Who's hungry?

So has everyone finished digesting all their turkey or whatever copious amounts of food were eaten yesterday? And did everyone rush out to all the after-Thanksgiving sales this morning? I never quite understand why people WANT to rush out to after-Thanksgiving sales… especially the ones that start at some ridiculously early hour like 5 a.m. Are there actually people who get up at 4 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving so they can run down to Wal-Mart and buy a cartload of wrapping paper and ornaments priced 10 percent off? I think I’d much rather sleep in and pay full price. There’s even a big craft/decoration/housewares store here in Austin that does some kind of “72-hour sale” thing around Christmastime. They actually stay open for three days straight, so if you happen to find yourself out and about in the pre-dawn hours after a raucous holiday party, and can’t help but think about how you’ll be going home to a boring, plain front door, you can stop off at the store and buy a lovely Christmas wreath. I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve wanted to buy a mug or a picture frame at 3 in the morning, but have been held back by the constraints of reasonable retail hours…

Did everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving? Ours was nice, except for the fact that it was 80 degrees and felt more like the middle of May than what is, in reality, a month shy of winter. (Although I have noticed that the leaves are really starting to fall now… some of them have even morphed into almost-vibrant colors.) We started the day yesterday with a late breakfast over at mom and dad’s house, and then Rick and dad went on a quest to find The Coffee Shop That Cares Not For Its Employees and Forces Them to Work on Thanksgiving Day. And they found it pretty quickly – Seattle’s Best was closed, but the Starbucks a couple miles away was open. Yes, we are all very, very addicted to caffeine…

We all headed over to Rick’s parents’ house in the afternoon for dinner. And I’m sure we all ate waaaaaay too much, and I had another couple cups of coffee, and I was all hyped up on caffeine and calories – which was good, because Rick and my dad and Nick and I all decided to go to a 9:45 movie last night. We went to see the new James Bond flick, and I have to say – I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve been wondering if the new James Bond actor would work out okay – he didn’t necessarily seem “Bond-like” to me when I first saw him. But he definitely pulls it off – and like a lot of the reviewers have said, this is probably the best Bond film in years. It’s a little less campy, and a little more stylish. It even has a surprise ending – you never get that with a Bond film. Usually they always follow a specific “formula.” I guess the idea with this movie was to attempt to revive the franchise with a glove compartment defibrillator (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about… and if not, well, I guess you’ll have to see the movie. :)). And it seems to have worked pretty well.

And now I believe I’ll go jump on the treadmill, in a vain attempt to burn off the three thousand calories I ate yesterday. Hope everyone’s been having a chance to spend some time with family and friends this week!