Post-Thanksgiving Wrap Up

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of family and friends. Hopefully, you all had the sense to avoid over eating, but I know most people didn't. One of the great joys of being a vegetarian is that most of the holiday eating is centered around meat dished, so I never really worry about over eating. Yes, I am one of the lucky few to actually lose weight during the holidays!

But, I'm sure none of that really interests you all (although, I'm not sure how exciting most of this will be...).

Thanksgiving with the Sleepers is spent with Austin's dad and his side of the family. We always go over to his uncle's house for a feast that always leaves plenty of leftovers. We spend the day cooking and catching up on the goings on in our lives. And for this family, there's always something new being planned! It's great to be able to spend time catching up with everyone, and it's sad that it only happens a couple times a year. It was great to see everyone, the food was great and most people did end up eating too much. Anyways, here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving!

Isn't this a beautiful setting for fourteen? 

Father-in-law and more family! 

Mary and her parents, she was a fabulous hostess

Even with fourteen, we still had plenty of leftover turkey! 

Friday, Austin and I spent the day holed up inside and I did as much baking as I could get away with. I made a couple loaves of bread, cookies, and pie. I did anything I could to avoid going out in the Black Friday madness. I was smart enough to get my Black Friday shopping done on Thursday, from the comfort of my own couch. The deals are exactly the same, free shipping, no lines, no madness. Why people try to make it through the crowds is beyond me...

Friday night wasn't quite as quiet. We went to the Stars game with a friend of Austin's from high school. And since her dad worked on the bankruptcy case for the Stars, his company owns a suite. A suite from which we all watched the game. We did end up losing in a shoot out, but it was a great game nonetheless. It was also the first sold-out game of the season for the Stars. Also, we were just a suite away from Joe Nieuwendyk and Jere Lehtinen, so that was pretty awesome. It was kind of nice having Adam Burish out of the game due to injuries, but only because we met him as we were walking outside to smoke. It was quite the Star-studded night!

The rest of the weekend really doesn't have too much to talk about. The game Saturday night was horrible and the bias against the Stars is getting a bit ridiculous at this point. We had a couple friends over to watch the game and they couldn't help but agree. And when you have a Sabres fan agreeing that there is a bias, you know something is going on with the refs.

I did hear about the death of the legendary Gary Speed's passing, my thoughts are with his family and friends. For those that don't know, Gary Speed was a legend and a true class act in the world of (European) football. The circumstances of his passing are tragic and it just goes to show that no matter how happy someone seems on the inside, you never truly know what they're going through.

Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy

Austin and I are huge hockey fans. Its one of the few sports we can actually watch together since I only follow soccer (real football...) and hockey and he's into football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf... Really anything. Unless the World Cup is on, he doesn't care to watch the games. We rarely get the Real Madrid or Manchester United or Brasil national team games, and when we do it is usually on one of our numerous Spanish channels. Austin apparently is of the mind that unless he can understand what the announcers are saying, why watch. So for us to be able to sit down and watch a sporting event is a pretty big deal.

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This is one of the reasons I'm a Real Madrid fan, he's also a pretty spectacular player on the Brasil team

Luckily, we have hockey.

We both enjoy watching the games at home, but we prefer watching them live. There is nothing that can compare to watching the game for 20,000 other fans (even if they are rooting for the wrong team). And before this year, we had not been able to go to one together. Neither of us are fans of sitting in the top row at the American Airlines Center and watching the game on the screen. If we were going to watch the game on a screen, we would watch it at home. In HD. And be warmer.

This year, I got a hook-up at work. Since we have a concierge that offers discounted tickets to tenants in the building, he has offered me tickets to any games I'd like for free (or close to it). We've already been able to go to four games this season with at least three more on our calendar. I'm thinking we might need to get a couple more since it looks like the Stars might be able to make a run for the Stanley Cup this year. A feat I wasn't thinkign they would be able to do considering how awful they were last year.

I would like to say all of the improvments are due to my favorite player, Steve Ott. But after last night's game were he really wasn't much of a force on the ice, I don't think I could say that. Well, I could, but it would be a lie.

So, if any one out there has any conenctions to Steve out there, tell him to step up his game. He should have beaten Ovechikin after the way that twat was acting during the game and nothing. Come on Steve! Where's the guy we all used to love to hate?! Where's the fire? Where's your spirit? Do something out there! When we're at the game next Friday, I expect to see more from you.

And if not, I'll still be a loyal fan.

As it is, the Stars are second in the Western Conference. They're currently at 15(wins)-8(losses) -1(OT Loss). They have 31 points, following the Red Wings who lead the conference with 34.

Lets go Stars!!

I went tailgating!!

This weekend was Thanksgiving. It is also when Austin and I make our trip up to Arkansas to see all of our friends. I don't know why we usually only go once a year to see everyone, but we always go up for Thanksgiving. And Austin never has let me meet many of his friends... It was mostly just my friends... I was begining to wonder if he actually had friends...

