Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a day late but I hope everyone had wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We have much to be thankful for. Last year at this time we were recovering from the shock of the house explosion just 2 doors down. Today I can report that just recently they have begun to rebuild. Despite the noise of construction we are happy it won't be sitting empty much longer.

Yesterday we enjoyed a quiet day at home watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV in the morning and then enjoying some time to just relax. As you can tell from my absence on the blog, November was a really difficult month for me with multiple tests and projects due for school. I was at NYU until midnight most nights. Combined with some trouble at work, it made for a hard month. As of yesterday I am done with all midterms and all projects so the rest of the semester should go very smoothly. So a day off for quiet relaxation with Greg was much needed and appreciated.

In the afternoon we bundled up and ventured out to catch a movie in the city. We saw Four Christmases. It was fun seeing a movie in the theater ($12 bucks now! What?). The movie was decent. Pretty funny in the beginning but then kind of serious in the later half. Not quite what we were hoping for but a lot better than some of the options out there.

After the movie it was off to Candle 79 for a gourmet vegan Thanksgiving dinner. Yum. Once again we really enjoyed this meal and ate way too much! The best part, no dishes to wash, no leftovers to deal with.

After dinner Greg surprised me with his plan to take me to the Top of the Rock. So we ventured down to Rockefeller Center to check out the view from the roof. It was really nice mainly because there were very few people there so no lines and no waiting were necessary. The view was lovely and in my opinion way better than the Empire State Building. In fact the Top of the Rock has a great view of the Empire State Building and a great view of Central Park. It was a lot of fun. We also got to see the tree in Rockefeller Plaza. It hasn't been lit yet but still big and impressive.

It was a lovely holiday at just the speed we needed. Today we are enjoying Buy Nothing Day, catching up on chores, getting the house ready for Christmas decorating, and spending some time deciding what craft projects to tackle in December.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Election Day!

I know you are already well aware of this, but today is election day! This is a very interesting and exciting race so I hope that if you are registered to vote that you get out there today and exercise your right. Especially if you are a woman. After seeing a movie about the suffrage movement a couple years ago and what it took to secure the right for women to vote in this country I have a much greater respect for that right.

Greg and I waited about an hour to vote at our polling station this morning. It can be discouraging for people when they see the lines but don't give up. Get to know your neighbors as you stand in line!

In NY we still use voting machines. Here are some machines waiting to be set up last Sunday at Hunter College where our church meets.
I love that they have an American flag on the side of each one.

And here is the line this morning for district 73. We have a huge co-op building with 700 apartments just a block from our house and wouldn't you know, we are all in the same district! So that was the reason for our long line. I had to get a shot in the booth for my scrapbook! They say the voting machines are the worst in terms of errors and problems but they are so "old school" it is actually kind of cool to use them. They make such cool sounds as you push the lever to the side, flip the knobs for your votes, and then push the lever back in order to COUNT your votes. Plus you get to stand inside behind the curtain all private like.

Anyway, get to the polls or make sure you mail your ballots in!