one week and counting...
it is officially one week until christmas. am i worried? am i stressed? not in the traditional sense. i think i'm stressing out more about work than anything else. i've got about 5 or 6 titles that need to be shipped out before i leave on vacation (in other words, by this friday). all of them are in various stages of production. luckily, they're all electronic products, so nothing like large amounts of hardcopy text or files need to be shipped. in the case with these, only a few emails need to be sent and that's it. the thing that will be time-consuming is routing. routing always takes forever and i never know why. i've got to route art proofs and there's always some hold-up somewhere. i have this one that should've gone out last friday, but i'm waiting to hear back from the editorial manager regarding some of the copy that needs to be printed. of course, she's off-site and is notorious for not returning emails. this makes MY job very frustrating. not only is SHE off-site, my freelance art director is off-site, too, but luckily, he's more responsive when it comes to responding and modifying files. *sigh* i'm sure everything will be fine and i'm stressing over nothing, but i think i'll stress no matter what. i'm also just hoping and praying that nothing horrific will happen while i'm gone next week. i KNOW that it's going to be super quiet and that most of my printer's will probably be closed (at least their press departments), but still... i'm leaving my post and i HARDLY EVER do that for long periods of time. gah - must calm self down!
saturday night, marshall and i headed to danville with my dad for my godparent's annual christmas cocktail party. they've moved up in the world and had it catered. normally they just have the food catered, but no actual people manning the kitchen and passing out hors d'oeuvres. they had a chef preparing all the food and 2 waitresses handing out appetizers ranging from little pastry shells with warmed brie and cranberry sauce, wild mushroom ragu on crostinis to smoked salmon with creme freche on brown bread. all were very good, although the smoked salmon was a little TOO much smoked salmon. i think they could've easily used about half the amount of salmon and it would've been just as good. anyway, my godfather was the bartender and instead of his brother-in-law helping out, my dad was enlisted to man the bar while my godfather ran around chatting to people. my dad loved it, of course. it gave him something to do, since my mom wasn't here this year (babysitting for my sister). the dinner was very good. i really liked the chicken and mushrooms. the marinara was a little on the sweet side and i know that many recipes call for some sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, BUT if you just use a couple of carrots (depending on how much sauce you're making) you achieve the same balance, but it never gets TOO sweet. desserts were little mini-bites of cheesecake, eclairs, and chocolate wafer cookies. with coffee, they were all very delicious. my godparents have been doing this every year for the last 5 or so years, so it's about time my godmother was able to mingle with her guests without having to keep running back to the kitchen to clean up or cook something else up. however, it seems the chefs kept burning SOMETHING and she came up to me whispering "man, they keep freaking burning my kitchen down!" so, i guess there's still THAT little worry when someone else is using your kitchen. :) marshall and i also got an early christmas gift from them this year: a festive holiday table runner wtih little decorative tea towels/napkins. perhaps we'll use, at least the runner, for new years!
after drinking and eating too much saturday night, we woke up late and did our grocery shopping before heading out to another christmas shin-dig. this particular shin-dig was my department's [becoming] annual christmas exchange. a good number of us showed up at my coworker's house and indulged in the many great appetizers and snacks along with the many delicious cookies all sunday afternoon. one of my other coworkers even showed up bearing a homemade fruitcake for me! she's been making this fruitcake since thanksgiving. first she macerated the fruit in rum, then baked the cake after the fruit sat for a few days. then after the cake had baked, she's been bathing it in rum for the last 3 weeks or so. i've been warned to not "eat and drive". :) we had a great time and everyone was very taken with marshall. saying how patient he is for coming to these things and enduring the "shop talk" for a few hours. we managed to steer clear of work for a while, but with a group of people who have at least WORK all in common, it's hard to stay away from it for very long. i also got to help out my hostess's daughter in her new endeavor to become a bartender by ordering a bloody mary. i thought it was very good: spicy and tasty, if not a little on the salty side, but otherwise a very well-executed drink. she even made sure that the celery stalk in my glass had little celery leaves on it - made for a lovely presentation. all in all, it was a great celebration. it's nice seeing the people you work with every day OUTSIDE of work, just to see what they're like. :)
last night, marshall and i headed home. he naturally went for WoW, while i tried to get some other things done. he spent the night in a very bad PUG trying to go to wailing caverns. it was frustrating for ME just watching how some of his group mates were playing. i'm surprised marshall stayed with the group all night (granted they never finished the quests!). i mean, their tank couldn't take the damage very well and their druid (healer) didn't know how to heal all that well. marshall was one of 2 mages, and the other mage wanted to be in total control and often went off and did his own thing, sometimes inevitably getting killed in the process OR making the whole group wipe. meanwhile, i stayed in the living room and finished wrapping gifts. i got all my gifts wrapped: marshall's gifts and his mom's cookie/coffee basket. while i was at it, i offered to wrap the last gifts that marshall had. i still have a few gifts to get later this week, but they're gift cards and a blanket, which won't be hard at all. marshall got picked my great aunt in my family for christmas this year and still needs to call my mom to find out what to buy her. i can never remember what my mom always gives her and since it is HIS gift to her, HE needs to find out himself. other than that, i'm all done with christmas gifts.
