Get me away from here, I'm dying...

So sings Belle and Sebastian...and me as well (and Mimi Kim as well - har har Mervyn!) - that's right folks, I'm leaving on a jet plane tonight, but I'll be back again...I CAN'T WAIT!!! I need to be spoiled by Mommy and Daddy for a bit ... I'll most likely post a little from home, but don't put too much pressure on me...I'm getting away from my life here for awhile and that means unplugging completely so that I can rest and recharge and gear up for whatever 2007 decides to shoot my way... later and love to all of you...!!

The Merriest of the Merry Xmas to Three Particular People

Just wanted to say to the Three Musketeers - MM, Quick Draw, The Chia Pet - thank you so much for your kindness - I loved your gifts! - and for your friendship, I don't know where I'd be without it! Our trip to "Germany" was fantastic, Heidelberg was always my favorite city the first time I was there when I was 16 (ha ha!). Especially the hot ponytailed guy sitting across from me...sigh...can we go back?

Here's to many more laughs and fun in 2007 - cheers!

In other news, tomorrow night I'm off to home sweet home, Chuckie has lit the landing strip for me (i.e. put massive amounts of lights and decorations on the house) and Joyce to the World shall be attempting to pick me up from the airport but she'll actually just drive around the lot once and give up and go home so fingers crossed that Chuckie will actually get me....we shall see...I'M TIRED, CAN I LEAVE ALREADY???

So here's the new highlights and last Saturday's blow out...it never lasts more than a day and it's too long in back for me to try and duplicate it so it's back to curly now...you can't see the highlights THAT well in these photos, but you get an idea...besides these shots are really for MOMMY and I will see you in just a few days!!!

Boy was I drunk!

That's all I have to say... the office party started at 3:30, by 5 I was on vodka tonic #3 and decided, well open bar ends at 6, lets get these drinks in! And did I - I had 2 more by 6. Why did I do that?? And then a certain co-worker caused the real trouble - I won't say who except that you can sing his name like My Sharona hee hee ... by stealing the bottle of already made apple martini's and began going around to all of us and pouring it right down our throats - WHY??? Well I was having fun, isn't that the most important thing? The remaining people went off to another bar, but not me, I went home blessedly and fell asleep during Frosty the Snowman...I had to get up at 8 am to get the grays out - and slightly hung over, I made it to my 9am appointment with Isabel who did another lovely job on my highlights... I feel golden and pretty once more... I'll post a picture or two tomorrow...but I just had to clarify:

Yes, I was drunk.
Yes, I had fun.
Yes, I DID NOT feel good later on that night - I just don't process alcohol well anymore, the buzz wears off and I'm just left feeling groggy and headachy.

Cheers!

Office Xmas Party

Very drunk...someone..poured apple martinis down my throat like shots...very drunk...going home..okay...vodka tonics...okay...

Some pics from this weekend

These were taken at Lucia's Annual Park Avenue Caroling and Tree Trimming Get Together...

New Red Curtains

Mom - these are the curtains up...I'll take a better picture, complete with Xmas tree at some point, but I just wanted you to get an idea..

What would Maria do?

Inspired by Floating Head's current blog post and due to the fact that the earworm "My Favorite Things" is swimming singingly around in my head, my new philosophy whenever I can't figure out what to do or how to handle situations is to ask myself: "what would Fraulein Maria do?". It seems like a good idea -she was kind, courageous, not afraid of looking like an idiot occasionally, and underneath her wimper, she had curlers in her hair. I'll keep you updated on how this is working out for me...

The Charlie Brown Remedy

I'm feeling MUCH happier today...MUCH. I caught the good spirit from the Charlie Brown Xmas Special and like the little weak tree, I had the hands waved over me really quickly and all of a sudden, I was transformed into a big, beautifully decorated tree - just like that! Magical. Just like Mr. Brady emerging from the rubble in A Very Brady Xmas...

Ok. Onto coffee and work and hopefulness and courage to do what it is I need to do...Mama Juicy knows what I mean - she's not giving me any Xmas presents if I don't do it...or any Chex Mix. BAH!!!!!

Two Good Links

For your Holiday TV Watching enjoyment:

http://holidaypages4u.tripod.com/christmas_movies_tv.htm

And because I love gnomes:

http://360.yahoo.com/gnomewatch

Distraction PLEASE

I'm still acting like a miserable old cow. It seems to be going around because Floating Head and I HAD to meet up last night to have a lovely French meal and a glass of wine to try and DISTRACT ourselves from our blah-ness. It helped because she makes me giggle and that's the best remedy for blah-ness. And then I spoke to the Parents and they make me laugh too and then Snow White and she tells me good Dwarf stories such as"Allie, look, I have a surprise for me!" and so on.

But then I woke up today. And the Blah-ness and the Desire to Kick People remained. Even Barf had it, he said, "you look like me, like you just want to jump out of your skin" - and that's so it. So now, I'm going to go home, watch the Charlie Brown Xmas Special, bake something for everyone here - because being nice to other people is supposed to make you feel better - isn't that what Linus recommends to Charlie so that he gets some Xmas Spirit? And then I guess I'll try again tomorrow, but I think I just need to call it quits until 2007. I'm just burnt out, I have totally run out of gas and I don't seem to be able to spur myself into doing very much more than taking up space.

Lets hope the xmas television watching and baking inspires me, because at this point, I can't stand me. How can anyone else?

JINXED!

