Leaping Forward

I so wanted to write a blog post for Leap Day.  Just having that date stamp is kinda cool--yeah, okay, geeking out a bit...

But in general it has been a leap forward--the house will be listed very soon & I've picked up 15 empty wine boxes to begin to pack away my wine cellar.  The upgrades in the house are taking shape--like a new cook top--nicely painted cabinets, & soon I hope, a new floor...I also think that this weekend will be a real push for getting all of the rest of the house ready for showing--

Perhaps I am taking a "leap of faith" in thinking that we can time this right--finding a buyer & finding a house to buy at the same time.  I know that it probably will never be that easy but a girl can dream.  And of course I am concerned that this will time itself right into the middle of sailing season forcing us both to cut out of some regattas. Ah, the stress of it all!

And in case some of you out there are thinking that I may just follow Leap Day tradition & propose--think again!  Last year I pranked a bunch of folk on April Fool's Day but I will abstain from such insouciant behavior now. Interesting reference to Chaucer here:
 In Leap Year they have power to chuse
The men no charter to refuse 

(This couplet was attributed to him.)

So chickies--today's your day!  Go for it!  And Happy Leap Day!  

Black Friday

After another very nice Thanksgiving meal with my family, including my little sister, in from Chi-town, I wake this Friday morning being blasted about the head & neck about Black Friday.  Let me just state for the record that I DO NOT DO Black Friday.  I am not up at 2 o'clock in the morning like my co-worker, camping out at Walmart with her hubby hoping to get the latest cheap-o laptop/net book, nor am I hanging around Old Navy hoping to grab that elusive pair of special jeans that are only available between this 2-minute long, deep-discount, special, door-buster, Black Friday monogrammed time.  Let me state unequivocally that I really HATE Black Friday--it just makes me cringe.  All that Black Friday serves to do is remind me that after we have all given thanks for the wonderful things that we have in front of us: family, friends, etc., off we go re-affirming that we are a superficial, consumerist society grabbing as many new, shiny, electronic, Kaye jewelery encrusted gadgets that we can before the highly commercialized, now-meaningless all-consuming BIG-ASSED holiday is upon us in a month's time (especially since all of these lovely stores began decorating for X-mas even before Halloween 2011 was a memory).  OK, yeah, I'm sounding a little shrewish but you know, when did we turn what was supposed to be an extra day of family football & turkey leftover time into the biggest crazed-induced consumerist holiday?  I guess we need to extend the Black Friday holiday to "Small Business Saturday" & "Cyber Monday" too. You can accuse me of being a "Bah! Humbug!" scrooge if you'd like & I'll agree with you. But I really wish that people would pause in the action to think that this behavior just re-affirms what a lot of OWS is all about--paying more money to the corporate bigwigs.  I'm just saying.  


This post is also inspired by my sister's blog post about her friend "Ivy" who is being made to work the overnight shift at one of the bigwig corporate stores on Black Friday...she points out that we should thank these folks who are working these shifts--think of them & the sacrifice that they make--I agree.  Pause for a moment in your feeding frenzy to thank them, smile & be nice even if that last jewel-encrusted gadget you just reached for was snatched out of your hand by the grandma across the sale table.


What am I doing this Black Friday you ask?  Well, I am hanging with my lil' sis--we rarely have time together JUST us so we plan to have lunch together & do what we'd do together regardless of the date--go shopping at small boutiques.  I guess in one sense the fact that it is Black Friday will garner better deals then normally offered at these stores but that is coincidence. Black Friday is secondary to being with my sister & doing what we'd do anyway.  I'm just hugely thankful to have that one-to-one time together--isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?

Table Squared

"The Moon continues in Leo, creating a warm and friendly holiday glow. Parties and other social gatherings should be fun and entertaining as Leo lights up the dark nights of winter with a solar flare. Romance and good times are abundant now, so stay alert for opportunities."

--Cancer horoscope 

This is becoming a recurring posting of my horoscope on the 23rd of December & so is our lunch becoming a tradition--in fact we've decided it.  We met for lunch at the same place we did last year right before the holiday break. And there was certainly a glow.  We walked in & the hostess brought us to the exact same table as last year.  Xing Fu asked me if I'd called ahead to reserve the table--I hadn't.  Just further proof that it was all meant to be.  He said that they need a sign to put over the table, "Ours".  Just gotta smile at that.

Xing Fu also brought the little happiness symbol that I gave him--so romantic that he remembered it & brought it--such a great guy!  We commented that last year we were in a far different place than now.  We have moved into the "mature" relationship phase of things.  Last year our conversation (what I remember of it & it ain't much) revolved around more of a discovery of one another as friends & now we talked about the logistics of the upcoming break & what we'd be doing together--a party, geocaching, fixing stuff around the house--the mundane.  Maybe not as exciting, but certainly wonderfully comfortable, if not rather domestic.  Actually, it was very nice & the conversation did turn to the romantic by the end of lunch.  What a difference a year makes.  It has been a very quick year to be sure.  And I am quite happy to be where we are.