Nothing terribly interesting

It's been pretty quiet on the blog for the past week, but things are still hoppin' here in Vienna.

Last weekend I baked lots of little loaves of banana bread and sweet potato bread and brownies and cake for a Christmas bazaar organzed by the American Women's Association. I volunteer with this organization, so I wanted to help with the largest fundraising event for the charaties we support. And in the end, I won two prizes in the raffle. The first was a box of chocolates and a gift pass to a fitness center for women. And the second prize was a really fancy necklace and pair of earrings. When I opened the box I thought, surely these aren't real diamonds and pearls. And, of course, they weren't. But apparently they're the highest quality fake stuff around. I told Brian we might have to go to a ball next year so I'll have a chance to wear them. I don't think it will happen.

This week I'm preparing several dishes for a Thanksgiving meal. I'm going to tackle a turkey, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, carrots, and a pecan pie. That sounds like a whole lot when I write it all out! Since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here, we will celebrate on Saturday instead of Thursday. There are about 25 of us, include co-workers, other American friends who live in Vienna, two American families from Dresden, and some friends visiting from the U.S. Hopefully everything will come off without a hitch. And I'm sure I'll have more to say about it next week.

Oh, and today we had our first snow. I know that has nothing to do with Christmas bazaars and Thanksgiving meals, but it was pretty exciting. Sharkdog and I went to IKEA and on our way home it really started coming down. Fortunately, I was pretty well bundled up and Sharkdog was wearing his coat. And I must say, Sharkdog was quite the attraction at IKEA. But then again, he's quite an attraction everywhere he goes. Everybody loves the Sharkdog. But who can blame them? I know I can't. That dog is irresistible.