holidays

Please bother me with trivialities

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My brain is stuffed with trivia.  It’s not just me – Corey and Mel have movie and music trivia down (I’m not bad those, but not great), Christine knows the Greek alphabet and can rattle off all prepositions (we don’t know WHY, but she can), I can name all the states in alphabetical order (A through L – I get stuck at the Ms.  There are so many!), and Mom and Dad can come up with all KINDS of crap.

There’s plenty of demand for trivia this weekend, what with the crossword puzzles, Songburst, and THREE versions of Trivial Pursuit in the house.  We’re the right people for the job.  Even if we all blank on the occasional question.  It’s cheating to use Google, but sometimes we can’t help ourselves. Google knows all, and we need confirmation.  What did people do before Google?

Awash in noise

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Sometimes there’s SO much happening, SO many people talking, SO many dogs barking and howling and running around, that I can’t process it.  On Thanksgiving, we had nine adults and four dogs around the table.  The noise level was surprisingly easy to handle, probably because the dogs were quietly waiting under the table for scraps.  In contrast, Mom got back from the store a little bit ago and was greeted by four barking dogs and three people milling in the kitchen (Corey, Mindy, Christine, all waiting to start the dinner prep).  The rumor is we’re expecting two more people (and possibly their two dogs) tonight, making the minor turmoil when Mom walked in just now a prelude to who knows what kind of chaos tonight.  It’s not bad, not overwhelming in any negative sense.  It’s just…loud.  The noise surrounds me, stops making sense.  It takes focus to figure it all out again.  The football game in the background (UofL/UK) adds to the confusion.

All this activity drives home how quietly John and I live.  The TV is only on when we’re actually watching it, and since it’s just us, there’s nothing else going on in the apartment.  When we’re working, we’re pretty quiet unless we’re on the phone for work, and we use headphones if we’re going to listen to music. We almost never have people over (and more often than not, it’s just Jess, so we’re only three), so we never have more than one conversation going on at the same time, no cross-chatter.  It’s quiet.

Everything I’ve just written doesn’t mean I don’t LIKE the noise.  I do.  These are my people, and we’re having a good time.  It’s good noise.  So if I go blank for a minute, don’t worry about me.

Hoping to miss the Thanksgiving travel craziness

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Thanksgiving Travel: the general rule is don’t do it if you don’t have to.  And if you do have to, give yourself lots of time, or go in the middle of the night, or go last week.  We’ve dodged it in past years by hosting (which comes with its own complications).  This year, we’re dodging the worst part of the travel (we hope) by traveling ON Thanksgiving.  I’m flying to KY and John is driving to Emily’s house around midday on Thanksgiving Day (today).

With a flight at a time many people are already eating Thanksgiving dinner, I’m hoping to avoid all the airport drama.  And I’ll still make it in time to have Thanksgiving dinner at a normal time (dinner time).  And someone else will do the cooking.  (I planned it that way.  I’m very sneaky.)

Wish me luck!

I prefer to remember the times I spend alive and awake

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I’ve been hearing lately that the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is the booziest night of the year.  That seemed really odd to me (isn’t New Year’s Eve the booziest?), and maybe it’s not empirically true (is that a thing you can say?), but apparently, it’s enough of a thing to have its own rather charming really off-putting name: Blackout Wednesday.

John and I are about to brave the wilds of downtown Annapolis to find dinner.  Wish us luck dodging the overeager drinkers!  (It’s early yet – we’re probably safe.)

Home!

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We are home again!  And contrary to my expectations, I don’t think I’m jet-lagged.  It was about 2am when I fell asleep, and I got up at 8 to start working.  I was tired this morning, but no more than the usual amount after being up so late.  And now I feel fine.  I’m sure you’ll sleep better tonight knowing that I’m not jet-lagged.  You’re welcome.

No excitement on the way home, which was nice.  I still had the middle seat of three on the flight from Portland to Chicago, but the guy on the aisle kept to himself, right up until the plane landed.  He looked over, shook my hand, and said, “It was nice chatting with you.”  Great guy.

Finally tried Dutch Bros. coffee on our way to the airport – that stuff is pretty good.  I’m not sure we did anything else particularly Oregonian…barely even dressed up for Halloween, not that that has anything to do with Oregon, although the people in Will and Christina’s town certainly went all out.  The guy who won the costume contest was dressed as Edward Scissorhands, and the runner-up was David the Gnome (or maybe she was the Travelocity gnome – I don’t think she told us).  There were some Day of the Dead zombies, a hippy, a guy wearing the big yellow construction thing Ripley wears as armor in Aliens, a viking, Thor, and a couple of swing-dancing steampunk fairies who made their very cool metal wings themselves.  John wore a Superman shirt with a cape, and I wore my new TARDIS hoodie.  Not all that Halloween-y, but who cares when you’re really there to see the band?

The band (the Elena Leona Project) played three nights in a row, including Halloween, and they are pretty darn good.  I have video, but I’ve given them to Elena to post on YouTube on her channel if she wants to.  (The sound from my phone is pretty terrible, so she might not.)  I’ll provide links if she does.  John had a great time (and I did, too, at all three gigs), but I think the Halloween one was the most fun.  People danced!  Yay the band!  Details later.  Different post.

