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The rose is a flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant.
– Unknown
So this weekend is the anniversary of the Best Weekend Ever. We had reservations to go back to the Spanish restaurant tonight, but David is sick and I twisted my ankle pretty good, so I can’t wear heels, so we’re postponing until next weekend. Plus, David had to work today (boo – they don’t pay him enough to work as much as he does) and is exhausted, so it’s unfortunate, but it’s for the best.
But, he just came home with these,
which are gorgeous, and which I wasn’t even expecting, and a sweet card. We just put wine in the fridge for later, and we’ve got Sopranos and Barletts and plenty of movies to choose from, so we’re good to go. Who knows what we’ll do for dinner, though. It won’t be tapas, but it won’t matter, as long as the seat next to me on the couch is filled by my baby.
May you live all the days of your life.
– Johnathan Swift
And she’s as princess-y as ever, let me tell you. Here she is, decked out in her birthday finery:
It’s the shoes that kill me.
There was trampoline fun for everyone!
There was a piñata – princess-themed of course.
David suggested I appreciated the irony of beating the princess-themed piñata to pieces (I’m anti-princesses). He wasn’t entirely wrong.
There was a cook out and cake. Before I say anything else, let me once again commend Molly on her cake craftiness. She asked the Princess what kind of cake she wanted, and she made it happen. That said:
Hannah Montana? When did my sweet, innocent, princess-loving niece discover Hannah effing Montana? God help us.
When I asked Nate if the Princess wanted anything special for her birthday, he told me that when he asked her, she said “Flip-flops,” so I headed to the flip-flop extravaganza that is Old Navy and picked out two pairs. I knew which ones she’d love most, and I was right. Here she is, modeling both her new dress from her other aunt, and her new favorite flip-flops:
I wish I’d taken video of this – she was sashaying back and forth in the living room like a model, flipping her hair, with her little hand on her hip like that. I was dying. She is too grown. God, I love her.
The bowling alley is the poor man’s country club.
– Sanford Hansell
These are the rad bowling shoes David got me for Christmas:
They were actually kind of a joke, but I love them so much! David bowls in a league (I was disappointed to discover they do not wear matching shirts), and a couple of months ago, I was with him at the pro shop when he was having some work done on his balls (hee), and they had a wall full of bowling shoes. I never knew that the bowling shoes real bowlers wear don’t look anything like the bowling shoes you rent at the bowling alley.
Anyway, they had four or five different ones like this – black with red flames, white with blue flames, black with blue flames, white with pink flames, etc – and these. I jokingly suggested to David that he get the black ones with the red flames and that I get the white ones with the purple flames, and then we could be that couple at the bowling alley with the matching bowling shoes. We laughed and that was it. Little did I know – well, actually I did figure it out – that he went and bought those shoes for me!
We bowled with his friends while we were in Michigan – every last one of them was better than me, even in my fancy new shoes. Turns out, the shoes don’t improve your game – that takes actual practice.
The only gift is a portion of thyself.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Buying Christmas presents stresses me out. Not for everyone – the kids are easy and fun to buy for, my sister-in-law is so laid back and genuinely appreciative of even the smallest thing, my grandparents send lists of very specific things they would like and will use, and my mom is also generally pretty easy to please. I guess what I’m getting at then, is that it comes down to the men – my brother, David, and my dad.
Nate sometimes waits until the last minute to send a list of things he’d like, and I generally prefer to have my shopping done by mid-December, so that often means I’ve guessed on gifts for him, and I know he’s ended up with things I thought he’d like but that he’s never used. I hate that, especially because he and Molly are great at picking gifts for me – I always love what they choose. This year, I procrastinated on shopping so long – for various reasons – that I was able to get him gifts from his list, so I feel ok, but still worry that they’re a little impersonal. At least I know he’ll use them.
David is not really that hard to buy for, I don’t guess – he’s a gadgety, video game kind of guy – but those kinds of things don’t really seem to convey what I think a Christmas present for him should – Guitar Hero doesn’t really say “I love you more than ice cream.”
