Happy New Year from the west coast!
Wow! another whole year has gone by...3 hours ago it was already 2007 in the East Coast but its still not 2007 in Hawaii yet! This year went by fast...
Anyway, yeah I've had the whole week off, and I have tomorrow off, but I've only been online twice this whole week! I can hardly believe it, but its been ok, a break was probably in order.
So backing up a bit before we move forward to the new year...Christmas, it was pretty nice actually, this year has been a lukewarm year financially for my family, with things taking a downward turn in November. So I didnt ask for a lot and didnt expect anything extravagant that would put a bigger financial dent in my parents bank account. But I still pulled in some nice things! I got;
Books;
Max Factor's Hollywood Glamour, Movies, Make-Up - this book details Max Factor's life from the start to finish, and goes through all of the stars he worked with during his time in Hollywood. Its really something and I've wanted it for quite a while!
Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories - I borrowed this book from the library last year and adored it, I had already scanned most of its photos in the computer but its nice to just have now anytime.
A $40 Amazon.com gift certificate (yes, this isnt exactly a book but I'll most likely use it to get one)
Computer-related;
$50 e-bay gift certificate - yay! e-bay = my good friend! I am trying to be astute though on what I spend it on...this is the tuff part because if I use it quickly for something, I might find something else more expensive that I could have put this towards
A new video graphics card! - this is of course for my desktop, I can now see photos and graphics on this computer even clearer and more vibrant than before!
A new sound card - the one on my desktop here was acting up, every other time I would turn it on or so the sound would be staticy and bad, then other times it worked fine, but it just got to be a hassle turning the computer on and off and hope each time would be the good one.
Clothes;
A Stan Herman deco design robe - my complaining during that it was cold must have got to my mother lol
A black long sleeve shirt - which is perfect because, I only wear long sleeves normally, and I usually prefer black colors for shirts.
Then, last but most certainly not least;
A GPS Navigation System!!! Yay! probably the most needed item out of the gifts I recieved. Now I can actually drive out and about far and not have to worry about directions or getting lost on surface streets and all of that! We've already tested it going up to Santa Paula Friday and then down to Aunt Catherine and Uncle Peter's estate down in Encino Saturday. The voice says when to turn, how many miles to continue going, will help redirect you some place if you go the wrong way, its great! It displays the time it will take to go someplace also, and counts down as you are going.
So this Christmas, though it was a small one, has been very satisfying and I couldnt have asked for anything more.
As for other gifts, I gave my dad a Macy's gift card for $60 and gave my mother some music CD's that I know she wanted, including the new "DreamGirls" soundtrack, and she wasnt expect anything either, I had got the stuff during work and then hid them the day I came home and waited until she was distracted to put them with all the other stuff. Then I bought Joseph a Star Wars computer game, Empire at War, and I have to admit...I've been playing it just as much as him lol It becomes addicting, its a real-time strategy game, but it also plays out like a board game...its interesting because its like you have the entire map of planets from the "star wars universe"; both ones from the movies and also from the books and things, and its like you can built your space and ground armies and go and invade and conqure other planets and then built buildings on them and stuff. I like all those types of games, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Hearts of Iron, strategic battle games like that just pull me right in. I guess its just something about creating massive armies and the power of destroying everyone else...this must be how George W. feels lol
Anyway after that we went later in the day to visit one of my dad's cousins with my grandparents and my Uncle Peter and everyone, she's having some heart problems lately so we just went to see how she was doing and then went back to my grandparents for a while. My grandmother gave me $100 in cash!
Then Saturday was the big party at Uncle Peter and Aunt Catherine's again, which went really well I think. Everyone had a great time, I will be posting photos of both that and some from Christmas at my grandparents later on tomorrow. Anyway I am glad everyone that I read so far has had a great Holiday! and hopefully we'll all have a wonderful New Year!
Anyway, yeah I've had the whole week off, and I have tomorrow off, but I've only been online twice this whole week! I can hardly believe it, but its been ok, a break was probably in order.
So backing up a bit before we move forward to the new year...Christmas, it was pretty nice actually, this year has been a lukewarm year financially for my family, with things taking a downward turn in November. So I didnt ask for a lot and didnt expect anything extravagant that would put a bigger financial dent in my parents bank account. But I still pulled in some nice things! I got;
Books;
Max Factor's Hollywood Glamour, Movies, Make-Up - this book details Max Factor's life from the start to finish, and goes through all of the stars he worked with during his time in Hollywood. Its really something and I've wanted it for quite a while!
Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories - I borrowed this book from the library last year and adored it, I had already scanned most of its photos in the computer but its nice to just have now anytime.
A $40 Amazon.com gift certificate (yes, this isnt exactly a book but I'll most likely use it to get one)
Computer-related;
$50 e-bay gift certificate - yay! e-bay = my good friend! I am trying to be astute though on what I spend it on...this is the tuff part because if I use it quickly for something, I might find something else more expensive that I could have put this towards
A new video graphics card! - this is of course for my desktop, I can now see photos and graphics on this computer even clearer and more vibrant than before!
A new sound card - the one on my desktop here was acting up, every other time I would turn it on or so the sound would be staticy and bad, then other times it worked fine, but it just got to be a hassle turning the computer on and off and hope each time would be the good one.
Clothes;
A Stan Herman deco design robe - my complaining during that it was cold must have got to my mother lol
A black long sleeve shirt - which is perfect because, I only wear long sleeves normally, and I usually prefer black colors for shirts.
Then, last but most certainly not least;
A GPS Navigation System!!! Yay! probably the most needed item out of the gifts I recieved. Now I can actually drive out and about far and not have to worry about directions or getting lost on surface streets and all of that! We've already tested it going up to Santa Paula Friday and then down to Aunt Catherine and Uncle Peter's estate down in Encino Saturday. The voice says when to turn, how many miles to continue going, will help redirect you some place if you go the wrong way, its great! It displays the time it will take to go someplace also, and counts down as you are going.
So this Christmas, though it was a small one, has been very satisfying and I couldnt have asked for anything more.
As for other gifts, I gave my dad a Macy's gift card for $60 and gave my mother some music CD's that I know she wanted, including the new "DreamGirls" soundtrack, and she wasnt expect anything either, I had got the stuff during work and then hid them the day I came home and waited until she was distracted to put them with all the other stuff. Then I bought Joseph a Star Wars computer game, Empire at War, and I have to admit...I've been playing it just as much as him lol It becomes addicting, its a real-time strategy game, but it also plays out like a board game...its interesting because its like you have the entire map of planets from the "star wars universe"; both ones from the movies and also from the books and things, and its like you can built your space and ground armies and go and invade and conqure other planets and then built buildings on them and stuff. I like all those types of games, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Hearts of Iron, strategic battle games like that just pull me right in. I guess its just something about creating massive armies and the power of destroying everyone else...this must be how George W. feels lol
Anyway after that we went later in the day to visit one of my dad's cousins with my grandparents and my Uncle Peter and everyone, she's having some heart problems lately so we just went to see how she was doing and then went back to my grandparents for a while. My grandmother gave me $100 in cash!
Then Saturday was the big party at Uncle Peter and Aunt Catherine's again, which went really well I think. Everyone had a great time, I will be posting photos of both that and some from Christmas at my grandparents later on tomorrow. Anyway I am glad everyone that I read so far has had a great Holiday! and hopefully we'll all have a wonderful New Year!