A Time to Give Thanks

What a wonderful season it is.

I love Thanksgiving - not for the excuse to overload on carbs, family and football (well, ok, those reasons too) - but because it provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on the many blessings that our lives are built upon. Blessings like each and every one of you reading this, blessings like all of the wonderful and supportive friends and family who *would* be reading this if I didn't forget to send them the link, colleagues who have no idea of what our personal lives are like but still play critical roles in our life, our wonderful pets (Ginger, Tugger, and Sid Fishous) who teach us patience, unconditional love, and remind us of the importance of daily walks and belly rubs.

We are also tremendously grateful for the most recent additions to our family (extended and otherwise) and pray that God continues to bless all of our families as they grow, namely: Adriana Grace, Devyn, Megan, Future Baby Chorba, Riley, Ray, Future Baby Lagos, and all of the current and future Dougherty babies!

This holiday was full of family and tradition - bizarre for my family as we typically spend Thanksgiving eating French and Moroccan food in Epcot - and it was magical. Dominick, as usual, made food fit for a NYC restaurant, we decorated and prepared, and we had so much fun doing it! Here are some quick photos celebrating that great day.

Aunt Margaret (my fairy Godmother) and Uncle Davo. Their attendance at our first Thanksgiving was especially touching as they journied from NYC and had to work Black Friday at Macy's Herald Square!

Our Thanksgiving Dining Room

Dom's Turkey

Dom preparing to decimate the bird.

The Aftermath

An Addition to Our Family

We are the proud owners of the cutest beagle puppy in the world! Tugger "Tug" Hogan-Stanzione joined the family officially on November 10, 2005. He's the sweetest thing, though we'll all breathe easier when housebreaking and teething are over. Dominick picked him out and convinced me to make him ours (I played "bad cop" to make sure that Dom was ready...but loved our little Tugger from the start). Tug is Dominick's first dog and he has taken to training and ownership like a duck to water. It's helping us both with a refresher course in organization, good scheduling, and patience.
We love him to bits and hope you all get a chance to meet him soon!

So This is What Top Ten Looks Like...

For those of you who are uninterested in football, you can skip this post. For those of you uninterested in Rutgers - how do we know you and why are you on our blog?
Thursday evening was a magical night for Rutgers University - not just the football team - but the entire institution. We have long suffered the ill effects of having an unsuccessful football program, not the least of which were lack of attention and funding from a sports-minded state government, competition for students from Michigans and Penns that offered a comprehensive university experience, and a lack of pride that permeated the students, faculty, alumni and entire state.

Now, if you look up the Empire State Building on Wikipedia, a portion of the profile reads:

"It was once even lit Scarlet red for a Rutgers University football game on November 9th, 2006, when they played the University of Louisville in what would result in the biggest win in school history.[10]"

And in the midnight hour on Friday morning we all raised a glass to a certain coach who has chipped away at this image..."Chopping Wood" as the entire campus now says...and who on that wonderful night finally split the log of doubt that has hindered our arrival on the national stage.
I'm blessed to be able to attend all of the games through my job, but nobody was working on Thursday night...we were all just fans...crying, high fiving, and staring at the score board that told us that on Monday morning, we would awaken to a top ten listing. And as the Bowl representatives milled around, we continued our chanting so that they saw that the persistence of our players is shared by their fans.

What's more, we have not sacrificed anything to grow our football program. What has not been reported by the newspapers is the fact that our football team, under Coach Schiano's leadership, is ranked 3rd by the NCAA in their academic performance rate, behind Navy and Duke. It is not every winning team - football or otherwise - that can claim that EVERY ONE of its players is on track for graduation. Rutgers can. It may not make the news...but it makes winning that much sweeter.

Horsing Around

Well, we are officially in the Thanksgiving Season, which is now saturated by the overwhelming urgency with which the Christmas season decends (or is pushed) on us.

Before you know it we'll be breaking out the bubbly, counting down, sobering up, and forgetting *not* to write "2006" on our checks.

Obviously, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed! And whenever I get this way, I like to look to children for a gentle reminder of what it is to live in the moment.

So here are some photos of Devyn on Halloween. While she looks adorable, I think the real beauty of these photos is how completely oblivious she is to the fact that she is dressed as a barnyard animal (those who know her mother expected nothing less).

No, she is not yet cognizant of what Halloween means...and she is too young to eat tubs of candy that would stimulate this kind of excitement...

The real magic is the fact that she is dancing simply because she felt moved to; there may not have even been music playing.

There is definitely a lesson here.

Saying Goodbye is Easiest When Slurred

Anne-Marie and Coley's Farewell Bar Crawl!

The man and woman of the hour...

No...No...Bad Stephanie!

The old Ball and Chain...

All the ladies kept caressing Dom's spikes...He pretended to hate it...

Lisa and her muse.

It isn't every day that you get to see Carmen Miranda being held up at silver-lamet gunpoint by Yosemite Samantha. This never got old...we rediscovered the humor with each Jack & Coke.

It was a great night and a fun bar crawl...but Coley and Anne-Marie will be terribly missed. We do, however, thank them for moving to a REALLY cool place to visit!

Saratoga Springs + Good Friends = ROAD TRIP!