merry holydays

Yesterday the muni lost power downtown, so a little before 6 I was standing on the 30-degree, windy San Francisco street with dripping wet hair from the gym, a heavy bag, and no bus in sight. Plenty went right by because they were super crowded, but I ended up taking a random one that only went halfway to my house, and then walking home. Almost 2 hours later I walked through that door, and man, I have never been so grateful for a nice warm hot dog. I know everyone says SF has a great Public Trans system, but seriously I have been on public transportation systems in some of the busiest cities in the world: Paris, Rome, London, New York, Washington D.C., etc. San Francisco can't hold a candle to ANY of those, and in my mind, if I would consider paying for parking downtown every day instead of taking pub trans, something has got to be fixed...

Other than the inhumanely freezing temperatures in San Francisco, I've found that it just doesn't feel Christmassy here. I can't wait to move to an area where there are seasons (imagine that!) and holidays again. Plus I'm tired of having to say "Happy Holidays" when really I want to say "MERRY CHRISTMAS". Oh, America.

gingerflesh

Today I was reminded that I'm not in the country anymore--when I left the gym at lunch, it started hailing outside, and everyone on the street starts yelling, "omg, it's SNOWING!" and pulling out their iPhones to snap a picture and immediately post it on facebook. I didn't have the heart to yell "It's hail, you idiots!". I even heard one girl on her cell phone saying "well it isn't sticking yet, but..." and I sniggered as I walked past, secretly hoping she would be watching out her window all afternoon wondering why it never stuck.

This morning on the muni I was thoroughly engrossed in my book, and when we got to my stop, I was so confused--I could have sworn I was on my way HOME from work and that it was Friday...not that I was on my way TO work on a Monday. How depressing. I need to get more sleep tonight and not let Milo hog the bed.

Last night I was making gingerbread cookies for our small group, and also to make our house smell delicious and Christmassy, and instead I singed off my armhairs on the stove and our house smelled like burning hair/flesh instead of warm delicious gingerbread. So, Merry Christmas, Hannibal Lector.

tuttilicious

Tonight has been spent furiously wrapping presents, eating leftover curry and Tuttimelon, and trying to find a good movie to match my mood to watch. No luck so far, so I'm thinking of reverting to Slumdog Millionaire, which somehow in my mind ends up lumped together with favourite feel-goods like Pride and Prejudice and The Tenth Kingdom. I'm nothing if not quirky.

Speaking of Tuttimelon; they just opened one 2 blocks from my work, which means my paychecks will have a new home :(

Quote of the day (from Thanksgiving):
*while driving up to Placerville*
Nolan: "Why can't I drive AND play videogames on my iPhone?!"

lots!

Well. It's been awhile. But I've been on vacation! I guess it's not even worth offering excuses. So, in lieu of a bunch of long stories, and because I'm tired, here are tons of pictures to EXPLAIN why I was away :)

Because I was:

Running a 5k with my family on Thanksgiving morning:

And making gingerbread houses:

Ylehsa took pictures of Nolan and I (these are favourites!):


And we went Christmas tree hunting with our families:


I've been busy! So don't hate! I'll be back in business soon.

moony

So it's been a few days, but let me tell you: sacrifices must be made.

And here I was storing up this precious picture:

Not just cookies, but chocolate (chip) cookies! Nolan thought it would be fun for him to make choc. chip cookies, me to make homemade eggnog, and listen to Christmas music. Needless to say I was an easy sell. Until I was whipping the eggs and heard "Oh noooo!" and looked over to see that he had not realized chocolate chips will melt if you pour melted butter over them. Hence, chocolate (chip) cookies. And they were actually delicious!

I also decided it was high time that I actually take N's present out of it's wax-laden casket, and wrap it properly, if only to tempt him :) Apparently the box was temptation enough for one man:


I will not even spill about how great New Moon was. We went up to Pville this weekend, just me and the girls, and relished being away from the city and drowning everything we did in wine, shopping, and New Moon/Twilight related paraphernalia. If you haven't seen it yet: GO. Or else wait and go see it again with me over Thanksgiving, because you know I'll be first in line.
Here are some pics of the fun (thanks, SB!):
Enjoying our apple doughnuts :)

More apple hill...

And of course, visiting my great-aunt's mini horses! SOOOO CUTE!

electricity

I had this crazy dream last night that one of our company executives was decorating his office and invited my whole department to join him and listen to Christmas music and make gingerbread men. I have had a long week.

I take consolation in the fact that tomorrow I get to go to one of my favourite places in the world, see some of my favourite people, and bring some of my other favourite people with me! If you don't fall in either group, don't worry--I have lots of favourite people. It gets better: we're seeing New Moon on Saturday. We're also bingeing on candy and coffee (surprise!), and sitting in hot tubs and sleeping in and Mom, I may or may not bring some laundry (surprise again!). Milo is NOT coming, because he is a turd and needs to spend a weekend along with his thoughts. Nolan's been encouraging him to just keep on chewing on that computer cord! To see what happens! And this is when I sigh and hide the cord for BOTH their benefits.

oatmeal and diesel engines

Last night I watched Coraline with Ash U and Sarah, and decided that I love Tim Burton even more than when his other movies came out. I also gorged myself on New Moon candies, and fell asleep wondering if I would be barfing Sweettarts onto my pillow. So much for giving up candy. Today is a fresh start.

Since I brought home Nolan's present that came in the mail from Amazon yesterday (word!), which was most likely a stupider idea than leaving it at work UNTIL Christmas, he of course demanded to open it. Being a jolly elf, I couldn't allow it, so I let him shake it...but when I remembered he would be home alone with it all evening while I was watching Coraline, I had to do something. So we devised a plan to keep him out of it, and fortunately he cooperated:


If he can cheat a wax seal without me knowing, I guess there is nothing else I can do anyway. Hhhh.

A coworker sent me the following link, and it opened my eyes to Milo's world. Not that I was dying of curiosity, but did you know a cat purrs at the same rate as an idling diesel engine? Hmm, good to know in case I ever go on Jeopardy I guess.
...Or if you happen to have spare gold around, I'd highly recommend investing.

Looks like we finally know what Milo does in his room:

(my graffiti skillz are impressive, no?)