smarch

in the last twenty days...

i had a mexican food-and-arts and crafts-and-girl scout cookie-infused slumber party night with my girlfriends. arts-and-crafts time is just the best!

i got to spend a whole day hanging out with my mommy, shopping, chatting, eating, coffee-ing. it was quality one-on-one time like we haven't had in a really long while.

alan and i went to our friend's thirtieth birthday party, and came to terms with the fact that we are probably going to be thirty at some point also. at least there were giant sombreros and stick-on moustaches there to ease the pain.

my team at work was recognized with a pretty-big-deal award. that was pretty nice.

i wasted two hours* of my life on the phone with travelocity trying to book a trip to spain after getting a "technical difficulties" message on their website on six different occasions. also, another twenty minutes on the phone with my credit card company trying to get them to remove the charges that travelocity pre-authorized on six different occasions without ever selling me a vacation package.

*i was actually on the phone for one hour. alan was on the phone for another hour. by the end of this adventure i'm pretty sure that we decided that we might not ever book a trip through travelocity again.

we booked our trip to spain! flight through delta.com, hotels through hotels.com, and another flight through orbitz.com. in six weeks we'll be eating delicious tapas, marvelling at the sagrada familia, and wandering the halls of the prado and the reina sofia!

alan got a bonus! we weren't expecting that at all, so it was a pretty fantastic surprise, really. and it's going to pay for a lot of tapas in spain...

i spent seven hours and way too much money shopping with my girlfriends for our friend's bridal shower and bachelorette party. after shopping we went to the bride-to-be's house to put together centerpieces and drink margaritas. it was a long day, but i got in some good girl time so it was totally worth it!

we finally found a great walking trail and went on lots and lots of long walks in the perfectly blissful weather we've been having lately. on one occasion we were charged by an angry goose, but other than that our walks have been lovely.

celebrations

i've got lots of things to celebrate lately. lots of birthdays, of course, and then the fact that the craziness of birthday month is finally behind me now, too. one of our friend-couples got engaged in december and are getting married in april - which means i get to be all the wedding-crazy i want to be without any of the bride stress. i designed the invitations and i'm on the party-planning committee for the shower and bachelorette party and i'm going to make a hundred pretty little cupcakes for the reception and i love every minute of it! two of my girlfriends are pregnant, which means that when the wedding is over i get to plan at least one baby shower and buy at least two pairs of tiny baby socks. and my mom and stepdad bought a beautiful new house! unfortunately, it's in upstate new york, which is a little farther away than i ever thought i'd be from my mommy, but i know they'll be so happy there. and i know it will be a great place to visit!