(no subject)
Ummmm... Looks like I am pretty terrible at updating this thing. That being said, things continue apace. I have been busy, but who is not busy during the holidays? Christmas was different for me this year because my parents did not come home from Florida for Christmas. It made me a little sad and it felt like I must finally be an adult since this is only the second Christmas that I have not spent with my parents. The first Christmas without them was over the 6 months I spent in New Zealand, but that hardly felt like Christmas at all since it is the middle of the summer there. Also, New Zealand itself was some kind of marvelous dream. I remember spending Christmas eve at the Cathedral in Wellington and realizing that I really did not mind a little time by myself, learning to be quiet inside and out. But this is not a post about that far away past. Rather, I am doing some kind of update of the recent past. So, Mom and Dad did not come home and it was not the end of the world. Last year was the first year that Santa filled Mark's stocking at our home rather than my parents' place and so it had been small steps to complete independence.
We spent Christmas Eve Eve (Sunday) morning at church to see my sister's three boys as an angel, shepard, and king in the Christmas pageant. I am still struck by how much I really do love those little terrors. The afternoon was spent at Mark's Mom's house to celebrate his family's Christmas and that included a Patriots Game which is always fun to watch with other people. I took off Christmas Eve and spent most of the day preparing for Christmas proper, but we had a lovely dinner of fondue at my sister's house. We even managed to skype in my folks on the ipad. I do love Christmas Eve in front of her fire, singing Christmas carols, and watching the kids open one or two select presents. The next morning, I woke around 5am because it was CHRISTMAS! I failed to let Mark sleep because IT WAS SNOWING and he totally needed to see that immediately. Santa had visited to fill our stockings and after seeing what he had left, we dashed over to my sister's house for breakfast and the present extravaganza that is always necessary with kids. We managed to get home half way through the morning since I needed to make sure everything was ready for my family to come over to my place for lunch. Mark grilled some beautiful steaks on the grill and I provided winter squash, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was super yummy and an absolute delight to host some of my family at my house for the first time. I even got to carry on my grandmother's tradition of "fishing". After the meal, we set up a "fishing pole" aka a stick with string and I hit behind the couch. One by one, each guest puts the string over the couch and I attach some little fun gift to the string and then fight them as they try to pull it in. It's silly, but a nice tradition to carry on. Next year, I may try for more gag gifts if I start early enough. My family tends to dine and dash, so it was surprising that my sister and her kids stayed until almost 8pm. That being said, I was happy to be surrounded by my family on Christmas. I think I might have spent the rest of the week recovering from Christmas, cleaning up, and putting away Christmas stuff.
New Years involved a number of parties where I got to chat with folks that I feel like I haven't seen since LARP season ended. Of course, how could that be possible because I've somehow filled my weekends between then and now, right? It also involved trying to get my house into tip top shape for my impending Housewarming party. On New Year's Day, I had tickets to Jekyll and Hyde at PPAC which I was pretty excited about because the male lead was one of the finalists of American Idol which caused me to have fairly high expectations. However, I don't think that the story line of Jekyll & Hyde is really up my alley and his interpretation of the music was incredibly irritating. Amusingly enough, I turned to conspiratrix at the intermission and mused about how it's really just another version of the Hulk while she was interested in how it paralleled the real world problems of drug abuse. We were definitely looking at the show from very different angles, but that is entirely okay. Despite the fact that I did not like the main character, the set design and magic was outstanding. They had great use of video projectors and using the same pieces in very different ways for very different uses.
Before I knew it, it was my birthday which I took off work which was the best idea ever! I did spend a significant part of the day getting my house ready for my birthday party, but my sister and brother-in-law also took me out to the University Club for lunch which was a lot of fun. I even got a candle in my dessert! Luckily, my parents had sung "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone that morning, so I was able to allow my sister to not embarrass herself. In the afternoon, Mark and I got a couple's massage which he'd given me a gift certificate to for Christmas. And dinner was at Guido's! It was just about a perfect day full of family and food. :-) Mark promises me that I will get Thai Star (one of my favorite lunch restaurants in Providence) soon since I did not get it on my birthday like usual. However, since he's now been down with a fever for two days, I guess I will forgive him. Really, though, I have so many favorite restaurants in Providence, that it is hard to go wrong. Sadly, Barrington is rather lacking in good restaurants. Boo. Anyhow, I spent most of Saturday prepping for my combination housewarming/birthday party and I think it went very well. My house was delightfully full of friends and family and the flow of the house was just as I had hoped. It has spaces that flow well and spaces that allow for quieter conversation. The fire burned in fireplace and food covered every available space. We did make your own pizzas for dinner and people seemed to like the freedom that gave them to create their meal. Crazy enough, the party went from 3pm to 12:30am. Phew! I was definitely ready to sleep at the end of that. We even got to try out the guest rooms for the first time as bitsyboo, marcus_sez_vote, and sarrciano stayed overnight. Sunday was Chez Pascal's once a year annual brunch which I got to share with some delightful friends before they had to head to their various destinations and I had to return home to clean clean clean. And then I got to attend one more gathering before a very busy weekend ended. I am glad I did the housewarming because I got to show my new place to so many great people and it was an excellent excuse to finally finish some things that I had been putting off. Of course, I have a lot more work to do unpacking, but every little bit helps
And now... forward into 2013 and hopefully some less busy weekends!!
