Thanksgiving and What comes next...

I trust everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. I am not really a fan of the day, for a variety of reasons (i.e., history, food options), BUT I am thankful that I have a good group of friends and family to celebrate the day off with! (Image from here. )

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go home for the Thanksgiving break. Aside from the flights being too expensive, it's too challenging to travel to Arizona, come back to New Mexico, and leave to Arizona two weeks later for the Christmas break. This is the second year I haven't been home for Thanksgiving, and it will be my last, as I am moving back to Tucson in May (and I can't wait!!).

I made it a new tradition to gather people (mostly grad students) together who are unable to go home for the holiday and cook us a good meal. This year, it was just me and Joseph, who couldn't go home to Texas. Last year, I took a gander at roasting a chicken and ended up having a shouting match with the neck and innards that I had to pull out of its body... it was nasty and left me traumatized. This year I made chicken mole (the butcher handled the skinning, boning, and removal of body parts for me) with rice, beans & corn.... Joseph put together the salad. I also made pumpkin empanadas and beef and potato empanadas (which I forgot to take pictures of).

Joseph took off and I decided some stitching a sewing projects were in order. I decided to make everyone's gifts this year... so I need to get a move on. Before I did that, though, I had to fix my favorite cardigan...

I bought this cardi at Banana Republic forever-ago. I love that it has elbow patches. I have worn it out, though...

I stopped by Banana the other day and they had a sweater with elbow patches, but it wasn't the same.

Then, during my usual online window shopping, I spotted the best star-shaped elbow patched sweater.

So, I decided to put my own elbow patches on my own cardigan.



I am still going to repair and wear my old one, but this new one is nice for staying cozy while it's cold out.

Ok, time to get to work on the gifts I need to stitch up... so far I have finished one... but I can't tell you who it's for, because she reads my blog... but here is a sneak peak. I used the hankies that I picked up at the vintage store last week.


Gotta get a move on... lots more gifts to stitch up while I finish out the semester while I take breaks from grading and my own work!