To be:  Show up to work by 8:30 AM.

As is: Friday, I got to work at 9:14 AM.  Today, 8:47 AM.

To be: Eat lunch between 11AM and 1PM.

As is: Friday, I lasted until 10AM.  Today, 9:17 AM.

To be: Go to bed before 1AM.

As is: Friday, went to bed at 8:30PM.  Saturday, 12:30ish.  Sunday 1-ish.  Monday 2-ish.

The other resolutions, will just have to wait. I still have 359 days to clean out my crap, read Harry Potter, and go to Jamaica! Make em count!

Ok reality check - Traveling may have to wait another year.  If I want to finish school, I don’t have the resources to travel.  Boo!

This weekend has been a blur! I’ve had to get up at 6AM each day to attend all-day classes downtown. The best parts of the day:

• the morning ride in with the girls
• the two 15 minute breaks
• the lunch
• the ride home

Yesterday, when I woke up at 6AM, I felt so stupid signing up for this Winter session. I mean, the thought of finishing school early is great, but 6AM?! Just a week ago, I was going to bed at 6AM! Geesh. To make matters worse, the professor is not the least bit entertaining. He calls on students instead of letting a discussion flow. He spoon feeds. He goes off topic. He lets discussions go on for too long. The material was covered in another class we already had. He refuses to post the PowerPoint presentations until after the lecture. Plus! PLUS! He needs to shave his head. The only saving grace is my wonderful classmates who keep me entertained.

Finally! I did it. I went to the Piercing Pagoda at the mall on the 29th and had a middle aged woman poke holes in my ears. It hurt a little. Then it was kinda’ sore that night. I guess the soreness made me dream that my ears got infected and fell off! What a nightmare! Then the second day it itched and everyone was scratching their ears in front of me. It’s been almost a week now and they feel just fine. Just don’t touch my ears!! They don’t feel that okay yet, but I’m glad I finally did it. One more “first” I can add to that 2008 list of things I did.

So after Xmas dinner, the food fest continued.
On the 27th, we went to a sushi buffet, Todai for dinner. I loved all their different salads and getting in line for the shrimp and half a lobster, but the best was the dessert. Usually, desserts at buffets include soft serve and fruit and maybe some dried out cakes and cookies. But this place had fresh and well-made cakes. Yum, tiramisu! The green tea, mango, and azuki ice creams were very good too. Don’t get the crepes though! Then we went shopping. Then we played cards and Wii til 6:30 in the morning.

On the 28th we went to Full Key. I won’t even bother describing their food. Pictures say it all. Then we went shopping. Then we played cards and Wii til 6:30 in the morning.

On the 29th we had sticky rice, Taiwan sausages, and this rice noodle soup thing my mom made. Then we played cards and Wii til 6:30 in the morning. We shopped before dinner that day. On the 30th, Zio’s pizza. Then we karaoked. Then we played cards and Wii til 4:30 in the morning.

First, I just want to say that I now understand why people love raw oysters. If you get a good one, they are wonderfully delicious. I spent my New Years eve downtown at Hank’s for dinner then Circa for the countdown. Hank’s Oyster Bar is near Dupont Circle. This was my second time having raw oysters and these were so delicious, I’ve decided I actually like these slippery shellfish raw. I can’t recall what the other two varieties were but the Alpines on the left were very sweet. The ones with the ridges were the “fishiest” but I also thought they were the tastiest because of that quality. It was a pleasant fishy. Very fresh. I think the other ones on the top were called Rappahannocks. All three varieties were wonderful.
For dinner, I had these fish medallions wrapped in prosciutto and enoki and oyster mushrooms. The sauce is some kind of berry. I really liked the light flavor. You can taste the fish but it’s definitely not fishy. The prosciutto didn’t overpower the fish either.

Their lobster rolls had large chunks of lobster in them but they were a bit too generous with the butter. Based on reviews I was expecting the portion to be bigger too.

The fried oysters were not overly cooked and the batter was light and crisp. Overall, I thought the best part of the meal was the raw oysters. I would bring an oyster-lover or someone curious to try their first oyster here just for that.

Circa is located right at Dupont Circle. They had a red sparkling wine which I’d never had so I wanted to try it. I liked it a lot. It was a mix of Merlot, Shiraz, and Mataro from Barossa, Australia.

1. Get to work no later than 8ish, not 8 thirty-ish.  Specifically, quit piddling around so much in the mornings.
2. Get a haircut.  Maybe bangs this time?
3. Go to bed earlier than 1AM.  This will fix all my life’s woes.
4. Read a book.  A book.  Uno.  Try.
5. Clean out closet. Get rid of junky clothes.
6. Clean out files.  Shred the old cell phone bills from five years ago!
7. Frequent Sephora.com a little less.
8. Eat lunch at the prescribed lunch eating hour between 11AM and 1PM, not 9:00-geez-what-is-wrong-with-me-AM!?
9. Buy clothes I’ll wear.   Not the clothes that I think I’ll wear because it’s cute and look, it’s on sale too!
10. Attend some form of arts performance.
11. Take a vacation somewhere!  Anywhere!
12. Try a new-to-me fancy restaurant in the local metropolitan area.
13. Finish reading those case studies for next weekend’s class.
14. Finish school.
15. Beat Fire Emblem.

