9:45am – Get in the shower and put on some nice clothes.

11:00 – Help make the sides: potato salad and mashed potatoes! Yum!

12:00pm – Get distracted by watching episodes of Modern Family and Glee that I missed last night

I just want to digress a bit at this time and mention how much I am really enjoying these two shows this season. I know that everyone talks about Glee and it really is good. The characters are really funny, the wardrobes for Emma Pillsbury and Rachel are great and the soundtrack is so much fun. However, I really do love Modern Family. I’m hoping so very much that it doesn’t get canceled because it’s so amazingly funny. The writing is great and every situation is so hilarious. The best thing is that it’s totally relatable. I mean, not really, but you totally feel like it could happen in your family. I recommend both shows.

1:46pm – Start getting ready for guests. We did two birds this year. Traditional oven turkey and my brother and father were more adventurous with the second one. They made a smoked turkey out on the grill in the backyard.

2:00pm – Even Archie gets to enjoy today’s food. I poured some turkey broth on his kibbles and I’m pretty sure he liked it.

4:20pm – This year, my family did something different. Previous years, we’d go to my gram’s house for Thanksgiving lunch and then my mom’s family would come over for T-Day dinner. However, this year, my nuclear family had lunch all on our own and guests have been sort of trickling in and just having dessert. Pretty neat arrangement.

5:00pm – Off to go see a movie!

last semester i went to this academic conference where i presented a paper. it was in march and in minneapolis. at first, i was excited due to the mere fact that one of the guest speakers would be the incredible demi-god, Neil Gaiman. i’d never been to minneapolis and just assumed that it would be a boring-as-heck city. also, i would be sharing a hotel room with a someone else who was going alone and was not looking forward to it either. however, it turned out to be an awesome experience. i turned out loving minneapolis. it’s a simple, friendly, green city with a great downtown area and so much to see and do. my hotel roommate also turned out to be a really great gal from NY by way of NJ. she was totally saving about getting around on the bus and sharing the experience with her was a really fun time.

the reason i’m bringing that up is that the same conference will be happening again this coming march and deadlines for papers were due a few days ago. i was feeling uncertain as to whether i really wanted to submit or not. finally, i decided that i did and submitted a paper i wrote this past summer about john milton’s marriage ideals. i should be hearing back in a couple of months whether my paper was accepted or not, but i’m hopeful. this year’s conference is in st. louis which is a major drag. i mean, st. louis? come on! i’ve been there once, and it wasn’t that great.  but it’s fine. i don’t even know if i’m going yet obviously. it would be nice to, though. going to conferences like that where everyone there is interested in pretty much the same thing you are is kind of a really cool experience. but it does get tiresome. since it’s like one hundred percent english majors at these things, it gets a little crowded with all the fat heads and inflated egos. we all think we’re so great and smart and intellectual. i mean, i love being there, but i won’t pretend to be really happy the whole time.

on sunday, i was feeling very French. i grew out a moustache, listened to the Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain soundtrack all afternoon, put up an Eiffel tower wall sticker up, and consumed cheese and wine all day. i’m just kidding about the first and last things. those are horrible stereotypes. and in proof of my apologetic commitment, i’ll show you a picture of my tower! it’s pretty neat. also, i guess i’ll be signing off so i’ll include some other pics of my humble room. enjoy!