With nine shopping days left before Christmas and today and tomorrow my only days off until Christmas, I thought I would tackle the dreaded holiday shopping and managed to get gifts for my family in one day.

( It was a long day, though )

Since I had to work on Thanksgiving and didn't get to my parents' house until Thursday evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday this year. Bill and Kelly came with Stanley and Maggie from Minnesota and I brought Milo and the poor thing spent most of his time under one of the beds traumatized. He would come out though when Bill and Kelly took the dogs out to the park or for a walk.

Bill, Kelly, and I played a game of Scene-It Thursday night and I won by a landslide. I was on the other side of the board when they were both still on the same side. Then we played a few rounds of Who am I? where someone picks a famous person and the others have to ask yes or no questions and try to guess who it is. I was Anne Hathaway, Johnny Cash, Naomi Watts, Laurence Fishbourne, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Cash, James Cameron, Tina Fey, and Sean Astin. The last one was sort of a joke because everytime it was my turn, Bill would ask if I was ever in a trilogy and if I said yes, he would say, "Does it feature hobbits?" So when I chose Sean Astin and he asked that I said, "Yes!" Then he asked, "Are you a hobbit?" LOL. That game is fun!

Like I said, we had our big feast on Friday and oh, lord, I ate so much. Later that night we went to a bar where two guys played requested songs on their piano. Of course they would play the songs that people paid $20 to hear. My parents didn't like them too much because they played more contemporary stuff and I don't think my parents can name any song or artist that came after 1979. (Joking....sort of). They started with more old school stuff like the Beatles and Elton John, then also played Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy, You Belong With Me, Party in the USA (hehe), Gin and Juice, Baby Got Back, I Gotta Feeling, and my personal favorite, The Chanukah Song!

On Saturday we went bowling and boy did I ever suck! I came in second to last on the first game and last on the second game. Once I start sucking, I can't seem to get better because I'm too discouraged by that time. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and once again I stuffed myself silly. I think I ate more in those two days than I ever eat in an entire week. (Well, maybe not). When we got home, Bill, Kelly, Mom, and I played a couple rounds of Scattergories. After we put the game away, Milo came out because the dogs were sleeping and jumped up on the kitchen counter. In a few minutes, the dogs were in the living room and Milo's fur was standing up and his tail was puffed and his ears were laid flat back and he was making this hissing sound. That cat was pissed! Stanley made the funniest whining sound! Kelly says he only makes it when he's worried. Aww! Poor Stanely.

Oh yeah, and my new nickname is Candlestick Chin. Don't ask.

My birthday was last Saturday (I hate getting old!) and I spent it visiting my brother and his wife in Minnesota with my parents. I stayed at Bill and Kelly's while Bill hooked Mom and Dad up at a hotel in Stillwater, a quaint little nearby town that's near the river (hence the name).

We arrived Friday afternoon and of course Mom had to go to Crate and Barrel as she does every time we head up to visit my brother. She bought a gift for Bill and Kelly there, then we reached their house where we cooked steaks and twice baked potatoes and had salad for dinner. Bill made me a pineapple Malibu (I ended up having seven and a half that night...they are SOOOOO good!). Mom thought I was drinking pineapple juice. Actually, I don't know if she really thought that or if she was just messing with me. Bill and Kelly showed us their honeymoon pictures from Aruba and I opened my presents. (I got a journal from the parents and a gift certificate to Banana Republic from Bill and Kelly). I noticed Bill (whose birthday is two weeks before mine) had a birthday card from our grandparents on his fridge. It's been four days since my birthday and I haven't received a card from them. I'll give it a few more days before I start to get concerned...) After Mom and Dad left to go to their hotel, Bill let me play his Ghostbusters game on his PlayStation, which I got bored with within 2.5 seconds, then we headed to a Mexican restaurant where we ordered nachos and drinks. The nachos weren't great, but my two pina coladas were awesome.

