going for broke

something's amiss at our house these days.  since the weekend before christmas, our household appliances have suffered a string of very, very bad luck. it all started with the projector (yes, we have a projector in our home theater, and you would too if your husband was a technodork* as big as mine).  actually, it may have all started with the brown-outs we've been having (significant, and just another of the perks you enjoy when living in a developing nation).  one night while i was watching tv, the christmas tree lights looked as though they had turned to disco, flashing in and out.  we should have taken this as a bad sign rather than evidence of christmas ghosts.

the next day, ben discovered the HD cable for the projector was not working.  with a pissed-off sad look on his face, he dismantled it and brought it into a local shop where his worst fears were confirmed: the projector was no more.  he returned home only to realize the audio system had gone in the way of the projector... as had the media player.  shortly after, it became clear that the damage was spreading when the surround sound speakers and the DVD player died.  i soon realized what ben would be getting for christmas: a new home entertainment system!  bad news for katie.

the fact that a lamp in the living room and our water cooler were on the fritz this week?  well, that's just the icing on the cake, or christmas cookie, if you will.  i've been observing ben's behavior closely, as he seems to have developed a bit of paranoia these days.  he's constantly looking over his shoulder, turning appliances on and off and then breathing a sigh of relief as he passes through a room.  his world just isn't the same without the level of technology surrounding him that has become his comfort zone.  for now, we sit and wait patiently, usually in an eerily quiet living room, for the new equipment to arrive, and for things to be right again.  perhaps this is the revenge of the nazar?  perhaps it's a sign that things will be better, brighter, louder, and most definitely newer, in the coming year.

*ben does not endorse this statement, as he does not believe this is a technical term.

christmas with the price family

we had a lovely christmas here in ankara and hope you did too, wherever you are!  

the festivities began on christmas eve when ben and i loaded up the cr-v with lots of goodies and headed to the price's for an evening of spirits and cheese fondue. it was a wonderful & relaxing way to welcome christmas.  and of course, julianne and i retired well before the boys, who played video games until the early morning.  

the next morning kathryn woke her mom up at half past six.  i joined them at 7 and caught the end of breakfast.  

she was as cute as ever in her christmas pj's!  on the bottom, they read 'merry christmas kathyn aylin.'  

we spent the morning snuggling with bunnies and having a tea party

after a little coffee it was time to open presents.  kathyn helped, of course!

lincoln was quite pleased with his bounty.

and kathryn was thrilled to discover that bubbles do indeed exist outside of gymboree.

we enjoyed a mid-morning brunch: adam prepared a delicious mexican strata using his mom's recipe, and we washed it down with mimosas... yum!

after all that food & alllll those presents, kathryn was ready for a break, which involved watching mickey mouse with her dad...

...and her uncle ben.

then it was time for more presents.  i'm pretty sure, from the look of sheer delight on her face upon opening it, that the baby doll was her favorite gift (she continuously squealed 'beebee! beebee! beebee!' as her dad removed it from the packaging).

she carried her around for quite a while, and gave her lots of kisses.  too cute!

meanwhile, lincoln was a bit overwhelmed by all the christmas fun and had to take a nap.

kathryn helped us open presents, and got a few more of her own

we spent the day relaxing and playing with kathryn's new toys until it was time to prepare our christmas feast, which included a beautiful christmas cake prepared by adam & julianne.  

cheers to spending the holidays with good friends!

merry christmas to all from ankara- we hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours.  

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

...not outside, but in. sadly, all of our snow melted about 3 days after it fell, and we have had sunny days in the mid-50's since. no chance of snow before christmas here : ( BUT i've done my best to make it as festive as possible, inside our home.  there's certainly no forgetting the time of year around here!

it's hard to say if spending my third christmas away from home (us/ny) now has made it easier or harder.  the excitement that builds, the hallmark commercials constantly reminding us of the holiday spirit (hey, i love them), the parties at offices and schools, the friendliness of shop keepers and strangers on the street, the carols sung at christmas eve church services... the tradition of it all.  i seem to remember it more vividly this year, and miss it all the more.  hearing about all of the excitement as our families gather in san diego, ca and brisbane, australia for the holiday makes my heart ache a bit... BUT we are so lucky to have good friends here to gather and celebrate with. and celebrate we will!  

