18 posts tagged “holidays”
beer_retard.
They have this deal on Fridays where they cap a limited-edition keg and
sell $3 pints until they run out. We each had a pint of their Islander
Pale Ale.Then, we met up with
decadentscholar and negihama
for some food (caprese platter, three orders of fish and chips, and a
side salad) and drinks (I had two more beers, but they were of the high
alcohol variety). Afterward, we walked up to the house and served cake.
The cats came out and made friends, and we had a not-so-late night. It
was a good birthday.The big present from Elizabeth was tickets to the Sasquatch Music Festival (day one, Saturday). The lineup: Host Sarah Silverman; artists Björk, The Arcade Fire, Manu Chao, Neko Case, The Hold Steady, Mix Master Mike, Mirah, and a bunch of others. Now I need to investigate the latest photo policy (what does "professional cameras" mean to the gate security?), see if it's worth it to get "Premier Parking", and start getting hydrated now.
In a little bit, we're heading over to my folks' to see some relatives, have more cake, and generally take it easy.
I'm not sure I'm going to have time to do my usual annual live music wrap-up or some sort of detailed "what I did in aught-six" post, at least not until sometime in the coming week. But I was just thinking about how it has been such a nice year for me. I went on a number of trips (including an amazing one in Italy back in March), I witnessed and discovered some really good music, my nephew was born healthy, my parents continue to do well, the house is still standing, the cats are doing well, the direction of this country's government corrected itself a little in a good way, my friends are all making progress in their lives — and I've grown even closer to Elizabeth.
I'm really looking forward to 2007. Here's wishing you the happiest of new years!
Thursday night, we had the fourth of what will be five-ish separate Christmas gift exchanges this holiday season; this one was with my parents. In the interests of preserving my memory and to remind myself that I am both blessed and too materialistic, I am putting behind the cut the things that I gave and got before I forget everything.
Gave
2 Japanese Dunny toys
Japanese chocolate candies and mango gummy candies
The Cake Bible
Eames-designed paper/envelopes
More that I can't remember
Got
ThermaRest camping pad
Camping pillow
New bowls for the kitchen
Liqueur-filled chocolates
More chocolates
Snow globe
Exchange 2: Elizabeth, her step-mom, her dad, her brother, her sister-in-law
Gave
An assortment of west coast/Pacific Northwest beers for her dad
A lot of things that Elizabeth picked out
A necklace/earing set for Elizabeth
Got
A GorillaPod from Elizabeth
A
Best Buy gift card specifically to buy the Neko Case Austin City Limits
DVD (her dad couldn't remember if I liked her or not. I do.)
Other small, cool things
Exchange 3: Elizabeth, her mom, her brother, her sister-in-law
Gave
(Elizabeth
took care of it; whenever I remember what it was, we can add it. Her
brother got a gift card, her mom a gift certificate for a massage at a
spa)
Got
Sweat pants
Socks
Exchange 4: White elephant exchange with Elizabeth's mom's side of the family
Gave
"Music" gift pack:
- Book on the history of music
- Yanni Live at the Acropolis CD
- Toy accordion
- Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt
Got
Razor and shaving cream (happy to get something that didn't take up much room in my bag)
Exchange 5: Elizabeth and my parents
Gave
Mom: Soaps from LUSH
Soapstone statue from La Tienda (from Kenya)
The Anthology of American Folk Music (for her birthday)
Dad: The Week-End Book
Movie Lust
Very nice olive oil imported from Italy
Got
SIFF "goodwill partner" membership for me and E!
Scarecrow Video Movie Guide
Omelet/frying pan
The Complete Peanuts 1959-60/1961-62 two-pack
LEGO Star Wars II: Classic Trilogy Edition for Xbox
In an hour or so, the family is going up to Bellingham to do yet another Christmas with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. And Sunday night, my friends are doing a white elephant gift exchange prior to the New Year's festivities. So there's a potential for more stuff. Whee!
I am quite happy with what I've got so far; I can think of maybe one or two things on my family-requested "list" that I didn't get but sort of really want now. And I might get one of those things today.
Happy Boxing Day, everybody!
We had a good Christmas with parts of negihama's
mom's family, and our flights home worked out well. The cats are happy
to see us home in a cold house, and we're trying to figure out dinner
that doesn't involve cooking.
Safe travels, everyone! I'll post more later.
We had a fun Christmas Eve Christmas with
negihama's father, step-mom, brother, and sister-in-law. I got a Gorillapod,
among other cool things. Tomorrow morning, we do another Christmas with
Elizabeth's Mom, and then we go over to her relatives for a White We brought six bottles of beer with us in our checked luggage (wrapped in bubble wrap and two plastic bags each) and they survived. I hope we do the same on the way back.
I know that not everyone is celebrating Christmas; maybe even some of you have to work. But I hope you have a good day on the 25th, regardless. Happy Holidays, whatever that means to you.