Columbus Day rocks, but not because of Columbus

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Molly and Jess and I had the best Columbus Day.  It was beautiful out (see exhibit A), so we spent a few hours sitting at a sidewalk table, drinking wine and playing a game called Dreaming Spires, where we built Oxford University.  It was great.

Exhibit A

Exhibit A

Seriously nice day.  Despite the ONE mosquito who’s still hanging out in OCTOBER of all months, just waiting for me to show up.  She found me.  Her patience was rewarded.

John had a pretty good Columbus Day, too.  He had to work for a while, but then he had a flying lesson, and (as you can see from that picture), it was  a GREAT day to fly.  AND his instructor finally said something helpful to him the other day (new instructor next week, thank goodness), so his landings today were much better and he feels much more comfortable with it.  Soloing is just around the corner.  Yay John!

Happy New Year!

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Happy 2015!  It’s starting off well, actually.  Last night, we heard from our agent that the buyers we’ve been nursing along for the past couple of weeks signed our last counter-offer!  Woohoo!  I haven’t seen the official final copy yet, but unless our agent is playing a very cruel joke, we have a ratified contract on our house!  HOORAY!  We’re a half-step closer to our magical future.  Now we just need to get the buyers’ condo sold.  Anyone looking to buy a condo near me?

So say we all

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I don’t generally enjoy the year-in-review articles and lists (except for Tom and Lorenzo’s Best and Worst Dressed lists – those are awesome), and I’m not going to do one myself.  I don’t know what would be on it, anyway.  But it’s New Year’s Eve, and we can all say goodbye to 2014 (and good riddance) and hello to 2015.  In 2015, we WILL move out of this house.  We WILL.

Cheers!

Happy Merry

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This is the oddest Christmas.  We’re enjoying ourselves, but it seems like we’ve spent most of the last few days waiting.  Tuesday, we were waiting for work to be over so we could hit the road.  On Christmas Eve, we were waiting for Tom and Tania to arrive.  On Christmas Day, we were waiting for Emily and Sean to arrive.  None of this is bad, and we’ve certainly enjoyed ourselves while waiting, but it’s so different from other years.  Much more low-key.  It’s been a very nice Christmas, actually, odd and all.  Very late nights, though.  I’m SO tired.

Puzzles and movies and games, oh my!

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It was a rainy Christmas Eve, and our plans to walk around the historic part of the nearby town were scuttled (it’s a lot less pleasant in the wet), so we had a cozy day inside.  Molly and I started a puzzle, we played some card games, watched Superman (Molly had never seen it before), went out to dinner, played Cranium, and then played several rounds of Bananagrams while waiting for Tom and Tania to arrive.  We had a good time, very low-key, but I’m exhausted.  Now it’s a foggy Christmas Eve (although it’s past midnight, so I suppose it’s actually a foggy Christmas – regardless, it looks like Rudolph has some work to do), and I’m heading to bed.

Never going to be a movie star

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Last night we found ourselves driving through the rain in the dark,  singing along to the radio (Christmas songs and others), and what should pop into my brain but “harses, harses, harses, harses”.  We did not immediately switch to Delilah or Dr. Laura or whatever (my Meg Ryan channeling has its limits), so I missed my opportunity to star in a romantic comedy.

It’s almost time

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The prep is almost over.  We’ve bought all the Christmas presents, wrapped everything, and picked up everything we’ll need.  The laundry is done, and the house is not a complete disaster.  All that’s left is to pack and do a little light cleaning.

I was going to post something last night, but Broadchurch is finally on Netflix.  (!!Yay!!)  We watched the first episode on YouTube months ago, but that was kind of a pain, so we figured we’d wait.  Last night we watched three episodes (hence the lack of posting), and only the knowledge that Doug would beat us senseless if we were too tired to defend ourselves in class this morning kept us from watching the last two.  Now we’re going to have to wait for the weekend.  It’s going to be difficult.  Turns out I missed seeing David Tennant on my television screen.  (Sigh.  I love him.)

So we went to bed, but my book kept me up later than I’d planned (I just started Attachments by Rainbow Rowell), and then I had a dream about a zombie woman who was attacking my car (which has NOTHING to do with my book – there are no zombies (yet)), so I’m pretty darn tired this morning anyway.  Starbucks helps.  At least my drink was right today.  I went Monday morning, and for the first time in forever (who’s singing with me?), they got my drink WRONG.  Like god-awful wrong.  And I didn’t realize it until I got to the office.  It didn’t ruin my morning or anything (I’m not that much of a drama queen), but it was awful.  I like mint, and I like mint chocolate, but I don’t want mint anywhere near my coffee.  A peppermint white mocha smells horrendous and tastes worse.  I shudder just thinking about it.

