And here I was thinking I didnt have anything important or interesting to share!

Well it's been a while since I blogged, and I was sitting here staring at my computer knowing I needed to blog and thinking....'but I don't really have anything to say right now'! Wrong! There's LOTS I want to share. /me shakes my head :)

OK, so, first off I want to apologize to 2 important people in my life for 'forgetting' their birthdays. I knew they were coming and had great intentions, but the stupid snow blew my mind and I completely forgot. So, Nanny and Karen, so sorry to have missed your big day!

Speaking of Karen, she ran the Honolulu Marathon last Sunday! Isn't that amazing! She turned Hawaii 3-0 on the 5th and finished her 2nd Marathon on the 9th! I have amazing friends. You can read about it at Karen's blog if you are interested.

This past Friday we had our department work Christmas/Hanukkah party with a lovely gathering at my boss' house for a potluck luncheon. Everyone in the department was there and we had a fun time. We picked names for Secret Santa's (or Secret Jew as my friend Jen named herself! lol). We ended up picking names 3 times because we couldn't seem to get the right number of people, and it turned out our boss forgot to put her name in the first 2 times! At the beginning of last week I had a funny idea but thought it was too silly and didn't share it with anyone at first. But I was tired one evening after a long day and some of us were being deliriously silly so I told a few of my work friends about it and they loved it, so we decided to do it with an important twist. My idea was for all of us to pretend we had my boss' name and when we started exchanging gifts to start arguing about who had her etc. My friend Andrea had an idea for an important twist to the joke, we would take things from her desk and 're gift' them to her! Well let me tell you, everyone thought it was a great idea and it was HILARIOUS! At first she said, "well I have a couple of extra gifts in the basement for whoever doesn't get a gift in the mix up. Then she thanked people genuinely for the 're-gifts' until someone commented "do these look at all familiar to you?" Then she realized it was all a joke. This was before she got to my re-gift....her nametag! We all had a good laugh and had fun doing the real gift exchange.

I had the new girl, our new tech who started about a month ago. I don't know much about her at all, but her list asked for Bath and Body Works so that was easy, and it said 'I am in love with butterflies', so I decided to make her a scrapbook project using a butterfly motif. I used very colorful papers and a 9inch accordion album. It came out really well. Of course I didn't finish it until after midnight Thursday night and forgot to take pictures. She really liked it alot, as did many of my coworkers. I got lots of compliments and even a couple of requests to have scrapbooking get togethers when I come back to DC next summer to work for a few months again! It was really cool!

Another important factoid about our holiday party: I didn't eat any sugar! Lots of sweets, even in my gift from my boss (which i politely left on her end table!) I decided Friday morning that if I started on sugar on Friday at the party I would have alot of trouble staying away from the sugar this weekend while I was staying with the kids overnight. So I made sure to eat the non-sugar items until I was full so I wasn't hungry when they started eating the very delicious looking desserts! I'm really proud of myself. Tonight makes 3 weeks since I've had sugar! And, I've lost another pound! 42# total! One more and I will have met my goal that I set at Thanksgiving to lose another 5 pounds before Christmas. I can do it!!

Do, and playing with I kept the kids overnight Saturday while my brother and sister in law went to a holiday party and stayed overnight in DC. We had alot of fun doing arts and crafts, playing XBOX, watching Scoobylegos. My dad will be here next weekend for Christmas and I think he is going to be amazed at how much all 3 have grown, but especially how much Jacqueline has changed and how much more verbal (and willful!) she is. I think it's going to be a fun Christmas for all 3 kids this year! And for Grandpa and Aunt Christine!

Today I continued to push the envelope and my own limits by having my first ever manicure and pedicure. Yes, you read that right, I allowed another human being to touch my feet! My friend Michelle was right there with me, talking me through it. It wasn't so bad, though I didn't really *like* it. It's something I will have to get used to, and I plan on just that, getting used to it! I didn't get any color on my finger nails because even thought I'm 42, I still pick at nail polish on my fingers (yes, I know, bad habit). But I did get a very light pink on my toe nails, Wiki Wachee Fawn, yes the names they come up with for nail polish! Here is the evidence that it really happened:
I'm going to go back to the spa with Michelle one more time before I leave. I know I'm going to have another facial because I really liked that, and I'm not sure what else.

9 more work days here in DC. I will be heading south on or about Jan 2. But I don't know my destination yet. Hopefully I will by the end of the week.

I hope everyone has a good, safe, and not to hectic week before Christmas!