We Made Merry

We had a relaxing, quiet Christmas at the 1952 House. (Just what I wanted/needed as a retail visuals minion who worked Christmas Eve and at 6:00 AM the day after Christmas/today.) We opened lots of nice presents. We talked on the phone to family members. We texted friends. I baked cookies, which Chad loved, but I opine need a little tweaking. 

In typical 1952 House Christmas fashion, we decked the dog with bows. Janie loved it! (Or quite possibly she is totally over it, and it was never her favorite tradition.)

We also put a bow from a gift on Kenji, but it made her fall over and growl. (Yes, she is a cat. Yes, she growls.) The bow came off of Kenji before a Kodak moment could happen.

Hope your Christmas was sane, enjoyable, safe and comfortable. 

Last Dinner Mystery Show

I performed in my last dinner mystery show Saturday night at the Driskill Hotel. I love the Driskill Hotel for its history, architecture and sense of grandeur. Students from the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Austin made a gingerbread replica of the Driskill complete with the Christmas tree inside. Take a peek.

The Driskill Hotel Christmas Tree

While I love the Driskill Hotel, the banquet room in which we performed featured a giant ten foot by ten foot square column in the center of the room. Of the 140 audience members, I would hazard to guess that only 50 of them could see or hear us at any given time because of the column that effectively divided the odd-shaped room into three sections. On a good day, I am sheepish about performing in silly dinner mystery shows. Last Saturday was a tough day in a tough room. Cue the sad trombone. 

At least I had a valid excuse to loiter in the Driskill Hotel lobby at Christmas-time for lovely surroundings and lively people-watching.

Merry and Bright Lights

This would be our Christmas card photo if I liked photos of ourselves on Christmas cards, but I do not.

Chad tidings of comfort and joy and blur. And handsome. 

We went to Austin's Trail of Lights after crawling through awful traffic for ninety minutes. We saw lots of beautifully lighted trees and lots of plywood cutouts of unlicensed cartoon characters. Personally, I just love the lights, not so much the painted plywood. We ate churros, funnel cake, nachos and kettle corn. We drank hot cider and Mexican hot chocolate. Check all of that off the list for the year. 

Upon leaving Trail of Lights, I thanked Chad for driving and for coming with me. Then I told him we never have to go again. I'm happy to leave it to the kids and their roving gangs of double-wide strollers. (I have no problem with long, back-to-front multi-seat strollers, but personally opine that double-wide/side-by-side strollers pose a major menace to polite society. )

Trying to Stay Cozy & Warm

Marigold wedged herself between a pillow and an unguarded blanket.

Janie likes to model her new jacket, but refuses to wear it for walks. *sigh*

My Favorite & Unfavorite Things for December 11, 2013

In grand Christmas tradition, the song My Favorite Things rings out from many speakers. The lyrics evoke a love/hate list* similar to the ones our old friends made in college, but not at all similar to the consumer huggermugger that is Oprah’s Favorite Things. Here is my current love/hate list, in no particular order.

Love list

      1.  Fall

      2.  Spring

      3.  Chad

      4.  That Chad lives in Austin most of the time now, versus living in NYC, San Francisco, and the not-so-friendly skies of business commuter flights

      5.  Netflix

      6. Kenji – She is willful and fiercely cuddly.

      7.  Sonic – He is such a sweet, funny, giant, chirpy man-cat

      8.  Marigold – She is a funny old lady who loves a good toe rub and being carried around like a baby.

      9.  Janie – She does her best to sleep a lot like the kitties, but also loves a good walk.

      10.  Making the store pretty and organized, especially creating the window displays

      11.  Making our home pretty and organized 

      12.  Reading

      13.  Wrapping gifts

      14.  Baking sweet things

      15.  Free time

      16.  That our new neighbors (back and side) each took the initiative to get our shared fences repaired / rebuilt

      17.  My ancient, super-soft, thick cashmere sweater (Of course, I hope the cashmere came from ethically raised goats who didn’t need those belly hairs for their own warmth.)

      18.  The rush of endorphins from a good trip to the gym coupled with that well-stretched muscles feeling

      19.  The breakfast (or in my case brunch) hot bar at the big Whole Foods across the street from my workplace - One of the good things about having to be at work at 5:00 AM some days is getting my 10:00 AM brunch break. French toast, home fries and migas!

      20.  Taco Shack breakfast tacos

      21.  Taco Deli lunch tacos

      22.  Lip balms / chapsticks, especially Bonne Bell, Burt’s Bees and Lucky Tiger brands

      23.  Feeling like I belong (particularly at work right now, and always with my pack of pets and Chad)

      24.  American style iced tea – Luzianne is my low-brow favorite.

      25.  Gilt.com for shopping

Hate List

1.     Winter-type weather - It isn’t officially winter yet, but I’ve had enough of this cold, drippy weather. Enough, I say!

