Pigeons are friendly. Canadians are colorful. Gall bladders are dependable.

Well American Thanksgiving was upon us and the wonderfully fantastic Stephanie decided to play host to us orphans who had no place to go for Thanksgiving and it was a spectacular time as it was the first time that I got to partake in American Thanksgiving.  I think last year I was partaking in being a hermit on Thanksgiving.  I was going to experience Black Friday but then I realized that being tramped and potentially having an arm ripped off for reaching for a piece of clothing or something was not high up on my list of things to experience so I kindly declined the offer.  Maybe one day I will do it.  And that one day I will have a job and can actually buy stuff on Black Friday hahaha.

So the day arrives and I meet up with Nina and Meg to walk over to Steph's and thankfully I was smart enough to ask Nina and Meg if they wanted to walk cause it is sketchville walking over to her place.  Such colorful characters (not Canadians as per title of posting and what will follow later) were wishing us a happy thanksgiving.  And pigeons.  Not friendly.  A flock of them took off/swooped down near us and I damn near jumped into oncoming traffic to avoid them.  Nothing friendly about flying things.  Get to Steph's and the smell of food is amazingly delicious.  And I got to meet Capone, who is an absolute sweetheart and Muppet, who looks exactly, identical, to Sprocket from Fraggle Rock.  Sadly, no football was on so I didn't get that American experience but the Macy's Day Parade was on so we got to watch some of that.

Supper was a lot of food.  Tons of food.  More food than was imaginable.  Steph and Lauren made poutine for an appetizer and it was amazingly delicious and then supper was served.  The dishes were, *clears throat* - stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, bean salad, pistachio salad, spinach salad, tofurkey, cranberries, rolls and broccoli salad.  For dessert we had individual pumpkin pies/souffles and truffles.  So much good food.  Definitely stuffed myself big time.  After supper was the fun times of playing Apples to Apples.  My first time playing, and Lauren's.  We kicked some ass, newbie style hahaha.  Meg and I have similar warped minds so we were laughing quite a bit when it came time for us to lay our cards.  And for dessert/a surprise, Lauren brought us Kinder Surprises from Germany!!! I didn't realize they were banned from the States and now I realize that I have not seen any while here.  Overall it was a wonderfully awesome day spent with fantabulous company.  Thank you girls for providing me with a day with no school and no jail.

I decided to keep the wonderfulness going and took a day out for myself to go do something touristy as I haven't done that in a very long time.  So on the docket was the Smithsonian American Art Museum as I wanted to feel sophisticated for one day.  Being at the art gallery was absolutely amazing in that it was so calm and peaceful.  The ability to sit in front of some paintings and just look at them and not think about anything other than the colors, what the picture was showing and how I felt about the picture (sounds very hoity toity doesn't it) was something that I definitely needed.  Some of those pictures were absolutely exquisite and I can't believe the time and imagination it took to paint them.

Art galleries, I think, are going to be some of my favorite places to go as they are very calming and peaceful and just to be able to stare at such beautiful things is a wonderful way to get through a day.  There were just too many pictures to love there.  I can't wait till I go to the other art museum as it is much bigger and it will take the whole day getting through it.  After I got home from the art museum, I kept the "me" day going and actually picked up my cross stitch.  I haven't touched it since August and it is still so very slow going.  I am hoping this winter break I can get a lot more done on it to make a dent to try to get into closer to completion hahaha.  I am starting to get antsy on starting another one but can't until this one is finally completed and hung up.

Next up is to get through this week of final exams and massive papers, then work at the jail for a couple of weeks and then off to home for a wonderful 2 weeks of family time!!!! I can't believe December is upon us already and that 2013 is almost said and done and gone.  Where oh where has the time gone???  Insanity I tell you!!!!  But the countdown is on and the stress to finish is here.  20 more days till I am home with family.  4 more days till this semester is done.  WOOOOOHOOOOOO.  Miss and love you all!!!!