mojosmom

I hope everyone behaved, or is recovering from, last night! I stayed home, fixed a nice dinner, and had a glass or two of prosecco.

For some of us, this year has been what Queen Elizabeth called an "annus horribilis". I fervently hope that that will not be the case for any of us next year, but that, instead, all will have an annus excellens!

Every year, members of the Live Journal librarything community post a poll to see who else has read the books we've read in the past year. Here's mine. (I don't know if you can "vote" if you're not a community member, but if you can, that would be cool! In any case, you should be able to see the list.)

but the party was so delightful.

Jim & Kevin's annual holiday party was tonight. The food was awesome! Especially the fig and mascarpone torte. Yummy. Not as many people as usual, due, I'm sure, to the heavy snow we've had today. It started about mid-afternoon, and is still coming down, along with blustery winds. They're saying 9-12", and with the winds and drifting, there are piles that deep already. I always walk over to J&K's, as it's just a couple of blocks away, and the walk back was definitely harder than the walk there.

And my friend Jamie is crazy! He lives out in DuPage County, about 45 miles away, and he drove in. He probably should have stayed home, but it wasn't so bad earlier. J&K told him last night that he could stay at their place if the weather was bad. (It's not like he'd be putting them out, either; their apartment is huge! And he had already arranged for someone to take care of his dog.) But, no, he decided to drive home. We left together and I did my best to get him to stay. At first he said he'd turn around and go back to the apartment, but then he said, no, he was going home. He's bigger than me, so I couldn't knock him down and drag him back. I hope he drives very, very carefully!

Tzurriz, if the weather's as bad in the south 'burbs as it is here by the lake, I really hope the munchkin doesn't decide to come tonight!

Well, pretty much. Just need a small item for one sister, but the major stuff is done, done, done!

I went back to Style Central yesterday, and bought ornaments for my girl friends. While there, I saw a very nice, very simple, white vase that is very much Cathy's style, so I bought that for her. I was a bit concerned about her transporting it back to SF. She's flying, and although it's light, it's breakable and a bit awkward to carry. However, Margie, the owner, said, "Bring it back here after Christmas and we'll ship it." She also gave me 20% off on everything, not just the Christmas stuff that she'd advertised a sale for, put each ornament is a gauze bag, and gave me some scented crystals and tinsel-y stuff to put in the bags, as well.

Then today, I went to an open house at Woman Made Gallery, and found a small blue pottery vase for Stacey, and these cute little ornaments for my friend Cheryl's girls:
.

Friday night was the Casa Italiana Christmas party, at which there was much fun, lots of wine, good food, and a raffle (I didn't win anything, but that's okay). Yesterday, I went to tzurriz' family Chanukah party (Thank you, Becca and family!!!), at which I again ate much good food.

There is a reason that I am eating Lean Cuisine® for lunch every day!

( Girl stuff )

I'm always happy when my older sister comes in at Thanksgiving, even though she drives me crazy sometimes (well, that's what sisters are for, right?), especially because she has to leave right after my Sunday open house to get back for work on Monday.

We usually have a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us (and the cats, naturally). I made veggie lasagna, and after dinner we vegged out ourselves in front of the TV. (No football; it was Ugly Betty and Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.) Then we spent the next couple of days going to bookstores (oh, don't look so shocked), hanging out, and laying in supplies for Sunday.

The party went off quite nicely, and, as always, I'll be eating leftovers for a while (I'd rather have leftovers than run out of food). A sign of the times: a couple of people who work retail, and can usually get the day off, couldn't make it. Lots of places aren't hiring the part-timers for the holiday season this year. A couple of new faces, as I invited some folks from Casa Italiana. As usual, we took the opportunity to make some plans for Christmas week when both my sisters will be here.

Since the open house is from 1-6, everything is cleaned up and put away by 7:00, but I take Monday off anyway to put my feet up. Maybe I'll take my camera, and head out to finish up NoNoNoNo.