[ the nutcracker was ]

Mesmerizing. Beautiful. Hypnotic. Amazing. Brilliant. Goosebump-causing. Exquisite.

(I liked it... a lot)

[ suffering from blog neglect ]

My blog is suffering, that is... not me. I am a bad bad blog owner. Poor poor blog has just been sitting here for a whole week... sad, alone, neglected. I think it's starting to get a complex. But I have returned, with both words and pictures! I am so sorry Bloggy. It was my bad.

Annnnyway.

This week has been a good one. Jesse & I decided to celebrate Chrismukkah all in one day and a few days earlier than we had originally planned. We had put all our gifts under the Chrismukkah Cactus, and one of us got really annoying and pushy, saying they wanted to open the gifts now, because that person could see them and it was like they were taunting this person. Just laughing and mocking... "You can't open us." This person swears that they even saw one of them stick its tongue out. This person has never been good about being denied a gift that is in plain sight.

(It was me.)

And so, Chrismukkah came early, and was super good. The gifts were mainly of the music and movie variety, but I also got a Wii for Jesse (which we love, and play frequently) and Jesse replaced my favorite favorite book that the Post lost (Portraits, by Steve McCurry... I highly recommend it), aaaand got us tickets to see The Nutcracker tomorrow night!! I am so incredibly excited! I love love love love The Nutcracker. Love it. We saw it last year in Delaware, and it was so good. And this year will probably be even better!

I also received my gifts from my parents and my big sister, both of which I was allowed to open immediately (because I already knew what they were, and even if I hadn't... the boxes they came in were a dead giveaway). My sister gave me one of those amazing coffee machines that you put the little cup of coffee grounds in it, and you get a single cup of coffee in about a minute! Which works out so very well for us, because Jesse doesn't drink coffee. And with this, I can never be wasteful with my coffee! Woot. And my parents gave me the scanner I really really wanted, which I've had some fun playing with.

I can't yet report on what the fam got from me, because they aren't allowed to open their gifts until the big day! I love the holidays!

My parents are coming here on Christmas day, and taking Jesse & I to the Vegas for a few days!!! So very excited. I've never been to the Vegas, so it should definitely be a good time. We're going to see The Rat Pack Strikes Back and Stomp. So excited. I can't wait to see my parents... I haven't seen them since September... it has been too long.

I used my fantabulous scanner to scan an image from Real Simple magazine of the planner I'm going to get... once they're back in stock online and I can actually purchase one. It's pretty and has a sweet yellowy gold cover and it's blocked out the way I like with lots of room for each day. Mmmmm... immediate love:


This planner was, of course, discovered after buying two planners, one from Target and one from the Hallmark store, and hating them both. They are now sitting on the table, with their respective receipts, ready to go back.


Saturday, after Chrismukkah, Jesse & I drove down to Tempe and walked around a really nice park before hitting up Ikea to see if they had any sweet winter deals. No such luck there, but the park was pretty! Pictures follow:








To all those in blog-world... Happy Happy Happy Holidays. I am so glad to have participated in NaBloPoMo and to have 'met' you all. Love and wishes of happiness to you and your families!

[ amazing a capella ]

Thanks to Kelly for emailing me this one!

[ the many skies of arizona ]

Arizona has the best skies ever. (Says the broken record). Here are some shots from various drives to and from work over the past couple weeks.

Fabulously colorful sunset:


Misty mountains in the distance in the morning:


Yet another insanely colorful sunset:


The absolutely bizarre fog from this morning:


This was the type of fog that completely surrounds you and makes you feel like the only person in the world. The whole time I was driving in it, I was thinking about the big battle scene in the movie King Arthur. When the magical misty fog rolls in and Arthur and his five or six horsemen manage to defeat hundreds and hundreds of people because they can't see where they are. And then the people completely painted in blue shoot arrows.

That was the insane image running through my mind. It was early. And I hadn't had any coffee yet.

Happy Wednesday :)

[ seven in seven ]

I forgot to post about weekly goals yesterday, so here I am!

Last week's goals:

1. Finish up the organization of the mail folders. - just about complete... I'm incredibly perfectionist-y about stuff like this
   
2. Finish up Jesse's Chrismukkah stocking. - I was planning on getting the last few things on Friday, but ended up not having time, so maybe today.
   
3. Finish wrapping things for Christmas / Chrismukkah. - completely done!
   
4. Mail out some more fun stuff! - completely done!
   
5. Have fun at the events Jesse & I are going to this week. - we did indeed... see Saturday's post for details
   
6. Finish writing out Chrismukkah cards & mail them. - also done!
   
7. Find a Chrismukkah Cactus! - done, and decorated!
   

Wow... I was quite successful at my goals this week. This tackling-goals-on-a-weekly-basis-thing seems to be working out for me quite well. Now for this week!

1. Think of things to do with Mom & Dad when they get here.
2. Read one hour a night, instead of watching television.
3. Figure out what to eat for Christmas dinner.
4. Research some day and weekend trips for the spring.
5. Create contact database from business cards.
6. Finish up mail system.
7. Finish up Chrismukkah... it's next week!

I seriously cannot believe that it's already December 10th (it's my half-birthday! woot). When did that happen? It's almost 2008. How is that even possible? I've gotta make some fun and exciting plans for the new year. Anyone doing anything amazing?