And my dad, god. The anxiety of buying for my dad far outweighs the anxiety of buying for everyone else combined, and it’s been that way for quite some time. I can’t remember when it started; maybe when I was old enough to notice when certain gifts got the obligatory once over and thank you, and then were put aside until they eventually ended up in the box for Goodwill (not just gifts from me, either). I hated feeling like I’d failed; I’d work so hard to find something he’d love (he’s a late list-maker too, if you can get him to make one at all) only to be disappointed in his reaction on Christmas morning. Last year I did great, at least on one gift, and the look on his face over such a small thing (a CD, actually) made all the fretting and anxiety worth it.
I’m the first to admit that this anxiety, particularly where my dad is concerned, stems from something deeper than just wanting to find the “perfect” gift. It comes from my need and desire to take good care of the people I love, it comes from my need for approval from others in nearly everything I do, it comes from wanting to feel like I have enough – so much, in fact, that I can share it with my family. This year that’s a very hard one for me; there’s seems to be not enough, and even though I know no one’s keeping score, I can’t help but feel a little like I’m letting people down.
And the thing is, I’m not at all critical about the gifts other people give me, I’m just grateful to be remembered. So why, when I know how I feel about receiving gifts, can I not ascribe the same feelings to people receiving gifts from me? I mean, practically, I know the people in my family are not counting presents, or calculating how much I likely spent on them, or mentally figuring out who they’re going to regift my item to, or any of that. So why is it so hard for me to just let all of that go and just relax?
Maybe that’s my problem in all of this – that my expectation of finding the perfect gift for everyone is unrealistic, or that I’m focusing on the wrong thing, that the gift doesn’t have to do all of the things I think it should – maybe I need to work on understanding that the gift is just a token, not a representation of the way I feel about the person I’m giving it to. So I’m going to work on that.
Also, I’m going to Michigan for Christmas this year – any suggestions on a gift for David’s dad and step-mom (i’m good on his mom)? I need something that says, “I hope you like me, since we’re going to be family one day, even though you don’t know it yet!”
People always say congratulations. When you’re a successful bidder, it means you’re willing to spend more money than anyone else. I’m not sure if that’s congratulations or condolences.
– Eli Broad
The Team GDT auction site is up and running at teamgdt.com/2008/. New items will be available every Sunday from today until August 15. Each auction runs for one week, from Sunday to Saturday.
I will have two handmade journals up for bid the week of June 22 and two hand-painted flower pots up for bid the week of July 6.
There is going to be a wide variety of items available over the next two months, many of them handmade, homemade, and/or one-of-a-kind, so check back weekly to see if something strikes your fancy. This is a great opportunity to do some early Christmas shopping and support a great cause at the same time.
As a reminder, all donations support members of Team GDT as we Race for the Cure in Boston on September 7, 2008!
Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever, and we’ll meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that can never end.
– Richard Bach
The Princess turns four today!
I remember the day she was born, when I held her for the first time, wondering how anything could be so perfect – she was so tiny, with a perfectly round head – and when Nate and Molly left me alone with her to take a walk, I sang to her, and whispered to her all the things I wanted to teach her as she got bigger, and told her that she would always be my best girl.
She’s at the beach celebrating this week, and I can hardly believe what a big girl she’s become – Nate sent me a couple of pictures yesterday of her early birthday celebration. Here she is on her new “Princess” bike:
And Molly, my ever-creative sister-in-law, has struck again with this castle cake:
I don’t know how she comes up with these things (she did Thomas the Tank Engine for the Conductor’s birthday in January), but she never ceases to amaze me. (And I see there were Dots involved. Why was I not invited?)
I’m headed down next weekend for a little belated celebration; this is the first of her birthdays that I haven’t been there for the actual day, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I got her some clothes, a very cute pair of shoes, and a baseball glove. Pink, of course!
Sometimes cameras and television are good to people and sometimes they aren’t. I don’t know if it’s the way you say it or how you look.
– Dan Quayle
After much research and consultation with the people at Circuit City, my brother, and you commenter-types, I finally bought my very own digital camera! I went with the Canon Powershot A720. I had my eye on one that had a bit more zoom but was otherwise mostly the same, but chose this one because it has a viewfinder, which I think will come in handy on sunny days when the LCD screen is obscured by glare. The guy at Circuit City said the difference between the 6x zoom I got and the 10x the other camera had was not a big deal. I was hoping to score one with a tilting LCD screen, but they don’t make very many of them anymore, and the least expensive one was about $150 more than I wanted to (and could, reasonably) spend. Oh well.
