Конец 2008, Начало 2009

Друзья!

It's been a while, eh? Finals have that effect. Well, I last semester ended well with an 8 page paper for Russian (I've been studying this language for two years) and an A on my Stalinism paper. The OB-52s shared a suprisingly delicious flaming volcano, served in an electric wok. Cory and I consumed an entire jar of garlic salsa, and a decent amount of knitting was accomplished.

Then, the Megabus. It's an adventure that's earned it's own special post.

Home was lovely. The last two weeks comprise the longest I've yet to stay in the new house, and I absolutely (still) love it. The living room is actually furnished, and for the first time in my life, we had a real Christmas tree!

Due to my cousins' work schedules (at UPS and a hospital), we had to shift around the usual schedule of family holiday gatherings. Christmas Eve would usually be spent with my dad's family, but this year involved the 5:00 church service (I played a song with my dad), and a relaxed family dinner of little meatballs, cheese and crackers and shrimp. (There's a lot about my break that is very delicious and very not vegetarian. I'm kind of okay with that.) We opened gifts the next morning, had dinner with my godparents (roast beef and yorkshire-pudding-popovers), and went to see my other cousins (part of Mom's family) for dessert. The morning of the 26th, my dad's family came over for a brunch-type thing. It involved two supremely wonderful coffeecakes and 4 dozen little mini crustless muffintin quiches.

I have been noticed that it sometimes takes a little bit of convincing to get certain individuals (a cousin and a housemate) to believe that coffeecake not only does not taste like, but does not contain coffee (it just compliments it well). Such people are missing out on some seriously delicious desserts that totally pass as breakfast food. Muffins in loaf form! Get on board!

Saturday, I was very social. (I hung out with TWO friends.) I met Kathryn (who was in town with her family to visit her brother) for lunch at Cosetta (possibly my family's favorite restaurant - I still have yet to get anything other than pizza, and just remembered right now that I should have gotten some cannoli. Dang.) After, we walked around the city for a while, and got to catch up a little. That evening, I went to see my trusty Minnesota friend Angie. We watched the Dark Knight, and chatted for a while. It was good; seeing her always is. She's going to do the whole cruise ship thing again. Also, I got to shower attention on one of her cats. I honestly forget if it was Duckie or Mongo. Am I a terrible person? I think it was Mongo.

Sometime that week, we went to the Walker Art Center and saw a screening of this year's winning British TV adverts. I'll try to find some links later.

New Years Eve Eve was spent at this funky jazz club (the club is funky (good funky), not 'funky jazz'), the Dakota, where my family made good on our New Years tradition of seeing the New Standards. Piano, stand-up bass, and vibraphone. Covers of dang near every type of pop song imaginable. Britney Spears' "Toxic", Outkast's "Hey Ya", the Clash's "London Calling", and... Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park". (Oh, Jesus, the CAKE!) Good times.

On New Years Eve, we ate lobster for dinner. My plate was an ocean. My taste buds were in heaven.

New Years Day, I went out for a buffet lunch with my mother to Nalapak, a vegetarian Indian restaurant near our house. It was quite good. Hey Linden, next time you & I are in MN...

Exciting things I have acquired include: some nerdy Russian books, Firefly, maracas, a bunch of makeup, exciting OB-52s worthy garments, a teal vest, and more Choco-Pies. That last bit is starting to be a running joke.

The Megabus trip back to OH was better than the way there, but still contained a fun surprise. But I came home to a comfy bed, tea, and dumplings, which sums up all I really need in life.