friends holiday marathon

This year on Thanksgiving, Dave and I watched all 10 Thanksgiving episodes from Friends, and wrote little reviews and picked out our favorite quotes from each one. As I was searching online for photos of each episode to complement my post, I discovered that EW.com did the exact same thing this year for Thanksgiving. So there ya go. I guess I could have been a writer for EW after all.

Our favorites for Best Overall Thanksgiving Episode?

3rd Place: Season 10 - The One with the Late Thanksgiving (above)
Everyone wants to have dinner at Monica & Chandler's except for M & C, who say it's too much work. But they agree to host the meal anyway (Chandler proudly prepares the cranberries and boasts about them many times, to which Monica responds, "A monkey could do it!"), and the other friends are late for one reason or another, making M & C very angry. The result is an episode full of funny one-liners and riffs on things as silly as rock-paper-scissors (Joey: "Fire beats everything!" Phoebe: "Mm-mm... water balloon!") and foam fingers from sporting events. Jokes about spelling bees and beauty pageants also fit in there somewhere, but Chandler steals the show with his ongoing obsession over his cranberries, "or should I call them Chan-berries?"

2nd Place: Season 6 - The One Where Ross Got High
Dave and I have watched this episode about ten times this year. It's one of our favorites. Everyone's over for Thanksgiving as normal, including Ross & Monica's folks. Remember? It's the Thanksgiving "where Rachel messed up the trifle". She made a trifle with the usual dessert fixin's and then threw in a layer of beef sauteed with peas and onions (accidentally combining the recipes for trifle and shepherd's pie). Ross declared it "tastes like feet!" and Joey gobbled it up in true Joey fashion. Classic. But the best part for us is the climactic argument where Mon & Ross are trying to one-up each other in front of their parents, and Mrs. Geller finally gives one of the best monologues ever, chastising everyone in the room with her scathing tone, concluding with: "Rachel, you weren't supposed to put beef in the trifle. It. Did. Not. Taste. Good." Dave and I quote this one to each other all the time.

1st Place: Season 8 - The One With the Rumor
Two words: Brad Pitt.
When he was still married to Aniston, he guested as a formerly fat high school classmate of Rachel's, Monica's, & Ross', over for Thanksgiving dinner. He & Ross formed the "I hate Rachel Green" club and spread unpleasant rumors about her that spread all across Long Island (even Chandler heard about it, before he was her friend). Perfect irony that his character "hated" Rachel. Lots of classic moments and genuine laughs (Phoebe hilariously represents every female watching when she gleefully hugs Brad Pitt, looking to heaven and saying, "Well done".)

Best lines:

Phoebe: "Oh, come on Will, just take off your shirt and tell us!" (to Pitt, when he was hesitant to share the rumor)

Chandler: "It'd be better for my ego if you didn't stand right next to me." (to Pitt)

Will (Pitt): "My two greatest enemies, Ross: Rachel Green & complex carbohydrates."

Most folks would agree this is one of the best Friends episodes ever.

fall foliage, so pretty!

i'd been wanting to do two things lately: get pictures of the kids out in the yard with all the beautiful leaves everywhere, and have a family picture taken for our Christmas card this year. i'm so glad we got out and did those things yesterday, because it was warm, it was sunny, and after we did the picture-taking, all the leaves continued to fall right off the branches. today, they're mostly on the ground, and today, it's raining and pretty dreary. so, yay! i will unveil the aforementioned family Christmas photo at a later time, but to whet your appetite, here are some beauts from both my camera and my parents'.

my dave, what a monkey!

my dad

dave and me

my parents (instructed to laugh for the picture)

lucy walking with gramma

daughter and father (laughing for real!)

playing in the leaves was fun for lucy!

she also liked hanging out by the tree


dave and eli (who was kinda tired)


my dad and my dave buddying up

we had a fun early thanksgiving celebration with my parents yesterday. in addition to all the good food, we had a hilarious poker night for hours. they left this morning. now that they're gone and the convention (see below) is over, it seems really mellow 'round here. i think i'll bake some cookies and watch tv.

didja miss me??

i'm back!

we just returned from atlanta several hours ago. blissfully reunited with our daughter, whom we missed sooooooooooooooo much. she actually squealed when she saw us. then... "mommy!" "daddy!" "eli!" "mommy!" "daddy!" "eli!!" (you get the idea)... it was so great. plus, my mom & dad are here and tomorrow we're celebrating t-giving! great family, great food, who could ask for more?

yes, it's true, i was doing great with nablopomo until i left town. the convention had a digital lounge with about 6 computers. you can imagine how motivated i was to stand there in line while folks caught up on youtube videos and facebook comments. each time i stood there i thought, "what are they gonna do to me if i don't post? absolutely nothing! whatevs!" and went and did something else. i'll more than make up for it in the next few days, of that you can be sure.

it was fun. it was tiring. it was loud. it was powerful. more later.

and i'll do a Best Shot Tuesday tomorrow, if i have time!

how have y'all been?