giving thanks.

it's our first thanksgiving, and we're having to be a little creative and flexible. i am scheduled to work on thursday & friday (so no turkey OR black friday madness!), although stu will be off both days. he has a lot of family coming into town, especially some favorites that we don't get to see often (shout out to andrew, kristan & the kiddos, and aunt penny & her crew!), so he will likely be spending a lot of thanksgiving time down in pine bluff, while i'm up here in little rock. so, overall we're a little bummed about that.

however, i'm not really upset to be working the holiday. my patients are very dear to me, and what better place to spend an emotional, sentimental day of thanks than with those who may not live to see another one? (i mean, i certainly can think of better places to be - mostly up in ripley, wv, where my entire extended family is coming together to celebrate - miss you all terribly!) so, you all can find me on H7 at UAMS loving on my patients who are fighting cancer. prayers would be appreciated for this day - already this week, emotions have been running high on our unit. it's really tough for these people to be stuck in the hospital over the holidays.

my much-too-short visit home to nc last week was so perfect and lovely. i missed stuart terribly, and we all wished he had been there, too. but i wasn't quite ready to leave when i had to hop a plane back to little rock. we did all kinds of favorite acree-family things... watched lots of movies, went out to dinner at a swanky place we had never been before and judged it harshly (katie and dad particularly love this activity), played outside with the dogs, cooked a lot of good food and made silly videos. also was able to be at CCC on sunday morning and see my favorite people there, had breakfast at foster's market, walked through the farmer's market with katie, and just generally enjoyed my family. being with them then is making it easier to not be with them this week.

anyways... all of this is to say that stuart and i were not about to just give up our first married thanksgiving to my work schedule, so we just had it early this year. my favorite friend, hannah morgan, came to visit for a few days from kansas city, and we cooked a feast! last night we had all the traditionals - turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad (acree recipe), green beans, pumpkin pie & apple cider, and we threw in some butternut squash soup just for fun. it was perfect :)

the makings of our cranberry salad.

me & hannah working hard in the kitchen.

dinner!

my two most favorite goofballs in the world.

stuart's request: pumpkin pie.

happy thanksgiving!

it's november!

november is stuart's favorite month. i can't believe it's here already - this means we've been married for well over 4 months. that i've been working for almost 3 months. that christmas is just a FEW WEEKS AWAY! i love this time of year. we've been enjoying it lately by eating apple-cranberry-walnut muffins, drinking apple cider, lighting candles, shopping for electric blankets and turning on the space heater! today i bought some supplies to make our first-christmas-together christmas cards and a few other things to work on some hand-made gifts for some special people. don't get me wrong - i'm not trying to rush autumn away so that christmas is here. but that's one of the joys of later fall... preparing for christmas :) drinking pumpkin spice lattes while making christmas gifts - the best of both worlds.

in a few weeks, it will be thanksgiving, and i'll be at the hospital taking care of my patients! i work both turkey day and the friday after, so here's to hoping for a delicious pot luck with all my nursey friends at UAMS for thanksgiving. my lovely, dearest friend hannah mogan is coming to visit thanksgiving week, though only for a few days, but it will be the highlight of my thanksgiving holiday! i'm thankful for her (heh).

stuart is in the midst of week 3 in pine bluff doing his family medicine rotation. the most exciting thing he's done so far is put 2 stitches in a lady's knee that got busted up somehow. thursday of this week, we're going to see Wicked (the broadway show) and we're pumped! then, saturday, in the wee hours of the morning, i will hop a flight: little rock > memphis > RALEIGH/DURHAM! oh my heart, i can't wait to see my home state again. and those who dwell there.

here's to hoping for mama to make some chili, pumpkin pie and apple cider; for katie to show me the newest trends (that she always somehow pulls off flawlessly, and that i always look silly for trying) and sharing the newest, most exciting news about her life plans; for daddy to tell me amazing stories from his everyday life and make me laugh to the point of tears; for matthew graham to make a surprise appearance and come to zebulon while i'm home!