Fake snow is fake

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We have a decorating contest at work every year.  I never participate (I don’t even decorate at home, most years), but some people go all out.  It’s amazing.  I share an office with one of the contest judges, and she likes to decorate (we can’t compete, but still), so I now work in a winter wonderland.  Sort of.  It’s like a winter-ish okay-land.  She put fake snow on a couple of shelves and on her desk, added some plush snowmen and a snow globe, and she hung little ornaments on my fake plant.  I think the fake snow looks like clouds, like we should have Care Bears instead of snowmen.

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There’s a remarkable resemblance, right?

On my fake plant, the fake snow looks like fog.

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My plant is hidden in the mist.  Very mysterious.

And then we have South Park snowmen frolicking on the window.

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So festive.  (Such fun!)  Our office is NOTHING like the cubes belonging to the people who take this seriously.  One guy built a gingerbread house around his cube.  Roof, walls, and a door.  It looks great.  Another guy painted 12 pictures, all Christmas-themed but patterned after famous paintings, and turned his cube into an art gallery.  It’s incredible.  This guy goes all out every year (he recreated the Grinch Who Stole Christmas last year, complete with security video of the Grinch stealing Christmas), but I think this year is his best.  The paintings are REALLY good.

I’m aiming for understated

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It’s been a week, but I finally added a few more decorations to the house (thank you, Target).

In the dining room:

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Over the fireplace (I’m pretty sure it’s the camera that’s crooked):

garland

Meet Bird and Bird:

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Last night, they were hanging out under the TV with the TARDIS.  They spent today on the island chatting with the little hedgehog that hangs out on the lip of the avocado pot.

birds on island

So far, that’s it for decorating.  It’s more than most years.

We’ve got spirit, yes we do

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We have decided to do some light decorating this year.  Today was the beginning, when we picked up a wreath for the front door.

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So festive.  🙂  I’ll pick up a couple more things over the next few days (maybe a garland for the fireplace, some tchotchkes for the table or island).  I don’t want lights or anything over the top, but since we’re still on the market, we thought the house might look more welcoming if we embraced the spirit of the season.  Plus it’s pretty.

Earning it

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An early Thanksgiving report:

I’m trying to earn my Thanksgiving dinner.  Molly and I ran our own private 5K this morning.  I inadvertantly made it harder by suggesting we take that turn over there.  Yeah, so we went downhill.  A lot.  Steeply.  The only way back was to climb up.  So our thighs were burning, but maybe that means less stuffing will stick to them.  Then I helped Sean shovel a neighbor’s driveway (they’re out of town), so that counts as a good deed AND more calories burned (big driveway and wet snow).  I feel virtuous.  OH, and then I ran to the store for my mother-in-law to get bread and ice.  I would like to win Daughter-In-Law Of The Year again.

Bring on the turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and sweet potatoes, please.  I’m ready.

If you didn’t come to party, don’t bother knockin’ on my door

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I saw a girl wearing a TARDIS dress at the movies last night.

Immediate reaction: “That’s cool.”

Follow-up: “I wonder why she’s wearing it.  There’s nothing Doctor Who-related going on at the theater tonight.”

Realization hits: “Oooooohhhhh.  It’s Halloween.  Right.”

I told her I liked her dress.

I think I want one.

Boycott

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We’re going to boycott Halloween this year.  (This’ll be the first year little kids will come to our door and not get all excited about the “Doggies!”)  Shouldn’t be hard, considering we haven’t decorated or bought any candy.  Rather than sit in a dark house (which would be kinda spooky, actually) and pretend we’re not home, we’re going to the movies so as to actually not be home (leaving a dark house to creep out the neighbors).

I’m in avoidance mode.

 

Balloons are fantastic

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Birthday balloons!

These are from my team.  They arrived shortly after I got in this morning.  Then they sang Happy Birthday (they were goaded into it by someone walking by).  Then they took me to lunch (and told the waiters it was my birthday, so there was more singing) where I had to deal with this indignity:

Don’t ask what’s wrong with my face. It got stuck that way.

Then I got back from my lunch and was greeted with these:

After much confusion (the card only said “Surprise!”) and many texts, Mom finally admitted to sending them.  So I’ve got LOTS of balloons.  Mom’s are coming home with me.  I’ll probably take my work ones home tomorrow.

I think my favorite rendition of Happy Birthday so far was Gaby and Corey’s (sorry, Dad – yours is classic (for us), but hers is cuter).  It comes complete with cha-cha-chas at the end of every line.

It’s been a really nice birthday so far.  I think I’m going to have to reschedule my birthday dinner for another night, though.  I’m completely stuffed from lunch, and I really want lots of Indian food.  I don’t have it in me to enjoy that tonight.  But hey – that means more birthday time for me!

Happy New Year!

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I don’t really do resolutions, so I refuse to feel guilty about not going to zumba tonight.  Another day won’t kill me.  We didn’t have a party this year, but Chuck and Jess came over, we had dinner,  we played games (Cards Against Humanity is as fun as advertised, and I will absolutely NOT play it with my parents – sorry, Mom), missed the ball drop because the NY Times live feed froze, stayed up a while talking about Chuck’s job hunting plans, and then we all collapsed.  Speaking of Chuck’s job hunting plans, my one sorta kinda something like a resolution is to get my own hunt going.  There.  I guess I do have one.