stockings were hung

The trick to making them not flop about is to stuff them with some tissue paper. Martha told me so.

i'm almost a human being

Know how I am a freak and color coordinate my Christmas tree and keep my kitchen drawers OCD tidy? Well this is what my office looks like right now:









I was really counting on unemployment giving me time to do such things as wrapping presents but then stupid employment got in the way.

I start tomorrow on a two week job. Which is good 'cause then I'll have two less weeks of having free time to shop.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

tree number 2

It just didn't look finished unless there were black ribbons on it and presents underneath.

It looks so nice with those big presents I should just wrap big empty boxes every year and put them under the tree. Maybe the recipients can just give me the boxes back.

In answer to your question, yes, the tree and presents are color coordinated.

It's a good thing Target sells black wrapping paper. 

Kinda funny I tried to use the vinyl letters as gift tags and my sister's initials just didn't invoke the feeling I was going for...

guess what i'm buying today

I need it before Christmas so I can take good pictures of the nieces and family and the party.

I lost my other camera on top of a mountain in Colorado. Don't you hate it when that happens?

i could have DIY'd it

But I didn't. I weighed the time it would take me to glue ornaments on a wreath vs. sticking something in my shopping cart and taking it home and it was worth $20.

He's in the office and he looks pretty.

The rest of the office however is a disaster. Presents to be wrapped, papers to file away, projects to finish/begin, maybe soon I'll have some free time to clean it up. Especially since we finally turn in the wrap today. 

black friday

The only thing you can't buy in stores is dignity.


- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

goldy

in case you were wondering

The tofurky was delicious.


I had nothing to do with the gold flatware but I wish I had.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

it's these sights that keep a person sane

 Grey with silver thread. Silver Snakeskin. Beige with gold thread. Beige with silver thread.

Gold. Velvet. Black Glitter. Silver Glitter.

Gonna be a good good holiday season full of sparkly shoes.

ah yes, thanks for the reminder, west wing

Heh heh. God speaks in mysterious ways.

Do you know about the presidential turkey pardon? It's an annual tradition where the president of the United States pardons a turkey who is then sent to Disneyland or a petting zoo to live a peaceful uneaten life. I first learned about it from an episode of The West Wing and that was what I suggested Matt and I watch the night before Thanksgiving.

Well in that episode, there is a story of Chinese immigrants finding their way to America and claiming they are religiously persecuted and they wish to seek asylum in the U.S., which is a very tricky subject. So the president tests one of the immigrants with questions about his faith to prove he really is a Christian and not just being told to say that.

Boy does that guy pass the test with a great speech about Christianity and faith. The president then gets to proclaim a national day of thanksgiving: reminding little old me that what the holiday started as was a few peeps coming to America seeking freedom to worship God.

And that is definitely something to be thankful for.

- mobile blog post. spelling irrelevant.

i don't really like thanksgiving anymore

Mom didn't let us celebrate any holidays. NONE. So I grew up with zero holidays until one magical time that she decided oh what the hey, let's do the least offensive one and celebrate the holiday where white people got free corn from Native Americans together as a family. So we did Thanksgiving and we would look forward to it. She had to ask my aunt Lina how to make a turkey 'cause she'd never made one before. My aunt Lina passed away when I was in 5th grade of cancer, so I kinda always think of her around Thanksgiving.

But of course, now that we're vegetarians, eating a meal that revolves around a turkey being killed and eaten, well, I guess it doesn't mean what it used to be. I'm down for the thankful part thing but I am grateful every damn day of my life for everything. I'm even grateful that I have to come back to work on Sunday because that means I get more income. So I'm thankful. I send thank you cards all the time. I send thank you texts. I send thank you emails. I got the thankful thing down I think, thanks.

Maybe it's not Thanksgiving's fault that I don't give a crap about it. There's only two holidays I care about and only one I ever do anything about. I care about Christmas and I care about New Year's Eve and I only do things on Christmas and get crazy into Christmas decorating, Christmas parties, and Christmas gifting. I don't care for July 4, Valentine's, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or St. Pattys. Maybe it's my mom's fault that I don't care, I'm not sure why. So then why oh why oh why am I going to my mom's for Thanksgiving breakfast, my aunt's for Matt's side of Thanksgiving, and my dad's for Thanksgiving after Matt's family's? I guess I should be thankful that many people want to see me on the same special day.

So my non-preachy advice: eat some damn veggies!

