So it’s over already. Christmas came and went before I even got used to the idea that it was that time of year.

My day actually turned out quite nice. I woke up around 8:00am and the rest of my family was already up and ready. I took a shower, got dressed then Kasey and I went down to join them. My mom made breakfast; we ate and then opened presents. Everyone seemed to really like what I got them. It turns out the money clip on my Brother Jay’s wallet was also a bottle opener, which was so perfect for him. It also turned out that Al needed a new wallet and he started putting stuff into the new one right away. My mom was all about the bottle of Lovely I got her and tried it on as we were sitting there and my dad started reading his Red Neck Dictionary aloud. So I felt really good about what I got everyone.

Kasey had a really bad day on Friday so I thought it would be a good idea to give her my present early. She loved it! I got her an iPod Classic and she was floored. So that was nice. She was one of the only people I knew who didn’t have an iPod yet. I also put some episodes of Chuck and Avatar on it for her. (She loves those shows.) I also got her the audio-book for The Golden Compass because she has wanted to read that. So that was another successful gift.

I got some great ones too! I got a new digital camera. Thank goodness! It’s cute. It is silver, but I suppose everything I own can’t be colorful. It’s a Canon PowerShot SD1000. It also has 7.1 mega pixels, which is wonderful. I also got Seinfeld seasons 1-4 from Kasey. My mom got me a gorgeous Gap sweater and a gift certificate. I have to admit that I really want to use that entire gift card on underwear. Kasey got me some tops from Lane Bryant and Old Navy. Jay gave me $20 and Al gave me a $15 iTunes card. My aunt and uncle gave me the 1st season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List. My cousin gave me a fantastic Amazing Grace gift set and she got a gift card for Kasey and me to Regal cinemas. We can’t wait to use it! We want to see Sweeney Todd and Juno so badly. My sister got me a coffee grinder and some whole bean coffee grinder. Now I am dying to get a coffee maker for my room. How sweet would that be?

I think those are my highlights.

Also Kasey is officially living with me at my parent’s house. My website isn’t the place to go over the details, but she is doing well and things are good. My parent’s are amazing and sweet and I just don’t know what I would do without them. They never cease to surprise me. So I’m sure it is going to be a bit of an adjustment for both of us, but I am glad I was able to be here for her.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was full of surprises.

P.S. - Whilst redeeming my iTunes card the code wouldn’t go through. WTF? Then I put on my glasses. Yeah…that P was actually and F. And it works. I should really start wearing these things.

My dog, Willow, seems to be doing a lot better. She got all sorts of injections and medications and she is still not doing 100%, but I really thought we might have had to put her down last week so compared to that she is fantastic.

I now have the code I need to register for classes, but I can’t do that until I pay off my college bill (whoops) so I guess that is what I need to focus on next week.

A situation arose with Kasey’s family and she is now living with me at my parent’s house. We have a lot to learn about each other.

I can’t believe that it is Christmas tomorrow. It is blowing my mind. Kasey and I have to brave the stores a bit today to get must-have items like juice and bows. I realize we are crazy. A different crazy however from my mother who started Christmas shopping today.

New Years Eve plans have been postponed (canceled?) so we might just find something little to do around town. Who knows. I don’t really mind in any case.

I hope all of you are doing well. Thanks for staying with me this year. I don’t know how I would have made it through this year without a blog. I love you guys!

I may be finally getting into the holiday spirit. I have almost all my Christmas shopping done and my gifts wrapped. I just ordered some things online this week with the guarantee that they would be in before Christmas. We’ll see how that goes. I have also been diligently working on some little projects that go along with certain gifts.

Today I have to go to school to finally register for classes which I have been putting off for a while now. I don’t really want to get into it. I’m just going to have to put my anxiety aside somehow and get done what needs to be done.

I was given the task of decorating the tree at my parents house and I just can’t get into it. That is one thing I am just not up to. So tonight my sister and mom are going to get pizza and wings and we are all going to decorate the house and tree. I think it’s a really good idea and I am happy to participate. I can get down with doing it all together, but me decorating a tree by myself is not something I am up to.