On Saturday, my birthday, Bill took Mom and Dad golfing and Kelly and I went to an outdoor mall to look around. I bought a headband at Francesca's then we went to the grocery store where her mom works and got a drink at Caribou Coffee and sat with her mom in the breakroom. For lunch, we went through the drivethru at Sonic (their cherry limeades are to die for!)

Later that evening, the five of went down to a wine tasting place in Stillwater and got to choose ten wines to sample. My contributions were Lady Slipper because the label was pretty, Oktoberfest because of the name, and a dessert wine because it was a dessert wine. Wine tastings are fun! I found that I prefer white wine to red.

For my birthday dinner, we headed to a nice restaurant called The Kitchen. I had this awesome drink called a Gin Fizz (and I still needed to be carded...I swear, I will be carded until I'm 39). It tasted like an orangecicle! For appetizer we ordered the cheese platter and got to sample three cheeses: soft, bleu, and Minnesota. We also ordered raw oysters because Mom and Bill are fans. They were disgusting! I hate that slimy texture when they go down your throat. :::shudder::: For my main course, I ordered the pork tenderloin with baked apples. It was good, but a huge piece of meat, so I had plenty of it left over to feed Maggie and Stanley. And because it was my birthday and because Mom and Bill announced it to the waiter (rolls eyes), I got a free dessert. I forget the name of it, but it was full of chocolate and filo dough and it was delicious.

After dinner, we headed to a bar attached to this old-fashioned hotel where an Irish band was playing. Most the songs I didn't know, but I did recognize I've Just Seen a Face and 500 Miles. It was amusing because the Kanye West/Taylor Swift controversy was brought up. Mom didn't see the VMAs (not surprising), but she did see Kanye on Jay Leno. She thought Kanye and Jay-Z were part of a group called the Z-Js and that Kanye was married to Beyonce and that's why he said her video was the best. Oh, Mom. Luckily Kelly and I set her straight. Then Mom brought up something about my cousin Lendie and about Jay (another cousin) and Rebecca's new baby and Bill, Kelly, and I all told her we knew about it because we had read about it on Facebook.

When Bill, Kelly, and I went returned home, we played Trivial Pursuit. I don't know if I'm just really stupid or the questions are ridiculously difficult, but that game is hard. Seriously, I have no idea who the first African-American coach of a baseball team was and I don't know the name of a song from a composer I've never heard of. After awhile Kelly and I teamed up, but my brother still won.

So that was my weekend!

Oh, and in the mail today I got a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble from my aunt and cousin. Score!

My brother got married Friday and even after having three glasses of red wine, one glass of champagne, five Malibu pineapples, two bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade, a Bahama Mama, a margarita, a lemon drop, and a tiny amount of Yagermeister this weekend, I still remember (pretty much) every detail!

( Festivities and Fun )

I went to Minneapolis this weekend to attend Kelly's bacheorlette party. At the Omaha airport I couldn't carry on my bag because there was perfume and lotion in there and they said it was too much. I mean, seriously, do I look like I can make a fucking bomb with using Victoria Secret's body spary and lotion? (But hey, at least it would be a good smelling bomb!) The guy was such an ass. He asked me where the spray and lotion were and I said it was at the bottom and he's like, "Oh, all the way at the bottom?" like it was a huge inconviance for him. I started to show him where, but he was like, "Ma'am, do not touch the bag!" OMG, people are so fucking paranoid. That's why I hate flying. Not because I'm afraid of the actual flying, but the whole process of going through security has gotten insane. Like for instance, I was talking to my friend Kat at work and she told me she had a pair of $95 jeans with little metal beads down the leg that she had packed in a suitcase that wasn't even a carryon. She told me when she got home, the jeans were gone and there was a note that they had to confiscate them because there was metal on them. Needless to say, she was pissed and called the airport, but they told her there was nothing they could do and she couldn't get her jeans back. She said she eventually got the money back. That was at the Denver airport. And my mom told me how her friend was traveling and had a jar of expensive face cream. They let her take it on the plane at one airport, but at the other they made her surrender it. And why can you not bring on lotion, but you can bring on a lighter? That makes no sense. It's just gotten ridiculous. What's next? You can't wear clothes because you might strangle somebody with your t-shirt?

