Our First Thanksgiving in Austin

First, Richie came home from work with a harvest bouquet for me and it just made my day! He has surprised me with flowers twice now since we have been here and it is such a surprise that I never have a vase for them. I am thinking of buying one to tuck away but no not want to jinx myself.

Then, on Thursday morning, I woke up and turned on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and then Rich woke up and we went out for a walk around downtown. We walked faaar and even ran into a man from Buffalo on our way to Whole Foods for coffee fuel. We found lots of cute homes – the one we really like is 1.8 million dollars! But it has a great view of the city! Please click here to see it. It is pretty fantastic (and rather inexpensive compared to Amelia Bullock’s other properties listed – just food for thought while you are looking).

So then we came home and made breakfast and then I got cooking and I must say, I make one heck of a Turkey Day dinner! I even made a turkey – I wasn’t going to (I was going to cheat and buy a rotisserie chicken or employ a prefab turkey from Boston Market) but Gus was just the perfect little turkey at 6.66 pounds Rich got him out of the bag and got rid of all the “extras” and put him in the pan for me. We took turns basting him (when Rich “heard” the obnoxious, hard-to-miss-even-with-a-deaf-ear timer go off) and he turned out just sooo melt-in-your-mouth delicious! And it was so easy! There should be a national Semi-Annual Turkey Day celebration! We are almost out of leftovers. (Just a few bites of smashed baked potatoes left for Rich.)

We didn’t end up going shopping on Black Friday – Rich even said he would go with me but there wasn’t anything great worth going out. But, we did go out to see Blind Side and we really liked it! Then we went to Borders and Cavender’s (a cowboy boot store) and Central Market for dinner. I love Central Market – they have a little help yourself stand of beauty scrubs – I bought the Hibiscus Salt Scrub and it is wonderful! And they have my Stash licorice tea! (I still can’t find the Chocolate Mint one in stores.)

Today, we went to Mattress Firm to exchange our mattress. They have a 90-day comfort guarantee policy and today is day 88. So, since we do not like it, better late than never! We got a great deal though – we are getting the Cadillac of mattresses! Totally worth it so far. I can not wait until it is delivered on Tuesday. I think that I will buy new sheets and new pillows!!

Tonight we are going to sip on some Drank. What is Drank? It is a purple drink. Last week, while we were in Houston, Rich and his friends found it at Specs. They drank it and within about 20 minutes they were all fast asleep on the couch. So last night, we bought some melatonin and Valerian root but they did not seem to be as effective as the Drank. So today we stopped by Specs and picked some up.

The apartment is all decorated for Christmas! We bought a little tree and lights, wrapped the doors with paper and ribbon, put bows on the bar stools and hung tinsel garland everywhere! And guess what, at Michaels, they have Buffalo Snow! It is really called Buffalo Snow! (Rich asked if it is black and gritty.) Must have some!