In 2008 I finally:

• Spent 4th of July in DC and saw the most spectacular displays of fireworks all around the city.
• Slurped down a raw, uncooked, living just 5 minutes ago, oyster. Yummy… in a not-really kinda way. More weird. I’ll have to come back to it later. Maybe.
• Had s’mores. Yes, I know.
• Attended a comedy show.  I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my seat!
• Ran three miles straight, on a treadmill. And survived!! Wish I could do it now though.
• Figured out my alcohol limit when I’m out in public. Two. An Irish coffee. An appletini. And the sangria tipped me over the edge! I should stick to beer.
• Joined Facebook! Resistance was futile. I assimilated.
And I’ll have to do these next year:
• Take a vacation!!  Like right now, I wish I was in some place warm. Some country in Africa maybe. Oh, or maybe India.
• Finish school!  As much as I gripe about it, I know I’ll miss school when I’m done.  Guess I’ll have to pick up another (hopefully less expensive) hobby.

The food fest started with a lunch of bi bim bap and kalbi. Mmm… I love this bi bim bap.

For Christmas Eve dinner, my family came over. There were 15 of us total and we had enough food for more like 40 people. What can I say, my mom has a hard time estimating portions. She’s a feeder. So it was a gluttonous affair.

I spent the evening eating until I was ill, then I’d wait an hour or so until I didn’t feel sick, then I’d go and eat something else. And, I STILL didn’t get to try every dish. Yeah, there was that much food.

After, we played Taboo, cards, and the Wii.  Speaking of, I got a Wii for Xmas!!!  (Thank you sis/b.i.l.!) Yup, I’m now the proud owner of a Wii and I already have Wii-arm from playing Cooking Mama.  Anyway, the old people left at around 3:30 AM and the young’uns stayed until 6 AM.  I ended up waking up at 1:30 PM today, eating and downing 7-8 cups of coffee then falling back asleep for another 3 hours or so.  Caffeine doesn’t even faze me anymore.  Woke up for dinner and now the cousin’s are back for round 2 of Tetris and bubble tea.  We don’t just marathon-eat, we marathon-play. I love this crazy family.

Happy Winter Solstice Day! Technically it was yesterday but I was too busy getting my Sims to fall in love and get their first kisses to blog. Even though it seems like we’re just into our first day of Winter and there are thirteen more weeks to go, it’s also the shortest day of the year so I feel like I’ve made it. I will survive this Winter yet again because the days will gradually brighten. And maybe the temperatures will get colder, but at least we’ll have some sunlight!

We had our office holiday potluck party yesterday. I ate so much I impressed my coworkers with my, um, healthy appetite. Hey, what can I say, I don’t get mac ‘n cheese, sugar cookies, brownies, chocolate bark, apple pie, chocolate cake, and red velvet cupcakes on a regular basis. Pretty much after the party (3PM), no one went back to the office. Not sure how effective any of us were going to be passed out at our desks anyway. So Ann and I went to the mall. Huge sales going on everywhere as I anticipated. And (I’m so proud of myself) I preemptively left my purse in my office, knowing that I’d go nuts on all these pre-holiday sales.  After the mall, I went to a salon for Ann’s wedding hair and make up trial. When I first agreed to go, I really had no idea what it involved and thought it was just a chance to learn how to do make up. And it was, but it was a lot more involved and a lot less glamorous. Three hours later, I was HUNGRY and (hate to admit it) a little tired/bored of the whole dolling up process. I think the hungry part made me impatient for it to be done. The make up artist’s train case and tool belt was unbelievable though. She used a lot of Bobbi Brown and MAC and Smashbox’s Photo Finish Primer.

Her opinions on some beauty products:

• Inexpensive drugstore cosmetics: Cover Girl has some nice things.  Their mascaras are pretty good.
• Blush: She uses MAC.  When asked about Nars’ blush, she said it wasn’t her favorite because it didn’t seem to last as long throughout the day as MAC.
• Moisturizer: She loves DDF Ultra-Lite Oil-Free Moisturizing Dew as well as Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturizer.
• The “look”: More important than color, you should understand the texture of the skin. Do you want a dewey, matte, or in between look? Dewey can come off shiny, too matte can make you look old. In the end you just have to play with the products.
• Foundation primer: Always use it.  Smashbox.
• Eye primer: You should use an eye primer but it doesn’t have to be a specific eye primer.  For example, the MAC Shadestick can double as a primer and eyeshadow base color.
• Mascara: Those newfangled battery operated vibrating wands are not worth your while.  They’re gimmicky and annoying to use.  She likes Diorshow and MAC.

I think after this makeup overload, I’m done with this obsession. Three hours did the trick.