Thanx

I'm thankful for:

Dominic, Mom, Alyse, Josh, Bobby, my friends from here and there and everywhere in between, food, my job, shelter, clothes, my new, fire red hunter wellington boots, books, the gym, that it didn't rain today, or yesterday, the feast we ate a few hours ago with cristina and her boyfriend who's never had a thanksgiving before, health, happiness, nuva ring, diva cup, knitting, ravelry, traveling to Belize, taking solo vacations where everything is tax-free, plants, the snoring isn't as bad as it used to be, hiking, good movies, great books, that the house smells of yummy turkey as its bones are now stewing in a stock, world music, any music, music i can dance to, graphic novels, hot chocolate, apples, peanut butter, ladybugs, kittens that i don't have to take care of, baby cupcakes, taco trucks, goodreads, the library queue, this year, last year, vitamins, my CSA bin, high interest checking accounts, paying off my last 2 loans, contact lenses, lotion that doesn't have a scent to it, aveda curling solution, the cockring, wine, free, cherry pie from the Twin Peaks diner, water, smoothies, 101cookbooks, smittenkitchen, knit nights, farmer's markets, my clawfoot tub and gas stove, massages, steam rooms, tofu, a juicy burger, laying on the beach during the holidays with my Mom, the Everglades, robert is here samples, sports bras, nice people, public transportation, laughing, crying, farting, pooping regularly, tea, honey, power tools, dinner club, the internet, my macbook, trains, rainbows, clouds, white noise machine, concerts, warm towels on an airplane or at a sushi restaurant, butt wipes, bubble baths, IRAs, backgammon, gin, scrabble, Project Runway, bill murray, REI hiking shoes, the flowy Anthropologie shirt I'm wearing right now to disguise how pleasantly full I am for all the homemade food we made and ate, farming, depeche mode, a time traveller's wife, boutique book stores that i never buy anything from but like looking around nonetheless, roller coasters, county fairs, alpacas, kissing, love and everything else.

Ain't he the cutest?

The boyfriend told me yesterday that he was going to make me dinner that night, at my place. I had this weird premonition that he was going to make me potato laktes because Passover started this weekend and during the holidays I usually think about my grandma and talk about her endlessly. She would make what seemed like 10,000 laktes every time I would visit and then "made" me eat them all, which I gladly took on. I tried recreating her recipe once, years ago and they didn't turn out the way she made them. I thought this would always be the case, as it's hard to copy someone's vague recipe, but then I realized I just didn't add enough oil.

Note to lakte makers: Add too much oil. The laktes should be swimming in the shit.

When I got home last night, I walked into my building and smelled something amazing. Potatoes. Onions. Love. I ran downstairs, flung open the door, and half-expected to find my Grandma standing by the stove, with her makeup all done up and her hair stuck together perfectly.

Instead I found my boyfriend, sitting on the couch looking very pleased with himself. And I was pleased too. Because:

a)he made me something very special
b)he knew to get the good honeycrisp applesauce (NOT SOUR CREAM) at metropolitan market
c)the kitchen was spotless

He did make the same mistake I had made with the oil, but that's okay. I figure the next time I'll show him how it's done. Or at least buy them from a place that knows how it's done.

Holidays by LA

This really has nothing to do with LA and everything to do with what I'd like if I got lots of presents for Hanukkah. Usually, we all get each other something small and/or handmade. And since I've been knitting for the last few years I can pretty much predict that for the rest of my life I'll be getting something yarn related. This is fine of course, because I love these things. But I have many hobbies, and knitting is just one of them.

And then it's my birthday in January, so usually I go home and get the holiday/birthday gift wrapped up in one. Or I get a card with money. Both very much appreciated and more than I could even ask for.

But now that I have this blog, I give my mom and sister not so subtle hints as to what I want and this has proven to be the best way to go. There's no guessing involved, and best of all, no gift cards (although one or two at Anthropologie wouldn't hurt every now and then).

I've been scouring the world for the perfect wallet. This one is close and could work while I find the one that's meant for me.

Back when I lived in Atlanta and I was going to grad school and racking up $65,000 in loans I realized I no longer lived in 80 degree weather. I actually needed some winter gear for the first time in my adult life. So I went to Burlington Coat Factory and bought the cheapest, ugliest down coat I could find. It's perfect for cold morning in Seattle, when I'm going to the gym and no one can see me, but as far as walking around past 6am I'd love to wear this.

Did I hear you say you wanted to give me expensive jewelry that I would never buy for myself? If so, I'd love this or that. But then again, I haven't tried those on so it's probably best not to waste $200 on little old me.

Besides Anthropologie, I love shirts that say things about tacos and blood, tank tops that talk about blowjobs and tops that speaks to motherfuckers everywhere. Small please.


I can't really see this going with the decor of my apartment, but it's still awesome.

But if you did want to get me things for the home, I wouldn't mind this arrow.

I'm not really a smelly lotion kinda girl. I'm more of a "it better have SPF cause that's the only thing I'm putting on my skin" person. But every now and then, I like to smell like almonds and aloe. And then cover my eyes with paper cucumbers.

I haven't quite decided if I love these yet, but I like how they look half way fashionable and I can splash around in the rain if I ever make it back to Seattle.

For 90210 DVDS, things about hiking in Seattle, lotion with olive oil, a CD that has one of my favorite cover song and of course knitting books you can always check out my amazon wish list by typing in my full name and/or email address under FIND SOMEONE'S WISH LIST. And if you're my mom or sister you should know that what I really, really want is to see you guys healthy, happy and safe.

I'm doing lots.

I love the week before Christmas. It means less work and more time to do things like:

-make my holiday gifts for friends and family
-make the wrapping paper for my holiday gifts for the friends and family
-make hot chocolate, courtesy of williams sonoma, courtesy of someone unbeknownst to me who planted it in the office kitchen
-adding a marshallow to that hot chocolate and making it probably the best damn hot chocolate ever in the world of hot chocoates- seriously delicious
-get all errands done. since i've been so damn busy the last month i haven't had time to do anything. the last few days i've ordered about 100 books/dvds/cds from the library and read about 20 emails. it's a slow process but i only have 65 emails to go through now!
-take every precaution known to man so i don't get sick. everyone at work is sick, and instead of using up a sick day they come here infesting everything. it honestly grosses me out, to the point that i might not come in tomorrow because every single person around me is either coughing or sneezing. i rather hang out with a bum all day then be sneezed on from 9 to 5. so far i have been so good. washing hands, drinking lots of oj and tea and water, taking echineachea and airborne and trying to get 8 hours of sleep. these people here who are already sick are taking airborne like it's crack, when they don't understand that things like that (and echineachea) are things you take to prevent getting sick. they don't make the sick go away. just proves my point that people are stupid.
-watch no tv and only listen to KEXP (in case you don't live in Seattle, you should stream kexp because it's great! kexp.org is where you need to go! GO!)

So, there you have it. I'll be in the S. Florida area for a week starting Saturday. It'll be the first time visiting since last year's nightmare. Should be interesting...But I can't wait to see my Mom all on her own!