We had a great thanksgiving feast at our house this year surrounded by close friends. David and I spent the whole day cooking and preparing: spanakopita, (apple, cranberry & pecan) stuffing, (barley, oat, quinoa, currant, mint and pistachio) pilaf, cranberry sauce, (mandarin orange, cucumber, tomato & greens) salad, (garlic) mashed potatoes, and strawberry cheesecake. The (organic) meal was delicious, the wine (gifts from our wedding) so tasty, and the whole evening a total blast and very relaxing.

This year I am thankful for our great friends and family, and for my wonderfully loving and supportive husband. Every day I feel amazed at how fortunate I am. I love waking up in the arms of the man of my dreams, my best friend, and most favorite person in the whole world. Three years ago on Thanksgiving we met and my life was changed forever. David, here’s to many, many more amazing years together.

David and I both LOVED the new Pride and Prejudice movie starring Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, Brenda Blethyn, and Judi Dench. MacFadyen is especially brilliant as Darcy—he presents a vulnerable, shy, and awkward suitor, not shown as clearly in other movie or television adaptations of the novel. We were also both impressed with Sutherland’s portrayal of a man who lives for his work and cares deeply for his daughters, a much more realistic interpretation of a complex character. Keira was fantastic as Elizabeth Bennett—she nailed it! And we were so thrilled to see actors of the correct age playing the parts of Lizzie and Darcy! It helps us understand that this really is first love for them both. The filmmakers also took some liberalities with the story and added much needed description and depth in many places (such as Charlotte Lucas’ explanation as to why she will marry Mr. Collins and the fact that Elizabeth explains to her father just how indebted they are to Darcy—a important point that has been overlooked in screen adaptations to date).

The movie is one of the most romantic that I’ve seen in quite some time—I was near the verge of tears almost the whole second half: I found it heart bursting seeing how much Darcy and Elizabeth cared for each other. It wasn’t sappy; the film was romantic!

If you are an Austen fan, do not miss this film interpretation of my favorite novel of all time.

I cannot wait to see it again! (AND see Harry Potter 4 this weekend!)

David, Diana, and I in front of one of Jaune Quick-To-See Smith’s many horse pieces at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art. Joanne and Jaune have known each other for many years. Jaune now lives in New Mexico and Joanne and Diana stopped at her ranch on their way up to Colorado for a visit.

We had a fantastic time with Diana, Joanna and Lee! We ate at amazing restaurants (and discovered several new awesome ones in Boulder!), visited galleries and museums, relaxed and chatted. David and I both had such a blast and were so sorry to see them go.

Now we are almost at the weekend and looking forward to a new restoration yoga class on Saturday and our basic weekend routine of reading, relaxing, running, playing racquetball, frequenting the Tea Spot, catching a movie, going on a date or two, and spending time with friends.

David’s mom Diana and her good friend Joanne are in town visiting and that means LOTS OF CHOCOLATE! Here is a picture of me drinking chocolate infused with cayenne and cinnamon! We’ve also enjoyed chocolate empanadas (with banana rum ice-cream), chocolate flan, marble chocolate cheesecake, and other yummy desserts such as rice pudding, gingerbread, and fried banana with coconut ice-cream. Note that these have all been consumed in the past three days! It’s been delicious. We are having a great time! (and thank goodness for yoga and racquetball!)

If you haven’t already, go see Serenity while it’s still in the theaters! It’s by far my favorite movie of the year and possibly the best fantasy movie I’ve seen since the original three Star Wars films. Read a review by the New York Times, see what my friend Geoff has to say about the film (below), lookup movie times, and get to the theater!

New York Times Critic’s Pick: “Scene for scene, Joss Whedon’s unassuming science-fiction adventure is more engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of George Lucas’s recent screen entertainments.” — New York Times Current Release Descriptions

“Serenity rules. Go see it now! If you haven’t seen it yet, Joss Whedon’s new film is amazing. Even the guys in our party who had never seen an ep of Firefly agreed that it was better than Star Wars. Someone in a review recently likened it to what it would have been like if Han Solo hadn’t met up with Luke Skywalker and had instead had a movie about the adventures of the Millennium Falcon, and that’s kind of right. Only better. And funnier. And sadder. It. Was. Great. Go see it, now!” — from Geoffrey Long’s Tip of the Quill

I’m sorry, folks. Lately, I’ve been too busy to post, too busy to reply to emails, too busy to read the newspaper (now that’s a shocker), and way too busy to take pictures. Things are good though! I was on a really successful business trip last week, cousin Rachel and Uncle Mike came to visit us this past weekend (and we had a blast!), our yoga classes are going great, Bridget threw a smashing Halloween party last night, and I finally finished the seventh Robert Jordan book.

Hope you are all doing well!