this week will be interesting. marshall and i leave for florida next sunday and are spending the night at my mom's and she's driving us to the airport. we're also celebrating christmas with my parents and my sister's family saturday night. marshall's mom and grandma are coming up to celebrate with marshall's aunt who lives up here, so they're joining us for dinner. marshall mentioned last night that he wanted to visit his aunt before we left, so we're planning on that for friday night (dinner and gift exchanging). it was mentioned earlier this morning that nicole wanted to get together with us before we left, too, so i'm thinking drinks and a quick bit wednesday night. i'm still trying to get some sorta one-on-one christmas time with marshall, so i'm hoping that thursday night will still remain open so that we can celebrate christmas by ourselves. *fingers crossed* :)
i'm still trying to wrap my head around celebrating christmas in a warm climate this year. i have no idea what to pack!
saturday night, marshall and i headed to danville with my dad for my godparent's annual christmas cocktail party. they've moved up in the world and had it catered. normally they just have the food catered, but no actual people manning the kitchen and passing out hors d'oeuvres. they had a chef preparing all the food and 2 waitresses handing out appetizers ranging from little pastry shells with warmed brie and cranberry sauce, wild mushroom ragu on crostinis to smoked salmon with creme freche on brown bread. all were very good, although the smoked salmon was a little TOO much smoked salmon. i think they could've easily used about half the amount of salmon and it would've been just as good. anyway, my godfather was the bartender and instead of his brother-in-law helping out, my dad was enlisted to man the bar while my godfather ran around chatting to people. my dad loved it, of course. it gave him something to do, since my mom wasn't here this year (babysitting for my sister). the dinner was very good. i really liked the chicken and mushrooms. the marinara was a little on the sweet side and i know that many recipes call for some sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, BUT if you just use a couple of carrots (depending on how much sauce you're making) you achieve the same balance, but it never gets TOO sweet. desserts were little mini-bites of cheesecake, eclairs, and chocolate wafer cookies. with coffee, they were all very delicious. my godparents have been doing this every year for the last 5 or so years, so it's about time my godmother was able to mingle with her guests without having to keep running back to the kitchen to clean up or cook something else up. however, it seems the chefs kept burning SOMETHING and she came up to me whispering "man, they keep freaking burning my kitchen down!" so, i guess there's still THAT little worry when someone else is using your kitchen. :) marshall and i also got an early christmas gift from them this year: a festive holiday table runner wtih little decorative tea towels/napkins. perhaps we'll use, at least the runner, for new years!
after drinking and eating too much saturday night, we woke up late and did our grocery shopping before heading out to another christmas shin-dig. this particular shin-dig was my department's [becoming] annual christmas exchange. a good number of us showed up at my coworker's house and indulged in the many great appetizers and snacks along with the many delicious cookies all sunday afternoon. one of my other coworkers even showed up bearing a homemade fruitcake for me! she's been making this fruitcake since thanksgiving. first she macerated the fruit in rum, then baked the cake after the fruit sat for a few days. then after the cake had baked, she's been bathing it in rum for the last 3 weeks or so. i've been warned to not "eat and drive". :) we had a great time and everyone was very taken with marshall. saying how patient he is for coming to these things and enduring the "shop talk" for a few hours. we managed to steer clear of work for a while, but with a group of people who have at least WORK all in common, it's hard to stay away from it for very long. i also got to help out my hostess's daughter in her new endeavor to become a bartender by ordering a bloody mary. i thought it was very good: spicy and tasty, if not a little on the salty side, but otherwise a very well-executed drink. she even made sure that the celery stalk in my glass had little celery leaves on it - made for a lovely presentation. all in all, it was a great celebration. it's nice seeing the people you work with every day OUTSIDE of work, just to see what they're like. :)
last night, marshall and i headed home. he naturally went for WoW, while i tried to get some other things done. he spent the night in a very bad PUG trying to go to wailing caverns. it was frustrating for ME just watching how some of his group mates were playing. i'm surprised marshall stayed with the group all night (granted they never finished the quests!). i mean, their tank couldn't take the damage very well and their druid (healer) didn't know how to heal all that well. marshall was one of 2 mages, and the other mage wanted to be in total control and often went off and did his own thing, sometimes inevitably getting killed in the process OR making the whole group wipe. meanwhile, i stayed in the living room and finished wrapping gifts. i got all my gifts wrapped: marshall's gifts and his mom's cookie/coffee basket. while i was at it, i offered to wrap the last gifts that marshall had. i still have a few gifts to get later this week, but they're gift cards and a blanket, which won't be hard at all. marshall got picked my great aunt in my family for christmas this year and still needs to call my mom to find out what to buy her. i can never remember what my mom always gives her and since it is HIS gift to her, HE needs to find out himself. other than that, i'm all done with christmas gifts.
this week will be interesting. marshall and i leave for florida next sunday and are spending the night at my mom's and she's driving us to the airport. we're also celebrating christmas with my parents and my sister's family saturday night. marshall's mom and grandma are coming up to celebrate with marshall's aunt who lives up here, so they're joining us for dinner. marshall mentioned last night that he wanted to visit his aunt before we left, so we're planning on that for friday night (dinner and gift exchanging). it was mentioned earlier this morning that nicole wanted to get together with us before we left, too, so i'm thinking drinks and a quick bit wednesday night. i'm still trying to get some sorta one-on-one christmas time with marshall, so i'm hoping that thursday night will still remain open so that we can celebrate christmas by ourselves. *fingers crossed* :)
i'm still trying to wrap my head around celebrating christmas in a warm climate this year. i have no idea what to pack!