i heard a record and it opened my eyes

do you know what today is?
today is the winter solstice. it is also a new moon. now, you might be saying, "what in the hoo-ha is happy about so much darkness and coldness?" and you'd be absolutely right. it is difficult to be happy at times like these, and that is why we have Christmas in the winter: to make us happy.
but children, you must look at the bigger picture.
today is happy because it is the shortest day of the year. that means from now until june the days just get longer and more sunny and eventually warmer. the moon is now waxing instead of waning and all hope returns.

plus. i got to go to lunch AND shopping with rennie and we made the totally awesomest EVER rhinestone rat.
(ask, but not now.)

and ice cream. chocolate ice cream is always a happy thing. mmmmm. i'm happy just remembering the ice cream.

goodnight!!!

she sticks up for you when you get aggravation from the snobs

that's right, i have frequent conversations with fashion.

this is not a love song

today might be the best day ever. (and by today i mean the 24 hour period from 3pm yesterday to 3pm today)

it didn't start out great, it never does. i was about to go to work. i was talking to scott and being mad at myself for not having used the day productively to write my final paper due the next day. i told him that all i really wanted in my life was some warm, baked, tasty treats.

(no lie. look:


ichat says it looked like this: )

but it was almost time to go to work.
i picked up shannon at her house. and guess what shannon was carrying! a tray FULL of baked goods. she had cream cheese bars, and delicious pumpkin bread and brownies (even though she's off chocolate til christmas) AND she had a christmas mug of holiday funness just for me!!

so teaching ended up not being so bad.

i came home, and i still had to write that paper. so i sat down in front of my computer. and did nothing. finally i started re-reading my books. i wasn't feeling great, and i decided i needed to be pulled out of my funk.
i didn't really sleep all night. i finally took out my contacts, but i was reading intermittently until my alarm went off at 6:30. you can't argue with that so i got up and started writing my paper. by 11:15 i had 5/7 pages done and more to say.
rennie is like the best ever and even though i was supposed to take her out to eat she brought me veggie pizza from the pie. we ate and chatted and she read my paper and then i got back to work. i finished before 3. i took it up to straley's office, (linds' was on the top of the pile. i love roommate/classmates!!!!), waved to katie register, and got back to my car before i got a ticket. i was home and ready to go before shannon called.
when she did call it was to say she was running late and would that be ok? ok? it was great. i got to finish snacking and bask in my completedness for like a whole 'nother 10 minutes. AND i found this little piece of awesomeness. (wait a minute... no. it can't be! wait... it is!! rednama flowers is singing christmas carols!)
then we went to work and here i am.

why was this the best day ever? not a clue. but that's how i feel. plus, even if the paper ain't that great, at least it's done, long enough and moderately coherent. not bad for no sleep and one day.

3 down, 2 to go.

yes. i suppose i do keep track of my life based on my random chats with whomever i can sucker into listening to me. do you have a problem with that?

happy days for happy people

in an international survey of happy people, happy moments this week most often occurred within the family.
happiness also included gingerbread, teasing, portuguese praise, rock climbing, chocolate and free tickets.

i had some happy fun times of my own at the birthday party for my "mommola". lots of good treats and old fashioned late night homeworking with the sibs.

and i taught my first cello lesson in a long time. that always makes me happy.

today angel, who came to inquire about english classes, asked if i was from spain.

i like being asked that question.
the obvious reason is that somehow, somewhere there is a native speaker of spanish mistaking me for a native speaker of spanish. but more than that, i like being asked that question because it reminds me that i did, in fact, go to spain.

going to spain is not the kind of thing you should forget. and, really, i don't forget. (keren ann, anyone?) it's just always been such a surreal thing. i can't really explain it, but sometimes, especially right after i got home and nothing was different, i found myself wondering if i hadn't gone and i had just been making it up in my head.
strange, but true.

anyway, when people ask where i learned spanish, i always say, "here." then they ask if i've ever lived anywhere else and i force myself to remember that i lived in spain for six weeks. "but," i say as a disclaimer for my poor spanish, "i didn't really learn anything there. i was always with americans."

well, i guess i did learn something after all: just the tiniest bit of an accent.

"your hair is very nineteen-thirties today."

that's what my british next-door neighbor said to me at church today. she said it just like that. as if it were written out. i was rather flattered.