I will miss this place.

We just had my going away party at work. Check out my cake:



I also received a "gold-plated" staple remover hung on a sash that can be removed to double as a paper weight. Awesome.

packin'

Tomorrow is my last day of work, and I'm sad to leave the place. My job wasn't super exciting, but I liked the place, I liked the people, and I think it was a great experience to work there, both as an intern and as a real-live employee. The only nice thing about leaving (other than moving on to another job that I expect to be a little more exciting) is that everyone is being extra nice to me. Last Friday after work my whole department went out for drinks, Monday the crew I eat lunch with had a potluck for me, and tomorrow there will be a cake for my goodbye party. I'm usually not this popular.

In addition to finishing up my project and eating cake tomorrow, I will have to clean out my desk and take home my (meager) decorations. But I won't have time to sulk after work, because I'm going to head straight to the airport and hop on a jet to Las Vegas. No joke.

My parents and brother had plans to be in Vegas for a Nascar race, and the day I was offered my new position and learned I would have a week off between the two jobs I invited myself along for the family vacation. So we'll be there for a long weekend, and then I'll drive back to Santa Fe with them and hang out for the rest of the week. I expect many fun times.

Lovin' Lincoln

Nothing says romance like makin' presidential origami on Valentine's Day. Josh gave me a book on how to make Americana origimi, and tonight we made our 16th president. Because we're awesome like that.

Valentine package

My parents sent me a package for Valentine's Day, and it's pretty exciting. Notice the pink rubber ducky, the chili chocolate, and the heart-shaped pasta. And of course a package from my parents wouldn't be the same without my chocolate milk...

Thanks Mom and Dad!

exciting thing

Remember back in December when I won an iPod but was not super excited because the win was preceded by "depressingly unlucky news"? Well, that unlucky news was that my job would not last nearly as long as I (or my boss) had thought. In fact, it's ending at the end of this month. Yes, the economic crisis hit close to home. This also helps explain why I was so excited about the library, and why I was mad at the heater for resetting to 70. With unemployment looming in my future, I tensed up. A depressing cloud settled over me, and I couldn't seem to get happy about anything knowing my future was so uncertain and scary. I can't even imagine how much worse this feeling must be for all those other people losing their jobs but still having to pay mortgages and support families. These are hard times.

My own future, however, has just brightened. Yesterday I was offered a job, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and relief. Not only is it a full-time permanent position, but it also happens to be exactly what I've been wanting to do since I graduated from grad school. I won't go into details here and now (unless I know you in real life- feel free to email me!), but let me say it involves history, uses my graduate degree, and is located in Charlottesville. I am very excited, and I'm also very aware of how lucky (or blessed, rather) this offer is at this time.

Sorry about that.

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted, so sorry about that. However, I don't really have much to say. I mean, I could tell you that I went to a violin concert last Friday with Grandpa and the violinist was pretty great, so even though I'm not usually a big fan of the violin I was really glad I went. Or I could tell you I saw a few snowboarders land on their faces Saturday afternoon a few blocks from my house on imported snow. I could tell you about how I went with my grandparents to lunch yesterday pretty far away on the Southside to eat seafood next to a big lake or reservoir or something, and even though the food was average and slow, it was still fun to see the water on a warm day. I could tell you I was sad the Cardinals lost because while some people told me yesterday they had no idea Arizona had a team, I knew because they happen to be my Dad's all-time favorite team and we even put a Cardinals ornament on our Christmas tree. I could tell you the power went out at my apartment twice last week, and it's annoying because when it comes back on the heater automatically turns to 70, which is way higher than I set it when I'm gone, and that costs extra money, which I'm trying not to spend any of. Well, that's about all I could tell you, and I'm sorry none of it was terribly exciting. I'm hoping to have exciting things to share in the near future. For now we'll all just have to wait.

a tossed salad of thoughts and happenings

On Saturday I visited my BFF and his family in Fredericksburg, which was exciting because I haven't seen them since June. I saw the Rappahannock River and it was mostly frozen. That was also exciting because I don't think I've seen a frozen river before.

The contestants on the show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" make me sad for America.

My mom thought she had a pistachio sighting, but I had to ix-nay it because it was in my dad's car. That means he probably left it there himself, and even if it was an accident and happened a long time ago that doesn't cut it. Finding your own pistachio shells doesn't count. And I make the rules in this game.

Sunday Alex and I worked for about two hours on the New York Time's crossword puzzle. We only had to cheat on the internet a tiny bit, and then we finished it! Other family members helped out, too.

