Whew, one more holiday to go

2005 is quickly wrapping up. All in all, its been a nice year.

I finally feel really settled into the condo and it feels like home. Repainting made all the difference in the world. The color my talented designer friend picked out was perfect, it matched the rug and coordinated with the kitchen and accent colors - but since the condo has limited natural light the only time the color looked fabulous was during the day or by candle light. I lived with it for a year, which I think is long enough. Happily, the replacement color (Sand) looks sunny and it pleases me to no end.

The rift with Mo and the gang hasn't mended, but we've had some joint social events that weren't too terrible. I'm a firm believer in attempting to make things work and I really think that for relationships to work it has to be a 90/10 effort split. Give 90% expect 10%, but it turned out that the 10% I was getting back wasn't worth shit. My dad liked Mo, and he keeps asking about her, but that ship has sailed. (the 90/10 analogy seems lopsided, but it really just compensates for the fact that in every relationship each person thinks they are giving more than the other person. Anyway, it's how I kept from murdering my brother when we were kids... even though I was a terrible little sister. He'd get in trouble for something (bad grades, smoking, whatever) and I would clean my room, or mop the kitchen floor without being asked. "Look mommy, I'm an angel!" Jeeze, it must have been so transparent. He was in trouble a lot - so I'm sure they never said anything because they liked the clean floors.

The girls and I went to see Duran Duran this spring. It certainly wouldn't match a Beattles reunion tour (seeing how they are 50% dead, it is probably unlikely) it was a fulfillment of a girlhood dream. Sharing it with J&Y&Ali was great! I'm thankful that the bands latest album (cd -- whatever) didn't suck. It would have been hard to get excited about the band if it had turned out they were not a band but a marketing ploy -- like Maria Carey (what's the attraction people!?)

Of course, the year wrap up wouldn't be complete without extolling the wonders of visiting Spain (twice.. that's just wrong.) The two trips were so different that I can't hardly compare them. I framed some photo's this weekend for my condo from the second trip.

The holiday season is in full swing, with Christmas parties, the annual trip to Portland for tax free shopping (I hear that Williams Sonoma is on the agenda) and a performance of the Nutcracker with J's daughter in the role of a pastry or something. It's going to be grand.

The work party is Wednesday, and I spent the day Saturday procuring gifts for the co-workers. I am happy to report that I did the task with gladness in my heart. Mostly, the gifts are nice - crystal vases, cd's, small appliances (a 3 way steamer thing), Swiss army knife and a couple silly gifts that I tried to pair with something to ease the pain of getting Homer Simpson slippers. The trick to selecting gifts from a pile is not to take the biggest gift you see. Both of the huge gifts qualify as silly - but for the most part I tried to get things that either I would want or would re-gift to a friend (if I was only spending $25 on them.) The hard part now will be getting all of these items to work before Wednesday. I refuse to drive in, and thus it's one big bag at a time on the bus.

I also tried to correct the color of my hair... failed.


Yesterday I re-corrected it and while I didn't wash all the red away its a better more natural color that I can live with. Thanks to Y for being seen with me in public Saturday. (We saw the new Pride & Prejudice - which although different from the oh-so-loved BBC version was great!)

Finally, with the work year quickly coming to an end as well (I know, its shocking) people are wigging out and in spite of the leisurely four day weekend it's a zoo around here - so I'd better get back to it.

Have a fantastic week!