2.     Feeling like I don’t belong – especially among old friends

3.     Not having enough time to do little things I enjoy, like read

4.     My inability to sleep on airplanes

5.     Some of Sonic’s behaviors – Yes, it’s a love-hate deal with this burly boy. He bullies the other pets and pees on things other than cat litter. (He’s been to the vet multiple times for this issue, and he is neutered. It is not a health issue, but a purely territorial behavior.)

6.     Raisins – They ruin everything.

7.     Small enclosed spaces

8.     Chaos

9.     Crowds

10.  Facebook

*Our college friends, Lori B. and Melinda L., who were cousins, made a list of 25 things they loved and 10 things they hated. Then they sealed the envelope, writing the day’s date on the outside. They squirreled away the envelopes for later reading and evaluation. It was back before blogs were popular. I prefer a blog post to a hidden envelope.

Stuff & Whatnot

I got to spend another fun day at work making gift baskets. Some have sold - yay! My super-handy coworker, Lori, opined that she is no "lady who lunches type of girly-girl". Lori confessed that she burned holes in the cellophane with the heat gun, and wasn't sure what to put together for gifts. It's harder than it looks. Thanks for the validation, lady. That heat gun just takes a little practice.

As of last Friday, I have ten nieces and nephews! My sister birthed her seventh (!!!) baby, Elsie Laurel. Baby, Mom, Dad and siblings are all well, if sleep-deprived. Here are six of ten gifts wrapped and ready to ship out. I love wrapping gifts. And yes, I make my own bows.

Chad and I are both busy with work, holiday preparations and festive merrymaking. We've been hitting the sauce pretty hard: Diet Coke for me and sparkling water for him. This is the recycle stack for one day. We may have a problem. Got to stay hydrated (and in my case caffeinated) for seeing A Christmas Story at Paramount Theatre last Wednesday, and listening to Austin Chamber Music Society perform Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas music at Antone's yesterday. Also, I'm procrastinating studying my lines for a private party dinner mystery show this week. The show is at Austin's historic Driskill Hotel. I can't wait to see the Christmas decorations and the gingerbread replica of the hotel!

I got myself some snarky memoirs. I don't know when I'll have time to read them. Maybe I should read one before I study my lines. No! Must study lines!

Challenge for the week: Stay sane (or try to pretend you are) this holiday season. If you want good customer service, you must be a good customer. Wait your turn. Be polite. Remember that retail employees and call center representatives are barely keeping it together this time of year. Make their day by playing nice. PLEASE.

Merry & Bright Photos

The C9 bulbs at night shine nice & bright.

The tree canopy is trimmed too high,
so we hang ornaments from the roofline this year.

Oh Christmas Tree!
I grew up with strictly themed, tonal-palette,
white-flocked Christmas trees with only white lights.
As an adult, I'm all about the jewel tones on the living room Christmas tree.

New ornament in honor of me becoming a handy lady on the visuals / make-it-pretty team.

New double-decker ornament to commemorate our trip to London.
Nevermind that it was made in China and purchased from Pottery Barn online.

Yes, we have a mini-tree in the bedroom. Get over it.
Mini-tree features mid-century style, pastel ornaments,
and keeps the cats mesmerized for hours.

Lights & Flicks Picks

As a retail visuals minion, I decorated (and repeatedly refilled with decorations) at least five different Christmas trees before I decorated our own two Christmas trees here at ye olde 1952 House. (Photos forthcoming of living room tree and bedroom tree.) I decided that while LED lights may be better for the environment, they burn my eyes as if looking directly into a series of miniature suns, and emanate a most unpleasant visual experience. Sorry, Earth. I'm a retro C9 light bulb fan all the way. (Photos of outdoor lighting on ye olde 1952 house forthcoming.)

In an effort to get my head and self out of retail land this holiday season, here are my top picks for holiday light displays and holiday movie showings in Austin.

Trail of Lights, I can't quit you. As crazy-crowded, flappy-foot-walker-infested and chaotic as the Trail of Lights can be, I love it! Funnel cake, kettle corn, hot chocolate and enough lights to send the electricity generators into overdrive transport me to my festive happy place. Trail of Lights also offers prepaid parking and zip passes this year to help navigate the crowds (and cover costs, I'm sure).

The Holiday Film Series at the Paramount Theatre makes my movie watching merry and bright with classics such as White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Love Actually and It's a Wonderful Life shown in a historically and architecturally significant, grand setting.

While I consider New Year's Eve to be a hot mess of unbridled bad behavior/bad choices opportunities, I love fireworks. Chad and I will likely take advantage of my employee parking pass and walk down to the Austin's New Year fireworks show at 10:00 on New Year's Eve.

I haven't made it to Austin's new Royers Pie Haven yet, but it's high on my to-do list this holiday season. The original location in Round Top, Texas makes amazing pies, and now trucks them to Austin daily. Conveniently located alarmingly close to the 1952 House at 2900 B Guadalupe Street, Chad and I will be there soon.