I was just reminded by Carrisa that I haven’t posted in almost a week. Oops, my bad.

Anyway, as you can imagine I have been very, very busy. First things first, I have a definite start date for my job, which is December 28th. It took over two weeks to get my background check back. Can you believe it? I swear I am not a criminal. I promise.

Secondly, I chose Kim’s ADORABLE triplets to receive Elmo for Christmas. I hope they enjoy him, and I also hope that Kim and her husband don’t hate me for sending a such a loud gift.

Now, I have been up to my EARS in yarn, I only have two projects that absolutely HAVE to be finished before Christmas. If I need to, I will be knitting on the plane ride down to Huntington Beach on Christmas Day. Which, brings me to another thing. While we certainly don’t have White Christmases here in Oregon, it definitely is cold. Zane informs me that I should pack Spring clothing for our trip. WTF? I cannot deal.

Today I am sending off a stocking to my BFF Kathina, whom you may recall, moved off to Atlanta in May. We don’t normally exchange gifts, but I really wanted to send her something, as she’ll be spending the holiday without her family. There are some silly little things in the stocking, such as mini peanut butters that Zane always picks up for her whilst in Canada (she loves them), a mini bottle of bubbly, some Christmas Socks, a little Aveda lotion (we love us some Aveda), and some other little items. But, last night, as we were leaving Toys R Us, I saw a little license plate for a child’s bike – it was an Oregon plate and it said, “You Are Loved.” So, I bought it and am sending it in the stocking. It was only two bucks, certainly the cheapest thing in the stocking, but I think it perfectly describes how we feel about Kathina.

In other shopping news, I will NEVER EVER EVER go to the Lloyd Center Mall AGAIN. First of all, mall rats – where are your parents? Second of all, all the stores there suck. We ended up leaving after I almost went ape shit on some shoppers lolly gagging in front of me. PLEASE, walk at a reasonable pace. You are killing me!

So, we headed back downtown and went to the civilized mall, Pioneer Place. We were able to complete our shopping after a quick trip to REI for some heated socks for Zane’s daddy. And then, we celebrated with dinner and Crisp Cold Coors Lights (I am moderating and it is going fantastically, thanks for asking).

Now, back to knitting!

We had a bit of a wind and rain storm last night. Our sensationalist Portland news media was calling it “The Perfect Storm.” But, HA! we said to that. We had plans to go out to dinner with some friends to celebrate a birthday (not mine), and so we went.

The restaurant, Roux, was absolutely delightful. It’s been around for about a year or so, but this was the first chance we all had to try it. Anyway, we had appetizers (Hush Puppies and Yummy Sausages) and almost right as our dinner came out, out went the power. Luckily, they had emergency lights, and lots of candles.

Let me say this, we had so much fun – you would think that being in a restaurant with the lights out would be weird, but we had a great time.

So, we finished up our delicious dinner and scooted out – the power was out on the street lights so it was v. v. dark. And, because I am the world’s largest klutz (look it up, it’s a fact) I tripped on a curb and fell in the wet grass. Thank goodness it had been raining a ton, so the ground was fairly soft.

We got home to find out there had been a mudslide in our neighborhood (we live in a hilly type area), and that our power had been out for a bit. But, all is good now, power back on and I slept snugly in my bed after taking many many painkillers to take my post-fall aches away.

It’s 7:04 a.m. here. It is my birthday. I want to sleep in.

But, I am wide awake, up, watching the news with the cat. Zane is upstairs asleep. Would it be wrong to wake him? I am the birthday girl afterall.

Anyway, brunch with friends later on today and then my dad is coming over for dinner and to watch the Christmas Ships from our porch.

Very exciting!