What Should I Be Doing? Oh, right, running.

Whatever. I don't feel like it, but I know its what I'll end up doing as soon as I'm done here, so hey, its all good. Hi! Right now I'm listening to the Mumford & Sons album, eating pumpkin fluff, and putting my feet up after a mega long day on the job. Like, woah, today was a total Monday. That said, I have a job and for that I am tres thankful.

So, Thanksgiving in the G&G High-rise was a quiet affair. Madeline took off the Friday before, so for a WHOLE WEEK I had the house to myself. It was kind of amazing. Yes, of course I wish that I could have jet away back home, up to Michigan, or even to some sunshine filled island but, truth be told, it just wasn't in the budget this year. So instead I filled my (almost work-free) weekend with adventures like a bike ride around the city, black Friday shopping, and lots of Netflix. I should probably have taken pictures, and promise I'll try and be better about adding photos to the bloggy-blog, but for now, you're stuck with just a few here and there. Also, its still ridiculously warm here. Chilly at night, but daylight hours top out between fifty-five and sixty degrees. One, I'm in for a rude awakening when I go home for Christmas and two, I miss the snow but I'm very happy about not having to walk through it just yet. Everyone keeps telling me their nightmare stories about last year's "Snowmageddon," and while it sounds like a royal pain...back home we just whip out the tractor and go to work.

Speaking of home and tractors, I put a phone call into my brother the other day. He's good. At this point, I suppose it shouldn't shock me that my parents are still going along with whatever charade he's up to, but seriously! How the hell he is getting away with this, I'll never know. Anyway, this was not the highlight of our conversation, no no. That would be when he told me he wanted to have kids by the time he is ... wait for it ... TWENTY FIVE!! This, this from my brother who turns 21 in just over one month. He want children. Sweet Jesus. I was am shocked. The good news is he plans on finding a wife first.

Moving on, I haven't found a church here that I like, and that bothers me. There is one near my house, but the few times I've been there, it (stop the presses...I switched to Christmas music around paragraph no. two, and now Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's "Last Night [I Went Out with Santa Claus]" is playing. One of my faves. Yay.) just seriously hasn't been what I want out of a mass. The choir has an old-school vibe, but adds these new-age chants to Mass and Sunday's homily was legitimately five minutes long. No good. Several times, I've just trekked up to the Basilica, because, seriously, having the opportunity to worship there is unreal. I could do it every Sunday, but that has its own shortcomings. Church is a communal place, and though beautiful, the Basilica doesn't have the community vibe. Prayers in that department would be much appreciated.

After church this week, Madeline and I showed great restraint in not purchasing a live Christmas tree for our apartment. So tempting! Instead, we let ourselves indulge in some Ethiopian food at a local place on our way home. Everywhere you look around here, there are these amazing little kitchy restaurants with every type of fare you can imagine, and being a creature of habit (read: Chipotle) I don't venture off into the land of the unknown nearly as often as I should. Lucky for me, Madeline is a total foodie. Now, the idea of eating at a restaurant that serves food from a country where a large percentage of the population is starving seems slightly off to me, but I love capitalism, so we went inside. (Note: If I ever write a book, that last sentence is totally going in.) As an appetizer, we ordered veggie sambussas, a deep-fried lentil and spice mixture, and for our main course beef & lamb tibs. For all I know, tibs may be the parts of a cow that they only eat in Ethiopia, but never mind that, it was delicious. They served the dish family style, mixing the beef and lamb and surrounding it with a variety of condiments: the red sauce was a spicy, curry-esque sauce, then potatoes, followed by a lentil chili and yellow smash thing, and finally salted tomatoes. To eat this concoction, pictured above, you tear a strip of injera (picture a sponge-cake shaped like a tortilla and then make it the color of a gray Crayola crayon) and use your hot little hands to pick up everything you'd like to stuff in your mouth. It was soooooo good, and the perfect post-church outing for Miss Madeline and I.

Oh, but before I leave you pretties for the gym, (I'm 99% positive she doesn't read this, but if she does, oh, hey Jess! Congratulations on the kid!) I picked up Jessie's baby gift this weekend. Omg. Love. And seriously, I may be the only of of us that can outfit this tiny being in said outfit. Behold, the prepster child:

Obsessed.