[ 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!