Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Sugar Sugar

Update on the potluck: How is one supposed to feel after three caramel brownies, some pumpkin sludge and a vat of chocolate mousse? Because I just slept my way through a meeting, and I am blaming it squarely on the sugar. I had a very brief high, and have now crashed my way down to an embarrassing level. You know when people are talking and you kind of zone out? Yeah, that happened, except they were totally talking to me. Sad, huh?

Not so much with the potluck.

The Peanut and I celebrated Christmas on Saturday, and it went swimmingly. He got me a lovely new Coach bag (here, in black, if you care about that sort of thing), and I got him a set of highball glasses and a decanter for his scotch from Vera Wang. Also, a really good bottle of scotch. He was pleased, I think. We went to breakfast and then saw Ocean's 12, during which I fell asleep, not because it wasn't good, but because I am apparently very old now, and can't seem to stay awake through an entire movie. In the past year, I've fallen asleep during Elf, Anchorman, and now Ocean's 12. It kind of sucks. In any case, even though I missed about 15 minutes of the movie, I thought it was good. I walked out a little confused, but I'm going to attribute that to my ill-taken nap. We had a nice dinner (here) and it was incredible. I love finding a new restaurant that I haven't ever been to that ends up being amazing. Always a good time.
Peanut left for Oaxaca, Mexico on Sunday. He was excited about the photography opportunities, but not so excited about spending five days alone with his mother. Well, "not so excited" may not be a good representation of his feelings. His last text message to me said simply, "I want to die". Not a good sign. Hopefully, though, once they get there he can go off by himself and take pretty pictures and not get sucked into the drama case that is his mother. I'm leaving tomorrow for Pennsylvania to see my parents for a few days, but my sister isn't able to come home and I am bitter. She is a vet tech in an animal hospital, and apparently someone has to be around during the holidays in case there is a squirrel-related emergency or something. Whatev.
Today is our holiday potluck at work, and it's not looking so good for me. Lots and lots of meat. It kind of sucks my ass. I've been a vegetarian for about 15 years (though I recently started eating fish again. Shut up, I am so a vegetarian. It's easier to say that than to explain that I have no interest eating anything dead unless it's a very specific kind of fish), and while I don't expect people to go out of their way to make sure that there's something on the menu for me, it would be nice if they acknowledged the three vegetarians in the office. Christ. I made spinach dip, and I've heard there may be a salad. Lots of desserts, too. Oh fuck it, I'm sure I'll be fine.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Bah.

So right at this very moment I should be finishing my Christmas shopping. And when I say "finishing", I mostly mean "starting". What the hell happened to me this year? Last night I went to the mall with the focused intention to buy things for other people. Do you know what I did? C'mon, take a wild guess. Yes, I bought shit for myself. Because I think I may be a bad person. As I was walking up to the counter, as I was handing off my credit card, even as I was walking out of the store with two bags full of clothes, I was thinking, "Self, you should totally put back this stuff and suck up the Christmas spirit of giving and you know, give". Alas, the part of me who likes to buy things for other people lost out to the part of me who likes to buy things for myself. There is always today, though! Except. Except, I have a business lunch I must attend, and....

Crap. This just in. The Peanut just called to say the gift that I gave him early (this, if you're interested) took a crap. The hard drive fried. And now that he's done some research he's decided that he doesn't want another one, which means that I have to think of something else to buy him in the next two days because we're having Christmas on Saturday (he's going to Mexico on Sunday for the week). Poop. This is an unfortunate turn of events.

More breaking news. I've consulted with my officemate's husband, and he's given me a fabulous idea. I shall not divulge it, though, because certain prying eyes will read this. I must do some research now and shop later. I'll let you know how it goes.

In further news, the Peanut has graciously fixed it so you do not have to log in to blogger to leave me a comment. Woo! Comment away!


Thursday, December 09, 2004

Hey. Remember me? Yeah.

I just don't think it's fair that my job takes up so much of my time. Whose idea was this? I have phone calls to make and journals to read and entries to write, and none of it is happening because of my cursed job! It's poop, I tell you. Poop.
Let's see, what's been happening around these parts? Went to San Diego for Thanksgiving, and had good times. I think I may have gained at least 6 or 7 pounds in three days (yes it IS possible, I know it). We stayed at the Fun Cousins' house, where there were many, many cats (okay, four), and drank much wine and watched movies and shopped. We came home a day early so that we could have a nice relaxing time at home before coming back to work, which was the best idea ever. Then work blah blah work. Last weekend was the Peanut's company Christmas party, which was drunken and debaucherous, as always. It is always a little precarious to offer an open bar for seven hours to a bunch of dot.com folks who really like to drink. Alot. Hilarity ensued, though the Peanut needed to pass the fucking Courvosier rather than drink it, because vomit on the living room carpet? Not so much fun to clean at 3am, I'll tell you that for free. Our friend Sarah surprised us by coming down from San Francisco that night, and she and I and the Peanut and our friend Paul decided that the bartender should give us bottles (yes, multiple bottles, again and again) of champagne, because it was that kind of night. Saturday morning french toast cured all (and beignets, because it was that kind of restaurant), and the Peanut and I went to get our Christmas tree. Our giant, giant Christmas tree, which was such a bitch to drag up the stairs to our house. But once it was aglow with Christmas goodness, it was all worth it. I'm a total fucking asshat, and had to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and drink eggnog while we decorated, but sadly the Peanut's hangover caught up with him right around nog time, and I ended up doing most of the tree trimming myself. One of my teetotaler office mates won a few passes to Christmas on the Wine Trail and, knowing our fondness for all things fermented, gave them to us. We headed up there on Sunday and it was a perfect, cold winter day (we don't see much winter around here, so I get kind of excited when it dips below 65), and we had wine and saw some music and ate yummy sandwiches. We came home early and watched movies with only the Christmas tree lights on, and it was a good day.
It was JR's birthday on Tuesday, so we went to our neighborhood hangout and snagged the sofas by the fireplace and had good, warm, fuzzy times. And cheesecake, because what good is a birthday without cake? I took JR to get her very first facial last night, to which she is now addicted. I was really passing on the facial goodness, because years ago, it seems, K and J got me my very first facial for my birthday, and it forever changed me. I'm hoping the same goes for JR. This weekend we have a party at one of the wineries we belong to, and instead of being really dumb and driving home that night we're going to stay in a B&B up north. I'm hoping there's a jacuzzi.