What Does It All Mean??

File Under: Signs?

Prior to meeting Matthew, I didn't know who Diana Krall was. Okay, I'd heard the name, maybe I saw her on Martha Stewart's show or something but didn't think twice about her music. Matthew loves her, and so I came to appreciate her vocal stylings and recognize her voice. I downloaded a few songs as well as her Christmas album from iTunes.

So of course, everywhere I go now I hear her. In the grocery store. In Macy's. In Starbucks. In my own house! I was in my bedroom and my mom, who was in the kitchen baking holiday cookies, was listening to our public fine arts station and who was on last night? Uh-huh.

I went out last night, figured a night out would do me good. Back at my usual place, Jackhammer. I know a lot of the bartenders there, they take good care of me. it's close to home, casual and often fun. My friend John was working, we chatted all evening, I got hugs from him, and he kept my glass full.

I ran into another friend, who was there with someone we both know. I went over and talked to them and learned that these two have been "busy" for about 6 months. The one friend has actually been seeing someone for a couple months. So suffice it to say he's been very busy. They both came over to where I had been standing and had a drink, and proceeded to make out. They soon left together. The downward spiral of my mood went much faster at that point.

I wandered the bar for a while and saw nobody of interest, so I went home. The temperature had dropped dramatically since I had arrived, yet I decided to just walk since I had worn my ugly but warmest coat. Mind you, I was somewhat drunk so the fact that the 20 mph winds that were hitting my face weren't really bugging me too much, nor was I caring that the unshoveled walks were making the walk quite difficult. I was pissed off at the world and I just wanted to get home.

About 1/3 of the way home, up one of the streets I was passing, a man was singing at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS. Of all the songs he could be singing, he's singing "Chasing Pavements." That's Adele's song. The first couple of lines he sang I thought "gosh, from where do I know that song?" Then I hear "Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements..." At that point I screamed at the top of my lungs "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? SERIOUSLY???" The singing continued and he was walking my direction, behind me so yes, I heard quite a bit of his version of the song. I tied my hood tighter to try to muffle the sound, that didn't work. Finally I just ran.

Really, what are the odds? Why do THESE songs/artists keep popping up?

Holiday Baking

File Under: Fa-La-La

Beth posted a blog about holiday baking. I try to make something each year, either for a dinner party, or for work, or just to have around the house during the holidays.

This is a cake I made back in 2005.

The pan is actually a mold that is in 2 parts, front and back. It was something I ordered from the "Martha by Mail" catalog back when she sold products online and by catalog. I baked it for Dan's Christmas dinner. It was an involved process but so worth it. I had fun making it and it was delicious.

This weekend, we're gathering at Dan and Luis' place to have dinner and do a gift exchange. I'm making another snowman cake. I'm looking forward to it. I am faced with the challenge of getting all of the candy elements to decorate it. Macy's on State Street (formerly the flagship Marshall Field & Company) has a large candy counter in their basement, I may take a trip down there to see what they have.

I'll take pictures of the cake when it's done.

Many Happy Returns

File Under: Christmas in reverse

Yesterday I went out to the mall, not because I still have holiday shopping to finish, I actually had things to return. Matthew's presents went back to their respective stores. I needed to not look at the packages any more.

I got kind of generous with him. After he bought my matching bedding set, I decided I would buy him a nice set of sheets to go with his new bedding. Macy's day after Thanksgiving sale had some really nice sheets, reasonably priced.

Then, after he announced that he was having trouble figuring out what to buy my mom for her birthday and for Christmas, I went out and bought him a sweater from her. Banana Republic was having a big sale.

Last Monday, when I was at Matthew's (the night he cooked dinner for me and wanted me to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with him), we watched his show "Gossip Girl" afterwards (I had to teach him that with TiVo, you could watch a program currently being recorded and it wouldn't stop the recording from finishing. But I digress. In one scene, there was a party and champagne was being sipped out of cyllindrical champagne glasses and he mentioned how much he loved them and wished he could find some just like them. Well, I did a little online searching and found them and Crate and Barrel. "Exclusive Design!" On my day off last Wednesday, I bought six of them for him.

But, since Wednesday didn't end on a high note, I found myself with some gifts that would not be given.

There were a couple other items that I won't return, I'll keep and use. I bought him a winter hat from LL Bean. We had been looking at hats at Target and I found a hat in their catalog that was cute so I bought one for each of us (different colors). I'll wear them both, nice to have options. I had also ordered him a pair of funky reading glasses. Like me, he wears readers when he's got his contacts in and his coworkers were making fun of his drug store readers, so I ordered some from my online source for cool glasses - Debby Burke Optical. We wear the same strength glasses so I won't mind keeping these. They were inexpensive and purchased with my flexible spending account. :)

My QTS friends encouraged me to return and for each return, I should buy myself a little happy. I decided I would be "happy" with the charges reversed on my credit cards. Suze Orman would be proud of me.

So, I'm officially no longer a rule-breaker and every gift that I'm giving this year will be valued at $30 0r under.

His loss. My gain.