I love you Charlie Brown!

Why? Because it helped me feel better to watch it last night...you see, I'm in recovery, I have endured a terrible past 8 days...I've been in the worst mood - my only good day was Turkey Day - and there's not been a drop of Holiday Cheer to be found anywhere in my vicinity. I felt like punching old ladies and stealing candy from children and then delighting when they cried. That's evil. But I don't believe in holding back your emotions either - if you suppress it, it just grows and gets worse, so might as well let it go and let it flow away and be gone. Or you can recite the prayer Rosemary says in Rosemary's Baby: "pain be gone, I'll have no more of thee" and smile strangely as if possessed and eat some raw bloody meat and get a really bad haircut and before you know it, the baby kicks and you start to look and feel better and then you watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and smile and want to put up your own Christmas decorations just by waving your hands and arms frenetically and you can decide to start acting like a normal person again and forgive and forget and be happy right now and then - BINGO! You are in recovery.

I'm not being cryptic, really, it was just a work thing, my anger has passed, I won the battle and hopefully - in the long run - the war and really - it's so NOT important. This isn't my life, this is what I do to have money to live my life so if people - such as Little Miss Snot Nose - want to be petty, she can go on and do so. I'm smarter and better than her and she can just leave me out of it because no one steps on my toes without getting them stomped on right back. So. There.

I also need to thank Floating Head for keeping me sane. Saturday I woke up in the midst of the worst of the mood to find I had no hot water and no heat and I just wanted to run and hide somewhere and she let me go to her apartment to do so where we learned how to be fabulous from Kimora - our new best friend and idol - and had soup and tea and mini quiches. Sunday I forced myself out of bed, despite a crappy night's sleep, and out into the cold to yoga at 10 am and then met FH again for noodle soup at Republic, some ring purchasing in Union Square Holiday Market - I splurged on two beautiful rings, one a moonstone - to replace the one I lost - and one of labradorite - and then we went to temple - Buddhist, not Beth Shalom - for a prayer, some incense, and a fortune ... oh please please please Temple Fortune, come only true ... then we had coffee and chatted in Soho but not before seriously considering buying diamond Hello Kitty jewelry at the Baby Phat store (well I came close anyway, its way too expensive for me but still, I luvvvv Hello Kitty...maybe some day I can splurge on something so frivolously adorable).

Also, new song obsession. Well I've had it for awhile, but was unable to find it anywhere since the band Lush is no longer together and their old label 4AD just released their stuff for digital download, but it's "I Have the Moon" which is such a beautiful song, I can't stop listening to it - its originally a Magnetic Fields song - that version is awesome too, just sung in a deeper voice but the Lush one is so pretty and slightly melancholic. As it should be. You can listen to it here

http://vonpipmusicalexpress.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/old-favorites-lush/

And of course, here are the lyrics:

We have walked in ancient times

And we've been burned for many crimes

We have ended many lives

But we never really died

You have the sun, I have the moon

You have to fly around the world all day

To keep the sun upon your face

I'd like to come and comfort you

But I'd be blinded by the blue

You have the sun, I have the moon

You're going to die under the sun

And I'll be doomed to carry on

You have become like other men

But let me kiss you once again

You have the sun, I have the moon

So tonight, I'm watching the Grinch and then Ghost Hunters and putting up my tree I think and keep on trying to eradicate the Bad Mood. Its like an illness, you gotta fight it with supergreen drinks and lots of good sleep and pomegranates and no alcohol or junk food.

Gobble gobble - But Let's Be Pigs!!

Lesson learned this Thanksgiving? That to make homemade gravy from turkey drippings, let alone the rest of a really excellent feast, it takes a village. Or in this case, two sisters and one Las Vegas chick. Here's how it breaks down.

You need:
#1 to hold the roasting pan and ferociously whisk the roux into the drippings until it is at the desired thickness/amount and then pour as
#2 holds the gravy boat and strainer as
#3 puts her arms around and in between both 1 and 2 to help spoon it all out and into gravy boat so that none spills.

Keep in mind, all three persons are on their second glass of wine as well.

Result? Yummy Gravy!

But it was fun, lots of giggling and watching (and drooling) over Steve and Grant on the Ghost Hunters marathon (I like Grant, Elba likes Steve), and of course the Eating of the Food. The food was awesome - Ms. Jany is an wonderful hostess and I have to say, her turkey was one of the best I think I've ever had. I baked two pies, an apple and a pumpkin, met Elba on the G ("lady with the pies!"..."where is the rest of the train?") at my train station and then we were off to Forest Hills - she made this sweet potato dish that was yummy - the smell alone needs to be marketed. Perhaps a Pier One Reed and Oil Set in "Essence of Floating Head" in the future? So all of this, plus corn, plus green beans, plus stuffing, plus mashed potatoes with goat cheese, plus plus plus..oooh plus WINE (can't forget that) and even more silliness and giggling. Really, a wonderful day - so thanks to the Lozano-Crespos for including me in their family celebrations - truly one of the best Turkey Days I've had in a long time!

