week in review

It's 10:30 pm, Punkie has long been fast asleep, and Jeff is out with friends. The best part of it all? My laptop is free to use, which means I am free to blog and such. Instead of blogging the many things I want to share myself, I've spent the last thirty minutes catching up on everyone else's blogs. I have particularly enjoyed the blog site belonging to an old college buddy, Laura, who now has a husband and a nearly nine-month old baby girl. How times have changed since our days at SWT... living in Tower hall, drinking kool-aid flavored 7-UP spiked with cheap vodka, harassing the party photographers at the Pike house and making the best grilled cheeses at 3am using illegal, yet handy, toaster ovens. Those days seem so long ago and so foreign, but they were so fun! Still, I must admit that these days are even better. There is just so much love to be found in a baby girl who prefers to wear only one sock and marinates every thing in sight with her drool!

I've started Christmush shopping this week. Yes, Christmush. I don't know where that came from, but it makes me smile when I say it, type it or text it. I wish a Happy Christmush to you all! I've only purchased a few items so far, but I need to turn up the heat. I go back to work this Wednesday, and I want to be near the end of Christmush shopping before I lose even more hours from my days. I am attempting to show some amount of restraint as I shop for Miss Harper, because I know there are many others that will shower her with gifts. I'm also resigned to the fact that my own Christmush presents will never quite be the same. We're no longer very important...it's all about the Punkie now! Ah well, at least I can derive some joy from opening her presents this year since she lacks any useful function of her own hands!

Barnes and Noble has a great sale on all Dr. Seuss books right now. Buy two, get one free. I picked out six books, and I could have easily picked out sixteen more! I don't remember reading many Dr. Seuss books as a child, and the doc penned so many titles that I had never even heard of until today. I can't wait to read them to Harper, but I've got a couple more weeks until she (well, I) opens them. I almost cheated and read a new one to her tonight, but she fell asleep before we made it to the reading portion of our bedtime routine. I didn't even have to turn on the Bob Schneider CD either... she must have been very sleepy, indeed! Back to the books... I wrote short notes in the front cover of each one in hopes that she will consider it something special when she is much older. I actually stole that trick from my friend, Lara, who gave Harper a handful of great books on the day she was born.

Ooh, speaking of gifts... I turned 28 on Wednesday. I spent the day with Punkie, and then went to dinner at Bangkok with family and friends (isn't it wonderful when those two groups are one and the same?). Lara and Breyer really outdid themselves with their gift this year. They put together a big box containing "a few of JenHowePeel's favorite things." Contents include: pop rocks, Heineken, Vintage Ink Merlot, ultra fine Sharpie markers, one very cool necklace, an assortment of $5 gift certificates to my favorite places (Bangkok, Target, Starbucks, Katie's Kustard, Schmaltz, and one more that I will save for later!), a bag of sweet & spicy snack mix, Dumb Blonde shampoo and conditioner, and much, much more! They even included the remaining five beers from the Heineken six-pack, the heavenly Haagen Daas fleur de sel ice cream, and Havarti cheese waiting back at Lara's house. I was floored by their creativity and their thoughtfulness...I think the best gifts show a person that you pay attention to them and you truly care. Those two definitely hit the nail on the head! As great friends as they both are, they did also play a mean trick on me. As I carefully opened one particular gift certificate envelope, I was greeted with the sight of Endless.com and what appeared to be a one thousand dollar credit! I immediately knew something was up when I saw the amount...and my suspicions were immediately confirmed when I scrolled down to the memo line. Their note explained that Endless doesn't actually sell gift certificates. I'm glad I read that part before I went on a shopping spree and tried to redeem it! ;) Oh, those girls! We had a lot of fun at dinner that night. We even discovered that Wayne Peel has a ton of Face-buddies! Hehehe... By the way, Lara has a fantastic birthday cake casserole recipe that she might be willing to sell at a fair price! ;)

Alrighty, I must be off to bed. Punkie patrol requires an abundance of energy, so I must recharge my batteries. Nighty night!

PS. Tiffany, will you have that baby already? Forget what you're feeling....I'm getting impatient! ;) Muhahaha...