Wednesday, December 26, 2007

All the Christmas News

While the long-awaited four-day "relaxing" weekend was anything but, I still had a great time!

We saw Sweeney Todd on Friday night (I have seen it many times on-stage and I loved it, DB called it a "slasher movie"). It was super-fun to see a movie in a theatre...it's been a long time! And there are SO many I want to see right now: Charlie Wilson's War, Atonement, Juno, Dewey Cox...

Saturday I went shopping for last-minute things (we just found out that DB's brother, The Good One -- yes, Lori, the one we're hoping comes to Burning Man with us next year -- was coming in for Xmas so we had to scramble a little), did some yoga, then went over to some good friends' (my ex-house actually!) for some take-out and Christmas cheer with them.

Sunday The Good One arrived and, after we took him out to breakfast, I baked -- made two kinds of cookies and our family's version of a fruit cake (which tastes GOOD). I used low-fat/cal ingredients as much as possible. Sunday night we went with a friend of mine to our "local" restaurant (right behind our house) for happy hour dinner, then back to our pad where DB and I wrapped and wrapped while The Good One and our friend drank and chatted with us. (I think we literally wrapped for about 8 hours total over the long weekend!)

On Christmas Eve, we...WRAPPED. ;-) I did even more last-minute errands, including a brow wax and a manicure. My mom came over about 2:30. At 6, we went for our traditional Christmas Eve Indian dinner, then walked the canals (I'll try to post some photos later...it's really beautiful) with Doglet.

Christmas Day was busy, but fun. We woke and opened presents with our coffee and apple fritters (traditional breakfast). DB spoiled me! We had a 5-gift limit and I don't even want to count how many he went over...it was hard to be mad though because it was sweet. :-) My best gift? A wetsuit!! I had been wanting one, but I don't think I ever really said to DB "I want one". Somehow, though, he figured it out or thought of it himself and it was SO great because I really wanted one and it was a HUGE surprise. I want this to be able to boogie board in the winter and snorkel locally (our water never gets too warm). I have to take it back because it was a size too small, but I can't WAIT to get to use it!! Boogie boarding can be very good exercise too. ;-)

DB also got me some spice racks that I needed and wanted...it will be a lot easier to cook when they are up and ready! He also got me a beautiful teak stool for my shower (it's hard to shave legs with no tub side to rest feet on -- we don't have tubs) and a cool hoody for my beach walks. My mom got us some great kitchen stuff and got me The Notebook DVD that I really wanted. My sister took photos in her neighborhood in Harlem of "Helen" as it appears on some buildings and framed them...fantastic gift! My biggest gift to DB was our Surprise NYE Getaway -- we'll be leaving next Monday at noon and back on Tuesday. Not posting details here yet in case DB reads 'em, but I am very excited to get away and just RELAX.

Yesterday afternoon I made some broccoli mashed potatoes and some low-fat egg nog (which turned out GREAT) to take to the pitch-in Jammy Party. We got there about 5:30 and had a ball...it was a total gift orgy with all the grandkids and we loved getting to see them (and the parents!) enjoy the things we had gotten for them. I love DB's family so much...it really is a treat to be considered one of them (The Good One calls me his "favorite sister-in-law"...which might not go over too well with The Evil One's wife!!). We finally left there about 10:30 and didn't get to bed until midnight. I guess now I'm looking forward to an actual relaxing 4-day weekend coming up!! ;-)

Luckily work is slow this week...and I'm digging out some "stinky fish" that have been smelling up my to-do pile for too long!!

Food and other health news: I went down to 1/2 grain of thyroid meds on Tuesday (from a high of 2 1/2 and from 2 last week). I finally feel a lot better (I felt pretty bad on Christmas Eve). Still waiting for The Toe to get really juicy for a culture. And food? I can't pull my stomach in. I really have overdone...although much less than I used to do. The weigh-in this Friday will be sad. But I'll be taking Doglet for a beach walk tonight to celebrate our 9-year anniversary together and I'll be back to yoga-ing tomorrow.

I hope you all had a magical holiday. :-)

5 comments:

Anne M. said...

Wow - what a full, fun, happy holiday! I'm so glad that you have such wonderful family and that the Good One was there instead of the Evil One.

Love the idea that you got a wet suit - and actually wanted one! That's one thing that would never show up on my list but it's fab that I know someone who wants and can use one - and has a DB who will know that and make it a present.

Hope you have a great time on the surprise NYE trip. Fun, fun!

Vickie said...

WET SUIT is wonderful.

What type of "feet" does it have?

I too have thought about getting one.

I don't know if you can use them in pools - I think clorine (sp?) would eat them - but I don't know for sure.

Vickie said...

At the girls' friends' families house the weekend before x-mas - one of the moms commented that she just couldn't figure out WHY Sweeney Todd would be rated R. My husband and I looked at each other and then I asked her is she knew what it was 'about' - she said no. So, I told her - she still wants to see it - just understood WHY. I LOVED the stage version but was a little leery of what they might do to it in a movie - although Johnny Deep seems like the PERFECT actor. We think that it was one of my husband's fraternity brothers that played lead in college - do you remember? Todd D. - is who we think it was. He planned to go on to graduate school and become a dentist - close enough to barber.

Vickie said...

Book arrived today! Thank you very much - the pictures are amazing. Do you suppose everyone can learn to be that flexible or do you think you have to have certain joints/tendons, etc???

We went to see Sweeney Todd today - at least some of us - the girls went to see Enchanted. I thought the movie was great - really well done. I stayed to the end of credits to be sure they had all done their own vocals - and they had - I thought so - but wanted to see for sure. Costumes and scenary alone were worth the ticket price.

Thank you again for book!!!!
:)

Helen said...

In answer to your questions, Vickie:

No feet on the wetsuit. People who scuba (which I'll never do) or snorkel use fins. I'll need bare feet to get purchase and be able to maneuver.

Not sure about chlorine hurting the suit...you could probably get one specially made for pools, I'd think. I'll ask them when I go back to exchange mine.

I do remember the guy you're thinking of having played the ST lead in college, but it wasn't him (although he was the lead in another production that I co-cirected).

Glad to know someone else liked Sweeney other than me...I was talking to another friend on the phone last night and was wishing I had someone to talk to about it who didn't dismiss it as a slasher flick! (I want to see Enchanted too, by the way!)

Finally...very glad you got the book! Remember that Mr. Iyengar has been practicing for many MANY years and he's also pretty darned gifted. It's fun to look at him doing the poses, but I'd guess that a very small percentage of people who practice ever acheive some of what he can do!! Enjoy!!