Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd. - Edith Sitwell

Not that I'm an aristocrat or a genius. Promise my scholastic tests from childhood and my barely above mediocre SAT score will back me up. But I do sometimes think people think I'm crazy. So it's nice to know I'm not the only one of us out there.

I'm so looking forward to this weekend. Tonight my good buddy J here is making G and I dinner and then tomorrow evening we are celebrating Xmas again with G's familia. Lots of celebrating to be done! Sunday evening we are having a little soiree at V's house on the upper east side. muahahahahaha. That just sounds snooty to me. I will go to visit but happy I live in the kitchen of hell. Sounds much more hip right? :)

So we are back in New York from a great trip home with the folks. I felt of course spoiled once again and I got to visit with friends and family all over northern Virginia. Of course I totally exhausted myself per usual. I guess someday I will learn that I don't need to make myself batty every time I go home but I feel like it's worth it. I had a great time with my parents, sis and the bebe. We went to my favorite crab cake sandwich making place Chadwick's in old town. I had two crab cakes while home. There is nothing really that compares to crab cakes in the chesapeake bay area.

As for this week, work has been DEAD. Just plain boring and I'm having a very hard time making myself do anything remotely productive other than online shopping. :) My friend here at work M gave me this funny list called the SHIT list. It has an offender, what their violation is and my plan of attack. There are little boxes you can check off including, confront, ignore, stew, avenge and my personal favorite - TALK SHIT. :) I think I need to do that more often. ha! Last night my good friend I's brother was in town with his new lady. We met up with them for a drink and she is really nice. I'm very happy for him. Tonight G's friend from college and his girlfriend are here. It's a busy time here in NY with LOTS of people visiting. I have found it hard to really keep up with my exercising so I'm committing to a yoga class on Saturday morning. I think that will help me feel a little more relaxed. I'm about eliminating some of the stress in my life right now. This city is amazing but it can really make you a little insane sometimes.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
--Robert F. Kennedy, former U.S. attorney general and politician
Thought that was a good quote for today. G and I had a nice weekend. The second cabinet is finally all put together so we spent some of Saturday going through some of the boxes that had been sitting in the corner collecting dust. Our apartment is coming together! Slow and steady wins the race! Next we will focus on the entertainment center and perhaps a bookshelf. My freelancing thoughts for the new year are a little in flux so I'm thinking I don't need to harp so much on having the desk. I am thinking I need to really think more about what it is I want in the next year or so. I'm doing some evaluating and I really need to plan some things out. We have some awesome weddings coming up next year so I need to focus on planning my time. I leave tomorrow for home for the holidays. I'm going back early since my mom is retiring! So excited for her!

I feel like I'm getting predictable. Apparently I like to post on hump day and Friday. Well fine, I'm a predictable blogger! I have decided that G and I need to get a digital camera. We have had 2 recently but they disappeared. A story for another time. Needless to say, I am going to Rolf's the crazy xmas decorated place again this evening. I was trying to find a photo on google images but nothing is truly doing it justice! I'm having a pretty uneventful week at work. I need to buckle down and get some stuff done but the holidays have made me want to just say eff it!!!

Happy Hump Day! Today I'm wearing this great new skirt that I got over the weekend with G's mom. I went out to LI to visit her and A. It was great to get to know them better and I'm feeling quite snazzy in my tweed pleated skirt. I wore it with my brown boots from Spain. I got these back in college. They say "come with me across the universe" on the sole of the boot. They really really need to be re-soled considering I have had them now for 8 years but I can't bring myself to do it. They are not even really comfortable anymore and have lost the majority of the cushion on the inside. But really, who would take come with my across the universe off the sole of the shoe if they could in any way prevent it? Other than that, just continuing to gear up for the holidays. I still feel like I have SO much to do before we go home. I guess this weekend will be a whirlwind of getting ready, doing laundry, blah blah blah. I found out a good buddy of mine from high school and his girlfriend are coming up for a visit. I'm taking them to this place called Rolf's. It's totally hilarious. Every square inch of the place gets decorated for xmas. And I say every inch, I'm really not exaggerating. It's totally nuts.

Holiday, celebrate! I think I have gained 10,000 lbs from the past weekend of holiday fun. Well okay, maybe just 2 or 3 pounds but you get the picture! Tonight I also have my work holiday party which will be at Bryant Park overlooking the ice skating rink. People in the office were talking about how fun it would be to ice skate after the party and I reminded them of my senior formal in college where we incorporated drinking and skating. In case you were wondering, NOT a good idea. My dear friend S's date got wasted and broke his foot and managed to crack his head open. He's fine now, just slightly brain-damaged. Okay he had to be brain-damaged to get on the ice in that condition so maybe that was beforehand. But it was rather hysterical seeing her with blood on her. It was like Carrie on ice. And while my date managed to not inflict any bodily harm on himself, I managed to get drunk and break up with him that night. And he cried like a baby. I mean, horrible. He was so upset and told me that he knows I love him because I said it one night at the bar we worked at. I sat there in my drunken haze trying to remember when the eff I told this guy I had been dating for about 2 months that I loved him. He finally reminded me of the night. Yes folks, apparently while he was bartending and I was enjoying a friend's bday party equipped with a male stripper I told him I loved him. I also remember telling pretty much everyone in the bar that night that I loved them. I think it was my goodbye to everyone actually. Something like, "I love you and you and you and you," pointing around the room. Needless to say, not a genuine love offering but hey, that must have been hard for him to figure out. It sucked though since then he decided to stalk me for about six months. So ice and drinking do not mix people. Friends don't let friends skate drunk.

"Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius."
--Fulton J. Sheen,
Archbishop, prominent TV preacher

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!
Last night I went out with my friend A for a few drinks in the upper west side. We went to a bar called Prohibition. Insert snorty chuckle on that name. G had his looney holiday party last night. I guess it was not as good as the past ones in LA. And of course it wasn't because I was not there. Hello people! How dare you think to have some cool holiday party and not invite me? Doomed to failure I say! Tonight we are going out with our friend C for her bday and I'm going to be working most of the weekend. It's good for me though extra money. I am going out to have dinner/shop with G's mom tomorrow afternoon. I think that will be a good bonding experience. I need to get to know her better.

Happy Hump Day!
G has been super busy with his new job. Not that I enjoy not having him around but per usual I have managed to find the silver lining. I have been getting lots of our holiday shopping/card giving done with my spare time. I also went to the dermatologist yesterday and drum roll...I have adult acne! Ick! After accutane I thought nothing could grow on this face. :) But alas, all my best efforts at taking good care have failed. Turns out that I'm not supposed to use stuff with microbeads. All along, Cetaphil. G of course gave me a big I told you so today. I have been keeping up with my walking to/from work despite the cold weather. I love being outside. I don't care how cold it gets. I'll just put on more layers! I miss my LA ladies but my good friend N will be here this weekend for a visit. I really do think a LIFT in NY is needed. We must make that happen.

Cumin Crusted Chicken Curry Goodness
That was our dinner last night. YUM. I think tonight I'll kick it up a notch with a little more of the curry since I was fearful of it being too spicy. I should know us better! This past weekend was fun. One of my best buds from college H came to visit. We went to Lombardi's for pizza and partied like it was 1999. Or I guess 1998 since that was when we graduated. We ended up at Rudy's which always cracks me up. G's sister C came out with us which was so much fun. I tell you, I got so lucky in the sister-in-law department. She truly is amazing. I hope she knows how much I adore her. We are gearing up for all our holiday shopping and getting gifts. We started buying things online. Now I need to order a bunch of frames tonight so we can start getting the photos I have picked out for people done. I need more spare time!!