You can’t just go into Thanksgiving cold turkey.  It’s a marathon meal.  You have to treat it as such.   It requires a warm up and training.  You wouldn’t just walk into a marathon without having put some miles on your belt beforehand.  

Today was all part of the training: my office’s Thanksgiving potluck lunch.  

With wine, appetizers, main courses, and desserts, this was no half-assed operation.  

It was all beyond delicious.  But now as I sit here in a post-turkey comatose state, I’m thankful for the week between now and the real Thanksgiving.  That’s how long it’s going to take me to recover from today’s gluttony. 

(Note: This is only a small sampling of the many dishes in today’s spread.  So. much. food.) 

Let me preface this post, by saying I’m writing this at the risky of sounding like a creep.

I spent my lunch today trying to validate the value of Foursquare.  As I was heading out to pick up a sandwich, I opened up Foursquare and realized that one of my friends from out of town had checked in at the Union Square Green Market a mere 37 minutes ago.  Since I’m tired of everyone making fun of me for using what they refer to as a “pointless” app, I decided I was going to try and concoct my very own ‘planned serendipity.’ 

As I hurried to run the few blocks between my office and the Greenmarket, I realized I was in for more of a challenge than I bargained for.  Not only was it blindingly sunny, but there were tons of people milling about.  I scanned the crowd, but no sign of him.  It was at the moment that I was about to give up that I almost ran right into another friend, who I had not been looking for at all.  

Actual serendipity interrupted my attempt at planned serendipity.  Go figure. I guess sometimes real life trumps Foursquare. 

Remember what it was like to have your mom hand you your lunch as you rushed out the door?  

Today I relived that amazing memory.  

I live with roommates who actually put our tiny, one-shelf kitchen to use.  And last night as the delicious scent of spicy curry was wafting up to my room, my roommate calls up and asks me if I’d like her to put some curry, chicken and rice together for me for lunch tomorrow. My initial thought being, ”Was that really a question? Or was I daydreaming?”  

But alas, I awoke this morning, opened the refrigerator and there sitting waiting to be carried into work was my lunch.  

I’ve decided that the whole “food wins friends” concept isbeyond true.  I really need to learn how to cook. 

I don’t care if it’s only November, today was the first day of winter.  From the moment I got out of bed this morning, I’ve been freezing.  I got to work and tried to pump warmth into my body with a cup of hot tea, to no avail. By the time lunch came around, I thought I’d head out for a bowl of soup.  I bundled up, thinking I was just preparing for the cold, boy was I wrong.  By the time I made it downstairs, I realized it was much worse than I could have imagined.  Not only was it freezing, I was faced with high winds, rain, and to top it all off some light hail.  

So as I was sprinting towards my soup destination with my umbrella blown inside out, I felt ridiculous, not to mention wet and if possible colder than before.  Yet, as I looked around me, no one else seemed to be having the same trouble.  I’ve decided there is some New York secret to handling inclement weather.  While I seem to struggle to arrive at work not completely soaked every time it rains, all of my colleagues show up dry as can be!  I personally own L.L. Bean duck boots, a North Face rain jacket, and a cute J.Crew umbrella (which in combination make me sound a whole lot preppier than I am).  I don’t feel like I’ve invested in the wrong gear, yet I’m still left puzzled.

What is the secret to staying dry in this city?

I walked over to Barnes and Noble during lunch today.  I was on a mission to find the book “Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife.”  Lucky for you, I got distracted.  I never even made it to the third floor fiction section.  Because on the second floor, I ran into one of my life loves- Scrabble.  So instead of writing a fabulous post delving into the realm of heated Elizabethan passion, let’s talk word games. 

I thought I was a pretty passionate Scrabble fan.  I own my own premier wood swivel board.  I of course, am in possession of the Official Scrabble Dictionary.  And my iPhone was mostly a purchase based on my jealousy of everyone around me playing Words With Friends.  

But I’ve realized that I’ve fallen behind the curve when it comes to growing Scrabble line-up.  Not to mention, I’ve completely ignored word games outside of the Scrabble family.  

In my opinion, regular Scrabble is pretty super as it is, so I see no need for Super Scrabble.  Scrabble slam sounded fun, until I realized they replaced tiles with cards. Slamming a card sounds nowhere near as fun as treating tiny wood tiles as projectiles. 

The real potential of this group to me is Bananagrams. Mainly because it offers word tiles in a banana shaped pouch.  I almost purchased this game on the spot due to this fact alone.  I still have no idea how to play. Or why the tiles are contained in a banana. But as of now, I am Bananagrams fan.  

For those of you who have lots of friends and often hang out in parties of up to 16, don’t worry there is Double Bananagrams.  

And for those of you who are banana adverse.