Happy Holidays!

I arrived home last night to be thrown into the holiday festivities within just half an hour. Since returning to Pennsylvania, I have had wine, cookies, wrapped gifts, and even "helped" with the Who Ham. By "helped" I mean taste tested... same with the cookies.

I WISH ALL OF YOU A SPARKLY, JOYFUL, AND GLORIOUS HOLIDAY SEASON FILLED WITH GOOD LAUGHS, GREAT FUN, AND WONDERFUL FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

Celebrate You And Me

For the past few days and for a few more throughout the weekend, I have been and will be in celebration mode. There has truly been so many great things that deserve attention in the past few days and weeks that a party must be had.

1) Promotion Celebration - This week, I got promoted. Finally. This is something that has been in the works for such a long time that when it finally happened, it didn't even seem like a real accomplishment. Thankfully, my friends saw it another way. They celebrated with an impromptu bottle of champagne and a mini get together with friends. It was something that made me immediately grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life. These people make sure that you are appreciated even if you are feeling a little less than underwhelmed by your own hard work and determination finally paying off. I should have been toasting them!

2) Holiday Celebration - Since we are officially in the full swing of the holiday season, there had to be a party to celebrate the holidays with the people that I work with. We went out last night and had ourselves a very merry blast. Unfortunately, we didn't get to celebrate the year before, however, we made up for missing last years with quite a few drinks and a lot of crazy dancing. Another mini celebration also happened during the holiday party...

2.5) Food Celebration - Last week I was on a cleanse and I continued it through out this week, until last night that is. We went to the Heartland Brewery on 34th and 5th...they are known for great fried food. I was craving and loving every second of this greasy fatty food that I forgot that I hadn't really had major carbs for a solid week. While having a beer, I started to feel so full and a little queasy due to all of the grease that the food celebration ended abruptly.

3) Love Celebration - Tomorrow, I am celebrating my friend's new found man friend. I will not say "boyfriend" until it is official, however, it could be any day now. I am meeting him for the first time and I cannot wait. She lights up when she gets a text message from him and I haven't seen her do this with anyone in a really long time. I am celebrating love and friendship tomorrow (along with a few cocktails) because there should be so much more of it to go around for everyone!

Charlie Brown Christmas

Tonight, after returning from my lovely extended Thanksgiving weekend, I decorated my apartment for the holidays. It only took about 15 minutes to make a catastrophic mess and a questionable holiday feel.

Since there is so much shine and sparkle in my studio apartment already, I decided that I would add even more to give it a really glitzy holiday effect. Well, the sparkly birds and shiny pine cones just kind of blended in. The only decoration that really makes it feel like the holidays is my ficus tree...and no, I did not say douglas fir or evergreen. I lost over 20 leaves just trying to put the ornaments on the thing and after all of that it reminds me of the one that Charlie Brown decorated. See for yourself...

Charlie's Tree:

My Tree:

So it's official - I can't cook and now I can barely decorate. Let's hope I can still keep the tree alive.

Sext Me Baby

Tonight, I realized that I am officially old. Yes, old...at the age of 26. The first thing that made me realize this was the screaming and carrying on outside of my apartment. There are Halloweeners on the street yelling and Halloweening. I hate Halloween. I am old. I hate screaming Halloweeners.

I also realized that I am old because I cannot Sext. Do you know what a Sext is? I only recently learned that it is supposedly a sexy text message. Yes, a Sext and yes, I'm old. I cannot Sext. Maybe it is because I am not a good lier. I cannot sit on my couch watching Brothers & Sisters on ABC while drinking a glass of red wine and scarfing down something that I call a dinner and be witty and funny and, much less, sexy through a text message. Also note, I am sitting on the couch in granny panties, slippers, and a t-shirt. A really big t-shirt, for the record. They are also really ugly slippers. Slippers aren't sexy unless they are covered in feathers and are in the form of a high heel.

