So Gifted or So-So Gifted?

One of my favorite blogs that I try to visit daily asked readers this week what their "best" and "so-so-est" gifts were this holiday season. Easy! I love to play along.

Best Gift: Biopsy & MRI results confirming that I do NOT have cervical cancer, received 2 days before Xmas, after 9 days of waiting.

I went to my ob/gyn on Monday, December 14, for my annual exam. You know, the one with the slightly awkward, slightly uncomfortable pap test and boob check, that has always been boringly normal for me. Until this year. Just to keep things appropriately vague and not gross anyone out, myself included, there was a unusually large polyp growing in an extremely delicate area, where everything is usually microscopic. Silent scream. I will leave out the doctor's actual initial comments, which were kind of funny, and the details of the biopsy. Most significant statements: "This is not good" and "possibly cancer."

After a half-hour's worth of pity-partying in the parking lot of Costco, I got on with my life and vowed (ie. promised my friends) not to look anything up at all on the Internet. Like I needed to scare the &%$#@ out of myself even more. Patting myself on the back that I did indeed manage not to obsess or research any possible scenarios. Honestly, I was too damn busy being a mom-wife-volunteer in the throes of the holiday season. Thank God for that. There were cupcakes to be baked, gifts to be wrapped, cookies to be decorated, Christmas cards to be addressed, library books to be shelved, school parties to plan, and holiday entertaining to be enjoyed, in addition to laundry, cooking, Costco-shopping, chauffeuring, Girl Scouting, etc. of course. Oh, and my car was still in the shop that whole time.

Fast forward to being sent for several more tests the following week and having to wait over a week overall for the results. Cancer? Surgery? What is it?! On December 23, I received my early Christmas gift: no cancer! The polyp, while very large, was benign and not connected to anything even more frightening inside my uterus. No surgery or treatments. So thankful! (There is, however, the slight matter of "something" that appears to be attached to my appendix, but that is another story for another day.) So indeed, my best Christmas gift wasn't under the tree at all this year, and I couldn't be more grateful.

So-so-est Gift: Donna Dewberry One Stroke Painting Kit with store receipt inside dated 1/10/2002 from my MIL.

Now that I've told you all about my best gift, wanna know what else I got? How about a just-shy-of-eight-years-old drying up painting kit? Does everyone know who Donna Dewberry is? She's well-known in the crafting world for her painting techniques that have a certain "look" about them.

Yeah, you use these techniques on just about anything once you learn it, such as teacups, flower pots, drawer knobs, etc. Unfortunately, I think the look is a bit 'little-old-granny-ish' for my taste. And the 8 year old paints weren't going to be very useful either. Good thing the 8 year old receipt was inside the box because I'm sure they'll waive the 30-day return just for me, right? By the way, this was my "main" gift from my MIL this year, but in no way the worst I've received from her. Sad? Funny? Just all part of the joy of Christmas. :)

If you're reading this, what were your best and so-so-est gifts this Christmas?

Hello, Pretty Kitty

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Ooooh, just found out about these pretty kitty jewels released in honor of Hello Kitty's 35th anniversary! Interesting to note that she is almost as
-->old young as I am!) If you'd read previous posts on my family blog, you might know how much I adore Hello Kitty from my Asian-girl childhood.
Zales is offering a rather wide selection of jewelry and bling-y accessories such as ear buds and iPhone cases from Simmons Jewelry Co. Basically, these are scaled down versions of Kimora Lee Simmons' more exclusive designs from a few years ago. I have always adored her Hello Kitty line, although it was always out of my price range, so this is a nice treat. Hello Kitty bling for the masses.

A few of my favorite blingy things
(Images from Zales.com)

And even better is the storewide 10% discount (through 12/13) and free shipping for $149+ orders. I heart Hello Kitty.

The Princess and the Frog? Mais Oui, Cher!

Image from the San Antonio Current website

This past weekend, I experienced another "first" in my not-so-young life: I attended a press screening for a major film! And then I wrote a review of it!

I was asked last month to review Disney's The Princess and the Frog for the San Antonio Current. This was my second assignment, and my first ever film review. (October's assignment, you'll recall, was my first ever book review.)

I was overly excited about going to a press screening and an added bonus getting to take Thalia along with me. She really looked forward to it, although commented that no one else she had mentioned it to at school thought it was particularly cool! (ahhh . . . left jaded by Disney at the age of 8).

The theater was packed for the screening, which was a combined press screening and sneak preview for the local Radio Disney station. Ever since teaser stills and trailers of The Princess and the Frog first appeared online earlier this year, everyone and their dog has had something to say about it. Animation fans. African-Americans. Feminists. Louisianians. However, I didn't watch it with any of those people. Instead, Thalia and sat in the packed theater with other parents and girls waiting eagerly to meet the newest Disney Princess on screen.

For my humble opinion on this new film, check out my review online at the Current's website.

Decadence

Well, that daily blog-prompting thing didn't last long with my too-full schedule over Thanksgiving! And now we are knee-deep into Christmas planning and celebrating. I'll revisit the daily blog themes later!

Speaking of holiday planning, Dylan and I did something so decadent last night--we hired a babysitter to put the kids to bed so we could do some Christmas shopping! Although I have actually been 99% finished with my gift shopping and wrapping since early November, I tend to do my best shopping for myself in the few weeks leading up to Christmas. hahaha The only thing that gets in the way of that, however, is having two kids in tow!

A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to a special after-hours holiday shopping event at our Nordstrom. I had been invited once before, three years ago, and it was a lovely shopping experience--sipping white wine, listening to live musicians' holiday tunes, munching on strips of sugared bacon (more on that later) and truffles, while browsing new stuff at my leisure.

So when I got my invite, I knew I was definitely going back to Nordstrom. And I wanted Dylan to come along because although he is not a shopper, he would really enjoy this. And he was really curious about going.

The event last night did not disappoint. I go to Nordstrom frequently, but it was quite dressed up for the event, with tuxedoed waiters proffering wine, cocktails and yummy h'or dourves while a sharp jazz quartet entertained us all. There were lots of people there, so it was quite festive.

The thing I remembered most about the event three years ago was these awesome brown sugared bacon strips. People were going nuts over them. And they served them again last night!  Sybaritic Decadence. I was so happy. But alas, I only had one strip, when I could have easily eaten a dozen. They were that good. No worries though, as we also had great regular and tempura sushi and other great little bites.

I had several items on my "list" that I wanted to look for, and I amazingly found all of them! Dylan was just happy to eat, drink and carry my purchases and my wine glass as he followed me around the store--what a sweetie.

Some cool finds:

Ivory wrap desperately needed to keep warm at cold office holiday party


Adult-size slippers that are still ok for an 8-yr old girl

I love Nordstrom. They don't try to shove items down your throat when you say you're not interested. They don't follow you around the store. They don't have a gazillion items for sale, just a choice selection that makes the process easier. They have a wonderful cafe inside that my kids love. And they still respect the holidays--all of them:

Photo taken at Nordstrom 2 days before Thanksgiving, which is thankfully still a real holiday for some and not just a speed-bump on the way to Xmas . . .

We shopped some other stores besides Nordstrom as well and finished the evening off with dessert at Sonic! We would have gone for holiday lattes at Starbucks except that all four of the Starbucks around us were closed before 10 pm. Strange but ok, as my retro Coke Float was a perfect end to our shopping date.