The 8th Annual Christmas Shopping Trip

Yesterday Kelly and I took part in our great holiday tradition - the annual Christmas shopping trip. This year, it was tough to pull off. Here were the factors that almost stopped us from going at all:

*the fact that I changed jobs this year and had some complications with vacation time & asking for it off
*the fact that Kelly's job told her she couldn't take any more of her vacation days until after the holidays
*the fact that Kelly's family is away and she needs to be in town to keep an eye on her brother this week
*the fact that I'm turning thirty(!)and have dinners/weekends planned around this momentous event
*the fact that both Kelly and I seem to be busier than ever and couldn't even find a weekend that we could go!

But in the end, we determined we could take one day, and made it yesterday. We hauled up to the outlets and were determined to get as much shopping done as we could in a single day. And I have to say, we were troopers. We shopped from 11:30 a.m. until the stores closed at nine, with about an hour break for meals.

So here are some of the funny quotes from the day:

"I'm incorporating brown."

"14 day return policy? Fuck you!"

"There's nothing for James at Woodbury Commons."

"One coupon expires on 11/27 and the next one starts on the 29th? What about today? Fuck you!"

"Monkeys and cars and lions and giraffes and trees in Banana. Whoo hoo!"

"hot dog for the road?" (Again)

"Where's Jane? We need to know a price!"

I'm sure there's more, but I'm kinda burnt from shopping. Merry freaking Christmas.

Jenn's Health Experiment

Lately I've been thinking a lot about trying to be a little bit healthier. But first off, let me clarify something here. There is a difference between getting "healthy" and "healthier". I don't want to get "healthy" - at least not yet. It's not my style. Wheat germ and getting all excited about going an extra mile on the treadmill - blech. Not for me. But the way I eat and go about my life now - I find I'm more fatigued and blah than I probably should be - so this week I am going to try and make a few minor changes (the idea is make small changes so they are easier to stick to) and see how I feel at the end of the week. The changes are:

1. make sure I take a multivitamin every day. I just started taking them not too long ago, but I find about half the time, I forget to do it at all.
2. substitute my morning coffee for a cup of green tea. Let's see how the antioxidants work.
3. Eat an apple a day. I almost never eat fruit - but apples are okay in my book.
4. Hit the gym at least a couple of times this week. - We'll see how the schedule goes, but at least a couple of times will be something.
5. Try to drink eight glasses of water a day. I probably do about five - but what if I actually got the recommended dose?

I'm telling you guys this because telling people may keep me a little more honest and motivated to do this. So maybe ask me at the end of the week how it's going and if I feel a little better. If I do feel better - hopefully that will be the motivation to keep it up.

Pygmalion

I made it to the theater last night for the first time in a long time. Pygmalion is currently on Broadway, with Claire Danes starring as Liza Doolittle. I was glad I got to see this - I never got around to reading "Pygmalion", but I've seen or know more about most of its distortions - "My Fair Lady" and the much more recent "Pretty Woman".

The theater in general always astounds me...I am always in awe of how much they can do to create a scene with very little stage space. When "Pygmalion" opens, the characters are waiting under an archway and it's raining hard on the street. It's well done, and for the rest of the play, two different rooms slide on and off the stage simoultaneously as needed.

The other joy of Broadway is the caliber of acting that you are always presented with. After the play Karen and I were discussing this, and I was saying how I rarely understand it when a Broadway actor gets a scathing review...when you read the Playbill bios and see how accomplished these people are I can't help but be in awe, and while watching the play you are presented with such enthusiastic acting, it is hard not to be enraptured by the entire experience. Clearly this isn't amateur night, so what are these critics looking for?

Anyhow. It is interesting to see Claire Danes in such a role - she is unlike herself in both forms of Doolittle - which is interesting for those of us who still remember her as Angela Chase from the very awesome "My So-Called Life". Jefferson Mays, who plays Henry Higgins, is also very very good. This is a good one to see, if you're headed for Times Square anytime soon.