Thanksgiving

Even though I didn't get to see my parents or brother for Thanksgiving, it was great to see the rest of my family and friends in Michigan. It was strange, however, to be "home" without an actual home. Abbey's mom drove me past our old house, and even though it's only been in a new set of hands for a less than six months, it looks different. Somehow colder and empty, with an unfamiliar dog in the back yard. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Anyway, I made myself home at three different places during the long weekend: Aunt Arlene's house for Thanksgiving Day, Lindsay and Trep's apartment on Friday and Saturday and Abbey's parent's house on Sunday.

The big dinner itself was great, as expected. Auntie R made TONS of food, including calzones in addition to the normal turkey day fare. In addition to my aunt and uncle, I spent some time with almost all of my cousins and their kids, who are growing so incredibly fast. (I know, I sound like an old woman who should be pinching their cheeks and exclaiming how tall they've gotten. But really, the last time I saw a few of them, walking and talking wasn't an option).


The next two days were spent shopping, catching up with high school and college friends, watching Abbey's "little" sister catapult toward complete drunkenness for the first time, and eating some of my favorite Detroit foods (including dinner in Greektown and second, post-bar dinner at National Coney Island). Lindsay, Trep, and I made a trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts, which recently reopened its doors after an extensive renovation.

On Sunday, I ate an early dinner with Aunt Melo, Uncle Tom and Grandma and then watched DVR'd episodes of Grey's and The Office with Abbey's mom, who dropped me off at the airport for a very long day of travel and delays the next day. The one upside of my almost four-hour delay: I saw Dustin Diamond on the terminal tram in Atlanta. Although I'm kicking myself for being too shy to ask for a picture.

Next up, Christmas in Florida.

The ring's NYC premiere

Sarah, Fink, Mike and I met Abbey and Adam in the city on Saturday to watch the last football game of the year and celebrate their less-than-day-old engagement. After watching MSU beat Penn State (yay!), we walked over to Yogi's for cheap beer and not-so-cheap shots. Some photos:

The ring!

Go State! Believe it or not, Abbey was a little bit quieter than usual, still shocked from the night before.

Posing with the Yogi's bear.

The happy couple waiting outside of Blondies.

She's engaged!!

Abbey and I don't keep much, if anything, from each other. We usually talk AT LEAST once a day, in addition to daily gchat and email. At any point in the day, I have an idea of what she's doing (whether it's working at her desk, reading in bed, or going to the bathroom...true story) and vice versa. So keeping something this huge from her - the fact that after almost five years with Adam, he really was going to pop the question - was so, so difficult.

Adam started plotting a few months ago, asking me for some advice on the ring and the proposal itself, which, from what I hear, turned out to be perfect. To ensure that Abbey wouldn't book a babysitting gig for the special night, I asked her a while ago to come out to Long Island for a friend's party. Then, last Tuesday, Adam told her that his boss had reservations at the Rainbow Room Grill for Friday night that he couldn't keep, and wanted them to take his place. Abbey cancelled our "fake" plans for the weekend, but not without mentioning her suspicion about the real intention of the fancy dinner. Adam and I panicked a bit, thinking that she'd figured the whole thing out, but through a variety of tactics, she was back to doubting that she'd have a ring to show off at Thanksgiving. So on top of the Rockefeller Center, with a view of the Empire State Building and the city below, Abbey was shocked when a desert with the chocolate-drizzled words "Abbey, will you marry me?" was placed on her table. Of course, she said "yes."

I'm so happy for them that I don't really know what to say. My best friend, and really, the sister I never had, is getting married - getting married to a wonderful guy. I've always loved Adam. Kind, smart, fun, and so very entertaining, I know he's going to make her happy for the rest of her life. I think I'm almost as, if not equally, excited for this wedding as they are.



Congrats you two!

Random happenings

Our volleyball team hasn't won a single game. I believe we're something like 0-18 now. It's getting a little frustrating. OK, a lot frustrating. I'm not asking for much: just one win. Sure, there are some perks to being losers. For one, we never have to put the net away. The rulebook reserves that task for the winning team. And there are no expectations. We never have to worry about being too cocky and losing to the underdogs. The season goes through February, so the way I see it, we're bound to win at least once, if only by sheer chance.

I only have about a month left of classes. This is kind of scary as I still have two papers and two tests to complete, neither of which I've started or studied for.

A couple weeks ago, my American democracy professor told a female student in my class "You don't really think that women have the same mental capacity as men, do you?" As you can imagine, about half of the class went crazy. Um, apparently the decline of ex-Harvard President Lawrence Summers has escaped his mind?

We want to start podcasting at the lab and I've been given the responsibility of researching and editing the pieces. I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but I'm kind of excited about it.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. And I can't wait to see everyone in Michigan.

ILMBFFAMS

I spent the weekend with Abbey while she housesat for a family in north Jersey. In 8th-grade slumber party style, we watched lots of classy movies (Transformers, John Tucker Must Die, Elf, and Closer), ordered Chinese food, and played Guitar Hero III (actually, she played and I watched, because I'm pretty much a failure at that game). In non-8th-grade style, because we were good kids back then, we ate at a Mexican and Irish cocina and pub called Jose O'Reilly's and washed down our dinner with no less than five glasses of sangria and two beers. JOR, as we now call it, is one of the only places I can think of where you can order shepard's pie AND quesadillas. It's also about a block away from the house Abbey was watching. Therefore, we didn't put up much of a fight when the waitress persuaded us to order a pitcher of sangria, or when the owner bought us another glass each and ushered us to the bar. It was about at this point that John Tucker Must Die began to sound like a good movie to watch.

We also bought matching PJs at the mall, which we had to wear at the same time so Justin could take our picture in the Palisades scenic overlook. Yeah, we're dorks like that.