So, this time when we went up, Austin informed me that I would be going to be meeting a lot of his Hendrix friends and we would be tailgating. Now, for those of you that know me, you understand why I was a bit wary of tailgating. For those of you that don't, I'll explain. I hate football. I'm a vegetarian. I also don't drink beer. So going to sit in a field with a bunch of people I don't know and combining these three things didn't really sound like the recipe to a good time to me.

But I was wrong. That's right, I'll admit it. I was wrong. It is actually a lot of fun.

And how many other times do you get the excuse to start drinking at nine in the morning??

I also did find out that Austin did have friends in college! Who knew?? I did get to meet the guy that is going to be Austin's Best Man and his second groomsman. And a ton of other people that are going to be coming to the wedding. And people that had a lot of very amusing stories about Austin in college.

This is Andrew, Austin's Best Man

Ashley, Andrew's brother, with Andrew. I really liked Ashley, he kept telling me how pretty I am. Always a good thing.

Austin's second groomsman, Josh.

The three Hendrix boys... They're going to be trouble...

And now it makes sense why they're friends...

See! I actually was there!

And the band. Because that's the real reason people go to the games.

The US is no more...

At least when it comes to the World Cup. The match on Saturday was a heartbreaking match to watch, not only did Tim Howard let in (another) goal in the first five minutes of the game, but we were only able to score due to a penalty kick... Now, if you recently fell in love with the US team, you might want to skip this post. I feel the need to vent a bit about a couple of key players that have gained popularity. Not only were these players unknown to probably 95% of the American population, but after watching four games every American feels that they have the knowledge to comment on these players' skills. If you think this is pretentious, I apologize in advance, but due to the fact that I've been a fan (not of the US team) for many, many years I actually know what I'm talking about.

First off, let me start off with Howard. After hearing all of this talk from various people about how amazing Howard is, I think he pretty much sucks, sorry to the rest of America. No, its not because he has tourettes (which I don't see how that is relevant at all!) but due to the fact that in every game the US played in the World Cup, he let in an extremely soft goal within the first five minutes of every match except the match against Algeria. Next is Demspey. In the first minute of the match against Slovenia, he elbows a player in the face. This is an act worthy of a red card. I know, Slovenia did deserve it, especially when you look in hindsight at the way the match went down, but the US fans refuse to look at any sort of flaw that Dempsey has. Instead fans see a rogue, a pretty boy. I call bullshit! He wasn't really that influential in any match. He tried to play in several matches as if he was a striker when he pretty much sucked as much as a striker as he did as a midfielder. And speaking of the strikers, where were they in this tournament?! They were nonexistent and were barely able to get a touch on the ball. Donovan played well, also a midfielder, but he wasn't a star. He was able to score one amazing goal in the Algeria match, but if he really is so amazing, why didn't he do that earlier?!

Well, I'm glad I finally got some of that out of my system. And to all those recent football fans (or soccer, whatever), the more you are interested in what happens, the better our players will be. I don't know why this World Cup has created such an impact this time around but I'm very glad it has. I know that it doesn't stop a war, fix the economic crisis, or clean up the gulf, but this has given us something very big to stand behind. Instead of focusing on the negative lately, and there is a lot to be negative about, America has been watching this Cup and cheering on our team. It gives us something to hope for and it gives everyone a chance to dream of something big. If that isn't reason enough to love the World Cup and football, I don't know what is.

World Cup Fever is Here!

Well, the World Cup is upon us! The wonderful time every four years that the US even shows the faintest interest in one of the greatest sports ever created! This is a time for real football, a real sport... At least to me!

I spent a lot of time in Brasil growing up, being the fact that my grandparents lived there for forty years, and it quickly came to be the only sport I could watch on a regular basis. I even was lucky enough to meet Kaka, a midfielder for the Brasil team, one time when I was walking down the street! He was actually a wonderful guy that was sweet enough to have a short conversation in broken Portuguese with an American girl. So, as I'm sure you all can guess, I'm rooting for Brasil and hoping they can regain their title as the champions! I've been able to catch every game thus far due to the fact that the first match comes on when I'm getting ready for work, then two matches while I'm at work. I don't think I've ever been happier that my boss has a tv in his office, and he doesn't mind me turning it on once in a while to catch the matches! I was very upset in the ending of the match against Cote d'Ivoire where Kaka got a red card which he didn't deserve... We will still be able to come back!

Austin is a fan of soccer, but he also likes American football, baseball, golf, hockey, basketball, etc... He, being the good patriotic one of us, is rooting for the United States team. I hope the US team does well only for the fact that soccer would finally start to get some of the respect it deserves in this country. The US team has been a little shaky this tournament, but we're all hoping they can bring it together for the last group match against Algeria. We were both really upset when the ref disallowed the US goal in the game against Slovenia, it really put a damper on our moods at work.