Thanksgiving and the beginning of Goodbyes

If there's one thing I truly love, it's entertaining. Just the thought of hosting sends my creative little brain into overtime, pining over the perfect menu, stalking table settings and recipes on Pinterest like a 15-year-old girl with a crush (on pâte brisée). Due to an unfortunate lack of staff and my penchant for flawless execution, however, it often means that once my guests arrive, I am unable to be equal parts hostess/chef/maid, and end up in the kitchen, enjoying the party from afar as a voyeur and occasional commentator.  

I am thankful to have a devoted husband who takes great pictures and is able to help me break away at the right times for food and conversation, like he did last week at Thanksgiving. We had a lovely time with Marc's family, who drove down from Manhattan, and my parents who came up from southern NJ. The house was filled with smiles and warmth, delicious smells, good wine, and good food. It was one of the most enjoyable family gatherings I can remember and a perfect memory to take with me to India. 

On the India front, we got our first email from the shippers that work with Marc's company and have a call with them on Monday morning. I'm anxious to find out what we can/can't pack, when the packers will be loading the shipping container (since that will be the day we vacate our house), and how long it will take our stuff to get to us in India and clear customs.  Tomorrow, Marc and I are going to start going through our house to figure out what goes, what gets trashed, what gets sold, and what gets donated. We'll start with closets, work outward, and then I'll put together a list of things that are coming on the flight with us.   

Stella has an appointment with her vet on Monday night for an exam, vaccines, and to finally get a microchip, something we've been meaning to do for a while. We've gotten her a crate for the flight and have started getting her acclimated to it by placing it in the kitchen where her old metal crate used to be. She's already warmed up to it and happily rests there when I'm cooking dinner.  Every day I get a little more nervous about her being alone in the crate on the flight, but I'm sure she'll be fine.  If all goes well, next week our visas will be approved and returned, which means we can book the plane tickets with Lufthansa. I hope that they are able to accommodate our date of January 20th since they only take on a certain number of pets per flight. 

Back at home, I'm getting closer to my last day at work. I'm really going to miss my co-workers, customers, and territory, but there is a ton of stuff to do before this move! Looking at my iPad calendar has been weird. It's booked solid until December 20th, and then there's nothing but blank space and declined events after that. I am curious to know what it feels like to go 24 hours without hearing an event reminder chime :-)

Our sales district had a get-together on Wednesday night and they all got me a book on Classic Indian Cooking, along with a card that they signed.  What a sweet thought; I can't wait to put it to good use (although by that time I'll probably have a cook who will laugh at my pitiful attempts to pull off a proper Indian meal) and will definitely be thinking of them when I try my first recipe :-)  

Will update on the shipping conversation, the cleaning/sorting process, and Stellas vet appointment next week. Tonight, we (Stella too!) are going to enjoy a farewell dinner party hosting by some good friends nearby :-) So nice to be loved <3