My friend, Kyle, is up from Boston and we have been spending some time together lately. Last night I went over to his house and saw the rest of A Smoky Mountain Christmas, had dinner, made cookies from scratch and watched an episode of Project Runway. I had a really enjoyable time. I’m glad we are getting to see each other so much this time. Sometimes when he visits I don’t get to see him at all.

I also have New Years Eve plans!! This will be my first new years in a long time that I have plans for. Kasey and I will be having a 4-course dinner at Simply Fondue and going to a club in Philadelphia and staying the night in that area. I can not wait! I love fancy dinners and I have never had fondue before. I’m also excited to actually be out when it’s time to ring in 2008. I’m ready for a new year. I’m done with 2007. I want to leave it in the past.

One of my bad habits is going to the website for Perez Hilton. I don’t do it religiously, but I do enjoy hearing celebrity gossip. Is it wrong that I sort of enjoyed reading about this whole Jamie Lynne Spears thing? Also I don’t even know what to think about this.

Jon Armstrong wrote this great piece at blurbomat about being with someone who suffers from depression. For me being someone who needs to deal with my depression issues often it was interesting to read the other side.

Lastly, my oldest dog Willow doesn’t seem to be doing well. She has hard pumps all over her body, she is walking slow, her tummy is all read with gray spots, he eyes are bloodshot, she isn’t getting excited about things she usually likes, she went outside several times in the middle of the night last night, she threw-up and she has been digging in the snow to get to grass to eat. I’m really worried about her. She’s not too old. She will be 8 on March 1st. It just seems to have come up all of the sudden. She seemed fine until yesterday when she seemed really bad. I mean…I don’t know what this means. We’re going to be keeping an eye on her and see if she approves. My brother and parents are so attached to this dog. I just don’t know what they would do if something happened to her. I’m actually very scared about it.

I just got back from taking her to the vet and they gave her 3 injections and 3 prescriptions as well as special food. We got blood work done and now we are waiting for the results…I’m so nervous. Kasey surprised me by coming to the vet’s office while I was there. That was really nice. I needed the support. I’ll keep you guys updated.

I am completely finished with my two classes! I still haven’t actually registered for my other classes, but that is a whole complicated mess. Whatever. We will see where it goes, but still I completed my two classes and that is all that matters. The grades are still a mystery. I think they become official on the 21st so by this Friday I will announce my grades unless I know before then. I’m optimistic about them.

It’s been no secret that I haven’t really been in the Christmas spirit this year. I think I would go as far as to say I have been a bit anti-Christmas. The lights have been annoying me, the shoppers, the decorations, the spending money I don’t have, the music. Oh god the music. Then I was in Border’s yesterday and they had carolers there! Bad ones! I feel Jewish this year. I feel like I am trying to go about my nice Jewish existence and Santa and his fucking reindeer keep slapping me in the face with their faux Christmas cheer. So, you know, maybe I have been a little glass half empty this season. I don’t think the Christmas music piped into my office all day long is really helping. (Elvis’s Blue Christmas is truly a song to slit your wrists to.)

I’m not always like this though. Christmas is usually me favorite time of the year. (Except for the fact that it is in Winter and freezing.) However, things are looking up. I was recently able to finish my Christmas shopping and get everyone something nice. Tonight Kasey and I are going to have a little Christmas evening where we watch Home Alone and wrap presents to our families. Then I am going to (maybe) help her decorate her tree. Back to the grinchiness: If there is one thing I can’t take this year it is the trees. I am trying to get my family to just leave it alone and not put one up this year. After a week of nagging I finally put one up at my office in the lobby only to have the damn thing fall over about an hour later. All the decorations and such fell off so now I am once again putting off fixing it. I do get more time off from work this year which is nice.

