Thanksgiving Atlanta Style

Thanksgiving was fabulous! We were invited over to one of Damien's co-worker's homes with a few other co-workers. They prepared two turkeys. One was deep fried and the other was smoked in a Green Egg. I had never seen a Green Egg before, but apparently you can cook, smoke, and BBQ in them. I want one now.

Deep frying a turkey is quite a process. First, you get a huge vat of oil and heat it. Once heated you strategically lower the turkey in it and cook it. You have to be extra careful not to burn yourself or have any incidences with the hot oil. Then you have to find somewhere to dispose of all that used oil (like the neighbor's back yard). This is what the set-up looks like.


While the turkeys were finishing up we sat out on the enclosed porch, had appetizers, drinks, and enjoyed the 75 degree weather. That's right, it was 75 degrees here on Thanksgiving. I love the weather here!

The smoked turkey was really good. I would like to eat that all the time. It had a really nice smoked flavor to it. The deep fried turkey didn't have any particular flavor (besides turkey), but it was nice and moist as well. Damien and I both ate way too much food, but it was delicious!

A Few Updates

We added a few more items to our apartment! Damien and I picked out some fabric and made curtains for some of our windows so we could have a little privacy.


The fabric has a paisley print on it. Here's the close-up.

My favorite addition is this beautiful piece of art. Damien took a trip to France, Belgium, and Italy right before we got engaged. While in Paris, he picked up this beautiful silk scarf. It has a detail of the famous Gustav Klimt painting "The Kiss" which I love. I refused to wear it because I didn't want to get it dirty and I wanted to be able to see the beautiful image on it. I decided I wanted it framed so we could all enjoy it. It turned out fabulous and is the perfect center piece!


Here is the full Klimt painting.

Halloween

Not sure why Damien's face looks green in this picture.

We dressed up for our ward's Halloween Party as Indians again. I love getting to wear my beautiful sari and it makes me laugh every time Damien pulls the pants out for his outfit. (I think it's called a kurta.) The pants are made to fit most sizes; that's why the waist is 44 inches wide and made to cinch up as small as needed.

We had a great time and were lucky enough to run into a family from Sri Lanka who we hadn't met before because they're in the other ward. The daughter was very helpful and offered to show me how to properly wrap my sari. That's why it looks so good in the pictures! Also, Rita let me borrow some of her beautiful Indian jewelry to complete the look! Thanks.

The Finished Product

I'm sure y'all want to see how the apartment looks now that we are all unpacked. We still have a bit of work to do but here you go!

Entry

Kitchen


Kitchen & dining area

Dining area

Living room

Office area and TV

Laundry room

Bedroom



Walk-in closet

It was a hot mess,

but we are finally all moved in! (A side note: "hot mess" is a southern saying meaning in a state of disarray.) Our stuff arrived on a huge semi on October 14. They unloaded everything and we were still missing three boxes. The truck driver was able to retrieve two of them from their previous delivery, but we are still missing one.


The day of delivery, Damien got work off to help me unpack. We had boxes and stuff everywhere. Our goal was to get the basics set up like the bed, shower curtain, kitchen table, and dishes that day so we could survive until everything was unpacked. Goal accomplished.

As the men were bringing in the boxes I noticed this one. I started laughing really hard. Clothes is spelled wrong and I'm still not sure what our pee blankee is.


The semi all our stuff came in. It was huge and they were trying to maneuver it around in the small parking lot and gate area. I was glad no ones car was damaged in the process.

We made it to the end of the day getting a lot unpacked! We still had a ton more boxes to go through. It took us a few weeks to get everything organized. We are now completely moved in!