1 hour until my Thanksgiving break

Yes, it's only 1 hour (and 10 minutes to be exact) until my Thanksgiving break officially starts!! I consider the start time to be the moment I am finished at work. It's not that I dislike work, but it's the last "commitment" I have before the break and lets be honest, the last day/hours before a break are always the longest.

Tomorrow morning Mark and I head up to Whidbey Island to spend the weekend with his family. I was telling Mark last night that I LOVE going to Whidbey and hanging with his family!! Not only is it beautiful and a place people like to vacation and we get to visit and stay for free - and did I mention that his parent's place is right on the Sound? Literally! It's the main road, private drive, house, large yard, and cliff to the water. They have a little tram that goes down to the water. It's pretty sweet!!

In addition, his parents are SUPER great!! His mom cooks fantastic food and some of it I've never had before like Yorkshire Pudding and my favorite, Ice Box Pudding (can you tell I'm a dessert girl?). And they let us sleep in, do whatever, and just relax. We try and help as much as they will let us (which is probably more than we actually help) with meals, but otherwise we get to enjoy the vacation.

But of course, the best part is the family. We get to play with the niece's, the little poodle dog Emma, and play games with everyone before bed every night. I'm not a big game player, so this is a big deal for me. And other than sometimes being a sore looser, it's a wonderful time!! Mark and I have similar views about things like sleeping late, never getting out of our PJs, and watching movies and eating (although I tend to do more of this than he does). So we are great vacation buddies and of course, I can never get enough time with him!!

The only bummer part about this weekend is that Monday Mark leaves for almost 2 weeks in Germany. And although I'm glad that if he has to leave town he gets to go to a place he's never been, I'll miss him like CRAZY!! So I'm kicking around the idea of painting the entire downstairs while he's away and sleeping at Barb's and have moved all the girlie movies to the top of our Netflix queue.

On the subject of painting, I HATE painting. But after watching lots of HGTV and then seeing a friend's new condo with creamy walls, I decided it's probably time. Since I hate painting so much I had decided to put it off until I was in the mood to brave a despised task (which I think is now). Mark actually prefers white walls, so it's taken a great deal of sweet talking to convince him to let me do it. Even now I'm not sure he has said yes, but he hasn't said no. So I think I'm good. I've promised him I will try and do a color he won't even notice isn't white (he's partly color blind). My plan is to do a neutral (warm) brownish color with a darker accent wall and a burnt orange nook (yes, burnt orange, don't talk me out of it). So Monday night after work and Mark is on his way to Germany, I will probably be at my nearest Lowe's getting paint color samples and will convert my downstairs to plastic-floor covered mess. I'm assuming it will take me at least 2 evenings to clear everything from the walls and near the walls and tape, before I can even get started. We'll see. I might chicken out at the last minute. That's a lot of painting for someone who is NOT good at the detailed edges!

Happy Thanksgiving!!