So last night was a mixed bag of FAIL.  Right after work Dice and I went to the Grange in Decatur for a going away party for one of the Book Nerds who got a new job elsewhere in the book world.  We had a nice time chatting and such, had one glass of wine and then left.  The problem was that after that glass of wine I had no patience to deal with the SAND people, some of whom can be, um, challenging.  I deal with them during the meetings because, well, I have to and it’s in the greater good to coordinate with your neighbors.  But I have little desire to interact with many of them socially.  And ironically that glass of wine made me less patient, rather than more. And PLUS I had had to sit there during the Book Nerd party watching everyone eat dinner and I was starving.  So we went to the Glenwood instead and I had a cheeseburger with fries.  One of the best plates full of cheeseburger and fries ever.  So, not only did I not fulfill all of my social obligations, but I also went over my daily calorie limit by, like, 8 million.  And to put the final nail in the coffin, I now have a crapload of cookies at home that, let’s face it, I will probably eat all weekend.  FAIL.

Next in gluttonous news is the fact that my department had our fancy holiday luncheon today at Livingston, the fancy new restaurant in the Georgian Terrace Hotel across from the famous Fox Theatre.  Yes, I ate.  A lot.  I started with the chopped vegetable salad which was very good and quite substantial; it would have made a full meal in itself if I were paying. Then I had short ribs with ravioli which was quite good.  The short ribs were slightly dry and tough, but the flavor was spot on.  I finished off with a chocolate praline mousse which was fabulous in itself, but it was also topped with Cracker Jacks which, surprisingly, took the flavor off the scale!  That there is one nice mouthful of awesome.

After all this, of course, I’m not allowed to eat ever again.  And, of course, I’m wondering what to do about dinner.  First though: GYM.

Dice got food poisoning this week, so I was a little crazed at having to get all my stuff done as WELL as his, plus with the added burden of taking care of him and worrying about whether it was the flu or not.  I didn’t think it was the flu because he had no other symptoms beyond, you know, the normal, um, symptoms of food poisoning.  Like, he didn’t have a fever or chills or aches or anything.  In between, um, symptoms, he was fairly normal, albeit tired since he didn’t sleep for a day and a half.  He’s better now, though, thank goodness.  When it started I was like, “DO NOT GET THE FLU WHEN WE’RE LEAVING IN ONE WEEK.”  Seriously, I was all-capping my thoughts on that one.  But it all turned out okay and on the bright side, Dice probably dropped a couple pounds, heh.

Yesterday I stopped in to the Rice Box in the Trader Joe’s shopping plaza to pick up a big honkin’ tub of wonton soup.  Broth for Dice, wontons for me!  Heh.  Since broth is the best thing for a person in his situation it was the perfect solution.  While I was eating my soup I made cookies for tonight’s SAND social.  Yes, I’m a little Betty Homemaker!  Except I burnt one batch.  Oh well!

So, do you really care how my Thanksgiving was?  Without going into the whole story, I’ll just say that it was one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever enjoyed.  The day started early when Ray drove up first thing and we ran 9 miles together.  We would have run more but we ran out of time and were, in fact, 45 minutes late for the festivities as it was.  There were 15 of us there, along with 8 dogs and tons of food and good cheer.  We were probably home by 6 or 7 that evening and lounged, fat and happy, in front of the TV before hitting the sack early.

Friday we spent most of the morning recovering from the gluttony of the day before.  Finally Ray and I got our act together and went on a long walk with Pixie, just to get outside and shake up the blood a little.  After that we went to the jewelry store to look at diamonds for my new engagement ring.  Yeah, it’s always fun to look at diamonds.  In the evening all three of us went to Brick Store for dinner with friends.  Brick Store was, as usual, fantastic, although it was packed, as usual, and they stuck us up in the upper area behind the Belgian bar where it’s slightly claustrophobic.  But whatever, it was still Brick Store.

Saturday Ray went back to Macon and Dice and I did things around the house and lounged some, too.  In the evening I joined the Canadians, their friend, and T&R at The Grange for dinner.  I haven’t been to the Grange for dinner in several months, so I had the shepherd’s pie.  Which was pretty good, definitely tasty but not the best I’ve ever had.  I’d order it again, though.  And Sunday we meant to go grocery shopping but got lazy.  Instead we went to Midway with K&M, the Canadians and another friend, and the dogs, since it was 70 degrees out and sunny.  Well, it was until about 4:00-ish when it started to cool down and reminded us pretty quick that it was practically December.  So we went home and ate the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers.  Yay for Thanksgiving weekend!