Anyway, ( On to the fun )

I discovered that Krista is also a Diego Luna fangirl. Somehow, he came up in a conversation and I say, "Ooh, I love him!" And she says "Me too." Then I tell her that I saw Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, a craptastic movie, but I saw it twice for him. She also saw it twice, but she also saw it once in the theaters, so she has me beat there!

This weekend, the 'rents and I went up north to St. Paul for the wedding shower that Kelly's side of the family threw for them. I had already met Kelly's mom and her youngest sister, but I met her other sisters, grandparents, some relatives, and a few of her friends from high school. Her grandmother is a hoot! She's this big American Idol fan (she's rooting for Alisonn) and she told me she voted 17 times for Carrie Underwood during her season and tells me she reads everything about her. Later, Kelly told me that her grandma can't stand Jessica Simpson because she and Carrie got into that feud. Haha, hilarious! I'm pretty sure my grandma doesn't watch AI, and she probably doesn't even know who Carrie Underwood is.

I had a busy day yesterday:

( Kelly's shower )

( Maggie and Milo )

( Bowling )

( Rainbow Brite )

I finally got my Christmas photos on a disc...so here they are:

This is my mom and me, about to eat out Christmas meal of cheese fondue (yum!) and oyster stew (yuck!):


( More photos behind the cut )

I've finished my Christmas shopping! Here's what I got for everyone:

Dad: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Mom: Burberry Brit perfume and lavender chamomile hand soap
Bill: The Dark Knight 2-disc DVD
Kelly: Philosophy "The Recipe Box" with three body washes: red velvet cake, sweet creamy frosting, and strawberry shortcake and winter candy apple body wash
Maggie and Stanley: I got each a rawhide chew bone, Itty Bitty Bones treats, and dog food sampler, plus for Maggie I got Peanut Butter Beagle Bagels because she's part beagle and loves peanut butter, and for Stanley I got oven baked treats. They look just like Oreo cookies! I got their stuff at the Three Dog Bakery.

( My Christmas wishlist )

I checked out four Gossip Girl books from the library. Do you know how embarrasing that was? Damn that show for being so addictive. I have a feeling I'll bitch how the books don't hold a candle to the TV show!

I was also amazed when I paid only $18 for a full tank of gas. It wasn't that long ago when I had to pay $50 for a full tank! Saving money feels great! (Or spending it on Christmas gifts instead, anyway).

My Dad's surprise party for his 60th birthday was a month ago, but my mom finally got all the photos on a CD, so now I can share the celebration with you all through photos!

( On to the celebration )

It was a fun evening!

The 'rents and I drove up to St. Paul to visit Bill this weekend. While Dad and Bill went golfing, Mom and I went to the Mall of America. Like always, it was PACKED. Since it's impossible to go to the MOA without spending money, I bought:

-Philosophy body wash in Mimosa at Sephora
-Yellow oven mitt at Williams Sonoma
-Blueberry waffle mix at Williams Sonoma
-Assorted fruit licorice twists from Harry and David (they were so good; I already ate the whole bag. I'm so happy because we're getting a H&D here)
-Black licorice (an early gift for Dad for Father's day) at H&D
-Mousepad/memo pad at The Afternoon
-Dangly turquoise earrings from Fossil.

We went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and met Kelly's (Bill's fiancee) mom and youngest sister, Katie. That place is really good, but loud!

Yeah, I have lots of little random things to ramble about.

( American Idol )

( Top Chef )

( Gossip Girl )

( Desperate Housewives )

( The Golden Compass )

( Bill's big news )

Well, I've been doing a little better since Mac died. I still think about him every night and cry when I'm in bed. I also find myself doing certain things when he was alive: for instance, he used to like to sit under my chair or behind it while I was on the computer, but he was so quiet that I always had to check under my chair before I scooted it back. The other day I caught myself doing that. It also feels weird whenever I open the fridge and there's no cat there begging for food! I set up my (little) Christmas tree and remembered how Mac loved to sit under it or bat at the low ornaments. Awwww.

