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I know it's been a few weeks, so here's my best recap of late December through now!
The Nutcracker was amazing! But getting there was a bit of a struggle - Curtis went to pick up the tickets around three in the afternoon and it turned out you couldn't get them until two hours before the performance. So he had to go back out as soon as he got off work, fight traffic to get there, hunt for a parking spot downtown and then wait to get the tickets and drive back. Meanwhile I was trying to call my friend and explain what was happening, but my phone wasn't working! The previous night I had spilt water on myself and it got on my phone in my pocket. So I was sort of going in and out. Haha after Curtis gave me the tickets and I rushed out I kept trying to call her and she wasn't able to hear me, then was, then wasn't, it was so stressful! But we managed to meet up at work and the hotel van drove us to the venue, so, it all worked out! THANK YOU CURTIS
And like I said, it was amazing! The tea beforehand was canceled - :( - but! It was okay. We had great seats. I wish I had a picture of my outfit (I may have to recreate it) because it was equal parts fabulous and gorgeous in my opinion. The wool wrap was very warm and the colors on it and the clutch were pretty loud, but I think they complimented the subdued pink lace dress and white wool tights and nude boots I wore very well. The dancers all did a wonderful job, as did the orchestra, and everyone I went with really enjoyed it. The intermission was fun because I bought a bunch of sweets to share with everyone and then we weren't allowed back to our seats with food (duh!) so we had a sort of eating contest before the intermission ended. My friend's kids - a 5 year old girl and 9 year old boy - begged her for a nutcracker afterwards.
I had Christmas Eve off from work and ended up staying in Richmond with Curtis, since I had to work the next morning and it wouldn't've been enough time to visit my family, really. I made ham and all that good stuff and we opened gifts after that. I knew I was getting a pair of shoes from him (that are spectacular!) but he got me a mystery gift as well that was well... Mysterious. I had been waiting to open it since he put it under the tree! And it was just as amazing as I was hoping! It was something I'd wanted for a while and forgotten about... This great Campo Marzio pen-necklace! I love that it looks like candy. He got me the green one, and I want to get the pink and blue as well!
I went to visit the people up north on the 27th, the Monday after Christmas. I spent some time with my family, did the gift thing, and had my annual visit with Hannah and Ben. Actually it was really nice because I saw them Monday night and Tuesday! Monday was great because we visited our friend Emily, who just bought a house. And she had this back massager that you lay on top of a chair, and it was heated, so I maybe sat on that for most of the night. It was great catching up and eating brownies!
On Tuesday I spent most of the day at Hannah's. We mostly played a card game called Dominion, which revolves around accruing points in the form of property cards (estates, duchies, provinces) and building a personal rotating decks of action cards and whatnot to this end. I think I did alright for a beginner. We also watched a lot of a British comedy called The IT Crowd, which was funny and I highly recommend!
On Friday the 31st I went out to lunch with a friend and his family to a Chinese restaurant. His mother is Chinese, so we were going to get some great, authentic stuff! I thought we were going to meet around 11:30, and when I told Curtis this around 10? or so he dashed out of the house to go "buy a new controller" because he thought I wasn't leaving until later. According to him, "Santa stopped me on the way and told me I forgot a gift for you!" and he surprised me with a new digital camera. Aaaaah so sweet and unexpected and awesome! It was all wrapped up and everything, set where the tree had been. Actually it's kind of funny, because he bought one for himself as well and on Saturday returned it, and when he got home he gushed about this other camera he saw that he'd like to get me better so then we went back and returned mine, then he picked me up the new one (a pink Canon). Then he went out later to return this extra battery that we had found the case for and he got himself one as well lol. It was all very cute.
Going back a little, the lunch on Friday was superb. I guess it was mostly dim sum, as well as some bao (which I love). Seriously the waitress just kept coming with more and more steamers of food. It was like some sort of dream. It was all very fresh, and light to eat and fantastic. Of course I felt incredibly stuffed later, and actually I didn't really eat for the rest of the day or much of the next, it was so filling!
Back to Saturday - as I was getting into the car to go with him to Best Buy to return my camera, he surprised me with something else. Yes, I know, I still can't believe it - he bought me a Catan offshoot game called "Catan Histories: Settlers of America." I saw it a little while ago and mentioned it, so I was really surprised to see it on my carseat! Curtis has been such a sweetheart lately!
Over this break, actually, I've been playing a lot of Catan in the evenings. My friend that I mentioned earlier actually celebrated his birthday last Thursday, and got the Seafarers expansion to Catan. I definitely like that more than Cities and Knights. We played the American game too, which is a separate game (as in, not an expansion) but very similar to the original Settlers. It has some interesting differences and I'm looking forward to playing it more! I did horribly when we played it though, it was a four player game and I was in dead last place haha. When we played Seafarers though, I was more competitive - tied for second and one point behind the leader.
That's more or less the highlights of the past few weeks in terms of events. In other news, Curtis and I have started new diet. It's the "slow carb" diet from the book "4 Hour Body" by Tim Ferris. It basically advocates five things: no white (or able to be white) carbs, eat the same few meals over and over (basically, eat as simple as possible), don't drink your calories, don't consume fruit, and have a day off. Essentially it shuns grains of all types, as well as refined sugar and potatoes, and favors protein, legumes, and vegetables. I'm not too worried about it because it's extremely simple to follow, and I think will be very satisfying (since it relies a lot on beans and legumes, which are filling for me, without making me sleepy like say potatoes) and well rounded. Plus, the weekly cheat day will keep me from feeling like I'm denied anything. I think the chapter of the book explaining the rationale behind this diet is free online if you were interested in reading about it. I'll post our results as well - this diet is supposed to promote fat loss, and while I wouldn't say either Curtis or I need it, he really wants to do it and I don't have a problem trying it out in support.
Oh! And I got a haircut today. Since I'm still growing my hair out, it was just a trim + shaping for the most part, but she blew my hair straight so I thought I'd share!
I hope everyone had a happy New Year!