And so, because it takes a village, remember to be thankful for your village...and I am...this has been an utterly CRAPFILLED week and I was not really in the holiday mood but my little village seems to pull through for me when it counts and so thank you thank you thank you - I am blessed with good friends and family, indeed.

Now it's onto removing the crap and moving on and not letting anything or anyone ruin my favorite time o' the year...Christmas is officially ON! And as the saying goes, fake it until you make it and so I'm going to fake my way into the good mood I was in just one week ago and just watch it come back to me.

Oh it's rainy and its cold and I have a sinus headache and I feel slightly hungover...I really can't drink much anymore, can I? I just feel so icky the next day...last night it was just two little beers...ahh but two really tasty beers, I'm here to share with you that this Dogfish craft beer from Delaware - http://www.dogfish.com/ - is just about the best beer I've ever had...Daddy, I'm not sure if you can get this in Las Vegas, but if my supermarket keeps carrying it, I'll bring you a bottle home at Xmas to try... I have the 60 Minute India Pale Ale...Cousin Megan, this should be a Gold Star Winner for Beer Club!

So I had two of these last night while watching the season finale of Ghost Hunters - and they are strong, being craft beers - and woke up this morning feeling tummy troubled and headachy and a bit cracked ...

"There is a crack, a crack in everything...that's how the light gets in"
- Leonard Cohen

I feel smiley though for reasons known and unknown ... I just feel expectant like something good is about to happen but I don't know what it is, it's just around the corner and it keeps peeking over in my direction, sticking its tongue out at me, na na na boo boo, but then it turns and runs the other way whenever I look closely to see what it actually is...I hope I'm right ... at the very least I've got two giant pomegranates on my desk right now that are full of little red juicy seeds of something good...Snow, don't pomegranates make you think of Grandma and Mom making jelly in our kitchen? They did grape too - funny, I don't remember them boiling the grapes down, so I'm assuming they just bought juice - isn't that cheating? - but I loved the pomegranate best of all and it was this big production and assembly line complete with wax seals on the jars and it only happened once a year sort of like the sugar snow in Little House in the Big Woods ... Maple candy! Or pig slaughtering time and Mary and Laura made a balloon with the pig bladder and played with that...do Allie and Jake do that ever? Hee hee hee...

My Daily Good Morning from Daddy and Jakie

I just wanted to share with you the picture that I have as my desktop background at work - so when I login each morning, these goofballs are sticking their tongues out at me in my general direction! I think Snow White should take a picture of both Allie and Jacob making funny faces and then email it to me so I can giggle all day ... or maybe both of them doing Mini-Man!

Not too much going on here that's of much interest to you people out there...I've been busy with work stuff I guess this week and everything has been GO GO GO ... I'm ready for Xmas by the way, usually I'm upset to see Xmas decorations and commercials RIGHT after Halloween but this year they are just making me feel happy that my favorite time of the year is upon us...yes, its almost time to be cutely bundled and sipping hot drinks and laughing merrily as we skip down the street..ok, everything except that last part, I DO NOT skip. But I do enjoy being cutely bundled and my parents seem to like that phrase that I've coined so I'm going to use it nonstop just to bring a chuckle to Chuckie. I bought a SMOKING hot black leather jacket this weekend in a SMALL mind you - so it's tight but I think it looks nice on me - its very fitted. And if I just lose a little more weight it will be really perfection. This week it got colder so it was time to bring out the wool coats as well and I realized how dumpy I felt in my black coat of 5 years. Yes, after five years I think its time to bid you farewell...you never did fit me right, but my cheap (ahem, THRIFTY) soul would not part with you until I could wear you no longer. And so that time has come...a nice new grey double-breasted coat that is so much warmer and looks much nicer on me.

It will in the 40's this weekend, so I'll have lots of chances to wear it - Saturday is yoga, followed by Healthy Lunch (maybe Floating Head?), followed by more shopping to Rid Self of Dumpiness, then out to Forest Hills for Girls Movie Night where we shall watch Spaceballs with lots of silliness and some liquor. Sunday I hope to go to yoga again, then - and I'm super excited about this - I'm taking a Sacred Jewelry class at the Rubin- Himalayan art - museum. Here's the description of the class:

"Go from concept to finished piece. Class begins with a gallery tour to explore the traditional colors, designs and sacred meanings of Himalayan jewelry. Working with beads and stones from the region, bring to life your own sacred jewelry, and leave wearing a beautiful piece."

Cool, yes? I KNOW! I'll take a photo of my finished piece and let you all know how it turned out!