I Heart Bloggers

Boyfriend always ends work at noon on Fridays, but I was thrilled to be off at 12:00 today. I arrived home laden with goodies: a plate of cookies from the couple who are resident managers of my employer's self-storage facility (the nicest people)...a tiny box from the female attorney, which accompanied my bonus check from her...and a Christmas bouquet from my brother and sister-in-law and their kids which was delivered about an hour before we closed up. As soon as I walked into the condo, I realized the power was off. Shit! I immediately called the boyfriend (he'd said earlier he might play golf after work) and said, "The power's off." (Brilliant!) He said, "Why don't you come ride around with me? I'm just getting lunch at the 19th hole (snack bar)." So I asked him to order me chicken strips and a Coke (junk food! decadent!) and quickly changed clothes. It's been a postcard-perfect day. As he was standing on the tee at #3, which is high above a section of the course, I said, "Look how pretty this is!" He said, "Hmmm....all I see is work." :) At one point, as we were sitting on a fairway waiting for someone to finish on the green ahead of us, he said, "Listen. This is what I hear all day long. Nothing." He's spoiled! When he was midway through the 9th hole, he said, "Should we stop after 9? Let's go shopping!" (Keep in mind that I deposited all of our bonus checks this morning, so we were feeling particularly flush.) Okay! Shopping it is! We figured the mall would be a nightmare and downtown is pretty touristy, so we settled on the shopping area adjacent to the cruise ship dock. (We had two ships in today.) First stop: bookstore. I picked up a stack of non-fiction--all feel-good stuff, except for a Bill Bryson book I hadn't read. Just felt like reading some positive stuff (plus I have a stack of novels I just checked out of the library). Boyfriend picked up a couple of aikido books and this, which he's had his nose buried in since we got home. (His friend recently gave him a recording workstation. Yes, GAVE him. More on that later....) Second stop: music store. We stocked up on used DVD's and VHS tapes. Or "previously viewed," as they like to call it. We bought Igby Goes Down, Kill Bill - Vol. 1, Mystic River, The Station Agent and boyfriend bought a martial arts DVD that had three movies on it for $5.98. Merry Christmas...to us!! Third stop: Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. I had Irish cream with Oreos (double decadence!) Final stop: the lottery office. Boyfriend felt like throwing a few bonus bucks to the gods of chance, just in case the Christmas gods feel like smiling on us extra hard this year. All in all, we've had a fantabulous week...and it's not even Christmas yet!

We have much to be thankful for, and one of the things I'm most thankful for this holiday season is my connection with those of you who visit this site. The blogosphere has been a source of great support and friendship for me this past year. I only hope that whatever comments and emails I send your way sufficiently express how much I enjoy and appreciate each and every one of you.

So whether this time of year finds you celebrating Hanukkah or Winter Solstice or Christmas or Kwanzaa or no special holiday at all, may you find yourselves surrounded by support and understanding and compassion and love and laughter and creative inspiration...because that's what you give to me.