Vegas for the holidays!

Kris and I flew into Vegas on Saturday for Christmas with his family this year. It's been very strange breaking traditions I have had since before I can remember, but also fun!

I told the Mitchell family about my usual Christmas plans and they were nice enough to incorporate some of them into their own holiday this year!

While I may have missed my family and our usual 25th of December I was not without some new fun times! We woke up and ha Christmas cinnamon buns (Taylor even made the frosting orange flavored for me), then we opened presents and watched Harry Potter 7, and then we went hiking at red rock!

I am not one for outdoor activity, but it was a blast. Lots of scrambling over rocks and laughing with the family.

So a late merry Christmas to everyone!

Buds eggnog - my holiday love

Oh Bud's eggnog, how I love thee, you taste good in all forms. At 220 calories for every 4oz, it is good in coffee, alone, with kahlua, with brandy, frozen in my Popsicle maker, I want it all.

I have gone through 4 cartons, with minimal help. Even Alyssa, who doesn't like dairy, likes Bud's!

It is a magic elixir. A panacea to my problems (I don't even care that I probably used panacea incorrectly)

I wish every month was December so I could have it every day. Farewell Internet, I need another dose.

Second Thanksgiving: a very late recap

I realized today that I had left out the events after orphan thanksgiving and I am sure the Internet has just been dying for an update, so here goes!

After working a shift from 12-5 on black Friday I hitched a ride from Bobby, who was somehow not sick of me after the night before (PS, my crumble was a hit! Even with Mireille who doesn't like nuts!).  He gave me a ride to the 19th Street BART station and I booked it as fast as I could over to SFO on the other side of the bay.  The trip was hurried but luckily there was barely anyone at the airport and I checked in and got a coffee with relative ease.  Once in Vegas I had a warm welcome from Chelsea, Brandon, Kris and Geoff.  It was a crowded but snugly ride back to their place while I learned of the Thanksgiving madness that had occurred not 24 hours prior.

To shorten that up, everyone got real drunk, Kris and Geoff slept on couches, Chelsea gambled, Everyone got kicked out of a casino.  But that is someone elses story and therefore I am movin on.

Since all my lame-sauce friends were hungover, we just decided to spend a relaxing evening catching up and drinking wine in the hot tub! I admittedly had no issues with the plan.

Saturday rolled around and it was Thanksgiving mock 2.  Tons of The Mitchell Family's friends showed up and I got to see a bunch of people that I thought I would miss out on!  The feast was magnificent and the beverages were flowing.  We had planned on going to Joe's (Kris' best friend) Blacklight party later in the evening but had nothing to wear so Chelsea and I sewed some dresses quickly out of mens XL tee-shirts.

This somehow turned into a sewing lesson for Sojo and another little girl and then everyone was dressed for party time.  The 23-26 year olds headed out to the party filled with food and ready for dancing and the rest of the night was a redbull/vodka fueled adventure.

Sunday was the painful drive home.  But we got to stop in SB to say hi to Kat and Ava, so there was a nice little plus side.  Sadly, we got going to late in the day and didn't get in until 8pm, which meant no crushcakes for me. . . bummer.  Then we left Geoff's and were back in the Bay area before 6am.

And just like that, Thanksgiving weekend came to a close.  Not with a bang but with a really full snore.

Rollout

I am pretty good at retail, I can sell affluent women and men lots of sweaters that they probably don't need, I might even have a chance to sell really expensive computer products to people soon! But I learned this past night that I hate rollouts.  A rollout is when new product comes into the store and sad little associate peons are scheduled to come in from 9pm to 1am to fold, stock, shelve, build, move, sort, refold, adjust, primp and otherwise futz with the entire store and it's stock.

I was pretty stoked.  An opportunity to hang out with my fun coworkers at night with no customers to impress!?! Starting the evening off right, I brought a mug of coffee and some gingerbread.  I should have brought a mug of coffee plus a flask of something stronger and a sandwich.  Never have I hated sweaters more.  Pants are no better!! WHY do they all need so much attention? Aren't they just going to be attacked and discarded by the public in the morning? After 5 hours of folding items and being told to change or move them I am very pleased to be done.

In any case, I am now comfortably in bed drinking a beer, petting the kitten, and creepily looking and Kris and wondering why he smells mildly of maple syrup.  I hope I didn't miss anything to do with maple syrup.  An icky rollout shift is one thing, but missing breakfast foods for it would be a completely different and totally unacceptable other thing.

Kitten got stuck in the leg of a pair of sweatpants, adorable and a little sad.