I make a mean pizza. It has a homemade crust that makes eleven-year-olds say "this pizza has a crust I will actually eat!"

I took a three hour nap yesterday, which was glorious.

The Anne of Green Gables series melts my heart. I asked for the three-movie collection for Christmas and finished the third one last night. I also watched all the bonus material. I want to marry Gilbert Blythe.

Today they set up a screen at work so we could watch the inauguration live, which was awesome. Unfortunately the CBS newscasters wouldn't shut up or turn off their mics.

dreamin'

When I was a kid I would sometimes daydream about the task of having to pick out new parents. It was like those daydreams when you think: What if everyone in the world had to line up and they would tie your legs together and make you jump over a tub of hot lava, and if you couldn't make it, you died. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Anyway, this particular daydream usually started with the fact that I could no longer keep my mom and dad. I don't think they died, I think they were just taken away from me and I had to choose new parents. So all of the eligible parents I knew would line up. Teachers from school, neighbors, babysitters, couples from church. They would all be standing there in a line looking at me and waiting for my decision. I would go down the line, dismissing some of them easily but thinking hard about others. "Hmm...if I pick that couple I know I'll get to watch PG-13 movies. Or if I pick them I might get to go to Disneyland more often." But in the end I could never choose. None of them could stand up to what I already had. And since what I already had wasn't really a choice in this daydreaming game, I would often get really sad and think about crying, but then realize the whole thing was ridiculous and snap back into real life. My parents never knew it, but those little exercises helped remind how lucky I already was.

snicker

Today I had a mini Snickers bar for my I-can't-believe-it's-only-been-forty-five-minutes-since-lunch-ended-when-will-this-day-end? afternoon snack. It reminded me about how delicious ice cream Snickers bars are, which I haven't had in several years. I could use one of those.

Mosaic No. 5

Hey look, I made another mosaic! I guess technically it's two mosaics, but they go together to make one piece. It's a ukulele, which I gave to Josh for Christmas.

Only four dollars more!

Waiter at the Mexican restaurant: What would you like to drink?

Me: Umm...hmm...well...

Waiter: How about a margarita! We have an excellent margarita with [fill in the blank with excellent stuff because I don't know and I wasn't paying attention]. It's only four dollars more but if you're going to buy a margarita, you might as well buy a good one!

Me: Wait, only four dollars more than the $5.99 house margarita? Are you kidding me? That's a meal.

Waiter: Ah, well, haha...uh...

Me: I'll take the house margarita. Frozen with salt.

Books and movies for free? Who knew?

I don't know about you folks, but I, for one, am being affected by this economic calamity we are experiencing. So I'm working on pinching my pennies. Even more than I used to, which was sort of a lot.

My old penny-pinching mentality? Print off a 30 per cent coupon for Borders, go over there and browse for a book or CD, get too stressed out about spending ten bucks on something I might not love, and very often leave empty handed.

My new plan? Go to the library! I went on Saturday. I checked out a David Sedaris book and, drum roll please, the second season of Deadwood. (I watched the first season with Ryan during my August visit to Santa Fe, and ever since then I've been itching to see the second, but he hasn't bought it yet and I didn't even want to pay to check it out from a video store!) One of the wonderful things about the library is that I don't have to fret over whether or not I will actually like the book (or movie), because if I don't I can always return it and not regret spending money! Because it's free!

Now don't shake your head at me and call me crazy. Yes, I've known about libraries all along, and I've been to them before. Yes, I've talked about becoming a librarian myself. Blah blah blah. The point is, I'm excited that I finally revisited a very obvious way to read books and watch movies. For free.

"on the floor in the nursery at work"

We're on a roll over here. Look what Janelle found at the hospital where she works! C'mon guys, you have to admit it's crazy how ubiquitous these pistachio shells are.

"found amongst a herd of dust bunnies"

Look there folks, another pistachio sighting! Josh found this one in the spray paint section at Lowe's.

Because lists are easier.

On my holiday vacation I...

Ate plenty of Mexican food, both at restaurants and at home.

Finished all of my Christmas shopping.

Made fudge and helped my mom make biscochitos (cookies) and rolls.

Watched a ton of "That 70s Show" with Ryan.

Pet Jackson the dog.

Walked up and down Canyon Road on Christmas Eve with my dad to see the farolitos, luminarias, and carolers. It was freezing, but we stayed bundled up. And we didn't fall on the ice or slushy snow.

Ate scones on Christmas morning. I love scones.

