Thanksgiving Times Two

So it's now official. The only thing better than Thanksgiving is... TWO THANKSGIVINGS! I am seriously considering observing the Canadian version next year, in the interest of determining whether three could be even better!

After our church's annual grid-iron struggle, aka The Turkey Bowl, wound up with yet another suspiciously scored tie, we went over to our good friend's, the Clementis, for Thanksgiving lunch. Turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, and all that good stuff.

We passed on the pies, knowing that we had an hour and a half drive up to LA for Thanksgiving dinner with Kat's great-aunt Ginny. Thanksgiving round two did not disappoint. Good times with family we don't get to see all that often.


Ginny was as superb of a hostess as ever...

At some time past 9 pm, after ingesting some 5-lbs of turkey throughout the day, I drank a strong cup of coffee, said a prayer, and we hit the road. I did fine through LA, which was merciful to us for a change. Kat had to spell me halfway home, though. I was BEAT!

I just barely noticed Kat as she slid smoothly out at 5 the next morning towards the "Black Friday" sales. You'll have to consult her yourself to find out what she was able to score. I love this holiday!

What's in a name?

A professor from my program was involved with this research - Pretty tantalizing stuff, though not a drop-dead connection. Still, I can't complain about being a B-rent, A-pplegate!

Psychologists in marketing at Yale and the University of California, San Diego studying the unconscious influence of names say a preference for our own names and initials — the "name-letter effect" — can have some negative consequences.
Students whose names begin with C or D get lower grades than those whose names begin with A or B; major league baseball players whose first or last names began with K (the strikeout-signifying letter) are significantly more likely to strike out, according to the report published in the December issue of Psychological Science.

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Lindsey's Visit

(Preface: I know, I know, I'm way overdue to be writing a blog post. It's my first one! To honor my husband's faithful blogging, I back up the blog each month (using the scrapbooking tool in Mozilla Firefox), but I never write on it. Why? My reservations about writing publicly have been two-fold: 1) it takes time and effort and could conceivably come back to haunt us and/or embarrass ourselves or others, and 2) it feels presumptuous to assume that good people will spend their time reading what I have to say. But, Brent has convinced me over the last few months that I should no longer be just a spectator on a blog that bears my name.)

Here goes, then... My good friend Lindsey came to visit from Dallas last weekend, and we had a fantastic time. While Brent was playing Robin Hood at the Men's Retreat, Lindsey and I took in the sights and sounds of San Diego. On Friday I picked her up mid-day (woo hoo! half a day off) and went to Coronado Island to walk around the Hotel Del and have lunch. Then we bumped up the coast to Del Mar for some coffee at sunset, and then even further up to Solana Beach for boutique shopping.

Saturday we enjoyed walking on Torrey Pines Beach (except for a washed up dead seal), lunching at Old Town, driving around posh La Jolla, and going on a harbor cruise. The latter was probably the highlight for us both, because the Star of India, 144 years old this year, was out sailing. It only goes out a couple of times a year, and it was great to see it with its sails up on the high seas. I half expected cannons to start firing at us and pirates to appear, raising their hooks in defiance! The evening was complete with an enthusiastic viewing of the X-Files movie (VHS, no less). Sigh...David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will always have a special place in my heart.

On Sunday after church, Brent, Lindsey, and I ventured down to Balboa Park to attend the free Spreckels Organ concert. It's the world's largest outdoor instrument - over 4,500 pipes! You can even walk around inside it and see historic photos and the inner workings. It was a nice time, if a bit overcast and cool. Strange to hear Gershwin played on an organ, though.

Ready, Set, RETREAT!!!

NCPC had a men's retreat this weekend. The topic was "The Fear of Man versus the Fear of God." I thought this a particularly good topic, especially since it seemed to really be on target with all the guys I talked to. That, plus we shot a lot of arrows and had a lot of fun. Here are some pics:


John says, "Now which end is the business end~"


No foam Javelina's were left standing at the end of the day


No, I can't really add too much about this one...

Snippets...

of the not-so-secret lives of Brent and Kathryn...

Brent is...
tired from digging a trench at Church on Saturday morning,

feeling a little queesy about his accounting midterm on Monday morning,

excited to be going on a men's retreat for church this next weekend,

still a bit puzzled about how to compete in a contest this week at school for who can deliver the best elevator pitch... Hmmmmm?

Kat is...
amazed at the outpouring of relief efforts after the fires at the center she helped at on Saturday

attending a neuroscience conference these next few days

reuniting with old friends who are in town

looking forward to her friend Lindsay's visit