Thanksgiving

So, its been awhile since my last post. Probably because we lead pretty mundane lives! But we did spend Thanksgiving on the East coast visiting both Jesse's brother, Clay, his wife, Milena (not to be confused with our huge husky Malina!) and my sister, Tracy and her husband-to-be, Mike. To start, we flew Virgin America nonstop from SFO to JFK. For those of you who haven't flown this relatively new domestic airline - its a hoot! I'll give a brief synopsis... As you turn the corner to board the plane, you'll see this strange flouresent purple color eminating from the plane (they call it "mood lighting").

From Team Dirty

You'll think to yourself, well that's a bit strange. Then as you move down the aisle you'll have this strange impulse to dance beacuse they pipe this techno/trance like music through the speakers. As you walk down the blue/pink highlighted tinged ceilings you might wonder to yourself, am I flying to Vegas because all the seats are black leather and white molded plastic (They call it the "coolest living room in the sky" - a bit a stretch in my opinion, as I would define the most basic living room as a place where my knees have room to breathe!).

From Team Dirty

From Team Dirty

Then you'll sit down and discover this cool little TV screen for every seat, that Virgin has had for at least a decade. BUT on domestic flights, if you want a movie or a snack be prepared to pay through the nose. Not even a 6 hour flight gets a free movie or a pack of peanuts. And don't bring cash - as with the plastic seats they only take plastic! Swipe your card in the niffty little TV box and then a minute later an airline attendent,neatly dressed in all black, brings your customized order. Despite the sarcastic review, I would actually recommend it. Right now their flights are highly competative.

Anyway, for the most part the trip was pretty chill. We stayed with Clay and Milena in their house in Stamford, CT. Milena is a city girl and Clay a mountain boy, so Stamford seems to work well.

From Team Dirty

From Team Dirty

It's an easy train ride to the city, so on Friday we met up with Tracy and Mike in Manhattan. They live in Philly, which is a bit longer of a train ride, but it worked. We tried to ice skate in central park, but it was PACKED. So instead we wandered around bars in Greenwich Village, played darts, pool and found ourselves as a pizza shop that evening - much more appealing to Jesse and Mike than ice skating.

Now, Tracy and Mike met and fell in love in Louisiana, which is why the next picture was fun. The pizza joint was called Two Boots - as in the Italian Boot meets the Louisiana Boot.

From Team Dirty

Their specialty pizza was the "Bayou Beast" - grilled shrimp, crayfish, andouille, and jalepenos. I stayed far away, given my shellfish aversion. But the three of them voted it best in show!

Now, finding your way around a city has changed greatly since the advent of google maps and the PDA cell phone - gone is the tourist map. To make it back to central station both Jesse and Mike whipped out their iphone and blackberry and navigated the directionally challenged Portle sisters home (at least this technology provides a "you are here" dot in every situation - those of us with left right issues still have great difficulties on our own, thank god for husbands)

From Team Dirty

So, as a sign off - CONGRATS to all the moms and dads out there who just had babies. Carrie and Ben (Evelyn "Evie", 11/26) and Kim and Frank (Eleanor "Ella", 11/2).