs to my my friend, Gaz xxx
Hi Dawn,
Sounds like a great Birthday and Thanksgiving! The Yoda gift sounds like a real score ... fun and sentimental, too!
Best,
Marty
I'm glad you had a great bday and thanksgiving :)
I actually went out yesterday with Caitlin and Mom shopping....something I NEVER do on black Friday....and all in all it wasn't too bad. Of course I'll never do that again! lol
Hugs,
Gretchen
Good to hear you enjoyed Thanksgiving, Dawn, and again many happy returns!
So glad to hear you had such a good birthday and Thanksgiving! Good for you! I love to read but never have the time. I love Dean Koontz and Stephen King and Ann Rule the best.
HUGS, lj
so glad you had a great Birthday and Thanksgiving
Deb
Glad you all had such a nice Thanksgiving. Me? I avoid the Black Friday crush like the plague. You did get the perfect gifts. Have a great weekend.
Smiles, Leigh
Sounds to me like you had a good Birthday and Thanksgiving!
Missie
glad you enjoyed your birthday.
Hi Dawn! Thanks for visiting my journal. I love it how you say books are your "Crack." I agree! I used to drink a lot of coffee, too, but I gave it up early in my pregnancy when I was queasy and decided to just continue on with it. Hubby says he misses drinking coffee with me. LOL.
Your dinner sounds awesome... I love quash & all the other stuff you mentioned!
Melissa
Hi Dawn Ü,
This is Donna. I wanted to come by and thank you for visiting my journal Ü. And too thank you for the compliment on my calico kitten Cali~she is my baby Ü. Yes, I was on the AOL Home School boards back then! Brittany Graduated 2004 after 11 yrs of being HS'ed. Gosh I miss it Ü. But it was a proud & bitter sweet moment watching Brittany walk and get her Diploma. Her Dad and I both cried almost the whole way through it lol. I have pictures of it and I will try and post them soon Ü. I also still have a large Home School website for other parents who teach their children at home. Let's keep in touch Ü.
Blessings~Donna
glad you had a nice birthday and thanksgiving. enjoy your weekend. (((((hugs))))
Cindy
Wow, Fun packed weekend. Dawn
You had a great birthday !! Wonderful gifts and even better food!
hugs,
Ellen
Starbucks and B orders! You are the luckiest girl alive. Linda
Love the black cat. So happy that you had a great birthday, it sounded lovely. I do so agree with you about shopping...it is so much easier online than in person. I've been trying to stock up on my Ebay store and people are starting to buy the jewelry so that's good. Love, Sandi
so happy to hear you had such a great holiday and birthday =) ((( big hugs! )))
Yoda bobble head...perfect!! And, of course, BOOKS. Glad your special day was a good one. --Cin
A Borders gift card was my favorite birthday gift!
Gillie
Sounds awesome. Love the kitty pic. I love the pillow your mom gave you. Sounds like something I would tell my daughters <evil grin smile>. Meal sounded delicious I'm putting on weight just reading. So glad you had a great time you deserve it.
Take care, Chrissie
dearest Dawn, Wowee!
Happy Belated Birthday! Awesome!
love,nat
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