who's setting my priorities?

Well, for the first time in a long time, I'm back in control. Case Study practically went out the door today, I don't have any classwork for like a week and a half, and besides the Christmas Pageant, I am just going to kick back and enjoy Christmas.

Most of that started last night when Darrin and I went to the TSO concert in B'more. *wow* doesn't even begin to cover it. Amazing comes closer. Long story short, we had a great time.

So my only problem of late is other people trying to tell me when I'm taking on too much. Hey folks, I *HAVE* learned the word "No", and have started using it. But dangit, if I want to do something enough, I'll make time for it. If you're wondering what set me off this time, I got told that I have "enough" going on... If I did have enough going on, I wouldn't be finishing the DAR Cross Stitch, have finished cards, wrapped presents and cleaned the whole house tonight. *geesh*

xoxox
hlm

wrapping presents... and still haven't done christmas cards!

Yup, this is a totally typical Christmas for me! I haven't gotten Christmas cards out, I've totally procrastinated wrapping Christmas presents (though the house looks awesome!), and the Christmas Pageant has me up to my ears.

And I still haven't finished shopping yet. *sigh*

Merry Christmas!
xoxox
hlm

LA review

Now *that* was an awesome vacation!

Last Sunday after the Lessons and Carols service, I left for LA. When I left, it was about 30 degrees, and when I landed, it was about 60. How spectacular does that sound about now??

I had a really great time out there (I'll link up pictures once I get them onto the web) -- mostly because I got to visit with James, who I hadn't seen in quite a long time. We'd been talking about his class films and such, and I've been dying to see them, so being able to spend some time down at USC was nice. I was able to meet some of his friends out there (who all seem fantastically nice), we went to a screening of The New World where Q'orianka Kilcher's Q&A proved to us that her performance was incredibly talented.

Tuesday, we spent the day in Santa Monica, shopping on the Third Street Promenade, enjoying the ocean view, walking in the sand in December, and catching an awesome sunset. James even found the West Coast equivalent of "our" restaurant there! (I'm still trying to figure out how I got so much blasted SAND in my purse!!) We caught up with a friend of his who lives close to Santa Monica and had dinner. Later that evening, we crashed at his place to watch Peter's Friends (a very good Christmas-y movie if you're interested).

So basically, I had a fantastic trip, but now it's back to the grind. There's going to be a whole-lotta-writing-going-on for the next couple days. Wish me luck.

xoxox
hlm

appearances vs. intentions

This has been a completely unproductive couple of days. . . I went shopping, put up a Christmas tree (ok, seven trees), baked cookies, watched the Tech game, worked some on my current cross-stitch project, did church stuff this AM, but got NOTHING done on the papers I have due this week... Boo. Maybe I'll get inspiration tonight.

The good news is that one week from today, I'll be heading to LA to visit James... I've needed some QT outside of DC, so this will be a nice vacation -- even if it's only for a few days.

What's bugging me is that my attempts to be hospitable, helpful and (here's the kicker) a *friend* have apparently turned against me. Dad was approached at a C.A.R. meeting today, and told by a member that I was _obviously_ trying to get a girl into DAR by being her friend... So here's a poll: Everyone who thinks I'm a heartless witch-with-a-capital-B and do things in a completely self-serving manner, please raise your hands.

~hlm