( Thanksgiving and Christmas )

Went up to St. Paul this weekend to Bill's place because he was working on his house and needed our parent's help. It sort of felt like deja vu because my parents didn't have directions to his house, so Dad had to call him. The last time we went to his house, we got lost and had to call him to ask for directions. While everyone worked on the house, Kelly came over and she and I took Maggie and Stanley to the dog park. Maggie and Stanley are taking a doggie obedience training class (which Stanley needs more than Maggie!) and we saw the instructor there. She had two bassett hounds and one was really fat, he was so cute! Stanley loved jumping and swimming in the water, but Maggie wouldn't set a paw in it! We saw two boxers (um the dogs, not the athletes!), and Kelly had to grab a hold of Maggie's collar because apparently Maggie does not like boxers or any type of dog with a scrunched up face. When we returned to Bill's, Maggie and Stanley played soccer in the backyard. It was so cute. Maggie has this huge ball that she likes to kick around, so I'd kick it to her and she and Stanley would both try to grab for it and it looked like they were playing soccer, awww.

It was so funny when Bill and I went to get sandwiches that afternoon and we passed this place called Rainbor Fresh, right? I'm thinking it's some kind of laundramat, except it looks a little too big and Bill tells me it's a grocery store and I joke that it sounds like it's a grocery store for gay people, because, let's face it, the name sounds a bit gay, don't you think? Bill thought that was hilarious and said he was going to tell his gf's bff's bf about it because he works there.

That evening Kelly ate dinner with us and Bill grilled up some filet mignons and we had that with sauteed vegetables, potato salad, and salad. Maggie thought it smelled so good, she was drooling, and according to Bill, she only drools when the food smells really good. Bill made margaritas and I had two of them, so you could say I was a bit woozy! At one point I put my arms up in the air and Bill's telephone, which was sitting on the stand that was built into the wall, came crashing down and bounced off my head and into my mom's lap. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all! Proably cuz I was near sloshed! Bill told us that kids used to call him Corky when he was a kid because he had red hair like Corky from Life Goes On. Then I told him how Emily and Alex told me how he reminded them of Fergerson from Clarissa Explains it All because he was a red-headed, conservative know-it-all. Hee!

The next morning, Mom and I went to the MoA. On the way there, I saw this hotel near the mall and it this really cool waterslide: it went in and out of the building, so it looked like this green tube was hugging part of the hotel. I saw somebody sliding down it. I want to go down that waterslide! At the MoA, I bought fruit salad gummis from Harry and David (I ALWAYS go to that store), bare minerals foundation from Sephora, a lavender lamb filled with...lavender (heh), and a plaid headband from J. Crew. (Second from right).

That evening, Bill and Kelly took us out to eat at a sushi restaurant. While it wasn't horrible, sushi isn't something I'd want to eat everyday! It's definetly a required taste and the mai tai I had made it taste better!

Bill took us on a little tour of St. Paul after dinner and we drove around this beautiful church. (Mom and I had passed it earlier on the way back from MoA, and she pointed it out to me as the capitol! Oops!)

The 22nd was my grandma's (my mom's mom) 80th birthday, so my mom and her sisters decided to throw a (small) birthday bash for her and all family members were invited.

( My party weekend )

Somebody please kill me. Jessica Simpson's new song is on the radio and I kinda like it. Probably because it sounds like an '80s song.

I chatted with Mom and she told me Mary F-V broke both her arms when she was walking the other day and took a nasty fall when she tripped over a curb and landed on her arms. Ouch!

She also had talked to Bill since he's been back from Hawaii and he told her he had gotten us all presents, but couldn't send them because they were "too bulky," so he's going to come to Lincoln sometime in August, then give them to us.