I’m just really conflicted about celebrating this year and how to celebrate. I’m used to Christmas being about my big crazy family and all our little traditions and it was so nice. Since my break-up my family is split in half and it’s hard to start anew. It also makes me feel bad because this is my first holiday season with Kasey and I don’t want to ruin it with my negativity. I want us to have fun together and start our own traditions. Luckily she doesn’t seem to mind the negativity. She just thinks it’s funny due to all my rants. Last night she said spending time with me was how she would imagine it would be like to hang out with Kathy Griffin. I wasn’t sure if she meant that as a compliment, but I love Kathy Griffin so I definitely took it as one.

My cousin usually peps up Christmas by creating a game for me to play to win my gifts. This year I am going to be one step ahead and create her one based on the TV show Friends. She loves that show. So I should probably start on that asap. You guys! We have a little more than a week left. Then I am going to try and go into a deep sleep till May when the weather is nice again.

Title: “Mr. Grinch” by Dr. Seuss (As fas as I can tell)

1. Do you like brownies? What am I saying? Of course you do! What sane person doesn’t like brownies? Okay. Well I LOVE brownies. I am one of those women that loves all things chocolate so brownies are fantastic. Well I had the best brownies EVER the other day and I have to share them with you. Want to know the best part? They are from a box! I know! It’s amazing. They are Ghirardelli Ultimate Fudge Brownies. In my opinion these are the best brownies that you can get from a box that don’t involve peanut butter. Delicious. They sell it at grocery stores.

2. The next one is brand new as in I bought it at 2:00am this morning. (Yes, I was at Wal-Mart at 2:00am. Do you see why I am tired all the time?) Anyway, my lips have been chapped lately and I needed a good lip balm. I looked at all the ones I usually go for and I decided to be adventurous and try a new one. I choose Blistex Lip Infusion Moisture Splash. It has a neat roller-ball applicator, which is actually quite nice and even though the packaging boasted no scent it has a fantastic vanilla scent and for those of you who lick your lips the taste is nice too. This is by far the best lip balm I have ever used. I LOVE it. I want to buy a whole box of them and stash them everywhere. I also want to give a few out as Christmas presents. This stuff rocks! If you have been trying to find a great lip balm this is it.

3. Last, but not least are a pair of adorable red flats. I where thick black tights every single day in the winter and so I like to try and find colorful flats to go with my outfits. I have two pairs of gold flats, but I really wanted red ones. I thought this would be easier to find than it was. These shoes are by no means high quality. They are Payless American Eagle Ava Mary Janes. Even though I am sure they would look much better and hold up much better if they were paten leather I still love them and for $14.99 they were so very worth it.

My final exam for Women & Politics is tomorrow morning at 11:00. I have a lot of studying to do until then.

Grey’s Anatomy was really good last night! I’m still a little annoyed that my first time seeing Gale Harold back on TV he’s a racist. Oh and Seth Green playing a really sweet guy that DIES? What is up with that? The episode capping was a little confusing at first too. Still an excellent two part episode that brought me back to the was Grey’s used to be. There were so many different surgeries going on at once. Also I am SO glad that George & Izzie had that talk about their relationship and how it might be right someday, but it was the wrong timing. Exactly! Totally wrong timing. Hopefully they will leave it alone until next season when it can really feel right. Now, from what I have heard there is only one more new episode to look forward to of Grey’s until after the writer’s strike ends. So who knows what will happen now.

How can I get a rabbit and not mention again? Sorry! I am having a hard time taking pictures of her because I have a shit camera and my digital editor doesn’t seem to know how to take red eyes off of animals.

Here she is:

She is exactly as snuggly as she looks. I am also a big fan of giving my animals long crazy names (see Willow Ozellina Rosemarie and Sebastian Monet Sunshine). So, of course, her name could not be as simple as Penelope. Because I am extremely dorky her full name is Penelope Isobel Grey. So there you have it!

She has been really good, so far. We’re not sure of her exact breed or her exact age or even if she is exactly a her. I’m hoping after her first vet appointment we’ll know more.