Visited with all of my dad's side of the family on Christmas day. We enjoyed a delicious meal, hung out, and played games.

Watched all seven episodes of the HBO miniseries "John Adams." Also watched all of the bonus material.

Walked around downtown in 22 degree weather.

Saw Maureen McGovern in concert.

Co-substitute taught with Ryan for the youth Sunday school class at church.

Got a cold.

Received wonderful new slippers for Christmas from my parents, which I am currently wearing.

hittin' the slopes

I flew home to Santa Fe on Saturday for the holidays, and today my brother Ryan took me skiing! (I skied, he snow-boarded.) I haven't been skiing in many many years. In the fifth and sixth grades they offered a program at school for students to go skiing and have lessons four times a year, and I did that. I really enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy the green hand-me-down snow pants I had to wear. They totally clashed with my purple jacket and black and hot pink gloves. Of course those black and hot pink gloves didn't really go with my lime green jacket this time either, but I've gotten a little better at not worrying about such things.

I was nervous about skiing again, but luckily on our first ride up the chairlift I sat next to a ski patrol man, and I asked him to give me a crash course to refresh my memory. He kindly obliged. He said as much as he could and hollered "good luck!" as I headed down the mountain. It was pretty scary. It was especially scary because Ryan tried to make me go down medium slopes first thing, but I refused and yelled at him and headed down the easy slope on my own. By the end of our day, however, I went down a few mediums. And I only fell three times.


Me after I'd finally steadied myself while Ryan got his boots ready.


Takin' a break.


Bonding on the chairlift.

mascota muerta

Today I received a letter in the mail from my little ten-year-old friend in Honduras named Javier. The letter is in Spanish but includes a typed translation at the bottom. The translation isn't stellar, but I'm going to share it with you anyway, because it's too good not to.

After the "dear [Me!]" and date, it reads:

"A blessing pours you lots of blessings. We are happy that you and your family are well. I have a [the translator missed a word -mascota-] that called Scooby and our cat died he got electrocuted on cable on the roof of the house, and we went to throw it because it smelled bad, but thanks God we bought another one and we named it Peluche. It is very playful in my younger sister was very happy with the cat when she played with it. My mom took the cat away from her because it made her sneeze and developed an allergy. She was taken to the doctor and she got an ointment so she could heal. She used it, then the itching and the blisters removed. After this she wasn't given the cat again because she could get her allergy again. How are you and your family? What kind of animals do you have there? Do you have a car?"

The end. He drew a nice picture on the back of a house and a Christmas tree with an elf and sled in the front yard and the word "Felicida" at the top, complete with gold glitter.

The problem with street parking...

...is that in a torrential rain, LIKE THE ONE HAPPENING OUTSIDE, you have to wade through a river to get from your car onto the sidewalk. And if it's dark, LIKE IT ALSO IS OUTSIDE, you won't see the huge puddles on the sidewalk either.

consolation prize

Today I won a brand new iPod nano. (Which, by the way, must not be super brand new because it's the short fat kind and I didn't even realize those are out of date.) There was a drawing at work for the seventeen of us who completed a professional development program about web 2.0, and my name was drawn. You might think this means I have excellent luck, but the iPod doesn't really compare to the depressingly unlucky news I received yesterday.

this and that

I'm sorry I'm slacking on my blogging lately. I just don't seem to have much to say, or I'm too lazy to say it. Instead I'll leave a short list of random things.

1. I'm making another mosaic. It's fun. I hope it comes out okay. I'll post a picture in January (after I give it away as a Christmas present). I have also cut myself twice so far and drawn blood on my finger due to tiny glass shards.

2. The other day I came home and there was a package sitting in the hall. I looked at the label to see if it was for me but alas, it was not. However, it did say "Pistachio"-something-or-other on the return label!

3. I'm interested in the concepts of Advent Conspiracy. I'd read about it online and then I learned the church I sort-of-usually attend is using it as its advent series. I was disappointed in today's sermon though because of a lack of practical how-to ideas.

4. Speaking of advent, I'm still not quite in the holiday spirit. Maybe that's because I don't have any decorations in my apartment and I have barely started my Christmas shopping. (Notice how #4 is sort of the opposite of what I want out of #3. Ugh.)

5. This weekend Josh visited and we walked to the Commercial Taphouse and had dinner at Akida. I hadn't been to those places in a long time and I was super excited to go because having them close by (walkable even!) was one of the perks I looked forward to by moving to his neighborhood. They did not disappoint.