wow. i still remember my blogger log in. its been over a week. my memory powers are amazing.

is anyone else simply exhausted? or is it just me? whatever it is, the sound of music and pyjamas midweek sounds like the perfect cure. the fact that i will probably get presents and to see my nephews is just icing on an already sweet cake. bring on the 25th.

no kidding even seeing this on youtube makes me a bit teary it is so wonderful

plus my secret bonus gift to my family is singstar. so basically i'm the best sister ever.

also, you owe me since i'm giving you this treasure....

clearly this is amazing, but then at 1.20 POW and then at 3.34 breasts.

oh falco! you old heartbreaker.

so over the past few weeks i've done heaps that i meant to tell you about. i've:

• seen high school musical three and fallen in loooove.
• seen the new bond movie, quantum of solace, and fallen in looooove.
• watched highlights of oprah's twenty year career as a talkshow queen.
• had too many cocktails
• eaten a lot of fancy food at expensive restaurants, not all of it excellent (you know who you are bisque on bolton)
  
• lied to the people's coffee people about who i voted for in the TAWAs (although this was a genuine mistake because i (now) remember that i was torn between two options)
• had a tearful farewell for one of my favourite colleagues
• exprienced some highs, some lows
• become the victim of credit card fraud
  
• decorated my low key christmas grotto, and reinstated my diana queen of hearts tree
• had brunch in paekakariki
• listened to last christmas on my ipod about eight times
  
• had numerous phone calls with my excited nephew who is counting sleeps until santa, and
• ordered groceries on line.

the fun never stops. anyway, where are my pyjamas. i need to go into training for my traditional christmas night sound of music indulgence....

so yeah. i've been busy. doing what you have been mostly: trying to find the perfect christmas cards.

christmas is basically the best. and i'm trying to sum that up in one card.

there have been a number of finalists. generally involving cats.

but at the end of the day, i don't really like cats.

but my search continues.... i am confident i will find perfection by the end of the week. and also, the environment is awesome and everything but you know what is NOT on my hot list.... e-christmas cards. please don't send me one. however, if you want a real life piece of art in the form of a card to treasure let me know your address.....

ding dong merrily on high....

oh my GOD i should go into web design. at work, actually, one of my jobs is to resign my division's website. bring. it. on. sure i may actually contract in the professionals, but just in case we go over budget, it is always good to know my mastery of the paint programme means the graphics - taken care of.

anyway, i'm all about bolts of lightning and bold colours. at least this week. plus i think i should change more regularly. i mean some people change their blogs more than i change my layout.

to be honest with you, it is interesting that i have chosen today to be supercreative. when i do not think i slept a wink last night. my thoughtless neighbour held a party. again. she's the only downside of newtown as far as i'm concerned. basically she's harmless but listens to music late and loud and has bbqs with her simple friends where they debate inane topics at four am outside my bedroom window. oh and i said basically harmless, but that is only now that she's grown out of her listening to coldplay late at night on repeat phase. nobody said it was easy......

as a result i feel like i've been walking around in a bubble all day. i went to a christmas party this morning where i basically didn't talk to anyone - just downed some champagne and then legged it. before going to craft 2.0 where i realised a big crowd of people was not so much like having a nap. but it was like going to some awesome place where awesome things were sold. including bircher muesli with potato wedges. sure, not a traditional pairing - but in my state they were like the perfect breakfast slash afternoon tea.

which was followed by an actual afternoon tea. also in lower hutt - city of a thousand identical streets.

and then home, where the neighbour's son played cricket loudly outside my bedroom window in what would have been nap time. like mother like son.

anyway, this is the last full working week of the year. here are my anticipated highlights:

• christmas event with helena who is IN TOWN
• receiving my remaining christmas internet purchases in the mail
• getting a tan from all the awesome weather
• swims at thorndon pool after work
• annoucement of my new boss (although in fairness this has been an anticipated highlight for the past six weeks)
  
• receiving christmas cards
  
• fine dining, all for the sake of christmas.

i would anticipate doing this all within my means. but i think that for the next few dreams living within my means is the very definition of a pipe dream.

you've probably noticed that it is december. which means it is basically christmas. hurrah.

me and christmas go way back. and although i've always been fond of christmas my adoration was cemented in 1985 at my grandfathers house in christchurch when OH YEAH santa brought me the greatest music box of all time. way down upon the swaneeeee river. or at least that is what my grandfather used to sing when i opened up so i can only assume that was the tune. plus it had a ballerina inside. and since the song was swaneeeee river i naturally concluded the ballerina was dancing swan lake.

which reminds me that my brother and sister used to love the ballet the nutcracker. not cos of the ballet itself - to my knowledge they have never even seen it - but because nutcracker is one hillarious word. one school holidays they sang songs about nutcracker from hastings to wellington on the bay express. poor co-passengers. not poor me though, cos i was in christchurch, having grown up fun with my eighteen year old cousins who were OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE. my cousin actually hit a cyclist that holiday. but noone was injured in the collison.

anyway, as i got older christmases became more of a hutt thang. my aunt lived in lower hutt near some kind of polluted stream and we'd watch annie, eat steam pudding and feed ducks. then my sister would vomit after eating her entire pebble filled walking cane and we'd have to go home.

these days christmas day is about winning singstar, and hanging out with my immediate family. and there are lots of presents. sadly, my parents and siblings tend to believe me when i say i don't want much. so the presents are more from me. but like i used to say to my grandfather, in a desperate bid for him to reward me, the joy of giving is better than any present.

which brings me to my weekend activities: i have been internet shopping. this is how i have looked most mornings as i peruse what the world wide web can offer me by way of "cute" OR "eco friendly" OR "fair trade" OR "adorable" merchandise....


needless to say i have probably bought as much for myself as for anyone else. which is simply ironic given the reason i'm going for eco friendly or fair trade merchandise is that i'm decluttering my living space and i'm concerned at all the mass produced crap i'm throwing out.

the internet has also been a source of inspiration for this year's christmas grotto. last year i went with the celebritree. there are more details here. this year i'm going for a more traditional theme. i expect to launch next weekend.

i think its gonna be a cracker christmas.