Happy New Year!
I’m grateful I got to do everything that I got to do in 2010.
Ahh, another holiday season is here. This means more food than you can shake a pair of chopsticks at and sleep deprivation. We’ve spent most of the time playing marathon games of Settlers of Catan. The 6 player expansion. I usually last until maybe 2 or 3 AM. The rest of the family will go til the sun rises. I’m guessing 7 or 8 AM. We’re not normal! Somehow, with 4 players the game runs at a decent clip. With 6 players all out to get one another, wheelin’ and dealin’ it’s another ball game. Or board game.
So far, I haven’t gone post-Xmas shopping. It’s just too cold to want to venture outside. No matter how good the sales may be. We keep hearing about 6″ snow on the horizon but aside from a short snowfall this afternoon with no accumulation, I haven’t seen a thing. Hopefully, it stays that way.
Welcome to Winter! Today marks the winter solstice. I am ready for longer days to come back again. It’s already felt like winter for a few weeks now so I’m well prepared already. Or as prepared as I’ll ever be. The long coats, hats, gloves, and scarves have all made their appearances. Brrr! I am trying to refrain from wearing long johns because my walk outside is at most 1 minute. It just seems like overkill to have to wear 2 pants for a blast of freezing cold.
We’re heading out today on a great Thanksgiving day dinner marathon, visiting cousins, aunts, and uncles at potentially three separate dinners. As a preemptive strike on this holiday of food, we headed to the gym this morning. Let’s just say, a few other folks had the same idea.
Wish us luck! Gobble, gobble.
I ran into a high school classmate at work this week. It was like an instant flashback to way back when, years and years ago. Has it been that many years?! Just for background, I was never fond of my high school years. It’s probably not a different story from most. High school was awkward. I was awkward. I guess I still am, but now, I just embrace the awkward. I went to a small town high school and it was a chore to deal with the small town everybody-knows-everybody and everybody’s-in-everybody’s-business kinda’ drama. It didn’t help that said small town was rampant with a certain bigoted group with three K’s and bedsheets as their identifier. High school was fun times. Our mascot was the Indians. The ones with the feathered headgear, not the ones that serve up mattar paneer (mmm…) – I can’t make this stuff up. The Washington football team still uses them and it’s the 21st century. So yeah, my first thoughts when I ran into her was a mixture of curiosity and dread. I thought I had escaped that town and their ilk. But I was also excited about chatting with her, someone who knew me as a child. I felt a bond or closeness because we knew each other way back. We chatted. She’s married and has a 5 month old boy. She still lives in that same small town and her neighbor is also a classmate of ours with 2 children. People seem to like staying there. In fact, she rattled off most of the folks I knew there and gave me the latest information on them all. Married. Married with children. About to be divorced. Yeah, apparently, folks get a lot done in a few short years. We were both comforted by the fact that neither of us have changed much since high school, we instantly recognized each other. After catching up with her, I realized my dread was unwarranted. It was nice to reminisce. Yes, reminisce. As much as I didn’t like high school, after that many years have passed, many of my memories are tinted rosy.
Today is the Autumnal Equinox. It’s also the Mid-Autumn Festival according to the Lunar calendar. We already had our mooncakes and celebratory dinner this past Saturday though cuz it’s kinda’ harder to celebrate a late night dinner on a weekday. I still have a stash of mooncakes in the fridge that we’re whittling away. This year, we had friends over for the dinner and we ate fried rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, lotus roots, and other treats. Even though the moon wasn’t full yet, it was already very bright. So I bet it’ll be even bigger and brighter tonight. Go check it out.
Yesterday I went to visit the Alexandria Arts Festival with a friend and we walked up and down the entire street of white tents. This was not your typical “street” fare. This was fancy schmancy art. I mean there were lawn ornaments. There’s barely any lawn in Alexandria, but I guess some folks have a patch of something. Anyway, it was interesting to look at. They also had paintings. Ever since blowing over $200 on getting each of the watercolors framed, I’ve been more cautious about buying art. At least anything unframed. That’s something to consider for anyone looking to buy art. If it isn’t ready to go on your wall expect to plunk another $250 to make it wall-ready. The Torpedo Factory also had a display selling unique hand made clay bowls. They were pretty, but at $15 a piece, I would be sad if I broke one. And I break stuff. Regularly.
After, we went to Trader Joe’s!! I got cereal. 9 boxes. I like cereal. Pretty much I got a cartful of carbs. Bread, pretzals, etc. I’m going into squirrel-hibernation mode already. It’s a week and a half away from fall, the weather just started to get to a tolerable lower 80s, upper 70s and my body’s already freaking out about the winter.
Generally, Labor Day is the mark of starting laborious tasks. Like homework. Not anymore. To me, it’s just the beginning of more days off every single month til the end of the year. Next is October 11th, then November 11th and you know the rest. So this past 3-day weekend, we drove out to the other side of the Chesapeake Bay. No hurricane Earl in sight. In fact, there wasn’t even a drop of rain. A good number of people had to be hospitalized for injuries from the strong waves though. We just went to hang out with some family and watch lots of movies. First up was The Last Song starring Hannah Montana who can’t act. But I still liked it because I’m a sucker for silly romance movies. It’s not worth a second watch but I enjoyed it and I hate to admit it but it did make me cry. Grrr.. Nicholas Sparks!! Bonus: There were sea turtles in the movie! Next was The Backup Plan starring J.Lo. Chickflick night! I liked this one better. It was another romance movie. Funny and fun to watch and there were lots of cute dogs in the movie. I tried to watch Death at a Funeral next but was way too worn out to stay up for the third flick. I haven’t seen so many new-to-me movies in a long time.
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