[ aaaaaaand i'm back ]

Wow, NaBloPoMo ends, and I fall off the face of the planet! My bad!

I must begin by saying I'm watching my favoritest holiday movie of all time: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It's the fantabulous stop-animation, claymation version from 1964, with Burl Ives as the singing Snowman. They redid it as an animated version, but it just isn't the same. So maybe two years ago, I finally found the original version on DVD, and it was quite possibly one of the best moments of my life! I watch it every single year, probably four or five times.

Now, the reason I've been missing. I actually had a crazy busy week.

Monday, I had a nice, productive day at home. I did some chores, and did some work. Then Jesse & I watched Troy, which was quite enjoyable. Crazy crazy Achilles.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were typical work days down in Goodyear, plus Jesse & I had plans each night. Tuesday, we went to dinner at the Wild Thaiger in downtown Phoenix with Stuart and Katie. We had a lot of fun, and we were glad that Stuart and Katie finally met Jesse! Wednesday, we went to Jesse's office party. They had it at a pizza place in the city, and the food was quite delicious and it was nice to finally meet some of the people that Jesse's been talking about. Then Thursday was the Ladies Who Launch AZ holiday party. It was at the Devil's Martini in Scottsdale. We had a great time, and I met a bunch of new people. It got me even more excited for my Incubator in January. I can't wait!

Yesterday, I did a bunch of work, wrapped some Chrismukkah gifts, finished writing out holiday cards, packed up one of two things we need to ship. It was quite productive. Today, we're going to the bank, post office and grocery store, and then I'm working a wedding later tonight.

So that's where I've been. My apologies for my absence!

[ chrismukkah decorations ]

Yesterday, Jesse & I got a Chrismukkah cactus and some fun decorations for the apartment. The cactus is actually a Madagascar Palm, so it's kinda part-cactus, part-palm tree. It's very cute, maybe two feet high. I absolutely love it! And I had a blast decorating the living room!

Here are some (probably too many) shots of the living room, decked out in Chrismukkah glory!


Our "mantle," which is actually just a cleared off bookshelf in the built-in. But it works for me! In the bottom section, you can see the awesome Christmas card Sadira sent! Also, please note our 99-cent-store stockings and the boozing penguin candles I bought for Jesse last year!


Jesse's menorah from Israel. The candles are from Target, and are very colorful. Hanukkah starts tomorrow!


One of six penguin candles I bought for Jesse last year. If you look closely, you can see that this one, while rocking a red top hat, is also holding a martini shaker! Also, check out our awesome golden garland and colorful ball ornaments, all of which are from Target.


The Chrismukkah Cactus! It's so cute, and I'm so excited. Again, please note the 99-cent-store twinkle lights, and a lot more Target ornaments.


Almost the exact same shot. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.


A better view of both the scary spikes, and the pretty ornaments: red and blue garlands, covered in many, many globe ornaments.


The Chrismukkah Cactus, again.


The whole deal. I wrapped the table that the Chrismukkah Cactus is sitting on with lights too. We're going to put our presents under it, and it'll almost be like having presents under a tree!


The Happy Hanukkah sign that Jesse has had for three or four years. It used to have three P's in Happy, but I (finally) removed the extra P. No one noticed for the first two years that there was an extra one! Whoops!


And, cheesy as always, Jesse & I in front of the "mantle."


Happy Holidays!!!!!

[ weekly goals ]

After a nice, one day break from posting, which was totally necessary... I have returned! Weekly goals update time!

Last week's goals:

1. Make more progress on Mom's cards, hopefully including sending her the ideas - I finally caved to the reality that there was no way I would be able to design them all and get them printed and mailed to her in time for her to mail them out in time for the holidays. Curses.
   
2. Finish Christine's proof site & email her - Done!
   
3. Mail folders system - I made some progress... I've got the major categories done, now it's time to focus on the subcategories
   
4. Finish the Hanukkah cards - Just about... we've decided to go digital. I'm going to finish up the design, and then Jesse's going to email the image to all of his family members.
   
5. Finish the promo materials for 5GG - Again, progress made!
   
6. Make plans with Stuart & Katie to have dinner - Done!
   
7. Mail out some fun stuff! - Done!

Now, to come up with a list for this week! Here we go:

1. Finish up the organization of the mail folders.
2. Finish up Jesse's Chrismukkah stocking.
3. Finish wrapping things for Christmas / Chrismukkah.
4. Mail out some more fun stuff!
5. Have fun at the events Jesse & I are going to this week.
6. Finish writing out Chrismukkah cards & mail them.
7. Find a Chrismukkah Cactus!

In regard to #5, Jesse and I have all sorts of fun things going on this week. Tuesday, we're most likely having dinner with Stuart & Katie. Wednesday is Jesse's office's holiday party. Thursday is the Ladies Who Launch AZ holiday party. And Friday is First Friday, downtown. We haven't decided if we're going to First Friday, but if we do, that'll be fun too!



Today, I got my holiday music playlist organized on my iTunes, and I'm currently rocking out to some of the music from LoveActually. I love holiday music. And I love holiday movies. I'm excited to watch Rudolph (the claymation one, which is the only way to go... the animated one is creepy) and Charlie Brown and The Grinch. Yay!

The holiday spirit has officially begun to infect me! Yayyayyay!

[ ps ] it was very very weird to not use the tags "today i am thankful for" or "nablopomo2007"