Things I learned from my Mother-in-law part 2

Family and the relationships you have with your family members are important and worth investing in, more so than any other relationships in your life.

Both myself and Sean make an effort to prioritize our families. This often means traveling for family events when we'd rather spend the money and vacation time on something fun for ourselves. Or it means only having a little or no time at all to see friends around the holidays. It's not always easy but I doubt that we will ever regret the choices we make to value our families, including our own little family of two, and I'm very glad to have learned this lesson early in my life.

Thanksgiving

Sean and I just spent a whirlwind few days in Michigan seeing family (and one friend! victory!). There was a lot of overindulging in food and wine. Yum.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because it's always been the time when my Mom's extended family gets together. There are always extra mashed potatoes, not a sweet potato or cranberry in site, a plethora of pies for dessert, singing courtesy of the "crazy aunts" and best of all, BINGO.


While in Michigan, we also had time to do some shopping and Sean picked up his recently ordered Macbook Pro. He's been talking about getting a new computer for about 1.5 years so I'm happy he finally has one and that he will hopefully now be an Apple convert. We used it to take a few pictures with Jack while we were in Detroit since we forgot a real camera. How does he get cuter every time we see him??

Late Fall Playlist

Before the endless Christmas music playing begins (and it already has in stores all around us...) I want to share some of the best songs I've been listening to this fall.

Florence and the Machine-Shake it Out

Band of Horses-On My Way Back Home

Arcade Fire-Wake Up

Coldplay-Us Against the World

James Taylor-Hard Times Come Again No More

Kathryn's Visit

Kathryn, one of my good friends from college, came to visit the first weekend in November. She had never been to New York City and we enjoyed showing her around. We also took her to two places that I'd never been. The Cloisters, an offshoot of the Met that's all the way in upper Manhattan, and the World Trade Center's recently opened September 11th Memorial all the way downtown. In one day.

It's always nice to have visitors give you an excuse to do more on the weekend than drink coffee, cook and hide out in your own neighborhood.

Apple Chronicles

After purchasing 24 pounds of apples at an orchard, we were faced with the question of what to do with so many apples! Obviously there would be pie involved, but pies only use 3 or 4 apples. The best solution was to make applesauce. We literally filled our crock pot with apple slices, added cinnamon, cloves, and maple syrup and let it cook for 3 hours. The result was really delicious. This is the first time I've tried homemade applesauce, and as someone who really doesn't ever eat applesauce, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.



The apples were also baked into an apple crisp that Sean took to work. They were used for two pies and my pie baking skills are improving as a result. Now we still have about 6 apples left. And are tired of eating apples.

Not having TV

Sometimes when I tell people I don't get any TV channels they look at me like I must be lying. Last fall when we moved to New York and looked at prices for cable, we decided it wasn't something we could afford. Now, even though we could afford it, I avoid buying it. TV shows can become very distracting and its easy to turn on the tv in the morning and at night with nothing particular in mind to watch. When I have a hard time feeling motivated to wash dishes or get out the door on time for work, I don't need another obstacle.

I like to think that without the distraction of cable, Sean and I spend more time doing things together and talking. But of course, a large TV takes up a lot of space in our living room and we have a well used netflix account. When a show we want to watch becomes available on watch instantly watch out, we will be watching at least 2 episodes a night! Recent favorites have been Parks and Recreation, Mad Men and Parenthood. Next up: Friday Night Lights.

(By the way, how awful was it to live in the world before the option of watching tv shows episode after episode without commercials?)