Well, smack me with a frying pan. This movie was so good.

Tonight Jen and I took Jules to see Tangled. It was important that I get her to see this film since I bought her a Rapunzel dress and a two-foot-long blonde wig for Christmas. Julia, not Jen.

What can I say? This film was an utter delight from start to finish. Beautiful animation, hilarious script, fantastic Broadway-caliber songs. Julia laughed and squealed with delight and I was right there with her. Highly recommended.

Then, as we drove home, I was sure to talk up Rapunzel's purple dress and long blonde hair. I'm hoping she remembers it on Christmas morning.

I am setting my alarm for 3 AM tonight.

Why, you ask? DVR already full and hoping to catch the Mad Men marathon on AMC? Switching to China time just because? Complete mental breakdown from having to bake ten dozen cookies for my cookie exchange?

Nope.

I just want to look out my window and see this:

Lunar eclipse tonight. It ought to be worth hauling my butt out of bed. Especially since I'll only be hauling it about 38 inches to the bedroom window.

Festiveness!

I'm festiving it up today. I'm baking cookies, roasting chestnuts (no, really), wrapping presents, drinking cocoa made in my Cocoamotion machine that Amanda bought me years ago (seriously one of the best gifts ever), and just generally being merry. Then tonight I'm off to a Christmas party. Frivolity abounds!

Photo: 34th Street in Baltimore.

What the what?

So I'm standing at my kitchen window at 1:00 this afternoon and what do I see running through my yard but a six-point buck. Excuse me? I know I don't live in a booming metropolis, but neither do I live in East Jabip. Ridiculous.

I just realized...

...I still fight the urge to write "09" at the end every time I sign a date.

When a whole year is no longer adequate time to get used to what year it is, the trouble has really begun.

What I did this weekend...

...was to meticulously re-create the pages of Ellie's adventure book for Julia, so she doesn't have to carry around her children's Bible and pretend it's an adventure book anymore. I had borrowed her DVD of Up so I had a template for the book, and yesterday I got a call at work. It went like this:

Ali: Hello?

Jules: You will bring Russell back, please?

Ali: Oh, sweetheart, I will bring Russell back, the next time I come to your house.

Jules: You can come tonight, please?

Ali: Honey, I can't come tonight because there's a snowstorm.

Jules: But you will bring Russell back?

Ali: Can you put mommy on the phone?

Jen then explained to me that Julia asked to watch Up, was informed that "Aunt Ali has the DVD," and dragged a chair over to the kitchen phone and declared, "I will call her." Heartbreaking.

And then my co-worker berated me for stealing my niece's movies.

I love winter...

This is a frozen Dutch canal, but it pretty well expresses how I feel about winter.

Okay, clearly this is awesome.

So, I just woke up from a six hour nap (I know) and I thought I'd share something that I believe is patently spectacular.



If I'm ever able to fall back asleep tonight, I'll be dreaming of this.

C & C Freak-out Factory

I'm sorry, but I find this to be hilarious. Nice emeralds, though.

"Oh, I say, this is a right kerfuffle. Tally ho, driver!"

Random days off and buttons and ribbons and prints

I have a friend at work who, in mid-November, decided to take off every Wednesday between then and Christmas in order to get all things done that people need to get done this time of year. Well, she’s got Christmas hosting duties, two small children, and apparently more leave hours saved up than I do, so I couldn’t follow her lead entirely, but I did take one Wednesday off – today. It just seemed like a good idea, to take a random day off for no reason.

I got a lot done today, even if much of it was fun stuff like bake apple strudel and watch a marathon of The League and go for Great Cheap Dates with my sisters and Brian to see Red. Random days off FTW!

But I also spiffed up my craft room wall. This summer I bought a print at one of the awesome local artistry shops we visit when Kris and I go stay with Liz. I had framed it and put it on my craft room wall:

But then I thought that looked so good that I bought three more colorful frames and decided to make a grouping. I had another awesome print, but I was unsure what to do for the other two frames. Then, during my recent weekend of industriousness, I used what I had on hand in the craft room...


...to make a couple of collages...



...and it all turned out like this:

I love the idea of using crafty materials to decorate your crafty space. And I didn't even realize until I hung them that the buttons in the blue frame mimic the dots in the green-framed print and the ribbon in the pink frame mimics the lines in the red-framed print. I delight in it.

Living in infamy

Our international humiliation continues.

So, I stumbled on to this Swedish newspaper article about a phenomenon called cuddle parties. They're these hideously-conceived social events where strangers get together in their pajamas and hug each other for a couple hours. Apparently the trend started in the US (though I've never heard of them before) and now they're spreading across the globe. Most recently to Sweden, where they're described, horrifically, as "a new way to socialize American-style."

American-style? I am so mortified! What must the Swedes think of us?

I mean, I know I've said before that Ikea makes me want to find random Swedish people and kiss them, but I'm certainly not going to get into my jammies and pay 40 bucks to spend two hours hugging them. A little dignity, please.

This guy knows what I'm talking about.

Spa Day!

In what is certain to be a new tradition, Amanda and I had a spa day yesterday. She flew in from Houston, I picked her up in Pittsburgh, and we went to the Chestnut Ridge Resort in Blairsville. We got a spa package with a peppermint foot soak, facial, mango salt scrub, and the best massage of my life, with hot stones.

My skin feels like this:

Merry and bright...

Last year I started a new tradition: to be finished with all Christmas shopping and decorating by December 1st. That way I can relax and enjoy December without feeling rushed. I plan to spend this month being cozy, surrounded by twinkle lights, watching Christmas movies, drinking hot cocoa, being with my family, and doing crafty projects.

So, I decorated tonight. The place looks quite lovely and sparkly.