I love you all.

gift list for the girl who buys herself everything

I'm a grown woman who makes a decent living and grew up poor. When I sees things I wants I buys, much to the chagrin of my man who grew up in a family that clips coupons and saves money. But since I grew up poor I do not like to spend ridiculous amounts of money on things like fancy shoes or expensive dresses so I feel like the things I buy myself are reasonable-ish and I feel I've earned them since I work hard for da money and don't have debt other than a student loan. (I don't have a mortgage yet, next year hopefully). All that to say, these are things I'll probably buy myself if someone doesn't buy them for me first.

Subscription to birchbox which sends fancy samples for $10/month:

Kate Spade case. I just bought myself this J. Crew case in gold because my Chilewich one cracked but I still want this one:

My kitchen supplies are pretty stocked but I really need glass prep bowls:

I don't care what this crap smells like. I just want it 'cause it says City of Angels and it's pretty:

I need a good iron, not for clothes, that's silly, for table linens:

I got a great knife set last year. But I'd like one more to add to the collection:

This guy's been on my wishlist for years. It's time for him to come home: 

I would make a lot of lattes if I had one of these at home:

Mine are getting old and worn, let's go vegan in a 7.5: 

Food's always a good gift for me and popcorn gourmet style, forget about it:

Sponsoring an otter is on my list of things to do before I die or turn 30, whatever comes first:

For my own silly reasons, I'd love this nano (in yellow 16gb) and watch accessory:

My kids deserve presents too:

My outdoor adopted kids might like this:

Electronic composter. Yes please:

Oh and don't worry if you can't send me any of these by December, you still have two more months 'til I turn 30 so this is also my 30th birthday wishlist. Or make it easy on yourself: iPad.

christmas kitties

Target had two Christmas cat collars for $5. Naturally I bought them and wasted no time subjecting our cats to the humiliation.

We can't help it if Gadget looks good in ties. He has quite a collection now.

tofurky

We finally visited a Henry's Market which has merged with Sprouts and sheesh where have I been, it's like a mini Whole Foods but closer to home. And while I was there looking for vegan marshmallows to no avail I found this which I'll be attempting for the first time on Thanksgiving.

You can buy just the loaf but this one was the deluxe "vegetarian feast" version which comes with gravy, tofurky jurky wishbone, coupons, and a chocolate cake. Everything is 100% vegan so my honey pie can eat all he wants. I gotta say I am really nerdily excited about the whole thing especially since the instructions are legit: defrosting for 24 hours and basting is involved.

Let's see, is "basting tofu" on my list of Things I'd never thought I'd do, why yes it is.

under the category of evelyn is ridiculous

So the tree in my office is remote controlled. Also did you know you can rack focus on an iPhone camera? I was wandering the Target tree aisle trying to find a solution for an easier way to turn the tree on nightly without having to fight the branches and the outlet and found this for $20 which at first glance was just too much, too ridiculous, too...

Genius. It is a three pack and the remote controls all three of the outlets. I'm planning on using the other two for the other two trees (oh geez three trees, lunatic). Anyway, I know you're laughing at me right now, especially since I made a video but now I bet you're thinking about getting one for yourself. And just imagine, you can plug in your christmas lights into them too if you're one of the 99% of Americans that have only one Christmas tree.

i still love black

Especially when it looks this elegant. I imagine putting sugar cubes in this:

Mixing Bowls:

Add that to my wishlist.

it's way too early for this

On November 6th I started decorating the white Christmas tree in my office. I had opened it and set it up to make absolutely sure I wanted to keep it and was going to try to use restraint and just leave it in the corner undecorated, waiting for after Thanksgiving.

But Matt had the idea to put it up on the side table next to the couch and I tested it out and then well, it looked so darn cute and would temporarily become the night light and I couldn't leave it barren...

I went to Target and found a mini tree skirt that is so cute it makes me want to punch an old lady in the face. Either that or disco. I even put a mini present under the tree you can kinda see...

In the dollar bin I found some glittery letters. I wanted an F but instead found an M & E.

Then I went mental and hung up colorful bells on the tree. Do you know how badly I've set myself up for failure? The stupid cats already tried to knock the tree down when they kept batting the bells.

So while the Christmas nut in me wants very badly to continue decorating the tree, the practical me already tried to find some ornament hooks and couldn't. Let me tell you though, I LOVE it and Matt could tell 'cause when I asked him if it was too early to put it up he said oh yeah but I'm not gonna stop you. I'm also taking advantage of his nap to play the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Shh.

what working from home really looks like

I spent a day working from home. Legit working. Took some snips of my day.

I move back and forth from the desk to the couch depending on how much battery is left on the laptop. All of my tweaks in the office have paid off because it is at its maximum potential for productivity. I even added a storage ottoman and a heater so I can put my feet up and stay warm.