turkeypalooza and a paperdoll.

Listening To: In These Arms by The Swell Season

Line Obsession: If a sigh had a shape, a taste, a color, it would be a salty yellow triangle. (from A Map of the Known Word by Lisa Ann Sandell)

Before I get to the point of today's post, I have an important question: what happened to all the comments on my old posts?! All the posts I did earlier this year have no comments at all now, which is so strange and sad. I've lost all our awesome conversations to the blogger abyss :( Has this happened to any of you bloggy people? Boo on you, Blogger.

Onto happier thoughts!

The traffic is out of control in my town. The clouds are winter colored, that really gorgeous silvery gray that makes me want to cuddle with my dog and watch a movie.* The lights are twinkling. People are filling up their carts/buggies with cranberry sauce and Oreos (or is that just me?). Turkeypalooza 2009 has begun! :) I'm packing for Georgia. By which I mean: I have pulled my suitcase out into the floor. It is still empty ... and will most likely remain so until an hour before I leave tomorrow.

I am so excited about this Thanksgiving. These past few weeks have been rough. Why is it crazy always comes in the form of a torrential downpour and never just as a dribble? Have you noticed this? My heart is definitely feeling deflated and battered and all that nasty metaphorical stuff, which means this trip couldn't come at a better time. I need my family and I need the farm. I need both things in a bad way. My fam makes me smile and laugh and remember what really matters. And the farm is kind of magical, because it makes me chill out. I go read at the dock. I hang out in the pond house and write. I try to avoid the killer guineas. I drink hot chocolate and watch movies with my niece. I play pirates with my nephew.** This Thanksgiving, I think the day will feel exactly like a holiday is supposed to feel. I think it will turn my heart back around and remind me of the overwhelming amount of good happening all around me, even when certain situations don't work out the way I want.

I've been saving a few copies of Paperdoll to give away once the holidays come. Now that the holidays are here (squee!), I thought this would be a perfect time to send one out :)

If you want to enter your name in the mix for a copy of Paperdoll, leave a comment on today's post telling me your favorite thing about Thanksgiving. Next Thursday, I'll do a random number generator thing and pick a winner. Then you can email me your address and I'll get the book to you pronto. And just think ... if you read it soon enough, you can wrap it and give it to somebody else for Christmas. Regifting rocks. :) If you don't tell me your favorite thing about Thanksgiving, I'll assume you're just dropping by to say hello.

And as a reminder, I made some Paperdoll flair that I'm obnoxiously proud of. I think it turned out so cute! :) Turns out making flair is fairly simple, but I'm still surprised I figured it out. If you want it on your flair board, you should be able to find it by typing "paperdoll" in the search feature on Facebook.

I know this post is kind of short, but fear not. Once I get back from Turkeypalooza, I have several important topics to discuss. Such as:

* An entire post dedicated to The Christmas Honks, pending the date the event actually plays out. It usually occurs more than once. It is worth the wait. Trust.

* More details on our Emma excursion for 2010! Are you getting excited my fellow Austenites? :) We'll plan on having our first discussion, on at least the first few chapters, during the second week of January.

* Any interesting details I can embellish about my Turkeypalooza excursion. I'm traveling through Atlanta tomorrow, on a day the experts predict will be one of the heaviest traveled days in recent memory. My brother, who gets venomous road rage, will be driving. Sweet. For Thanksgiving, I'm making caramel pecan bars from a recipe in Food&Wine. I'm sure my version will taste just like the Food&Wine version.***

* Bookish things. I just got a review/give away copy of A Year of Blind Dates by Megan Carson. I'm already a few chapters in and it is making me laugh so much. And making me wish I was friends with Megan. You're going to love this one.

* I'm going to tell you how I cheated in NaNo. Don't judge me. We've all been tempted.

* I'm going to do a more serious post about Twilight. I saw New Moon this weekend and I thought it was okay. I liked it way better than the first movie. I have more to say though. I'll write about the good, the weird, the FurSplosions, and the lingering questions I have about the series (does Edward get a senior citizens discount when he takes Bella to the movies?). I might even write about sparkleVamps and how they slap. Did you see New Moon? You know in the end, when Edward lifts his arm like he's going to backhand Jacob? Since when do vampires slap?! :) (And does this make Bella the slapbet commissioner?) Seriously though, I sometimes skulk around on the forums over at Susie Mag, and I'm so enjoying reading the discussions about books. Twilight is coming up a lot (is there anywhere on earth Twilight is not coming up?) so I thought I would pitch in my two pence and give you my opinion of the series. (Overall, I think it's fun and I think it's okay to wear your Team Mike Newton t-shirts and have fun with it. There are some truly bizarro parts, but that's true of most fantasy novels. We'll take more when I get back.)

Okay, I really do have to pack now. Before I sign off, give yourself a big hug from me (and Biscuit). Not to go all cornball on you (tis bound to happen more than once this season), but I'm super thankful for the little community we have here on the blog. I'm so glad you guys stop by and say hello (or just stop by to read). Thanks for being so darn classy and fun. I hope your Turkeypalooza is full of so many sweet new memories. I hope you stuff yourselves with caramel pecan smoldering cardboard bars. And I hope you're reminded of how loved you are. Happy Thanksgiving! Wave at me if you're stuck in Atlanta traffic tomorrow.

* Which will not happen. Because once again, instead of doing laundry all along this month, I waited until I ran out of clean clothes. And so laundry is my lot for the next 24 hours.

** Last year, I bought cheap pirate garb at Hobby Lobby - paper hats, treasure maps, fake money, etc. Then I hid trinkets all through the house and made a map so we could find all the stuff. I thought it would go over okay. Andy freaked and now, when I go, he follows me around with his pirate hat ready to sail.

*** Assuming the Food & Wine version tastes like smoldering cardboard.