So after I talked to Mom, I called Bill to see if I could find out what my present was. He said he got me seven things! Yay!! He wouldn't tell me what they were, but he did give me one hint on one of them. One of them is made out of coral and I guessed earrings? a ring? a necklace? and he said I was on the right track, hehe. He said he almost got me a coconut purse and now I want one! That sounds cool. He said he didn't give me a coconut bra, lol. Um, no thanks!

He also gave me hints for Mom and Dad's gifts so I could try to guess those.
Apparently Dad's present was the bulky one (Mom and I thought maybe he had bought us those lamps with the dancing hula girls!) The clue he gave me was that it was an instrument so my first guess was a ukelele, which was wrong, then my second guess was a dididgerdoo. (Yes, I know I spelled that wrong, and yes, I know those are Australian instruments). Bill then proceeds to do a hilarious impression of a didigerdoo. I ask if this instrument is in the guitar family and no, it has no strings, my brother replies. So I next guess a bongo drum and I'm right! Yay!

The clue he gave for mom's presents were that they were both food, so of course I guessed pineapples and coconuts, but that wasn't it. He said one was a nut and I guessed cashews and coconuts (lol) and he finally whispered macadamiums...oh snap, I can't spell that either! For the life of me I couldn't guess the other one even when he told me it was a type of bean that you grind. Duh! Of course it was coffee!

I got a few new items! From Rampage I ordered this animal print top and this printed top.

From the Gap, I bought this top and from Old Navy I got this denim vest.

Mom called my brother, Bill, yesterday and I also talked to him and he said he had read the first three Potter books I had given him and he liked them so much that he ran out and bought the fourth and fifth books! (For some reason I thought the fifth book was still in hardback, but he told me it's in paperback). I could have easily given him the next books, but he didn't want to wait that long since he didn't know when the next time we would see each other and he wanted something to read on the plane when he goes to Hawaii this Monday. Right now he's at the part in GoF where Harry has just left the Dursley's and he's now at the Weasley's. He even borrowed the fourth movie from his girlfriend to watch when he's done reading it, LOL! I couldn't really discuss a lot of things since he's only at the beginning of GoF and he didn't want to be spoiled by anything. I had to hold back a laugh when he said, "If Dumbledore doesn't make it to book seven, then I don't want to know!"

It's nice to have someone in the family I can chat HP with. My parents read the first two books, but I guess decided were too "young" and my mom didn't like the fantasy genre, so that went kur-plunk. And hopefully my brother will be Team H/G and Team R/Hr. *crosses fingers* Although, really, I doubt he really cares about the ships!

Can somebody please tell me what happened during the last ten minutes of 24 last night? I had to tape it and I had no idea fucking Bush was giving a speech that night, so my tape stopped right at nine. It stopped after Jack and Curtis and the CTU team entered the home of that one guy Henderson brought them to. Thank you so much!

Bill called last night, obviously drunk. He said he and Kelly were bar-hopping. He wanted to ask me if I had seen the finale of Grey's Anatomy because he missed it and I said I watched the finale of Survivor and guess he missed that too because I had to tell him what happened. I had told him about the turkey and he asked me where it had come from and I said it had more likely come from the woods by my apartment rather than the street and this caused him to say, "So it didn't come from the sewer like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" and I said, "It's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turkey" and in the background I can hear Kelly say, "Turkeys in a half-shell!" LOL.

I saw Posideon today. It was pretty good, lots of fun excitment...kinda reminded me of a modern-day Titanic, only the disaster happened a lot earlier in the movie. Josh Lucas is way hot. Mia Maestro was wimpy in this movie, she was the anti-Nadia! That kid was all kinds of annoying. There was one scene where they're crawling through vents that made me very claustophobic!

( Chapter 4: Surprising Bill )

( Chapter 5: Working on the House )

( Chapter 6: At the dog park with Kelly )

( Chapter 7: Old Mexico )

And there you have it!