Random Christmas Roundup
Big family get together went off without a hitch. After years of experimenting, my brother and I have finally found the perfect equation for a perfect family get together. Alcohol immediately upon entering the door + snacks all over the house = good times had by all.
Parents trip to Turks and Caicos was apparently not booked because the travel agent was a big 'tard. Instead, a new travel agent has helped them find another place to go, this time in the Dominican Republic. They leave in a week, and I am of course insanely jealous, not only because they get to leave a dreary Ohio winter, but because they get to travel period. I need to get my travel on soon, yo. Europe, anyone?
My parents have always been extremely generous with my brother and me when it comes to Christmas presents, and of course, we've always been very grateful for what we get (which, is usually anything we ask for). This year, no matter how often they asked, I never had any ideas to give them. For the most part, I have everything I need, and the things I want are on the rather impractical side to ask for (laptop, an apartment of my own, etc). A lot of my presents this year were of the I-never-knew-I-wanted-this-until-I-actually-got-it kind, for instance, a heated mattress pad. Um hello best invention ever! I also received a new digital camera, a pair of earrings I had picked out while at the mall with my parents one night, this bracelet, and a pair of specially made white gold, sapphire earrings that almost perfectly matched my sapphire ring I got when I turned 21. It was a good year for jewelry!
I got notice on Friday that I was get a bonus at work from the new company, which the bank officially merged with on Tuesday. That was certainly welcome, considering this is on top of whatever raise I may get in April after evaluations take place. The new company certainly didn't have to give us bonuses (and not everyone got one, apparently my manager and assistant manager didn't get one), so at this point, I'd have to say that can only bode well for how things are going to go under the new leadership.
I took a rather impromptu trip up to my cabin last weekend. I decided at 5:45 on Friday, that when I got off work at 6:00, I'd drive home, pack a bag, and drive 6 hours up to my cabin. It was nice, there was about a foot of snow, and I spent New Year's Eve in a casino. Fun times.
No resolutions made for the new year, as they are always broken within a couple months. I do hope to post more here though. I often feel the urge to write, but have nothing to write about. I'd like to start taking pictures again, and with my new camera, I'm hoping I'll take something worth posting. Perhaps I'll start a blog strictly for posting photos, ideally, I'd post at least one photo a day. We'll see, I'll keep you updated on that.
In other news, I'm completely enamored with LibraryThing. On the right sidebar, I use one of their widgets to keep a running log of what I'm reading. When I started with the site, I had a goal to add every book I read in a year (I was curious to see how many that would be), which I've actually kept up with, but now I have another list of books that I use as a "books I plan to read" list. I've found all sorts of new books I want to read by searching through other people's catalogs, and yeah. Great site!
Meimur
ReadingList
That's all I've got for now.
