Wearing Thin

Let me start off by saying I love my parents. I adore them. But I have been stuck at my parents house for over a week now, and I want to go home. But I have no car. I am at the mercy of my mother and will go home when she takes me home. They aren't getting on my nerves. I'm not having a bad time. I just miss my home and my solitude.

Christmas at My House

The Presents and the shopping and the food are all great fun, but here's what I really love about the holiday. My mom making grilled cheese sandwiches for Christmas Eve Dinner. This is my Dad's family's tradition started when he was a little kid, and they didn't have enough money for anything but chili and grilled cheese sandwiches. Ever since I can remember I've had to wear this (now too small) Santa hat and hand out presents on Christmas morning. Murphy and his new toy. It has six squeakers. It is very, very annoying. Snacking on antipasti all day and sipping mimosas. My first Christmas tree ornament. My favorite Christmas tree ornament.

The ubiquitous made-in-first-grade Christmas tree ornament. The star my dad and I made together before my parents were married. We were huddled up in my old bedroom trying to cut up the tinsel with plastic safety scissors working feverishly to surprise my mom. My stocking. It's big. What can I say, I'm and only child. Kitty hiding under the tree with her Christmas present. Funny story, two days before Christmas when nobody was in the room kitty found her other present (a cat-nip filled scratching post), ripped all the wrapping paper off, and shredded it into a huge red and green mess scattered around the room.

Braving the Day-After-Christmas Sales

Usually we would never dream of hitting a mall the day after Christmas, but I have to get back to Golden, so exchanges had to be done today. Fortunately for us, the new mall in the area is an outside mall, and the shops weren't very busy, so it was a really pleasant day. I really only had one sweater to return it was very cute (my mom has great taste) but something about the proportion, I think the length, was very unflattering. I was also in the market for a dress to wear on New Year's so we did a little shopping. These two cute little sweaters (From New York & Company) were a gift from my mom, they are two items I'd never pick out for myself, but they look great on me. Go mom. Into J. Jill to exchange the sweater that looked weird for these two tops (both on sale). We popped into Banana Republic, and that's where the real shopping got going. If you are in need of a party dress they have a bunch on sale right now. I tried most of them on, and this is the one I decided to buy. It looks completely different on me than it does on the model here. I was also trying on sale rack sweaters and needed a pair of jeans to try them on with. I just grabbed these guys because they were closest to the fitting rooms and they fit so well I had to take them. They are cute. Super cute. My two favorite buys of the day weren't available on line, but were also from Banana. I'm sure I'll wear them soon so I can post pictures. One is just a really cute little short sleeved sweater. The second is a dress I tried on in my search for a cute party dress. It was too classic for a New Year's Eve party, but it fit so well, that my mom *insisted* on buying it for me. I imagine it will become my new go-to outfit very soon.

Happy Holidays

For the first time in a long time two things have happened; the first, I have actually had a busy holiday for social reasons, not work reasons, the second, we are having one hell of a white Christmas. I am sort of snowed in at my parents house. This means lots of booze, football, and movies on the big screen. Because of the weather and because I'm the world's worst driver I came over to my parents house pretty early this year to miss driving in this big snowstorm. On Friday night Jill and I went out with Sameera and her girlfriend Alli and had a great time despite the cold weather. The following pictures fall into the following categories: pretty, pretty ridiculous, finger mustache, giant cocktail that tasted like cleaning fluid, Jill Show: Part 367, dance party USA, Chip's crazy cowboy boots, and I wish all these girls would quit smoking. I have been drinking since about 8 this morning (family tradition) and I'm feeling quite lazy and happy so you can figure out which picture goes in each category yourself. As far as the rest of my plans last weekend went, I had to let The Bartender go (and I bailed on the Christmas party). I may have to just stop dating until I get The Boy out of my system, I'm not really sure anyone will get a fair chance until that happens. As luck would have it, as soon as I realized this to be the case, he pretty much stopped calling me. Bad dating karma in action. Merry Christmas! (If that's your thing, if not Merry Whatever-You Celebrate)