See, I knew by writing my thanksgiving post, I would jinx myself... the best way to bring on a mad, sad, ugly mood is to talk or write about how cool or good things are going - because just like that, BAM! the world turns and tilts a bit and you are slapped with a reminder that this is just the way life works - some days you feel good and some days you DO NOT. This weekend, I DID NOT. Saturday was OK, I put up my new Christmas tree and got some stuff done and I generally felt ok. Just not cheery, which is how I should be feeling because its finally CHRISTMASTIME! But then Sunday came around - I had to do laundry, so I got up early to do that and then decided that was the best I could hope for, that was all I was capable of. I simply didn't have the strength to chastise myself into accomplishing much more than that. So I gave into the bad mood and sulked. BAH HUMBUG, I say to you, Bad Mood Spirit. Get thee behind me!

Today, I'm in more of a fighting mood and so I'm casting the Bad Mood aside for now but it's still there, lingering.... some coffee now to give me strength and then I carry on and continue to fight the good fight... wish me luck!

Stuffed as a Turkey!

Although I didn't eat any turkey yesterday...instead it was a Dominican thanksgiving, complete with the best roasted chicken I've ever had (I'm not a big chicken person either, so that's saying a lot), Russian potato salad, rice and black beans, and a yummy apple crumb pie... DELICIOUS!

and now...

it's time...

FOR THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!

The Christmas season has officially begun and I am beyond HAPPY about that... this is my favorite season and I love the xmas songs on the radio, the decorations, the lights, etc... I started putting stuff up yesterday in my apartment, but I need to buy a tree later today but lights are already around my windows and here at One Park they've already gussied up the lobby - woo hoo!!! Now it's time to start on my office since I'm trying to get as little done workwise as possible today.

Happy Turkey Day to all you TURKEYS out there!

I will most likely be spending the day at home eating an entire pot of Green Bean Casserole and drinking something warm and possibly alcoholic since its so appropriately chilly outside now and napping and bundling up and watching movies and reading and being cozy and maybe I might think about things I'm thankful for... the past week has been an "off" week for me you could say, I've been doing a lot of thinking and some of it has made me sad, some of it has made me feel good - this time of the year can be so bittersweeet. It's that end of the year thing most people do to sort of evaluate the past months and take a snapshot of where you are now in comparison to last year at this time... on the whole, it's been a good year, I made quite a few important changes and grew up A LOT. I feel better and I think I'm happier (let me not jinx myself - I could crash tomorrow). I still have my moody moments but I'm trying really hard to keep everything in perspective and to enjoy myself and not let those moods or events or other people make me feel anything I don't want or need to feel...you know what I mean...

Alright, I'm getting too mushy and diary-like for public consuption - its too navel-gazing to go into all the details so I'm not going to but I just wanted to say that maybe what I'm thankful for is that I'm feeling good about things and myself and my job (thanks to Barf and the Two Boys) and my friends (thanks especially Mervyn, Quick Draw, the Chia Pet, Vox, Floating Head) and my family (thanks to Mom and Dad and Snow and her Dwarves and the Slut Sister Judith) and that's - as Martha would say - a good thing.

Do you believe in fate?

"Man skips Lidle flight, dies in later plane crash"...
After avoiding fatal trip with Yankee pitcher, Californian meets same fate

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15759622/

Tosca! The Met!

Last night was a fancy night...first steamed veggie dumplings and sesame noodles at Ollie's and then a trot over to Lincoln Center to the Metropolitan Opera House for Tosca - I love going to the Met. It's so pretty and luscious and I love the Chagall paintings on the walls and the oil portraits and the crystal lamplight everywhere and the red staircase and it makes me think of Moonstruck and Cher...we both almost fell asleep during the the first act because it was so warm and dark so during the first intermission, we got a coffee to jolt us awake. The second act went much better, as Tosca stabs Scarpia in the heart! Second intermission, we felt it was time to act as fancy as we felt so I was treated to a glass of champagne out on the balcony and it was lovely. The third act was short and tragic (of course, it's opera!) as Tosca jumps to her death after her love was shot and killed...this was my first opera and it was GRAND.

In other news, the New Jo(e) has started and so far, he's a really sweet, cool, and easygoing dude and I think he's fitting in very well with our little group! We had lunch together yesterday and ate the chocolate cake I baked and now I'm definitely Odd Girl Out (in more ways than one) because now its me and 3 boys and a bunch of locker room talk - ah, oh well, I'm sure I'll adjust!

Check out Vox's blog

Because this is a story that isn't getting enough attention and I find it fascinating, I'm asking you to take a look at Vox's site for his update on Pat Tillman:

http://www.voxinfo.blogspot.com/

Pat Tillman's Last Day, Reconstructed
A detailed description of his last day.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6202173,00.html"

"I will not assume his death was accidental or 'fog of war,'" said his father, Pat Tillman Sr. "I want to know what happened, and they've clouded that so badly we may never know."" - Vox

Wanted: For War Crimes Against Humanity

Time Magazine Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse
A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.html?cnn=yes

May you rot in hell, right where you belong - good riddance to you, you imperious bloodstained old windbag.

Athena 

scary statue - from a distance this really freaked us out because it's lifesize 

hello there! 

close up! 

lovely lady 

its a full-body apparition! where's TAPS when you need them! Grant? Jayson? 

Look at the cool sky... 

closer... 

Yes! The Democrats won! 

The Best 

another creepy-eyed statue 

the other side of the crypt 

SUPER CREEPY STATUES - THEY ARE LOOKING AT YOU!!! 

Frankie: Yet a little while... 

Angels 

Elba dares to enter the tomb... 

so spooky goth, right? 

The Jolly Historian 

Oh Winged Man!