merry christmas, in just 2 days!

an impromptu dinner party with our favorite lil' miss

last night we joined julianne & adam for dinner on our way home from work.  kathryn was in rare form, and even cozied up to ben, which is not terribly common- she tends to be shy with him for reasons we've yet to determine & it kind of breaks his heart.  needless to say, he was tickled pink when chose to sit in his lap.  she is just sooo darned cute, i'm totally jealous of her parents getting to hang with her 24/7.

giving uncle ben kisses... check out those curls

cute thang

showing us her shoes

flirting

such a love

a christmas cocktail

we hosted a christmas party on sunday afternoon at our house.  it was a great opportunity to get our turkish and american friends together (and the crowd also included a brit, a greek, and of course an aussie!), including lots of old and some very new friends.  i love entertaining- but on monday morning i found myself needing a second weekend to recover from what felt like a whirlwind of baking and preparing!  it was well worth the effort though, i think everyone enjoyed themselves, and ben is certainly enjoying the leftovers...

raspberry thumb-prints, french sables, mince pies & buck-eye balls

agatha & her adorable alex

new & old friends mingling

j & a admiring their beautiful girl

alex kept busy inspecting the house and being a puppy

kathryn wouldn't sit still long enough for a clear shot

now we begin a full work week (no holiday vacations here, we'd rather save the time for out-of-town adventures) leading up to christmas.  we're very much looking forward to spending christmas eve & day with our ankara family, the prices, which will include fondue on christmas eve, watching kathryn open her presents on christmas morning, and cooking up a feast together for christmas dinner.  

what are your plans this christmas?

tgif & new(ish) hair

tgif, and good riddance to this looong week.  one day of work & then onto a fun weekend of holiday-inspired activities.

oh, and i cut my hair this week.  while en route to the salon i thought about two things: 1) i'm not getting married this year so i can do whatever i want with my hair, and 2) it will grow back.  i thought about chopping it off completely but instead ended up with bangs.  not terribly different, but still adjusting to them.  having my hair cut is always an adventure here since i really lack the salon vocabulary and this always leads to a funny dialogue with the hairdresser that includes lots of hand gestures.  luckily he was patient and also very cautious about cutting bangs too short, so we started with them very long and ended up with them just past my eyebrows.  i'm glad that in the end he understood how it might be a challenge for me to style bangs that hung past my nose.  see photo below*.

this weekend we're hosting our holiday open house on sunday with christmas cookies, mulled wine & other treats, which means saturday will be allll about the baking.  pictures to come.  happy weekend!

*disregard fly-away hairs from too much blow drying at the salon, dazed look, bags under eyes

'tis the season

last night our downstairs neighbors rang our doorbell with a big bowl of asure (or 'noah's pudding') in their hands.  they did the same last year, when the month of asure took place in january.  how fitting that it takes place so close to christmas this year!  and how nice to have such thoughtful, kind and caring neighbors.

dinner partay

our friends ece and can hosted a dinner party on saturday night.  it was a fun evening spent with ben's old high school buddies, all of whom he's still quite close with.  the meal was in.cre.di.ble.  ece is an amazing cook, and it was fun to try some of the traditional black sea-region dishes, ece's family secrets!  

on the way home we had quite the adventure trekking through a blizzard-- always exciting in ankara, where cars that have no business being on the road on the best of days are either abandoned along the sides or else sliding into your path.  luckily our friend yavuz had already switched to snow tires on his car, which got us home safely.

loved the place markers

beautifully prepared hamsi & rice

...ece sent us her pics-- she's also a talented photographer!

snow!

after being completely jealous of everyone back home in ny for the snow they've been buried with this past week, we finally got some of our own last night.  yesterday it rained all day, but overnight it turned to snow-- and quite a lot of it!  hooray for snow, for christmas shopping, and for decorating the house & baking cookies this afternoon, all the while watching the snow.