Blind Date, and Time's Up

This morning I had to go to my old job for a little while and tomorrow I'll need to be there all day. I didn't see the Ice Dancer at all today, he's probably on vacation for the holidays, or maybe he doesn't even work there anymore, so I'm not too worried about having to see him tomorrow. I would rather play hooky and watch "Drama in the Daytime" on TNT all day. Oh well, not in the cards. Tonight I am drinking a glass of wine and watching Blazing Saddles. Funny flick. I wrapped all my Christmas gifts and am now just sitting here. Pretty exciting stuff. Last night I had a date. A blind date. Do you know how long it's been since I've been on a blind date? Not as bad as I remembered. This is the guy I met online and asked out. We've had to reschedule five times, so even though I wasn't in the mood, I couldn't cancel again. I am glad I didn't, it was fun. I'm sure we'll go out again. This is what I was going to wear. But I wore this instead (I hope that isn't really what I look like, weird picture). I am going to The Bartenders Corporate (day job) Christmas party on Saturday night. I really really want to cancel. I think The Bartender is on the way out. I feel bad, he's a fun guy, but I just don't think anything more is there. Jill's famous quote when things were fizzling with Frank "Don't touch me, I can't stand when you touch me" pretty much sums it up. I don't know what it is, but every little thing gets on my nerves. Well that and he e-mails me about twenty times a day. And sends text messages. And calls. A lot. Maybe Saturday night will change my mind, but I doubt it. It's hard to date someone when you like someone else more. Speaking of that someone else, I am pretty excited for New Years. We are heading up to Basalt for the weekend. Jill's going to ski and I'm going to lay around and read by the fire and flirt with rich tourists. Yay! I'll probably get my flirt on with one particular local too.

Friends, Share My Shame

OK Sarah threw down the gauntlet, and I have decided to accept the challenge. Sorry if this is more than you wanted to see, but they are all so awkward, I couldn't decide what to leave out. These aren't in chronological order. I started out cute. But man, adolescence was cruel to me. I mean it was certainly cruel to everyone, but I didn't grow out of it until college. I should point out that I went to college with 2500 other nerds, so maybe grew out of it is a relative term. Cabbage Patch Kid I chose this picture because despite the boy-scout standard issue haircut, you can still tell I'm a girl (I think it's the lipstick). In the other pictures I look so much like a little boy that you would have called shenanigans when I said they were pictures of me. Poodle Perm Which is why my mom started perming my hair. Oh misery. Huge Hair I am sorry to say that the poodle perm doesn't even hold a candle to the monstrosity I was responsible for when I was allowed to choose my own hairstyle. I am bereft that I don't have the following year's picture. I was wearing a black bowler hat and had banana curls framing my face. I looked like an Hasidic Jew. Ruffle Shorts I thought this coordinated ensemble was the tops. That's right. I wish you could see the shorts more clearly. They are cut off jean shorts with huge ruffles sewn in. I had several pair. Dance Recital I was every bit the ham and picture whore back then as I am now. Inhaler Brownies This one is actually really cute, I wanted to include it because Jill's in it too. We were so doofy (well I guess we still are). High School Look at this picture and tell me you are surprised that no one tried to shag me until college. I guarantee there's a yin-yang necklace hidden under that shirt. Painting I cracked up when I found this picture, that look on Jill's face is classic. My mom had painted my bedroom walls a very bright coral color. It gave me wicked headaches so one day when she was at work Jill and I painted the walls a calming sea green. Turns out the ceiling was pink, you just couldn't tell because the walls were so bright. The room looked like a big watermelon, so to complete the look we painted black seeds on the pink ceiling. When my mom got home from work she lost her shit. I moved out ten years ago and she has redecorated he whole house, including that room, but she told me she just couldn't paint over it, so the watermelon stands. Laura Ashley Shooting a Gun Roller blading I think this is the prized jewel of the collection. Those velvet stretch pants had a matching headband (the stuffed puffy kind). I am especially excited about those sunnies. Oh, the 80's.