Vacation Schmacation

I realized that I have not kept up with my posts for two and a half weeks. To be honest, I have been exhausted. Since I have not been in school, my boss (aka my mother) decided that I had a lot more time to work for her. My full-time coworker, Mark, took a two-week vacation, which left me working more than eight hours a day, six days a week.

As the holidays were approaching, I quickly realized that I could not find solace in my family gatherings. I was completely exhausted as I scurried from one event to the next, staying up late to make food and running all over town for last-minute gifts and party supplies. I felt like I was completely neglecting Kevin and I worried that the more I tried to take on, the worse of a job I was doing.

This vacation was not a vacation at all. There was no curling up with classic novels by my fireplace, as I had originally envisioned. I did not redeem myself as I had planned. Instead, I did what I always do: get 4 to 6 hours of sleep every night, go to work, drive in my car for hours, compromise my plans for the greater good, and bite my tongue when I felt the urge to share my true feelings of anger/frustration.

However, that doesn't mean that I did not have a great holiday. In fact, my holiday was very wonderful. Kevin bought me way more than I needed or deserved, I saw my nephews run into the living room to see what Santa brought to their house, I laughed with my sisters, and I spent time with my ailing grandmother.

The best way that I can describe how I feel now as I look back on my holiday is through someone else's words. As my nephew, Jared, said to me, explaining how I did not see Santa when he came in the living room where I was sleeping Christmas Eve; "Sometimes Santa needs to be invisible. He sprinkles his magic sleeping dust over you, and before you know it, you wake up after he brings Christmas."

I just now woke up, but only after Santa invisibly brought Christmas.

Redeeming Myself

Today I purchased my own personal book club's selection for the month of December: Joyce's Portrait..., Orwell's Animal Farm, and Chopin's Awakening (and other works). Even though I have read Chopin before, I wanted to continue delving into good literature so that I would look like a smarty-pants. I will continue to update this blog with my personal thoughts concerning my reading.

Feel free to add your own insight into my project.

I will start with Animal Farm. Kirsten said it was good because animals talked in it.

I Love Diamonds (part two)

I love this ring too. This is a sapphire with diamonds all around it. Gorgeous!

I Love Diamonds

I love diamonds. I go to the Tiffany & Co. website and lust over them. I know that I should not spend my time looking at things that I can not presently afford, but it still brings me joy.

When Kevin and I went to New York this March, we walked into Tiffany, and looked at all of the engagement rings on the second floor. We, of course, were not ready to get engaged, but the rings were so beautiful that it is hard not to appreciate the perfection and skill it took to craft it.

Now, I go to the website to try to remember how amazing it was to see an almost flawless 30 carat diamond in person. It's not the same, but still fun.

I Hate Christmas

I have always had a lot of holiday spirit, but this year I feel drained. When I think about Christmas this year, I feel like I don't have the energy to continue on with the traditional beat-the-crowd, make-bad-food, spend-all-of-my-money tradition that we all do every year.

Commercialism ruins my holiday spirit.

Harumph!

Slipping through the cracks

After reading Alicia's blog, I realize that I am the worst English major on the planet. I am not sure how I accomplished it, but I managed to avoid all of the classic novels in my years of education. I have two semesters left before I graduate, and now I have a renewed desire to read at least some of the texts that people consider to be "great literature."

I feel like a slacker.