Feed A Cold

I am a firm believer in the above so that is what I did today. When sick, you need soup. So I made some chicken soup with the sinus clearing properties of a very hot jalapeno and some chipotles. It's lip tingling good and just what I needed for a long day of work. And it has been a nice change from the endless cups of tea and honey my sore throat has demanded.

I was not thrilled to be working during a holiday weekend but it needed to be done. The three girls needed today (of which I am one) were all up and in contact early this morning waiting on the other person to do his part. Of course, some confusion (his not ours) occurred and we started the process 3 hours later than planned. It was a bit annoying and add to that a VPN problem and it looked like I would be working all afternoon and night. Thankfully with my iPod firmly attached, everything got done and I got to gorge myself on some new music I got this week. The first was a gift from a friend and the second was a gift to myself from Amazon. I have enjoyed exploring both.

Work is done for today but I have to get up very early tomorrow to complete some database processes. I am hoping that I can take a bit of a breather Tuesday and finally decide on my New Year's Eve plans.

So This is Christmas

I am still having a bit of a hard time believing that today is Christmas. This year has certainly flown by. This week at work was so busy I didn't have time to wrap the presents until late last night. As a very organized person, this drove me a bit nuts to be so delayed. But it was unavoidable due to the project that will be occupying my Sunday. With a full belly and warm heart from spending a great Christmas Eve and Christmas with people I love, I am not thinking about work tonight.

For my family like many others, Christmas is all about the food (well actually, any holiday is all about the food for us.) This year, my brother did a killer job on the best pork roast with fig sauce. The pork was so juicy and tender. It makes me want to drool thinking about it. And the potatoes. Mmmm. Cheesy and so very good. Add to that baked manicotti, roasted vegetable soup and antipasto. I have basically been eating non-stop since 2pm yesterday when I participated in about three of the seven fishes of the Christmas Eve feast of my downstairs neighbors. The food was great, along with the champagne. I was the lucky recipient of plenty of leftovers from our dinner now taking up space in my fridge. Of course, just when I think I am not hungry I am eating something else.

Of course the other part of this holiday is the gift giving. Everyone seemed very happy with their presents and I am with mine. It was fun watching my very hung over brother trying to wrestle with the complexities of tape and wrapping paper. I am so in love with my new Sorel boots I will admit to having worn them around the house for about 30 minutes. It's important to make sure they fit :-)

So with that, the butter cookies are calling my name. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Spirit

So if the events of the last few days have not gotten me in the holiday spirit, nothing will at this point. I was lucky enough to finally see the Aimee Mann Holiday Variety show with my friend. Yes, I know Aimee Mann is not necessarily the first person you think of for an cheery, upbeat Christmas song but it was a fun show. And she played some of her non-Christmas songs so it was all good. What was not good was the torrential downpours that were occurring. It was crazy to drive home through these giant puddles.

I did realize that my town got some ice but did not realize how bad it was just a few miles north of me. People are still without power today from all the ice and damage. When I left for NY on Saturday morning, I saw a line of utility and power trucks heading into MA from CT and there had to be about 20 of them all coming to help restore power.


I arrived into Grand Central, and much like last year was besieged by Santas. If getting dressed up as Santa, slutty Santa, or a pimp Snowman, singing bawdy Christmas Carols, and drinking at 10 am are your idea of fun then SantaCon is for you! Think of a Santa Pub crawl and you've got the idea. All fun, except when you get stuck on the 6 train with about 20 of them pretty well sauced up and singing at the top of their lungs.

It was freezing in the city but this time I did remember to bring my hat with me. It was so great to be back and I had a lot I wanted to do. I was unable to catch up with most of my friends but was actually happy to have a weekend in the city with no set plans.

The tree was lovely and had the usual crowd around it. Fortunately the things I had to do were in much less congested parts of the city. I am still puzzled though by how people can stop dead in the center of a crosswalk like a deer in headlights. I know there are a lot of people, cars and shiny objects but gawk from the sidewalk, not in the road!! I did give out a bunch of directions, which I don't mind. I like helping people along.

The food was good and I did manage to get my cupcake on Sunday. Full of sugar, I decided to head back home a bit earlier than normal. The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy at work and I preferred to drive back in the daylight.

Cinnamon and Evergreen

With the first snowfall this weekend (only a little but there were flakes so it counted) it was the perfect day to get my tree decorated. I always forget that I manage to get covered in sap whenever I deal with a Christmas tree. A little peanut butter on my hands and a wash got me unstuck. It's a cute tree and it makes my house smell like Christmas. The cinnamon came via a great Yankee candle. All in all my home has been chock full of holiday scent today.

It was also a good day to bid adieu to a delusion man. We were on entirely different levels (I am in reality, he was in the 80's, 50's, or an elevator in '91) and with the incident of calling me the wrong name I was happy to set him straight and on his way :-)

This week is going to be a very busy one with work and my impending NYC trip next weekend so it was nice to have a day to relax and get some decorating done.