I know that answering the text message back with something highly inappropriate isn't going to help the situation. I am still going to feel old and I will feel like a phony. A Sexty phony that is. Unfortunately being older also means being wiser. Maybe I will just text those Halloweeners outside and tell them to shut the hell up so that I can watch my TV show and go to bed early.

My Calendar Issues

Pre-2010 and Pre-iPhone, I carried around a day planner. It was a really cute leather bound book where I jotted down appointments, reminders and birthdays. Since I got the iPhone that has a built in calendar, I decided to use my electronic device rather than jot things down in a heavy day planner. Despite the ease of my favorite cellphone ever, I have been missing my day planner.

I enjoyed seeing a busy week ahead. Now I only see the date with little dots on it if there is something going on. I have to click on each day to know what is planned. I can set a little alarm if I choose to which is nice, however, I rarely remember to remind myself to set the alarm. Today, I received a beautiful "Save the Date" card for my friend's wedding. It had a small sticker on it and it advised you to put the sticker on your calendar as a reminder. Unfortunately, I cannot put a sticker on my phone.

The other thing that has been bothering me about this compact calendar is that it doesn't list out important holidays like Easter and St. Patrick's Day. I forget about these holidays and need to have them previously entered for me. This whole calendar thing might just be the only thing that I don't absolutely love about my iPhone. Otherwise, it is still one of the greatest gadgets ever made.

Drink Until He's Cute

This weekend I celebrated St. Patty's Day 2 weeks early with the rest of New York and New Jersey in Hoboken. We had so much fun (with the exception of the ride on the Path Train) drinking beer and hanging out on one of the first days above 40 degrees. It was 50 and absolutely amazing! We were decked out with all of the best St. Patty's gear including green plastic beer mugs, shamrock necklaces and St. Patty's themed t-shirts. My t-shirt was a huge hit since it said "Drink Until He's Cute." I did meet quite a few cute guys...or did I?

It is always an issue when you are a little too tipsy to remember if the guy you were talking to was cute or not! Maybe not one of my best ideas ever. I also have to give a shout-out/thank you to the guy who's hat I ended up with. It was a traditional St. Patty's hat and just looked so cute on me. Unfortunately I forgot to give it back to him since I liked it so much. Thanks :)

New Year, New You?

I always hear the phrase "New Year, New You" just after Christmas and ending just before the Super Bowl. Personally, I love to reflect on the past year and move forward into the new one. However, one thing that I do not want for the new year is a whole new me. I have worked hard on this me. I have learned so much these past few years, especially the last one, and I don't want that to go away. I like what I have built me to be. Please, don't throw it all away just because the date is January 1st. Work with what you have got and add to it, take away a few things, and mix it up - but not completely brand new. A haircut is always a good refresher, it gets rid of the dead stuff and lightens you up. A few new pairs of shoes never hurt anyone either, but don't forget about the old ones laying in the closet. They have been through some amazing times that you wouldn't want to leave behind.

So, as you ring in the new year with your bells and whistles, in your fun outfit, bring that person from 2009 with you to 2010. She was a damn good time last year and you will want her along for the ride.

Trimming The Tree

Tonight after a long day of work, my roommate and I put up our Christmas tree. Naturally, my tree is decorated with shiny pink garland and sparkly shoes with feathers on them - yep, totally me.

Setting up the tree was honestly the last thing that I wanted to do tonight. I was tired and just exhausted from actually having to work after having a few days off to relax. I am not as "Holiday Happy" as some of the other members of my family (I know someone who has at least 5 trees set up in her house) however, I do get into the spirit once in awhile. After the tree was finally up and the garland, lights, and decorations were on the fake plastic branches I got a twinkle of that holiday happiness. It lasted all of 2 minutes until I got a sparkle from one of the icicles in my eye.

So much for holiday cheer. I will try again tomorrow. Maybe it will be better when I start writing out my holiday cards, unless I get a paper cut from them. The 25 days of Nonsense (Oops, I mean Christmas) begins...