With Love, from Martha

I was honestly excited to see that Martha Stewart was the author of the messages inside Dove's individually wrapped Christmas-edition chocolates this year. Usually the morsels are besotted by a nauseating anecdote - very spread your wings and fly - and I am not a fan. I'm all for the inspiration, but in thought-provoking, non-Hallmark-esque doses. Martha doesn't exactly strike me as a bleeding heart sort of gal, so I was anticipating her Dove quotes being better than the rest. I was not, however, anticipating this:

"Keep poinsettias out of drafty spaces."

Just a touch more emotion wouldn't have been overkill, Martha.

Thank you, Page 2, thank you.

With the return of 8:00 am arrivals to the office this morning (as opposed to the travel season grace period of 9:00 am), I needed a little something to buffer my resentment against the extra hour. As per always, Page 2 delivered. Thank you TMQ and Patrick Hruby for saving my bleary-eyed day.

Let It Snow

I can't let this day pass without commenting on the near-miraculous snowfall this morning.

Anyone who has known me for longer than 5 minutes knows that I love snow more than just about anything (coffee, chocolate, and football notwithstanding). Last night I was hoping and wishing and praying that Rochester - located in the supposed Antarctic horror that is Western NY - would finally receive it's first snow. What better day for a first snow than the first of December???

I woke up this morning and peeked through my window out of habit, not expecting to find a veritable winter wonderland glistening in the early morning light. In The Night Before Christmas fashion, I jumped out of bed and tore through the house, jumping up and down ecstatically (approximate time: 6:50 am) at seeing the full effect of the first snow through my living room windows (much to the chagrin of my neighbors below, I'm sure). The window was instantly thrown open, coffee was made, a background soundtrack of Christmas music was played, and I pulled a chair right up to the window to sit and stare in contented awe.

If people really do have love languages, then mine is snow. Without a doubt.

Tebow in Buffalo? Definitely cause for thanksgiving.

1 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2 - Totally suggested that the Meyer/Tebow combo come to B-lo last week when they fired Jauron, and totally moving to Buffalo if it actually happens... http://www.timteblog.com/2009/11/tebow-draft-watch-jim-kelly-approves.html

(P.S. - this also happens to be my 15th post. Coincidence? I think not.)

Christmastime is (almost) here

One month until Christmas, people. ONE MONTH!

And so as not to put the cart before the horse, let's not be hasty and forget about the horse of a holiday headed our way tomorrow: Thanksgiving. Any day whose purpose revolves around food and football gets a very good rating in my book. AND the opportunity to be openly enthusiastic about the many blessings in life...this day could not get any better if it tried (unless it was Christmas...there's just no topping December 25th).

Not the least of these many blessings is the fact that the much abhorred church bells outside of my apartment are still out of commission...the lack of noise pollution on a twice hourly basis is cause for an overjoyed attitude of gratitude.

Thank you Lord for the silent passing of the day, and for the innumerable blessings of every day, seen and unseen - all of which are far more significant than muted bells.

Wonderful.

Things that are wonderful (mostly about this weekend, mostly in chronological order):

• New Moon. Yes...seriously. And as a secondary point, midnight premieres. Yes...seriously.
  
• Days off, especially when those days fall on Fridays.
• Friends. (As in the TV show in this instance, but also as in the relational entity. That bullet to follow.)
• Magazines.
  
• Barnes and Noble.
  
• Simply Crepes.
  
• Hurd Orchards (and along with that, homemade baked goods and dried flowers).
• Pictures, and endless shades of colors.
  
• Dark chocolate. Dark chocolate. Dark chocolate.
• Italian (the language, which I really want to learn, just for fun).
  
• Unhurried time with friends.
• Hearing the right song at the right time, especially at church.
• Wegmans.
  
• Two consecutive wins. Go Pack Go.
• Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Pecan Cookies.
• Brisk walks in crisp autumn air.
• Beauty that is so beautiful it hurts a little, in a good way.
• Literature that elicits a response.
• New music.
  
• Weekends.

A thing that is not so wonderful: the nagging feeling that accompanies Sunday nights, the one that keeps poking you persistently, telling you that weekend freedom is fleeing. Sigh.

I wonder how many glasses of OJ would equal this much Vitamin C...

Thanks to a couple hearty doses of Airborne, I consumed 3,334% of my daily allotment of Vitamin C today.

It's good to know that I'm covered in the Vitamin C department until about 2010.