Mad Men = ehhhhhhhhhh

Started watching the TV show, 'Mad Men' this week.  I'm 7 episodes into Season 1 and I still can't get over the amount of smoking, drinking, drinking and driving, etc in the show.  I've been Googling how realistic this show is for the 60s and a lot of folks say they downplayed it a bit.

Right now I would give the show 6 out of 10, but I am going to finish Season 1 and see if it moves up to an 8, which would make me continue on to Season 2.

Entourage

The new Entourage movie trailer is out and it reminds me how much of my life post college was dedicated to this show.  I've seen every episode from Seasons 1 through 5 at least 3 times each.  Great show that died out a bit on the last 2 seasons.  Hopefully they can start fresh with this movie.  Click on the link below to check it out.

Official Entourage Movie Trailer

Can't wait to catch this movie in 2015!

Gingerbread House

This masterpiece was 100% my idea and handiwork. 

69 Gingerbread Lane

This past Saturday, the four Bergie/Flem cousins (plus significant others) got together for our annual holiday dinner.  I have always treasured the opportunity to spend time with Ryan, Kyle, and Molly, and the addition of Eric and now Christine has only made the group more fun.  Kyle had the great idea to bring a gingerbread house kit, so here are a few photos of the assembly and decoration of that house:

You will note that Eric and Christine are patiently and carefully assembling the house while the four Donovan descendants are nowhere to be seen.  (Okay, there is a twenty-year-old photo of the four of us looking down at them from the wall.)  We were mostly scarfing down the candies that were meant for decorating the house and giggling.

Molly murdered a gingerbread person.  In cold blood.

The cousins.  We weren't very helpful when it came to constructing the house, but we know a photo opportunity when we see one.

The back of the house.  The activities on the front lawn got too weird to post.

These reindeer cupcakes have nothing to do with the gingerbread house, but they are a personal baking triumph.

Photo Fail

I had a very nice Thanksgiving and holiday weekend up in Maine with my family.  My parents did a great job hosting and I had the chance to visit with a lot of family members while I was in the Pine Tree State.  (Thanks for taking the time to hang out, Nana Flem, Uncle Pat, Aunt Norleen, Daniel, Isiah, Zach, Nicole, Dan, and of course Mum, Dad, Ryan, and Christine!)  Unfortunately I totally blew it on the photo front.  I left my camera at home and only remembered to take out my mum's camera on Saturday when we had lunch at Central Maine's finest dining establishment, Big G's. 

I do have photos of a couple of the weekend's biggest accomplishments-- my parents' Christmas tree and my Christmas tree.  We put my parents' tree up on Saturday while watching Home Alone and I put my tree up yesterday while watching Elf and Christmas Vacation (the process takes longer when it is a one-woman job.)  Here are the finished products:

My parents' 2014 Christmas tree

My 2014 Christmas tree

Ryan and Christine picked out their tree last night, so I am looking forward to seeing it up and decorated with the ornaments and decorations Nana and Mum shared with them this past weekend.  I have a few to contribute as well.  (When you only have a 5.5' tall tree, ornament real estate is scarce.)

Happy December!