everyone and I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to our gathering at Chez Blackford. It was quite the success, I think, and I want to thank Bill and Amanda for hosting it! I mean, really, with Bill at the helm, it has to be a success, right?!?!? Bill, I think you should be lawyer by day, party planner by night (see Matt's comment on the last post). I forget who took the last group shot, I think it was either Matt or Bill, but whoever it was, can you send it to me to post? Kevin's sad to say that his memory card shat the bed, so he has no pics from that night, so any pictures taken that included the Hollers could be sent directly to Kevin or to me, for I am already building a treasury of items for Natty's future Christmas presents. Long l
ive homemade gifts!**Editor's note: This section contains a more detailed account of the entire Thanksgiving trip. For those of you not interested in all of this verbage, please skip directly to the end of this section to see what's been happening more recently.
Anyway, the rest of the trip, while not as awesome as the party, was pretty rockin. We spent a lot of time with my mom and Jerry and really enjoyed ourselves (shut up, Matt.) Thanksgiving was obviously spent with family, all of whom were surprised except my grandparents, as Jerry told them the day before that I was coming home (Darn you, Jerry!). All others were shock
ed and amazed, which my mother happily lapped up. Friday, pre-party, Arlo and I did a little bit of shopping in the morning and he dropped me off at my mom's office so that we could go to tea together. So good! After this, to Villa Blackford for the shindig. So awesome! Saturday, we went with my mom and Jerry to the Sports Museum and pop culture museum by Campden yards. I recommend checking out the pop culture one sometime if you have a chance. It definitely leans heavily towards the 1950's, but it has some really cool stuff, especially if you like comics (Phay). Afterwards, we went to Reggie's in Federal Hill for dinner, had spectacularly bad for you but delicious mac-n-
cheese and headed back for a quiet evening at the Brotmans. Sunday was a bit of a rush, trying to squeeze in as much as possible, to the point where I basically had to schedule visits with Tamira and Wendy, as we wanted to see each other and they weren't able to come to the party, and still make it back in time to pack up the car before heading out for linner, or dunch, depending on how you see it, with my grandparents. We hit crappy weather both Sunday night and Monday, so I'm glad we ended up leaving Sunday afternoon. We made it back around 7:30/8:00 on Monday night to snow.
ed and amazed, which my mother happily lapped up. Friday, pre-party, Arlo and I did a little bit of shopping in the morning and he dropped me off at my mom's office so that we could go to tea together. So good! After this, to Villa Blackford for the shindig. So awesome! Saturday, we went with my mom and Jerry to the Sports Museum and pop culture museum by Campden yards. I recommend checking out the pop culture one sometime if you have a chance. It definitely leans heavily towards the 1950's, but it has some really cool stuff, especially if you like comics (Phay). Afterwards, we went to Reggie's in Federal Hill for dinner, had spectacularly bad for you but delicious mac-n-
cheese and headed back for a quiet evening at the Brotmans. Sunday was a bit of a rush, trying to squeeze in as much as possible, to the point where I basically had to schedule visits with Tamira and Wendy, as we wanted to see each other and they weren't able to come to the party, and still make it back in time to pack up the car before heading out for linner, or dunch, depending on how you see it, with my grandparents. We hit crappy weather both Sunday night and Monday, so I'm glad we ended up leaving Sunday afternoon. We made it back around 7:30/8:00 on Monday night to snow. ** Fast forward to present
There's no excuse for my sorry butt to have such long breaks between posts, especially when I have some loyal fans choppin at the bit to find out about my exciting life! However, I guess I do have an excuse, and that is this- My life has just been WAY too exciting lately to post. And by exciting, I mostly mea
n busy. I am now working full-time, full-time at my job, extra hours to boot. There's still a lot of organization that needs to take place, but I think by the new year it should be on the right track. It's definitely challenging, but I'm learning so many new things that I think it will all be worth it. By the end of each day, I'm pretty tired, and not too motivated to do anything but have dinner and sleep, with some t.v. in the middle. Sadly, I'm not even motivated to work on Christmas presents, as I haven't wanted to journey out at night to Joann's. The weather's been bad the last few nights, and a need for yarn just doesn't seem to warrant such extreme measures (unless you're Amanda). This may mean that each of you get a hand-drawn portrait or perhaps a 
trivet with my cats' paw-prints in them. I ain't makin any promises, ya'hear? Okay, now I'm just rambling, as I tend to do the sleepier I get. And despite only being 8:20, I'm in full sleepy-mode, time to get ready for bed. One last thing before I go.... you probably can narrate the pics up top if you were at the Friday night festivities, but the others, here are the descriptions. The pic of my mom and I was taken at Camden Yards, as we prepare for the unlikely event of a crazed out-of-control ball to come carreening at us. The next- Arlo and I set up our Christmast 
tree! Pretty cool, eh? The final three pictures I like to call Man with Big Stick, Espionage, and Discovery. Whenever I look at them, Espionage and Discovery make me laugh almost as much as when it happened. Night y'all. Sweet dreams to everyone!
n busy. I am now working full-time, full-time at my job, extra hours to boot. There's still a lot of organization that needs to take place, but I think by the new year it should be on the right track. It's definitely challenging, but I'm learning so many new things that I think it will all be worth it. By the end of each day, I'm pretty tired, and not too motivated to do anything but have dinner and sleep, with some t.v. in the middle. Sadly, I'm not even motivated to work on Christmas presents, as I haven't wanted to journey out at night to Joann's. The weather's been bad the last few nights, and a need for yarn just doesn't seem to warrant such extreme measures (unless you're Amanda). This may mean that each of you get a hand-drawn portrait or perhaps a 
trivet with my cats' paw-prints in them. I ain't makin any promises, ya'hear? Okay, now I'm just rambling, as I tend to do the sleepier I get. And despite only being 8:20, I'm in full sleepy-mode, time to get ready for bed. One last thing before I go.... you probably can narrate the pics up top if you were at the Friday night festivities, but the others, here are the descriptions. The pic of my mom and I was taken at Camden Yards, as we prepare for the unlikely event of a crazed out-of-control ball to come carreening at us. The next- Arlo and I set up our Christmast 
tree! Pretty cool, eh? The final three pictures I like to call Man with Big Stick, Espionage, and Discovery. Whenever I look at them, Espionage and Discovery make me laugh almost as much as when it happened. Night y'all. Sweet dreams to everyone!
