whoa--christmastime is here!!! my feet smell like pine!!!

First of all, Nelly loves pumas. And his new record is called "Sweatsuit". Just thought you should know.

This weekend was GREAT! Kristin visited from Calcutta and hip hip hooray, I didn't have to work all weekend and got to have lots of great conversations and fun chill time with her, Court & Jess.

Court, Kristin & I went to "The Holiday" on Friday and decided that romantic comedies are for women as porn is for men: unrealistic expectations, longing for something that doesn't really exist except in a scriptwriter's mind, etc. It was a pretty cute movie, but did leave you with that gnawing feeling that your life is sorely incomplete and that normal people do not have "cute-meets", nor do they look like Cameron Diaz and Jude Law.

We hit the thrift stores in search of a wild stallion t-shirt (it's a long story involving the alternatives of submission or the glue factory) and came up empty-handed. It was a tragedy of sorts, assuaged only by the unexpected appearance of my alternate personality Rhonda. There were photos, but I do not have them. Hm. This could be a problem.

I've realized that when guests come to town, it's like a progressive meal the entire weekend. We go from one establishment to another caffeinating and talking and consuming tasty things and talking some more. It's great. I love that my friends love this. Then again, I give them no alternative. I will not be suggesting a trip to Dave & Busters anytime soon. That's, as Nelly would say, derrty fo sho.

Kristin & I did make a chilly pilgrimage to see the whirly twirly pink cheeked ice skaters in Forest Park on Saturday afternoon. It was lovely, romantic, like a movie (ok, maybe real-life people do have cute-meets, I take it back). Saturday also included hanging with friends and discussing, among other things, the differences between Shakers, Quakers, Amish, and Mennonite communities. It was rather involved and inconclusive. Thank goodness for Wikipedia.

Two Christmas parties were thrown in there somewhere, I got to meet and hold sweet, chubby cheeked Gabrielle on her second and a half day in the world, and I had a tearful goodbye at the airport with my dear friend, which is bittersweet, and holds in it hopes that I will see her again soon. How ya like them run on sentences? Too much. Too MUCH.

Right now I have pine needles stuck to the bottoms of my feet. Our tree decided to shed the needles from the three bottom layers of branches. He's quite well-behaved other than that though, beautiful even, so we're willing to put up with his premature balding and the piney feet syndrome. There are worse things you can step in. Believe me.