She loves kale, pea pods, Brussels sprouts, carrots and radish tops. She’s not too into fruit. We’ve tried a grape, which she liked, but those are supposed to be given in moderation. They say pineapple is very good for her, but she isn’t feeling it. I’ll have to continue to experiment.

The litter box situation is still going well, but she still needs extra guidance when she is free to roam my room. Also as far as toys go if she is allowed to have it, she doesn’t want it. If it is something she shouldn’t chew all she wants to do it chew it.

So it’s been really fun and interesting getting to know this adorable little bunny. I am already completely in love. I can’t tell you how much difference it makes for me to come home to her instead of an empty room.

Wait! Here is one more:

Completely Unrelated:

I feel like I could watch this video of “Here it Goes Again” by Ok Go over and over again.

Title: “Penelope” by The Dave Ramirez Band

Today I am going to spend a majority of my time here at work writing articles for a zine project I have for my Women’s Studies class. I’m actually pretty excited because I am figuring I can use some of those here as posts. I have a wide variety of topics to talk about and I really can’t wait to work on them.

In other news: I was SO sick last night. I woke up at 2:30 with the worst stomach cramps EVER and then I ended up getting really sick in the bathroom. I know you didn’t need to hear about this, but I always feel so drained after throwing up because I don’t do it very often that I needed to share.

The best movie I have seen lately? Waitress. I LOVED this movie! It even takes place somewhere in the south! It was so funny and sad and touching. I want to buy it. It was excellent. Oh and now I am craving pies I didn’t even know existed. So if you live near a pie shop and have one shipped to me I will love you forever. (Seriously!)

Only two more episodes of Grey’s Anatomy before the writer’s strike ends the airings. What is the problem? What are they even in discussion with these writers about? Hello! We need them! Hollywood needs them. Without people writing we wouldn’t have any of our favorite movies or TV shows. I say give them whatever the hell they want. My mom on the other hand thinks that maybe now they will hire better writers because she thinks Desperate Housewives is getting stupid again.

Me on the other hand (aside from them fucking up George and Izzie) am thinking that Grey’s is getting back to it’s old self this season. Can you believe that racist guy? I was thrilled to see Gale Harold because I loved Queer As Folk, but if there is one group of people that fill me with rage it is racists. Too bad for me I work with some. Oh! And how cute was Seth Green? I have missed him since Buffy. It was nice to see him on Grey’s too.

If there is one thing I can say for the writer’s strike it is leading to better guest stars. I mean Gale Harold and Seth Green are pretty big guest stars to get. Also, Kate Walsh was a co-host on The View yesterday. We’ll see if this continues.

Okay. I think it’s time for me to do some actual work now.

<3

P.S. - I have been cold since three days ago.

Title “Burn, Don’t Freeze” by Sleater-Kinney

I have been meaning to put this up for a while, but I don’t know where my head has been. My sincere apologies Jennic! Today I am going to review a website called KangarooBoo that makes me jealous I don’t have children in my life to buy things for. Also there is free shipping when you spent $75 or more and all items ship within one business day!

I’m going to highlight for you some of my favorites! Three from each age category on the site.

Baby (0 - 12 mo.)

Moby $11.90

Bunny Pacifier Chain $12.90

Dragonstone Castle $19.90

1 year

Soft Doll Lukas $33.90

Baby Paf the Giraffe Pull Toy $24.

Baby Flowers Cellphone Rattle
$12.90

2 Years

Animal Counting Game $44.90

Acrobats $31.90

Mini GT Car $11.90

3 Years

Ghost Tower & Knights Castle $68.90

Threading Hearts $9.90

Mailbox & Mail Set $28.90

4 Years

Lucy & Pepe $12.90

Ladybug Spin Top $7.90

Shape Sorting Clock $9.90

5 Years & Up

Mobilo Magnetic Placement Game $36.90

Giant Frog Money Box $29.90

Rainbow Timber $26.90

Things I Want For Myself

MonKEYS $3.90

Party People Chopsticks $11.90

Flutterflies Mobile $45.90