On Thursday morning, we decided that we would go visit the Alamo and the Riverwalk. The weather was beautiful, and it was surprisingly busy with lots of families out and about! Here's a picture of us in front of the Alamo, thankful to be Texans.
We got back to his mom's apartment in the early afternoon, just in time to put the turkey in the oven for a early evening dinner. Since it was only the three of us, I decided to buy just a turkey breast and a small ham. For sidedishes, I made my family's favorite dressing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and dinner rolls. It was like conducting a three ring circus trying to fit all those things in the same oven at the same temperature starting at different times so that they'd all come out done at the same time! But I did it, and I was so proud because it was the first time I had ever made Thanksgiving dinner by myself without my mom. Thank goodness I have helped her in the kitchen all these years. Everything tasted wonderful, and more importantly, it was so good to see my future mother-in-law and spend our last holiday with her before she moves to New York.
We left San Antonio that same evening because Brent volunteered to open the GHF Warehouse on Friday to make a little extra money. On the way home, we stopped at Sears in Katy, right outside of Houston, to check out their Black Friday sales. They opened at 8 p.m. on Thursday, and the parking lot looked fairly calm, so we figured it must be safe to go in. We got an awesome deal on the Craftsman toolbox that we needed for Brent's groom's cake, gifts for all the groomsmen, and a gift for my dad for Christmas. We finished all of our Black Friday shopping before Friday even began, with no bruises or black eyes and minimal damage to the bank account.
Brent worked at the Galveston Historical Foundation's Salvage Warehouse all day on Friday. Because I'm such a good future wife (and because he asked me to), I made him a hot lunch. This gourmet toasted ham, egg, and cheese sandwich as created partly from Thanksgiving leftovers, which always taste better the day after anyway! Brent only stops to take bites periodically between working, so lunch wasn't quite as romantic as I had planned. :)
While Brent was hard at work at the warehouse, I decided it would be a good day to unpack all of the gifts we received from my bridal shower last weekend. They had been sitting in a huge mountain of boxes in my living room, untouched, all week. As excited as I was about getting all new pots and pans, plates, glasses, silverware, and bakeware, I hadn't really planned where I was going to put all of these things in our tiny apartment kitchen. It took me all afternoon to unbox, unwrap, and wash everything, and then replace the old with the new in the cabinets. And once I had pulled out all my old things, I began the painstaking process of sorting what I should store for a future and hopefully larger home and what I should donate to Goodwill.
Who would have thought I would become so attached to those cute little plates and bowls with sailboats that I bought at a thrift store? Or to my mom's old pots and pans that she gave to me for my first apartment?
Despite hours of cleaning and re-organzing, the apartment still feels cluttered and cramped. I remind myself that we are young, we are broke, and one day we will laugh about these years in our our tiny apartment with our mismatched things and being in danger of an avalanche every time we open a closet or a cabinet door.
Being the day after Thanksgiving, we decided it was the perfect time to establish some old and new family traditions for the holiday season. Brent and I both love Christmas time, and in my family growing up, the Christmas season began as soon as the Thanskgiving dinner dishes were washed. So when Brent got off of work, we pulled out our brand new plates and silverware and all the Thanksgiving leftovers and created the most awesome TV dinners we've ever eaten. Then we made hot chocolate with marshmallows (in our new coffee cups, of course), snuggled up on the couch, and watched A Christmas Story.
After that we set up and decorated the Christmas tree. We had a couple of technical difficulties with the lights, which I am glad to say are now repaired by by my handy man fiancee who was shocked only a few times in the process. It was fun unwrapping all the ornaments and remembering all the places around the world where I had collected some and remembering all the loved ones who had given me the others... but all of the ornaments are mine, not ours... we're going to have work on that and start another new family tradition.
Our furry baby Dexter also enjoyed helping decorate and served as chief inspector for Christmas Tree Lighting Quality Control. As seen in this photo with Mr. Snowman, he took this job very seriously and was quick to point out: You missed a spot.
Later on in the evening, Dexter took it upon himself to slap every single ornament on the bottom layers of the tree to ensure that their hooks were tightly secured to the branches. It took all three of us, but together we can accomplish great things and now we are officially ready for the Christmas season. :)
We're so excited for December - we're exactly five weeks away from the wedding today. These last few weeks will be a time that we will always cherish, and we are so thankful to have found each other, to celebrate with our families and friends, and to begin our new life together.
We left San Antonio that same evening because Brent volunteered to open the GHF Warehouse on Friday to make a little extra money. On the way home, we stopped at Sears in Katy, right outside of Houston, to check out their Black Friday sales. They opened at 8 p.m. on Thursday, and the parking lot looked fairly calm, so we figured it must be safe to go in. We got an awesome deal on the Craftsman toolbox that we needed for Brent's groom's cake, gifts for all the groomsmen, and a gift for my dad for Christmas. We finished all of our Black Friday shopping before Friday even began, with no bruises or black eyes and minimal damage to the bank account.
While Brent was hard at work at the warehouse, I decided it would be a good day to unpack all of the gifts we received from my bridal shower last weekend. They had been sitting in a huge mountain of boxes in my living room, untouched, all week. As excited as I was about getting all new pots and pans, plates, glasses, silverware, and bakeware, I hadn't really planned where I was going to put all of these things in our tiny apartment kitchen. It took me all afternoon to unbox, unwrap, and wash everything, and then replace the old with the new in the cabinets. And once I had pulled out all my old things, I began the painstaking process of sorting what I should store for a future and hopefully larger home and what I should donate to Goodwill. Who would have thought I would become so attached to those cute little plates and bowls with sailboats that I bought at a thrift store? Or to my mom's old pots and pans that she gave to me for my first apartment?
Despite hours of cleaning and re-organzing, the apartment still feels cluttered and cramped. I remind myself that we are young, we are broke, and one day we will laugh about these years in our our tiny apartment with our mismatched things and being in danger of an avalanche every time we open a closet or a cabinet door.
Being the day after Thanksgiving, we decided it was the perfect time to establish some old and new family traditions for the holiday season. Brent and I both love Christmas time, and in my family growing up, the Christmas season began as soon as the Thanskgiving dinner dishes were washed. So when Brent got off of work, we pulled out our brand new plates and silverware and all the Thanksgiving leftovers and created the most awesome TV dinners we've ever eaten. Then we made hot chocolate with marshmallows (in our new coffee cups, of course), snuggled up on the couch, and watched A Christmas Story. 
Our furry baby Dexter also enjoyed helping decorate and served as chief inspector for Christmas Tree Lighting Quality Control. As seen in this photo with Mr. Snowman, he took this job very seriously and was quick to point out: You missed a spot.Later on in the evening, Dexter took it upon himself to slap every single ornament on the bottom layers of the tree to ensure that their hooks were tightly secured to the branches. It took all three of us, but together we can accomplish great things and now we are officially ready for the Christmas season. :)
We're so excited for December - we're exactly five weeks away from the wedding today. These last few weeks will be a time that we will always cherish, and we are so thankful to have found each other, to celebrate with our families and friends, and to begin our new life together.
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