Holiday Wrap Up!

Sarah and I got the idea to do gift cards this year in lieu of going out and buying each other various and sundry items, we thought we'd give each other buying power at our favourite stores, and then go shopping together in the days immediately after Christmas. I reasoned that it would be like getting the same gift twice (or more!).

Thanks to my best friend's generosity I got the dark wood salad bowl
and the woven basket hamper I'd been coveting from Pier 1, amongst many other goodies. I have yet to make use of the Whole Foods card she gave me, but you, dear reader, know that I'll burn through that this week, in all likelihood.

Christmas day was split between my mom's house (early morning guilt trip...hello! way to start things off badly, mom!) and then moseying on down to Richmond to spend a couple of days with Sarah's parents, who set me up with a lovely gift card to Old Navy (it's not chump change!). Can't wait to use that one... I've never been able to shop there before so I'm looking forward to giving my wardrobe a bit more of a jump start.

Once back in the Baltimore area I continued my vacation at Sarah's apartment. We shopped some on Thursday and Friday, and on Saturday we tidied up her place and brought out her classy new dishes from Crate & Barrel for use and packed up her old ones to be given away.

New Year's Eve night we went to see "The Family Stone," which was somewhat disappointing, but not horrible. We capped off 2005, a difficult but productive year by watching Disc 5 of Oprah's 20-year Anniversary 6 DVD collection. Sarah bought it for herself in Richmond. Before all was said and done, we'd watched every disc in its entirety and cried through most of them. All these touching, life-changing moments. I hardly ever catch Oprah's show anymore, but that woman puts her money where her mouth is. She is a very generous philanthropist. Generosity (of resources and spirit) is the characteristic that I prize most in anyone, and it's easy to see that she has it in spades. Just watching her good deeds made me want to step up and be a better person, do more with what I've got, etc.

Now I'm back at my little apartment getting reacquainted with my things, gearing up to go back to work (and back to the gym), and putting away all my new wares. So far 2006 has been perfect. Good things are in store!