I have a busy weekend so I better blog now! Let me first start with last week. It was a relatively quiet week. On Thursday Nick and I went on a date to the Old Spaghetti Factory and then to Christopher's winter band concert. The concert was pretty good. It wasn't as long as we thought it was going to be. Christopher told me that the set was 45 minutes long, but it didn't feel that way at all. Nick said that he had a pretty good time for sitting on metal folding chairs and listening to a high school band play. I also got A Collection of Essays By George Orwell from Half Priced Books while we were out for only $2! I also got 1984 by Orwell, but that one was $5. Still, two books for $7 is exciting! I haven't started either yet because I've been reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, but I want to look through the essays soon. Less Than Zero is a pretty quick read so I think if I just sit down and read it (and not watch Grey's Anatomy) then I can finish it quickly. I'm in love with Ellis' writing style even though American Pyscho had me fearing for my life in my own bed.

On Saturday I spent a good portion of the day Christmas shopping. I got most of it done on that one day, so I was quite happy. TJ Maxx is my best friend. It just so happened that the day I picked to do all of my shopping was one that Mother Nature tried to turn Concord into a bog. I was soaked and my feet were freezing. The next day I went down to Fremont to meet my friend, Linda, so that we could go shopping in Gilroy. I know it's Christmas time and I shouldn't be buying stuff for myself, but I did get myself a new Coach wallet. After a whole bunch of shopping we went back to Fremont and had some much needed Phó before I drove back home.

This little one is for when I don't want to carry a big purse and just a wristlet. It doesn't fit that well in my flat wristlets, but I'll make due. I can't fit my keys and cell in them anyway. I was going to get just a flat thing that I found in the men's department for credit cards, but Linda said that this is much cuter. It is, but it doesn't fit like I want it to. I can get it easily into the wristlet that Josie gave as a bridal party favor, which is a puffy wristlet, so it works out. I actually use that one the most because I can fit my cell phone, little wallet, and keys in there. I can also fit some extra makeup in case I'm out somewhere. In hindsight, I guess this little card holder is better than the men's version.

This is the main wallet that I got myself. I had the other little one in my hand and then while I was in line with Linda I saw a brown one of these sitting where someone had left it. I had missed it! It's a good thing Linda had seen them. I was literally pushing through the mob to get to the wallet and get back in line. The inside is just like every other Coach wallet, but it's the front that attracted my attention.

This week has also been a mellow one. Very lazy actually. The only exciting thing so far is that I had my weekly dinner with Melanie and her family and was able to give them all their Christmas presents. I love giving presents! I gave Talan (their little boy) a VTech game (similar to this) for their TV. I thought it was pretty cool. I spent way more time in the toy section than I did in any other. I got really excited about the little games that it comes with. I got him Noah's Arc game that teaches animals and also a Mother Goose game that goes over rhymes and stuff. I think I was more excited about it than he was. He's only one and a few months, but it seemed like he had more fun with the glowing blue power button than the rest of the game.

Going to Melanie's was like going to a CVS. Not only did she give me my Christmas gift, but she gave me all these lotions and stuff out of her cabinets. We were talking about the anti-aging wrinkle cream that I've been using as a preventative and she started pulling stuff off her shelves that she had but never used. She also gave me one of those Wave face cleaners. You all should try this thing. It makes your skin feel super smooth. I made Christopher and my mom try it...my dad didn't want to try. I better go out and get more cleansing pads.

I'm in for a very exciting weekend. This afternoon I made gingerbread dough for the first time ever. (If you hadn't noticed I consider Friday nights the beginning of my weekend.) Anyway, I was going to make my own royal frosting, but Safeway didn't have some of the ingredients that I needed. I figured that I had to go to Micheal's to get it, but I didn't feel like going out there. So Christopher and I resolved to use premade frosting for cookies. Nick is coming to make Shrimp Estouffe with me and finish off the cookies. The dough is chilling in the fridge right now. I used this gingerbread recipe from Allrecipes.com. I read in one of the reviews that the dough texture depends on how you pack your flour, which makes sense. The baker writing said that she does hers as a light pack before sifting, where as others just said that they packed it and stuck it in the fridge. Since I'll be taking a whole bunch of cookies to parties this weekend I decided to make two batches. I tried light packing and heavy packing and marked each batch so that I can see how they come out for future baking. We will see how they turn out. The heavily packed flour mixture was really dry so I had to add about 1/4 cup of molasses to the dough because it was really crumbly.

Tomorrow I will be picking Bonnie up around 10:30 so that we can head to Burlingame to Abby's house for a luncheon. My first batch of cookies will be going with me to this engagement. I think the menu consists of turkey wrapped in bacon, green bean casserole, cheesy corn-potatoes, potatoes, and my cookies. Note: There are only three of us eating this lunch. I think that we will be rolling home. After this, Nick and I will be heading over to the Ryan family house for our annual tamale making party. I will be bringing the rest of the cookies there since it will be a much larger crowd. Then on Sunday I will be going to lunch with my friend Tim from Riverside. He will be back home from Washington today so I wanted to snag some of his time before he takes off after the holidays. The day after that I will be heading up to the snow with my family, Christopher's girlfriend, and Nick. It's going to be a busy weekend and I'm looking forward to it. This week seemed like it went by so slowly because I was waiting for this to come! Now I'm off to have some fun!