We've been having a good time in Maryland. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed almost two hours, giving us close to 5 hours in a dull airport. I finished a book on the flight to Baltimore, so yesterday we went to a bookstore. I should now be set until we're in Minneapolis airport again - maybe all the way to Seattle.
There's
lots of snacks and treats around, and our internal clocks are all
screwy. The weather is really mild. We went for a walk today with negihama's cousin Becky. Tomorrow, the family stuff starts. We get back on the 26th.
Happy Christmas to everyone.
And here it is, Holiday Travel Eve. This is my first Christmas to
travel more than across town to my parents' place. Instead, I'm going
with negihama to Maryland to spend Christmas with her family.
I'm not at all anxious about the family stuff; I've met nearly everyone already, and they're all nice. I'm mostly worried about lost luggage and missed connections. Stuff like that. We're changing planes in Minnapolis-St. Paul, which is scary except for the three-hour layover. We may need those three hours.
What have I been up to during the last little bit? Christmas shopping, Christmas music listening, stuff like that. Inspired by socialretard, I've sampled a winter beer a night for the last week or so:
Just one per night. I didn't take notes, though, which sort of wasted the sampling plan. I wanted to figure out which ones I liked the best and get a six-pack or larger bottle of the best ones. But I can't remember which ones were the best. None were that bad, but some were nothing special.
On the weekend, we gave the cats a bunch of cat toys. You can see photos from the resulting catnip-fueled shenanigans here. Last night, Elizabeth and I exchanged presents. I got some things that I could really use, including a ThermaRest pad for camping (my old one was old and busted), new bowls, and lights for my bike. Everything was really cool. I'm hoping that another gift for Elizabeth arrives in the mail today.
Aside from some self-control issues, "Operation Stop Sucking on So Many Cough Drops" is working OK.
Thanks to MP3 blog aggregators, I am dangerously close to be overwhelmed by Christmas-themed MP3s. I can't keep up with the ones I download. I'm especially loving how more and more people are finding old LPs not on CD and ripping them. I'm not saying all of them sound good. I downloaded a zip of "A Cabbage Patch Christmas" (from 1984) last night, and I'm afraid to listen to it.
But I just listened to "Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas" by Easy-E. Without some help, I'm not sure if I would ever get a chance to hear this one otherwise. (My recent tracks can be viewed.)
Anyone else discover some fun Christmas tunes this year? Not that I need to add to my collection.
Maybe I could use VOX to post some of my favorites. Maybe I could take requests...
This is getting to be a bad habit: I get a cold (sinuses clogged, running nose, headaches, coughing, etc.); most of the symptoms disappear in a week; an itchy, scratchy throat that causes me to cough with no discernible pattern lingers for at least a week afterward. My guess is that the throat/cough trouble is caused by the cough drops that I use to stop coughing. However, without the cough drops it seems just as bad. I think I might experiment and not use any cough drops tomorrow. Maybe it will help. In the meantime, Throat Coat tea is my friend.
I've been negligent in posting for the last few days. The highlights of those lost days:
- We've gone through most of season two (first 9 or 10 episodes) of The Wire. We are addicted.
- I've made substantial progress on Christmas shopping or brainstorming for Christmas shopping (for me, figuring out what
to get is tougher than doing the shopping). The biggest deadlines are
getting presents sent to my sister and possibly something for negihama's dad in the next few days. I need to do a little more shopping first, though.
- I sampled three more winter beers at Brouwer's Cafe in Fremont. We joined socialretard and decadentscholar for some frites and libations. Brouwer's has a massive amount of beer on tap, and we will definitely have to return sometime.
- Elizabeth made a cake completely from scratch yesterday. It got finished late, but it was excellent.
-
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We got a tree and
decorated it last night. Tonight, I hope to put up more lights
somewhere around the house.
The news about James Kim is so sad. Just because I don't mention it in my journal doesn't mean I'm not thinking about. Sort of the same deal with other journalers' travails and even birthdays. (I posted some blanket "happy birthday!" statement a long time ago and it still applies. If I don't mention your birthday, it doesn't mean that I don't wish you a happy one!)
We finished watching season one of The Wire last night, and now we're taking a breather before getting into season two. I can see now why everyone raves about it. I like how almost no one is perfect and completely good or bad. And the ending was neither an ending nor wrapped up in a neat little bow: Some bad guys didn't get caught, not all good guys were rewarded, and life largely goes back to normal despite everything that happened. I know only a little about season two (and a very spare description of the latest season) and am looking forward to being surprised.
I need to get serious
about Christmas shopping very, very soon. I'm buying for more people
thing time, including something small but not insignificant for all of negihama's
family members I'll see in just a couple of weeks. I did make a couple
of present purchases in the last week, so that's a start. And no one
knows what to get me this year. I need to make a list for everyone else, too.
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