Christmas Update

Well, I left for parts north on Saturday, Dec. 20th. The flight up was fairly uneventful. Well, once I was on a flight that was actually going to make it. Apparently, there was some delay with the flight to Atlanta, so they booked me through Baltimore instead. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in the ATL overnight. Which wouldn't have been a problem, there are people I could have dropped in on whom I haven't seen in a while, but then again, unexpected guests are not always the most welcome. Luckily, I had a pretty enterprising ticket agent working for me, so she found another flight which would get me into Ohio on time. Or at least the same day.

It was bitterly cold when I first arrived, and I am simply not built for cold and snow anymore. There's a REASON I moved to Florida, y'all, and it was pretty much so I wouldn't have to battle single-digit temps anymore. I HATE the cold, I'm not REALLY a fan of snow (even on Christmas), and I can DEFINITELY do without scraping ice off my car for several months of the year. But the week warmed up, and my parents' house is always 800 degrees, so I was pretty comfortable.

During the flight up there, I was finishing up the November/December issue of Bookmarks magazine and perusing a holiday-themed issue of Rachael Ray's magazine. Then I started in on The Eight. And I'm still reading it. It's long, like 600 pages. To be fair, this vacation was not the string of uninterrupted reading time I anticipated. I always forget how busy a trip home is. There's Christmas with my cousins, Christmas with the immediate family, dinners with my best friend, evenings watching movies with the fam, a football game, shopping with my sisters, dinners out with my parents and sisters, computer games, etc. Mostly, I read in the mornings over breakfast, before the day got going. And occasionally when I had some down time during the day. On the flight back, I was sick with a terrible cold, so I read a bit in the airport, but slept on the plane. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to finish the book soon, but I do have those 300 Google Reader entries to catch up on...

Sigh. There's always something else going on.

P.S. Hurrah for the Georgia Bulldogs, winners of the Capital One Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!

We're BAAAACK!

After delays in Atlanta, the Fiance' and I arrived back in our area LATE last night. I called off of work today, since I was only going to get a few hours of sleep, so now I'm using the rest of the day to get organized and ready to go back to work full-steam tomorrow. I have a review to post, of a book I finished over my vacation, in between all the wedding prep and visiting friends and family. I'll be back to post that soon. The wedding was really nice, and it was good to see everyone. There were people there that I haven't seen in years! I enjoyed my time at home, but, as always, I wish that it lasted longer.

Tripping

Tomorrow, the fiance' and I leave beautiful sunny South Florida (HA! Hurricane Central, is more like it!) for the not-so-tropical North. My sister is getting married this Saturday and I'm in the wedding...so I'll be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, hoping I didn't forget anything, hurrying Ricky along, trying to make it to the airport on time. I'm glad Hanna has taken a turn away from us, so our plane can make it out. Now if only Ike will hold off till we're safely back Monday night!

A Slight Chance of Fire

It's kind of disturbing to watch the weather report and, where one would normally see a graphic of clouds or sun, see a graphic of FIRE! The wildfires down here are still burning. Luckily, none of them are close to us...yet. While there has been a faint smoky smell present in the atmosphere for the last few days, as if someone were burning incense in the next room, today the smoke is thick and the smell is penetrating even our closed doors and windows. The damp air is only compounding the problem, creating a thick haze over everything. I believe this just means that the wind has changed and that the smoke from the fires by Lake Okeechobee is now blowing our direction...I'm hoping that it doesn't mean that the fires are creeping closer.

I only managed to read about ten pages of The Notebook last night. For some reason, I wasn't in a reading mood. Instead, I flipped on the TV and pulled out an old crossword puzzle book and gave my brain a challenge.

Oh yes. That is a wild Saturday night for me now. Sigh.

The Amazing Apathy of Alexis

It is grey and chilly and drizzly today and I do not want to do one single thing except curl up on the couch with a book. Too bad I need to get some work done on a file for my j-o-b and clean the apartment. I know Ricky won't care if it doesn't get clean, but *I* will, and since I'll be at a co-worker's Super Bowl Party next weekend, I know it won't get done then. Sigh. We'll see. It's hard to get motivated. I want to go back to sleep.

An Arctic Blast?

The temperature today in sunny South Florida is only supposed to get up to 66 degrees. Yes, Fahrenheit. I know, I know, it's crazy! I can't wait to see all the little Floridians scuttling around in their heavy winter coats because the thermostat is sitting below 70. Forget all the people in places like Minnesota and New York, where the thermometer isn't rising above 10!!! (Or maybe even 0...I haven't checked the Weather Channel this morning.) No, the mid-60's, now THAT requires bundling up.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll be wearing slippers and a blanket before the day is out.