christmas spirit

ok, so i guess i really need to get down to the trip. i should do that while my photos are loading. i got good gifts- a usb turntable, so i can convert all my LPs tp mp3s. a rice cooker. and a SLR digital camera. wow! where did that come from? i feel like i'm not a good enough photographer to deserve one. i really need to finish reading the guide, i've just been using the automatic functions, but there was a sunset shot that i wanted to use the lightmeter for and couldn't figure out how to adjust it. i've just been using the manual focus and manual zoom. zoom! right now it's connected to my computer and i'm using stinky old iphoto to save the images. because i don't think i can figure out how to use the file viewer utility right. i just HATE how you can't rename the files. grrr. anyway, it's a cannon EOS digital rebel, for those of you who have done research about digital cameras and care about such things.

so that's part of my one picture- one sketch daily. am a week behind on the sketches- but am a week behind on shining my sink, too. i tell ya, i just can't bring myself to do it. i don't know what's wrong with me. got a great egg timer widget, though, and that helps me control my internet usage. a little. ah, who am i kidding.

so the trip was good. d and i travel well together, i dj, she drives, it works out well. the whole straight thing at the farm worked out well, although oh was my bed cold and lonely there. the funniest thing was gma calling d "debbie" i don't know why or where she automatically converted deb to debbie, but it cracked me up, esp. as d hates it. j had to work late, so we barely saw her, but it was nice to have someone there who "knows."

pa was pretty to travel across, the mountains are so much nicer that flat in and oh. everyone in east pa was kind to us. dad's family, mom's family- there really wasn't much trouble. christmas was nice, and we had fun playing games with the party in a box.

we went to philly for a day, d and i. we drove downtown and found parking (amazing!) and walked around old city, went to betsy ross's house and elfreth's alley. met krista and sarah at a charming cafe, then headed to the west side for the dinner party at leah and rachels. their new apartment is fabulous, so much more personality, more bohemian, than their old place. i of course took no pictures. oh well. i was so pleased to find that the other michiganite with laura was julien! so that was fun and exciting. we thought we'd get there a little early to help with preparation and catch up, but it wasn't the best idea. i think d was really awkward and i find l can suck all the energy in a room to the point where i don't exist. but more guests came, and we drank more, and had a great time. leah and rachel have the most fun friends ever. i want to be a philly dyke. we played surrealist games, and the dreidl game for slips of paper. i'll type mine in once i find where they are. but we had to get back downtown at a reasonable hour, so we took the trolley to krista and sarah's house, where they provided conversation and couch cushions, then took us out for lunch the next day. thanks you guys! it's funny that we'd just met sarah and i'd only met krista once before, because they felt like the safe old friends, whereas leah and rachel always feel like the dangerous new friends. i'll always think of them as the coolest girls in school, the ones whose lunch table you don't sit down a t with out an express invitation.

a did make it home, after all. she flew in on the 25th and out on the 1st. it was a really healthy trip for her, and she was really happy, so that was fun to be around. she and d really got along, so that made me really happy. i'm glad they like each other. we all went shopping at the outlets, and bought me a red bra and a new bag for my camera. we had so much fun d and i went back later and bought her a whole new wardrobe- we closed down the lane bryant outlet on new years eve.

we'd been to so many parties on new years i was sick and just wanted to stay home. so a came over, we all played cranium, and z and i won. we all watched the ball drop on the projection screen tv, and d and i soaked in the hottub before bed. the first we went to the party in a box's house for our requisite pork and sauerkraut, and then marty and mom took d and i to a place in deleware for a contra dance, which was lots o fun.

coming home was less fun than going out- though we did take the turnpike and it was even more beautiful. it was even harder to be at the farm, though. i was playing footsie with d under the 500 table. and i knew it would be days and days until we could sleep together again. the next day was even worse- driving the whole way across ohio caticorner because we needed to pick up jr. there was some fun at a rest stop in indiana, where we got frisky in the dark parking lot in the back... but i screwed up the directions, and it ended up taking us 3 hrs longer than origianlly expected. once we go to champaign, the agony was exsquisite- d had to call her ex's sister for directions to the school, where said ex and jr were. then we got there, and we had to find them, then we had to go up and get some of jr's stuff, but the rest of it was at ex's house, so we had to give ex ride home, and then get all the stuff, and i thought we would NEVER head back to chicago.

but we did, and now i'm home, and i can't blog anymore. go to flickr if you want to see pictures- i can't be bothered to add links into the body. it's here.
and if that's not enough, here's my mom's photostream with even more and some better photos.