A fun-filled, festive weekend!

Hello fellow bloggies!!! How was everyone's weekend? I hope they were as merry and fun as mine! And I don't have to say that I'm sorry to see it end, because mine's still going!!! That's right- I'm on VACATION!!!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!! I'm off until Wednesday, and we only have a half-day that day, and then I'm off for a whole solid week, and then I have to be back in the office for New Year's Eve (but it's another half-day), and then I'm off until the following Monday!!! Needless to say, excitement doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now, LOL. I feel like a kid on Christmas Break. Why can't adults have Christmas breaks too? We have it MUCH harder than kids do! :-)

Unfortunately, I think I'll be spending the first day of my vacation with a cold. I've felt kind of icky all day. I started getting a sore throat this afternoon, and now I'm just feeling a little achy and tired and blah. My roommate was sick a week or two ago, and one of my coworkers came into work all last week sick as a dog because she was out of vacation days, so I have a feeling that whatever going's around is headed my way. I took the last of my cold/cough medicine tonight, so I'll have to get more tomorrow morning. Oh well. Most of my break entailed R&R, so if I end up catching a cold, it's not the end of the world. I'll just heat up some chicken noodle soup and watch me some Ellen.

Anyway, so here's a quick recap of my fabulous weekend. On Friday night, my awesome roommate treated me to the PA Ballet performing The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music as part of my Christmas gift! It was absolutely beautiful. It was especially touching to go this year because The Nutcracker brings back all sort of nostalgic memories for me. My grandmother and aunt used to take me and my cousins to see it every year when we were little. They'd also take us to see the Wanamaker window display, and the lights and trees at Longwood Gardens, and all sorts of fun stuff like that this time of year. They really did a lot to make this time of year feel special and magical for us when we were kids, as opposed to just taking us to the mall and letting us sit in Santa's lap. So in light of my grandmother's diagnosis this year, it felt especially heartwarming to see it again for the first time in about 15-20 years. I told my grandmother that I saw it, and she was thrilled. So thanks again to my AWESOME ROOMMATE for such a great gift that brought me back to a wonderful time in my childhood. And she didn't even know the importance/significance of it to me. She just gave me a ticket! But even with all the fond childhood memories aside, it's really just a beautiful show. I'm thinking of being a Sugar Plum Fairy for Halloween. Their costumes are so pretty and sparkly and fun. Hahaha. :-)

So that was Friday night. Saturday night was my friends' annual holiday get-together/gift exchange party, which is always a guaranteed fun time. I brought a wafflemaker as a present, and the person who ended up with it was very happy (well, sure... who doesn't like waffles? LOL!). And check out what I got:

A little blender! How cute is that? I don't think it's big enough to make smoothies or anything like that, but I can use it for sauces, mashed potatoes, etc. Sweet! And more importantly, it was nice just spending time with friends. We're all so busy and spread out and always doing our own things, sometimes we don't get to see each other or keep in touch as often as we'd like to or should, but it seems like this holiday party is the one time of the year we can manage to get it together... my friend Alison was even in town from New Mexico! It was a blast catching up with people I hadn't seen in a long time. Ah, the magic of the holidays, good friends, and a lotta liquor. ;-D I took my cue to bow out gracefully and head home when the tequila shots started though!

At some point throughout the night, we got ice and some snow, because I woke up this morning and peeked out the window, and the cars and the parking lot were covered in ice and slush. Joy to the world. I hadn't been to the gym in a few days and I really wanted to go, plus my gym is just five minutes down the road anyway, so I braved the cold and ice to scrape off my car and go. Actually, the roads were fine, so I'm glad I didn't use the weather as a copout excuse not to get my butt to the gym, haha. Actually, I had a great workout, and it was a little therapeutic even, because I had some stuff on my mind, so I'm really glad I went and worked it out physically and mentally speaking. And I love working out in the morning because it seems to make the day seem longer (in a good way), plus I don't feel bad about lazy the rest of the day! But I was actually a productive little bee today- I ran the dishwasher, changed the cat litter, did a load of laundry, cleaned my room, etc. So much for being lazy!

Oh, and my roommate and I exchanged presents tonight! I gave her a silver-plated cat bookmark, a cat mug and picture frame (she's the cat lover in the apartment, and I'm the one with the cat- how funny is that?), an adjustable three-hole punch (inside joke, sorry!), and the DVD Wall-E. And she gave me a pink yoga mat and a yoga block (both of which I desperately needed!), and my favorite thing ever- BOOKS!!! Not one, not two, not THREE, but FIVE books!!!! Want to know what they are? Well, you're finding out anyway. ;-)

*Self-Made Man: One Woman's Year Disguised as a Man, by Norah Vincent. It's about a woman who goes undercover dressed and acting like a man for a year and a half and writes about the experience. I remember hearing about it on The Today Show. It sounds really interesting!*

*The Journals of Sylvia Plath, compiled by Ted Hughes (her husband). It is what it sounds like- her journals, from childhood on, all rolled into one big probably-sad-and-depressing-but-really-damn-good book! I'm really excited for this one!*

*Saturday, by Ian McEwan. It's about a neurosurgeon who gets involved in a minor fender-bender and the aftermath of the accident... it turns his life completely out of control. It sounds like that Ben Affleck/Samuel L. Jackson movie Changing Lanes, no? I'm sure the book is a million times better, since that's usually the case!*

*To Hell with All That- Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife, by Caitlin Flanagan. It's a collection of short stories/essays about weddings, marriages, motherhood, sex, nannies, etc... of those women's studies/sociological books you know I love so much. Looks awesome!*

*Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, by Ruth Reichl. Ruth Reichl is a food critic for The New York Times, and I actually just bought her other two books at the very last book sale I went to, so it's perfect timing to get this one as well! The book is about the author going "undercover" in different disguises and characters- from a harried soccer mom, to a Bohemian hippie, etc.- and writes about how she's treated at restaurants as a "regular" patron, and comparing it to her experiences because, as a recognized and renowned food critic, restaurant managers are always doing everything they can to accommodate her and kiss her ass, free meals, bribery for a better review, etc. So she writes about the contrasts of this life vs. being treated as "one of the regulars". Ah, the scandalous world of NYC restaurants. ;-)

They all sound like excellent books and I'm so happy to add them to my collection. My roommate definitely knows that the way to my heart is through a good book! :-)

Okay, I'm beat. I need to rest and fight this SOB cold. Time to curl up in bed with my book and my flannel sheets. Goodnight! :-)