Back to Reality

I've been MIA. 1000+ pardons!! It has been super *super* busy around here. Here's a bullety update of what I've been up to:

* finally bought a new car
* went to a few very enjoyable parties
* spent a lovely 5 day weekend in Vail with my family
* been cooking from my new cookbook
* had three lovely days of skiing
* handled some miscellaneous junk I can't do when I'm working and child-minding all week
* played around a bit on my gameboy
* spent oodles of time with my two favorite people and single favorite canine

I haven't even taken many photos … but I'll upload what I've got soonish. Now I've got to dive back into it all tomorrow. Sooo much to do!

Gettin' Drunk on Eggnog

Found this t'shirt at my local WalMart (I usually avoid that place like the plague, but they're the only ones that sell the sippy cups that Tabby will drink from, so … y'know). And I'm feeling very festive adorned in it today. I am also (and have been for a while now), sporting a certain early Christmas gift from Santa Matt.

Just a few days 'til Christmas left and our tree is FINALLY up. And I really can say that shopping IS DONE!!! Yay. Wrapping … even mostly done. Yay! My in-laws arrive today. Yay! I'm so excited for them to see Tabby. They haven't seen her in over 3 months.

Think I've finally found a bit of that Christmas spirit … or perhaps it's the eggnog. Just kidding. I'm still at work … working … and looking forward to our holiday luncheon. I made Grandma P's mac 'n' cheese, which is oh-so-good … and of course the Secret Santa gift exchange.

Weekend & Zoolights


Another weekend that went too fast!! I took off a bit early on Friday and went home to get a few things accomplished while Ms. Tabby was at daycare. Then I got to spend a couple hours with her before Matt and I left for another Christmas party. She got to spend the night with Auntie Kelly who took a study break to play with her favorite (if only) niece.

Saturday was filled with shopping and on Saturday evening we went to the zoo to see the annual Zoolights (all photos here!). It was our first time and we will definitely be going back. They do some amazing Christmas light displays. Some are 3-D. Some are animated … some are just pretty. And they use it as a fundraiser for themselves and local organizations. They local organizations have booths that sell hot chocolate and other manner of warm concessions (funnel cakes, etc.) for you to sip and munch as you walk through the zoo. It is always neat to be somewhere at a time or in a circumstance you wouldn't normally be there and this was no exception. We didn't see many animals, but the lights were amazing. Tabby oohed and ahhed.

Sunday was another day spent Christmas shopping. I can now proudly say that I am all but done. I also have a package ready to ship to our out-of-town family members and even more wrapping than that done. Now I'm mostly waiting for some online orders to come in. Oh yea, and we need to put up that tree.

Just a Thought

When emailing someone outside your organization who is a relative stranger to you, I personally don't think it's very professional to use the greeting “Hey girl” …. or the closing “thanks bunches.”

Just saying.

Window into the Past

Remember when I told y'all I joined facebook? Well, as tends to happen, I've reconnected with a few people from my past lives: a couple from college and one from high school.

Last night, the friend from high school and I had coffee. We hadn't seen each other in nearly 10 years! That just makes me feel old … to think that there are (plenty of) people who I used to know that I haven't seen in 10 years. Mon dieu!

Where was I going with this? Oh yea … well we met at Starbucks and chatted for over an hour. He was similar to how I remembered him, but, of course, more mature/adult/whatever. I guess 10 years does that to you. He'd kept up with just about as many people as I had (a handful or less), but it was interesting to hear what some of my ex-compadres were doing with their lives. A high school reunion interests me about as much as it ever did (i.e. practically 0), but it's been nice to look back on the past a bit and I wouldn't mind doing it some more.

“All your past experiences add up together, bit by bit, to make you the person you are.”

Taking a Break

Kerflop has initiated a blogging break in December, and I'm thinking I'll join in, especially since it's already 4:30 and I'll I've done to day is:
1. run for 20 min
2. take a nap
3. eat lunch
4. take a nap
5. chat with a friend
6. do 2 loads of laundry

31 Days of Nothing
I will probably be posting as I feel like it when something comes up. Sadly, I have like two or three things to post, but I just can't get it quite together … Tabby is busy and I'm tired and a bit sick. Happy December y'all.

Small Triumphs

* Tabby seems to be feeling much better (though her sleep patterns are still a bit off)
* I made it through the week
* there's no snow on the ground (and none in the forecast)
* Christmas shopping is approximately 60% complete
* my house will be clean (not just uncluttered) when I get home
* I actually got the Christmas template/skin/whatever for Jesser up before December
* I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow
* I ran 2.25 miles this AM, a new high for me since … ? high school or something?
* I have a cup of tea to warm my hands
* there's a new ep of Project Runway on my Tivo
* Did I mention it's Friday?

Christmas Music

I know loads of people who think it's too early to break out the Christmas music, but I'm not one of them. I start the day after Thanksgiving so I can hear all my favorites lots of times.

On my Christmas Playlist:
* Elf's Lament as sung by BNL
* I Saw Three Ships as sung by Sting
* Holly Jolly Christmas as sung by Alan Jackson
* Sleigh Ride as sung by Harry Conick Jr
* Santa Baby as sung by Ertha Kitt
* Carol of the Bells from Home Alone
* Children Go Where I Send Thee as sung by Natalie Merchant
* Christmas Song as sung by Dave Matthews
* melikalikimaka as sung by Bing Crosby
* God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen as sung by Garth Brooks
* All I Want for Christmas as sung by ANYONE BUT Mariah Carey (cuz that girl has not learned that making 2 syllable words into 50 syllable words is soooo over)
* ANYTHING on A Christmas Together (John Denver and the Muppets Christmas Album)
* Little Saint Nick as sung by The Beach Boys

And I'm sure many more that I'm not thinking of at the moment. What do you guys have on your Christmas playlists??

Some Days it Just Doesn't Pay

I've had kind of a crappy morning. Well actually, it probably started last night. Tabby is having trouble sleeping due to her cold, so as a result, neither Matt nor I is sleeping too well. Matt also had to work through the wee hours of the night on some upgrade thingy and so Tabby and I were on our own … up down up down. Blah. I was up for good at 4:20 AM which is when the next problem started.

Snow. Snow snow snow. The white menace. It snowed a paltry inch (maybe less) between 4:30 AM and 6 ish, when I left for work, but it sure left its mark on our fair city in the form of a nasty layer of ice topped with snow. And it turned my 20-30 min commute into a 2.5 hour one. To be fair, at some point, I turned around and tried to get home, but since my way was blocked, I decided to just push on to work. Really, if I had known what lay ahead of me when I left this AM, I just wouldn't have bothered.

I will be taking a half day to make up for the two hours I missed this AM and getting a jump for the commute home (and a nap if I can manage it).