We spent Christmas Eve Eve (Sunday) morning at church to see my sister's three boys as an angel, shepard, and king in the Christmas pageant. I am still struck by how much I really do love those little terrors. The afternoon was spent at Mark's Mom's house to celebrate his family's Christmas and that included a Patriots Game which is always fun to watch with other people. I took off Christmas Eve and spent most of the day preparing for Christmas proper, but we had a lovely dinner of fondue at my sister's house. We even managed to skype in my folks on the ipad. I do love Christmas Eve in front of her fire, singing Christmas carols, and watching the kids open one or two select presents. The next morning, I woke around 5am because it was CHRISTMAS! I failed to let Mark sleep because IT WAS SNOWING and he totally needed to see that immediately. Santa had visited to fill our stockings and after seeing what he had left, we dashed over to my sister's house for breakfast and the present extravaganza that is always necessary with kids. We managed to get home half way through the morning since I needed to make sure everything was ready for my family to come over to my place for lunch. Mark grilled some beautiful steaks on the grill and I provided winter squash, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was super yummy and an absolute delight to host some of my family at my house for the first time. I even got to carry on my grandmother's tradition of "fishing". After the meal, we set up a "fishing pole" aka a stick with string and I hit behind the couch. One by one, each guest puts the string over the couch and I attach some little fun gift to the string and then fight them as they try to pull it in. It's silly, but a nice tradition to carry on. Next year, I may try for more gag gifts if I start early enough. My family tends to dine and dash, so it was surprising that my sister and her kids stayed until almost 8pm. That being said, I was happy to be surrounded by my family on Christmas. I think I might have spent the rest of the week recovering from Christmas, cleaning up, and putting away Christmas stuff.
New Years involved a number of parties where I got to chat with folks that I feel like I haven't seen since LARP season ended. Of course, how could that be possible because I've somehow filled my weekends between then and now, right? It also involved trying to get my house into tip top shape for my impending Housewarming party. On New Year's Day, I had tickets to Jekyll and Hyde at PPAC which I was pretty excited about because the male lead was one of the finalists of American Idol which caused me to have fairly high expectations. However, I don't think that the story line of Jekyll & Hyde is really up my alley and his interpretation of the music was incredibly irritating. Amusingly enough, I turned to conspiratrix at the intermission and mused about how it's really just another version of the Hulk while she was interested in how it paralleled the real world problems of drug abuse. We were definitely looking at the show from very different angles, but that is entirely okay. Despite the fact that I did not like the main character, the set design and magic was outstanding. They had great use of video projectors and using the same pieces in very different ways for very different uses.
Before I knew it, it was my birthday which I took off work which was the best idea ever! I did spend a significant part of the day getting my house ready for my birthday party, but my sister and brother-in-law also took me out to the University Club for lunch which was a lot of fun. I even got a candle in my dessert! Luckily, my parents had sung "Happy Birthday" to me over the phone that morning, so I was able to allow my sister to not embarrass herself. In the afternoon, Mark and I got a couple's massage which he'd given me a gift certificate to for Christmas. And dinner was at Guido's! It was just about a perfect day full of family and food. :-) Mark promises me that I will get Thai Star (one of my favorite lunch restaurants in Providence) soon since I did not get it on my birthday like usual. However, since he's now been down with a fever for two days, I guess I will forgive him. Really, though, I have so many favorite restaurants in Providence, that it is hard to go wrong. Sadly, Barrington is rather lacking in good restaurants. Boo. Anyhow, I spent most of Saturday prepping for my combination housewarming/birthday party and I think it went very well. My house was delightfully full of friends and family and the flow of the house was just as I had hoped. It has spaces that flow well and spaces that allow for quieter conversation. The fire burned in fireplace and food covered every available space. We did make your own pizzas for dinner and people seemed to like the freedom that gave them to create their meal. Crazy enough, the party went from 3pm to 12:30am. Phew! I was definitely ready to sleep at the end of that. We even got to try out the guest rooms for the first time as bitsyboo, marcus_sez_vote, and sarrciano stayed overnight. Sunday was Chez Pascal's once a year annual brunch which I got to share with some delightful friends before they had to head to their various destinations and I had to return home to clean clean clean. And then I got to attend one more gathering before a very busy weekend ended. I am glad I did the housewarming because I got to show my new place to so many great people and it was an excellent excuse to finally finish some things that I had been putting off. Of course, I have a lot more work to do unpacking, but every little bit helps
And now... forward into 2013 and hopefully some less busy weekends!!