Updates! Part 1. {Thanksgiving through End of the World}

This past Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving I've had with my parents in the last five years. When I was still in college, we only got Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving off, and four days really wasn't enough time for me to go home, since two of those days would be spent mostly driving and I would have had to deal with horrendous Turkey Day traffic in both directions.

This year, it was just my immediate family and a few family friends. We ate only a fraction of the spread in the picture below.

On the menu: Trader Joe's cranberry-stuffed turkey breast, smoked prime rib (my dad's specialty), a spiral ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, artichoke rice salad, stuffing, baby asparagus and green beans, biscuits and butter, pumpkin pie, apple pie, peach pie, a huge platter of Filipino desserts like cassaba and sapin-sapin, and... I don't even remember what else. Water, soda, beer, and wine. Needless to say, we did not finish it all. We didn't even come close.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I began going to physical therapy three times a week. The main focus in the beginning was to get my range of motion back before moving on to some light strength-training. I went in for a preliminary evaluation the Monday after Thanksgiving, and in the two weeks between my surgery and that evaluation, I had lost over an inch of muscle in my right leg. Ugh. But physical therapy went well, and I gained back about 85% of my range of motion in the first couple weeks.

I start my new job in January, but Steve and I were invited to attend the company Christmas party in mid-December. It was nice to meet everyone in an informal, relaxed atmosphere (but don't quiz me on all their names...), and I won a prize in the raffle! Steve and I gorged ourselves on sushi, which was another added bonus.

We also moved into a new place! FINALLY! We are now living in a two-bedroom townhouse on the outskirts of downtown, which means we are within walking distance of lots of restaurants and shops but far enough away that we don't have to deal with lots of traffic (although after living in southern California for the last five years, it's hard to really think of it as traffic). The townhouse is very nice, as the interior had been completely remodeled about a year and a half ago. OUR KITCHEN IS GLORIOUS!!!!!! A gas stove (thank goodness. If I never cooked on an electric range again, it would be too soon.), lots of cabinet space, endless expanses of granite countertops... It is wonderful. It is easily twice as spacious as any of the other kitchens we've been in since we moved in together. All of our cooking gear fits nicely in all the cabinets, and the gadgets on the counters (like our pear-colored KitchenAid mixer!!!) don't take up too much space. Pictures to come of our new home once everything is put away and decorated. :D

For the last day of the world (Dec. 21), Steve and I sat around knitting/crocheting scarves and hats and gloves and boots for our stuffed animals while I read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory out loud. It was a wonderful use of our time on the supposed last day of existence. :) In the evening we had my brother and a few friends over for a silly but relaxing evening in, and all in all, I am very glad that the world didn't end that night because there are still so many things in this world to see and do!