Also, because this one was a bit cheaper than the other one with more zoom, I got the camera, a carrying case, a 2G memory card (on sale for the same price as the 1G), and a Duracell 4-battery rechargeable battery dealio for only $3.91 more than the amount I told myself I could spend (which, thanks to Aimee and Tim and my grandparents, was about $150 more than my original budget!)!
I got it yesterday and got it all set up. I don’t really know what to show you; I’ve only taken pictures of my cat so far, and that’s kind of boring. But he’s pretty handsome, so let’s take a look, shall we?
Hmm. I don’t really get why I have to resize all of these pictures (I had to do the ones from Houston too, which Aimee burned onto a CD from her camera). They’re HUGE, and I’m having to edit them in Microsoft Photo Editor to be 80-85% smaller than they are when I open them. I wonder why that is? Seems like they’re going to take up way more space on my hard drive than they should because of that.
Anyway, so that’s done, and I’m pretty excited about it. Thanks for all the advice and suggestions; it was very helpful!
You may send poetry to the rich; to poor men give substantial presents.
– Marcus Aurelius
It’s almost my birthday and I’m getting a fat tax refund check this year. No, I’m not blowing it all; in fact, nearly all of it is going to pay off my credit card. But I am saving about $200, give or take, to buy myself something nice. So far, I have narrowed it down to three things:
1. Food Saver (for a persuasive argument on why I need one, see here)
2. digital camera (I may be the only person in the world without one, and until now, I haven’t really wanted one, but blogging is more fun when there are pictures, I think)
3. scanner (this is the one I’m least familiar with – I really just want to scan old photos so I can save them on my computer, but space-wise, it might make sense to replace my old ink jet printer with a scanner/printer, but I don’t know what any of the technical terms mean, so it’s hard to know if I have my eye on the right thing)
So, thoughts? Brand suggestions? Things to beware of or look for specifically? Any other ideas? All advice is appreciated!
Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.
– Jane Austen
Sorry I didn’t return to regular programming – I got busy dealing with the body shop, the insurance adjustor, a lying student loan company supervisor (Oh, you’ll call me back in 48 hours, max? Really? I think someone’s pants are on fire.), and crappy apartment maintenance people (Oh, you can’t come today like you said you would, but you’ll be here first thing in the morning? Really? Oh, you’re sorry you couldn’t make it this morning, but it’s after hours now and a dishwasher is not an emergency but you promise you’ll be here tomorrow? Really? Oh, you couldn’t make it again today, but this time you super-duper promise you’ll make it tomorrow? Really? Suck on it. If I get West Nile virus from the nasty, standing water in the bottom of my dishwasher, I may go all Lawyer on you.) – and frankly, was not in the mood for Things to Be Happy About. But don’t you worry, I have a bang-up Christmas edition all ready to go for you – it will be like an extra present for you to open Christmas morning!
So the car: remember how I said how thankful I was that the damage wasn’t extensive? Either I know nothing about cars, the body shop and insurance adjustor are ripping me off, or I jinxed myself. I think it’s the first one, but I’m not positive. We’re up to $2200 and they haven’t even put the car on the lift yet. Awesome. Thank god I wasn’t one of those people who said ”Oh, I never get in accidents, so I can handle a $1500 deductible.” I know myself better than that, and went for $500. That hurts, especially at the holidays, but it could be worse.
Remember also how I said how great my boss is? He gave us Christmas presents yesterday, which I was not expecting at all (we already did our “annual round robin gift exchange,” you know). Two words: Coach wristlet. If you know anything about me, you know I do not care about labels and I would never buy myself Coach anything, but I was amazed at his generosity. It’s beautiful and classic – plain black leather – but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. Does anyone use one of these? I’m stumped in the face of such a thing.
Speaking of gifts, I am officially done, and everything is wrapped, as of last night. Actually, that’s a lie. I left one thing for my brother unwrapped because I may have to exchange it after I get to his house tonight and see if he already has it. He won’t be there til Sunday night – he’s on an out-of-town job – so it will be safe.
And speaking of my brother, welcome him to the blogosphere, won’t you? He’s not a great speller, but I love him anyway.
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