Random thoughts before the holiday gorging begins!

So I was checking statcounter.com to see how many people actually have popped by and I was flabbergasted to find that on Monday I had 867 unique visitors to my blog. I did some digging and I found they had all came from this link. The MSN Tech and Gadgets site. So how cool is that? Maybe not so cool that they are all going to this page but, well, ok - I'll take any kind of publicity I can get!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's to family and friends gathering around a beautiful table filled with delicious food. A table groaning under the weight of a perfectly basted turkey, mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, hot rolls, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, glazed sweet potatoes and heavenly pumpkin pie. Luckily for me, I am not cooking or hosting Thanksgiving. WOO HOOOOOOO! Hurray for me!!!

I am the queen of reheating. I haven't made my own turkey since my first year of marriage, where the defrosting of the turkey debacle left me in tears on the kitchen floor. Nevermore! From that moment on, stores that sold a full Thanksgiving feast for me to pick up and reheat were my best friend! Between Balducci's and the local Giant, I have not had to cook anything myself for nearly ten years! And that is how I enjoy my holidays. Although, if truth be known, reheating all that food can be quite an ordeal also, but nothing like the actual cooking of the feast. So this year my sister has decided to host Thanksgiving. Since this is her first time cooking a turkey, I will be feeding my family some sandwiches before heading over. Just kidding. i hope. But I'll bring sides and dessert so that if the turkey comes out inedible, we will not go hungry. Just kidding sis.

I hope all my American readers enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Since this is a crazy week, I will begin the story prompt next week and have already selected the picture for it. This time, I am picking the genre for the story and just so you all can think about it, it will be Humor! We shall see how wacky we all can get!

Meme me again!

Before I go, my pal Precie has tagged me for a "Four things you don't know about me" meme. I always find it fascinating to read little snippets of other people's lives. Here's hoping you will find mine just as interesting:


A) Four jobs I've had:

• lawyer (boring but good paying job)
• Adjunct faculty at university (work too much for too little pay job)
• waitress - (hardest and most thankless job)
• internship at the NY City Morgue - (smelliest and most disturbing job) Cyn has asked me to blog about this and I will have to dig into the recesses of my mind to remember all the stories that have previously been blocked from my mind.
  

B) Four movies I would or have watched over and over again:

• Godfather I and II - From I - Leave the gun, take the cannoli. From II - Fredo, I knew it was you! You broke my heart, you broke my heart!
• Gladiator - Are you not entertained!
• The Princess Bride - Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die.
• Forrest Gump - Stupid is as stupid does.
  
  
  C) Four TV shows I watch
  

• Law and Order SVU - I admit to having a thing for Chris Meloni
• Top Chef - Chefs cooking good food in a crazy competition forum? Love it!
• Project Runway - Tim Gunn is hysterical!
• No Reservations - Anthony Bourdain is a cooking God!
  

D) Four places I've lived

• Brooklyn - I lived in the one Jewish block nestled between a fairly Italian neighborhood. At Christmas time, you would drive down all these brightly lit and sparkling Christmassy streets before you turned down my dark one. My parents would buy the brightest lights and Christmas toppers that blazed til your eyes hurt in their quest to light our entire street.
• Queens - I don't remember much about living there. And that's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh, uh huh.
  
• Manhattan - Technically I never lived there myself since I moved out before my parents moved into the city. But, since I go and stay with them for many weekends over the course of the year, I like to consider it a place of residence. I can only say that I wish my parents had moved into the city way earlier.
  
• Washington, DC - I lived in Georgetown and then on Capitol Hill. Georgetown is a nice place to live, but when I lived on Capitol Hill our neighborhood was a bit scary. We lived a block away from a crackhouse and my brother-in-law, who lived seven blocks away, woke up one morning to find his car riddled with bulletholes.
  
  

E) Four places I have been

• St. Peters, Barbados - recently for a wedding. Lovely place.
  
• La Manga Club Spain - Two of my best friends and I celebrated our 40th by going away to a tennis resort. We had the best time in southern Spain.
  
• Cannes, France - for work to Mipcom, but it was definitely a great experience.
• Montreal, Quebec - for work twice a year at least regularly for 8 years. I always enjoyed my stay and hope to take my whole family up one day soon.

F) Four people who e-mail me regularly

• My husband
• My sister
• My best friend (who hasn't emailed me since her Barbados wedding, hint, hint!)
• Publishers lunch and the spammers who keep sending me emails for penile implants
  
  

G) Four of my favorite foods

• Steak
• Really good Peking duck
• Osso bucco
• Kal bi - korean barbecued short rib
• Notice the lack of vegetables...
  
  

H) Four places I would rather be right now

• some place tropical and warm with a cool drink in my hand
• back in NYC - enjoying a slice or a Gray's Papaya hotdog
• enjoying a fabulously delicious meal at a great restaurant with terrific service with my hubby and kids
  
• sleeping in my comfy, cozy warm bed

I) Four things I am looking forward to this year and next year

• I am looking forward to a positive resolution to my quest to getting published
• I hope to finish my second WIP next year.
• I am looking forward to our family trip next year because we have discussed doing a big Club Med vacation somewhere tropical and warm with babysitting service.
• I am looking forward to the new season of Entourage, f**king June 2008!
  
  Open meme call to all who wish to play! Answer all or none or just a few. What four wouldn't you mind answering? Share - after all, tis the season.
  
  

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving - and for those who are not celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you have a nice Thursday! Stay tuned for our regularly scheduled programming beginning hopefully this Friday, if I have not lapsed into a food coma. I shall leave you with one last parting thought.

Ohhhhhhh, the pleasures of Pumpkin Pie! Who cares about the turkey! Give me pie! I shall be bringing two large pumpkin pies to dinner. One to share and one to eat all by myself in my attempt to become a human pumpkin. Last year I was thwarted in my attempt when I entered into a dueling fork battle with my father for the last piece of pie. Only because my dad stuck his fork (unintentionally, so he claims) in my hand. This time, there will be no mercy!